exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

I keep thinking about a alt-ram card.. I did add it to a SEC design, but each time I do a new board, I would have to solder more stuff , larger boards, more parts.. it just gets annoying so alt-ram never gets done.

I just un-forgot I designed this a while back...


The header would be to branch to whatever does the decoding.

Though I am now thinking if I could put a small PLD on there as well, ATF1502, it has 32 IO's (and 4 extra for the JTAG).. So it should be enough as I only really need to route the address lines, 4 SRAM lines, DTACK & AS.

I'm mostly just getting sick of not having a alt-ram card to test stuff out with, like the SEC booster and GB6 in fact. With its own PLD, it could be used on the ST as a stand alone board. Problem with this board layout, is no way to plug the CPU into this board.. it would have to be soldered ontop of the 68000 for example..


If I made the board longer I could flip the chips and then get a socket.. though I will probably go mad if I route those SRAM's again :pullhair:

Fire UP the quatro! In reality, there is plenty of space in an STFM case, to be able to use a board similar to the quattro or a relocate board.

Means I could add it to my Megas too if you put the ATF on and those chips are pretty cheap too.

:D

PhilC wrote: 18 Jun 2019 22:10 Fire UP the quatro! In reality, there is plenty of space in an STFM case, to be able to use a board similar to the quattro or a relocate board.

Yeah, I been thinking the quatro would be useful for this, I mean its only proof testing after all.

Another thought, angled simm socket be any easier?

PhilC wrote: 18 Jun 2019 22:26 Another thought, angled simm socket be any easier?

Simm is DRAM.. I need SRAM.

Oh ok, I thought 64pin sims were SRAM but you know what you need 8-)

Got side-tracked again... Decided to add a fast-ram installer into GB6... This way fast-ram can be declared in GB6 in a menu to save faffing about with non-existent fast-ram installer software. This shouldn't take long to code up.. Will post more info in the GB6 thread when there is a official update released.

Thought I post a note on whats going on in general..

RTC & FLASH :
RTC is working, Flash to do this week. I need someone to do some boot loader software for it etc as well yet.

REMAKE:
I need to build and debug the second part of the 16MHz board (sync fix board).
Also need to finish doing the holes on the H1.

SEC BOOSTER:
I have a few almost ready for beta testing, though my ST's are tied up with the RTC stuff at the moment. So its on hold until that work is done.

TOS206 ADDON:
I have the PCB's, but no time to work on it at the moment.

ST VIDEO ADAPTER:
I need to order the next PCB revision which should be the final one.

STFM 4MB RAM BOARDS:
About 30 are being assembled and should be finished next week. I then need to test them. I hope they will start appearing back in stock in a couple weeks time.

EXXOS PSU's:
These are running out of stock again. I have about 20 more PSU's needing the transformers ordering and fitting. Though I don't have the cash to bulk buy the transformers at the moment.

IDE BOARD:
Icky and I are plotting the next board with automatic byte swap, Though with so many projects on the go , progress is slow.

BLITTER BOARD:
Icky is working on these, though a couple boards have gone off to be assembled for us as we are having issues getting the thing working.

ALT-RAM BOARD:
I hope to get the test PCBs made for these soon. I plan to use Icky's 4way adapter on a STFM to try it out along with the TOS206 board.

2600 SVIDEO MOD:
Waiting for a diagnostic cart to come from AA shop, seems to be taking weeks to arrive :( I don't know if I will produce these boards or not yet as I don't think there is demand for them. I also have the Scart board I purchased to send off with a 2600 to be assembled for me yet as well. With 2600 stuff having no interest, I will likely discontinue the 2600 section in my store once current stocks are gone.

PSU BRACKET:
Need to print out the current design yet and see how it all fits together.

STFM CASE REMAKE:
Icky is spending a bit of time each week working on the 3D files. Of course with so many projects on-going, its not high up on the to do list.

FALCON VGA ADAPTERS:
The ones in stock as the last ones of that design. I re-designed the board slightly making it smaller. There will be a batch of them when current stocks run out. Though likely will be only 25 made as the connectors are impossible to find now.

STFM V2.3 BOOSTERS:
I am not sure the fate of that project. Though I don't really plan on producing them again.

STORE TOOLS SECTION:
Items in that section are likely not going to be stocked again. Mostly items were end of stock from my evilbay store days. Though I bought items again several months ago to keep them in stock. Though with import charges being so ridiculous from overseas (USA etc) , It's just not viable to keep stocking such items anymore.

STE SIMMS:
I need to start doing a new batch of these soon as stocks have basically run out. Again with so much going on, it could be a while before they are back in stock again.

I may have forgotten a load of things as well...

I am of course working on stock items for my store constantly, this is taking up the bulk of my time as always. I am constantly searching for spares such as IC's and connectors etc, but likely they are just not obtainable again once stocks run out.

Never a dull day :)

Just don't have any more ideas or you will be adding to the list :P

exxos wrote: 30 Jun 2019 12:51 RTC & FLASH :
RTC is working, Flash to do this week. I need someone to do some boot loader software for it etc as well yet.

Am building up some more boards today.

Today's idea... :lol: ...

To hook up cosmo as Drive N: on the ST is a share folder on my PC. So instead of endlessly swapping floppys between my PC and ST, I can just use a network folder instead 8-)