Isn't this the most frequently asked question?

Help & news on accelerators from TF, Amiga, Atari, CD32 etc

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Re: Isn't this the most frequently asked question?

Post by terriblefire »

I would also add that each board has a section...
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In each section there will be a description of the the boards features. In some cases there are details about how things work and common build issues.

But really its beyond the scope of this forum to explain what you can do with these features, whether they'll give you benefit etc.
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Re: Isn't this the most frequently asked question?

Post by stephen_usher »

JezC wrote: Wed Oct 07, 2020 3:47 pm
PhilC wrote: Wed Oct 07, 2020 3:33 pm Ok, I'll try and start an ST specific topic on what works and what doesn't but please be aware that as exxos says, it may work on one ST and not another. As a for instance, one of my Mega Sts required a pull-up and cap to be soldered to the TF536, the other did not.

I did start a TF536 how to but have abandoned that at the moment as I don't have a consistent way to do the installs, however I have to say that everything that I've tried the TF536 on does work.... eventually.
I have to say that the board from @PhilC worked straight out of the box in my H4...but the lack of the extra ROM decode (and no IDE cable to use with the TF536) has slowed down my experimenting with the s/w (and the various flag settings to use the extra RAM etc.)

I've got an EmuTOS boot ROM image (192k) installed on the H4 which allows me to load EmuTOS from floppy with the TF536 but having to constantly swap floppy image on my Gotek definitely hinders progress!

:slapface: Must order the extra bits to allow me to use the IDE... :zombie:
Doesn't the H4 have the 2.06 ROM decode on the board already? I thought you could just pop in a dual-TOS EPROM (with EmuTOS on it), do a jumper and away you go.
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Re: Isn't this the most frequently asked question?

Post by PhilC »

@stephen_usher No you still need a method to do the decoding on the H4 and if I remember correctly, you will still need a decoder on the H5.

(At present anyway)
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Re: Isn't this the most frequently asked question?

Post by exxos »

H4/5 does not have 206 logic on it, that's why you need the decoder board.
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Re: Isn't this the most frequently asked question?

Post by JezC »

@PhilC Will dig them out tonight...though I'm pretty sure they were just pulled from the attachment to an original post by @agranlund

Will try & find that link first...give me a few minutes to finish a bit of work & then I'll go hunt for it...

EDIT:- After the usual curve-ball thrown by life...managed to scour the forum & find the original EmuTOS v1.0 zip from @agranlund on my H4 build log here
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =50#p49390

I'll attach the files to a new topic for clarity (probably in the new TF for Atari section)...though there was also a newer version of v1.0 EmuTOS that was posted ...but when I tested that one, my floppy (Gotek) worked to boot EmuTOS but wouldn't work once that version of EmuTOS was running from memory.

I've still not had time to find out what might be causing that particular issue but I'm using the earlier version of EmuTOS 1.0 image instead - it's still waaaay faster than the stock H4 & will be fine until I eventually get an IDE setup working on that H4
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Re: Isn't this the most frequently asked question?

Post by PhilC »

@JezC thanks, I need to try them out on a Mega ST for @sqward and that will save me having to split them myself.
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Re: Isn't this the most frequently asked question?

Post by JezC »

@PhilC I've added a post in the new Atari booster->TF536 section with the files I've successfully booted on my setup (H4 + TF536, the latter kindly supplied by you).

Looks like I've not actually split the image file from this zip file into the individual images yet...I just padded it out to 256k & put that into one half of a 27C4096 EPROM & stuck that in the H4 ROM socket & presto...EmuTOS was loaded from the auto folder on my Gotek image into RAM & worked.

Sorry about that!
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Re: Isn't this the most frequently asked question?

Post by PaulJ_2.0 »

terriblefire wrote: Wed Oct 07, 2020 8:48 am If you don’t know what it is then it’s not for you.
This is what I tell people that send me messages on ebay. Even the most simple questions like 'How do I fit this'.
In my experience helping and selling to these people will turn into 15 hours of support mails over the next month.

Do all of your own research, if you don't understand what it is and how to build or use it, then buying it will be a headache.

For sure ask questions, but dont expect simple answers, people here are generally technically minded, so wont 'dumb down' their answers.
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Re: Isn't this the most frequently asked question?

Post by Steve »

dnk777 wrote: Wed Oct 07, 2020 2:04 pm I think that few more sentences in the main thread & faq to clarify could help.
Just a basic info saying that it's meant as a co-processor which common software doesn't support and won't be able to use. Just so that people know what it is and what they could expect from it.
* It isn't a co-processor at all, it completely replaces the 68000 cpu with a 68030.
* The ram it provides is fast ram - the concept of fast ram is something usually well understood in the atari and amiga community as seperate from base ram (st ram on an atari) and requires programs designed to use it.
* It isn't a consumer product, not designed to be plug'n'play, will require troubleshooting and perseverance if you have issues.
---
what an 030 can do for you?
* If you are mainly interested in accelerating old/original games, I would not choose this kind of accelerator as the 030 is not compatible with all old games. This is exactly the same with stock Atari machines like the Falcon or TT - they are not compatible with all old games either, for the same reason. This kind of knowledge is taken for granted as base-line knowledge when you're in the enthusiast community, so hopefully this helps explain?
* an 030 comes into its own when you are running 32bit productivity and multitasking applications - it opens up a world of powerful operating systems, internet connectivity, unix etc etc search for FreeMint to learn more.
---
If you want faster games, what is best?
* for old games I recommend an overclocked 68000 solution like Exxos accelerators, they will keep full compatibility, and because they don't add fast ram the machine is basically stock but faster.

I hope this helps...
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Re: Isn't this the most frequently asked question?

Post by exxos »

Steve wrote: Thu Oct 08, 2020 10:55 am * for old games I recommend an overclocked 68000 solution like Exxos accelerators, they will keep full compatibility,
Speeding up the CPU will still break software which uses timing critical stuff. There are a few games which use overscan, lots of demos will break as well because of overscan tricks. Though all my boosters can switch back to 8Mhz mode.
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viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1585 Have you done the Mandatory Fixes ?
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