Terrible Fire Accelerators

[alenppc]

Still waiting on Mr Postman but hopefully soon :-) I got all the parts ready

[plasmab]

I've started a repo for collating things i use to debug (and binaries)

https://github.com/terriblefire/terriblefire-binaries

I've added my tfdisk.adf there which has some of my debug tools on it.

[project23]

Originally Posted by plasmab

I've started a repo for collating things i use to debug (and binaries)

https://github.com/terriblefire/terriblefire-binaries

I've added my tfdisk.adf there which has some of my debug tools on it.

Awesomesauce, particularly the tfdisk.adf

Thanks

[project23]

So i've had a difficult time finding reasonably priced 030 sockets.

As a result I decided to simply solder on my first 530 attempt. This all went well, until something else went wrong and I had to remove the CPU.

I've got single row pin rounded female pin header strips for the 68k sockets, and i'm wondering if I could use them to make up an 030 socket?

Are they deep enough?

Not really important addendum:

Worried about the chip itself now too. Should be fine but to desolder i rigged up a system using my air gun and some old generic lab equipment. Had the blower (with no nozzle) mounted a few inches above the back of the 530, right over the CPU pins. Had the board itself also suspended so when hot enough the chip would 'drop' out. Had a fan blowing across the chip surface, but it got pretty damn hot. Had to have the air at around 400c to get the job done - but bare in mind by the time it hit the board it was probably much less.

Anyway it worked, the chip fell out in one piece. I didn't have a thermometer to hand but it wasn't hot enough to blister me and the old 530 board didn't peel or burn like it does when you air-blow too hot. The datasheet for the 030 says +150C for storage is okay, and I imagine thats conservative, so i'm hoping for the best.

Shame coz its a guaranteed NOS working chip.

So yeah i'd rather use a socket, but ebay is just bloody devoid of them.

John

EDIT: How strange, this listing shows when googling for it, yet when searching for 68030 socket on eBay itself it doesn't show! Not a bad price for two - guess i'll be waiting until next year until they arrive though,

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by project23

So i've had a difficult time finding reasonably priced 030 sockets.

As a result I decided to simply solder on my first 530 attempt. This all went well, until something else went wrong and I had to remove the CPU.

I've got single row pin rounded female pin header strips for the 68k sockets, and i'm wondering if I could use them to make up an 030 socket?

Are they deep enough?

Not really important addendum:

Worried about the chip itself now too. Should be fine but to desolder i rigged up a system using my air gun and some old generic lab equipment. Had the blower (with no nozzle) mounted a few inches above the back of the 530, right over the CPU pins. Had the board itself also suspended so when hot enough the chip would 'drop' out. Had a fan blowing across the chip surface, but it got pretty damn hot. Had to have the air at around 400c to get the job done - but bare in mind by the time it hit the board it was probably much less.

Anyway it worked, the chip fell out in one piece. I didn't have a thermometer to hand but it wasn't hot enough to blister me and the old 530 board didn't peel or burn like it does when you air-blow too hot. The datasheet for the 030 says +150C for storage is okay, and I imagine thats conservative, so i'm hoping for the best.

Shame coz its a guaranteed NOS working chip.

So yeah i'd rather use a socket, but ebay is just bloody devoid of them.

John

About 3 pages back someone posted a link of cheap sockets. I bought ten.

EDIT:

http://www.buyicnow.com/it.php?i=297

This is as cheap as it gets.

[project23]

Originally Posted by plasmab

About 3 pages back someone posted a link of cheap sockets. I bought ten.

EDIT:

http://www.buyicnow.com/it.php?i=297

This is as cheap as it gets.

Hah, the link a few pages back is the one i just found on ebay.

Thanks for that link though, that's great!

John

EDIT: Bought a few from that link, cheers, I'll let everyone know what they're like

[alenppc]

Actually that's the very same guy/entity that sells them on eBay. If you compare the prices they are only a bit lower on the website, presumably due to ebay fees. It's worth buying when you get one of those periodic ebay coupons, like 15% off everything etc...

Either way, I built all my 030/040/060 sockets out of pinstrips. It takes a while to do and it requires patience but it saves you some cash. To do so, turn the CPU upside down and attach the pin strips onto the pins, breaking them away as necessary.

Then put the whole thing through the board and solder. This way you don't have to worry whether you've aligned them correctly.

Oh and use a gold CPU. The other type has uneven pins on the bottom so you won't be able to align them right. Once the socket is in place, you can take out the gold cpu and plug in the plastic one.

[project23]

First of all thanks for the advice - i'm sure i'll just make my own for the first board.

Originally Posted by alenppc

Oh and use a gold CPU. The other type has uneven pins on the bottom so you won't be able to align them right. Once the socket is in place, you can take out the gold cpu and plug in the plastic one.

This I don't quite understand. I managed the get an RP33 into the PCB without any alignment issues. Maybe using pin strips it would be different?

Could you elaborate?

Cheers

EDIT: Oh! Are you referring to the 'standoff' notches on some (four) of the pins? I imagine that'd present a problem making your own socket, yes. One strip would be higher than the rest. Unless you could align them all that high up and still have room left to solder the pins.

[plasmab]

Time is more important than money to me right now...

[plasmab]

So IDE on the TF534 is stubbornly refusing to work for me. I suspect Its soldering on my part. Viktor.. can you try out the latest alpha firmware in this repo for the 534.

https://github.com/terriblefire/terriblefire-binaries

Basically the disk gets ID'd then everything stops. I've tried brain damaging out the fast RAM but that didnt help. i've disabled CPU caches.. no difference. its weird. I suspect I may need to add more to that tfdisk

[alenppc]

Originally Posted by project23

EDIT: Oh! Are you referring to the 'standoff' notches on some (four) of the pins? I imagine that'd present a problem making your own socket, yes. One strip would be higher than the rest. Unless you could align them all that high up and still have room left to solder the pins.

Yes, exactly.


BTW the TF534 has just arrived I will be soldering it up soon - Thanks plasmab

[project23]

Originally Posted by alenppc

Yes, exactly.

Yeah i've checked and aligning all the female strips so that they're in line with the 4 offset pins still allows for soldering to the board. That being said - I dunno - there just doesn't seem to be much depth for the pins, ya know?

Maybe i'll wait for the real sockets. Either way i'll let you know

John

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by project23

Yeah i've checked and aligning all the female strips so that they're in line with the 4 offset pins still allows for soldering to the board. That being said - I dunno - there just doesn't seem to be much depth for the pins, ya know?

Maybe i'll wait for the real sockets. Either way i'll let you know

John

Its just my opinion. But it takes about an hour to make a socket if you're good at it... You use about $1 of material. You save $6.50-$1 = $5.50. Thats way below minimum wage. Just saying.

[hooleydog]

Guys What firmware should I use for v3 of the board with IDE....

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by hooleydog

Guys What firmware should I use for v3 of the board with IDE....

Same as for V2. The firmwares come in bundles for all revisions.

https://github.com/terriblefire/tf53..._01_15_RC2.zip

All of them available now.

https://github.com/terriblefire/terr...e/master/tf530

[8 Bit Dreams]

Originally Posted by hooleydog

Guys What firmware should I use for v3 of the board with IDE....

the latest
https://github.com/terriblefire/terr...e/master/tf530

@Stephen
will test it. Just let me know what exactly do i need to run

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by 8 Bit Dreams

the latest
https://github.com/terriblefire/terr...e/master/tf530

@Stephen
will test it. Just let me know what exactly do i need to run

Try and boot something with IDE. Mine is crapping out. It was working then it stopped. :/

EDIT: I could switch it over to the A500+ but if i do that the A2000 will end up back in the cupboard for a long time.

[hooleydog]

Originally Posted by plasmab

Same as for V2. The firmwares come in bundles for all revisions.

https://github.com/terriblefire/tf53..._01_15_RC2.zip

All of them available now.

https://github.com/terriblefire/terr...e/master/tf530

Thanks so much.. Though I haven't started to soldered the CPLD'S yet (They are both held in place using a tiny bit of epoxy under chip)...

[alenppc]

All right, TF534 all soldered up, it took me about 2.5 hrs. Installed a 40 MHz crystal. Powers up at first attempt, boots to workbench and runs Frontier quite happily without crashing it seems. Memory tests all pass, no issues.

IDE does not seem to work for me... but I have to do more testing. Also the graphical glitches in AIBB that were present on the very first public firmware of the 530 are back as well.

That's the very first quick test. I am going to soak the board in alcohol now to remove flux residue and test more in the coming days.

[plasmab]

The auto frequency switch code I have in the firmware has some limitations. I plan to go over them at some point but I can now quantify which frequencies are the most stable. 40MHz is one of the least stable frequencies. This was w compromise to make 25,33 and 50 more stable.

My IDE issue is that it flashes the LED furiously for a second or two then locks up for all time. If you’re also getting that I’ll slap the LA on it later.

I suspect it’s getting confused by something and is somehow indicating to the Amiga that there is a PCMCIA card installed.