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

Blogs & guides and tales of woo by forum members.
User avatar
JezC
Posts: 2782
Joined: 28 Aug 2017 23:44

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

Post by JezC »

Ok, so I managed to sneak in a few minutes of retro tinkering between finishing work (while WFH) and heading downstairs for lunch.

As, I have managed to fit a new PLCC 68k and 4MB of memory (thanks @exxos ) into one of my STEs.

It still boots & sysinfo shows the 4MB of memory - I will (somehow - don't already have that in an ST image it seems :roll: ) get YAARTT onto the Gotek later & give it a good soak test, just to be sure.

Then I can move that off the bench and make room to start on the H5CB board with the bits I have to hand...
User avatar
JezC
Posts: 2782
Joined: 28 Aug 2017 23:44

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

Post by JezC »

Finally ran up HxC s/w to add YAARTT to my utils .ST image & have left it running on the upgraded STE while I walk the dog & go through the other usual evening chores...
User avatar
exxos
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 28344
Joined: 16 Aug 2017 23:19
Location: UK

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

Post by exxos »

JezC wrote: 25 Apr 2025 13:54 Then I can move that off the bench and make room to start on the H5CB board with the bits I have to hand...
:D Hope you have better luck this time...
User avatar
JezC
Posts: 2782
Joined: 28 Aug 2017 23:44

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

Post by JezC »

exxos wrote: 25 Apr 2025 21:16
JezC wrote: 25 Apr 2025 13:54 Then I can move that off the bench and make room to start on the H5CB board with the bits I have to hand...
:D Hope you have better luck this time...
That STE memory test is now up to pass 37 with no errors, so I might call that a day...

Thanks - though I think the rest of those two H5C1 works apart from the floppy, so I do have IDE adaptors (one TRUDIE plus a couple of the 'prototype' boards as well once I get them built up) even if I don't decide to fit the TF536/ST536 boards in them...

Of course the first H4 is working fine with a floppy...and the second H4 plus the H5B are still on the TO-DO pile...
User avatar
JezC
Posts: 2782
Joined: 28 Aug 2017 23:44

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

Post by JezC »

I've been derailed for the last few (limited) opportunities for retro tinkering by the arrival of my ATW800/2 for me original Mega ST4.

I've made some progress with it - but in the spirit of maintaining the suspense, I will document the current state in a new topic sometime soon (possibly later tonight).

Suffice to say I've got a limited configuration working and I'm more than happy with it all!

Now where did I put those Occam manuals....
:coffee: :signhere:
:waiting:
User avatar
JezC
Posts: 2782
Joined: 28 Aug 2017 23:44

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

Post by JezC »

Another diversion from the world of the ST remake boards for a bit of light relief...

Given the issues on my H5C builds with floppy drives (see other threads for details - I won't bore anybody by repeating it all here), I decided it would be good to get some alternative parts to help rule out anything I can.

So, after a beverage to lessen my despondency at my lack of success re floppy-wrangling on the H5C boards, I ended up making a low offer on a "for parts" STFM motherboard with socketed custom chips.

Somehow I won it and have just tested it quickly (no floppy ribbon on this motherboard but I wasn't worried about that at the time) and it's booted up to the desktop OK.

That might mean that I can find the time over the weekend to pull the custom chips & check them in the working H4 board & have a few more spares...or to remove the floppy ribbon header & replace it with a header, depending on how brave/lucky/foolhardy I feel at the time! ;)

Anyway, enough excitement for tonight - time to quit while I'm ahead.
User avatar
JezC
Posts: 2782
Joined: 28 Aug 2017 23:44

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

Post by JezC »

Another non-ST but still Atari addition...I'll start a new topic with proper details soon but thanks to the generosity of another forum member, I now have an Atari 2600Jr to refurb.

Not much progress yet, still need to try it with a proper analogue TV for the RF output and to try it with a controller...
User avatar
JezC
Posts: 2782
Joined: 28 Aug 2017 23:44

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

Post by JezC »

Oh - and there will also be another topic soon about the BlueSCSi kindly donated by another generous forum member....

So many things to do with so little time...shame I didn't win the lottery last night.
User avatar
mrbombermillzy
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 2284
Joined: 03 Jun 2018 19:37

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

Post by mrbombermillzy »

JezC wrote: 06 Jul 2025 18:23 Another non-ST but still Atari addition...I'll start a new topic with proper details soon but thanks to the generosity of another forum member, I now have an Atari 2600Jr to refurb.

Not much progress yet, still need to try it with a proper analogue TV for the RF output and to try it with a controller...
Just dont initially test it with a Bezerk Enhanced edition cart! :lol: :hide:
User avatar
JezC
Posts: 2782
Joined: 28 Aug 2017 23:44

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

Post by JezC »

mrbombermillzy wrote: 06 Jul 2025 18:56
JezC wrote: 06 Jul 2025 18:23 Another non-ST but still Atari addition...I'll start a new topic with proper details soon but thanks to the generosity of another forum member, I now have an Atari 2600Jr to refurb.

Not much progress yet, still need to try it with a proper analogue TV for the RF output and to try it with a controller...
Just dont initially test it with a Bezerk Enhanced edition cart! :lol: :hide:
No, I only have one cart to test it with initially...but will see about a video out mod of some kind once I've got a working setup in the first place...

Return to “MEMBER BLOGS”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: apple [bot], Bing [Bot], ClaudeBot and 15 guests