Building & Testing the Re-imaged Atari 1450XL

[joeventura]

7 minutes ago, Dropcheck said:

  Again unfortunately there are almost no cases for this board available. 

@Dropcheck

........ yet.   😉

[Mathy]

Hello Lenore, folks

 

5 hours ago, Dropcheck said:

If you can't or don't want to solder the board by hand, find a friend who can and will and pay him/her a six pack or two of whatever he/she drinks. 

 

But pay them AFTER they finish the job.  We don't want anybody or any boards being injured/damaged.  😄  😇

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

 

 

[+bf2k+]

On 10/9/2024 at 12:15 PM, Dropcheck said:

Not sure if there is an actual BBS I can call up on a real telephone number.  If you know of one, let me know.  

804.789.8555

 

If you get online leave me <F>eedback so I'll know it worked.

[Dropcheck]

Somewhat almost final update on testing:

 

@reifsnyderb and I have run into a PBI problem at this point.  He gifted me a copy of his 1091XL and OS card to test the PBI connector.  It appears to work as expected on a 800XL, but not on the 1450XL.  The 1450XL will not boot, black screen.  Even when the V: and T: PBI ram usage is taken into account.  There apparently is a compatibility issue with at least that card and possibly overall PBI compatibility with the current available external PBI devices.  We are continuing to test and try things to narrow down what it is.

 

 @AtariGeezer is sending one of his IDE2 devices on loan.  But it would help if someone else has a 1090/1 XL expansion card for testing they would be willing to loan.  That would give us a wider range of PBI devices to test with.

 

  It might be that the 1450XL is not compatible with the 1090/1 XL system.  Which is a shame, but not entirely unexpected given that neither computer or expansion box were ever released commercially.  

 

  As I said we are trying to nail down what the problem is and determine if there is a fix and whether it can be implemented without radically changing the 1450XL or it's behavior.  

[+kheller2]

1 hour ago, Dropcheck said:

Somewhat almost final update on testing:

 

@reifsnyderb and I have run into a PBI problem at this point.  He gifted me a copy of his 1091XL and OS card to test the PBI connector.  It appears to work as expected on a 800XL, but not on the 1450XL.  The 1450XL will not boot, black screen.  Even when the V: and T: PBI ram usage is taken into account.  There apparently is a compatibility issue with at least that card and possibly overall PBI compatibility with the current available external PBI devices.  We are continuing to test and try things to narrow down what it is.

 

 @AtariGeezer is sending one of his IDE2 devices on loan.  But it would help if someone else has a 1090/1 XL expansion card for testing they would be willing to loan.  That would give us a wider range of PBI devices to test with.

 

  It might be that the 1450XL is not compatible with the 1090/1 XL system.  Which is a shame, but not entirely unexpected given that neither computer or expansion box were ever released commercially.  

 

  As I said we are trying to nail down what the problem is and determine if there is a fix and whether it can be implemented without radically changing the 1450XL or it's behavior.  

Feel free to gently power up my 1450 board and test if the same problem exists.

There could be a compatibility issue with device IDs.  What specific card are you testing?

[reifsnyderb]

28 minutes ago, kheller2 said:

Feel free to gently power up my 1450 board and test if the same problem exists.

There could be a compatibility issue with device IDs.  What specific card are you testing?

@Dropcheck is testing my OS Extension Card.  (I have them on my Tindie site.)  Here's the manual:  1090 Expansion Card Instruction Manual v04.pdf

If a Device ID of 1 or 4 is selected, there shouldn't be a problem as the 1400XL uses Device ID's of 2 and 8.  (I am using 1 based numbering.)

There would be a conflict with the PBI RAM, as well, but the OS Extension Card doesn't use PBI RAM with the Device ID's of 1 and 4.

 

A simpler test would be to use a 320k memory card.  However, that doesn't use the PBI ROM functions. 

 

[_The Doctor__]

Logic Analyzer PBI signals party in the future?

[reifsnyderb]

12 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

Logic Analyzer PBI signals party in the future?

I just got one but haven't tried it yet.

[_The Doctor__]

@reifsnyderb, I was going to offer you the chance to brave the rats and mice, retrieving my old one from the dumping ground that used be a workplace and let you use it to complete your projects. It's power switch and one of it's disk drives are finicky. Gets the job done though.

Edited 6 hours ago by _The Doctor__

[reifsnyderb]

28 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

@reifsnyderb, I was going to offer you the chance to brave the rats and mice, retrieving my old one from the dumping ground that used be a workplace and let you use it to complete your projects. It's power switch and one of it's disk drives are finicky. Gets the job done though.

Thanks!  I'll see how well this thing works first.

 

Really, though, @Dropcheck needs one as she's got the 1400XL remake at her place. 

 

I got mine as some sort of USB thingy on Amazon.  I'd post a link, but it's one of the crazy long links.  If you go on Amazon.com, and search for "logic analyzer", it comes up for $13 or so.  Then there is some open source software I am told works with it.  (You can tell I haven't found the time, yet, to explore it.)

 

 

 

 

[Dropcheck]

I have a dirt simple logic probe, one pin at a time device from Amazon.  If needed, I could use it along with my Siglent SDS 1104X-E oscope for troubleshooting.  

 

 

[ivop]

These Salae clones work like a charm.

 

There are a ton of different varieties with a slightly different housing and/or with clips all over Amazon, ebay and Ali.

Edited 5 hours ago by ivop

[Referee2000]

Oh man, I just came across this thread and all I can say is..... WOW!!!!  I would be willing to help in any way I can, and to purchase one of these!  Hahaha.  Thank you so much for all the wonderful work you are doing - like other, the 1450XLD was a dream of mine, and always will be.

 

Is there "anything" I can do to help with this project?

[reifsnyderb]

1 hour ago, ivop said:

These Salae clones work like a charm.

 

There are a ton of different varieties with a slightly different housing and/or with clips all over Amazon, ebay and Ali.

That's the one I have....that I didn't test yet.

Edited 4 hours ago by reifsnyderb

[ivop]

9 minutes ago, reifsnyderb said:

That's the one I have....that I didn't test yet.

I got it working without problems with Pulseview on Linux. sigrok-cli also works. It's fast enough to capture the AN bus from Antic to GTIA.

[_The Doctor__]

1 hour ago, ivop said:

I got it working without problems with Pulseview on Linux. sigrok-cli also works. It's fast enough to capture the AN bus from Antic to GTIA.

IVOP keeps giving pertinent information, thank you!

[Mathy]

Hello Brian

 

3 hours ago, reifsnyderb said:

I got mine as some sort of USB thingy on Amazon.  I'd post a link, but it's one of the crazy long links.

 

This one: https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Analyzer-Ferrite-Channel-Arduino/dp/B077LSG5P2/ref=sr_1_4?

 

As you can see, I've cut off everything after the question mark and the link still works fine.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

 

 

[+kheller2]

5 hours ago, reifsnyderb said:

@Dropcheck is testing my OS Extension Card.  (I have them on my Tindie site.)  Here's the manual:  1090 Expansion Card Instruction Manual v04.pdf

If a Device ID of 1 or 4 is selected, there shouldn't be a problem as the 1400XL uses Device ID's of 2 and 8.  (I am using 1 based numbering.)

There would be a conflict with the PBI RAM, as well, but the OS Extension Card doesn't use PBI RAM with the Device ID's of 1 and 4.

 

A simpler test would be to use a 320k memory card.  However, that doesn't use the PBI ROM functions. 

 

 

Doesn't V: use PBI ID 7 (your #8)  I forget the modem and floppy... but since there isn't a floppy, that device should be free.   Except on a TONG which would be used. 

Handlers are D800-DFFF and RAM D600-D7FF correct?

 

Then there is this confusion:

"The 1450XLD DCIM handler shall reside within an 8K ROM at locations 1000 through 17FF (hex.) The DCIM handler for the 1400XL shall reside at locations 0800 through OFFF (hex) within a 2K ROM. when selected by the operating system, the handler shall be addressed at locations D800 through DFFF (hex.)"
 

 

 

[+DrVenkman]

1 hour ago, Mathy said:

Hello Brian

 

 

This one: https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Analyzer-Ferrite-Channel-Arduino/dp/B077LSG5P2/ref=sr_1_4?

 

As you can see, I've cut off everything after the question mark and the link still works fine.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

 

 

Just for reference, all the crap in a URL after a "?" is related to setting of site referral cookies. It can safely be snipped from nearly all URLs except for some few special purposes. E.g., if you are a paid subscriber to some sites, they might offer you the opportunity to share an otherwise-paywalled article from their site. The URL in that case lets the site's owner recognize that someone clicking on it, although not a paid subscriber, can read the page/article/whatever even though it's normally paywalled.