Antonia 4MB or Ultimate 1MB which one and why?

[macsonny]

Anyone have photos of this installed in a 65XE or 130 XE?

[Beeblebrox]

2 hours ago, macsonny said:

Anyone have photos of this installed in a 65XE or 130 XE?

Which one? 😁

[macsonny]

9 minutes ago, Beeblebrox said:

Which one? 😁

Atari 65XE (mine has the 4 RAM slots so I upgraded to 128k to make it a 130XE).

[Beeblebrox]

2 hours ago, macsonny said:

Atari 65XE (mine has the 4 RAM slots so I upgraded to 128k to make it a 130XE).

sure, what I meant was are you after photos of an Antonia or an U1MB installed in and XE? (This thread is about both). I am kinda assuming you are after Antonia install images.

[macsonny]

45 minutes ago, Beeblebrox said:

sure, what I meant was are you after photos of an Antonia or an U1MB installed in and XE? (This thread is about both). I am kinda assuming you are after Antonia install images.

Aaaah, so sorry. yes, the Antonia 4MB for 65XE with VBXE installation photos  is what I'm after

[Beeblebrox]

13 minutes ago, macsonny said:

Aaaah, so sorry. yes, the Antonia 4MB for 65XE with VBXE installation photos  is what I'm after

No worries. If I recall my only experience with an Antonia installed in an XE was on it's own but couldn't get it to run - it crashed all the time. I think I later had a VBXE in the same machine at some stage but with U1MB instead since they are designed to work with each other.

 

I am sure there will be some who have successfully installed Antonia and VBXE together. I seem to recall space is an issue as the Antonia board and VBXE are close given Antic is directly below the CPU on the PCB. I expect extra socket(s) would be needed under the VBXE to raise it above the Antonia.

 

Might be checking out Woj's work who used some ingenious workrounds for fitting lots of upgrades into an XE.

 

[macsonny]

I agree there really won't be space under the VBXE for the Antonia but I have a bit of a crazy idea. If I can get a 40-pin male and female IDC to ribbon cable socket then I can make a short cable to place the Antonia elsewhere in the 65XE case. That should work.

 

For the life of me I can't seem to find female 40-pin IDC connectors that I can crimp to ribbon cable. Male connectors is easy.

 

Do you think that might work?

[Beeblebrox]

1 hour ago, macsonny said:

I agree there really won't be space under the VBXE for the Antonia but I have a bit of a crazy idea. If I can get a 40-pin male and female IDC to ribbon cable socket then I can make a short cable to place the Antonia elsewhere in the 65XE case. That should work.

 

For the life of me I can't seem to find female 40-pin IDC connectors that I can crimp to ribbon cable. Male connectors is easy.

 

Do you think that might work?

I actually had a similar idea a couple of years back for relocating my Simple stereo mod's 2nd pokey chip in a 600XL. It alredy had AKI USB keyboard interface plugged into the pokey socket - thus the case wouldn't close as the overall chip stack profile was too high. I tried finding said IDC adapter and in the end I cobbled together a rig with a couple of spare 40pin sockets, a small piece of PCB and a ribbon cable. Lots of soldering to connect all the wires to the sockets and it looked awful - but it worked.

It allowed me to place the second pokey chip used for the simple stereo up near the SIO where there was a space and the case was able to close. Not sure attempting to do a similar thing for the Antonia is viable as the extra distance the CPU signals will have to travel and any interferance might see the CPU not functioning.

 

The other route if you have the skills is to do what Woj did and design yourself an adapter on one of the circuitboard building sites to create a Gerber file (sorry, my terminology isn't up to speed - Gerber?!). Then get it made.  Would take some practice and maybe Woj could point you in the right direction? Again have a look at the thread I linkde to above.

[+scorpio_ny]

20 hours ago, macsonny said:

I agree there really won't be space under the VBXE for the Antonia but I have a bit of a crazy idea. If I can get a 40-pin male and female IDC to ribbon cable socket then I can make a short cable to place the Antonia elsewhere in the 65XE case. That should work.

 

For the life of me I can't seem to find female 40-pin IDC connectors that I can crimp to ribbon cable. Male connectors is easy.

 

Do you think that might work?

It should work. I did this with my Atari 600XL to move the Antonia board further up in the case. I used a pre-made board that pin headers and I made the ribbon cable myself. If you are interested, I will see if I can did up where I got the board. And in the same computer, I used the same method to relocate the Sophia video mod ( the version that still requires a GTIA chip) further up the board. 

 

[Beeblebrox]

1 hour ago, scorpio_ny said:

It should work. I did this with my Atari 600XL to move the Antonia board further up in the case. I used a pre-made board that pin headers and I made the ribbon cable myself. If you are interested, I will see if I can did up where I got the board. And in the same computer, I used the same method to relocate the Sophia video mod ( the version that still requires a GTIA chip) further up the board. 

 

Cool. I'd be very interested to see images of the relocation work as well a source for the board. For Sophia 2 in the 600XL and 800XL I never mod the casing. Instead I have a 3D printed PBI port mount for the DVI port. As such I always have to extend the Sophia 2's ribbon cable to avoid it being tight stretch. Also in the XE A8s you are obviously restricted to installing either Sophia 2 or VBXE because the Antic and GTIA chips are so close together. To relocate the Sophia 2 would be great.

Edited August 12, 2023 by Beeblebrox

[+scorpio_ny]

5 hours ago, Beeblebrox said:

Cool. I'd be very interested to see images of the relocation work as well a source for the board. For Sophia 2 in the 600XL and 800XL I never mod the casing. Instead I have a 3D printed PBI port mount for the DVI port. As such I always have to extend the Sophia 2's ribbon cable to avoid it being tight stretch. Also in the XE A8s you are obviously restricted to installing either Sophia 2 or VBXE because the Antic and GTIA chips are so close together. To relocate the Sophia 2 would be great.

I feel the same way @Beeblebrox. I do not want to cut in the casing. As hard as it is to sometimes to get a nice working machine, it is even harder to get a machine with a nice case that is stock. I will see if I can post some pics.

[+scorpio_ny]

Ok, here is my Atari 600XL with both the Antonia board and Sophia DVI connected with ribbon cable and the adapter boards. They are secured in the areas with double sided tape:

I am running with several of the chips removed from the mother board because they are no longer needed on the 600XL. It may be different on a 65 XE/130XE.

 

Here it is running the Robotron cart:

I ran the output to the external PBI cover. I tapped on the already provided audio out  via soldered external audio jack. 

Here is the link of the board that I purchased to relocate the upgrades. 

Edited August 12, 2023 by scorpio_ny
added more info

[Beeblebrox]

@scorpio_nyGreat, thanks for all that. 

 

Interestingly you are running some mini heatsinks in there.

 

Edit:just followed the link to see the 40pin dip adapter and cable. Now after a quick search I recall the difficulty of actually sourcing one of these in the UK. Absolutely nothing coming up. 🤔😉

 

 

Edited August 12, 2023 by Beeblebrox

[+scorpio_ny]

21 minutes ago, Beeblebrox said:

@scorpio_nyGreat, thanks for all that. 

 

Interestingly you are running some mini heatsinks in there.

 

Edit:just followed the link to see the 40pin dip adapter and cable. Now after a quick search I recall the difficulty of actually sourcing one of these in the UK. Absolutely nothing coming up. 🤔😉

 

 

The heat sinks actual came with the Sophia DVI board. I am not sure if it was offered with the board, since I purchased both items from EBay.

 

As for the board, try looking at sites that cater to Raspberry Pi projects.

[Beeblebrox]

1 hour ago, scorpio_ny said:

The heat sinks actual came with the Sophia DVI board. I am not sure if it was offered with the board, since I purchased both items from EBay.

Really?  All the Sophia 2 boards including the 2023 batch ones I've had didn't have heatsinks. Interesting.

1 hour ago, scorpio_ny said:

 

As for the board, try looking at sites that cater to Raspberry Pi projects.

thanks for the tip

 

EDIT: Maybe too soon to give up but 10 minutes of searching with Raspberry pi related in mind and with as many variations of search wording as I can think up, (including the name for the adapter board you had sourced), I am getting nothing. It seems only your linked site in the States sells them. I'll keep looking but I am going down rabbit holes here.

Edited August 12, 2023 by Beeblebrox
adding more info

[Piotr D. Kaczorowski]

 

Atari 600XL - SRAM 64K, Ultimate 1MB, VBXE, SAVO XL

 

 

[xrbrevin]

Given the limited room inside the 600XL, i'd consider the modulator more expendable than usual..

[macsonny]

2 hours ago, Piotr D. Kaczorowski said:

 

Atari 600XL - SRAM 64K, Ultimate 1MB, VBXE, SAVO XL

 

 

Lots of room inside the 600XL. Not so great with a 130XE 😞

[flashjazzcat]

Must every thread have a picture of SAVO indiscriminately dumped into it, regardless of the subject? I don't even object to the device at all and have installed several in customer machines, but this thread is about memory expansions, FFS. The same thing happened in Facebook groups when this device was being pushed, and it was certainly noticed.

 

[+Stephen]

58 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said:

Must every thread have a picture of SAVO indiscriminately dumped into it, regardless of the subject? I don't even object to the device at all and have installed several in customer machines, but this thread is about memory expansions, FFS. The same thing happened in Facebook groups when this device was being pushed, and it was certainly noticed.

I thought it was just me having a memory issue (what thread am I in)!

[flashjazzcat]

12 hours ago, Stephen said:

I thought it was just me having a memory issue (what thread am I in)!

SAVO, HAVO, SAVO Plus, SAVO Classic, SAVO Pro, O2 Fixer, Rapidus: 'All your threads are belong to us now'.

[XL Freak]

On 8/12/2023 at 2:54 PM, scorpio_ny said:

Here is the link of the board that I purchased to relocate the upgrades. 

That's the exact board I'm thinking about using to install the Antonia in my new 800XL, but I'll be using the RA version. (right angle idc pins) I'm also going to use this ribbon cable with idc connector attached. It's long enough to cut it in half and make two 9 inch cables, using this male 40 pin dip ribbon cable socket to plug into the CPU socket (from digikey). If anyone has links to Mouser or Amazon for that male 40 pin ribbon socket from digikey, please reply and let me know! Mouser and Amazon both deliver (to me at least) in two days and digikey takes over a week most times.

 

I know this isn't the right thread, but hey... I wanted an 800XL to sit beside my @flashjazzcat modified 130XE and SF551 (which is actually incorrectly named - it should be XF352!) so I took a chance on an untested 800XL on ebay and... Please don't hate me.. what arrived was a  virgin, fully socketed, pristine condition unit that's only fault is the power led doesn't work. For a hundred bucks... 😁😁😁

[+scorpio_ny]

1 hour ago, XL Freak said:

That's the exact board I'm thinking about using to install the Antonia in my new 800XL, but I'll be using the RA version. (right angle idc pins) I'm also going to use this ribbon cable with idc connector attached. It's long enough to cut it in half and make two 9 inch cables, using this male 40 pin dip ribbon cable socket to plug into the CPU socket (from digikey). If anyone has links to Mouser or Amazon for that male 40 pin ribbon socket from digikey, please reply and let me know! Mouser and Amazon both deliver (to me at least) in two days and digikey takes over a week most times. 

I do not know if this helps, but I got that connector from Jameco. Here is the link to the part. And by the way, I tried to use that same type of colored ribbon cable it did not work well for me because the insulator for the cable strands was too thick. Not only did it not allow a proper crimp with the socket I posted, it did not align with teeth either. I had to revert to use the more standard thinner grey cable to get it to work.

 

 

Edited November 1, 2023 by scorpio_ny

[XL Freak]

1 hour ago, scorpio_ny said:

I got that connector from Jameco. Here is the link

Thank you for that! And for the notes on the ribbon cable!

 

I was chatting with @flashjazzcat and he recommended an Adaptus board from Lotharek. His site doesn't list them anymore so I emailed him for one, as they were custom made to install the Rapidus mod, and it just so happens the Antonia installs very similarly.

[XL Freak]

On 8/11/2023 at 4:52 AM, macsonny said:

a short cable to place the Antonia elsewhere in the 65XE case

I've spoken with Carl Barnes at Technological Arts in California, USA, and they have developed a small pcb/ribbon project for just such the occasion. If anyone is interested, pls email orders@technologicalarts.com and inquire about item# DIP40P2SCA20. These are the pics he sent me.

 

I have also asked Simius about using one of Lotharek's Adaptus boards to mount the Antonia in the OS Rom socket when it won't fit under the keyboard in the CPU socket. When I hear back from him, I'll update this post.

 

Edit:

Quote

For the life of me I can't seem to find female 40-pin IDC connectors that I can crimp to ribbon cable. Male connectors is easy.

I searched also, and was told they don't make such a thing.

 

Edit:

Quote

Here is the link of the board that I purchased to relocate the upgrades.

That pcb is part of the solution I mentioned above.

Edited November 4, 2023 by XL Freak