TF536 on the ST

[exxos]

One million thumbs up on that!

I think some accelerators have generally recommended turning off the blitter, because the CPU can do things faster if running at 50Mhz etc than blitter running 8Mhz.. even though the bltiter can access ST-RAM quicker and do some bit processing faster.. This is all still running at 8MHz. I guess it would take a lot of investigation to figure out pros and cons of all that though.

[agranlund]

One million thumbs up on that!

I think some accelerators have generally recommended turning off the blitter, because the CPU can do things faster if running at 50Mhz etc than blitter running 8Mhz.. even though the bltiter can access ST-RAM quicker and do some bit processing faster.. This is all still running at 8MHz. I guess it would take a lot of investigation to figure out pros and cons of all that though.

This, combined with the fact that TOS needs to be patched up to either disable the blitter completely, or try to be semi-smart about it like blitfix does.. Else the system is going to crash sooner rather than later on machines with fastram.

At least on my system, TOS206 runs a lot faster with the blitter enabled but this probably says more about TOS than anything else.. NVDI's software routines crush the blitter completely in terms of performance, especially when in fastram, as you saw in the video

I believe the CT60 guys solved the issue by making NVDI mandatory.
Don't know if the PAK guys patched out the blitter stuff in their custom version of TOS3 or if they generally recommend taking it out of the socket?
EmuTOS takes the safe route of disabling and hiding the blitter on all systems where it has detected fast-ram.

These are all very good options unless you really want to use the blitter for some reason..

I actually really wanted to use the blitter, when safe, because I had spent a bunch of time in making that blitter expansion for my ST.
That's really the only reason I made blitfix the way it is, else I would have either just used NVDI with the TF534 or made a much simpler blitter-disable type of thing (or more likely.. just not have the blitter physically in my machine )


TLDNR: Atari TOS + Blitter + FastRAM will crash if not using one of the workarounds - most of them involve making sure the blitter is never used.

[DoG]

PAK recommend deactivate and removing the blitter over 32Mhz.

PAK don't have Alt-RAM on it. You need FRAK for that. Or something else.

[PhilC]

just wanted to add some feedback to this thread.

I have a TF534 that works fine when used with a decoder board in one of my Mega STs. Tonight I tried a TF536 in the Mega and it refuses to boot at all. I've tried it with TOS2.06 and EmuTOS, the Mega doesn't even get as far as asserting 50hz on the monitor and refuses to reset. The same TF536 board runs great in the H4.

I do need to replace the SILs in this Mega but wondered if anyone else had had any luck with the TF536 in an original ST?

[terriblefire]

just wanted to add some feedback to this thread.

I have a TF534 that works fine when used with a decoder board in one of my Mega STs. Tonight I tried a TF536 in the Mega and it refuses to boot at all. I've tried it with TOS2.06 and EmuTOS, the Mega doesn't even get as far as asserting 50hz on the monitor and refuses to reset. The same TF536 board runs great in the H4.

I do need to replace the SILs in this Mega but wondered if anyone else had had any luck with the TF536 in an original ST?

I can try it on the original ST tomorrow. But i have tried it before and it worked. My ST has some patches around the floppy drive but i wouldnt expect that to prevent it from booting at all.

[PhilC]

Thanks, it may just be my Mega.

[exxos]

Thanks, it may just be my Mega.

Megas are a pita , its why I did the mega buffer board.

[PhilC]

Thanks, it may just be my Mega.

Megas are a pita , its why I did the mega buffer board.

Yeah but I was just surprised that the TF534 worked but the TF536 didn't is all.

[terriblefire]

The TF536 has 5V line driver on the data bus but not all pins are buffered.

E clock will be 3.3v for example.

[PhilC]

The TF536 has 5V line driver on the data bus but not all pins are buffered.

E clock will be 3.3v for example.

Ok thanks for the info. The TF536 is destined for back on the H4 and the TF534 will go back into my Mega. I only use that Mega for testing stuff and for transferring stuff as its networked.