From BRUNERGS@fafb.af.mil Mon Nov 04 20:18:00 1996 Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit Subject: RE: 1450XLD ROMs and schematics From: "Bruner, Glenn S., SSgt" Date: Mon, 04 Nov 96 11:18:00 PST To the individual looking for 1450XLD info and stuff, I'm a good one to talk to. I used to own one of the engineering prototypes (#5) that had a TONG version of the motherboard. Before I sold it, to a very good friend for his collection hobby, I did make copies of the ROMs. The machine I had the following items: - Used a SSI-263 chip for the Voice Synthesizer. This is similar to the Votrax SC-02 second generation voice chips. I have a copy of a article from Byte Magazine that goes into the SSI-263 chip and builds a voice synthesizer for the Apple II. I'm not quite sure if Brad still has some, but I think Best Electronics might carry them. If not, JDR Microdevices was the other place I found to carry them. I believe the SSI-263 was made by Silicon Systems. - Had a 300 baud modem and used a Intel chip for the RS232 function. I don't remember exactly what chip it was. - Had two Epson made double-sided, double-density disk drives. Both drives worked. They were mounted in the case and had a piece of sheet metal molded into a bracket and attached to the case to support the drives. Atari engineers had drilled holes into the side of the case and had screw threads poking out that were holding the bracket in place. I was able to get Atari DOS 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, and 4.0 to load on the machine, but SpartaDOS would not load. The reason is that SpartaDOS uses it's own D: driver and would overwrite the device handler address info and use it's own D: driver. - The voice synthesizer didn't work on this machine. I don't know if the SSI-263 chip was bad or if the two prototype 40 pin chips were bad. These two chips I was told were language chips. What their exact purpose was I don't know. They were definitely prototype because someone used some scotch tape to put the gold cover on the chip package when they mounted the chip in the chip package. - There was a small breadboarding area on the board for the engineers to add any additional circuits. - There was a area for a 48 pin chip. This spot I was told was for a possible Apple II emulation. But haven't seen any info to prove that. That's about all I can remember at this time about the machine. I do have the OS EPROM and the PBI handler EPROM images. The handler EPROM had the PBI handlers for the T:, V:, and D: handlers (which are the modem, voice, and disk drive). The machine had in it Basic revision C. The schematics I have say 1450XLD on them but I found really apply to the 1400XL (which I also have one of those) because it doesn't have the drive controller on the schematic or the SSI-263 chip. If I remember right the schematic probably covered a different 1450XLD board from the TONG version I had. Just let me know what you are looking for. Looking forward to hearing from you. Glenn Bruner Colorado Springs, CO brunergs@pcisys.net & brunergs@4sops.fafb.af.mil Atari 2600,5200,7800,1400XL,130XE,800XL,Lynx I & II, Jaguar, Coleco, Vectrex, Sega CD, NES, Turbo Grafix Turbo Express, Game Gear, Macintosh From strong@facility.cs.utah.edu Wed Nov 06 23:21:56 1996 To: "Bruner, Glenn S., SSgt" Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit Subject: RE: 1450XLD ROMs and schematics From: Christopher Brett Strong Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 15:21:56 -0700 > - Used a SSI-263 chip for the Voice Synthesizer. This is similar to the > Votrax SC-02 second generation voice chips. I have a copy of a article from Was your chip a standard part? I have a TONG revision MB with a custom ASIC for the Voice Synthesizer in a gold and ceramic 40-pin package. I was told by Bruce at B&C that the TONG revision MB's speech chip was not compatible with the prototype version (the 1450XLD with the add-on disk controller). > - Had two Epson made double-sided, double-density disk drives. Both drives > worked. They were mounted in the case and had a piece of sheet metal molded > into a bracket and attached to the case to support the drives. Atari > engineers had drilled holes into the side of the case and had screw threads > poking out that were holding the bracket in place. Almost word-for-word descrtiption of mine, but on mine the screw heads are poking out, sitting on little washers. > > - The voice synthesizer didn't work on this machine. I don't know if the > SSI-263 chip was bad or if the two prototype 40 pin chips were bad. These > two chips I was told were language chips. > They were definitely prototype because someone used some scotch > tape to put the gold cover on the chip package when they mounted the chip in > the chip package. > Hmmm...I was under the impression that one of those was the speech chip. Our 1450XLD's must be near-identical. Here is the lis of 40-pin IC's on mine: U25 C014795 6520 U26 C012294 POKEY U39 CO14806 6502C (Sally) U40 CO12296 ANTIC U41 CO14805 GTIA U45 CO61922 FREDDIE U44 Prototype "B" U43 Protytype "C" U16 Intel 8040 (modem???) U19 WD2797 Disk Controller > - There was a small breadboarding area on the board for the engineers to add > any additional circuits. > - There was a area for a 48 pin chip. This spot I was told was for a Same. Did yours have an additional IC? I have run them all down and I can only assume by default that one of the two prototype ASICs must be revision 2 of the speech chip. This is the version that the TONG boards are supposed to have, and it is incompatible with that used on the pre-TONG machines. Does that sound right to you? -Chris \ oo Christopher B. Strong InterNet strong@ee.utah.edu \____|\mm decRAD: CSTRONG CADE: strong@eng.utah.edu //_//\ \_\ /K-9/ \/_/ ||| "Speak 'Friend' and enter" /___/_____\ / | \ --- Have You Played Atari Today? --- ----------- "If the mean don't get you, the variance will." -- James 1. Rieger