EclaireXL

• Updated pokey core with several fixes found during PokeyMAX development

• Do not reset cartridge on initial boot (fixes M.U.L.E. AtariMax cartridge)

Built for the Chameleon/Chameleon2/MIST/MC216/MCCTV etc too, but these are untested.

I spent a few years during Covid and the ensuing chip crisis building TF1260 boards and more recently a bunch of CTPCI boards. This helped improve my surface mount soldering skills quite a lot, though I have a lot more to learn still.

Anyway armed with this knowledge I decided to repair my old prototype boards. A few years ago I ripped up the pads and traces around the flash chip (which initializes the FPGA) on one of them when trying to change the chip to a more compatible flash chip. I was able now to use tiny thin copper wire and solder mask to repair the pads and traces. I was also able to fix the HDMI port on one of them which I never managed to solder at the time. Its nice to see the time invested in learning and practicing this has paid off.

I then found my latest code which was v37 + internal pokeymax + two different scalers does not fit into the small FPGA at all any more. The last I'd checked it fitted but would not work due to some Quartus bug. Anyway I decided for now to ditch these changes, go back to v37 and just put in fixes I've found in the meantime. Getting there with that.

One thing I found out that may interest you all is that I'd missed decoupling on the SD card slot. So this is why it sometimes crashes when hotplugging sd cards. I added a 220nF and then a 4.7uF over the 3.3v/GND at the connector and it seems much better. So an easy fix for anyone suffering from this.

EclaireXL/A4: SID frequency was too fast, made it closer to 1MHz (still approx, but better than 1.77MHz).

xxl kindly patched the slight sid player to work, it’s in atariage here:
https://atariage.com/forums/topic/295242-pokeymax-v2/?do=findComment&comment=4389604

• Fixed USB failure after 70 minutes.
• Fixed full speed usb init issue, this fixes my non-working hub.

• Stereo sid support, on the larger FPGA only since it does not fit on the smaller one.
• Sid1 is mapped at 0xd240-d25f and sid2 is mapped at 0xd260-d27f.
• Its the 8580 variant taken from the mister core, built by Rayne I think

• I broke these builds when adding debug support, NMI was stuck on. Fixed this.

Been trying out including sid into a build.

I have it mapped it 0xd240-0xd25f, but so far not getting much output. I think it might be my skills at changing the address in the player. Is there a player where I can change the address?

EclaireXL only change:
Debug sub-menu which allows entering the freezer on an address/data match.
Usage:
i) Set the address
ii) Set the data (optional)
iii) Press R to trigger on read of address (optional)
iv) Press W to trigger on write of address (optional, though to enable use one of read or write)
v) Press M to trigger only if the data matches (optional)
When the condition is met, the freezer is activated and an nmi triggered. So a few cycles later you are in the freezer and can see the state.

No updates here for a while, but its not all quiet!

I finished the board layout for the v2 of the pokeymax. The pcbs have been made for a prototype run, crossing my fingers that it all works. If you are interested in one, here is the thread: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/295242-pokeymax-v2/

I've been working on basic debugging support for the EclaireXL. We already have the turbo freezer, many thanks again to Hias. However it would be good to be able to trigger this on a memory access, so I've been adding this. Its now possible to select an address, read/write trigger and optional data match. When this occurs it raises an nmi and jumps into the freezer. Of course the CPU address moved a little during the NMI sequence but I hope it will still be useful.

Doing another build with turbo in vblank only, press fire on cpu speed selection. So many (not all) things with tight display timing can now run ~6x faster. Be up in 30-40 mins...

Oh and I broke everything but drive 0 in the last releases, this fixes it!

http://www.64kib.com/autobuild/20190719/

mist/mcctv/mcc216: pll switching, gtia based svideo, profile support (put sdflash.bin in roms)
all: fixed reset on .car file insertion

http://www.64kib.com/autobuild/20190713/

I should have mentioned before the EclaireXl builds are now going in the standard area, though there aren't really significant improvements to that in these builds.
build_A2EBArom is v1
build_A4EBArom is v2 (board marked v3)
build_A4EBAromv3 and build_A2EBAromv3 is the mini. You need to use the appropriate one for your FPGA.

I've back-ported a bunch of the EclaireXL features to the mist, mcc216, mcctv and chameleon.
New core chameleon2.

Released a first cut of them here http://www.64kib.com/autobuild/20190622/
See http://www.64kib.com/autobuild/changes.txt for some details.

Still the EclaireXL is the best version:-)