frogstar_robot Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 It occurs to me, the entire computer could be built as a backplane design. A card could have ANTIC, PIA, GTIA, and POKEY. Other cards can provide memory, etc. What more, the signals needed for things like VBXE could be brought out to headers on the card. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reifsnyderb Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 5 minutes ago, frogstar_robot said: It occurs to me, the entire computer could be built as a backplane design. A card could have ANTIC, PIA, GTIA, and POKEY. Other cards can provide memory, etc. What more, the signals needed for things like VBXE could be brought out to headers on the card. This could absolutely be done. The motherboard could also be sized for a standard PC case, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Yeah, I can't help but think this is a magical little box that could make it far easier to develop expansions for and way easier for people to install and use. Like we should be getting some boards into developer's hands. The only downside, I think, is that this would only work on the 800xl and 600xl, right? As none of the other computers had PBI? Unless someone designs an ECI version for the XEs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reifsnyderb Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 2 minutes ago, leech said: Yeah, I can't help but think this is a magical little box that could make it far easier to develop expansions for and way easier for people to install and use. Like we should be getting some boards into developer's hands. The only downside, I think, is that this would only work on the 800xl and 600xl, right? As none of the other computers had PBI? Unless someone designs an ECI version for the XEs. A 130XE can be connected as well as an ECI adapter has been made. Once things slow down a little, I'll get the ECI adapters and optional cards out. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Can anyone provide a link to the 1090 80-column card firmware and the charset rom? I tried to set this up in Altirra but can't find the roms. I searched using Altirra + 1090 in this thread, but didn't come up with anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DjayBee Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 2 hours ago, reifsnyderb said: This could absolutely be done. The motherboard could also be sized for a standard PC case, too. We then would be have somehow gone full circle. The very first prototypes were fitted into an S-100 based Cromemco system as ClausB recently showed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reifsnyderb Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 1 hour ago, Larry said: Can anyone provide a link to the 1090 80-column card firmware and the charset rom? I tried to set this up in Altirra but can't find the roms. I searched using Altirra + 1090 in this thread, but didn't come up with anything. 80 col os rev9.bin 80 col charset.bin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 Hello Brian 16 hours ago, reifsnyderb said: The heat sinks can get pretty warm to the touch and the shunt resistors can get uncomfortably hot. Where does the heat come from, apart from the shunt resistors? Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reifsnyderb Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 39 minutes ago, Mathy said: Hello Brian Where does the heat come from, apart from the shunt resistors? Sincerely Mathy This is the circuitry for the voltage regulators. The shunt resistors provide some current and the voltage regulators bring the voltage up to +5v. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 6 hours ago, reifsnyderb said: This could absolutely be done. The motherboard could also be sized for a standard PC case, too. What would be interesting, though require some crazy awesome engineering, would be to merge the 1090XL project along with the various other recreations like the 1088XEL (i think that is the name) so it fits in a microATX box. Just as an all in one 8bit. I think this would be more interesting than the Commander X16 project. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 14 hours ago, leech said: What would be interesting, though require some crazy awesome engineering, would be to merge the 1090XL project along with the various other recreations like the 1088XEL (i think that is the name) so it fits in a microATX box. Just as an all in one 8bit. I think this would be more interesting than the Commander X16 project. I suggested something like this a while back although based upon the larger standard ATX footprint, but it didn't go anywhere as far as I recall. I think it has merit, especially if the number of slots were to be increased, and it would open the door to cards that didn't have to supply their own onboard regulators, since the ATX PSU could supply whatever power was required by the card via the usual 4-pin PSU accessory power connectors, but still work with any existing 1090/1091XL cards. Perhaps this could still be considered as an independent project and named the 1092XL. If this approach were taken, the motherboard would contain a fully working 1088XEL incorporating buffered slots (maybe 7 of them) and have the standard ATX footprint incorporating the ATX power connection header. And because it would be based on the XEL, it would already come with a place for a U1MB to plug in, thus giving it all the bells and whistles that provides (e.g., 1MB RAM, SDX, RTC, switchable OS and Languages). The XEL architecture also brings a PS/2 based keyboard and mouse input, lending itself nicely to the ATX case. And it should come with a CART connection so that a drive bay mounted Cartridge Board could be added via a ribbon cable (aka, DropCheck extended Buffered Cart Adapter). With a bit of tear-down and modification, an Atari floppy drive or two could take up a drive bay. I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea and advantages a system like this would bring. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 51 minutes ago, mytek said: I suggested something like this a while back although based upon the larger standard ATX footprint, but it didn't go anywhere as far as I recall. I think it has merit, especially if the number of slots were to be increased, and it would open the door to cards that didn't have to supply their own onboard regulators, since the ATX PSU could supply whatever power was required by the card via the usual 4-pin PSU accessory power connectors, but still work with any existing 1090/1091XL cards. Perhaps this could still be considered as an independent project and named the 1092XL. If this approach were taken, the motherboard would contain a fully working 1088XEL incorporating buffered slots (maybe 7 of them) and have the standard ATX footprint incorporating the ATX power connection header. And because it would be based on the XEL, it would already come with a place for a U1MB to plug in, thus giving it all the bells and whistles that provides (e.g., 1MB RAM, SDX, RTC, switchable OS and Languages). The XEL architecture also brings a PS/2 based keyboard and mouse input, lending itself nicely to the ATX case. And it should come with a CART connection so that a drive bay mounted Cartridge Board could be added via a ribbon cable (aka, DropCheck extended Buffered Cart Adapter). With a bit of tear-down and modification, an Atari floppy drive or two could take up a drive bay. I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea and advantages a system like this would bring. I love this idea. Granted, these days it is hard to find new ATX cases with even one 5.25" bay, let alone several to accommodate say a cart and a couple floppy drives. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reifsnyderb Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 I like the idea of a PC case based Atari. I decided to open a thread for it's discussion. 🙂 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dropcheck Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 10 hours ago, mytek said: I suggested something like this a while back although based upon the larger standard ATX footprint, but it didn't go anywhere as far as I recall. I think it has merit, especially if the number of slots were to be increased, and it would open the door to cards that didn't have to supply their own onboard regulators, since the ATX PSU could supply whatever power was required by the card via the usual 4-pin PSU accessory power connectors, but still work with any existing 1090/1091XL cards. Perhaps this could still be considered as an independent project and named the 1092XL. If this approach were taken, the motherboard would contain a fully working 1088XEL incorporating buffered slots (maybe 7 of them) and have the standard ATX footprint incorporating the ATX power connection header. And because it would be based on the XEL, it would already come with a place for a U1MB to plug in, thus giving it all the bells and whistles that provides (e.g., 1MB RAM, SDX, RTC, switchable OS and Languages). The XEL architecture also brings a PS/2 based keyboard and mouse input, lending itself nicely to the ATX case. And it should come with a CART connection so that a drive bay mounted Cartridge Board could be added via a ribbon cable (aka, DropCheck extended Buffered Cart Adapter). With a bit of tear-down and modification, an Atari floppy drive or two could take up a drive bay. I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea and advantages a system like this would bring. I worked on that concept a few years ago for awhile. Granted the 1090/1XL portion was long before the current work had been done and my implementation probably wouldn't have worked. I ended up dropping it when health and money slapped me in the face. It is absolutely doable now. I think the only tricky part now would be positioning the Atari card slots into the ATX board form factor so that you have a perfect match with an ATX case. Wish I had the time and money to work up something now, but my head is buried in the 1450XL reimage project. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bee Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 I have IBM Portable Personal Computer 5155 model 68 "luggable" case with CRT that would make a nice setup. I will need to test the XEP80 with the Amber CRT in it. So if ATX happens I'm ready. Thank you 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dropcheck Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 1 hour ago, Bee said: I have IBM Portable Personal Computer 5155 model 68 "luggable" case with CRT that would make a nice setup. I will need to test the XEP80 with the Amber CRT in it. So if ATX happens I'm ready. Thank you Nice unit. Talk about a heavy laptop for the screen size........ Does it have rollers on the bottom of the case? Does it understand ATX standard or does it only do non-conformist laptop 80's/90's era exceptionalism? 😀 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bee Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 It's an example pic I grabbed, mine has a Power supply and the CRT, it comes down to 2 pins so I'm sure I can work it out, LOL. The case was gutted back in the 80's I found it in a company I was at in the early 90's. I do have some modered 8088 type PCs and a video card that would work with it but if an Atari ATX were around. I'd jump at putting it on this with a nice LCD on top for the 1090/1091 80 column output. It's good to see you around here - btw. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 4 hours ago, Bee said: I have IBM Portable Personal Computer 5155 model 68 "luggable" case with CRT that would make a nice setup. I will need to test the XEP80 with the Amber CRT in it. So if ATX happens I'm ready. Thank you Hmm, I have an Amber Atari monitor that would pair up nicely with that! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 On 11/23/2021 at 2:30 PM, kheller2 said: Ken, Do you have a copy of the 1090 RAM CARD test? I have an EPROM laying here with that marked on it (and not sure if its valid). I wasn't sure if that was available off the Museum site or not. I also just remembered that there was a 1090 AMY card schematic. On 11/23/2021 at 7:14 PM, kenames99 said: Hi kheller2, No I do not, would appreciate a copy. Thank you. Ken Just happened to come across this by mistake, and it remembered it had been asked for. I have a folder with Amy info, containing 428 files (112MB). 1090_AMY_Card17APR84.pdf 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geister Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 Two questions, does anybody have sheet 2 (Analog section), and are Amy chips even obtainable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MacRorie Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 On 3/7/2024 at 9:17 PM, scorpio_ny said: There are gerber files for a MIDI card too. I believe it has not been tested yet. Where might one find these gerbers? Inquiring minds want to know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reifsnyderb Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 3 minutes ago, MacRorie said: Where might one find these gerbers? Inquiring minds want to know! See the post roughly 2/3rds down this page: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/318373-1090xl-remake/page/29/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MacRorie Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 10 minutes ago, reifsnyderb said: See the post roughly 2/3rds down this page: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/318373-1090xl-remake/page/29/ Cool. Thanks. For ease of reference here is the direct link to the files: https://systemembedded.eu/viewtopic.php?t=51 Also, is there a central location for schematics and other gerbers? I would like to try my hand at creating a card for this handy dandy piece of hardware I just bought. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reifsnyderb Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 5 minutes ago, MacRorie said: Cool. Thanks. For ease of reference here is the direct link to the files: https://systemembedded.eu/viewtopic.php?t=51 Also, is there a central location for schematics and other gerbers? I would like to try my hand at creating a card for this handy dandy piece of hardware I just bought. Here's Ken's github: https://github.com/kenames99 Also, you'll want to read through this file a couple times or more: Parallel Port Guide v0_94.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reifsnyderb Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 Bare Z-80 boards came in today. I need to get the FujiNet board done first, however. 🙂 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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