LarryL - another Raven060 Adventure

[LarryL]

Hi,

Time for an update - and of course some issues…

After a (too) long time I made it to continue playing with my Raven
Finally I managed to create a working MINT setup, keeping a CF with Win/DOS partitioning and FAT file systems.
I was not successful with EasyMiNT, because this seems to work with Atari partitioning only.
But I wanted the full Unix setup with ext2 partition…
So, at the end I created a scheme with Gparted under Linux, having a few smaller FAT16 partitions for EmuTOS, a mid size (1G) ext2 partition and a larger (12G) FAT32 partition.
I installed MiNT directly from the latest FreeMINT snapshots as bootable build.
Then I copied my EasyMINT ext2 drive from my TT (where I did the usual EasyMiNT setup) using tar over to my Raven, and extracted this to the ext2 partition.
After some tweaks in the configuration, it now works flawlessly

But I still have some issues:
1. Keyboard table (two keys are swapped)
I realized, that on my USB Keyboard, the scancodes of two keys seem to be swapped. It is a german keyboard. The keys are: the one left from the „1“ (should give „^“ but results in „#“) and the one right from the „Ä“ (should give „#“ but results in „^“)
Under MINT I could change this by editing the keyboard table with KeyEdit.APP
But how to change this under EmuTOS?
Do I need to flash the Eiffel (CKBD) with a new table?
Really not sure, how to do this…

2. keyboard table (AltGR not working)
Next issue is similar… Under MINT, the special chars (like [,], {,}, /) are not accessible. My keyboard usually needs AltGR and the number keys (7,8,9,0,ß). Although I added this to the keyboard table, they are not working together with AltGR. Then I tried this with Shift+Alt. Then at least the | and ~ are working (they are on Q and + keys), but the ones in the number row are still not working
They are also not working under EmuTOS BTW - maybe this would be a prerequisite… ?

3. MxPlay
In order to get some sound out of the Raven (either using the Yamaha, or a separate sound card), I installed mxPlay. But the program is a mystery to me… it complains that no audio plugin is loaded when I start it. I downloaded the complete release folder from the GitHub and copied it to the Raven. The Plugin folder is inside the application directory. I did not find any installation guide, though.
Do I need to copy the plugins into a special location?
Does it need a special path environment variable?
Or anything else?
What kind of sound files do I need to test mxPlay? WAV, MP3, Or MIDI?

4. SoundCard Setup
This is an even bigger mistery for me
I have a ESS1868 sound card, which seems to be recognized by RVSND

Code: Select all

RVSCTRL devs

gives:

Code: Select all

Chip:
  0100: OPL3
Mixer:
  0200: System
  0201: Soindblaster
Midi-out:
  0300: Null
  0301: MPU401
  0302: OPL
> 0303: Raven
Midi-in:
  0400: Null
  0401: MOU401
> 0402: Raven

What do I need to configure in the RVSND.CNF file, to get it working?
Btw: I have a wavetable card attached to the ESS (it’s a DreamBlaster S2 from Serdashop).
Will this work to play MIDI files?
Any special configuration needed?

Would appreciate some hints and tips

Thanks
Michael

[agranlund]

But I still have some issues:
1. Keyboard table (two keys are swapped)
2. keyboard table (AltGR not working)
Do I need to flash the Eiffel (CKBD) with a new table?

Yes, I think this is probably what you'll want to do.
The default table is US layout but EiffelCF software lets you flash new Set3 tables and I believe it comes with German tables.

3. MxPlay

Yeah I'm sorry it's a bit all over the place at the moment..

You'll want to get these:
https://github.com/agranlund/atarisound ... /mxplugins

With rvsnd, you can ignore midi_isa.mxp and use midi.mxp instead.
Midi will then go wherever rvsnd is configured to send midi.

Remove the plugins that came with mxplay (plugins/audio)
Put the downloaded mxp files in plugins/audio and they should be picked up automatically on program start.
(And fail with some message if you dont have a particular hardware, or its not configured the way the plugin expects)


mod_isa.mxp requires Gravis Ultrasound.
Plays FastTrackerII files (.XM) as well as regular generic .MOD files.

opl_isa.mxp requires OPL2 or OPL3 configured at IO port 388
Plays .VGM or .VGZ files made for opl2/3.
for example;
https://opl.wafflenet.com/
https://vgmrips.net/packs/chip/ymf262
https://vgmrips.net/packs/chip/ym3812

midi_isa.mxp requires MPU401 compatible interface at IO port 330

midi.mxp play midi through regular Atari xbios API (use this one instead if you have rvsnd)
Plays standard .MID midi files.

4. SoundCard Setup

Since it was picked up by rvsnd it's probably default configured itself sensibly in ISAPNP already.
But worth to inspect ISA_BIOS.LOG to double check its using the usual standard ports.
220 for SB
330 for OPL
388 for MPU401

And if it isn't then it can be modified in ISA_BIOS.INF

Btw: I have a wavetable card attached to the ESS (it’s a DreamBlaster S2 from Serdashop).
Will this work to play MIDI files?
Any special configuration needed?

Yep, should work fine! You'll want to configure rvsnd.inf:

Code: Select all

[midi]
out = MPU401

if you don't have a wavetable card, or an external midi synth, you can make the midi play on OPL if you have that:

Code: Select all

[midi]
out = OPL

[LarryL]

Excellent! Thanks - will try this out tomorrow

[LarryL]

Hi,
Hat only limited time at the weekend to try to set-up sound on the Raven - but not much luck…

Installed MxPlay and deleted all the plugins in the plugin folder. Then copied the plugins from Anders‘ GitHub to the Plugins/Audio Directory.
But still there is an error message upon starting MxPlay that no plugins are loaded.
Also tried Jam and also replaced the plugins with the ones from Anders‘ GitHub - same, no plugins are loaded.
Not sure if I place them at the wrong place, or maybe the soundbars is simply not detected?
I have installed MxPlay and Jam under u:/opt/gem/

The I tried to check configuration of the Soundcard.
It is an ESS1868 with attached Wavetable S2 from Serdashop
It has internal connectors for CD-Audio - I plan to connect YM-Sound (waiting for a suitable cable) - and then Line In / Mic / Line Out / GamePort at the back

Made some pictures…
This is the AUTO Folder (unsorted, i.e. in running order)

IMG_5323.jpeg (900.4 KiB) Viewed 625 times

This is Isabios.cnf

IMG_5324.jpeg (805.51 KiB) Viewed 625 times

And this isabios.log

IMG_5325.jpeg (721.87 KiB) Viewed 625 times

IMG_5326.jpeg (920.99 KiB) Viewed 625 times

And finally rvsnd.inf

IMG_5327.jpeg (878.72 KiB) Viewed 625 times

To be honest, I still have to clue what t configure here…

Also some pictures from the boot messages

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IMG_5321.jpeg (337.83 KiB) Viewed 625 times

Cheers Michael

[agranlund]

Configuration looks good to me.

Maybe try with just one plugin first to see what it says.

if mxplay is installed in c:\mxplay
remove everything in c:\mxplay\plugins\audio
put midi.mxp as c:\mxplay\plugins\audio\midi.mxp

If this throws an error, check if changing rvsnd.inf gets rid of the error

[midi]
out = Raven

and maybe also then
[midi]
out = OPL

basically, to narrow down what the cause of the error is. Is it mxplay actually not finding the plugins, or the plugin is not loading ok. or something related to inside the plugin talking to the audio card etc.

does the mxplay error message say anything useful?

[LarryL]

Thanks @agranlund

one step further

I moved MxPlay to C: and had only midi.mxp inside the plugins/audio directory
And now it works!
I can play midi files
I also copied opl_isa.mxp in the plugins directory and this also works with *.vgz files

What does not work is the mod_isa.mxp - having this in the plugins directory, it gives an illegal instruction upon start of MxPlay

Checked again with having the directory in u:/opt/gem/ - no joy!
either my ext2 partition has some problems, or MxPlay does not like ext2

BTW: in RVSND.INF I tried both
MIDI = OPL
and
MIDI = MPU401
both is working

Cheers
Michael

[LarryL]

Hi,

In one of the other Raven Threads (do not remember which one…) I mentioned, that I am suspecting my PLCC sockets to be flaky and causing instabilities from time to time.
I designed small adapter PCBs, to solder Nessi and the 68150

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During last week, I found some time to do this.
Desoldered the two PLCCs - went surprisingly well!
Then soldered the Adapter PCBs to the Board and the PLCC Chips to the Adapter.

Some impressions…

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And well - the bird is flying again

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I am curious if it is more stable now - will see during next weeks



Cheers
Michael

[Mikerochip]

Nice!

Almost looks like a bga solder

[LarryL]

Indeed
TBH this was not my own idea - got inspired by this
https://www.alexandrugroza.ro/microelec ... index.html

But I was a bit nervous while doing it…
At the first adapter I had 3-4 points with no contact, which I had to reflow
For the second adapter I used more flux - and it worked at first try

[exxos]