Expansion board for the CD32

[solidcore]

@plasmab I bought some earlier as it happens thanks to mark for the link.

Regarding the datasheet where it states 40/50/60ns ras, the firmware on your GitHub jed (50ns) should be compatible out the box right?

Thanks
Chris.

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by solidcore

@plasmab I bought some earlier as it happens thanks to mark for the link.

Regarding the datasheet where it states 40/50/60ns ras, the firmware on your GitHub jed (50ns) should be compatible out the box right?

Thanks
Chris.

Yup. If the chip is 1024 refresh cycles then you are fine. If it lists A10 and A11 as pins l it will not work properly anyway (I.e 4K refresh)

EDIT: the timing should be good for 70ns chips too (just). As the CD32 clock period is 71ns. Would need to try to be sure


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[alenppc]

Originally Posted by supaduper

Awesome ,Hopefully Alen or Brian can test

I also had words with the `Ram Fairy` and told her to get her friggin wings in order !
the result

Attachment 54779

I don't have any Hynix ram as somebody snapped it all up before I had a chance to order it from utsource. HOWEVER, I expect I'll have some very good news tonight stay tuned

[supaduper]

Originally Posted by alenppc

I don't have any Hynix ram as somebody snapped it all up before I had a chance to order it from utsource. HOWEVER, I expect I'll have some very good news tonight stay tuned

Friggin Tease

I bet them AS4C1M16E5-60T have arrived just a guess lol

[plasmab]

I updated the RAM compatiblity page.

https://github.com/terriblefire/tf32...sted-RAM-Chips

[solidcore]

@plasmab thanks for the clarification, and as for the ram page nice one, bookmarked

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by plasmab

@akira nobody is ignoring you or things that you are ungrateful but you do sound like you are ordering people about a bit.

That wasn't my intention, although I can see why my last message is conveyed that way. Will not delve further into explanations because it's off-topic.

Originally Posted by plasmab

@Akira regardless of what you "feel" is wrong with the TF328 the simple fact is that we are operating the Hynix RAM outside of what the data sheet says will work. So results will be unreliable. Which is what we are seeing.

What I was trying to get at is that someone else with that RAM was saying "it works fine", but I know from what you say that it is wrong, so that cannot be true. I consider my board as FAULTY for having the bad RAM, and I just wanted to cement the fact that Hynix RAM is wrong. I didn't imply there was any electrical failure or anything, I was just *curious* as to why it seems to operate fine sometimes. That's all. Even if I don't understand things fully, I like to hear explanations. Simple curiosity. you explained well why the RAM is wrong. I just wanted to know why it could even operate OK in certain scenarios, because that doens't make sense to me. Then again I don't know much of anything regarding deep electronics knowledge.

Originally Posted by solidcore

@akira lets just take a good breath and realize that Stephen has the technical knowledge and built the damn thing

And I don't see where I questioned him at all, actually, all I was trying to do is to support his view. I never implied I knew better.

The point I was trying to get to and that we are at now without any shadow of doubt, is that any board made with the Hynix RAM batch is faulty. Sorry if it was read otherwise.

[plasmab]

It may work fine for others until the room temperature goes up or down .. the manufacturer will have decided the ram wasn't good at 1k x 1k for whatever reason. Some people might get lucky. I wouldn't risk it though.

I'll do a REV2 at some point with compatibility for rectangular RAM. In the meantime I'll get AKira a Jed that will work at 2mb of ram. Not the best but better than zero.


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[Amiga1992]

Don't worry about the JED mate. This isn't a pending issue. You solved it by discarding this RAM as a possibility to be used. End of ordeal!
I'll close that Github ticket btw.

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by Akira

Don't worry about the JED mate. This isn't a pending issue. You solved it by discarding this RAM as a possibility to be used. End of ordeal!
I'll close that Github ticket btw.

Well we can still use the RAM in a rev 2. And I knew that there was going to be compatibility issues with RAMs. I just thought they'd be timing rather than geometry.

[Amiga1992]

Sure, rev 2 sounds good. I meant within the context of the already existing boards.
People who already soldered in Hinyx chips can probably desolder them and use them when rev 2 comes around.

[plasmab]

Ok for anyone crying after soldering all those pins.. these firmwares will give you 2Mb + IDE with your Hynix RAM.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rbk6swgmhg...4KRAM.zip?dl=0

[cip060]

kipper you have a private message

[kipper2k]

i got a couple of blank cds, burnt alfred chicken. CD boots perfect with CF attached without the CF attached it wont boot which i think is understandable as it is looking for the IDE device which is probably listed as the primary boot device and stuck in a loop.

[th4t1guy]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

i got a couple of blank cds, burnt alfred chicken. CD boots perfect with CF attached without the CF attached it wont boot which i think is understandable as it is looking for the IDE device which is probably listed as the primary boot device and stuck in a loop.

If you think it would be helpful, I could try this on the SX1, but I don't think I've ever had an issue booting from CD with no ide device connected.

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by th4t1guy

If you think it would be helpful, I could try this on the SX1, but I don't think I've ever had an issue booting from CD with no ide device connected.

ipersonally it doesnt worry me as there would always be a CF card plugged in, as long as the CD boots first when a CD is in the tray i would be happy. If i boot from CF and then insert a CD i can still see the CD show up on the workbench

[solidcore]

@Kipper2k aye and I fail to see any practical reason why anyone would want to boot it up without a IDE anyway as the cd drive is a priority so no firmware or hardware fix is desired by me in this case.

The only thing that I believe can make the rev1 perfect now is a good way to disable it via the clock buffer jumper due to fastram incompatibility with some cd32 games, alternatively disabling her at the riser board vcc should be a last resort imo, but I like the idea of firmware update over hardware changes any day.

As for improving her? well, I'd love to see Steve give her a sata and an optional cpu upgrade (if possible) for those who like to party further but I'm already beyond happy with the tf328 rev1 so it's more of a wishlist than a requirement.

Chris

[kipper2k]

For the A1200 fastmem board i did put in a way to disable the fastmem board (i think). i"ll see when i receive the boards

Originally Posted by solidcore

@Kipper2k aye and I fail to see any practical reason why you'd want to boot it up without a IDE anyway as the cd drive is a priority so no firmware or hardware fix is desired by me in this case.

The only thing that I believe can make the rev1 perfect now is a good way to disable it via the clock buffer jumper, the riser board vcc should be a last resort imo, I'd add it in my next revision but I like the idea of firmware update over hardware changes any day.

As for improving her? well, I'd love to see Steve give her a sata and an optional cpu upgrade for those who like to party further but I'm already beyond happy with the tf328 rev1 so it's more of a wishlist than a requirement.

Chris

[solidcore]

@kipper2k nice was that a single jumper on some kind of combined vcc rails then? as i imagine at the edge connector it would be a lot of switches lol

btw I had a serious laugh to my self a moment ago and thought is there now more tf328's in the wild than cd32's haha.

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by solidcore

@kipper2k nice was that a single jumper on some kind of combined vcc rails then? as i imagine at the edge connector it would be a lot of switches lol

i married all VCC rails and they are connected to the fastmem circuit via a 0 ohm resistor or a schottky diode so it can also accomodate a switch, not sure if that is good enough though, we'll see