REV 3 - REV 5 - The beginning (ST536)

[exxos]

Just a little note that that location would make it impossible to fit on a 520ST board.

I don't have a ST I can look at visually, can you take one when you get chance please.

The problem I believe, is there are failing bank of 8 bits , all just happen to be on the longest tracks.. Which just so happen to hit the PLD and IDE as well. The tracks need to be shorter which is nearon impossible. Moving the ROM would help a bit, but thats not simple either.

[coonsgm]

Got it. See images here. The front of the board needs to be as flat as possible to fit under the keyboard.

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IMG_5319.jpeg (382.05 KiB) Viewed 37 times

[exxos]

Got it. See images here. The front of the board needs to be as flat as possible to fit under the keyboard.

Though if the board extended to the right a bit, it wouldn't get in the way of anything ?

[coonsgm]

In this machine, no. Anything that adds height needs to be further back though to avoid the keyboard

[exxos]

In this machine, no. Anything that adds height needs to be further back though to avoid the keyboard

Though looks like you have the headers in there ? they would be higher than the ROM most likely.

[coonsgm]

In this machine, no. Anything that adds height needs to be further back though to avoid the keyboard

Though looks like you have the headers in there ? they would be higher than the ROM most likely.

I will remove the headers once we're stable so the case can close.

[Badwolf]

So the only "simple" option is to make the board a bit larger. A little bit of a waste for the ROM IC, but I don't think there is really any other options ?

You know my usual take is to not fiddle with the ROMs and let the user decide what to run, but in this case I agree that with TOS1.4 being present by default is a bit of a limiting factor and there aren't easy replacement ROMs to ship that are going to work out the box on every model. Something probably ought to be done in that case.

So I'll offer that a 512k flash banked with a jumper *could* be used to erase and reflash the other half. You don't have to erase the whole chip.

Now that leaves the problem of bootstrapping it, but are these to be flashed before despatch? If so, they just need a 2.06 machine to perform the flash.

Obviously if a user bricks their flash then they'd have to jump through hoops to restore it, but don't do that, maybe?

How far does TOS1.04 get on an 030? I've never tried it. Far enough to execute a boot sector or does it shit out long before then?

BW

[exxos]

So I'll offer that a 512k flash banked with a jumper *could* be used to erase and reflash the other half. You don't have to erase the whole chip.
Now that leaves the problem of bootstrapping it, but are these to be flashed before despatch? If so, they just need a 2.06 machine to perform the flash.

Yeah thats all I could really think as well. I mean the user would have to change a jumper to enable the other flash bank, and to make sure it boots from the default bank to flash the other bank.

Obviously if a user bricks their flash then they'd have to jump through hoops to restore it, but don't do that, maybe?

Thats the problem, some people will manage it and expect me to come up with all sorts of solutions for them to try and fix it, which means they would have to get TOS206 in their machine.. It gets a huge headache for support even if one person does it.

How far does TOS1.04 get on an 030? I've never tried it. Far enough to execute a boot sector or does it shit out long before then?

It resets, floppy seaks to zero then just locks up. I think the stackframe screws it up or something