Atari ST disk TOS

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Jul 022011
 

My mate Sophie wanted some EPROMs burning of the early TOS version for the Atari ST.
This version boots TOS from a disk rather than being “on-chip”.
I was given a couple of links to atari-forum.com and read how others had done it.
Because the ROM dump is only 16k and we want it on a 27c256 EPROM, we have to byte split the file into HI and LO and copy each file into itself 4 times.
Using the Windows command prompt you can type:
“copy /b disktos.lo+disktos.lo+disktos.lo+disktos.lo disktos256.lo”, and same goes for the HI file.

I originally tried this out on my STe and set the jumpers accordingly which allegedly allow a 27c256 eprom to be used but this now seems incorrect.
To throw me further in confusion, one of the EPROMs must have died somewhere between my house and my mates because it didnt work.

Feeling a bit deflated I sent an email off to user 1632 who originally started the post, asking if he could send me his files. He very kindly dumped his eproms and sent me them but they matched the ones I originally created.
All I could think of doing was burning them again and sending them off. This time they worked so a dodgy EPROM was the cause all along.

You can find the original forum post here

disktos

Thanks go to Mike (1632) for his help with this. I would have spent a lot of time looking in the wrong place without his help.

TAP2WAV program

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Jun 192011
 

I needed to convert some Commodore 64 .TAP files to .WAV to test out a new device and found the original TAP2WAV program by Gaia.
The program did not work on newer OS’ so ive recompiled it.

This program is not my own work, all credit goes to the original author Gaia. Ive been in touch with him and he is fine with me hosting this.

TAP2WAV

Robocop repair log #1

 PCB Repair Logs, Repair Logs  Comments Off on Robocop repair log #1
Jun 152011
 

Bought a Robocop board from the AO forums. Seller says the jump button didn’t work.
Doing a visual inspection revealed a burnt out track just off pin 23 on the edge connector, which is button 2, in this case, the jump button.

image

I repaired the trace but still no joy with getting the controls back.
Further inspection showed that the custom resistor array had burnt out. This resistor array has some modified characteristics compared a normal array, it passes an input out to a different pin and has a few other differences too. As I don’t have any spares of the custom array I decided to use a standard one pulled from a scrap board.

image

To make this work I had to short pins 6 and 7 together and 8 and 9 together. These are for button 1 and button 2.
The board is now fully working but ill keep an eye out for an original replacement part to fit.

Taito F3 region change

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Jun 132011
 

I got a Puzzle Bobble cartridge today so I could test the F3 motherboard I got in the job lot a bit back.
The motherboard itself doesn’t do anything at all without a cartridge so I wasn’t sure if it worked or not.
The cartridge seemed to be a different region than my motherboard is but the lockout is a physical one rather than a software based one and requires cutting the posts out on the pin header sockets. With this done, the game fits and it booted up no problem.

Happy this thing works and Puzzle Bobble is really addictive.

More information on converting F3 games and boards can be found here

Commodore 64 loading devices

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May 292011
 

Ive recently got a couple of devices for loading games onto the Commodore 64.
The first is an SD2IEC which allows ROMs to be loaded from an SD card. This is a homemade version (thanks go to SirMorris) but works very well. If you install JiffyDOS then loading time is as fast as it gonna get on the 64. I loaded up Last Ninja 2 in about 4 seconds!


Second device is something called a Cassadapt. This allows me to load .WAV files straight into the C64 from a PC or other sound source.
Its not something many people would want as it brings back the long loading times that plagued the 64 but being a bit of a purist I happen to like some of the loading screens and music you get with some games, plus its that whole nostalgia thing too.
Its a very nice device which has the ability to copy .WAVs onto cassette using the original Commodore data cassette unit and vice versa. It even has a built in program that helps you calibrate the trigger level to obtain optimum sound levels.



I came across a small problem with JiffyDOS installed as it doesn’t support tape drives or similar, only disk based devices so I removed the 27c128 EPROM that JiffyDOS was on and fitted a 27c256 with both the C64 kernel and JiffyDOS programmed onto it and fitted a switch at the back to switch between the 2 as needed. Its a simple case of toggling pin 27 (A14) high an low to select kernels.

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