New board: MonSTerbo STE

[alanh]

Hi all,

Well the time has come to fully announce the MonSTerbo STE.

The features of the board are:-

68000 @ up to 48MHz, speed selectable from 8, 16, 24, 32, 40 and 48.
68EC020 @ up to 40MHz, speed selectable from 8, 16, 24, 32 and 40.
68881/2 FPU support (runs at the CPU speed, no FPU provided)
8MB ALT-RAM
16MB Flash ROM (16 slots of up to 1MB)
SPI Master to support SPI devices, potentially up to 4 slaves.
I2C port for RTC support, reduces SPI slaves to 2 devices if used.
Dual port IDE controller with/without hardware byte swap
MonSTerbus upgrade slot which is 32bit capable, but also MegaST compatible (needs to be checked for more boards)
Solderless upgrade (where the CPU is already socketed)

MonSTErbo.jpg

First edition board is priced at 200GBP + shipping.

Normally the installed ROMs would need to be removed, but there is the option of the ROM board (shown to the right in the photo) which allows existing ROMS (i.e. TOS 1.62 or 2.06 or both) to be installed and switched with it's own jumper. This can be operated independently of the MonSTerbo. Let me know if you want/need this as I've not got these priced.

Given this is the first edition, there may be issues that I have not observed in my setups, and I've tested on both integrated blitter & non-integrated blitter STE motherboards. Let me know of any problems you face and we can see how to rectify and whether I can reproduce. Then new firmware updates can be issued if things are required to be upgraded, if it's possible to fix them via that method

Please PM me if interested so I can obtain numbers for the first edition.

Thanks for your interest.

[DarkLord]

Excellent! Thanks for continuing to support the Atari community Alan and I'm
looking forward to the Mega STe and ST versions...

[stormy]

Hi Alan, you mention optional FPU but I don't see a socket on the board photograph?

[alanh]

The board in the photo has the FPU installed. It's the copper chip (PGA type)

[stormy]

I see I guess that avoids all the issues that come along with PLCC sockets. Badwolf had so much problems with the FPU when developing his Falcon booster and also Exxos had multiple issues with PLCC sockets on various other projects. I personally had issues with them to, even when using 3M (quality brand) sockets. So that's a good choice.

[higashijun]

Still no drivers for SPI stuff or is something already done ?

[alanh]

The only support I have for SPI right now that's usable is UIPTOOL using the ENC28J60 ethernet chip.

[higashijun]

Oh, that's great.

BTW, what would be a rough price for the ROM board ?

[alanh]

Oh, that's great.

BTW, what would be a rough price for the ROM board ?

It can vary a lot, I suspect anywhere between 15GBP to 35GBP.

The question back is, if you solder the sockets, and plugs yourself it can be quite cheap. But paying for a manufacturer to solder these is quite expensive as they are through hole, and it's double sided.

[alanh]

Another question for folks, would people be interested in a part soldered board, where the majority of the passive components are soldered and those who have soldering skills can do the rest ? i.e. buying the additional parts as and when they're ready to do the work.

The bonus here is that if you don't need ALT-RAM is that you don't solder those parts. If you don't need Flash-ROM, then don't solder those chips. Don't need the upgrade socket or FPU, then don't solder the sockets. Even goes for the 68EC020 or 68000 too. If this was an option for folks, then the CPLD chips won't be soldered too. I'd produce a BOM for those who think this is an option for them.

[stormy]

I think those options are all very good. I wouldn't mind it in kit form, where it comes with all I need & can solder myself.

[Ragstaff]

Speaking of surface-mounted chips.... NXG (Freescale merged with them years ago) still sell 56xxx-compatible DSP's - for example the 56720AG, dual-core DSP @200mhz. Digikey sell them for 32 euro's in a quantity of 1, through to 23 euro's for a quantity of 300 (total price 7,300 euro's).
I know it's crazy, like another project in itself, huge scope creep for your project, but imagine... I always thought it would be cool if someone who develops booster boards for the ST would put one of these on there.
I'm pretty sure I saw a dual-core 56k compatible DSP a few years ago that was only $5 per unit, but I forget what model is is

[mikro]

If anything, the DSP should be at least backward compatible with the 56000, like the 56300, otherwise you can just put a 1 GHz ARM there and the effect would be the same - some random CPU with a ton of horse power and zero software support.

[alanh]

The MonSTerbo has an expansion port. I'm sure something could be done with that rather than putting it on the base board.

[Ragstaff]

If anything, the DSP should be at least backward compatible with the 56000, like the 56300, otherwise you can just put a 1 GHz ARM there and the effect would be the same - some random CPU with a ton of horse power and zero software support.

It is


EDIT - I have attached the 56720 datasheet.

The Symphony DSP56720/DSP56721 Multi-Core Audio
Processors are part of the DSP5672x family of programmable
CMOS DSPs, designed using multiple DSP56300 24-bit
cores

The PDF manual for the 56300 is too large to attach here but there's one here: https://instrumentation.obs.carnegiesci ... 6300FM.pdf

The Motorola DSP56300 family of digital signal processors uses a programmable, 24-bit,
fixed-point core. This core is a high-performance, single-clock-cycle-per-instruction
engine that provides almost twice the performance of Motorola’s DSP56000 family core,
while retaining code compatibility

I wonder if a DSP in an upgrade board is actually more likely to be used than a 68881/2, due to not much Atari software supporting the latter, but a lot of Falcon code out there using the DSP, it may not take much to get some stuff working with an aftermarket DSP. I don't know if a small amount of software may even just work, especially some music software that was made for the ST and was modified when the Falcon came out to add DSP support - such programs may not require an 030

[alanh]

The 56720 has an SPI interface. You can already attach it to the MonSTerbo.

[pabooth]

Apologies, can't PM because I'm a lurker but I would definitely like to get my name down for the first batch

[alanh]

Apologies, can't PM because I'm a lurker but I would definitely like to get my name down for the first batch

Thanks. Noted.

[alanh]

I think those options are all very good. I wouldn't mind it in kit form, where it comes with all I need & can solder myself.

Note, it wouldn't be a kit. It'd be the base board with a BOM. Those folks would need to source, buy and solder the additional components themselves.

[higashijun]

I would personally opt for a fully fledged board, with every possible option already fitted.

[1st1]

This is really a nice board, but I would prefer such a thing in a Mega STE.

[higashijun]

This is really a nice board, but I would prefer such a thing in a Mega STE.

I guess Alan is seriously working on it...

[Dan1975]

Awesome work. Would definitely have one if wasn't completely skint at the moment

[ccarl84]

YES ! (I think I'll say a mistake : for MSTE too ?)
I want one !

[alanh]

One thing I wanted to highlight with the MonSTerbo STE expansion connector is the need to cut the shielding, or leave the shielding off.

But, I'm wondering whether some folks might not want the expansion connector and I just leave it unsoldered for those who want to put the shielding back on ?

Thoughts ?

Here's a picture of the potential cutting....

cutout.jpg