Raven. A homemade Atari-like computer

[danboid]

We have lift off. Thanks for all the help finding the fault..

Congrats oldskool! The desktop party picture is here! Very, very cool!

My fave fully open source computer (well, games console mainly) is the Uzebox. I helped redesign it to create a cost reduced and even easier to build clone called the Uzebox Omega and it just so happens that the first person to finish building a Uzebox Omega (apart from me and the guy who helped me design the PCB) also happened this same weekend so snap!

https://uzebox.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11581

Unlike the Raven, the Uzebox Omega can realistically be built in a weekend for about £50 by someone with no previous electronics experience so its more well suited as an educational aid. I can't think of a more fun first electronics project.

I'm going to try buiding gcc-avr for the ST soon so I can build Uzebox games on my ST :D

What is that mystery machine?

[Oldskool]

Yes mostly x1 but x2 gives similar results however I did not perform a lot of testing with x2.

x1 should be considered broken or at least unfinished. I haven't been using it much/at all myself so it hasn't been a priority but last I looked I did take note that CPU<->68150 comms will be iffy in that mode.

My screen with Nova looks exactly like your screenshots when I tried x1 instead of x2.

In x2 it always hangs at menu (nova). So at 5s and it doesn’t count down. Removing menu.prg starts emutos in monochrome (novadriver). Monochrome looks ok now. So that’s solved at x2.
But can’t select other resolutions for now as menu is always crashing.
Loading stuff is still very unstable. So loading yam mostly crashes the system but sometimes it works. Also just clicking on stuff in emutos often crashes the system. Keyboard also is often not recognized at startup but maybe that’s a different issue. Tried two different cf cards (old 128 mb en 4gb one)
Should I try my second 68150?…

PS
The mystery machine is a according to Wikipedia worth 20k dollar. It’s a C65.

[danboid]

The mystery machine is a according to Wikipedia worth 20k euro. It’s a C65.

Oooh! Nice! How TF did you score that?

Have you also got a MEGA65? What do you think of the MEGA65 and Commander X16?

I ended up buying a XberryPi because I wanted an open source computer like the Amiga and I ended up writing its wiki page. The Spectrum Next / XBP has definitely took influence from the Amiga and a lot of Speccy diehards don't like that but for me it was a positive. I'd rather it be less like a Speccy :)

However, the Raven is actually closer to what I had in mind because it uses a m68k an doesn't use FPGAs, for more retro cred points.

I see the Uzebox as the open source successor to the NES and now the Raven is that for the Atari ST line. The Uzebox is the VHS to Nintendo's NES/Betamax.

I think one of the reasons the Uzebox has remained largely unknown is that its using an AVR MCU which doesn't score retro / nostalgia computing points like the Z80, 6502 and m68k do.

You can read my research into open computing platforms here:

https://uzebox.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=10

[frank.lukas]

Nova boot order is ...

emulator
menu
sta_vdi

... delete menu.inf !

Alternativ you can use xmenu (but is german only).

[danboid]

x1 should be considered broken or at least unfinished. I haven't been using it much/at all myself so it hasn't been a priority but last I looked I did take note that CPU<->68150 comms will be iffy in that mode.

My screen with Nova looks exactly like your screenshots when I tried x1 instead of x2.

In x2 it always hangs at menu (nova). So at 5s and it doesn’t count down. Removing menu.prg starts emutos in monochrome (novadriver). Monochrome looks ok now. So that’s solved at x2.
But can’t select other resolutions for now as menu is always crashing.
Loading stuff is still very unstable. So loading yam mostly crashes the system but sometimes it works. Also just clicking on stuff in emutos often crashes the system. Keyboard also is often not recognized at startup but maybe that’s a different issue. Tried two different cf cards (old 128 mb en 4gb one)
Should I try my second 68150?…

Good to see the party isn't over yet!

The partys not over until we get stable Doom guy, at least.

[Oldskool]

The C65 (is ofcourse) not mine it was at my friend for repair.

The boot order is correct. (via autosort) I think that there is still a small hardware issue somewhere as I also have issues with general stability.
Without anything on the ide it is very stable in emutos..

I’m able to test the resolutions as with the mega ste version of Nova the menu is sometimes working.

All vga resolutions work perfectly at 2x

With Nova drivers the system is extremely unstable. Going with the mouse pointer to desk for instance can make it sometimes already crash.
However there are no issues with the driver and vga output. It looks great all resolutions work.

An example were it did not crash….
But the vga output is perfect as you can see..

IMG_2833.jpeg

Edit installing the other 68150 makes it a bit more stable.
Boot is now always OK. It still crashes but it’s improved.
Will need a 40mhz one I think….

Edit 2
Maybe this second 68150 fixed it. For sure the other one made the Raven really unstable.
Need to figure out if the rest is just software thingies.

[agranlund]

The boot order is correct. (via autosort) I think that there is still a small hardware issue somewhere as I also have issues with general stability.
Without anything on the ide it is very stable in emutos..

I’m able to test the resolutions as with the mega ste version of Nova the menu is sometimes working.

All vga resolutions work perfectly at 2x

With Nova drivers the system is extremely unstable. Going with the mouse pointer to desk for instance can make it sometimes already crash.
However there are no issues with the driver and vga output. It looks great all resolutions work.

An example were it did not crash….
But the vga output is perfect as you can see..
IMG_2833.jpeg

Edit installing the other 68150 makes it a bit more stable.
Boot is now always OK. It still crashes but it’s improved.
Will need a 40mhz one I think….

I'll send over another firmware for the cpld for you to test, but probably wont happen until tomorrow.
I haven't done anything specific targeting the issue you are seeing, but it would be interesting to check if the 1x related fixes will help in the general case too regardless of the multiplier.



Since I wasn't sure which type my card is I ended up trying a lot of different Nova downloads and I don't know which platform or T version I ended up with, or indeed which of the release versions of the zip for the particular T and platform :lol:
Unless I am remembering wrong, they seemed to have slightly different settings for their resolutions too, even if for the same T version but just different platform - but again, I could very well be misremembering that.

I remember trying one driver package which gave me good picture but crashed as soon as I moved the mouse to the far right of the screen. That zip had a .bib file with a, for my card, working 1024x768x8.

The download I eventually ended up with is rock solid, but the .bib file that came with it gives me out-of-sync on anything above 800x600. I've been meaning to try and copy over the settings for those resolutions at some point. I just haven't been bothered enough by it since the monitor is so tiny anyway.

I'm using the NOVA_COL desktop accessory to kill mouse acceleration + screensaver stuff, as well as SAVEOFF.PRG in the auto folder just to be sure.
I have also replaced the german menu program that came in the zip with one of those four english ones that are available for download on that same site. Don't know which one though... I assume the latest one but I cannot guarantee it.

It was ages since I tested it but the NVDI-VGA driver was working too and I think that one is slightly more user-friendly.
But there is currently no fullscreen support for that driver in SDL, and it doesn't do M32 either (though it appears I must have broken M32 support at some point because my card is not happy now that I tested it again)

[agranlund]

@Oldskool , not sure if this improves things for you but here is the latest cpld wip.
At the very least, it should improve the 1x situation.

rv240805.zip

I wont upload the changes to Github until I've had a chance to test them extensively on my machine -- I've pretty much only tested with my go-to "murder test" which is the OPL playback plugin for mxPlay/Jam.
That plugin does all kinds of questionable stuff and I really ought to make it more sensible, but as it turns out it has become an excellent tool for verifying bus logic with all the abuse that plugin puts it through..

I haven't tested the network card, or any other application really but since OPL played happily for an hour and without locking my system up in neither 1x nor 2x mode, and I won't have any more time for Atari today, I thought I'd send it over in case you wanted to check if it improves stability on your machine. There's a rom in the zip too. I doubt you need it but it's the same as what is running on my computer.

[Oldskool]

Thanks. The Raven is solid now it seems with the other 68150 I had.
So that was the main issue it seems. A dodgy 68150 or at least one that does not like 48..
Video is working perfecty at all resolution. No strange crashes.
Was wanting to try your new roms and cpld however then there was a big bang. Almost like a gunshot.
I thought it was the Raven however it seems the power supply in my PC has exploded.
But the Raven is OK. :)

[agranlund]

Thanks. The Raven is solid now it seems with the other 68150 I had.
So that was the main issue it seems. A dodgy 68150 or at least one that does not like 48..
Video is working perfecty at all resolution. No strange crashes.
Was wanting to try your new roms and cpld however then there was a big bang. Almost like a gunshot.
I thought it was the Raven however it seems the power supply in my PC has exploded.
But the Raven is OK. :)

Wow! Scary stuff, hope the rest of the components in your PC survived.
Interesting with that 68150, was the replacement one also a 33mhz version?