Page 74 of 110
Re: REV 3 - REV 5 - The beginning (ST536)
Posted: 04 Sep 2025 13:14
by exxos
spen wrote: 04 Sep 2025 13:12
I wish the postman would hurry up
:lol:
Where? :-| My eyes clearly aren't good enough
Next to the IC near the left..
BTW I will PM you the firmware page, you will probably need that ;)
Re: REV 3 - REV 5 - The beginning (ST536)
Posted: 04 Sep 2025 13:15
by JezC
Corner pin facing right seems to be suspect as well?
Re: REV 3 - REV 5 - The beginning (ST536)
Posted: 04 Sep 2025 13:20
by exxos
JezC wrote: 04 Sep 2025 13:15
Corner pin facing right seems to be suspect as well?
No idea where your looking ?
Re: REV 3 - REV 5 - The beginning (ST536)
Posted: 04 Sep 2025 16:03
by JezC
exxos wrote: 04 Sep 2025 13:20
JezC wrote: 04 Sep 2025 13:15
Corner pin facing right seems to be suspect as well?
No idea where your looking ?
First picture, just above U1, that corner pin looks different from the rest...and there are a couple of others a little to the left of those.
Looking on my phone so probably looks different IRL...
Re: REV 3 - REV 5 - The beginning (ST536)
Posted: 04 Sep 2025 16:06
by exxos
JezC wrote: 04 Sep 2025 16:03
First picture, just above U1, that corner pin looks different from the rest...and there are a couple of others a little to the left of those.
Yeah 3 headers missing the top part for some odd reason. Never seen that happen before. The though-hole part looks fine. So shouldn't cause any problems :hide:
Re: REV 3 - REV 5 - The beginning (ST536)
Posted: 06 Oct 2025 17:14
by Miri
Besides some stupidity, some ST536r5.50 progress:
Miri ST536 build.jpg
@exxos: I think, I may need some CPLD firmware *.jed file and a modified TOS2.06 image file (German, pleeaase !!) now. :swave: :coffee:
Will the current CPLD firmware allow for a boot from 192k ROM on the mainboard (Like TF536 with KAOS or EMU Boot), if the ST536 EPROM is not equipped ?
What happens, if I put my 'proven' TF536 firmware on it ? (Still same/compatible pinouts on CPLD?) :fire: :hide:
Re: REV 3 - REV 5 - The beginning (ST536)
Posted: 06 Oct 2025 17:38
by exxos
Miri wrote: 06 Oct 2025 17:14
@exxos: I think, I may need some CPLD firmware *.jed file and a modified TOS2.06 image file (German, pleeaase !!) now. :swave: :coffee:
I will PM you the firmware page.. no German yet. I've not fixed some bugs in TOS yet, so need to do that before building any others..
Will the current CPLD firmware allow for a boot from 192k ROM on the mainboard (Like TF536 with KAOS or EMU Boot), if the ST536 EPROM is not equipped ?
I don't think that will work. You need to use the ST536 ROM.
What happens, if I put my 'proven' TF536 firmware on it ? (Still same/compatible pinouts on CPLD?) :fire: :hide:
You can't.. the original ST536 has a 144 PLD, later builds now use the 288.. This is to bring it in line with the STE build and fixes. My new TOS build won't work with the original 144 logic anyway.
Good luck! ;)
Re: REV 3 - REV 5 - The beginning (ST536)
Posted: 07 Oct 2025 11:58
by coonsgm
Exxos, when you eventually update the modified TOS, would you be able to build one without maprom?
Re: REV 3 - REV 5 - The beginning (ST536)
Posted: 07 Oct 2025 12:47
by exxos
coonsgm wrote: 07 Oct 2025 11:58
Exxos, when you eventually update the modified TOS, would you be able to build one without maprom?
Not sure I follow.. maprom isn't included anyway. Its to complicated and nobody knows how it works or has any maintainers, it's why I am moving away from it.
The current ST536 TOS is modified to fix cache related issues. I consider it obsolete now, along with earlier 144XL based ST536 builds.
The newer STE536 TOS (still WIP) is designed for the new ST536 builds and STE536 with the 288XL , which copies ROM into TTram. It wouldn't really make sense not to do that. I also allow the option to turn on off the blitter and caches whereas original TOS wouldn't allow that. BLTfix will still be needed because the blitter can't access TTram.
Re: REV 3 - REV 5 - The beginning (ST536)
Posted: 07 Oct 2025 13:00
by coonsgm
exxos wrote: 07 Oct 2025 12:47
coonsgm wrote: 07 Oct 2025 11:58
Exxos, when you eventually update the modified TOS, would you be able to build one without maprom?
Not sure I follow.. maprom isn't included anyway. Its to complicated and nobody knows how it works or has any maintainers, it's why I am moving away from it.
The current ST536 TOS is modified to fix cache related issues. I consider it obsolete now, along with earlier 144XL based ST536 builds.
The newer STE536 TOS (still WIP) is designed for the new ST536 builds and STE536 with the 288XL , which copies ROM into TTram. It wouldn't really make sense not to do that.
Sorry, I meant simply copying ROM into TTram.
Based on my limited experience, copying ROM into TTram seems to cause software incompatibilities. I've found this to be the case with maprom but I'm getting the feeling in using my STE536 that the same applies to copying ROM into TTram.
I'm working with a flawed comparison because I'm comparing running them from an ST536 with older firmware and older modified TOS so I could 100% be wrong in this.
This seems to especially the PPera hard drive adapted games. Just curious if you've seen similar issues?