MiSTer FPGA Forum

• Switched the 68k core to the fx68k CPU core, which perfectly models a 68000 (though not a 68008, so still not perfect for a QL)
• The different bus of the fx68k allows QL-SD to run correctly with all CPU speeds
• I implemented a “MiSTer Gold Card”. The QL had two CPU accelerator cards called "GoldCard" (68000) and "SuperGoldCard" (68020). One of them is required to boot the much improved QL operating system SMSQ/E. The "MiSTer Gold Card" I created is a mix between the two, it mimics the registers of a SuperGoldCard but with a 68000 CPU. I created a special boot ROM for this, which is integrated into the core.
• The MiSTer Gold Card allows booting of (a special version of) the SMSQ/E operating system!
• I implemented a special memory speed controller that emulates the memory contention of a real QL in order to try to match the original speed. Activated when CPU speed “QL” is selected. This is still not as perfect as I'd like.
• Using the latest QL-SD drivers (also from me) the .WIN container files can be stored on the main SD and selected through the menu.

• Download my core and put it on MiSTer
• Download qlsd109_bin.zip, take "Minerva_1.98a1_qlsd109.bin" and put it as "boot.rom" into the MiSTer QL directory
• Download qlsd_win_demo.zip and put the "QXL.WIN" file as "boot.vhd" into the QL directory

• Implementation of the Aurora graphics card. I had problems re-configuring the pixel clock PPLs, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Meta-stability strikes again or whatever, this is where I got to the end of my limited FPGA-fu.
• Further improvement to exact QL timings. The ROM is currently accessed 16-bit wide, which is of course much faster than in the original.

pgimeno wrote: ↑Fri Sep 18, 2020 2:53 pm
Even if I can transfer it, there's still the issue of the ROM. IIUC I need to be running a Minerva ROM in order to have a working win1_ device; on the other hand, I need to be running a Spanish ROM in order to run the Spanish version of Archive, so it seems I'm on a catch-22 kind of situation.

danielb wrote: ↑Fri Sep 18, 2020 5:14 pm Hi again, the win device seems to work fine with a JS ROM.

pgimeno wrote: ↑Fri Sep 18, 2020 6:16 pm

danielb wrote: ↑Fri Sep 18, 2020 5:14 pm Hi again, the win device seems to work fine with a JS ROM.

Ooooh, sweet, thanks for the heads-up! So the only thing pending is the transfer.

pgimeno wrote: ↑Fri Sep 18, 2020 2:53 pmSo I tried your core, which brings much more stability and permanent storage through the Winchester (win1_) devices. It works very well; however, it also breaks microdrive support: I can no longer access mdv1_ after loading a microdrive.

Which means that I can't transfer the Spanish Psion Archive to HD.

Even if I can transfer it, there's still the issue of the ROM. IIUC I need to be running a Minerva ROM in order to have a working win1_ device;

100 rom = ALCHP(65536)
110 LBYTES "dos1_temp_js_rom",rom
120 LBYTES "dos1_temp_qlsd109_rom",rom+48*1024
130 SBYTES_O "dos1_temp_js_qlsd_109_rom", rom, 65536
140 RECHP rom 

Are you planning on adding it?

danielb wrote: ↑Fri Sep 18, 2020 6:22 pm From the feel of it, I'd say it's a problem with the keyboard driver.

danielb wrote: ↑Fri Sep 18, 2020 6:22 pm Meanwhile, I am having an issue with the core locking up under Minerva. I haven't noticed it happening under SMSQ/E, but I haven't tried it all that much yet.

From the feel of it, I'd say it's a problem with the keyboard driver.

MarcelK wrote: ↑Fri Sep 18, 2020 7:12 pm

Which means that I can't transfer the Spanish Psion Archive to HD.

QEmuLator can access both MDV images and WIN drivers. Or use my free QPC emulator and the mentioned MDI driver.

Even if I can transfer it, there's still the issue of the ROM. IIUC I need to be running a Minerva ROM in order to have a working win1_ device;

No, my driver works on QDOS, too. It's actually easier there, Minerva needs some nasty workarounds. I just generally don't recommend QDOS as it's just inferior. Basic program to create QL-SD enabled JS image, for example in QPC:

Code: Select all

100 rom = ALCHP(65536)
110 LBYTES "dos1_temp_js_rom",rom
120 LBYTES "dos1_temp_qlsd109_rom",rom+48*1024
130 SBYTES_O "dos1_temp_js_qlsd_109_rom", rom, 65536
140 RECHP rom 

pgimeno wrote: ↑Fri Sep 18, 2020 10:00 pm Thanks! Just to be sure, isn't that just a concatenation? I can do that easily on Linux.

OK, so I have the files, and now I know I can use QPC to do the transfer. Which leaves me with just one problem: how do I create a fresh, formatted .WIN image on Linux (or with Wine)?

WIN_DRIVE 2,'c:\temp\blah.win'
WIN_FORMAT 2,1
FORMAT win2_10

danielb wrote: ↑Fri Sep 18, 2020 10:19 pm Spanish Quill on Mister

Running the MGE ROM. I unzipped the Psion files onto my Mister WIN file using QPC2.

D.

MarcelK wrote: ↑Fri Sep 18, 2020 10:26 pmIf QPC is running there's no need to bring 3rd party tools into this

Code: Select all

WIN_DRIVE 2,'c:\temp\blah.win'
WIN_FORMAT 2,1
FORMAT win2_10

MarcelK wrote: ↑Sun Sep 27, 2020 8:32 pm So, I made a few more changes. For once, I fixed the MDV timings. I'm sure I had done this at one time but it somehow got lost again along the way.

Also, I reworked the internal clocks and moved the IPC co-processor to the main clock domain. My hope is that this fixes the keyboard lockups. Didn't have time to test it for long, but so far I've had no more problems.

MarcelK wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 8:03 pm Yes, MDV images are loaded into memory and then repeatedly played back in an endless loop. There is no mechanism to save changes back to the image.

pgimeno wrote: ↑Tue Sep 29, 2020 8:53 amBesides that, I've noticed that it doesn't seem to give an error (as I would expect if it was write protected) but it also doesn't seem to be recording anything to the in-memory image. The directory shows the file for as long as it's cached, but the contents are not there, and if the directory is reloaded, the file is missing.