BLITTER IN A ST - FPGA

General discussions or ideas about hardware.
User avatar
Cyprian
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2017 9:16 am
Location: Poland

BLITTER IN A ST - FPGA

Post by Cyprian »

just to clarify, this topic is related to FPGA BLiTTER https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... &t=79#p205
Which can be programmed as a pure BLiTTER replacement or CPU+BLiTTER (this is covered by my "crazy idea")


I have a crazy idea.
As the BLiTTER (left) has almost the same pinout as 68000 (right), would be possible to add missing pins?
It would allow to extend functionality by cpu emulation like Ijor's FX Cast or T68k with its ultra speed.
CPU_BLiTTER.png
CPU_BLiTTER.png (38.62 KiB) Viewed 4414 times
Lynx I / Mega ST 1 / 7800 / Portfolio / Lynx II / Jaguar / TT030 / Mega STe / 800 XL / 1040 STe / Falcon030 / 65 XE / 520 STm / SM124 / SC1435
DDD HDD / AT Speed C16 / TF536 / SDrive / PAK68/3 / Lynx Multi Card / LDW Super 2000 / XCA12 / SkunkBoard / CosmosEx / SatanDisk / UltraSatan / USB Floppy Drive Emulator / Eiffel / SIO2PC / Crazy Dots / PAM Net
http://260ste.atari.org
User avatar
exxos
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 23499
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:19 pm
Location: UK
Contact:

Re: BLITTER IN A ST

Post by exxos »

Cyprian wrote: Fri Jul 26, 2019 11:14 am I have a crazy idea.
As the BLiTTER (left) has almost the same pinout as 68000 (right), would be possible to add missing pins?
It would allow to extend functionality by cpu emulation like Ijor's FX Cast or T68k with its ultra speed.
Add missing pins to what exactly ? The blitter and CPU have totally different pinouts and pins.. You can pretty much link all the address & databus from the blitter to the CPU, but you also have to re-route the BGI,BGO pins from GLUE to the blitter as well, because those solder jumpers which are normally on the STFM etc are not on the ST, so you have to also re-route a couple pins on the GLUE as well.
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/ All my hardware guides - mods - games - STOS
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/store2/ - All my hardware mods for sale - Please help support by making a purchase.
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1585 Have you done the Mandatory Fixes ?
Just because a lot of people agree on something, doesn't make it a fact. ~exxos ~
People should find solutions to problems, not find problems with solutions.
User avatar
Cyprian
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2017 9:16 am
Location: Poland

Re: BLITTER IN A ST

Post by Cyprian »

exxos wrote: Fri Jul 26, 2019 11:25 am The blitter and CPU have totally different pinouts and pins
look the screenshot above, the pinout is almost the same.
difference is e.g.: the BLiTTER site: lack of IPL signals; doubled pins for bus granting (one set for MMU, the other for CPU) etc.
Lynx I / Mega ST 1 / 7800 / Portfolio / Lynx II / Jaguar / TT030 / Mega STe / 800 XL / 1040 STe / Falcon030 / 65 XE / 520 STm / SM124 / SC1435
DDD HDD / AT Speed C16 / TF536 / SDrive / PAK68/3 / Lynx Multi Card / LDW Super 2000 / XCA12 / SkunkBoard / CosmosEx / SatanDisk / UltraSatan / USB Floppy Drive Emulator / Eiffel / SIO2PC / Crazy Dots / PAM Net
http://260ste.atari.org
User avatar
exxos
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 23499
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:19 pm
Location: UK
Contact:

Re: BLITTER IN A ST

Post by exxos »

Cyprian wrote: Fri Jul 26, 2019 11:48 am look the screenshot above, the pinout is almost the same.
difference is e.g.: the BLiTTER site: lack of IPL signals; doubled pins for bus granting (one set for MMU, the other for CPU) etc.
The pinout is totally different, just look at the numbering on the chips..

You need a adapter PCB with the blitter pinout and wire it up to the CPU pinout..
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/ All my hardware guides - mods - games - STOS
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/store2/ - All my hardware mods for sale - Please help support by making a purchase.
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1585 Have you done the Mandatory Fixes ?
Just because a lot of people agree on something, doesn't make it a fact. ~exxos ~
People should find solutions to problems, not find problems with solutions.
User avatar
Cyprian
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2017 9:16 am
Location: Poland

Re: BLITTER IN A ST

Post by Cyprian »

exxos wrote: Fri Jul 26, 2019 11:54 am The pinout is totally different, just look at the numbering on the chips..

You need a adapter PCB with the blitter pinout and wire it up to the CPU pinout..
ok, you mean the order of pins. sorry my english isn't perfect.
the pin order is different but functionality of those pins is the same, besides small changes mentioned earlier.
my crazy idea was to adopt that fpga blitter to: 1) the cpu slot pinout; 2) fully compatible pins funcionalities.
And use that fpga in all ST(f/m/e) line.
Lynx I / Mega ST 1 / 7800 / Portfolio / Lynx II / Jaguar / TT030 / Mega STe / 800 XL / 1040 STe / Falcon030 / 65 XE / 520 STm / SM124 / SC1435
DDD HDD / AT Speed C16 / TF536 / SDrive / PAK68/3 / Lynx Multi Card / LDW Super 2000 / XCA12 / SkunkBoard / CosmosEx / SatanDisk / UltraSatan / USB Floppy Drive Emulator / Eiffel / SIO2PC / Crazy Dots / PAM Net
http://260ste.atari.org
User avatar
PhilC
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 6016
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2018 8:22 pm

Re: BLITTER IN A ST

Post by PhilC »

My first step would be to design a blitter breakout pcb, so that all the pins are available easily and you're not just soldering to the back of a socket.

Of course you could incorporate a cpu adaptor into this for data lines etc.

The longer you plan, the easier itll be :D
If it ain't broke, test it to Destruction.
User avatar
Cyprian
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2017 9:16 am
Location: Poland

Re: BLITTER IN A ST

Post by Cyprian »

:)
Lynx I / Mega ST 1 / 7800 / Portfolio / Lynx II / Jaguar / TT030 / Mega STe / 800 XL / 1040 STe / Falcon030 / 65 XE / 520 STm / SM124 / SC1435
DDD HDD / AT Speed C16 / TF536 / SDrive / PAK68/3 / Lynx Multi Card / LDW Super 2000 / XCA12 / SkunkBoard / CosmosEx / SatanDisk / UltraSatan / USB Floppy Drive Emulator / Eiffel / SIO2PC / Crazy Dots / PAM Net
http://260ste.atari.org
User avatar
Icky
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 3986
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2017 10:57 am
Location: UK

Re: BLITTER IN A ST

Post by Icky »

PhilC wrote: Fri Jul 26, 2019 12:28 pm My first step would be to design a blitter breakout pcb, so that all the pins are available easily and you're not just soldering to the back of a socket.

Of course you could incorporate a cpu adaptor into this for data lines etc.

The longer you plan, the easier itll be :D
I agree - planning is key but expect to have failures as even the best planning can not cover everything. I have had many failures with board design and it takes a few iterations to get things right. e.g. the IDE DEV Board was the closest to working first time but we still needed to patch the board.
User avatar
Cyprian
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2017 9:16 am
Location: Poland

Re: BLITTER IN A ST

Post by Cyprian »

Got it!

Artik-wroc, my colleague from Atari.org.pl forum, sent me an article from ST-Computer Issue form November 1988:
http://www.stcarchiv.de/stc1988/11/blit ... achruesten
and screenshot below.
Based on them, some years ago he did BLiTTER's daughterboard for short ST.
ST BLiTTER
ST BLiTTER
bliter[1].JPG (370.69 KiB) Viewed 4186 times
Lynx I / Mega ST 1 / 7800 / Portfolio / Lynx II / Jaguar / TT030 / Mega STe / 800 XL / 1040 STe / Falcon030 / 65 XE / 520 STm / SM124 / SC1435
DDD HDD / AT Speed C16 / TF536 / SDrive / PAK68/3 / Lynx Multi Card / LDW Super 2000 / XCA12 / SkunkBoard / CosmosEx / SatanDisk / UltraSatan / USB Floppy Drive Emulator / Eiffel / SIO2PC / Crazy Dots / PAM Net
http://260ste.atari.org
User avatar
PaulJ
Posts: 1568
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2018 1:14 am
Location: USA

Re: BLITTER IN A ST

Post by PaulJ »

Cyprian wrote: Fri Jul 26, 2019 11:14 am just to clarify, this topic is related to FPGA BLiTTER https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... &t=79#p205
Which can be programmed as a pure BLiTTER replacement or CPU+BLiTTER (this is covered by my "crazy idea")


I have a crazy idea.
As the BLiTTER (left) has almost the same pinout as 68000 (right), would be possible to add missing pins?
It would allow to extend functionality by cpu emulation like Ijor's FX Cast or T68k with its ultra speed.
CPU_BLiTTER.png
I can understand why one wants a glitter but there are ST's that have a spot to populate a glitter, Exxos would most likely know the board part number. It would be a lot easier getting a board that has the spot for a glitter that attempting to add one. :) :) :)
Post Reply

Return to “HARDWARE DISCUSSIONS”