+Larry Posted January 1, 2007 Share Posted January 1, 2007 A year or so ago, I purchased a nice ACE80-XL cartridge. But I did not get any documentation. Does anyone have any docs or know of a potential source of technical info? So far, I've discovered how to change the screen colors in the 80-column mode, but there are probably other features that I'm missing. Thanks, Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 1, 2007 Share Posted January 1, 2007 (edited) Howdy Larry A year or so ago, I purchased a nice ACE80-XL cartridge. But I did not get any documentation. Does anyone have any docs or know of a potential source of technical info? So far, I've discovered how to change the screen colors in the 80-column mode, but there are probably other features that I'm missing. Thanks, Larry There was an 80 column cartridge for the XL/XE series? Very nice. Do you know how common these were/are? Please tell us more. What does it look like? How is it connected to a monitor/tv? Have you ever tried opening the cartridge? Edit: I looked up ace80-xl in Google. It seems to a using software to create the 80 columns. Maybe I should ask Austin Franklin again for the schematics to the Austin 80 cart. I have part of them, but not the part that has the 80 column stuff on it. greetings Mathy (who's trying not to drool into his keyboard) Edited January 1, 2007 by Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted January 1, 2007 Author Share Posted January 1, 2007 Howdy Larry There was an 80 column cartridge for the XL/XE series? Very nice. Do you know how common these were/are? Please tell us more. What does it look like? How is it connected to a monitor/tv? Have you ever tried opening the cartridge? Edit: I looked up ace80-xl in Google. It seems to a using software to create the 80 columns. Maybe I should ask Austin Franklin again for the schematics to the Austin 80 cart. I have part of them, but not the part that has the 80 column stuff on it. greetings Mathy (who's trying not to drool into his keyboard) Hi Mathy- The Ace-80 cart is actually an OSS black Supercart with a single 2764 in eprom in it. It is the fastest 80-column software product that I've seen. It has a nice aluminum foil label on the cart. On my XGA monitor using an ATI All-In-Wonder card, it is very clear, although it has "funny looking text" as do all of these software 80-column devices. But a very nice product, and I do wish I know more about it. This was created by Claus Bucholz. It does take up quite a bit of memory. With Atari Basic loaded, the system only has 20085 bytes free. Don't know if it is possible to reclaim any of that or not. It doesn't work with Turbo Basic XL. Overall, it is probably less flexible than Omniview, but is definitely faster drawing the 80-column screen. BTW, I earlier posted that I found out how to change the screen "colors," but actually, luminence only of foreground and background. Regards, Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinosaur Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Actually,many years ago,I had the 800 version (ACE 80) that fit in the right hand cartridge slot and gave 80 columns,but I traded it after I found an OmniView 800 chip that is in my original 800. I used OmniWriter with it for a long time for word processing. (Still working!) Sad to say,it has been so long ago,that I don't remember much about the ACE 80. I believe a word processing program came with it. Sorry I could not be more helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a8isa1 Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Howdy Larry There was an 80 column cartridge for the XL/XE series? Very nice. Do you know how common these were/are? Please tell us more. What does it look like? How is it connected to a monitor/tv? Have you ever tried opening the cartridge? Edit: I looked up ace80-xl in Google. It seems to a using software to create the 80 columns. Maybe I should ask Austin Franklin again for the schematics to the Austin 80 cart. I have part of them, but not the part that has the 80 column stuff on it. greetings Mathy (who's trying not to drool into his keyboard) Hi Mathy- The Ace-80 cart is actually an OSS black Supercart with a single 2764 in eprom in it. It is the fastest 80-column software product that I've seen. It has a nice aluminum foil label on the cart. On my XGA monitor using an ATI All-In-Wonder card, it is very clear, although it has "funny looking text" as do all of these software 80-column devices. But a very nice product, and I do wish I know more about it. This was created by Claus Bucholz. It does take up quite a bit of memory. With Atari Basic loaded, the system only has 20085 bytes free. Don't know if it is possible to reclaim any of that or not. It doesn't work with Turbo Basic XL. Overall, it is probably less flexible than Omniview, but is definitely faster drawing the 80-column screen. BTW, I earlier posted that I found out how to change the screen "colors," but actually, luminence only of foreground and background. Regards, Larry I also didn't know about a general purpose 80 column cartridge, in the form of the ACE-80. I only recalled the ACE DT-80 cartridge, 80-column, dumb terminal cartridge. Perhaps the two use the same 80-column code. With DT-80 the foreground and backgound luminences are changed by pressing START and SELECT, respectively. The hue can be cycled by pressing SHIFT+SELECT. - Steve Sheppard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Jefferson Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 I also didn't know about a general purpose 80 column cartridge, in the form of the ACE-80. I only recalled the ACE DT-80 cartridge, 80-column, dumb terminal cartridge. I remember someone having one of those cartridges here in my city (Victoria, BC), back in the day. Sadly, I didn't find it that interesting at the time so didn't pay much attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 (edited) Howdy Shawn, folks Now that I know that it uses a software solution to simulate 80 columns, I don't think it's interesting. Software solutions make the characters harder to read. A better solution would be a solution that uses hardware. Like the 6545 chip, or the closely related video-chip that's used in the Commoder 128 computer. (I have a small experiment board here with the C128's video hardware on it. But the only thing I was able to do was cycle through the different background colors.) Greetings Mathy Edited January 3, 2007 by Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ataridano Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Howdy Shawn, folks Now that I know that it uses a software solution to simulate 80 columns, I don't think it's interesting. I agree, I was excited to think that there was a hardware 80 column device that plugged into the cartridge port, but I guess there's not I think a PBI 80 col board would be *really* cool, but wouldn't mind a cartridge based one either, and that way I could use it with a 400 or XEGS which don't have the S-video outputs. I suppose any more a generic VGA chip would probably be the most easily obtained, unfortunatly such a video board would probably be independant of the Atari's main video out (IE would only work for text or special software). Speaking of video upgrades, has anyone heard any more about the Video Board XE? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 is not the XEP80-devie a hardware based 80 collum thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 XEP-80 runs through the serial port, I believe. Isn't there (or did it only get to proto stage) a software 80-col E: driver that uses two character sets (one with letters to left, one to right), and alternates between the two chsets and frame buffers every VBI ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Howdy folks Yes, the XEP80 is a hardware based 80 column device. But it was connected to the joystick port. And the chip inside was NOT used to it's full potential. I just included the data sheets to the chip that's inside the XEP80 to my special stuff page. In it, stuff like 64k by 16 bits RAM are mentioned, just like bank switching (to get even more RAM inside) and even color. In as many bits as you like. BTW: the link is a direct link to the XEP80 paragraph on my special stuff page. The PDF of the data sheets takes up 41 MB. (80 pages of a book, xeroxed 2 pages at a time by somebody who wants to remain nameless, than scanned by me, with diagrams and everything. Everything is easy to read, not everything is easy to understand.) Greetings Mathy (who's also waiting for some new on the Video Board XE, which, unfortunately, only does graphics) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Aren't there also projects around which give the XL the ability to run an ISA card? Easy cheap 80-columns (and more) - but the cards would be getting a bit rare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cas Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 (edited) Aren't there also projects around which give the XL the ability to run an ISA card? Easy cheap 80-columns (and more) - but the cards would be getting a bit rare. I have once developed drivers for a Hercules Card running inan Cartride-ISA Interface build by the ABBUC Regional Group Stuttgart (ARGS). You can find the sources of the drivers and the Interface layouts here --> http://www.strotmann.de/twiki/bin/view/APG...FardwDriverHerc There are USB Video Adapters out there. If these are supported by Linux, we might be able to port them to the MicroUSB Hardware. The biggest challenge is to find a Monitor that can be plugged into an Hercules Card (9pol TTL). Carsten Edited January 4, 2007 by cas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cas Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 (edited) Just found that Linux supports the USB2VGA adapter http://www.winischhofer.at/linuxsisusbvga.shtml So a A8 driver might be possible. I looked at the code and it seems not too complicated. These USB2VGA Devices are available on eBay for around 80 Euro. Someone volunteering in helping me writing a driver???? (I need to finish SIO2USB first, then VolksForth, but I'm willing to support everyone who will seriously try to develop a driver for this device with a USB Cardridge and my USB driver knowledge). Carsten Edited January 4, 2007 by cas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cas Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Just found that Linux supports the USB2VGA adapter http://www.winischhofer.at/linuxsisusbvga.shtml So a A8 driver might be possible. I looked at the code and it seems not too complicated. These USB2VGA Devices are available on eBay for around 80 Euro. Someone volunteering in helping me writing a driver???? (I need to finish SIO2USB first, then VolksForth, but I'm willing to support everyone who will seriously try to develop a driver for this device with a USB Cardridge and my USB driver knowledge). Carsten I have ordered one US2VGA Adapter. I will try that on Linux and will do initial test on the A8. Carsten Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ataridano Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Howdy folks Yes, the XEP80 is a hardware based 80 column device. But it was connected to the joystick port. And the chip inside was NOT used to it's full potential. Shoot, I was going to mention that in my reply and forgot, yes there's the XEP-80, but give up your joystick ports to use 80 column video? This means that no games with joystick control and no serious business programs with mouse support would be able to use 80 col video at the same time. The USB to VGA adaptor sounds neet, I had never heard of such a thing until now. I think I'll hold off on any dreams of VGA until I get my SIO2IDE boards purchased....but still that's neat! BTW, the PBI to ISA hardware should be able to support VGA without much trouble, especially if it's text only. How about PBI to USB to VGA?? Cooooolllllll...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Jefferson Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Was there a cartridge solution that had an RCA jack in the top of it for composite video? Seem to recall seeing one in someone's machine back in the day, but I may be thinking of the ComputerEyes capture cartridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinosaur Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Howdy folks Yes, the XEP80 is a hardware based 80 column device. But it was connected to the joystick port. And the chip inside was NOT used to it's full potential. Shoot, I was going to mention that in my reply and forgot, yes there's the XEP-80, but give up your joystick ports to use 80 column video? This means that no games with joystick control and no serious business programs with mouse support would be able to use 80 col video at the same time. The USB to VGA adaptor sounds neet, I had never heard of such a thing until now. I think I'll hold off on any dreams of VGA until I get my SIO2IDE boards purchased....but still that's neat! BTW, the PBI to ISA hardware should be able to support VGA without much trouble, especially if it's text only. How about PBI to USB to VGA?? Cooooolllllll...... The XEP-80 only uses joystick port #2. #1 is still usable for a mouse or joystick or ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinosaur Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Was there a cartridge solution that had an RCA jack in the top of it for composite video? Seem to recall seeing one in someone's machine back in the day, but I may be thinking of the ComputerEyes capture cartridge. The Austin Franklin 80 column video board (Atari 800) had a CGA connector. (DB-9 TTL) Strangely enough,you could display more colors on the CGA monitor with the Atari than you could with an IBM! As I remember, at that time,the Austin Franklin board cost almost $300.00 !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Howdy folks The stuff ARGS made (like the PBI-ISA thingie) was known for not using the PBI port as it should be used. The PC Bridge by Roland Scholz is a much nicer interface. But Roland had some problems getting his drivers to work correctly. He had a little daughter a couple of years ago, so now the project is waiting for somebody else to pick it up. The Austin 80 is a "right slot" cartridge. If you want to use it with an XL or XE, you'ld have to built a small converter that swaps a few lines. The right cartridge slot also has some latched R/W that is named different then other (lathed) R/W signals. Can't get my finger behind the differences. Computereyes for the 8 bit Atari's used two joystickports. The ST version was a cartridge, IIRC. Irata copied the design (my guess, I looked at the chips inside, they are the same. Computereyes has two knobs, Irata has five.). Frank Heusser wants to recreate the Irata hardware. But he too has a small child now. The USB2VGA thingie can be seen on the microusb site cas mentions in his signatur. I wanted to include a direct link to the picture, so you can see it here. But the site seems to be unreachable at the moment. Just like the Polish site with the Video Board XE threat hasn't been accessable since yesterday. Greetings Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cas Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 But the site seems to be unreachable at the moment. Just like the Polish site with the Video Board XE threat hasn't been accessable since yesterday. Arghh, a short reboot of the server. It's available again.... Carsten Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Howdy Cas, Folks Thanks! Here are the pictures of the USB2VGA device, to wet the appetite of all those who haven't seen it yet, loaded directly from Carsten's server: And there's a new picture I haven't seen before. Sitecom has very nice stuff and is available in a lot of (computer hardware) stores over here. I own a card-reader and a bluetooth dongle, both work very well on my Apple too. My dad's networkcard is by Sitecom too, works like a charm and installation was very easy (especially for a windows computer). Read more about USB on the Atari (and other 8 bit computers) on www.microusb.org BTW Carsten, did you order the Sitecom or the Telegnosis device? Greetings Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cas Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 BTW Carsten, did you order the Sitecom or the Telegnosis device? The DeLock http://www.delock.de/produkte/gruppen/USB+...mp;action=& Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cas Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Hi, I've got the USB2VGA Dongle today, it's the blue one in the pictures Mathy posted. The good enws is that USBTEST on the A8 can read the descriptors, so USB communication works fine, now we "just" need to write a driver..... Carsten Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ataridano Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 now we "just" need to write a driver..... Carsten I hate to ask, because I won't be any help with writing drivers.... but what are the chances of this actually working? The Atari is one of the few 8 bit computers that can have it's text display redirected to other video hardware. I'm guessing that in order for this to work, the USB hardware/drivers needs to be far enough along, and a handler (E:) to be written. I think it would be neet to have a VGA monitor as an 80 column text display for DOS and other programs that can use it, and maybe a few programs (a terminal emulator for one) that took further advantage of the VGA hardware, maybe allowing color/fonts/simple graphics. I'm hoping that sticking the USB2VGA adaptor in 80x25 text mode might not be so tough. Any thoughts on how close we might be to this right now?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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