morelenmir Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Unfortunately, replacing the 74LS08 with a 74F08 had absolutely no effect. The problem exists exactly as it did before, where I can't use a cartridge with the SimpleStereo board. I did order another SimpleStereo board with the U-Switch, so I'll stick that in and see what happens. I'm sorry to hear that Panther. I hope you get to the bottom of it through some other route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 23, 2016 Author Share Posted January 23, 2016 (edited) Okay I took the CF card out of the Atari800 (Incognito) and put it into my side2 with 800xl and ultimate hardware and all my partitions stay in place and don't disappear like when in the incognito. But why does just DH: and DI: and not the others. I am going to do a test and change volume H to --- and change N: to D7: O: to D9: . Here you go: That's SDX's initialisation code writing to $D508 on power-up under Ultimate 1MB. Incognito appears to let this write pass straight through to the PBI RAM at $D500-$D5BF, clobbering your "H:" partition. Not that I've tested it yet, but this suggests to me that if you use - for example - a MaxFlash cart with Incognito's PBI BIOS, the partition table will be completely obliterated by cartridge bank switching; a problem not present in Ultimate 1MB. I can kludge the Incognito PBI BIOS so that the partition table doesn't get damaged by SDX writes, but unless there's a good reason for this write-through behaviour, it really needs addressing in a VHDL update. The bug as it stands has existed since day one, and it's taken this long to discover it (thanks to Roy). EDIT: Have emailed Candle for clarification. Edited January 23, 2016 by flashjazzcat 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 23, 2016 Author Share Posted January 23, 2016 In the meantime, a software fix which prevents partition table corruption in RAM in typical circumstances: inpbi154.rom Power cycle or refresh partition table after applying this update, since $D5xx equates have moved. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roydea6 Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 (edited) My partitions are back. Except now I am missing partition DK: Thanks for these efforts.. Edited January 23, 2016 by rdea6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 23, 2016 Author Share Posted January 23, 2016 My partitions are back. Except now I am missing partition DK: Bloody Hell. Need to inventory all OS/SDX writes to CCTL and hopefully find a safe zone somewhere... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 No worries at all stormbringer - I'll be glad to help in any way I can! When it comes to modding the thing then Kyle22 is the real expert. The only slightly tricky part of the process is picking the correct right-angled header-socket, but I think I have chased that down now. Morelenmir, For fear of burning down my house somehow, would you be able to make a package for me that I can use to upload with my new TL866A (thanks for the info btw)? I have an incognito fyw... I just would like a safe starting point before I go mucking around on my own to see what trouble I get into Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 23, 2016 Author Share Posted January 23, 2016 (edited) My partitions are back. Except now I am missing partition DK: Thanks for these efforts.. Here's where partition K: went: Another SDX write. I'll see if I can move everything into the $D1xx range, which might get us out of trouble without a VHDL change. EDIT: Nah... that's not gonna fly. All I can do is shuffle things around so they're above $D520 or thereabouts, and I don't particularly like these kinds of kludges. Edited January 23, 2016 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morelenmir Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Morelenmir, For fear of burning down my house somehow, would you be able to make a package for me that I can use to upload with my new TL866A (thanks for the info btw)? I have an incognito fyw... I just would like a safe starting point before I go mucking around on my own to see what trouble I get into Arrgh! Once again I fear I may be about to fall flat on my face! I could certainly put together a complete Ultimate1MB eeprom file for you without any problem. This is because Altirra emulates that mod completely and you can effectively flash the virtual hardware with all the newest constituent parts of the BIOS and then save the finished item to disk. This file is then used directly to flash the physical Ultimate1MB via the trusty 866. Sadly I am pretty certain the Incognito mod is not emulated by Altirra... This would not have been a total roadblock in the past, as there were several tools to create a combined BIOS on the PC before writing it - but that software does not support the recent updates... As things stand I think someone who has a working Incognito, fully updated will need to dump their complete BIOS to file via uFlash and then upload it for you. I really hate to say this but that is one task I cannot directly help with as I do not have a physical 800 modded with an Incognito. Damnit - my helpfulness index is at an all time low this week!!! However, once you get hold of a completed BIOS file I can certainly guide you through the process of actually flashing it on to your Incognito's eeprom chip. Do not worry - I don't think you're going to short out and burn your house down with this one! As an outline; It is just a case of choosing the right eeprom from the list of chips inside the 'MiniPro' application, removing the IC from your Incognito, snapping it in to the correctly sized adapter board for the 866 and then latching it down in the big green zif socket. From there you choose the complete BIOS file via 'File->Open', then choose 'Device->Programme' and it will write the file on to the eeprom. If you like you can 'Device->Erase' & 'Device->Blank check' beforehand just to make sure you are putting the data on to a fresh canvas as it were, but I do not think that is really necessary. Once done and 'Device->Verify' (again maybe not absolutely needed as a separate step) returns a positive you yank the IC out of the adapter, click it back in to the Incognito and you are away! Obviously this is the very broad strokes, but I can certainly help if you run in to any problems along the way - I currently have my own 866 plugged in and sitting on my desk in front of me right now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 23, 2016 Author Share Posted January 23, 2016 I posted a complete Incognito ROM a week or so back: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/240034-new-alt-bios-for-ultimate-1mbincognito/page-22?do=findComment&comment=3414681 Perhaps a separate thread for the TL866A might be a useful resource if we're going to see a lot of detailed walk-throughs and instructions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 @Morelenmir you've been more than helpful... no worries about that! as soon as I fired up Altirra I thought this is where I'd get stuck I've got the chip out and ready to go - I've already read the chip and looked for some text to make sure it read it properly and it has... just needed a rom file to burn This part seems a lot easier for me. @fjc Thanks! I now have two working incognito machines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spookt Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Just wanted to report a successful update on my Incognito 800. New loader works great. Thanks again for your continued hard work Jon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morelenmir Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 You mentioned an update to the hardware description may be necessary earlier FJC. Is that something that will be required only for the Incognito or the Ultimate1MB as well? If so, what hardware is necessary for that process? Obviously a pin-header of the correct count will need soldering down and then a dedicated programmer of some sort to actually write the new code. Obviously in this application the 866 will not surfice. I have just got hold of a 'USB Blaster' to play with the UltimateCart firmware. Will that also write to the programmable logic on the Ultimate1MB or is it a XILINX IC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 25, 2016 Author Share Posted January 25, 2016 Just the Incognito. I'll first check to make sure I haven't overlooked anything obvious. The first bit of hardware required is Candle, followed by a cheap JTAG cable and a copy of Xilinx Web Pack. There are lengthy discussions elsewhere concerning the mechanics of applying VHDL updates. USB blaster is not suitable. You need a Xilinx cable or parallel port and cheap home-made cable. The whole thing is completely academic, however, until a bug is confirmed, acknowledged and fixed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morelenmir Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Just the Incognito. I'll first check to make sure I haven't overlooked anything obvious. The first bit of hardware required is Candle, followed by a cheap JTAG cable and a copy of Xilinx Web Pack. There are lengthy discussions elsewhere concerning the mechanics of applying VHDL updates. USB blaster is not suitable. You need a Xilinx cable or parallel port and cheap home-made cable. The whole thing is completely academic, however, until a bug is confirmed, acknowledged and fixed. No worries then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 25, 2016 Author Share Posted January 25, 2016 (edited) My partitions are back. Except now I am missing partition DK: Try this: inpbi155.rom Moved all the critical data above $D518 (the highest SDX write I've seen inside the $D500-$D5BF range) and all your partitions appear to work. Power cycle required after flash. Hopefully I didn't break anything doing this: let me know. I checked to ensure I didn't do anything crazy in the main BIOS like leaving the IORAM mapped in when coming out of BIOS setup but everything's as it should be, so there's nothing more I can do for the moment. You can test this phenomenon for yourself (after updating the PBI ROM) by setting up a partition on C: (D3:) and then using POKE at the SDX prompt to put some random value at $D520. Partition C: will immediately become unreadable until the partition table is re-read. Edited January 25, 2016 by flashjazzcat 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roydea6 Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 This one was the ticket... Thanks tested the poke to $D520 and rebooted all normal.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 25, 2016 Author Share Posted January 25, 2016 That's good. The POKE test should break the partition table, though. I had a look at $D500-FF with EYE2 and the CPU is reading the IO RAM as well as writing to it when $D1FF=0, which is alarming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MacRorie Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Hmm, well, it was working under the original BIOS. I did not test it immediately prior to flashing, but I do know I could toggle on/off. It has uswitches fitted and I did not physically change anything prior to flashing the U1M. Anything else I can do to run it down? Sorry for this message, I gave you incomplete data. The Stereo Pokey is greyed out. It is greyed out at "Enabled." This is true. However, what I did not notice earlier was that the COVOX option was enabled. I could toggle it back and forth. However, toggling it to disabled does not shut the LED off on the Stereo Pokey. I will install the latest BIOS and see if that changes anything. EDIT: New Bios does not change anything. ALthough I did notice on one screen it says "Sound Hardware: Stereo" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 29, 2016 Author Share Posted January 29, 2016 (edited) The Stereo Pokey is greyed out. It is greyed out at "Enabled." This is true. However, what I did not notice earlier was that the COVOX option was enabled. I could toggle it back and forth. However, toggling it to disabled does not shut the LED off on the Stereo Pokey... I did notice on one screen it says "Sound Hardware: Stereo" OK: thanks for the extra info. If Stereo Pokey is greyed out and set to "Enabled", it means you have Stereo Pokey, it's permanently "on", and not under the control of the BIOS - for whatever reason. This corresponds to the detection of Stereo Audio in the hardware info display. Covox does not have a hardware signature in the IO region and there is no software method of detecting it, so the "Covox" option is always available. However, if you toggle it with no Covox hardware, it will do absolutely nothing. It certainly shouldn't affect Stereo Pokey (which it isn't). Sorry if you already mentioned it, but exactly what variety of Stereo Pokey board is this again? I haven't had the opportunity to personally test the setting with Candle's own board (which does not require U-Switch), but software stereo detection and toggling are confirmed working with Lotharek hardware. Suggestion (about all I can come up with): Ensure Stereo enable/disable pin is connected to "M0" pin of P4 header on Ultimate 1MB. S0 and S1 are reserved for internal device control. Edited January 29, 2016 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morelenmir Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 OK: thanks for the extra info. If Stereo Pokey is greyed out and set to "Enabled", it means you have Stereo Pokey, it's permanently "on", and not under the control of the BIOS - for whatever reason. This corresponds to the detection of Stereo Audio in the hardware info display. Covox does not have a hardware signature in the IO region and there is no software method of detecting it, so the "Covox" option is always available. However, if you toggle it with no Covox hardware, it will do absolutely nothing. It certainly shouldn't affect Stereo Pokey (which it isn't). Sorry if you already mentioned it, but exactly what variety of Stereo Pokey board is this again? I haven't had the opportunity to personally test the setting with Candle's own board (which does not require U-Switch), but software stereo detection and toggling are confirmed working with Lotharek hardware. Suggestion (about all I can come up with): Ensure Stereo enable/disable pin is connected to "M0" pin of P4 header on Ultimate 1MB. S0 and S1 are reserved for internal device control. I can confirm the current Ultimate1MB with Lotharek Stereo and a uSwitch does indeed work as it should, although I personally do not use it very much. Interestingly 'Yoomp!' for one seems to be able to switch it on even if I previously switched it off - although I find that difficult to confirm given the poor stereo separation on my monitor/TV. Perhaps it is just mixed mono coming from both speakers. You mention that S0 and S1 are reserved for internal device control FJC. Do you mean they toggle something inside the Ultimate1MB itself or are reserved for future/custom devices internal to the A8 case which can be controlled by a logic signal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 29, 2016 Author Share Posted January 29, 2016 Yoomp! tells you if stereo is present and it does not detect stereo when I turn it off in the BIOS. S0 and S1 are available for use to control custom devices via the aforementioned plug-ins. The generically named toggles (replaced when a plug-in is present) in the "Device control" menu work the pins just fine, however. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Could someone please test if Mashed Turtles works with new U1MB/Side 2 firmwares? With original firmware, like other games, it doesn't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 29, 2016 Author Share Posted January 29, 2016 Could someone please test if Mashed Turtles works with new U1MB/Side 2 firmwares? With original firmware, like other games, it doesn't work. Just a quick test in Altirra so far, but the referenced XEX appears to load correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Just a quick test in Altirra so far, but the referenced XEX appears to load correctly. Thank you. On my real hardware it loads, but when I press any key to start the game, a black screen appears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 29, 2016 Author Share Posted January 29, 2016 On my real hardware it loads, but when I press any key to start the game, a black screen appears. I'll confirm on real hardware later when my desk isn't covered in soldering equipment. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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