Life, the universe & everything...Atari (well, mostly)

[JezC]

Ok...little bits of progress as/when life allows...null modem cable between my original 1040 STF and PC seems to be working fine with Ghostlink...

Next step is to try and get DiagROM output using this lead on a faulty STFM...

@PhilC I saw that you used DiagROM on one of your H4 builds to diagnose a RAM fault...but what s/w did you use as the terminal emulator?
I'm hoping you ran something on a PC via null modem...

[rubber_jonnie]

@JezC For my diag cart I use a null modem cable and Hyperterm on my Win 2000 laptop. Yep, still using it, but it has a floppy drive so great for FloImg too. Putty also has serial options and is a free download so may be workable too.

[JezC]

@rubber_jonnie ok, thanks.
Not sure about Win2k but I do have some xp boxes...and maybe even Win98.
Will try something out later today if I can

[rubber_jonnie]

@rubber_jonnie ok, thanks.
Not sure about Win2k but I do have some xp boxes...and maybe even Win98.
Will try something out later today if I can

@JezC Cool, let us know how you get on.

[PhilC]

Teraterm is a good free option too if you're looking at other options. So is Putty but I find that a bit too complicated for a simple diagnostic tool.

[JezC]

Teraterm is a good free option too if you're looking at other options. So is Putty but I find that a bit too complicated for a simple diagnostic tool.

@PhilC
Yes, we use Teraterm a lot at work... generally does the job ok, so that might be a good option.
Thanks

[JezC]

Ok, so I've come home from the office today with both a Weller soldering iron (and some leaded solder - yay!) & a 4 channel 'scope - both on loan for while I work from home where possible.

So once I reorganise my study a bit to clear enough space to allow the laptop & work hardware to be set up, I might even find a spare few feet of desk space to designate as a soldering area!

I even remembered to bring the part-assembled H4 home so I will try to post some photos before I start the build...

[rubber_jonnie]

Ok, so I've come home from the office today with both a Weller soldering iron (and some leaded solder - yay!) & a 4 channel 'scope - both on loan for while I work from home where possible.

So once I reorganise my study a bit to clear enough space to allow the laptop & work hardware to be set up, I might even find a spare few feet of desk space to designate as a soldering area!

I even remembered to bring the part-assembled H4 home so I will try to post some photos before I start the build...

@JezC Sounds like you're onto a winner, you know we expect photos soon

[JezC]

I'm still fighting to make sufficient room in the pit/study to get the soldering iron set up for some H4 action...(I'm currently damned more than usual because of the amount of space required to allow me to work from home...laptop with external kbd/mouse & into the second input on my main PC monitor, then the power supply & scope & ARM Cortex-M4-based modules plus j-link debugger for coding/testing the next round of new features for the high-end colour display variants) ...but I did find a few minutes to test an old hard drive (Gasteiner) which seems to be working fine - yay!

Probably needs a recap at some point in the near future, but still working OK.

Still not yet had chance to fit a replacement power supply into my original Third Coast drive enclosure...the power supply has arrived OK at last but the various bits of the drive are scattered across several shelves


Also (slowly) trying to get my Mega 4 & Megafile 60 set up on some shelves ready for some MIDI action...it will be in MIDI cable reach of the DX7s, M1 & 01-W/FD (not to mention the D110, MU50, SC55, MT32).
Hoping that having a few minutes to bash the ivories later in the evenings might stop me going totally bananas..though some might say it's way too late for that!

[JezC]

Still no real H4 progress to report...though some more shortages for the first build have been resolved after feeding Harry last week...thanks @exxos


I've now added 2x 6850s, 1x ym2149 & a 68901 to the 68k PLCC, 27C4096 (EPROMs to be programmed up) & have other STs with socketed MMU, GLUE, SHIFTER & DMAs to 'borrow' from until the final 'donor' is identified & harvested.

I still need some of the connectors (keyboard, power supply, floppy power) as well...and then to apply the fixes before the first H4 build can properly commence.

Another likely donor has once again been resurrected by re-seating the PLCCs and memory expansion plugged on top...so again good news for that ST but bad news in the hunt for the donor

Oh well, after lots of steps in seemingly random directions, I might actually be getting a little closer to actually building up that first H4.

Photos have been delayed by my phone having decided to break the USB type C connector...so no more charging

I've been using mini & micro USB connections for 10 years or more & never had any problem with them...but the one phone with the 'better'/more modern connector breaks in about 18 months.

Anyway, I will progress on to the next potential donor system & see if I can miraculously fix that one too!