New Hardware Offering: Dual Right Angle XL/XE Cart Expansion

[+tf_hh]

Do you have either the 130XE Dual RA or ECI2PBI cartridge adapters? If you do try what tf_hh is describing. I don't have the Dragon cart to test with,

so I can't say if it will work or not.

 

Did some more research... I changed the logic for the GAL (used in both adapters from Dropcheck, not depending which PCB I use for this trial) and insert the SiDE2 into slot #1, the DragonCart into slot #2. The DragonCart registers are always visible, independent on the position´s switch. Signal CCTL is always pass-through to slot #2 (where DragonCart is plugged in), sginals S4 and S5 are always high - and signals RD4 & RD5 or slot #2 are ignored. This works fine.

 

But the SiDE2 seems to use anything in $D5F0...$D5FF. When I start up the system, then the screen looks like:

Ultimate clock installed
SIDE not present

     SpartaDOS X 4.48 23-07-2016
   Copyright (C) 2016 by FTe & DLT

So the RTC is found, but I think the APT driver won´t initialize. After detaching the DragonCart all is fine.

 

Next try... I set the DragonCart to use $D5D0...$D5DF. This seems to work - but more tests must be done. I need some software to test the functionality of the DragonCart. Help wanted.

 

Second... what I didn´t know... does the area $D5D0...$D5DF is used by SDX in any way? If so, then some time using SDX or the SiDE loader the system may crash. Otherwise this should be a good way to co-existence.

 

New GAL logic for this experiment is sent to Dropcheck

 

Jurgen

Edited April 2, 2017 by tf_hh

[Dropcheck]

Outstanding!

 

Is it possible that other such combinations would be possible? Obviously it would only work for a few cart combinations. Only one cart uses the R4/R5 and S4/S5 lines while the other only needs and uses the pass-thru CCTL line.

[+David_P]

Perhaps the ABBUC USB cart? Though I think it uses several bytes in the $D5xx area, so it may be problematic with banked carts (or built-in SDX).

 

https://www.atarimax.com/usbcart/documentation/

 

https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=ProjUSBCartTwoPic

[_The Doctor__]

has the new board run occured yet, and is the new programming in the pipe already as well?

[Dropcheck]

As I understand it this is still experimental and is expected to only work with certain carts.

 

Not sure if the software will work generically or only for this use yet. I can check to see if the new software presents a problem in normal use. If not I'll start using it as the primary GAL software used.

 

Per tf_hh it shouldn't matter which board is used, Dual RA Cart extension or 130XE ECI2PBI v1.2. The fixed boards for the 130XE ECI2PBI v1.2 are available on my site. The Dual RA Cart extension boards are currently out.

[+tf_hh]

As I understand it this is still experimental and is expected to only work with certain carts.

 

Not sure if the software will work generically or only for this use yet. I can check to see if the new software presents a problem in normal use. If not I'll start using it as the primary GAL software used.

 

Per tf_hh it shouldn't matter which board is used, Dual RA Cart extension or 130XE ECI2PBI v1.2. The fixed boards for the 130XE ECI2PBI v1.2 are available on my site. The Dual RA Cart extension boards are currently out.

 

Yes, absolutely right. It´s experimental. And useful only with carts like the DragonCart, which doesn´t require / allocate memory using S4/S5 or RD4/RD5 (like ABBUC USB cart, DragonCart, some RTC cartridges, Turbo Tape carts and so on).

 

Maybe I can fit both usages into the one little GAL, so that the Dual RA Cart Extender or the 130 XE ECI2PBI can be used in both ways - the original way like Lenore develope them and the 2nd usage for having two special carts at one system. Of course a little extra switch must be added to the PCB and a modified GAL logic.

 

Before nobody can provide an ATR with "ready to test" software the DragonCart I can´t go further. I haven´t time for exploring the DragonCart by myself - other projects must be finished before.

 

Jurgen

[_The Doctor__]

I have a dragon cart and have used it with the provided ip65, contiki, etc

 

please snag what you need from these links, it works well, I use it for irc and telnet all the time, the browser works but has to toss away quite a bit, the more they add to todays pages, the worse it may look(may take a while too), I try to stick to mobile sites or lynx sites...

 

https://github.com/oliverschmidt/contiki/releases/tag/3.0

https://github.com/oliverschmidt/ip65/releases/tag/2016-10-16

http://www.atari8ethernet.com/Download.html

 

The cartridge works well enough provided you understand it's designed to make the Atari do the work.... other chipsets and solutions have been talked about that could offload the work the same as it has been done on pretty much all the other platforms. I use it to telnet into certain devices and windozzz boxes (it's fun using the Atari to make the wintel boxes do my bidding, or to choose what the linux media server is playing), and of course relay chat (freenode, ##Atari) rarely do I go to web pages any longer(they keep changing the schemes and style sheets as well as all the spam methods, quite honestly browsing can s*ck on the best machine with fast internet these days even using all the toys to kill adds, spam banners flash blah blah rich content/noise) so I think if It doesn't interfere with the other marvels, using the ecipbi board, I will settle on it's use as a page server to shoe the current bbs ip address and some news/stats on the board/wall/happenings.

 

So grab the atr's and putz about... It serves web pages, the telnet server works, and the telnet client works, irc works, and it can browse. What else can you say.. it's ethernet... I even mucked about with ftp a bit but haven't got it to do anything with the network storage drive yet... If I manage that I will be happy happy happy... so far I don't have that one piece nailed down....

Edited April 5, 2017 by _The Doctor__

[_The Doctor__]

@dropcheck,

I can access your site again! so that's good..... I guess my question was if the v 2.0 boards were in and all was good now.... If the firmware does get sorted and is switchable as tf_hh Jurgen says it might very well be then that's a plus.. splitting the tower of cartridge power up is a must.... the stress it puts on a 130xe cart port is not good at all... cutting the stack of sparta/express/bxe/rtime8/whatever the last cart plugged into the top might be in half and letting the carts as well as the ecipbi select what's running sound like a win win to me...

[_The Doctor__]

oh lord my apologies I jumped threads, this all belonged in the 130ecipbi/xlr thread.... ughhhh how did I end up in the dual ra thread... face palm.... here me mutter unkind words at myself...... it may still apply to both projects in any event....

 

hmmm pbi2xlr with dual slots for the XL's yeah that's the next ticket to punch! then I can see my monitor without looking and leaning around the tower of power.....

Edited April 5, 2017 by _The Doctor__

[Dropcheck]

Quick test with new software and normal cartridges in an 130XE ECI2PBI v 2.0

 

As expected:

 

Slot 1 functions normally

 

Slot 2 defaults to builtin Basic Ready prompt regardless of the cart used. ie Action (Orange) and Mule (cart based) No Dragon or USB cart to test with.

[8bit-Dude]

 

Did some more research... I changed the logic for the GAL (used in both adapters from Dropcheck, not depending which PCB I use for this trial) and insert the SiDE2 into slot #1, the DragonCart into slot #2. The DragonCart registers are always visible, independent on the position´s switch. Signal CCTL is always pass-through to slot #2 (where DragonCart is plugged in), sginals S4 and S5 are always high - and signals RD4 & RD5 or slot #2 are ignored. This works fine.

 

But the SiDE2 seems to use anything in $D5F0...$D5FF. When I start up the system, then the screen looks like:

Ultimate clock installed
SIDE not present

     SpartaDOS X 4.48 23-07-2016
   Copyright (C) 2016 by FTe & DLT

So the RTC is found, but I think the APT driver won´t initialize. After detaching the DragonCart all is fine.

 

Next try... I set the DragonCart to use $D5D0...$D5DF. This seems to work - but more tests must be done. I need some software to test the functionality of the DragonCart. Help wanted.

 

Second... what I didn´t know... does the area $D5D0...$D5DF is used by SDX in any way? If so, then some time using SDX or the SiDE loader the system may crash. Otherwise this should be a good way to co-existence.

 

New GAL logic for this experiment is sent to Dropcheck

 

Jurgen

 

 

Hey Guyz,

I received my DUAL adaptor this week, and tried to experiment with it.

 

Like tf_hh, I can get the dragoncart to work when in slot 2 by setting the memory address to D5F0.

It works regardless of the DUAL switch position.

 

However, the SIDE2 is not working properly if the dragon cart is inserted.

In SpartaDos mode, I get same message (SIDE not present).

In Side Loader mode, the menu screen shows up but the CF card is not read.

 

The problems go away if the dragon cart is pulled out.

 

EDIT:

 

With DragonCart at address D5E0, the SIDE2 report: Ultimate Clock not present.

I will carry on switch by switch...

 

EDIT:

 

With DragonCart at address D5D0, the SIDE2 seems to boot normally.

Furthermore, I can access the dragoncart and read URLs (loading program from an SDIO2SD reader)

I am waiting to get a new CF (mine has partition problems), then I will confirm that both SIDE2 and DRAGON and working together seemlessly.

Looks promising though, thanks for the work put into this!!!

Edited April 19, 2017 by 8bit-Dude

[8bit-Dude]

One very important observation:

After changing the dip switches, the DragonCART will not work in Slot2, unless it has been inserted in Slot1 first.
No idea why that is...

[Dropcheck]

One very important observation:

 

After changing the dip switches, the DragonCART will not work in Slot2, unless it has been inserted in Slot1 first.

No idea why that is...

 

 

Glad you've had success at least to some degree. Hopefully when the sdcard comes in, you can confirm it is working completely.

 

It is possible that other specialty carts could also function with the modified GAL programming, but that unfortunately will be a hit or miss. There's just too many combinations of 3rd party addons to say without exhaustive testing and many of those I don't have to test with.

 

I'd like to add your setup to a list of compatible configurations for the modified GAL, if you can revisit the topic when the sdcard comes in to list what does and does not work.

[+tf_hh]

With DragonCart at address D5D0, the SIDE2 seems to boot normally.

Furthermore, I can access the dragoncart and read URLs (loading program from an SDIO2SD reader)

I am waiting to get a new CF (mine has partition problems), then I will confirm that both SIDE2 and DRAGON and working together seemlessly.

Looks promising though, thanks for the work put into this!!!

 

Hi,

 

could you sent me an ATR file with some stuff to use the DragonCart? I haven´t found the time to play around with the D.C. until now.

 

Thanks.

 

Jurgen

[8bit-Dude]

 

could you sent me an ATR file with some stuff to use the DragonCart? I haven´t found the time to play around with the D.C. until now.

 

These are the IP65 examples, compiled for D5D0 DragonCart Config: http://8bit-slicks.com/IP65-Tests-D5D0.zip

My own game called 8bit-slicks will come out on Atari after I have released the Commodore version.

It is a cross-platform online multiplayer racing game.