Sonnet 7200 PCI programming

[strim]

I edited the vid to remove the copyrighted audio, once processed it should be accessible in Germany again.

[roomeo]

I'm in Norway for that matter.

Edit: Working now.. merry x-mas to you too..

[grelbfarlk]

Sorry Hedeon and strim for my lateness I have been struggling to get a USB network adapter working because I had to remove my network card for some reason.

In case anyone has an ATX power supply in an A4000D/T:

[grelbfarlk]

And here's my Workbench:

[strim]

Awesome, it's good to know that it works for someone besides the developers .

Also, I'll include your 3.3V mod picture in the project documentation if you don't mind.

[grelbfarlk]

Originally Posted by strim

Also, I'll include your 3.3V mod picture in the project documentation if you don't mind.

Go right ahead. There is another place on the board that looks like a good spot to put a voltage regulator on the opposite corner of the card from where I put the connector so no wire would be needed. Still looking for a good voltage regulator that will fit and hopefully doesn't need ground. This might be a bad idea because it will probably feed into the 3.3V on the mediator and though it might work to power a 3.3V Radeon too, bad things might happen.

[strim]

In the meantime, Warp3D is now working.

[ Show youtube player ]

[Sir_Lucas]

This is great!!!

[DarrenHD]

Originally Posted by strim

In the meantime, Warp3D is now working.

[ Show youtube player ]

That's awesome strim I have a Sonnet PPC with 384MB RAM and an A4000D with CS PPC and Mediator....but alas it is the 4000Di version without 3.3v support. I'm not sure I'm willing to pay/risk 319 EUR (which is 500 CAD) just to get 3.3v But I'd love to somehow get it working...

[strim]

You can try the solution suggested by grelbfarlk above, if you have any source of 3.3V in your Amiga (but it's not a good idea if you have any other 3.3V-capable cards installed in Mediator).

Also, I am looking at the Sonnet now and the empty U8 solder place looks suspiciously like a place for a power regulator (probably D2PAK-5 package). If one had too much time on their hands, he/she could investigate whether U8 output pins connect to 3.3V source. If yes, then surely installing 3.3V regulator there would solve the problem.

Something like this probably.

[DarrenHD]

Originally Posted by strim

You can try the solution suggested by grelbfarlk above, if you have any source of 3.3V in your Amiga (but it's not a good idea if you have any other 3.3V-capable cards installed in Mediator).

Also, I am looking at the Sonnet now and the empty U8 solder place looks suspiciously like a place for a power regulator (probably D2PAK-5 package). If one had too much time on their hands, he/she could investigate whether U8 output pins connect to 3.3V source. If yes, then surely installing 3.3V regulator there would solve the problem.

Something like this probably.

I have no other 3.3V source - I'm using the original A4000 Power supply. Maybe I will have to cough up for a new Mediator...

I had some contact with the designer of the board, he replied to some of my emails. Regarding U8 he said:

"As to "U8", let me know which revision of the board you have, and whether it is a G4 or G3. My G3 version has a switching regulator and a Linear Tech LT1086 which converts +5V to the IO voltage for the processor - but it would be populated, otherwise the card wouldn't work."

[strim]

Originally Posted by DarrenHD

I have no other 3.3V source - I'm using the original A4000 Power supply. Maybe I will have to cough up for a new Mediator...

I had some contact with the designer of the board, he replied to some of my emails. Regarding U8 he said:

"As to "U8", let me know which revision of the board you have, and whether it is a G4 or G3. My G3 version has a switching regulator and a Linear Tech LT1086 which converts +5V to the IO voltage for the processor - but it would be populated, otherwise the card wouldn't work."

1086 regulators are always 3 pin DDPAKs as far as I know. LM1086ADJ is installed at U4, not U8 on my card (G3 rev B).

Here U8 is a position for a 5 pin regulator (or something else in a DD package, but regulator most likely).

What is that for then? Maybe he's confusing U4 and U8?

If you have contacted him, maybe you could just ask what would be preferred way to mod the card, so that is it does not depend on an external 3.3V source.

[grelbfarlk]

If you look at the picture here:
https://sonnet.uguu.waw.pl/

It looks like someone had a D2pak style regulator installed at U8. I did check the pads and found 5V and 3.3V at U8. I didn't verify what the other three pads connect to. It would work to just power the Sonnet with 3.3V as it does feed the the Mediator bus with 3.3V, I checked a couple of the 3.3V pins on the busboard and I did see 3.3V. What I would expect is if the regulator was properly installed on the Sonnet that it would prevent backfeeding the 3.3V bus with power via diodes or something. If not then the situation I would imagine is even worse then you have the same 3.3V regulator powering the whole bus which might get very hot. It would be better to just connect 3.3V to the busboard from the power supply instead of directly to the card IMO.

That being said Mfilos has done the same thing to a Radeon 9200 with no apparent problems.

And if you have contact with the designer of the board try to get the pcb drawings or code for the roms on the board, I found that the PC755 is still available:
http://www.digikey.com/product-searc...556260?k=PC755

[Hedeon]

What's at U2 on the Elbox picture? Also, my card doesn't have manual jumpers. And has an extra ...resistor?.. just above the jumper pad.

(The one to the left of the word Sonnet. I just noticed there\s also one to the right of U2)

[DarrenHD]

Originally Posted by strim

1086 regulators are always 3 pin DDPAKs as far as I know. LM1086ADJ is installed at U4, not U8 on my card (G3 rev B).

Here U8 is a position for a 5 pin regulator (or something else in a DD package, but regulator most likely).

What is that for then? Maybe he's confusing U4 and U8?

If you have contacted him, maybe you could just ask what would be preferred way to mod the card, so that is it does not depend on an external 3.3V source.

I did already ask him about that and he didn't really give a solid answer. He said:

"The card is a "5V"'card but that only refers to the io voltage. All pci cards must generate 3.3 and 5v.
The card fingers are designed to only allow the correct kind of card to mechanically fit- if it fits, it works!

Hope you have a motorola mpc107 spec you'll need it

Interrupts are interesting, must be relayed from the main processor If you want "miata" to take over the whole system"
------

Not sure what "miata" is or if it's a typo for "Amiga".

I'm not sure about his answer, maybe he didn't know the full requirements of PCI specs, or only looked at PCI 2.2 and above (or whatever version the 3.3V came in), 2.1 or 2.2? I don't know because it doesn't really make sense to me because as you have found out a 3.3V rail is required for the board to work in an Amiga PCI system (eg. Mediator). We also found this out earlier.

[hooverphonique]

All pci cards must generate 3.3 and 5v.

this sounds strange, unless by 'card' he means 'backplane'..

[strim]

Originally Posted by DarrenHD

I did already ask him about that and he didn't really give a solid answer. He said:

"The card is a "5V"'card but that only refers to the io voltage. All pci cards must generate 3.3 and 5v.
The card fingers are designed to only allow the correct kind of card to mechanically fit- if it fits, it works!

Hope you have a motorola mpc107 spec you'll need it

Interrupts are interesting, must be relayed from the main processor If you want "miata" to take over the whole system"
------

Not sure what "miata" is or if it's a typo for "Amiga".

I'm not sure about his answer, maybe he didn't know the full requirements of PCI specs, or only looked at PCI 2.2 and above (or whatever version the 3.3V came in), 2.1 or 2.2? I don't know because it doesn't really make sense to me because as you have found out a 3.3V rail is required for the board to work in an Amiga PCI system (eg. Mediator). We also found this out earlier.

I think there's a bit of a confusion due to the fact in PCI bus there's a separate I/O voltage and power rails. The "keying" of the card and slot dictates the I/O voltage, it tells absolutely nothing about what kind of power does it use. This is probably what he means saying that if it fits, it should work.

I believe PCI 3.3V power rail was introduced in spec 2.0 (1993). Power Mac 7200 was released in 1995. Its PCI bus was 5V I/O but had both 5V and 3.3V power rails. PCI bus as implemented in Mediator has 5V I/O and only 5V power rail (notable exceptions are of course 3000Di, 1200TX and the new 4000Di 3V).

He just probably never heard of an implementation that lacks 3.3V power source.

[DarrenHD]

Originally Posted by strim

I think there's a bit of a confusion due to the fact in PCI bus there's a separate I/O voltage and power rails. The "keying" of the card and slot dictates the I/O voltage, it tells absolutely nothing about what kind of power does it use. This is probably what he means saying that if it fits, it should work.

I believe PCI 3.3V power rail was introduced in spec 2.0 (1993). Power Mac 7200 was released in 1995. Its PCI bus was 5V I/O but had both 5V and 3.3V power rails. PCI bus as implemented in Mediator has 5V I/O and only 5V power rail (notable exceptions are of course 3000Di, 1200TX and the new 4000Di 3V).

He just probably never heard of an implementation that lacks 3.3V power source.

Thanks for clarifying - it makes sense.

[SimonV]

Yesterday I was digging on the attic for parts that I could assemble an Amithlon pc with, for no good reason ....

Made me wonder ... could it be possible to use the sonnet thisway in an amithlon pc ?

[strim]

Short answer: no.

Longer, but still short answer: Not with the current sonnet.library design. The main problem is that SonnetAmiga project uses Elbox's pci.library, while Amithlon uses powerpci.library. They are incompatible. APIs don't fit together.

I want to literally throw up every time I think of the mess that PCI in classic Amiga is.