Agranlunds TF534 Build

[agranlund]

Started to build a TF534 for my Atari 520STM.

The CPLD's took some getting used to, to say the least...
I have soldered .8mm pitch before but .5mm somehow felt like it was on an entirely different level!
Didn't go quite as quick and easy as in Stephens youtube videos, but they are there, and appear to be working so far.

The firmware built with no issues using the github makefiles, and I was able to program the chips using xc3sprog with my Digilent JTAG-HS2 cable.
Feels like I'm off to a good start, I hope the luck continues

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[PhilC]

Moved your post to it's own thread.

[agranlund]

Thanks PhilC! I'm rubbish at this forum stuff

[PhilC]

Thanks PhilC! I'm rubbish at this forum stuff

No worries, we all start somewhere. Btw, looking forward to seeing your TF534 on the ST.

Make sure you have EMUTos or Tos 2.06 to hand or you wont get it to boot.

[agranlund]

Me too, but I'm quite slow with this so I'm sure it will take a while before it's completed

I did already prepare the ST with EEPROMs that contain both 2.06 and EmuTos built from source (I figured it could come in handy to be able to build my own EmuTos binaries just in case I want/need to do any hacks to it for AltRam purpose).

Btw, are there any ST specific patches needed for the TF534 firmware(s) or should it just work out of the box?
I seem to recall some thread about RAM access improvements?

--Anders

[PhilC]

TF did an ST specific firmware, which I have somewhere ( I think) and exxos adjusted dome of the ram stuff.

Cant remember how successful we were as I had too many projects on the go. It's now been reprogrammed and is in my Amiga

[agranlund]

Almost completely soldered up and it actually booted on first try!
I was hoping for that of course but wasn't really expecting it.

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I had to load Gembench from floppy since I haven't soldered in the IDE connector yet. Although I am not sure yet if I will attempt to disable IDE on the TF and just keep using the one on my own card - it depends on what will make for a better fit inside the case etc.

RAM access is on par with what I've seen in the previous build threads so I was expecting this.
If anyone finds the ST specific firmware, or even better, the .v files (or even just notes about what was changed for the ST) I would be super grateful!

[agranlund]

Turns out it may have just been a dodgy CPU..

First, I changed from a 50 to 40 Mhz oscillator and that made the setup completely unstable, and the floppy drive stopped working completely.

Then I switch to another CPU and I'm now seeing good results, with access to ST resources being equal to stock results.
Integer results are even faster with this CPU at 40Mhz than the first one at 50....

This is brilliant! Now I can proceed with trying to get stuff running from the onboard RAM

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[exxos]

Was that using the firmware I posted in my thread or the original 534 firmware ? I ask since even PhilC had the slow ram results the same as me and we changed the CPU a few times. Only the firmware tweak solved the slow RAM issue.

[agranlund]

This is with the stock firmware from github, using a 33Mhz cpu @ 40Mhz.
The previous test with the bad results was with a (probably fake) 50Mhz cpu @ 50 Mhz. That fake cpu had all kinds of issues at 40Mhz so I couldn't even run GB with that setup.

Saying thatt, there are still some kinks to work out when I get a chance to investigate.
- uIP with NetUsbee works with ST clock but not at 40Mhz
- my Ide interface board is the same, works only with ST clock
- i plan on implementing the necessary Monster ram size register on the TF so that emutos can autodetect the TF as monster and install the altram.

The blitter on my expansion seem to work when the TF runs on the 40Mhz clock though which is nice (only tested with one blitter test demo so far though)

All in all, I think its in a pretty good shape for further experimentation and general hacking about. think I'm going to have quite fun with this until I hopefully get a chance to build a 536

I still have the stock bus pullups on my ST motherboard though so I plan on replacing these as per advice I read from you.