Atari STE Switchless MultiTOS Selector

[retroluna]

Hello everyone!

 

A friend and I have started designing a multi-TOS board for Atari STE.
The features are as follows:

• 4 different TOS versions.
• BIOS change via keyboard (CTRL+SHIFT+ALT + F7 to F10). STE performs a RESET HARD as soon as one of the 4 keys is released.
• Integrated beeper for audible feedback (can be activated/deactivated with CTRL+SHIFT+ALT + HELP/UNDO).
• Flashing drive LED + number of beeps at start-up, corresponding to the BIOS selected.
• The last BIOS started is retained for the next power-up.

 

The board is assembled without soldering. Simply remove the 2 original roms, plug in the board, connect the keyboard to the board and connect the board to the original keyboard connector. The operation is, of course, easily reversible.

 

Attached, a photo of the second prototype, which proved functional once patched 😅

The prototype's EEPROMs had been flashed with TOS 1.06, 1.62, 2.06 and EmuTOS 1.3.

 

The card will be available for €45/$45 (shipping costs not included).

They're not available yet, but if you're interested, please tell me! That'll help us size the first order accordingly.
For now, it's only compatible with the 520 and 1040 STE. No other models are supported, not even the MegaSTE. I've started looking into the ST range, but the different motherboard layouts make it difficult.

[ianoid]

Very nice design. What are the advantages of being able to TOS switch? Are there very many compatibility issues? 

[retroluna]

27 minutes ago, ianoid said:

Very nice design. What are the advantages of being able to TOS switch? Are there very many compatibility issues? 

For games, the most compatible TOS are the 1.xx. I experienced a few games not running on 2.06.

So at least, being able to switch between 1.62 and 2.06 will solve most of these issues.

 

Then, EmuTOS offers a richer, more practical experience for applications.

And since there's one slot left, we might as well fill it with TOS 1.06, in case there are any non-working games in 1.62 😅

[Dopy25]

Is the TOS included? I don't need to source other TOS? These work just like a regular TOS? I currently have 1.00 in my 520ST with 4mb of ram. I tried to run emutos and could not figure out how.

 

I bought an SD solution, but it does not work well with TOS 1.00. I planned on upgrading to rainbow TOS, but this seems to cost around the same price with more options.

I'm definitely interested if this is a direct replacement without having to add eproms or anything

Edited May 2 by Dopy25

[retroluna]

11 hours ago, Dopy25 said:

Is the TOS included? I don't need to source other TOS? These work just like a regular TOS? I currently have 1.00 in my 520ST with 4mb of ram. I tried to run emutos and could not figure out how.

 

I bought an SD solution, but it does not work well with TOS 1.00. I planned on upgrading to rainbow TOS, but this seems to cost around the same price with more options.

I'm definitely interested if this is a direct replacement without having to add eproms or anything

Yes, it will be sold as a ready-to-use kit, with 2 pre-flashed EEPROMs.

[Dopy25]

5 hours ago, retroluna said:

Yes, it will be sold as a ready-to-use kit, with 2 pre-flashed EEPROMs.

Perfect! Please count me in for sure. I was holding off on buying a NOS TOS from ebay. I would much rather have this at that price tag.

Thanks!

[+retrogmr]

When there is a version for the MegaSTE available, I'd definitely be interested!