Stormbringer Posted October 27, 2010 Share Posted October 27, 2010 there any way to include some of the other XL mods into this board? stereo/memory or vbxe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syfo-Dyas Posted October 27, 2010 Share Posted October 27, 2010 Hmmm, a friend of mine has been trying to sell me an old 800. I didn't want it before as I had no practical use, but now I'm starting to re-consider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoatofCar Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Any new news? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 there any way to include some of the other XL mods into this board? stereo/memory or vbxe? No reason not to be able to, but more RAM might be the trickiest. It would come down to available space for all of them, but IIRC VBXE has a few variants so there should be a "fits yours" one available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Any new news? A little bird told me last night that the design is completed, just need a final PCB design. No word on a time yet. I have an 800 waiting patiently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoatofCar Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Any new news? A little bird told me last night that the design is completed, just need a final PCB design. No word on a time yet. I have an 800 waiting patiently. That's great! I'm hoping I can give some enterprising soul some cash to do the mod, as I have no skills with a soldering iron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldAtarian Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 (edited) "So any plug-in cards that work in the 800, will no longer work. No Omnimon, no Omniview, and no memory cards of any kind. XL/XE hardware compatibility and full 800 compatibility are mutually exclusive, period." Can someone please clarify this for me? If no upgraded memory cards of any kind can be used, how do you get to 64K? You're going to need at least one 32k board in there somewhere or bad things will happen when a program goes looking for RAM over 48k. Edited December 2, 2010 by OldAtarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 "So any plug-in cards that work in the 800, will no longer work. No Omnimon, no Omniview, and no memory cards of any kind. XL/XE hardware compatibility and full 800 compatibility are mutually exclusive, period." Can someone please clarify this for me? If no upgraded memory cards of any kind can be used, how do you get to 64K? You're going to need at least one 32k board in there somewhere or bad things will happen when a program goes looking for RAM over 48k. It's all in the thread if you read it, the upgrade board replaces the OS board and requires connections to other points. No memory cards required! Base and expanded memory are included using static RAM, up to 512KB for 800 mode and 576KB for XE mode, post #179 shows the memory modes that are supported. Post #181 shows the Bit3 80 column card works when the upgrade is switched to 800 mode, and also mentions that a driver for XE mode may be possible. I didn't notice whether alternative OSs were supported, XE mode includes built-in Revision C BASIC. At one point a PBI compatible header was supposed to be included, but I don't know whether this is still a part of the latest design. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Chances are you could just put a 32in1 OS with it anyway. So no more need for OmniMon, it's included with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sloopy Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 SNIP At one point a PBI compatible header was supposed to be included, but I don't know whether this is still a part of the latest design. Bill it still is, 50 pin regular header, works with MIO with no problems... sloopy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Chances are you could just put a 32in1 OS with it anyway. So no more need for OmniMon, it's included with. The OS chip on the upgrade board is not just a single OS, there is an 800 OS, an XE OS with BASIC, and the circuitry has been designed for that configuration. Connecting any multi-OS upgrade to that, and still having it work in both modes, would likely be difficult. Simplest is if Warerat has used a Flash ROM/EPROM with room for additional OSs, and designed the circuit to support them. I'm not going to complain if he hasn't, his upgrade makes an 800 into a machine that should run just about any software written for an Atari 8-bit. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 (edited) Warerat: I've read the thread. You probably have a PCB prototyping provider setup already, and this looks to be a great project. PM me that you accept paypal and i'll paypal you $50 just for sticking with the project. Edited February 3, 2011 by A8 Hard Drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 (edited) Warerat: Can you post a schematic layout of your PCB? Edited February 3, 2011 by A8 Hard Drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faicuai Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Any news about this? I'm HIGHLY interested on this upgrade! I only need the schematics if manufacturing isn't possible... Adding VBXE compatibility and other addons could be awesome too Well, the schematics for this are surprisingly simple (four IC's-- two SRAMs, one ROM, one 100-pin CPLD, handful of pullups, a 3.3V regulator, and a Maxim reset IC). But completely useless without the CPLD core logic which controls the whole thing and is where all my time, sweat, and tears have gone. So yes, this has consumed 100s of hours of my time to perfect it to where it is today while still having a life that doesn't involve Atari or computers. As a result of changing my design philosophy on this several times since I first started I decided to make some hard decisions about how this gets installed. As a result, this is an obtrusive (but not destructive) install and once it's in there, you can't go back to bone-stock (original OS and memory cards will not work) unless you remove the entire upgrade. You have to pull two IC's from the motherboard (and have jumpers in place on a few pins) as I re-purpose some of the pins on the OS slot to reduce the external wiring necessary. As an 800 owner I know it's impractical to have to pull out cards if you want to go back to stock so I've successfully implemented BOTH architectures at the hardware level and they are jumper selectable-- I think you'll agree that makes up for it. So if you want to go back to 4-port 800 mode you just move the jumpers. There are a few things I need to verify as a feel-good measure to validate specific portions of the hardware implementation but for all intents and purposes this is an All-In-One Personality module that pretty much can make the 800 act like any 800/XE model. Remember ports 3/4 don't work for joysticks in XE mode, but you can still use 8 paddles and no trigger on port 4.. So what it looks like now: Stock 48K 800 OS-B (verified OK) Stock 52K 800 OS-B (verified OK, RAM at $C000-$CFFF) Axlon 512K 800 OS-B (verified OK, with Claus Buchholz Tron animation, Axlon diags) Stock 128K 130XE ANTIC-enhanced (verified OK) Peterson 320K 130XE 8ACE (verified OK) Peterson 576K 130XE 8ACE (verified OK) CompyShop 576K 130XE 26AE ANTIC-enhanced (looks OK, but has trouble with some demos-- I'd have to validate with someone who has this). But then again I could just add another SRAM for full 1088K, but not much software to use it. XE mode is 100% PORTB compatible, including built-in BASIC C. And yes, it should be VBXE compatible but I'll know for sure when I get my VBXE board here this month. There would be major logistical problems squeezing it on the CPU board and getting it back in the metal housing. It could be plugged into a custom board that connects to one of the free memory slots with handful of connections to ANTIC as I provide all the XE ECI signals and hardware I/O from the OS board. PBI is implemented, but again, logistically difficult getting that ribbon cable out of the metal cage, but not impossible. Thanks for being patient. Warerat: Hope you are doing fine in Maui, French Polynesia, or wherever in the world you have chosen to temporarily hide... You know, plenty of cash over here... but lots of silence on this thread... When's this baby going to arrive to our world? Seems like "da bomb" to me: talk about Atari at its very best! Cheers, F. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yell0w_lantern Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 So it's been just over a year since Wererat's last post in this thread. Is this mod still going or is it dead? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 should i do it from the ground up? Warerat - i don't want to act like this, but if you're dropped this, then i'll make that happend - just let me know if you're reading this no reply within 14 days also means green light for me 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 i'll let everyone speculate this is FAR from finnished project - i've been doing it few hours last sleepless night - routing is just "to be" not as it should, but it should give some of you general idea behind it most expensive part in this one is the PCB, as its pretty hughe - but i don't know how much it would cost, so don't ask 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sloopy Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 i'll let everyone speculate this is FAR from finnished project - i've been doing it few hours last sleepless night - routing is just "to be" not as it should, but it should give some of you general idea behind it most expensive part in this one is the PCB, as its pretty hughe - but i don't know how much it would cost, so don't ask ok, i wont ask... i have $30 i will give you for one :'D /me runs before he gets lynched... looks nice tho... sloopy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 $30 would get me pcb done, so i'll have it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 What's really interesting to me is that there are 50 pins (not 40) on the connector. -Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKRetrogamer Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 I'll take one. Will this be PAL and NTSC compatible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 What's really interesting to me is that there are 50 pins (not 40) on the connector. Is it not a PBI connector? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Oh! I was thinking IDE, but yes, PBI makes perfect sense. -Larry What's really interesting to me is that there are 50 pins (not 40) on the connector. Is it not a PBI connector? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 its pbi connector allright it doesn't matter whether the unit is pal or ntsc and the same limitation apply that would go for Warerat board (Serg, if you're reading this - my offer is still valid) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 CF card slot, battery holder,PBI connector, wow there is a lot going on with that. If you want $30 for help with development costs im in. Will it work with a 400, or is that too much to ask for? does it have RAM upgrade built in too?!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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