I know a lot of us have many, many projects on the go so I would encourage any of you to drop a blog on what's on your plate as its an interesting read of what lives we live in this Atari world whilst juggling with the real world.
These projects range from the very small like recapping a PSU, putting an upgrade board into an Atari, such as a Lightning VME, to major projects like building the STF Remake Alpha and developing the IDE board.
Completed
- Recap and Refilm of all Atari PSU's lurking in my life
- Always one of the first things to do on an ST, TT, Falcon. Found some interesting things along the way when opening these machines up
- ASP34-2 - Looking a bit burnt - https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=9&t=1369
- R205 100 ohm resistor in SR98 starting to get hot and smell - https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=9&t=1327 - Atari TT ECL to VGA Homebrew adaptor
- Found a schematic for creating an ECL to VGA adaptor for the TT so thought I would just try it out on a breadboard
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=29&t=479 - Atari TT ST-Ram board upgrade from 2MB to 8MB
- Decided to upgrade the 2MB ST-RAM board in the TT to 8MB taking the total ST-RAM in the TT to 10MB
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=15&t=357 - Atari TT Thunder, Storm and Lightning VME cards install
- Great products for the TT providing IDE, TT-RAM (256MB max) and USB (keyboard, mouse, flash drive, network)
- If you have a TT I highly recommend these to max out your machine - Atari TT FPU Overclock
- Neat little trick to overclock the FPU to 48MHz for the cost of an oscillator
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=18&t=744 - Atari TT Cable Tidy
- Adding a bit of love to keep the CPU cool in the TT and tidy up the fan cables
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=18&t=796 - Atari STF Remake ALPHA build
- Now this was an epic journey with the fellow Remake builders - PhilC (Iremeberedyourname), PaulJ, RJ, kodak80, Sandord, Troed, Exxos and many others sorry if I missed you out)
- Bravo to Exxos on this new beast in the ST world
- ALPHA users builds and progress - https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=64
- Icky's progress - https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =64&t=1205 - Learning CPLD programming
- I blame Exxos for this getting me involved in the untested IDE design. Learnt a lot in that space of time though - Atari ST IDE + ROM DEV Board for BETA testers
- Working with Exxos on his untested IDE interface and designing DEV a board to test
- Now its working we opened up to some BETA testers to help see if they can break it. That way we can make it more robust it we find any issues
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =73&t=1640 - Flashy Clock - Yet another DEV board
- An idea of Exxos' to repurpose the IDE DEV Board into a Flash ROM + RTC Module test board
- Modified the schema and track layout. Design is off at the fab courtesy of Exxos
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =73&t=1697 - Eiffel 3 Conversion of PS/2 sockets to USB Sockets
- Trying to make the Eiffel 3 neater using USB sockets instead of the original PS/2 ones
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =18&t=1729 - SMT MMU
- Testing out SMT MMU adaptor in the STF Remake
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... 85&p=21380 - SMT GLUE
- Testing out SMT GLUE adaptor in the STF Remake
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... 41&p=20536 - STF Remake True 16MHz Mode
- Boosting the STF Remake so that the CPU, ROM, RAM & Blitter run at 16MHz
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... 836#p21577 - 2600 Scart Kit
- Bought a kit to convert the old sixer woody to have a scart out
- Making sure all mandatory fixes are in place on ST(E)'s in collection
- This is a must for your ageing machines. It's a miracle these things still run after ~30 years as even when they came out of the factory they were on a shoestring budget.
- I think you may of heard the analogy before - its like having a 30 year old Ford Fiesta and every time you turn it on something or other breaks.
- It's a wonder any of these boosters etc work on the machines.
- In another analogy its like strapping a V8 onto that Ford Fiesta and driving it at 130 mph down the road and expecting to arrive at your destination intact.
- So doing these fixes at least try to make something stable out of an old jalopy so to speak
- Almost finished this project until another ST lands on my doorstep
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =17&t=1585 - Testing HDMI / DVI board for Smonson
- This is a great project and the image quality is awesome. Any of the photos in the threads don't do it justice. It's how the screen should be for the ST
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=29&t=330 - Building a stable STFM DEV environment to easily test boards and other items out
- This is a must for me at the moment. These machines are so temperamental as they are ~30 years old. Testing any board or add-on I need a machine that is rock solid and easy to expand
- Have socketed a lot of the chips so they can be removed and replaced with boards or other chips
- Added extra jumpers into vias on the board. ST vias are pretty large and normal header pins fit nicely.
- An example is a header for the SYNC for the HDMI / DVI board and the ACSI_10 line for the IDE board
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =18&t=1806 - Atari TT NetBSD 7.1 build
- Oh this one is taking a long time to get through. Had a lot of traction but it has now slipped down my list
- Currently I am trying to get the Thunder IDE interface to work in the kernel but I haven't looked at this since last year
- The other area is compiling Xfce4 as an environment for this build. Currently running out of ram on compiling one of the packages
- Following that would like to get the et4000 driver working as its in the source code of the kernel
- Note to self update this thread
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=18&t=398 - Production version of IDE ROM Board "Trudie"
- This one has been fun. I have designed and routed a board as a release candidate as there are bound to be a few issues with it
- Exxos has been checking my schematic and layout as I alway forget the power-rails. Just like Exxos forgets pull-ups
- We will also need to wait for the BETA testers to finish testing before we get to production with this board
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =90#p19213 - Flashy Clock - production board
- Improvement on the Flashy Clock Dev Board to make it slimline and fit with the ALT-RAM board
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =30#p24141 - ST Case Remake
- This one is a long saga. Exxos and I have discussed many options and I have been cleaning up the CAD files form the case scan. There is a lot to do still but even with the files done finding a 3D print manufacturer with the right size bed etc, etc is nigh on impossible
- However I do have a cunning plan which I will be revealing soon - watch this space
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=62&t=224 - Building a large 3D printer
- With the work on the ST Case remake making progress it has become apparent the need to have a bigger printer so that a full case can be printed
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =18&t=2086 - Sparkalaphobia - FPGA Blitter
- Working with Exxos on building a Blitter board using the FPGA Blitter core
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... 120#p20010 - STFM Keyboard Remake
- Well we have the STF Remake board in flight, the STFM case in flight so its only fitting we should complete the picture with a keyboard remake
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =19&t=2021 - H4 - The Three Amigos + MAD10
- Board for the H4 that is used for development
- It also includes a test circuit to try out a 16MB hack
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... 244#p36237
Future or I haven't got many hours in the day to get to any of these projects
- Atari TT NetBSD 7.1 build
- I would like to get the et4000 driver working as its in the source code of the kernel
- Now I have no idea where to start with adding in support for the Mach64 cards and Lightning VME board
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=18&t=398 - Giving the TT more love
- I feel that the Atari TT is a little unloved in regards to a bit of speed boost. There are boosters, fast rom upgrades etc for the ST range and even the Falcon but nothing really out there for the TT.
- Tuxie is working in this space but it would be nice to have some small steps along the way for the TT
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=29&t=487
- guus.assmann came up with a speed up on the ROM
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =17&t=1659
- However I would like to see a FastROM board or kit for the TT like Exxos does for the ST's. Have spoken with Exxos a few times on this. Might if I get some time look at that space
Abandoned
- Having a life other than Atari
- STF Remake Slimline Edition - abandoned as the H4 took over
- I have a second remake board and am looking to try to build with out all the towering boards of the ALPHA build
- This is one may have to slip into the future section
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =64&t=1587 - Working Atari ST Wall Art - abandoned as am using the STF Remake ALPHA as my wall art
- Well its on my wall and I managed to get it powered up
- I need to update this thread as I have got a load of parts to get this project finished
- https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=18&t=700