Atari XE Remake Pre Order Thread

[ChrisXF]

I'm in Canada - and I have completely sold out of all the boards I had, I'm afraid!

[Matej]

Want 2x when is possible will send my 2x XE motherboards and You assembled back. As I cant solder.

[Crc_Error]

Would love a board when they are available 

[ChrisXF]

Right, good news I have ONE of these boards left. It's the PCB with the surface mount stuff installed.

 

Anyone interested hit me up!

[wildstar87]

I built this a while back, and verified functionality, then life happened, and stuff got set aside.  I'm going back to this, and noticed that the self test when going through the Ram test, it gets so far, then I get garbage all across the screen.  It has passed other memory tests, Syscheck, Xram, so it seems to be working.  I know the self test in the 130XE is kind of broken, I believe it just keeps testing only the first 64k, but it should still work the same shouldn't it?  The garbage/crash worries me a bit, and makes me wonder if something is wrong, or if everyone sees this?

[reifsnyderb]

5 hours ago, wildstar87 said:

I built this a while back, and verified functionality, then life happened, and stuff got set aside.  I'm going back to this, and noticed that the self test when going through the Ram test, it gets so far, then I get garbage all across the screen.  It has passed other memory tests, Syscheck, Xram, so it seems to be working.  I know the self test in the 130XE is kind of broken, I believe it just keeps testing only the first 64k, but it should still work the same shouldn't it?  The garbage/crash worries me a bit, and makes me wonder if something is wrong, or if everyone sees this?

OS R 2 will only test the first 64k.  OS R 3 and OS R 4 will test banking but has the banks messed up. 

 

Here's a version, in the last post, with the banks fixed:  https://forums.atariage.com/topic/345355-xl-os-r4-wfast-chip-for-math-pack/#comment-5190442

 

However, depending upon the banking scheme, I recall that the extended memory test will still fail.  Without reading through this thread, if this board has more than 128k, you should use another memory test program.

 

Simtest will work: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/333084-swutils-simcheck-simtest-osdump/#comment-5028425
 

[Overange]

7 hours ago, wildstar87 said:

I built this a while back, and verified functionality, then life happened, and stuff got set aside.  I'm going back to this, and noticed that the self test when going through the Ram test, it gets so far, then I get garbage all across the screen.  It has passed other memory tests, Syscheck, Xram, so it seems to be working.  I know the self test in the 130XE is kind of broken, I believe it just keeps testing only the first 64k, but it should still work the same shouldn't it?  The garbage/crash worries me a bit, and makes me wonder if something is wrong, or if everyone sees this?

My remake that I recently finished did not have any memory issues on completion.

 

Just a few questions that maybe going over what you have already done.

 

Have you double checked all your solder connections, bottom and top side?

 

No Bent Pins on any ICs?

 

Tried different ICs?

 

I assume you are using the SRAM Expansion, have you tried it in any of the other modes?

 

Off

256k Atari

256k Rambo

512k Rambo

 

 

 

 

[wildstar87]

2 hours ago, Overange said:

My remake that I recently finished did not have any memory issues on completion.

 

Just a few questions that maybe going over what you have already done.

 

Have you double checked all your solder connections, bottom and top side?

 

No Bent Pins on any ICs?

 

Tried different ICs?

 

I assume you are using the SRAM Expansion, have you tried it in any of the other modes?

 

Off

256k Atari

256k Rambo

512k Rambo

 

 

 

 

I am using the SRAM expansion, if I switch it off, Self Test works fine on the memory.  I would have expected at least the Atari/Compyshop to work, but it crashed as well.  The failure has been intermittent in how it fails, yesterday when I tried this, it failed to a black screen, but the day before, I was getting garbage all over the screen.  Seeing what reifsnyderb said about what he has noticed in his OS modernization, I guess it isn't uncommon for it to crash.  I'll have to run the extended memory tests through a program, but when I did test it a few years back with the extended memory tests, it was working, though I can't recall if I ever went through and tried the Self Test from the OS itself.

[wildstar87]

4 hours ago, reifsnyderb said:

OS R 2 will only test the first 64k.  OS R 3 and OS R 4 will test banking but has the banks messed up. 

 

Here's a version, in the last post, with the banks fixed:  https://forums.atariage.com/topic/345355-xl-os-r4-wfast-chip-for-math-pack/#comment-5190442

 

However, depending upon the banking scheme, I recall that the extended memory test will still fail.  Without reading through this thread, if this board has more than 128k, you should use another memory test program.

 

Simtest will work: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/333084-swutils-simcheck-simtest-osdump/#comment-5028425
 

The 130XE Remake board is basically setup as a 65XE with the first 64k being the standard DRAM circuit, then it also has the Hias 512k SRAM expansion on board (https://www.horus.com/~hias/atari/#sram512k), which has switch configuration for 64k only, 256k Compyshop, 256 Rambo, 512k Rambo.  A PIC microcontroller is used as an "EMMU" to drive the extended memory, though I don't think it has any relation to the 130XE EMMU in functionality (I could be wrong on that).  There is a variation of this in Mytek's 576NUC+ project, which is essentially the same circuit, but with a few slight changes done by tfhh, with also the first 64k being SRAM, instead of DRAM.

 

I'll have to try your new OS, it looks pretty cool, and give Simtest a shot, though I believe the extended memory works just fine, since I did test it back when I initially finished this board with xRam and some other programs.

Edited June 1, 2023 by wildstar87

[Overange]

43 minutes ago, wildstar87 said:

I am using the SRAM expansion, if I switch it off, Self Test works fine on the memory.  I would have expected at least the Atari/Compyshop to work, but it crashed as well.  The failure has been intermittent in how it fails, yesterday when I tried this, it failed to a black screen, but the day before, I was getting garbage all over the screen.  Seeing what reifsnyderb said about what he has noticed in his OS modernization, I guess it isn't uncommon for it to crash.  I'll have to run the extended memory tests through a program, but when I did test it a few years back with the extended memory tests, it was working, though I can't recall if I ever went through and tried the Self Test from the OS itself.

 

 

Have you tried different SRAM/GAL ICs and have you double checked you have no track or solder faults?

 

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by Overange
Typo

[wildstar87]

15 minutes ago, Overange said:

 

 

Have you tried a different SRAM/GAL ICs and have you double checked you have no track or solder faults?

 

 

I think I have another PIC around here that I could make a new GAL, don't have another SRAM chip, though I could test it in my TL866 to make sure it's functional.  I'll have to go over the board again, but pretty sure there aren't any shorted/lifted tracks, or other artifacts.

[ChrisXF]

You can bypass the GAL with a couple of jumpers, check the docs for that.

 

As others have said, check solder joints, look for shorts, maybe swap out Freddy ?

 

Good luck!

[wildstar87]

2 hours ago, ChrisXF said:

You can bypass the GAL with a couple of jumpers, check the docs for that.

 

As others have said, check solder joints, look for shorts, maybe swap out Freddy ?

 

Good luck!

Bypassing the GAL kind of misses the point though.  I'm trying to solve the self test crash when the extended memory is turned on.  It works fine if it is turned off.  So for all of you replying, the Atari built-in self test memory test just works when the extended memory is turned on?  No problems?  As I said, it seems to otherwise work, passes memory test programs, just the onboard self test (which is apparently broken anyway) crashes to either black screen, or fills up with garbage at some point in the test.

[ChrisXF]

I'd still try it with the GAL jumpered over, that'll tell you if you have any electrical issues or bussing problems to the GAL itself. Of course high mem won't work without it, but the built in test doesn't use it anyway.

 

I just tested my board with the high mem enabled as 512k rambo and the built in memory diagnostic works fine: it doesn't show any screen corruption. It's still a rubbish test, but it doesn't do the weird things yours is doing.

 

I suspect your GAL might be knackered? I'd use your EPROM reader to do a compare on the original file (it's usually called 'verify' in the software) on that GAL.

 

I think the only PIC on this board is for the keyboard extension (tkII) and that shouldn't matter to the RAM upgrade.

 

Then again, if the only software that's causing issue is the built in ram checker, and every other ram check utility works fine.... Eh... You could just ignore it.

Edited June 1, 2023 by ChrisXF

[Shift838]

are the gerbers being made available?

[wildstar87]

1 hour ago, ChrisXF said:

I'd still try it with the GAL jumpered over, that'll tell you if you have any electrical issues or bussing problems to the GAL itself. Of course high mem won't work without it, but the built in test doesn't use it anyway.

 

I just tested my board with the high mem enabled as 512k rambo and the built in memory diagnostic works fine: it doesn't show any screen corruption. It's still a rubbish test, but it doesn't do the weird things yours is doing.

 

I suspect your GAL might be knackered? I'd use your EPROM reader to do a compare on the original file (it's usually called 'verify' in the software) on that GAL.

 

I think the only PIC on this board is for the keyboard extension (tkII) and that shouldn't matter to the RAM upgrade.

 

Then again, if the only software that's causing issue is the built in ram checker, and every other ram check utility works fine.... Eh... You could just ignore it.

I mistakenly referred to the GAL as a PIC, because I was thinking Microchip/Atmel, and I associate Microchip with PIC, because they make the PIC micro.  Anyway, was referring to the ATF22V10C (Technically a PLD).  Which pins are you talking about jumpering over?  14,16 for CI?  I'll also try reflashing and verify.  Also just checking to make sure, everyone is using Sram13.Jed from Hias (https://www.horus.com/~hias/atari/#sram512k), right?

 

1 hour ago, Shift838 said:

are the gerbers being made available?

No, Santosp isn't going to release the Gerbers, unless something has changed.

[_The Doctor__]

It thought they were already, also wasn't there an ABBUC run of some of these boards or one like it?

Does ABBUC still have PCB's left for members?

[wildstar87]

Not sure if ABBUC can just run boards whenever, or if they just had a run of boards and that was it.  I think Santosp might have released gerbers to ABBUC for them to run boards to sell, but never released them publicly that I know of.

[ChrisXF]

Can't remember the jumpers off the top of my head, but it is printed on the silkscreen just below the GAL which pins to jump.

 

I got my boards directly from santosp, he ran me a minimum order of 5: I only wanted one so sold the rest here at mostly cost price purely to recover the cost of 5. Very nice guy, you could ask if he'd do the same again.

[wildstar87]

14 hours ago, reifsnyderb said:

OS R 2 will only test the first 64k.  OS R 3 and OS R 4 will test banking but has the banks messed up. 

 

Here's a version, in the last post, with the banks fixed:  https://forums.atariage.com/topic/345355-xl-os-r4-wfast-chip-for-math-pack/#comment-5190442

 

However, depending upon the banking scheme, I recall that the extended memory test will still fail.  Without reading through this thread, if this board has more than 128k, you should use another memory test program.

 

Simtest will work: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/333084-swutils-simcheck-simtest-osdump/#comment-5028425
 

Tried your OS, but got exactly the same behavior.  It always fails in the same place, it gets through to 3 and a half lines, then in Compyshop mode, the screen goes blank, in Rambo mode, I will get garbage across the screen, sometimes stationary, sometimes scrolling, in what seem to be large graphic characters, with some being letters/numbers, lots of random colors, and random blinking.  But it works just fine if I turn the extended memory off.

 

I've flashed a new GAL, which verified fine, so did the original GAL, SRAM memory chip tested out fine on my TL866II.  I did find a bent pin on the OS EEPROM when I went back to switch to the Original Mask Rom, I thought that was the culprit, but nope, still failing exactly the same way.

 

Switched out one at a time, Sally, GTIA, Antic, PIA. No changes, and Simtest seemed to pass, didn't run any other memory tests, and didn't jumper over those pins on the GAL yet, I'm getting tired, and a bit discouraged, so I'm done for the night.

[Mathy]

Hello Doc

 

On 6/2/2023 at 2:10 AM, _The Doctor__ said:

It thought they were already, also wasn't there an ABBUC run of some of these boards or one like it?

Does ABBUC still have PCB's left for members?

I just checked, they have one (1) available as I am writing this.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

PS IIRC, ABBUC ordered a bunch from Panos Santos.  As you just read, most of these are sold already.

 

 

[sharkcz]

On 6/2/2023 at 2:39 AM, ChrisXF said:

Can't remember the jumpers off the top of my head, but it is printed on the silkscreen just below the GAL which pins to jump.

 

I got my boards directly from santosp, he ran me a minimum order of 5: I only wanted one so sold the rest here at mostly cost price purely to recover the cost of 5. Very nice guy, you could ask if he'd do the same again.

Thanks for sharing this info. I might go this route, unless someone else beats me.

[wolfius]

Dear all,

I have a few questions regarding XE remake (purchased from ABBUC)

1.) I have vbxe, which i am still wiring.
a) what do i need to wire from vbxe to video setup area (10 pin block) any documentation on that?
b) why do I need +5v (sj1) for vbxe, as there are no need for +5v on any vga 15khz? is it needed and for what? ( I need only R,G,B,Csync, Vsync and GND for generic VGA 15khz setup).

2.) I have atari BASIC native rom (24 pins) and no changes made to the pcb. it is unclear - do I need to do the mod on the pcb for original basic chip or it is only needed for custom eeproms?

3.) I assembled the whole board, but my picture over composite signal is jumping (up and down one or two lines every quarter second)? what could be leaking or where should i check?

Would appreciate any ideas,

Thank you,

Serhii

[ChrisXF]

The original Atari BASIC mask ROM won't work, even though the board is silk screened for it - at least I couldn't get it to work and was advised to not try. Burn up a standard EPROM and use that instead.

 

The issue with composite jumping sounds a strange one, if you select the jumpers to not route it through the UAV is the image stable? If so, check voltages on UAV and if not check Atari video chips (gtia, etc)

[wolfius]

Thank you for your reply.

 

regardless of the chosen video mode - picture is jumpy on composite.

Changed antic - no changes. have no reserve gtia, might purchase one later.

 

regarding basic rom, the burned eprom still needs the pcb mod right?