REV 3 - REV 5 - The beginning (ST536)

[nizmow]

Did this batch already sell out? Serves me right for not paying attention!

[exxos]

Did this batch already sell out? Serves me right for not paying attention!

I haven't had chance to build the prototype yet.

[spen]

Are you willing to sell boards without a CPLD? I'm happy to drop a 288 in.

[exxos]

Are you willing to sell boards without a CPLD? I'm happy to drop a 288 in.

I can sell the boards unfinished, that's not a problem.. BUT Problem is mostly firmware at this point, there is no updated ST536 firmware yet.

I am waiting for @Badwolf to send me his STE so I can diagnose a problem with the sister project the STE536. @Badwolf has really bad issues with his STE, so I am not really willing to put a product out in the wild until I clamp down on that problem first. Once the STE536 issues are solved, I will port to the ST536 and start testing.. firmware should be a drop in for both projects, but everything is totally untested at this point.

There has been several STE536 built and working now in various STEs fine, but there's something different on @Badwolf's STE which makes it totally unstable. I believe there's some bug in one of the firmwares modules relating to mono detection and hard drive IRQ requests. But I have been unable to track down the fault remotely or replicate it here. I really need the whole set up in front of me so I can quickly enable and disable various parts of the firmware to diagnose exactly what lines of code are causing the problems.

So things are in limbo at the moment because I cannot progress with the STE536 issues, and I can't do the ST536 until the STE536 issues are solved.

If you really wanted a bare board as shown in this post , viewtopic.php?p=131361#p131361
I can add them to the store (I have 3 or 4 I think) , the 6ns 288 PLD will be included, just not soldered. I can send you the current STE firmware, but if it doesn't work, it may well be some months before issues get fixed.

It certainly would help to get people on board in building boards up and testing but there will have to be an understanding that these projects tend to progress extremely slowly and people should not expect overnight fixes , or things to work absolutely perfectly out-of-the-box at this point in time.

[spen]

Yeah, I'll build at least one. Understood, firmware is alpha, and not open source. Happy to test / debug.

[JezC]

@exxos I'd also be happy to try and supprt with testing both STE536 and ST536 boards if that will help?

It's probably another 2 months until I'll get some significant increase in free time (so at least some of it will be available for retro work) but if that isn't an issue, we can discuss further on PM maybe?

I already have a working ST536 (with 144 CPLD at present) and have quite a few H4/H5 boards plus about 4x STEs to help test on (IIRC this accelerator for the STE's doesn't require the 'F' series cock driver on the STE mainboard? If that is correct, then at least 3 of the STEs can be used for testing, might even get the 4th running quite soon too).

[exxos]

There more people test on more machines the better..

I've been working out costs, and the boards will unfortunately at cost ( if i added it up right ) £106.40 each. The 144 PLDs were already removed, and the 288 6ns is included in that price.

People will still need the CPU, CPU socket, header pins etc to finish the build and of course know how to program the PLD and program the ROM themselves already.

Its basically the same ST536 as before, but with IDE header moved, and a few hardware fixes from the STE536.

The ST536 based on the 144 is abandoned, but technically people should be able to still change to the 288 6ns PLD and run the newer firmware.

Don't ask if a 10ns PLD will work, MAYBE ?! But all the current builds are based on the 6ns PLD, so I can't offer much support if people start using the 10ns devices as I am not using them myself. It may work perfectly, or may be totally unstable, it's not something I plan on testing.

Anyway, both sides assembled with these parts. Assembly cost a LOT on these alone :roll:

IMG_3625.JPG

IMG_3626.JPG

[coonsgm]

This is sooo close!

My STE is still rock solid with the STE536 with the 288 and latest firmware. My 520ST and Phoenix H5 with the ST536's are also working really well, but would be happy to swap in a 288 for the new firmware and help with testing.

[exxos]

This is sooo close!

Yeah, :lol:

My STE is still rock solid with the STE536 with the 288 and latest firmware. My 520ST and Phoenix H5 with the ST536's are also working really well, but would be happy to swap in a 288 for the new firmware and help with testing.

Cool. Yeah it be finding a 288 6ns which be the problem. I have some here of course, but the price of postage doesn't help at all.

[coonsgm]

Dang, just checked Digikey and Mouser no 6ns ones. I can find 7.5ns and above but a big fat 0 for any 6ns....

With the De-minimus changes in US tariffs, I don't expect anything from the other side of the Atlantic until that gets resolved.