xjas Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 So I'm about to order an Ubergrom board from Arcadeshopper. I figured I'd throw another couple PCBs in to save on shipping. I see they have a 512kB board or a 64kB board & aside from the EPROM itself all the components would be pretty easy to obtain. Is there a distinct advantage of one over the other? Compatability issues with the 512k or is the 64k EPROM easier to source/program? Should I get one of each? (Will probably get two boards in any case.) Is there a more advanced option that uses EEPROMs or flash memory? I'm mostly interested in running my own binaries (my E/A cart arrived!), but I might order some pre-programmed multicarts chips from AS as well - I assume these will plug into an assembled board and work straight away? Sorry for the really basic questions - I have zero experience with EPROM programming as of yet but it's something I've wanted to be able to do for some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Here's the lowdown on the various cartridge boards: Black boards are 128K boards (but can be used as a four-in-one cartridge with 128K in each zone with the addition of two switches--the board includes their tie points in the layout). These use the inverse, Guidry-board bank switching method. A large number of cartridge images exist in this format, so it makes sense to keep them available--and there are a lot of new cartridges out there that use this format as well. These are the ultimate extension of the 16K/64K Guidry boards. Red boards are 512K boards that use the non-inverted bank switching method. There are now eight cartridge images out there that rely on this board--with a ninth one mostly laid out. This board can be expanded to a two-in-one cartridge with 512K in each zone by adding a single switch--and the tie points for that are already part of the layout. This one also supports use of Non-volatile Static RAM chips instead of EPROMs, up to 512K in size. Blue UberGROM boards support several possible options--512K non-inverted bank switched cartridge images, 120K of GROM and the 512K of non-inverted bank switched ROM, pure GROM (120K), or several other possibilities using the additional capabilities of the Atmel 1284 (already foreseen in the layout). Four images exist so far that use the ROM/GROM in combination, and any image that will run on the Red boards will run on this board as well. Yellow 2048K boards support up to two megabytes of non-inverted bank-switched EPROM. Only one image exists for this board at the moment--it includes the first four game cartridge images for the Red boards. Not too many folks in the community can program the 27C160 chips used by this board, so I only sell it as a complete cartridge at the moment--especially since there are very few sources of good 27C160 chips out there (I've found two sources of good chips and a lot more that provide bad or mostly bad chips--if you buy these chips from China, you will not be too happy with the results). Green Supercart boards are designed for super cartridges using an Editor/Assembler GROM and a 32K Static RAM chip divided into four 8K banks using a pair of switches. This cartridge is battery-backed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Neat idea to colour code them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kl99 Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Ksarul, can you share the good Sources for the 27C160 chips? Is your programmer an all in one solution meaning can it program all the chips necessary to produce all kinds of TI cartridges? Can you share the model? Thx, kl99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 I'm using an Advin Systems Pilot U84+ to do most of my programming. It will do every chip used in the cartridges except the Atmel1284 chip. This is an older professional-grade programmer that requires a parallel connection--and an operating system prior to Windows Vista. I have a universal PLCC adapter for it, an 8-port 32-pin PLCC GANG adapter and an 8-port 32-pin DIP gang adapter. I have a separate Ukranian adapter that I bought to do the Atmel 1284 chips using a USB connection. On the 27C160 chips--there are just two sellers that have them for reasonable prices on eBay that aren't in China or Taiwan. I haven't tried any of the Taiwanese vendors, so I can't say anything good or bad there. Every mainland Chinese vendor (including Hong Kong) I've tried so far has sent junk. Both of the other vendors have sold me good chips every time I've bought from them (one is in the US, the other is in Bulgaria). A quick search on eBay will turn up both of them pretty fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKRetrogamer Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 (edited) An adaptor is available for the USB GQ-4X Programmer. The ADP-054 adaptor is supposed to work with 16Mbit EPROMs including the 27C160 though it's not going to be any help to growing the number of TL866 owners on here. This (very wobbly) adaptor would probably fit the TL866 but without checking, I'd assume the TL866 doesn't have firmware routines to support the 27C160. It's a pity really as the 27C160 EPROMs are cheaper and more readily available here in the UK than the ones used in the 512K carts and the TL866CS will also program Atmel 1284s out of the box. It might be a while before I can splash out on yet another programmer and adaptor. I'd prefer to program my own rather than rely on others to do the programming for me. Edited January 9, 2015 by UKRetrogamer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xjas Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 Ksarul thanks a lot for the rundown! Just ordered a black, red & ubergrom board. And some multicart EPROMS. Should be enough to play with for a while. Now I need to find some junk carts for shells... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I should probably put the bank test programs used for the Red and Black boards up here. . .the 74LS379 (AM25LS08) and 74LS378 (AM25LS07) chips don't always start in the first or last banks--this program detects the starting bank and lets you know if all of the banks are good. Much easier than pulling your hair out when a board doesn't react normally. . .as you'll be able to detect the starting conditions of the board and swap out the chip until you find one with one of the proper starting banks. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+acadiel Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I should probably put the bank test programs used for the Red and Black boards up here. . .the 74LS379 (AM25LS08) and 74LS378 (AM25LS07) chips don't always start in the first or last banks--this program detects the starting bank and lets you know if all of the banks are good. Much easier than pulling your hair out when a board doesn't react normally. . .as you'll be able to detect the starting conditions of the board and swap out the chip until you find one with one of the proper starting banks. . . Yes. That program that Tursi wrote is a lifesaver. It has saved me large amounts of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Not to mention killing the random frustration factor when one of the chips didn't start in the right bank. . .I'll pull the necessary files out and put them up here later today. . . .and this thread probably needs to be moved to the hardware side, Albert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.