Raven. A homemade Atari-like computer

[luciodra]

Yes, that is the version of FreeMint I am using here.

Me too.
I put mint-d91.prg in AUTO and GUIDES and MINT in the root of C: but why it's unstable I don't know...
I saw that you have a right MC68LC060 ? No FPU, just MMU, for me the same.

[agranlund]

On Freemint I still have some problems. I download this version:
Is that correct?

For 68LC060, I would try using that as a base, then remove the sys-root folder and copy in the one from this package instead: freemint-latest-000-st_ste.zip
That should give you a 68060 kernel with 68000 applications.
Or perhaps the opposite way around by using the 000 package as base and move in the kernel for 060. Not sure which is easier to get right.

I usually remove/move-away the xdd, xfs and xix files I do not use as well so you're not spending boot time on loading modules that you're not using, or loading-and-failing on things it cannot use anyway.

[luciodra]

On Freemint I still have some problems. I download this version:
Is that correct?

For 68LC060, I would try using that as a base, then remove the sys-root folder and copy in the one from this package instead: freemint-latest-000-st_ste.zip
That should give you a 68060 kernel with 68000 applications.
Or perhaps the opposite way around by using the 000 package as base and move in the kernel for 060. Not sure which is easier to get right.

I usually remove/move-away the xdd, xfs and xix files I do not use as well so you're not spending boot time on loading modules that you're not using, or loading-and-failing on things it cannot use anyway.

Tonight I try ;)

[agranlund]

Would there be a chance of some VGA driver loaded from AUTO? I'm asking because I'd like to play around with Panther :)

Right now the intended non-raven codepath is just a stub but I've kept it in mind to be able to build the auto-loaded part with x86core inside instead of using the one already in ravens bootrom. Other than that I think it's mostly a few ISA addressing differences.

The big caveat is that I'm very unsure about the usefulness on slower machines. It's really fast on my machine but I suspect it could be a dealbreaker on 68000, though in the name of curiosity it would be cool to at least try that once and see how it does :)

It's not just the initial start that calls into vgabios. Things like setting a graphics mode ends up being a single call into vendor-supplied function in the vgabios. That advantage is potentially enormous, but the disadvantage is that it's practically limited to faster machines since that bios code is x86.

[luciodra]

But could Sysinfo work on Raven060 ? 8-)

[Oldskool]

I'm planning to push this new rom onto Github but if someone wants to give it a go first then by all means :)
raven_rom_241210.zip

Best case, nothing should really change - if you're using Nova then hopefully Nova will still initialise properly on your card.

EmuTOS's mono driver is now disabled and the boot rom is now instead taking care of setting up an equivalent resolution.
That should, in theory, work with any card that claims to be VGA compatible so if you have something that is not ET4000 or Mach it'd be interesting to hear the result.

I've tested with the following cards.
(Interesting how the ET4000 bios's are saying less memory than what is certainly on the card.. both of them can do 1280x720x256 just fine)

Code: Select all

ATI Mach32
	GRAPHICS ULTRA PRO, BIOS P/N 112-18900-100
ET4000/W32i
	ET4000/W32I ISA BIOS 06/17/1995
	512KB display memory
ET4000AX
	TsengLab Int'l ET4000 BIOS Date : 01/10/92
	256KB display memory
CL-GD5426
	SpeedStar PRO  Vers. 2.04  (c) Diamond Computer Systems, Inc. 1 MB display memory installed
CL-GD5426
	REVEAL Bios Version 1.31 3/4/94 (c) 1994 VidTech Microsystems Inc.

The plan is to keep it so the rom only inits the card to the standard 640x480x2 colors.

SVGA modes and functionality differs between vendors and cards during these early VESA days so it makes sense these become loadable drivers from the auto folder + a common NVDI screen driver.. assuming motivation keeps up :)

But again, NOVA with a Mach or W32i is the optimal setup for sure.
This here is mostly for my own amusement.

Tested:

Oak OTI087 based card : works
Cirrus logic CL GD 5429 : works

Et4k cards alsoe works and ofcourse the w32. But you already knew that :)
Mach32 also works. Yes I finally found one. Indeed even a bit faster than the W32. However its not really obvious during use.

Should have a Trident somewhere but can’t find it…

Probably all VGA cards work…..

[agranlund]

Thanks for checking those cards! Feels safe to push the changes onto Github so I did that.
I should have an old Trident somewhere too but I can't find mine either :)

[sephirothFlame]

I literally created account on this forum because of this post. Dude! This is incredible, i adore people who are using interesting concepts/solutions in their pc builds, but this.. this is on another level! Thanks for you work, i will definitely read the whole thread later.
P.C Maybe for someone this is not kinda crazy project, but for a curious pc gamer like me this is amazing!

[agranlund]

Thank you @sephirothFlame !
I'm surprised and astonished myself that it actually works :)

[agranlund]

Probably all VGA cards work…..

I'm sure things may pop up as different cards/bioses are tested but I would think compatibility rate is probably quite high for just about any VGA card.
The virtual x86 environment is minimal so there could be cases where a cards bios is confused about missing pc-hardware or pc-bios emulations.

My new S3 card got stuck during bios init. Turns out the Mirage bios was attempting to use io-port 61h as a delay, so it delayed forever.
On real x86 computers there's a bit on that port that toggles at fixed intervals so I added emulation of that and now this guy works too:

s386c801.jpg

All my cards are also interacting with the (not emulated) PIT and PC-speaker.
I suppose they are playing a beep at startup and I was toying with the idea of forwarding an equivalent note to the YM but then I came to my senses and decided not to :)