Category Archives: Computer

Amiga and DIY 68000 single board computer.

Started working on my breadboard version of a 68k computer.
When it’s working, I’ll make a PCB version.
Using almost only parts I still have. (No 8mhz crystal)

The 68000 being 24 bit address and 16 bit data needs 2x 8-bit roms and 2x 8 bit ram, but i didn’t have the components yet in this picture.

While tinkering with above, my Fatter Agnus chip came in.

To make a 1mb chipmem version of your rev 5 amiga (PAL)

You need to have a newer version of the Agnus chip (I had 8371, and bought a 8372a) AND you need a 512kb trapdoor memory expansion.

An unmodded rev 5 will see 512kb Chip mem and 512 Fast mem.

Replacing the Agnus 8371 for 8372a:
I lost my PLCC puller, so I modded a paperclip into a puller 🙂

When placing the new chip, I had to tape pin 41 for PAL version.
I used Polyimide Film tape.

Next I had to cut the jumper 2 connection and solder the other pads.
(Bottom and middle disconnect and middle and top bridged)

Next was another cut on the PCB, this disables the trapdoor card detection.

Success!

Notes for next projects I made using our short holiday in Madeira.

I think we’ve seen Maderia .. 🙂

I bought a little notebook while being there.
I wrote about 12 pages of ideas, schematics and projects to start.

  1. Rewrite Wozmon to use my composite pcb (Atmega328)
    access though via
  2. Building a 68000 pcb with a minimal machine code monitor.
    Using a atf22v10 as address decoder.
    (Same as my 6502 , I love those devices)
    Maybe I’ll add a micro sdcard reader
  3. Add a lcd matrix display to my 8088/8086
  4. Creating a PLA alternative for C64 using ath22v10 (again)
  5. Make backplanes for my 6502, so I can plug cards with different POC cards.
    Clockcard, Latched bus leds, multiple VIA’s, IRQ controller, SID + Buzzer (Maybe also AY-3-8910, see other posts), LCD, composite, serial, Matrix and serial_usb) keyboard)
  6. IRQ controller because I have some devices without opendrain, so I can’t tie all IRQ’s together
  7. Amiga Chip Mem mod for rev 5 (using a ‘new’ 8372A)
  8. 8085 Cartridge new approach
  9. C64Pico fix and add backplane + breadboard version for POCs
  10. … more
First version PLA with atf22v10
PCB mockup (two ATF22v10 on top and a wide pin setup for placement in C64
Wide PLA

8085 Cartridge revisited

Working on 8085 cartridge

Problem with cartridge: prg is 17k, exomized 10k.
So you need 2 banks of 8k.
This disables basic rom, needed for the program.
The program needs to be relocated to 0x800 anyway.
So my exomizer options will take care of that.
But the basic is not being enabled again.

exomizer sfx sys -o data.exo -Di_ram_enter=\$37 -Di_ram_during=\$34 -f'LDA #$37 STA $01' 8085.prg 
xa frame.asm -o frame.bin
x64 -cart16 frame.bin 

Result … JAM

68000 Build environment

For my new SBC I’ll need a machine code build environment.

This is what I’ve setup now.

My main workstation is Linux based. While this setup is Linux based, vasm should work on other operating systems also.

Getting and compiling vasm for 68k

wget http://sun.hasenbraten.de/vasm/release/vasm.tar.gz
tar xzvf vasm.tar.gz
cd vasm
# Building
make CPU=m68k SYNTAX=oldstyle
# Using
./vasmm68k_oldstyle -m68000 -Fbin -dotdir -no-opt source.asm
# this generates a.out

# Dumping the file (byte separated and with a offset of 0x8000)
xxd -g 1 -o 0x8000 a.out | head
00008000: 30 3c aa aa 4e f9 00 00 80 04 00 00 00 00 00 00  0<..N...........
00008010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
00008020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
00008030: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
00008040: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
00008050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
00008060: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
00008070: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
00008080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
00008090: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................

# But my 68k needs an ODD EVEN eeprom 
# so I used another tool - romsplit
git clone https://github.com/ullman/romsplit
cd romsplit
make all
# Using romsplit
./romsplit -s a.out odd.rom even.rom
# Split into 4? Split the splits using above
# Output
xxd -g 1 -o 0x8000 odd | head -1 ; xxd -g 1 -o 0x8000 even | head -1
00008000: 30 aa 4e 00 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  0.N.............
00008000: 3c aa f9 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  <...............
# Burn these with minipro

Disassemble

m68k-linux-gnu-objdump --disassemble-all --target=binary --architecture=m68k a.out

68030 example for friend

# Compile vasm with
make CPU=m68k SYNTAX=mot
------------
vasmm68k_mot  -Fbin  ./edk.asm
-------------
.68030

	ORG $0

*****
* exception table (256 x 4 bytes)
*****
	dc.l $400	; Program Counter na reset (startadres)
	dc.l $20000	; stackpointer (ram locatie)
	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0

	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	dc.l 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0

	org $400	; hier starten
	move.l #$0,d0
loop1:
	add.l #$1,d0
	cmp.l #$10000,d0
	bne loop1

	move.l #$0,d0
loop2:
	add.l #$1,d0
	cmp.l #$10000,d0
	bne loop2

	nop
	nop
	nop
-----
vasm 1.9f (c) in 2002-2023 Volker Barthelmann
vasm M68k/CPU32/ColdFire cpu backend 2.6c (c) 2002-2023 Frank Wille
vasm motorola syntax module 3.18 (c) 2002-2023 Frank Wille
vasm binary output module 2.3a (c) 2002-2023 Volker Barthelmann and Frank Wille

org0001:0(acrwx1):	           0 bytes
org0002:0(acrwx1):	        1024 bytes
org0003:400(acrwx2):	          30 bytes
-----
-rw-rw-r--  1 henri    henri       1054 aug 27 11:45  a.out

Playing an old game

While I’m not really a gamer, I played a very old game I loved playing on my Amiga.

Its Ports of Call.

Are there others like this game?

Ports of Call is a 1986 business simulation game developed by German duo Rolf-Dieter Klein and Martin Ulrich, and published by Aegis Interactive Entertainment.
The game simulates the management of a global freight transport company, where the player charters freight, and, using the accumulated profit, can buy more and better ships. Minigames include manually piloting your ship into a specified berth in the harbour and picking up survivors from a life-raft. 

I loved the manoeuvring part, especially the large ships with both front and back rudders.

Here are some screenshots from Amiga Forever emulator

Post about other old games:

Multiple computer systems in a carrying case.

Test picture of a multiprocessor computer setup.
Using buttons on the right, I want the possibility to change between systems and keyboard settings.
Also, multiple software/OS slots for SDCards will be on the right.

Mockup using a laptop display (eeepc) a bought display controller and a pi2 with Faux86

The lid containing the keyboard has a handle!

After laser cutting a nice front, it could become a nice road warrior hacking station.

I’m going to replace the wireless keyboard, probably with a touch display and a programmable layout for keyboards.
Something like below

Some layouts:

I’ll probably buy this one from waveshare

Info about Faux86

  • 8086/8088, V20, 80186 and limited 286 instruction set.
  • Configurable CPU speeds from 5Mhz up to 100Mhz.
  • Custom Hardware BIOS’s supported.
  • Supports bootable disk images in .img and .raw file format.
  • CGA / EGA / VGA Colour Video emulation, with most modes supported.
  • PC Speaker, Adlib, Soundblaster and Disney SoundSource.
  • UART Com Ports.
  • Standard PC XT Keyboard.
  • Serial Port 2-Button mouse.

C64 code re-learning stuff

Re-learning the little I knew (I never had a c64 as a kid).
Back to basics, welll machine code I mean.

Programming a little demo using acme.
Split screen bitmap and text mode plus sid music

Running a little demo in retrodebugger (missing the sid music in the recording)

Some useful commands

; Dump prg with offset 0x800 per byte and skip 00 00 lines
xxd -o 0x800 -g1 icecrew.prg | uniq -f10

; Write symbol list
acme -l icecrew.sym icecrew.asm

; png to kla (koala picture)
retropixels icecrew.png -o icecrew.kla

; relocate a sid address
sidreloc -r org.sid new.sid

Below code has some flaws:

Many empty gaps, creating a large file.
Exomizer could fix this, but better memory management should be the better solution.
The Koala file has many 0 bytes, the logo is small but the file is created for a full screen image.

Part of the program see $1000 of start of SID music


!cpu 6502
!to "icecrew1.prg",cbm

; Standard basic sys runner
basic_address   = $0801

; sid addresses
; address moved using 
; sidreloc -r Lameness_Since_1991.sid lame.sid
; addresses found using
;sidplay2 -v lame.sid 
;+------------------------------------------------------+
;|   SIDPLAY - Music Player and C64 SID Chip Emulator   |
;|          Sidplay V2.0.9, Libsidplay V2.1.1           |
;+------------------------------------------------------+
;| Title        : Lameness Since 1991                   |
;| Author       : Peter Siekmann (Devilock)             |
;| Released     : 2017 Oxyron                           |
;+------------------------------------------------------+
;| File format  : PlaySID one-file format (PSID)        |
;| Filename(s)  : lame.sid                              |
;| Condition    : No errors                             |
;| Playlist     : 1/1 (tune 1/1[1])                     |
;| Song Speed   : 50 Hz VBI (PAL)                       |
;| Song Length  : UNKNOWN                               |
;+------------------------------------------------------+
;| Addresses    : DRIVER = $1C00-$1CFF, INIT = $0FFF    |
;|              : LOAD   = $0FFF-$1B25, PLAY = $1003    |
;| SID Details  : Filter = Yes, Model = 8580            |
;| Environment  : Real C64                              |
;+------------------------------------------------------+
;
sid_address     = $0fff
sid_play        = $1003
sid_init        = $0fff
; Character 
char_address    = $3800
screen_mem      = $4400
; Koala address
bitmap_address  = $6000
bitmap_data     = $7f40
bitmap_color    = $8328
bitmap_bgcolor  = $8710
program_address = $c000
color_mem       = $d800

reg_d011	= $D011
; VIC register
;Bit 7 (weight 128) is the most significant bit of the VIC's nine-bit raster register (see address 53266).
;Bit 6 controls extended color mode
;Bit 5 selects either the text screen ("0") or high resolution graphics ("1").
;Bit 4 controls whether the screen area is visible or not.
;Bit 3 selects 25 (when set to "1") or 24 (when set to "0") visible character lines on the text screen.
;Bit 0–2 is used for vertical pixel-by-pixel scrolling of the text or high resolution graphics.

; Rom routine to clear screen ( slow ! )
; Better to do this yourself
clear_screen     = $e544

* = sid_address
    !bin "lame.sid",,$7c+2

; standard charset
* = char_address
    !bin "charset.chr"

; drawn with gimp converted using retropixel
; retropixels icecrew.png -o icecrew.kla
* = bitmap_address
    !bin "icecrew.kla",,$02

; sys 49152
* = basic_address
    !byte $0d,$08,$dc,$07,$9e,$20,$34,$39,$31,$35,$32,$00,$00,$00

* = program_address
    sei
    ; init
    lda #$00
    tax
    tay
    jsr sid_init
    jsr clear_screen
    jsr load_bitmap
    jsr init_text
    ldy #$7f
    sty $dc0d
    sty $dd0d
    lda $dc0d
    lda $dd0d
    lda #$01
    sta $d01a
    lda reg_d011
    and #$7f
    sta reg_d011
; move interrupt vector to bitmap
    lda #<interruptbitmap
    ldx #>interruptbitmap
    sta $314    ; Low Address part IRQ vector
    stx $315    ; High Address part IQR vector
    ldy #$1b
    sty reg_d011
    lda #$7f
    sta $dc0d
    lda #$01
    sta $d01a
; trigger interrupt at rasterline 0
    lda #$00
    sta $d012
    cli
    jmp *

interruptbitmap
    inc $d019
; trigger interrupt at rasterline 128
    lda #$80
    sta $d012
    lda #<interrupttxt
    ldx #>interrupttxt
    sta $314
    stx $315
    jsr bitmap_mode
    jmp $ea81

interrupttxt
; ack IRQ
    inc $d019
; IRQ at line 0
    lda #$00
    sta $d012
    lda #<interruptbitmap
    ldx #>interruptbitmap
    sta $314
    stx $315
    jsr text_mode
    jsr sid_play
    jmp $ea81

bitmap_mode
; bitmap graphics multicolor
    lda #$3b
    sta reg_d011
    lda #$18
    sta $d016
; switch to video bank 2 ($4000-$7FFF)
    lda $dd00
    and #$fc
    ora #$02
    sta $dd00
    lda #$18
    sta $d018
    rts

text_mode
; set text mode hires
    lda #$1b
    sta reg_d011
    lda #$08
    sta $d016
; switch to video bank 1 ($0000-$3FFF)
    lda $dd00
    and #$fc
    ora #$03
    sta $dd00
; set charset location
; 7 * 2048 = $3800, set in bits 1-3 of $d018
    lda $d018
    ora #$0e
    sta $d018
    rts

load_bitmap
    lda bitmap_bgcolor
    sta $d020
    sta $d021
    ldx #$00
copy_bmp
; screen memory
    lda bitmap_data,x
    sta screen_mem,x
    lda bitmap_data+256,x
    sta screen_mem+256,x
    lda bitmap_data+512,x
    sta screen_mem+512,x
    lda bitmap_data+768,x
    sta screen_mem+768,x
; color memory
    lda bitmap_color,x
    sta color_mem,x
    lda bitmap_color+256,x
    sta color_mem+256,x
    lda bitmap_color+512,x
    sta color_mem+512,x
    lda bitmap_color+768,x
    sta color_mem+768,x
    inx
    bne copy_bmp
    rts

init_text
    ldx #$00
copy_txt
    lda text1,x
    sta $0400+520,x
    lda text2,x
    sta $0400+640,x
    lda text3,x
    sta $0400+640+120,x
    lda #$06
    sta color_mem+520,x
    lda #$0e
    sta color_mem+640,x
    lda #$0e
    sta color_mem+640+120,x
    inx
    cpx #$28
    bne copy_txt
    rts


text1
    !scr  "     back to oldskool demos in 2024     "
text2
    !scr  "   greetings to bigred & tyrone & edk   "
text3
    !scr  "     a lot to relearn - keep coding!    "

C64 Multipart Loader

Today I tested part loading for a demo.

I wanted this to be a multipart loader, instead of a trackloader.
A trackloader can load sector parts which I would like more.
But the C64Pico can’t do disk images. (Mcume)

C64Pico based on MCUME see building of this in other posts.

2nd reason: While I’ve written a track loader for 8086, I never did it for C64. As a kid I didn’t have a C64, so all knowledge I have is from later years.
I’ve written only a few C64 machinecode programs.

See below explanation of what happens
  • Showing makefile
  • Showing first part assembly (without text Hello 2nd part)
  • Showing second part (no sysheader) needs to be loaded at $2000
  • Compile using Acme
  • make disk image
  • and run using autostart x64 (Vice emulator)

You see the first text from the 1st assemby code, then it will load the second at $2000 and does a jmp to this address.
Second text will but displayed.

While i’ve been using KickAss in the past and some other 6502 compilers, I manly use acme.

Makefile I created to compile, create a C64 diskimage and run the program is as below. (No exomizer tools in this Makefile)

all: acme disk run

acme:
	acme testloader.asm
	acme 2ndpart.asm

disk:
	c1541 -format diskname,id d64 my_diskimage.d64 -attach my_diskimage.d64 -write loader.prg loader.prg -write 2nd 2nd

run:
	x64 my_diskimage.d64 

New POC / WIP Rfid Read/Write

yes, again. Another change.

UPDATE: Working example at bottom!

Micros*ft Surface Running Linux!

I don’t want IDs and Paths in a Home Assistant automation.
The RFIDs can store more than enough data to store the paths to albums.

I Also tested with ESPHOME in HA, but you can’t write tags.

ESPHOME Config for my RFID device (NOT USED ANYMORE)

esphome:
  name: rfidtag
  friendly_name: rfidtag

esp8266:
  board: d1_mini

mqtt:
  broker: IPMQTTBROKER

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:
  encryption:
    key: "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx="

ota:
  password: "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password

  # Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
  ap:
    ssid: "Rfidtag Fallback Hotspot"
    password: "xxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

captive_portal:
    
spi:
  clk_pin: D5
  miso_pin: D6
  mosi_pin: D7
rc522_spi:
  cs_pin: D8
  update_interval: 1s
  on_tag:
    then:
      - mqtt.publish:
          topic: rc522/tag
          payload: !lambda 'return x;'
  on_tag_removed:
    then:
      - mqtt.publish:
          topic: rc522/tag_removed
          payload: !lambda 'return x;'

The next iteration of my Rfid controller will have a write function for the RFID tags.

  1. Stick a tag on a cover art piece of cardboard. (see below)
  2. Read path from data sector.
    • Send path to player automation
  3. Send path to program using MQTT or website if needed.

Not sure yet, also want to implement a wifi manager on the wemos.

Changes on above idea:

  • Paths are too long, I could not work out how to create a working program using this.
  • I stopped using paths, instead I’m using the Logitech media server album IDs.
  • Using two python scripts, I can use one for programming the card, and another script to control LMS.

How does it work

RFid device is connected to the network.

Start query.py on your LMS server.
Search for an album name, it will present an ID and Album name in a list.
Enter the ID you want to program, or 0 to exit.
(This will also reset the programming mode)

Place an empty or previously programmed tag on the device.
It will write the album ID on the tag.

Then it will start the album.
Changing the tags will also just change the album playing.

(NOTE: My genre spotify player still works using this method, using the same device)

A second python script will read the Mqtt topic and control the Squeezebox player.

Python Code DB Query

import sqlite3
#paho-mqtt
import paho.mqtt.publish as publish

host = "IPMQTTBROKER"
port = 1883
topic = "spotify/rfid/in/write"
auth = {'username': 'xxxx','password': 'xxxxx'}
client_id = "spotithing"

def readSqliteTable(albumname):
    try:
        sqliteConnection = sqlite3.connect('/var/lib/squeezeboxserver/cache/library.db')
        cursor = sqliteConnection.cursor()
        albumname = "%" + albumname + "%"
        cursor.execute("select * from albums where title Like ?",
               (albumname,))
        records = cursor.fetchall()
        for row in records:
            print("Id: ", row[0],row[1])
        cursor.close()

    except sqlite3.Error as error:
        print("Failed to read data from sqlite table", error)
    finally:
        if sqliteConnection:
            sqliteConnection.close()

album = input("Album name ? ")
readSqliteTable(album)

number = input("Enter ID or 0 to quit : ")
publish.single(topic, "00000" , qos=1, hostname=host, port=port,
        auth=auth, client_id=client_id)
if number == 0:
        exit()
publish.single(topic, number, qos=1, hostname=host, port=port,
        auth=auth, client_id=client_id)
print("Program your tag")
print("Reset/disable writing using exit with 0!")

Python Code Controller (this one needs to be running at all times)

import paho.mqtt.client as mqtt
import urllib.request

def on_connect(client, userdata, flags, rc):  
        print("Connected with result code {0}".format(str(rc)))
        client.subscribe("spotify/rfid/idlms")

def on_message(client, userdata, msg):
        print("Message received-> " + msg.topic + " " + str(msg.payload))  # Print a received msg
        urllib.request.urlopen("http://IPADDRESLMS:9000/anyurl?p0=playlistcontrol&p1=album_id:" + msg.payload.decode() + "&p2=cmd:load&player=b8:27:eb:11:16:ab")
#NOTE also change b8:27:eb:11:16:ab into you players MACAddress!

client = mqtt.Client("digi_mqtt_test")  
client.on_connect = on_connect  
client.on_message = on_message  
client.connect('IPMQTTBROKER', 1883)
client.loop_forever()  

Arduino Code (see schematic in other post)

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <MFRC522.h>
#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <WiFiClient.h>
#include <PubSubClient.h>
#define SS_PIN 15
#define RST_PIN 0
MFRC522 mfrc522(SS_PIN, RST_PIN);
  MFRC522::StatusCode status; //variable to get card status
  byte buffer[18];  //data transfer buffer (16+2 bytes data+CRC)
  byte size = sizeof(buffer);
  uint8_t pageAddr = 0x06;  //In this example we will write/read 16 bytes (page 6,7,8 and 9).
                            //Ultraligth mem = 16 pages. 4 bytes per page.  
                            //Pages 0 to 4 are for special functions.           
unsigned long cardId = 0;
WiFiClient net;
PubSubClient client(net);
const char* mqtt_server = "IPMQTTBROKER";
const char* ssid = "MYSSID";
const char* password = "MYSSIDPASS";
String topicStr = "";
byte buffer2[8];

boolean Rflag=false;
int r_len;
char payload[5];
byte value[5];
void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  SPI.begin();
  mfrc522.PCD_Init();
  WiFi.mode(WIFI_AP_STA);
  WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
  client.setServer(mqtt_server, 1883);
     delay(100);
    client.setCallback(callback);
      delay(100);
    client.subscribe("spotify/rfid/in/#");
}
void reconnect() {
  while (WiFi.waitForConnectResult() != WL_CONNECTED) {
  }
  while (!client.connected()) {
    String clientId = "rfid-";
    clientId += String(random(0xffff), HEX);
    if (!client.connect(clientId.c_str(), "rfidclient", "...")) {
      Serial.print("failed, rc=");
      Serial.print(client.state());
      delay(5000);
    }
  }
  client.subscribe("spotify/rfid/in/#");
}
void callback(char* topic, byte* payload, unsigned int length) {
 
  Serial.print(F("Called"));
   Rflag=true; //will use in main loop
   r_len=length; //will use in main loop
   Serial.print("length message received in callback= ");
   Serial.println(length);
   int j=0;
     for (j;j<length;j++) {
       buffer2[j]=payload[j];
       }
if (r_len < 3) {
  Rflag=false;
  Serial.print(F("Set false"));
}
buffer2[j]='\0'; //terminate string
}

void loop() {
    if (!client.connected()) {
    reconnect();
  }
  client.loop();
  if (!mfrc522.PICC_IsNewCardPresent()) {
    return;
  }
  if (!mfrc522.PICC_ReadCardSerial()) {
    return;
  }
if (Rflag) {
        for (int i=0; i < 4; i++) {
    //data is writen in blocks of 4 bytes (4 bytes per page)
    status = (MFRC522::StatusCode) mfrc522.MIFARE_Ultralight_Write(pageAddr+i, &buffer2[i*4], 4);
    if (status != MFRC522::STATUS_OK) {
      Serial.print(F("MIFARE_Read() failed: (W) "));
      Serial.println(mfrc522.GetStatusCodeName(status));
      return;
    }
  }
  Serial.println(F("MIFARE_Ultralight_Write() OK "));
  Serial.println();
  Rflag=false;
}
  cardId = getCardId();
  char buffer3[10];
  sprintf(buffer3, "%lu", cardId);
  client.publish("spotify/rfid/id", buffer3);
  // Read data ***************************************************
  Serial.println(F("Reading data ... "));
  //data in 4 block is readed at once.
  status = (MFRC522::StatusCode) mfrc522.MIFARE_Read(pageAddr, buffer, &size);
  if (status != MFRC522::STATUS_OK) {
    Serial.println(F("MIFARE_Read() failed: (R)"));
    Serial.println(mfrc522.GetStatusCodeName(status));
    return;
  }

  Serial.println(F("Read data: "));
  //Dump a byte array to Serial
  for (byte i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    Serial.write(buffer[i]);
       buffer2[i]=buffer[i];
    }
  client.publish("spotify/rfid/idlms", buffer,5);
  delay(1000);
  mfrc522.PICC_HaltA();
}

unsigned long getCardId() {
  byte readCard[4];
  for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
    readCard[i] = mfrc522.uid.uidByte[i];
  }
  return (unsigned long)readCard[0] << 24
    | (unsigned long)readCard[1] << 16
    | (unsigned long)readCard[2] << 8
    | (unsigned long)readCard[3];
}

C64Pico part 3

Today we worked on this project again. (Bigred and me)

There were some problems we needed to fix since last time:

  • It was quite hard to get the correct parts.
    Our display connector was only fitted with connection pins on the wrong side of the connector. (up/down)
    So I bought a connector with both positions populated.
    So we had to replace this hard to solder (40 pin) connector.
  • It was not clear what the orientation should be of the atmega328pb.
    We looked at the pinout, and followed the VCC/GND. But these are also available of the opposite side of the chip. (We missed that)
    Later, we saw a tiny line on the PCB, which showed the pin 1 placement.
    So we had to remove and replace the chip.
    When turning on the power, (with incorrect placement) probably fried R5 (10k resistor), on both our boards.
    Had to replace those also.
  • Programming the atmega328pb was not easy, see below fixes.
  • Compiling the pico firmware resulted in a black screen.
    Below the fixes I had to make to get the screen working.

Other things still to fix.

  • Bigreds screen.
  • atmega328p didn’t work for Bigred, so probably needs to replace with the pb version.
  • My battery controller is not charging.
    See bottom of page
  • Some of my buttons are working. The pewpew and some of the cursor keys (not as I expect, there are some up/down issues)
    And none of the other keys are working.

Some other things we noticed.

  • sdcard: remove partitions, format using mkfs.exfat
    Create a c64 directory on this filesystem where you can put the d64 files!
  • 0402 SMD is far too small for me.
    There is enough room on the board to use 0805 for example.
    Even THT is possible, there are only a few components.
  • Some components are TOO close together, removing a component resulted in other small parts disconnecting also.

My friend Bigred said: If I can see it, I can solder it.
But it is not easy. This probably keeps a lot of people from building it!

Below the diff from the source we got from:

https://github.com/silvervest/MCUME/tree/c64pico

UPDATE 20240501: We needed to clone the c64pico branch!

git clone -b c64pico https://github.com/silvervest/MCUME.git

Then it worked with the screen and keyboard!

Programming the atmega328pb using usbasp

https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/2022/06/30/morse-with-a-attiny85/
Link above shows the programmer.

To get your Arduino IDE up and running

  • Open the Arduino IDE.
  • Open the File > Preferences menu item.
  • Enter the following URL in Additional Boards Manager URLs:https://mcudude.github.io/MiniCore/package_MCUdude_MiniCore_index.json
  • Open the Tools > Board > Boards Manager… menu item.
  • Wait for the platform indexes to finish downloading.
  • Scroll down until you see the MiniCore entry and click on it.
  • Click Install.
  • After installation is complete close the Boards Manager window.

Above settings worked for me, maybe you can also try Programmer: usbasp (slow)

First install the bootloader.

When compiling the keyboard program of silvervest, you can find “Upload using programmer” in the Sketch menu!
(https://github.com/silvervest/c64pico/tree/master/keyboard)

CHARGING using BQ24230RGTT

Maybe I’ve got a problem with the ground plating of the charger.
Also very hard to solder the sides!

Amiga week

This week (while preparing for a mini retro party) I fixed some Amiga stuff.

I’ve bought a new gadget.

You place this PCB between the CPU IC socket and the CPU (68000) itself.

Now running a special floppy image, which loads a driver, I can use the 512MB sdcard as “harddisk”.

It at first ran into all kinds of hangups.
Checking everything, I found CIAB (8520) the culprit.
Timing errors I’ve never noticed before!

Switching this one with CIAA resolved the problem.
(I don’t use a printer anyway, but I have to remember that anything using the parallel port can have problems now.)

Meanwhile, I wanted to have a better control over the Amiga drives, so I’m planning to use a second switch to reassign drive numbers using a switch.

For switching Internal/External drive (df0/df1) I was using a Gotek boot switch. (Just press 3x ctrl-Amiga-Amiga)

See https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/2022/05/14/gotek-stuff/

But I have TWO external devices.
The Gotek virtual disk device and a real 5.24″ drive.

So I’m going to use a ON-ON double switch to toggle the external devices.

oppo_32

The internal switch toggles internal and external.
The secondary I’m going to build into the 5.25″ drive toggles df2 and the “df1”.
That way the internal drive can be 0 (boot) or 1.
The external drives can be 0,1 or 2.

NOTE: Switch pin 21 and 9 using the cross switch!

SO: Amiga with internal drive -> External 5.24″ which has a passthrough to the Gotek.

Another amiga thing fixed:
I re-installed Aros (on an old Laptop this time)

And third: I’ve bought the Amiga Forever cdrom.

When you get the ISO image from AmigaForever, and want to run it using Linux, do this to get it working

sudo apt install xkbfile1:i386
sudo apt install libxkbfile1:i386
mkdir -p /cdrom
sudo mount -t iso9660 ~/Downloads/AF.iso /cdrom
cd /cdrom/Private/Linux/e-uae/
./kxlight-start.sh

If you install Wine, you can use the windows gui in linux also.


Amiga samplers

Testing the sampler (demo for Tyrone)

Sampling the sound of a C64 on an Amiga.
Started (booted) the sampling program from second external drive using switch setup as above.

Even realtime echo works!