Falcon/CT60e video options

[damanloox]

Could somebody please tell me what are my options in terms of video upgrade (ie. resolution of more than 640x480 and in color)?
I have Falcon with CT60e.
Also - are there any options for standard falcon (ie. with no CT60 etc)

[jury]

Hardwarewise, the best would be of course Super Videl. Second best is CTPCI with Radeon card.
Softwarewise you can use programs like Videl Inside, Videlity ... which can give you 800x600x256 with pretty decent speed. Anything more will be tooooooo slow.

[Faucon2001]

CTPCI doesn’t work with CT60e, only with CT60 and CT63.

[Kroll]

Are you sure, that CTPCI does not work with CT60e, Did you check it ?

[damanloox]

OK, thanks guys... I was actually trying to find supervidel and ctpci but no luck...

[joska]

See here: http://atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=97&t=33093

[Faucon2001]

Are you sure, that CTPCI does not work with CT60e, Did you check it ?

Yes, and I have tested it in detail. CT60e has a slight hardware modification vs CT60 and CT63 which needs a new patched TOS , and this patch has been applied only to TOS 1.04, not to TOS 2.02 which is necessary to use CTPCI. The issue is that sources of TOS 2.02 are not disponible hence the CTPCI not working with the CT60e.

[Kroll]

But, 2.01 version, it shoud be work with CT60e

[arf]

Are you sure, that CTPCI does not work with CT60e, Did you check it ?

Yes, and I have tested it in detail. CT60e has a slight hardware modification vs CT60 and CT63 which needs a new patched TOS , and this patch has been applied only to TOS 1.04, not to TOS 2.02 which is necessary to use CTPCI. The issue is that sources of TOS 2.02 are not disponible hence the CTPCI not working with the CT60e.

Sorry, I don’t get it. TOS 1.04 or TOS 2.x in the Falcon? How that?

[Faucon2001]

TOS 1.04 and TOS 2.02 are different version of TOS 4.04 patched for CT60. I know it’s confusing but it’s how they are named.

[jury]

Yes, and I have tested it in detail. CT60e has a slight hardware modification vs CT60 and CT63 which needs a new patched TOS , and this patch has been applied only to TOS 1.04, not to TOS 2.02 which is necessary to use CTPCI.

Yesterday I have talked to a guy that told me that this "slight hardware modification" was just using newer Xilinx chips. Because of this, it was not possible to save configuration to the chips and thats why new version of TOS was generated. If just this is the case, than theoritically it could be possible to use CTPCI with CT60e, have you tried to program CT60e with TOS 2.01 or ( didnt even knew that this existed ) 2.02? It wouldnt be possible to save configuration, but the CTPCI should be operational I guess.

[mikro]

Yesterday I have talked to a guy that told me that this "slight hardware modification" was just using newer Xilinx chips.

Your guy is right, it's all here: https://github.com/mikrosk/ct60tos/comm ... 8737578952 (you can see in following commits that also flash060 and ct60conf.cpx have been changed but that's not so important).

[Faucon2001]

Yes, and I have tested it in detail. CT60e has a slight hardware modification vs CT60 and CT63 which needs a new patched TOS , and this patch has been applied only to TOS 1.04, not to TOS 2.02 which is necessary to use CTPCI.

Yesterday I have talked to a guy that told me that this "slight hardware modification" was just using newer Xilinx chips. Because of this, it was not possible to save configuration to the chips and thats why new version of TOS was generated. If just this is the case, than theoritically it could be possible to use CTPCI with CT60e, have you tried to program CT60e with TOS 2.01 or ( didnt even knew that this existed ) 2.02? It wouldnt be possible to save configuration, but the CTPCI should be operational I guess.

yes, I have tested every patched TOS versions with the CT60e and CTPCI ... and ... none are working. In fact, it should not be too complicated to make it work, if the sources of TOS 2.02 were available... but they aren’t.

[rj1307]

Gentlemen, it's not as bad as you think.
First, look at the pictures:



It is not true that CT60e has other Xylinxes, they are identical to those of the old CT6x. The cause of all problems is flash memory, or rather the producer of this memory. I will write something more about this in some time.

[wongck]

Wow, great stufff.
if that's the case someone can make a program to write the correct stuff into the flash memory and make CTPCI work.

[Faucon2001]

Wow great news. I am looking forward to the explanation how you did it.

[rj1307]

Here are the steps I'm doing to run CTPCI on CT60e:
1) Start Falcon in mode 030! CTPCI and Radeon can be mounted.
2) Start init060.prg, this is a modified program flash060.prg used to clear the layout. Select the ct60e201.bin file there and press PROGRAM. The program will stop responding, it will hang !!! You have to wait a few seconds and reset the computer.
3) Start flash060.prg, select the ct60e201.bin file and press PROGRAM. Wait until it finishes uploading.
3) Without closing the program, select the drivers.hex file (it will load for a long time) and press PROGRAM. Wait until it finishes uploading.
4) Turn off Falcon, switch to 060 mode, mount CTPCI and Radeon (if you have not already done so), start the computer. On the screen should be visible information about the card drivers loading, after a while we will be asked to switch the monitor to the Radeon output and press the space bar.

If there are any errors when uploading, please let me know.
Everything you need to download from ctpci.zip

Unfortunately, I am using an interpreter, in case of problems with understanding my colleague KROLL will improve me

[Kroll]

Yes, I confirm, I am in contact with my colleague RJ1307, in case of any questions, problems etc., please write directly to him or me

[Faucon2001]

Thanks RJ1307. I will try your procedure.

[mikro]

I see you 'forward ported' :) Willy's patch for CT60TOS 1.03c. Apart from that, there's nothing special in that archive - flash060 from CT60TOS 1.03d (Willy's) and drivers.hex from drivers-1.01 package.

I don't understand why there is the need for init060.prg? What exactly is that? If CT60e is fine with using flash060.prg (what it should), there shouldn't be need for any tricks, Willy didn't remove any functionality from flash060.prg, just changed detection of used flash type.

[rj1307]

@ Faucon2001, if any errors occur, will you take screenshots? Will you also show a table with detected cards?

@mikro, I am explaining now, init060.prg does just one thing - it cleans the flash memory, leaving the cell in which the serial number is stored. For it to work, we need to indicate to him any .bin file, it does not have to be ct60e201.bin. The program does nothing with this file.
As you probably know, memory in CT60 is divided into several areas that theoretically do not affect each other. But only theoretically, in some cases, writing to one area has an impact on data stored in another area (if you do not believe, I can give you the recipe for software blocking CT60e and only clearing the memory will bring the module back to life ).
That's why I recommend using it before changing any software.
The rest of the files in the archive agree with what they wrote about them, there is no magic there. It works for me, I tried it several times and each time Radeon started.


There is only one thing that is different with me, namely the CT60e that you see in the pictures is after repair, I had to replace the flash memory (it was damaged) with another manufacturer, which is also compatible with the R.Czuba software. At the moment I have no problem using the software designed for CT60 / 63, I tested it, the pictures show Boot v2.00 (I uploaded CTPCITOS.BIN + drivers.hex with the original R.Czuby soft).

[Faucon2001]

@ Faucon2001, if any errors occur, will you take screenshots? Will you also show a table with detected cards?

I will, but for now I am waiting for my Falcon to be repaired. It is with Rodolphe Czuba. The VIDEL died and is going to be replaced. I expect to have it back for Christmas.
Do you think that your software fix will work with version 2.02 which is necessary for USB and ethernet card to work? Also, as the hardware modification you did solve this issue too, is it a costly operation to do?

[Kroll]

Hi,
I have just talked with RJ1307. He said that it must be work. First of all, you can use original flash060.prg from Willy's pack or from the pack from RJ1307.
The whole problem may appear during the programming to TOS 2.02 and drivers.hex, which is necesssary for Ethernat and USB card. If not, it will be work.
If, however, during the flashing an error occurs, it follows that you will need to replace chip described in the post RJ1307 above. The compatibility chips are MBM29F800 or AM29F800. You can find there that are cheap. That's all.
I know that now you have to wait for fix falcon mainboard from R. Czuba.

[Rodolphe]

Hello,
If I well understand :
The model of flash used on CT60e is not managed/recognized by the TOS2.0x software that try to save something into it ?

Correct ?

Solutions :
On future CT60e just need to use a FLASH recognized by TOS 2.0x ? (inform Willy !)
For actual CT60e, need to replace flash ?

Correct ?

[Rodolphe]

And Happy end of 2018