exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

I was thinking how to go about designing a CPU expansion header.. plus in the mix my SEC STFM booster design.. Basically I don't want to design 2 variations of the same booster..

So my idea is to actually add back in the DIP 68000 socket on the next build (won't be anytime soon!) , for the use of the expansion header rather than the CPU.. This way, When I produce my SEC booster for the STFM it would directly fit this new board aswell.

The DIP 68000 CPU could actually be used instead of the PLCC CPU.. but I think the DIP's are getting harder to find than the PLCC types anyway now. So my thoughts is to leave the PLCC 68000 like it is now, and use the "footprint" of the DIP 68000 for the expansion CPU header.. So then I am not having to design 2 different boosters to fit 2 different motherboards.

Of course this is thinking way ahead.. I need to finish the booster yet.. plus look into all the FPGA blitter/MMU stuff yet..

There will be more IO headers.. probably SIL headers next to the shifter/dma etc to make easy break out of those pins.. Still early days.. lots to do yet :)

Well, if you're going to add an empty cpu socket as an expansion slot, how about megabus also?

KyleB wrote: 07 Sep 2018 02:21 Well, if you're going to add an empty cpu socket as an expansion slot, how about megabus also?

I think it was decided against it.. cards are hard to find, very large, I doubt be room in a STFM case to fit anything.. the connector is also very large, takes up a lot of pcb space etc, but what upgrades would it offer anyway ? We already have new FPGA video circuit in development.

How about an internal ACSI header? It would be useful for things like the CosmosEx when fitted internally, so you don't need cables hanging out the back of the machine.

rubber_jonnie wrote: 07 Sep 2018 08:42 How about an internal ACSI header? It would be useful for things like the CosmosEx when fitted internally, so you don't need cables hanging out the back of the machine.

Yes, I think that's in the suggestions already :)

I was talking to jookie to make a internal ultrasatan, but I think he has pretty much abandoned Atari works :( but have so much to do meanwhile thats its not a project currently on my to do list.

We did talk a little about once we have a faster MMU, we may have to use the FPGA DMA core and can gain faster hard drive speeds...

It does kinda worry me that the whole machine is heading over to FPGA.. but its the only way to get more speed out of the system.

Since the guys over at Atari.sk are now doing the CosmosEx, maybe worth engaging with them. Alternatively, this https://www.arananet.net/pedidos/product/satandisk-v4/ seems like it might be a possible option for something internal, as adding a header to it would be really quite simple.

I know it's not Ultrasatan, but it could be a starting point.

Would it be possible for future boards to have VGA output too? I guess this has probably already been put forward, but hey!

rubber_jonnie wrote: 07 Sep 2018 09:11 Would it be possible for future boards to have VGA output too? I guess this has probably already been put forward, but hey!

You mean the connector ? That could replace the DIN13.. Though I hope to use FPGA shifter ultimately, so would have HDMI output.

exxos wrote: 07 Sep 2018 12:07

rubber_jonnie wrote: 07 Sep 2018 09:11 Would it be possible for future boards to have VGA output too? I guess this has probably already been put forward, but hey!

You mean the connector ? That could replace the DIN13.. Though I hope to use FPGA shifter ultimately, so would have HDMI output.

Although I see the appeal of HDMI out, for me VGA would be more useful, maybe like an integrated UBE Switch, because I almost never use with a TV. I have no displays with HDMI or DVI inputs either, but I have lots of spare VGA displays.

I guess if it will work with a HDMI to VGA adaptor, then I'm cool with that.

I think it would need a lot of patching with TOS404, it would be essentially running on a ST.. If all the extra hardware support was bypassed in TOS, it may work, though I don't think anyone would go to the trouble of it all. Has anyone even tried running 404 on a ST ?

Yeah there's a TOS 4.x built for STE: http://dhs.nu/bbs-scene/index.php?request=18862

Internal ACSI - yes please. Mega ST pinout. That's what I did with my STE when I added an internal Unicorn.