Mathy Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Hello Marius I don't want the upgrade to use $D301, I want it to use the addresses the MIO uses, as I wrote above. Plus the Freezer 2011 is overkill when you only want extra RAM. Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctirad Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 (edited) When will the RAM 320XE be available? And how much will it cost (including ECI connector)? Hello, I still don't have stickers printed and manual for the official release, but I can sell the remaining cards from the first batch which were made mainly for betatesters for 35 EUR. These cards are 100% identical to the production version, just a bit shorter. I can add ECI connector for you for free. Edited January 28, 2014 by ctirad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Hello Ctirad Would there be any technical disadvantages to the fact that these cards are shorter? Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctirad Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 No. The longer version just saves some brushing in the card case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Hello ctirad What do you mean by brushing? BTW I've looked at the pictures again: Can you tell me what the tube like black thing behind/above the ECI is? And the new PCB's will also have the cartridge port and ECI pointing up? Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctirad Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 (edited) What do you mean by brushing? Ah, "to file" is probably the right word. BTW I've looked at the pictures again: Can you tell me what the tube like black thing behind/above the ECI is? If you mean the photo of the early prototype on the first page then it's a headphone connector. There is a covox as the option. And the new PCB's will also have the cartridge port and ECI pointing up? Yes. Edited January 29, 2014 by ctirad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Hello Ctirad Aha, I thought you meant something like that, but it's better to be use and ask. :-) Covox? Sounds nice. I'ld love to have that. Can I have two RAM 320XE's, plus ECI and Covox (and other options it might have)? How much would that cost including postage to the Netherlands. Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctirad Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 I'm sorry, but the currently available units are without covox and it is not possible to add it to the already finished cards. The story behind the Covox is that I wanted to use the remaining space in the CPLD chip for something useful. So I added a covox registers and I2S streaming for an external DAC with a headphone buffer. It works nicely but after some finetuning of the both RAM and the covox code the result simply does not fit to the chip So while it is still possible to fit the bigger and more expensive CPLD chip to the card AND the PCB is still ready for the audio stage AND I have the firmware available for that, it makes not much sense due to huge price increase (like +10EUR). At least not for most people I think. Perhaps later I find a way how to optimize it in order to fit into the former chip. There is also a disvantage that even if the Covox output is mixed to the Atari audio output via the ECI pin, you cannot her the Pokey from the headphone socket on the card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 I'm sorry, but the currently available units are without covox and it is not possible to add it to the already finished cards. The story behind the Covox is that I wanted to use the remaining space in the CPLD chip for something useful. So I added a covox registers and I2S streaming for an external DAC with a headphone buffer. It works nicely but after some finetuning of the both RAM and the covox code the result simply does not fit to the chip So while it is still possible to fit the bigger and more expensive CPLD chip to the card AND the PCB is still ready for the audio stage AND I have the firmware available for that, it makes not much sense due to huge price increase (like +10EUR). At least not for most people I think. Perhaps later I find a way how to optimize it in order to fit into the former chip. There is also a disvantage that even if the Covox output is mixed to the Atari audio output via the ECI pin, you cannot her the Pokey from the headphone socket on the card. Yes, I think most people aren't looking to get a Covox here, including myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Hello Ctirad As usual, I'm not one of "most people". I'd love to get the Covox on the board, even if I have to pay 10 euro extra. BTW why can't the Pokey be heard when the Atari Audio Out on the ECI is mixed with the Covox output? Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+David_P Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Hello Ctirad As usual, I'm not one of "most people". I'd love to get the Covox on the board, even if I have to pay 10 euro extra. BTW why can't the Pokey be heard when the Atari Audio Out on the ECI is mixed with the Covox output? Sincerely Mathy Because the Audio on ECI/PBI takes audio from the ECI/PBI device and mixes it with the POKEY output. There's no means of sending audio out to the ECI/PBI. So, a jack on the ECI/PBI Covox device has no way of getting the POKEY sounds - unless it plugs in to the monitor jack... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Hello David Thanks for clearing that up, I was under the false impression, that there was an Audio Output on the PBI/ECI. Sincerely Mathy PS @All, how often do you mix Pokey sound with Covox sound? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 (edited) Yeah, Covox is "illogical" here. Edited February 3, 2014 by MrFish 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Yeah, Covox is "illogical" here. And yet, this is no reason to grieve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Damn - I wish Covox got more love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Hello guys Well, we have memory upgrades with SpartaDOS built in, so why would Covox on a memory expansion be illogical? Sincerely Mathy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 The question as posed seems to me to answer itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Hello guys Well, we have memory upgrades with SpartaDOS built in, so why would Covox on a memory expansion be illogical? Sincerely Mathy SpartaDOS X has a broader scope of appeal. Covox is more of a toy. I've yet to see it used for any practical application that involves anything beside itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Hello guys That still doesn't mean it's logical to have SpartaDOS on a memory upgrade. Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Hello guys That still doesn't mean it's logical to have SpartaDOS on a memory upgrade. Sincerely Mathy Aren't the ROM slots open for flashing with whatever (I guess you're speaking of U1MB)? So it's more of a general purpose RAM and ROM module. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I seem to recall a raging debate about the possible inclusion of Covox on the second run of IDE Plus 2.0 adapters. Some experienced developers considered it reasonable while others dismissed the idea as ridiculous (so: illogical and then some). It was eventually dropped. Ultimate 1MB's design goals were clear from the outset: RAM upgrade and multi-OS tool with RTC and SpartaDOS X. The later (opportune) addition of PBI functionality required no extra hardware and no extra cost. IDE Plus 2.0 was billed as a hard disk host adapter with RTC and SpartaDOS X, so the Covox idea seemed to come out of the blue. Covox (and I know little about it - never had it, never used it) seems to be something which is opportunely added when there is sufficient slack resource to hand with no other obvious application. However, in the case of RAM 320XE, it's clearly not a free lunch so the question really does come down to the needs of the many and the few. Hopefully the debate won't become a re-run of the previous one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Hello David Thanks for clearing that up, I was under the false impression, that there was an Audio Output on the PBI/ECI. Sincerely Mathy PS @All, how often do you mix Pokey sound with Covox sound? Well, (Beware: personal/subjective opinion!) I have upgraded two Atari 800XL computers with U1MB by Candle and also simple-stereo by Candle (which includes Covox). Alas, Covox without any amplifier is very silent (thats what the I/O-Board is also for, an amp. for Covox!), you have to turn the volume very high/loud to hear it. Since tfhh / Abbuc Computerdoc built-in the U1MB and the simple-stereo for me and I did not want to buy the I/O-Board, I asked him if he could find some amp. for the Covox, so he built-in another chip for me. As a result, Covox can now be heard very good. And thats the problem: Covox is noisy ! Very, very noisy ! I would say Covox requires some good Dolby noise-reduction But to be honest, Covox produces an awful lot of noise, its not much fun listening to it. tfhh tried to explain the reason to me, but I did not fully understand it (maybe he can explain it again if he reads this or someone else can). Think the Covox has so few components and is so simple, that is why it is so noisy. The simple stereo also features stereo-Pokey and I must say that two Pokeys with their 4Bit resolution sound much better (and less noisy) when playing back some MOD or NEO sounds than Covox does with its 8Bit resolution. You will notice that Covox plays some tones or frequencies that Pokey does not, but thanks to the heavy noise Covox sounds so awful, that I always prefer the Pokey-stereo sound. Most Covox programs, like Inertia, Protracker and older versions of NEOtracker (up to version 1.6 or 1.7) do have a fixed memory-location for Covox ($D600 if I remember correctly) and guess what, the Covox in the simple-stereo by Candle uses a different memory location, so Inertia, Protracker and the older versions of NEOtracker do not work with the simple-stereo Covox at all (except you are able to patch these programs, which I am not). Only the newer/newest Neotracker 1.8 works fine with the simple-stereo Covox (you have to configure it to $D280 instead of $D600 for the simple-stereo Covox) and err, if you set/configure this Neotracker 1.8 to/for Pokey only and create the NEO.COM file then it does not play any sounds ! So I have to keep two versions of Neotracker, V1.6 for Pokey only (and stereo-final by Lotharek, two of them are built-in into other computers) and V1.8 for simple-stereo Covox... not so nice. Overall, I am very disappointed with the Covox. Now that I have it, Stereo-Pokey is great, but Covox is not so good in my opinion. Besides, I did my sound-tests with my old 1980s & 1990s stereo Hifi-System (4x 140 watts), not the tv-speakers (nor a 5.1 / 7.1 Dolby-Digital-Surround-Pro-Logic-HD-THX-Ultra-something) ... -Andreas Koch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 NeoTracker technically is not fixed address. All versions I have seen, come with an "installer". You specify the required options (single or dual pokey, and covox address), and then it builds the appropriate executable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctirad Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 As a result, Covox can now be heard very good. And thats the problem: Covox is noisy ! Very, very noisy ! ... The simple stereo also features stereo-Pokey and I must say that two Pokeys with their 4Bit resolution sound much better (and less noisy) when playing back some MOD or NEO sounds than Covox does with its 8Bit resolution. That is strange. The Covox indeed does not produce any kind of HiFi becuase of the limited sample rate, but it does produce quite decent sound which is WAY richer and clearer than the 4bit Pokey can do. I will add some audio later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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