Suska III-B

[xc8]

Hello,

I will update this topic when new info comes, as so far I have a lot of issues with this board.
It is mainly my experience with this board, and as @Alexh wrote, I bet the project is dead.

I really don't know where to start from, issues reported to the person behind this project but the feedback is friggin slow
and even I don't receive exact answers to my questions.

1. RTC seems dead, the device does not keep time , came with almost dead CR2032, later I 've discovered that the DS1392 RTC IC
supports rechargeable battery (1st WTF moment) then I realised the new CR2032 I ve installed became 2.5v in a few days , 2nd WTF
when I measured the battery holder and there is 3v there when the board is powered on! So an ML2032 should be there ... ok QC non-existent.
(lets hope the RTC dis not die because of this ...)

2. Documentation, ok , for LOLZ... Its a potpourri of information (even the front page has the image of ...Suska III-C ) revision 01-2016 (!!)
with some weird information like "Installation of avrdude" , but in fact as I read later this board has already the AVR firmware, very confusing indeed,
there is also some info to connect the (included) USB-UART in order to flash the TOS and 68k core , still confusing info like one part says use a serial terminal (but the serial terminal does not connect to the board - still waiting a clear answer if I need to power the board or not , because there is 3v0 came from the USB-UART)

3. Video out : everything is "ok" when I power on the board, goes to GEM Desktop but when I launch any app/game (if happens to be compatible with the 68030L core ) then there is a dark shade all over the screen, no idea whats about it, I assume the video timings/clocks change when an app leaves the GEM desktop .. really no idea and I ve tested with 3 different monitors. I think this is may be core issue, the video issue does not exist when I use the board on MONO mode, only on colour ones, but I somewhat stuck here as I can't connect the board with the USB-UART... so waiting time...

I will update soon...

cheers

chris

[xc8]

Just to update : The support is somewhat from... hell. really. I have no idea if the guy behind this project thinks his customers are having an EE degree, I ve asked him about the video issue and his reply was "could be an issue with a reference resistor connected to the Video DA converter" then nothing...
I had to ask again and again what can be done with that , I was even prepared to re-solder SMDs on board / take measurements etc.
Later as I ave asked him if was a "core" issue he wrote me I need a USB blaster , I rushed to get one (or course not the original Altera's that cost avout the same price of the suska, but a cheaper compatible one, ok for lolz he sent me an email that the included cable that he provided (USB-UART) was ok for this task as there is a fpga-shell running and I could reprogram the suska via a serial terminal (files on SD card) ,

Alas, that DID NOT work and I am glad that I got that USB blaster from ebay because was the solution:

So today I ve installed the Quartus II 13.1 ("ancient" Cyclone III on board you see..new versions of Quartus don't support it anymore).

lolz2 now.. the cores he supplied on an SD card with the suska were OLD ! (WTF was that , pls don't ask me, seriously is that guy working in "chabuduo" mode ? ) , I bit the bullet and found the "newer" (last of them) cores on his site, that worked like a charm , the video works FINE!

Only issue is now how can I flash the UK TOS (board came with german TOS ) , what I ve read from this (screwed-up) documentation is that all I gace to do is to connect the USB-UART then run a serial term, alas I don't get any prompt to do this, my question to him (still no reply) is if I have to power-on the device, because the supplied cable provides already +3v3 (in fact is so effin werd... the colour codes on the USB-UART cable are RED=GND and BLACK =Vcc this defies any effin design quite mental ... BTW no matter the guy is genious on decoding etc the ICs his selling/support model is way the opposite - tragicomedy in a word. I really hope his cores will go to github (as they note on their site).

Just to clarify, I am not "new" on those FPGAs (still have the ill-fated c-one ) and I really understand the issues behind them but so far the support I ve got from the people behind them (Till Hadbaum (MiST) and Jens Schönfeld (c-one) ) was more than stellar , esp with the c-one were so many issues and even I had to do h/ware mods on board.

[Steve]

Hmm yeah sounds real bad - I see exactly why you're having (wtf?) moments... even if someones customer support were 'bad' or 'sub-par' which, you take into account don't you? Since you know what you're dealing with, and the person selling is the person making (tech/engineer minded aren't usually customer support minded and vice-versa) So yes, you're taking all that into account, being a 'good' customer, but then he's getting things wrong on a technical level, giving you bad advice, providing old roms/code ... I see that would make me go (wtf?!) too :)

Well... I hope you get it working well enough to use.

[xc8]

thanks for the wishes, alas I stuck again.. as the flashing procedure of TOS does not work, the device boots to a black screen.. still waiting a reply, I think the flash storage lost it's boot ability or something like this, I am calmed down now at least I have the tools (USBasp) in the case the onboard ATMega needs to be updated , def something about this, but its a nerve wrecking experience.
The quicker they put the code on github the better, they should close their shop and/or give the rights to sell -and get their commissions- to a more capable company,

[xc8]

looks like last update, I managed most of the issues video and later installing the TOS , it is strange that Wolfgang suggests EmuTOS on this Suska, it even does not display the boot screen, also takes sometime to go to desktop and even then sometimes there are NO floppy/HDD icons and I need to reboot for 2nd time. I understand that EmuTOS can run on normal STE , so I think the advertising "compatibility" of Suska-III-B as "STE" is in fact the effects of inhaling too much flux (EmuTOS tested : 1.21 / 1.0.1 and 0.9.11 0.9.12)
RTC is dead-meat , no app to set it up. probably "show off" feature, still no reply if I need special RTC app to set it up.

OTOH TOS 2.06 works just fine, boots without any issues (so far).

all of the above based on my experience with this board so far. thanks!

[exxos]

Interesting you should mention EMUTOS not working. By design I think it is intended to work on pretty much everything. I don't think the Suska is far from a real STE overall ? Though I think EMUTOS seems to have some cache related issue as we can't get it working with the ST536 anymore. TOS206 works fine with cache off, or my build.

At some point didn't you say it had a 030 CPU core or something ? I know there was some optimisations for the 68000 core. But not really sure what the suska CPU core is classified as.

[xc8]

EmuTOS worked as supposed to be when I got the suska, I had the boot (welcome) screen etc, but that was when I used the core that the board came with - 68030<b>L</b> (lite version no FPU/MMU) alas the old core had the a "video bug" at least in my case, the newer cores that I ve found on the suska site def solve the video, but -I think- introduce new bugs, so EmuTOS boots without the "welcome" screen. It just few min ago I ve found this (on the EmuTOS github page)

RAM: Cold boot may not be properly detected on some configurations. This
may happen if the computer has been switched off and on too quickly.
In that case, the welcome screen is not displayed.

[exxos]

Looking at this image Suska had a 68000 CPU. viewtopic.php?p=5410#p5410

I think Wolfgang was working on a 030 core when I last looked a few years ago. So maybe you have something which is essentially experimental ?

[xc8]

bah nothing like that , there are 3x cores for the III-B 68k , 68010 and 68030L

(one more core exists for the III-C : the Falcon_68K30L)

https://download.experiment-s.de/Config ... nd/Altera/

but as you see the 030 is light, I bet because the (aged) FPGAs have no more space (if I read correctly 98% full with the 68030L STE core)

[xc8]

Just as I started to play some games... DISASTER ... when you press the left control ...it stays on the left ..
no, all of my joysticks/joypads are fine (work like charm with my C64 and have most of them since 80s..)
#facepalm