General Stuff(tm)

[stephen_usher]

I built up one of the Lazarustorm boards, without the edge connector. I didn't have the SMD resistors or large capacitor so made do with through-hole ones. They'll be fine. I'll make up another "on camera" next week once the edge connectors arrive.

I then proceeded to design and manufacture a case for the board. Seeing as I may have different accelerators plugged in I just wanted to cover the main PCB and leave the CPU socket free.

So this is what I came up with... (I only noticed that I'd mis-spelled "Lazarustorm" when I took the pictures!)

IMG_4947.jpeg

IMG_4946.jpeg

IMG_4944.jpeg

IMG_4945.jpeg

The PCB is very firmly held so no rattling and there's plenty of support directly under the CPU socket.

[stephen_usher]

It's very frustrating when you have everything ready to finish a project except one component, which can't be obtained quickly.

I just need one Amiga A500 expansion port edge connector. *sigh* Something should turn up sometime this week.

[rubber_jonnie]

It's very frustrating when you have everything ready to finish a project except one component, which can't be obtained quickly.

I just need one Amiga A500 expansion port edge connector. *sigh* Something should turn up sometime this week.

I second that for sure...

I'll be interested to see how this PiStrom variant works out, mine is internal and I'm very pleased with it. I presume the blue PCB is just a standard PiStorm adapter that works with any variant and the Lazarus board is just a breakout board to hook the PiStorm up?

[stephen_usher]

Yeah, the Lazarustorm is merely an external CPU relocator which disables the internal CPU using /BR. On the A500 itself you just have to bridge JP6 to send the clock onto the expansion connector.

In lieu of the edge connector arriving I thought I'd disassemble the A500 (as I had to solder JP6 anyway) and replace the CPU with the PiStorm board and Pi4...

That didn't work very well. Neither the traditional emulator running under Linux worked nor the Emu68 version. The former just hung when trying to set the GPIO clock.

Swapped over to using a Pi3B+ I had hanging around and both worked first time. So, I think the Pi4's GPIO is a bit broken, which would explain why it wouldn't work at all with the PiStorm ST firmware/software properly. (Of course, the Pi4 has other issues with the PiStorm anyway due to a slower GPIO interface.) At least it verified that the PiStorm board itself is healthy.

IMG_4949.jpeg

[rubber_jonnie]

Yeah, the Lazarustorm is merely an external CPU relocator which disables the internal CPU using /BR. On the A500 itself you just have to bridge JP6 to send the clock onto the expansion connector.

In lieu of the edge connector arriving I thought I'd disassemble the A500 (as I had to solder JP6 anyway) and replace the CPU with the PiStorm board and Pi4...

That didn't work very well. Neither the traditional emulator running under Linux worked nor the Emu68 version. The former just hung when trying to set the GPIO clock.

Swapped over to using a Pi3B+ I had hanging around and both worked first time. So, I think the Pi4's GPIO is a bit broken, which would explain why it wouldn't work at all with the PiStorm ST firmware/software properly. (Of course, the Pi4 has other issues with the PiStorm anyway due to a slower GPIO interface.) At least it verified that the PiStorm board itself is healthy.


IMG_4949.jpeg

I run Caffeine O/S on my A500 (Pi Zero 2W Pistorm) and A1200 (Trapdoor PiStorm32 Lite with Pi4) and both run a treat. It's Emu68K by default. I did try the Pi3 on the A1200 as well but wanted the extra RAM of the Pi4. You do need a 64GB SD card for it though, but is very stable and looks great too.

It also has a fantastic collection of software preinstalled too including WHDLoad. I can recommend it.

[stephen_usher]

OK, GPIO0 on the Pi4 is duff when reading. Oh well... And guess which pin the PiStorm uses for acknowledgement in the protocol... :-)

[rubber_jonnie]

OK, GPIO0 on the Pi4 is duff when reading. Oh well... And guess which pin the PiStorm uses for acknowledgement in the protocol... :-)

Hmmm, would it be GPIO0 by any chance?

[stephen_usher]

OK, GPIO0 on the Pi4 is duff when reading. Oh well... And guess which pin the PiStorm uses for acknowledgement in the protocol... :-)

Hmmm, would it be GPIO0 by any chance?

How did you guess?! :-)

[rubber_jonnie]

Hmmm, would it be GPIO0 by any chance?

How did you guess?! :-)

There were clues :)

[stephen_usher]

Well, the edge connectors from AliExpress are at the delivery depot... According to AliExpress they're out for delivery!

Yodel says NO. Yes we have the parcel and it's at the delivery depot but we may deliver it tomorrow, maybe.

*sigh*