Installing the UltraSpeed Plus OS Module

[+Larry]

I decided to install the USP OS again in a 130XE and have run into a problem.

 

In order to install the module, a support chip (74LS138N) must be piggybacked onto a 4051. All the legs except 8 and 16 have been removed from the 74LS138N. Then two wires are soldered from the piggyback chip to Antic. (So far, no problems)

 

But a wire from the OS module must be connected to the 74LS138N. Where? Evidently when I bought the OS many years ago, the wire was pre-attached from the module to the 74LS138N. But it is now broken off. It looks like there was solder on pins 7 and 9 of the 74LS138N, but when I connect the wire to either, I can get the XEOS and the XL-Fix OS, but not the USP OS. The screen stays black.

 

Does anyone have a USP installed in their XL/XE and could tell me where the "extra" wire from the module is connected?

 

To summarize:

Three wires from the module go to the selector switch.

One wire from the module goes to the motherboard 74LS138N pin 7.

One wire goes (I think) to the piggyback chip -- where?

 

Thanks,

Larry

[Mathy]

Hello Larry

 

From the manual:

 

7.) Locate the 16 pin 74LS138 chip on your board. On the XLs,

it should be below the cartridge port. On the XEs, it will be

between two 40 pin chips in the right side. Connect the

shortest wire coming from the US+ module to this chip pin 7

(see insert).

 

If you need more information, I have the manual in ASCII and .TIF format (22 pages, each page a separate scan/file), just tell me which version you prefer.

 

sincerely

 

Mathy

 

 

PS OK, since I'm starting to doubt if it's the correct part, here's the installation instructions:

 

 

INSTALLATION

INSTRUCTIONS

 

Required Materials:

 

1.) 15-40 watt Pencil Soldering Iron

2.) 6 inches of Rosin-core Solder

3.) 1 Phillips Screwdriver

4.) De-soldering Iron (optional-see below)

5.) 1/4" Drill

 

Get your soldering iron plugged in and warmed up. You

will be disassembling your computer, and replacing a chip on

your computer's motherboard with the US+ module, and

making four simple solder connections.

 

1.) Disconnect all cables going to your computer.

 

2.) Turn your computer up-side-down, and unscrew all screws

on the bottom. Set the screws aside, and turn your computer

right-side-up.

 

3.) Carefully lift up the top. The 800XL will have a connector

for the keyboard attached to the motherboard on the right side.

CAREFULLY pull this directly up and out. The 130XE's

keyboard is separate, but needs to come out. Carefully pull its

connector out.

 

4.) Now remove the metal RF shield. On the 800XL, there are

different ways of securing the shield. Unscrew all screws

visible, then lift the whole assembly out of the plastic bottom.

(You may need to pull on the joystick end to get the ports out.)

You may find screws or tabs around the edges. Unscrew the

screws, or bend the tabs straight up. Now lift off the top shield.

On the 130XE, there are tabs located around the edge of the

shield. Bend them so they are parallel with the closest edge,

and lift the shield out.

 

5.) Now locate the 28 pin Operating System chip labeled

CO61598. On the XL, it will be close to the SIO port; on the

XE, it will be located in the middle close to the front. Note

which way the notch on the chip is oriented, and remove the

chip. (If the chip is not socketed, you need to de-solder it from

the board. Most XE machines do NOT have sockets. De-

soldering requires some skill as to not destroy the small traces

on the circuit board. Have a competent person do it, or call us

for information on our installation (716-429-5639). Install the

socket provided in place of the chip.

 

6.) Now set aside the chip you pulled out. You will no longer

need it. Insert the US+ module into the socket, with the wires

coming out the left side.

 

7.) Locate the 16 pin 74LS138 chip on your board. On the XLs,

it should be below the cartridge port. On the XEs, it will be

between two 40 pin chips in the right side. Connect the

shortest wire coming from the US+ module to this chip pin 7

(see insert).

 

8.) Find the 16 pin 4051 chip that is located at U25. On the

XLs, it is just below the US+ module; on XEs, it is the chip

closest to the keyboard connector. Orient the 16 pin chip

connected to the US+ module so that its notch lines up with

the 4051's notch. Stack this chip on top of the 4051. Now solder

pins 8 and 16 (the two corner pins) to the pins 8 and 16 of the

4051.

 

9.) Locate the 40 pin ANTIC chip (CO12296 or CO21697). On

the XL and XE, it is located on the lower right side. Connect

the wire coming from pin 1 of the US+ module's 16 pin chip to

this chip pin 34 (see illustrations, pages 24 & 25).

 

10. ) Solder the remaining wire coming from pins 4 and 5 of the

US+'s external 16 pin chip to pin 14 of the ANTIC (CO12296 or

CO21697).

 

11.) Drill a 1/4" hole in the back of our computer to mount the

OS select switch. Just to the left of the SIO port is a good

place. Insert the switch, and screw the nut on the outside

firmly.

 

12.) This step is optional. To install a "RAM drive 1" switch

(not provided), drill another hole for it, and mount a SPST

toggle switch (Radio Shack #275-645 is recommended).

Connect one terminal of this switch to the GTIA chip

(CO14805) pin 10, located in the bottom left on XL machines,

and directly in the center of 130XEs. Connect the remaining

switch terminal to pin 3 of this same chip (see insert).

 

13.) Now assemble your shield back on to the motherboard,

and re-connect the keyboard. (Do this carefully!)

 

14.) Put the top on the computer, and screw everything back

together.

 

15.) Boot it up! If you don't get anything, power down, and

check your wiring. If you installed the "RAM drive 1" switch,

make sure it is not turned on. Strange things occur when you

boot from an unformatted RAMdisk! If you can't figure out the

problem, give us a call at (716) 429-5639 Monday through

Friday, 10AM-5PM EST.

Your OS select switch has three positions. The middle is

the original XL/XE OS, one side is the US+, and the other side

is the XL-FIX. If you desire to switch operating systems while

the power is on (to save RAMdisk contents), hold RESET while

flipping the switch to the desired OS. Then let up on the

RESET key. This works fine on the XL computers; on the XE

however, the RAM contents MAY be affected. There is no way

around it, except to save the contents of your RAM before

changing to another OS.

 

You may want to run the memory test in the US+ OS to

insure everything is working properly.

 

Enjoy! If you have any further comments, questions, or

ideas, please don't hesitate to call us!

 

By: Robert Puff 12/88

@1988 by: Computer Software Services

Telephone: (716) 429-5639

 

12/O9/88

[+Larry]

Hi Mathy-

 

Thanks very much for the info, but unless my eyes are deceiving me, the docs you posted are the same as mine, and it doesn't tell where the "extra" wire gets connected.

 

My docs are for Version 1.5

 

5 wires come from the module:

Short wire --> pin 7 of the 74LS138 on the motherboard.

Long wire --> ???

Three wires are already connected to the switch.

 

pins 8 and 16 of the piggyback 74LS138N are soldered to the same legs of the 4051 (incidently there are two 4051's, but the docs say closest to the keyboard connector).

 

wire from pin 1 of the piggyback goes to the Antic pin 34

wire from pins 4+5 of the piggyback chip goes to Antic pin 14

 

That still leaves the "long wire" from the module unaccounted for. I'm pretty sure it went to the piggyback chip, but someone who has one will have to look and see where it goes.

 

BTW, that phone number is no longer valid; the area code was changed so now the NLE/CSS phone is (585) 429-5639

 

Again, I very much appreciate you posting this info.

 

-Larry

[Mathy]

Hello Larry

 

I've got eight Atari 8 bit computers. Two of them have the US+ OS. And the XE closest to me is one of them. Let's see ..... My piggybacked 74LS138 is soldered on top of a 16 pin chip. But it's neither of the 4051's. There are two chips between PIA and CO12294. The 74LS138 is piggybacked onto the left one (the other one is a 14 pin chip). Your "long wire" is connected to the chip below the 74LS138. Pin 7. In this XE, both wires are exactly the same length, which works out fine, as the pin your short wire is soldered to is exactly above the pin your long wire is soldered to.

 

sincerely

 

Mathy

Edited July 22, 2010 by Mathy

[+Larry]

Hi Mathy-

 

Thanks for posting the pic. Many years ago, I called Bob regarding an installation question about the US+, and made a note that "version 1.5 installs differently than 1.2." Presumably your picture is of another version, perhaps 1.2? Both of my instruction manuals say 1.5. I don't think the 16-pin chip that the piggyback is on is of any significance -- he just needed VCC and ground for the add-on chip. Here's a nice data sheet of the 138:

http://ecee.colorado.edu/~mcclurel/sn74ls138rev5.pdf

 

I know this is a big favor to ask, but could you look inside your other US+ machine and see if it is installed the same way? I would be in your debt, for sure.

Thanks,

Larry

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Larry

 

I've got eight Atari 8 bit computers. Two of them have the US+ OS. And the XE closest to me is one of them. Let's see ..... My piggybacked 74LS138 is soldered on top of a 16 pin chip. But it's neither of the 4051's. There are two chips between PIA and CO12294. The 74LS138 is piggybacked onto the left one (the other one is a 14 pin chip). Your "long wire" is connected to the chip below the 74LS138. Pin 7. In this XE, both wires are exactly the same length, which works out fine, as the pin your short wire is soldered to is exactly above the pin your long wire is soldered to.

 

sincerely

 

Mathy

Edited July 23, 2010 by Larry

[Defender II]

Great topic.

Can you post more pictures of this installation?

[+Larry]

Hi Mathy-

I got it working, so no need to dig into your other US+ machine.

 

The "magic" locations for the "long wire" are pin 7 or 9 of the piggyback 74LS138. I put this into a different XE today -- one that I had the US+ in before. As I mentioned, the piggyback chip had solder on pins 7 and 9, so I thought it surely must be one of those pins. Since I tried this yesterday without success, I can only surmise that I had a bad solder connection somewhere -- maybe the piggyback?

 

At any rate, when I hooked it up in this XE, all three OS came right up.

 

Here's a picture, FWIW -- lots of wires running around, but in addition to the 320XE wires, this is my first XE from apx 1985, and it already had several jumper wires when I got it.

 

Anyway, many thanks for the help.

 

-Larry

Edited July 23, 2010 by Larry

[themrfreeze]

Hi Mathy-

I got it working, so no need to dig into your other US+ machine.

 

 

This thread got me thinking:

 

I wrote a lot of the documentation for CSS back in the late 80s and early 90s, and still have the original files. Bob only made a few docs available online. Is there a documentation repository somewhere that these files could be donated to (if they're not already there), and would be of any benefit to anybody to have them?

[Fox-1 / mnx]

Is there a documentation repository somewhere that these files could be donated to (if they're not already there), and would be of any benefit to anybody to have them?

 

All info is welcomed. Sooner or later someone needs/wants it and it would be a waste if they got lost somehow. If you can't put them online, I will.

[+Larry]

As you know, Bob has put some on-line. He told me that he does not have some of the docs or doesn't know where they are. I've scanned some of mine and sent to him and he has put them on line -- sometime takes him awhile. Personally, I'd ask him if he minds if we would have a repository here at AA or somewhere else. Clearly they would be of benefit, since docs get lost over time. But I'd certainly ask him first.

-Larry

 

This thread got me thinking:

 

I wrote a lot of the documentation for CSS back in the late 80s and early 90s, and still have the original files. Bob only made a few docs available online. Is there a documentation repository somewhere that these files could be donated to (if they're not already there), and would be of any benefit to anybody to have them?

[Shawn Jefferson]

Post them here! You should be able to zip them up and attach them to a post.

[Mathy]

Hello themrfreeze (Chris?)

 

I'll find a place on my site to post them. Heck, I mailed you guys a lot back in the days when mail meant you had to write your letters on an Atari 8 bit computer, hope your matrix (nope, 's got nothing to do with the movie with that same name) printer wouldn't jam up the paper, put it in an envelop and put a stamp on it.

 

sincerely

 

Mathy

[themrfreeze]

Sound like getting them online would be a good thing, so I'll work on getting the docs converted to PDFs. Will update this thread when I have something ready.

[themrfreeze]

There aren't quite as many docs as I thought, but here are the ones that I had, now converted to PDF format:

 

Floppy Board

Quintopus/Super Quintopus

Super E-Burner

XF Dual Drive Upgrade

XF Single Drive Upgrade

XF Update

 

I also had an addendum to the Black Box documentation for when we changed the power connector, a diagram of the Black Box, the CSS 1993 catalog (page breaks are a little messed up, but it's all there), and four CSS ads that appeared in the various Atari mags in the early 90s, all of which are now in PDF format. This stuff sure brings back some memories.

 

In any case, I've attached a zip file with all of the PDFs for anybody who wants them or wants to add them to a document repository or whatnot. If anybody is inclined to send them to Bob, go for it....I'm sure he'd appreciate having them.

css_pdf_docs.zip

[+Guitarman]

Better late than never. I found the scans I did of the manual for the US+. I just ran them through OCR and created a searchable PDF. Here is the full US+ manual.

 

CSS UltraSpeed Plus.pdf