STE RTC DCF77

Current solutions and designs.
Astuck
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Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2022 6:37 pm

STE RTC DCF77

Post by Astuck »

Hi guys !
Do you know if a project involving an Atari, a real time clock and the DCF77, the German cesium clock reference, exists ?

Cheers
Astuck
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Re: STE RTC DCF77

Post by Astuck »

Ok, I've found old german projects, they all seem to be dead. I thought about the DCF77 to avoid using a long-future-leaking battery in the RTC and inside my beloved STE.

As the whole project will need driver and software to tell STE to change the time, I'm questioning about the interest of the idea... It will surely go back in the ideas drawer.

Cheers
A.
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: STE RTC DCF77

Post by rubber_jonnie »

If you really do want an internal clock for the STE, I may have a PCB left over from the ForgetMeClock II reverse engineering project detailed here: https://exxosforum.co.uk/atari/last/RTC/index.htm

Of course it doesn't sync from an external clock, but it does work just fine. There is a cartridge version, but I don't know if I have any spares, I've moved house since I did this so I'd have to go digging.

If you really want an external clock sync, then the other way is via CosmosEx, which allows the built in RPi to sync to an internet clock source and pass it through to the ST. That's what I use on my MSTE.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
czietz
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Re: STE RTC DCF77

Post by czietz »

One of my STs syncs to the internet via NTP using a cheap ESP8266 (less than 10 € total parts costs, less expensive than even a DCF77 receiver module).

Unfortunately ‒ for those of you who don't speak German ‒ I never found time or motivation to translate the project description: https://www.chzsoft.de/site/hardware/di ... it-esp8266. Google Translate etc. might help. Also note that the software on the Atari is hard-coded for CET/CEST.
czietz
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Re: STE RTC DCF77

Post by czietz »

czietz wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 12:24 pm One of my STs syncs to the internet via NTP using a cheap ESP8266 (less than 10 € total parts costs, less expensive than even a DCF77 receiver module).
Unfortunately ‒ for those of you who don't speak German ‒ I never found time or motivation to translate the project description: https://www.chzsoft.de/site/hardware/di ... it-esp8266. Google Translate etc. might help. Also note that the software on the Atari is hard-coded for CET/CEST.
Well, I've just reworked that project to support any time zone in the world. One can either enter it manually or let the software auto-detect ones time zone:

IMG_4953.JPG
IMG_4953.JPG (39.51 KiB) Viewed 2230 times

I still have to write English language documentation and test the software for bugs. But then I'm going to release it. This is a very cheap and easy method to keep your Atari's date and time always correct. No more hassle with RTCs, batteries, daylight savings time...
troed
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Re: STE RTC DCF77

Post by troed »

Very cool!
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HigashiJun
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Re: STE RTC DCF77

Post by HigashiJun »

Nice !
tzok
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Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2017 2:27 pm

Re: STE RTC DCF77

Post by tzok »

You can go my way, and intercept the communication between IKBD and ST to inject correct time. This requires no software at the ST side, and allows you to bypass Y2K limitation without patching anything in ST, as the TOS, XBIOS and GEMDOS are completely fine with years over 2000 (the safe limit is 2059, but probably would work up to 2064), the only Y2K limitation source is in fact the IKBD firmware.

This hack has already been implemented in STeEM.

https://github.com/TzOk83/ST-IKBD-RTC
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DoG
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Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2018 12:26 pm

Re: STE RTC DCF77

Post by DoG »

czietz wrote: Sat Apr 23, 2022 4:28 pm
czietz wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 12:24 pm One of my STs syncs to the internet via NTP using a cheap ESP8266 (less than 10 € total parts costs, less expensive than even a DCF77 receiver module).
Unfortunately ‒ for those of you who don't speak German ‒ I never found time or motivation to translate the project description: https://www.chzsoft.de/site/hardware/di ... it-esp8266. Google Translate etc. might help. Also note that the software on the Atari is hard-coded for CET/CEST.
Well, I've just reworked that project to support any time zone in the world. One can either enter it manually or let the software auto-detect ones time zone:

I still have to write English language documentation and test the software for bugs. But then I'm going to release it. This is a very cheap and easy method to keep your Atari's date and time always correct. No more hassle with RTCs, batteries, daylight savings time...
I did this little project on a veroboard and it finds my WiFi. I wrote in the SSID and password but the connection fails and I don't know why. It seems that it saves the SSID and password on the ESP-01S since it stays connected to my router (I find it in the list when I log on to my router).

I programmed the ESP-01S with fullflash_0100.bin with Flash Download Tool v3.9.3 to 0x0000. I also successfully (I think) programmed it with the python script esptool but with the same outcome as above. So is my hardware faulty or some connection wrong? I mean it list the SSID so it seems to be working?

There is three 100nF caps added after this photo was taken.

Hardware1_small.jpg
Hardware1_small.jpg (261.2 KiB) Viewed 1428 times
czietz
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Re: STE RTC DCF77

Post by czietz »

DoG wrote: Sat Nov 05, 2022 8:10 pm I did this little project on a veroboard and it finds my WiFi. I wrote in the SSID and password but the connection fails and I don't know why.
Could you please post the exact message that is shown when running WIFISET.TOS? Depending on where it fails, I can add debug output to the program to pinpoint the cause.

Also: It's a bit hard to deduce from the photo: How is the power supply to the ESP-01 done?
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