1090XL remake

[reifsnyderb]

37 minutes ago, DavidMil2 said:

 

I'll send you the source code and you can add an option to get not one but two pots of gold!

[reifsnyderb]

New parallel/serial board ordered...

 

 

 

I realized that a jumper to designate which card was which isn't needed.  The order of the installed boards could be based upon Device ID.  i.e.  ID 3 is P1:, ID 4 is P2:, ID 5 is P3:, etc.  (Same with R1:...)

 

I added a jumper that would allow the board to retain the SIO P: as P1: and start the board as P2:.

 

Also, I tied the parallel port busy signal to the PIA chip so it should be possible to configure the PIA chip to send an IRQ if the printer isn't busy.  Another 64k of the RAM chip should now be able to be banked in.  With these 2 changes, buffering the printer output should theoretically be possible.

 

Four ROM banks are also possible with this card so as to have up to 8k for the firmware.

 

U10 is now a CPLD, such as an ATF1502 or even an ATF1504.  J3 is the JTAG connector.  Since the CPLD is socketed, however, J3, R70, R71, and R72 would be optional if the CPLD were programmed elsewhere.

 

We'll see how this one works out...

 

 

 

[reifsnyderb]

On 7/25/2024 at 12:44 PM, reifsnyderb said:

For a while, I've been messing around with a 1090XL board that would upgrade the OS.  This is possible, of course, but any software that changes PORTB bit 0 will result in a system crash.  It doesn't matter if the OS is running off of RAM or still on the ROM.  Recently, I decided to modify the firmware board by adding a chip that monitors all the D1FF bits to determine if another card is enabled.  If no card is enabled, it can assert the math pack disable signal and swap out the built-in floating point package with Fast Math F+.  Testing shows this usually works quite well.  If, instead of replacing the OS I use the OS to add more features, that works too.  So, I put together an OS Extension Card.

 

This card allows for the following:

 

a. A port of Matthias Reichl's HIAS High Speed SIO that works with compatible devices. (i.e. Happy Enhancement)

b. Fast Math F+ floating point math pack to, on the average, double the speed of floating point calculations that use the built-in floating point routines.

c. Left screen margin set to 0

d. Reduced key repeat delay

e. Reduced key repeat rate

f. Option key function is inverted, at boot time, on even Device ID numbers.

g. With PBI RAM installed, has the following additional features when Device ID is set to any number except 1 and 4.

  i. Attract mode is turned off

  ii. Additional keyboard commands

  iii. CONTROL/SHIFT/DELETE cold starts the computer

  iv. SHIFT/HELP toggles international character set

  v. CONTROL/HELP sets left screen margin to 0

  vi. CONTROL/SHIFT/INVERSE starts WozMon (Device ID must be set on 2 or 3.)

  vii. Atari Fuji Screen on entry to self test mode. (Press HELP to continue.) (Not available with Device ID's 1 and 4.)

 

I have new boards ordered that will include an additional jumper so as to allow Fast Math F+ to be disabled as well.  All features can be disabled by booting with the Select key held down.

 

Of course, if anyone has any other options they'd like to see added, please feel free to let me know.

 

Here's a picture of the current board:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just learned about the bug in the cassette handler.  I want to investigate adding that bug fix to the card as well.

 

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/358862-altirra-420-released/page/12/

 

 

[rkindig]

I'm on-board (see what I did there?) for this board when it's ready, @reifsnyderb!  Please let us know when you add it to your store.  The cassette handler fix, while I'm not familiar with it, sounds like something worthy to investigate.

 

thanks!

 

Randy

[Mark2008]

let me ask real quick, does the 320k card and 80 column card work together and in SpartaDos X?

 

What I am observing is no issues in SpartaDos X with the 320k card alone.   And no issues with the 80 columns card if using basic or kedit, but not SpartaDos x.

 

however if using all 3 my keyboard is unresponsive.  but more than that, if I hold down shift to disable the 80, sdx then works but doesn’t boot correctly, now using the car device for config.sys instead of d1.  I actually have to unplug the 80 col card.  Just checking if it is just me, or not a supported config.  If it was already covered, apologies, I did try a search.  Thanks

 

i kind of like SpartaDos x, but my real reason for asking, is if it is not working, then I will stop using sdx, it isn’t a requirement for me.   But if it is something wrong with my particular system, then I will have to troubleshoot.

Edited August 17 by Mark2008

[reifsnyderb]

36 minutes ago, Mark2008 said:

let me ask real quick, does the 320k card and 80 column card work together and in SpartaDos X?

 

What I am observing is no issues in SpartaDos X with the 320k card alone.   And no issues with the 80 columns card if using basic or kedit, but not SpartaDos x.

 

however if using all 3 my keyboard is unresponsive.  but more than that, if I hold down shift to disable the 80, sdx then works but doesn’t boot correctly, now using the car device for config.sys instead of d1.  I actually have to unplug the 80 col card.  Just checking if it is just me, or not a supported config.  If it was already covered, apologies, I did try a search.  Thanks

 

i kind of like SpartaDos x, but my real reason for asking, is if it is not working, then I will stop using sdx, it isn’t a requirement for me.   But if it is something wrong with my particular system, then I will have to troubleshoot.

You can try the SDX driver and see if it helps.  Here it is:

1090x80.sys

 

If memory serves, it has to be placed on a floppy disk (or ATR image using RespeQt or some other device) and SDX needs a custom config.sys file on the same disk.  I'd have to dig through the SDX manuals for specifics as how to configure this, though.

 

 

[+Larry]

Did the original 1090 have any (potential) support for floppy disks?  Clearly it could be done, since the ATR8000 and Bob Puff's Floppy Board did it, albeit the FB was 10 years or so later.

[reifsnyderb]

34 minutes ago, Larry said:

Did the original 1090 have any (potential) support for floppy disks?  Clearly it could be done, since the ATR8000 and Bob Puff's Floppy Board did it, albiet FB was 10 years or so later.

The 1090XL could support many devices.  A 1090 card could be made for a floppy disk drive and I believe there were plans for a SCSI card.  If an interface card can be made, the 1090XL can support it.

[pcrow]

50 minutes ago, Larry said:

Did the original 1090 have any (potential) support for floppy disks?  Clearly it could be done, since the ATR8000 and Bob Puff's Floppy Board did it, albiet FB was 10 years or so later.

In theory, the devices from the 1400XL and 1450XLD should have been available as cards.  The modem, voice, and floppy controller were PBI devices, so it should have been a very straightforward task to put them on an expansion boards.  In fact, I think it would be awesome for someone to do just that.  (Though I don't know that the modem would be of any use now, and I have no idea if the chips for the others are still available.)

 

But as to floppy support in particular, the SIO port was a big bottleneck, so a PBI floppy would make a lot of sense if you're still using floppies.

[akator]

This project is insanely awesome.

[reifsnyderb]

1 hour ago, pcrow said:

In theory, the devices from the 1400XL and 1450XLD should have been available as cards.  The modem, voice, and floppy controller were PBI devices, so it should have been a very straightforward task to put them on an expansion boards.  In fact, I think it would be awesome for someone to do just that.  (Though I don't know that the modem would be of any use now, and I have no idea if the chips for the others are still available.)

 

But as to floppy support in particular, the SIO port was a big bottleneck, so a PBI floppy would make a lot of sense if you're still using floppies.

It would be a cool project.  But, as you suggest, chip availability would be a problem.

Edited August 17 by reifsnyderb

[joeventura]

On 6/6/2024 at 6:22 PM, reifsnyderb said:

Good grief....

 

Who's Robert?

 

A few thoughts come to mind:

 

1.  What am I supposed to call this?  Should we go the route of the "Artist Formerly Known As Prince"?  Maybe call these devices the "A Never Manufactured Expansion System For a Computer Made in the 1980's That Was Partially Known As An XL Model"? 

 

2.  Well, if Atari doesn't want their name advertised, they can contact me and let me know they don't like the free advertising.

 

3.  Where is the "line" drawn?  Can I say that the device works with an Atari Computer?  What should this be called?

 

4.  This is ridiculous.

 

5.  After the porch pirate incident, if too many people complain, maybe I really should do something else with my time.

 

6.  Maybe the "MiSTer" people need to explain their FPGA emulator system differently as well?

 

7.  If Atari was really worried about all of the devices created to support a long obsolete product, wouldn't we all have cease and desist (or go to hell) letters by now?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only thing I agree with is don't use the word Atari on a product you are selling.

its a registered trademark (still active) that will get you sued.

 

I doubt they trademarked `1090XL

 

Any utility patents have looooooooong since lapsed.  (Doubt one exists in the first place)

 

And everything you are doing is derivative work so assume the 1090xl made it to market, everything you are making are add on cards or upgrade cards. (Better cards, better enclosure etc) not copies or unauthorized duplicates. 

[rkindig]

On 8/16/2024 at 8:44 PM, Mark2008 said:

let me ask real quick, does the 320k card and 80 column card work together and in SpartaDos X?

 

What I am observing is no issues in SpartaDos X with the 320k card alone.   And no issues with the 80 columns card if using basic or kedit, but not SpartaDos x.

 

however if using all 3 my keyboard is unresponsive.  but more than that, if I hold down shift to disable the 80, sdx then works but doesn’t boot correctly, now using the car device for config.sys instead of d1.  I actually have to unplug the 80 col card.  Just checking if it is just me, or not a supported config.  If it was already covered, apologies, I did try a search.  Thanks

 

i kind of like SpartaDos x, but my real reason for asking, is if it is not working, then I will stop using sdx, it isn’t a requirement for me.   But if it is something wrong with my particular system, then I will have to troubleshoot.

I'm pretty sure I've used both cards with DOS 2.5 together with no issues.  I have not tried SpartaDOS X, but that would be a good test.

[reifsnyderb]

53 minutes ago, rkindig said:

I'm pretty sure I've used both cards with DOS 2.5 together with no issues.  I have not tried SpartaDOS X, but that would be a good test.

I am hoping the driver is no longer needed and the fix is now part of SDX.  You may need the newest version of SDX, though.

Edited August 19 by reifsnyderb

[Mark2008]

4 hours ago, reifsnyderb said:

I am hoping the driver is no longer needed and the fix is now part of SDX.  You may need the newest version of SDX, though.

Cool.  The driver did work for me with my sdx cart.  I had issues with side2, which doesn’t recognize the flash card when using the new config.sys, but standalone cart worked fine which is good enough for my needs.  It was great to use kedit via sdx.  Pl65 also worked, although it is only 40 cols. 

 

I will be glad to update to a new sdx sometime 

Edited August 19 by Mark2008

[+kheller2]

On 8/17/2024 at 10:07 AM, pcrow said:

In theory, the devices from the 1400XL and 1450XLD should have been available as cards.  The modem, voice, and floppy controller were PBI devices, so it should have been a very straightforward task to put them on an expansion boards.  In fact, I think it would be awesome for someone to do just that.  (Though I don't know that the modem would be of any use now, and I have no idea if the chips for the others are still available.)

 

But as to floppy support in particular, the SIO port was a big bottleneck, so a PBI floppy would make a lot of sense if you're still using floppies.

There is a stand alone parallel bus floppy schematic that Curt released at the same time he was updating the history site.  You could also look at the TONG schematics.  

[AtariGeezer]

This is my current 1090xl Interface Setup:

 

 

 

 

 

And here is my re-drawn schematic for the original Serial/Parallel Interface Card that I'll be building

 

Thank you @kenames99 and @reifsnyderb for making this possible, plus a future thank you to @DavidMil for taking on the case design

 

Edited August 25 by AtariGeezer

[reifsnyderb]

While I am still testing it, I believe the OS Extension Card is finished.  This card has the following features:

 

;    Disable by booting computer with SELECT key down
;
;    Has the following features when enabled:
;        1.  HIAS HSSIO
;        2.  Fast Math F+ floating point routines (When enabled by jumper.)
;        3.  Left screen margin set to 0
;        4.  Reduced key repeat delay
;        5.  Reduced key repeat rate
;        6.  Option key is inverted on even Device ID numbers.
;        7.  VBLANK read fix to improve the reliability when reading cassettes.
;    With PBI RAM installed, has the following features for device IDs except 1 and 4:
;        1.  Attract mode turned off  (Can be disabled software.)
;        2.  Additional keyboard commands
;            a.  CONTROL/SHIFT/DELETE cold starts the computer
;            b.  SHIFT/HELP toggles international character set
;            c.  CONTROL/HELP sets left screen margin to 0
;            d.  CONTROL/SHIFT/INVERSE starts WozMon (Device ID's 2 and 3)
;        3.  Atari Fuji Screen on entry to self test mode.  (Press HELP to continue.)
;

 

This has been successfully tested on systems with OS R2 and OS R3.

 

Some other notes:

I used the AHL benchmark, on the board, and a standard system takes 3:11 to run.  With this card, AHL takes 1:26 to run.

MULE load times are cut to almost 1/3 with a Happy Enhancement in the drive.   🙂

I added a jumper so that Fast Math F+ could be disabled as some programs require a slow system.

This card has many of the features of OS R6.2 (soon to be released).

The code for disabling the attract mode uses a VBLANK interupt.  Software that sets it's own VBLANK interrupt will disable this feature.

 

One of the delays was because of the boot process and getting Fast Math F+ (FMF+) to work correctly.  When Atari XL/XE boots it automatically does a self test.  If a ROM or RAM problem is detected, it starts the self test system.  This caused a lot of grief.  It turned out the easiest thing to do was to add another chip so that FMF+ was enabled when no devices were selected.  After that was done, on system initialization, FMF+ is only enabled when the card is first initialized.  However, software that re-booted the system had it's own issues.  I first tried shadowing COLDSV so as to turn off FMF+ on a re-boot.  While it was a hack, it still resulted in the self test mode interrupting the process.  Finally, I decided to shadow PORTB bit 7 to see if the self test bank was enabled.  That did the trick.  (I also had to shadow PORTB bit 0 to make sure the OS was active.)  In the process, I also had to upgrade one PLD to the ATF750 PLD as it provides 10 buried latches in addition to everything provided by an ATF22V10.  Unfortunately, and not visible, I had to hack this board by breaking the trace to D1 and connecting it to D7, instead.  Since the ROM chip has 4 2k banks, the banking code also had to be adjusted to use data bits 0 and 7 instead of data bits 0 and 1.

 

At this time, there is still almost 2k worth of available free space left over in the ROM. 

 

Here's a picture of the card.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 27 by reifsnyderb

[reifsnyderb]

Next attempt at a working parallel/serial card almost ready for testing!  

 

Since the ATF2500 chip was a disaster, this one uses a 22V10 to decode the addresses and a CPLD to control the chip.

 

[reifsnyderb]

While I need to finish up this draft version of the Comprehensive Guild To The Atari Parallel Bus, here's the latest 0.95 draft version....

 

Parallel Port Guide v0_95 DRAFT.pdf

[ivop]

Great guide! Thanks.

 

I noticed that you are not consistent with naming the signals when they are active low. For example you use /MPD and /EXTSEL, but not /IRQ, /RESET, etc. Perhaps you could update that? You could even use unicode U+0305 if you wanted to.

/IRQ = nIRQ = I̅R̅Q̅

 

[AtariGeezer]

Here is the zipped up PDF of the Parallel Disk Drive Controller for the 1090XL...

Parallel_Disk_Controller_18APR84 (pdf).zip

[reifsnyderb]

1 hour ago, ivop said:

Great guide! Thanks.

 

I noticed that you are not consistent with naming the signals when they are active low. For example you use /MPD and /EXTSEL, but not /IRQ, /RESET, etc. Perhaps you could update that? You could even use unicode U+0305 if you wanted to.

/IRQ = nIRQ = I̅R̅Q̅

 

Good point.  Sometimes I use !IRQ and other times I use /IRQ.  They should be consistent.  I'll get that change made for the next release.

 

[reifsnyderb]

I finally finished version 0.95 of The Comprehensive Guide To The Atari Parallel Bus.

 

Parallel Port Guide v0_95.pdf

 

 

 

 

[dely]

Is there any progress on getting the serial card up and running?