A literal shed for electronics, astronomy and vintage computers. twitter.com/thetechnoshed ~~~ Review policy =========== I'm happy to receive sample products for potential review (contact me by email for the postal address) however I will only review products if I use them; I won't return products received, even if unused; I do not accept monetary payment for reviews; reviews will be my genuine opnion, even if negative; a review may not be the primary prupose of the video although I will highlight in the description that a review for the product has taken place; I do not guarantee minimum or maximum review lengths. Sponsorship policy =============== Where a video is sponsored, I will be open about it and state that clearly in the video. Sponsorship does not necessarily imply endorsement. I have an exclusive contract in place until July 2023.
I think the performace is roughly on a par with my 50MHz Falcon and sadly Doom is a bit of a slideshow on that (3-4fps?). That said the memory access is much quicker and perhaps if using the HDMI screen we may be able to get it up to 10? :)
Just pulled a 68000 from an stf mb last week. I'm waiting on a replacement capacitor (that big 4700k on the 5volt nrar the power supply input ) and a resistor pack firvtge dma.
Having, long ago, soldered myself a 13pin DIN for Atari monitor, I felt your pain with the power plug. Still not proud of some joints, what, 34 years on?
Thanks, I have two 1040stf and a 520 st fm board that was hacked on by me as a teen I ordered one of these power supplies and am attempting to fix the damaged 520 . I'll probably put it in an old PC case and put all my mods on it. Leaving the 1040 s stock and original. Should I recap the motherboard?
I haven't recapped any of my motherboards yet, although the reset circuit can be a bit flakey after all these years and that big cap is ripe for a servicing. I would probably only concentrate on them unless you see a lot of jailbars or have other interference. The motherboards are quite delicate and I'd say pouring unnecessary heat into them is probably a higher risk than any of the smaller caps are.
@@thetechnoshed the big cap right after the ps was bad as usual. Some of the ones near the shifter were also slightly bad and got rid of the lines on the monitor when I replaced them . I bought the cap replacement kit from exxos as I was lazy about ordering and so I just replaced the ones I got in the kit.
I had an Amiga as a boy, but I do remember 3D games running slightly better on my friends 1040 STE. Null and void once I got the 1200, but that slight CPU speed advantage was a definitely a thing.
You could maybe use a very thing double sided tape, but I think you'd have to be super exact with your initial positioning. Pick and place machines use glue, but they're very accurate!
So if I understood all correctly - if I have a dual cf card in my Falcon - I can setup one card for copying files from Mac and Windows - by setting up to do software byteswapping - via HD Driver - and the other to be my usual bootable. To get files moved on - and then copy over to boot card as needed on the Falcon side...
What you describe is how people have been using their Falcons up to now. This device allows you to use a single CF/SD card in your Falcon that will be accessible both on the PC and Atari, and most importantly BOOTABLE. The problem with HD Driver is if you enable it's internal "byte-swap" feature, that memory card will no longer be bootable. By moving the "byte-swap" smarts into this hardware, not only are data transfer speeds much faster (you're no longer using the Atari CPU to do it for you) but you're selective in what you byte-swap so CF card is detected correctly, bootable, and treated like a native drive both on the Atari and PC.
Not sure the "in the school yard in the UK" thing applied across the board. Literally the only Atari I ever/saw heard about while at school was the ST with a keyboard in the music class that we all wondered "when is the teacher going to let us mash that keyboard?" but never got to even see the thing running. RU-vidrs seem to give the impression that Acorns were also common at home too.. I knew one guy that had an Acorn at home. Amigas were super common though. If you had a computer at home that wasn't your Dad's it was an Amiga with one of those awful disk boxes next to it with your copy of xcopy and a bunch of tatty copied games.
Our school had one A3000, but I never saw it turned on. Our county moved from BBCs to PCs from RM. STs were certainly common here, though. Much like the Spectrum/C64, I think a lot of it had to do with price.
Perhaps it was a UK only thing? Now days you mostly hear about it from UK based ZX Spectrum and Atari ST RU-vid channels who, for some reason, are so intimidated by the Commodore machines.
Good work - love that you included the failures, like the motherboard plug not fitting through the hole - we've all made mistakes like that before. Multiple times :) One tihng that did jump out at me when you said you'd redesign the grommet to fit the scres for the panel mount socket, I did wonder if you could simply put two studs on the piece that goes inside that would line up with the wholes on the socket, then sandwich it's metal plate between that and the outer part of the grommet?
Ah, that was actually the sandwiching bolt holes that I need to move. The heads just overlap the curtilage of the socket. They need to be a smidge farther apart.
Oh, where do I even begin with the Amiga?! Let me tell you, the Amiga isn't just a computer-it's a legendary powerhouse that revolutionized the way we think about computing, gaming, and multimedia. Back in the day, when you fired up an Amiga, you weren't just turning on a machine; you were unlocking a gateway to endless creativity, innovation, and pure, unadulterated FUN! The graphics, oh the graphics! The Amiga boasted mind-blowing graphics capabilities that left competitors in the dust. From vibrant colors to smooth animations, the Amiga was a visual marvel that pushed the boundaries of what was possible in the computing world. And let's not forget about the sound! The Amiga's audio capabilities were second to none, producing rich, immersive soundscapes that added a whole new dimension to gaming and multimedia experiences. But it wasn't just about the specs-oh no! The Amiga had soul. It had personality. It had charm. Whether you were diving into the latest gaming masterpiece, tinkering with cutting-edge software, or simply exploring the vast world of the Amiga community, you couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder and excitement. And don't even get me started on the games! From timeless classics like "Lemmings" and "The Secret of Monkey Island" to groundbreaking titles like "Another World" and "Shadow of the Beast," the Amiga was home to some of the greatest games ever created. The sheer creativity and imagination on display were unparalleled, and the memories made playing these games will last a lifetime. So, to all my fellow Amiga enthusiasts out there, let's raise our joysticks high and celebrate this iconic machine that continues to inspire us to this day. Long live the Amiga!
I am of two minds on external vs internal PSU's. It makes perfect sense if you're working with the top off all the time to keep those exposed mains connections. On the other hand I do like the "all in one" nature of an internal PSU though. I've replaced most of my internal PSU's with Meanwells already so the issue with the exposed fins isn't there for me at least. Cool project though and surprising how similar both our solutions ended up being.
I'll whisper it, but I'm not actually a fan of the wedge computers at all, really. Despite having two STs, a Falcon, an A500 and an A3000 stacked in the shed! I'd prefer to have as much stuff off the desk as possible as my table estate isn't so grand. The PSU tucked away under my desk is just an extension of that, I suppose!
I just bought this and after using it for 2 days, what a huge disappointment. This absolutely will not save any time. The problem is that if you put it to it's stand for more than 30 seconds it will get blocked so hard, it's like rock. You will spend the next 2 hours drilling and hacking to get the blockage off. Is it really supposed to be like this? I don't even exaggerate. You need to clean it after every pin? How is this supposed to save any time? I think I will throw this straight to trash and carry on with my manual pump. This was the most money I have flushed down the toilet. And the worst piece of tool I've ever bought.
I had that kind of problem a few times and I think I was not letting the pump run long enough after removing it from the board. Don't release the trigger straight away. Keep the pump going another second after lifting off and it really helps, I found. Perhaps that and changing the filters a bit more regularly. They tend to get blocked with flux if, like me, you're a little happy with it.
Hmm.. somehow I can't make it to work (it's not my first project and I'm familiar with electronics). I've built the board and connected PI (2W for now). Uploaded firmware. Downloaded disk images, copied configs etc. When I start emulator in terminal console - it reports working. When inserted into my STE - it doesn't boot up. Do I miss some steps? Does emulator start automatically or I need to run it from the console? ah.. memory test continuously gives me data mismatch errors in all the test lines
ataritest should return 100% success, else you've no hope. Even if it does return 100%, there may still be problems! It's sadly not plug-and-play yet. Each config needs fine tuning. The emulator does not, normally, autostart.
It says it's an always positive two's complement (ie. signed) 16 bit value. Surely that means bit 15 must always be 0. Therefore it's only a 15 bit value? Or have I read that wrong. What else could the two's complement part mean?
PCBWay will build you a board with all the SMT components populated, but you'd have to do the through-hole parts and flash the CPLD (you could use a Pi). See my PCBWay Community page for that. Unfortunately there's not anyone making complete boards, AFAIK.
Progress on drop-in FGPA replacements for the 68k line (specifically 020+) seems to have stalled. Vampire can do half the job, but the ST and Mac need the other half too.
0:09 I love your videos BTW. Is the plan to offer RP2040 etc all soldered direct to a small single PCB eventually? Stacked boards not great look. Also would allow options w.r.t size/shape. I hope the Exxos version is redesigned 😉
The idea is to solder the Pico board directly to the circuitboard and the pads have been made to accomodate that. For a second prototype, that makes little sense, though, so the optional headers are used here.
There's fewer of us and the ST is a lot harder to expand. Both in terms of fitting expansions but also in the support and tolerances they require to work. The Amiga doesn't use a lot of the 68k's features. The ST does.
I guess the error occurs with a specific access pattern. This would point to some voltage problems on the lines. That can be bad contacts, cold solder joints, flaky ICs. Everything that pulls down one or more address/data lines enough to make it marginally work. It's hard to find without an oscilloscope.
Possible. I suspect it's more related to timing -- the OS will access RAM back-to-back and in odd orders whereas the testing software has to go off and fetch instructions. It proceeds evenly and linearly. I have a scope, but it's hard to scope stuff thats' buried on the bottom of the board or is under the CPU!
I'm an Atari STE owner, once you replace the original 1980's CPU with a PiStorm and are using a 1.2 GHz 64-bit quad core ARM Cortex-A53 processor, is the result an Atari STE running TOS 2.06 or something else? Is the something else akin to the Star Trek episode where the 1977 launched voyager probe meets a damaged alien probe and they combine with a mission to explore space and destroy all imperfect life forms? Are we discussing the future manufacture of Atari STE motherboards and cases with built in SSDs, SD card readers and PiStormSTE and the relaunch of the Home Computer running from the coffee table on the living room HDTV rather than a PC set up in a spare bedroom office?
I spent months trying to get hard drives to work reliably on my STFM, including all the exxos mandatory fixes, CMOS CPU swap, new power supply, etc. The thing that finally resolved my problem was building the DMA fixer pcb that appeared on atari-home de in June last year (the thread is named "1040 STE - Zusammenspiel zwischen GSTMCU und DMA-Baustein").
The STFM doesn't suffer from the same as the STE DMA problems relating to the RDY signal which that board attempts to fix. I never heard or found such timing problems on the STFM. Also you don't fit a CMOS CPU to a STFM like on the STE. In Fact I say the exact opposite. I think your mixing up a whole lot of stuff there..
@@exxosuk I just know it's consistent and repeatable on my machine (my only Atari), which has always had DMA issues with hard drives. Testing with jookie's DMA HD test tool I get errors but if I fit the board I don't. I was getting desparate so some of the fixes I attempted later on went beyond what was suggested for the STFM, including the CMOS 68k.
@@SanguineBrah Jookies test program uses 16bit tests which don't trigger the DMA problem. Only 32bit access does AFAIK which TOS uses. I could run jookies program all day and tests would pass. Save desktop on a STE, and the drive gets trashed. So if your getting errors with jookies program, then I would assume your hard drive is bad or maybe SD card, or something hard drive related, bad connection etc. Also don't assume all hard drives work, there are a lot of drives about these days and people do have problems with them. Also the driver you use could be a problem.. If you did all the the fixes and it didn't help, its a indication that you have problems not with the machine specifically, but something else. If a STFM works in general, then the DMA pullups tend to be enough to solve problems with the hard drive. But these machines do suffer a lot with bad connections on the chips and even bad solder joints. Even flexing the motherboard slightly can destroy multiple solder joints causing various weird problems. The list is unfortunately endless. Is why it is always preferable to have a second machine to try things on.
I would speak to the guys who created the cloudy/storm hardware, whoever programmed their firmware would most likely be able to help. They're probably the only people who have designed a similar alt-ram device on a CPLD of recent times.
Whilst I like the Storm guys and am happy to speak to them, they are making a commercial product so don't really want to get into territory where they may feel uncomfortable answering.
I have set up a total of 5 DSTB1 and operate them in different MegaST (without Blitter), a 1040STF (with 4MB) and a 520ST (with 4MB), in conjunction with Lightning ST, STG(A)TW/ET4000 with a Transputerlink, everything works without problems. By default with EmuTos1.2.1. I didn't change the bus termination. I don't currently use ACSI. I am very satisfied, the acceleration is clearly noticeable. Nice job, David. Thank you.
Well that's very nice to hear. Many thanks for the feedback. I think perhaps I need to build another one to rule out that this one's simply been through too many experiements!
I'm sorry, I don't have time to work on anything much at the moment, let alone to get into the manufacturing game! The board (without through-hole parts) should be orderable here, however: www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/PiStorm_STE_v1_0_df288de0.html
I also wonder if the PiStorm 600 may be usable here? Though at first glance I would be willing to bet it might not fit mechanically. A built for purpose unit is always the way to go though.
Works differently. It's a clip-over-the-chip system, IIRC, which won't work as most STEs are sockets. Also, I suspect, it means it'll only work on a system with no bus arbitration as it'll need to keep the on-board chip quiescent by means of asserting BGACK. This is speculation on my part, but I had to go through the same though process with DFB1.
Emu68 core may be a good rout for performance. On the Amiga it is JIT emulating literally 20x the speed of the interpretive Musashi on linux. That may give a lot of room for hitting the timing you need.
Uh , in reality the Amiga technically is a 16 bit ATARI . Built by the same builder . With parts patented by ATARI . And the ST is a 16 bit version of the Commodore 64 . I grew up a long time ago and quit trashing the 64 . They're both better than a Wintel or Mac .
Ha, I did the 'split the DB connector' trick also, no need to trim the pins as you can take them out easily: the plastic part can be split too... And you can remove the unused pins.
Great video! Glad to know it's not just me that has issues like that! I spent an hour trying to diagnose a wierd issue the other day, only to find it was due to a dirty connection on the 5v....
Ive been hadup countless times like that as well. My first point of call is lazy, and I just lift one end of the glue or MMU so it's at a tiny angle and things tend to work then. Then when you got it all fixed up. You use it all week, put it in your shelf, take it down a month later and start troubleshooting all over again. :)
19:44 - isn't that traces corroded? If traces are darker, that would be good to scratch soldermask and solder or just check with multimeter for conductance.
