Cumulus Issues

[Godzil]

Sounds like a pretty clean Phi2

[Steve M]

So, at this point, who's still stuck with a non working and not solved Cumulus<->Oric situation.

I know Peacer was still having issues, could any of you who is still stuck post a new message summarizing the issue, and indicating:
- Type of Oric (Oric 1, Oric Atmos, Oric 1 converted to Atmos, Atmos with upgrade ROM/EPROM)
- If the machine was fixed by Oric Technical Support, what was the problem, and what is the type of 74xx chip your machine has (LS,HC,HCT, ...)
- Have you tried multiple SDHC cards, using good brand if possible
- Have you tried using a different, more powerful power brick

Thanks.

I tried a few Atmoses. The ones that didn't work seized when trying to boot a disk. (i.e they booted up OK.) They power supply and card work fine with different Atmoses. I have tried up to 1.5 amp.
All I tried will boot disk from a Cumana interface. I will have to go back to check but the chips were 74LS from what I remember.

I think I had one with a socketed 74HC04 but I couldn't find a 74LS04 at the time.

In my tests some combinations of different memory chips caused failure.

[NightBird]

So, at this point, who's still stuck with a non working and not solved Cumulus<->Oric situation.

I know Peacer was still having issues, could any of you who is still stuck post a new message summarizing the issue, and indicating:
- Type of Oric (Oric 1, Oric Atmos, Oric 1 converted to Atmos, Atmos with upgrade ROM/EPROM)
- If the machine was fixed by Oric Technical Support, what was the problem, and what is the type of 74xx chip your machine has (LS,HC,HCT, ...)
- Have you tried multiple SDHC cards, using good brand if possible
- Have you tried using a different, more powerful power brick

Thanks.

Hi Dbug, here are my tests with 2 cumulus-units: please see the following requested-tab:

Compatible SD cards used:
- Transcend Class 4 SDHC 4GB
- SanDisk Ultra SDHC Class 6 30 MB/s 200X 8GB
Not compatible SD card:
- Verbatim SDHC Class 4 4GB

PSU used are 9V 9VA or 14.4VA, same results.

Cumulus are silent / Microdisc, but slower.

Now I need to understand why some units are not booting (check CPU, RAM, Phi2, mod 63b, ...).
Please let me know if you have ideas about the concerns or if you need additionnal tests!
And thanks to Metadata: good job!

test_cumulus_comp.png (9.31 KiB) Viewed 13385 times

[Godzil]

Steve: do you have one or two cumulus?

NightBird: You tested all of your oric with both cumulus?

[iss]

I'm very interested in 'Phi2 TR amplifier' and other 'Phi2 amplifier' shown in NightBird's table.
What are this amplifiers? Does someone have more info about them?
I have one Pravetz with positive pulse of Phi2 looking just like triangle
So, I want to fix this but if there is already solution I prefer to use it.

[Godzil]

I'm very interested in 'Phi2 TR amplifier' and other 'Phi2 amplifier' shown in NightBird's table.
What are this amplifiers? Does someone have more info about them?
I have one Pravetz with positive pulse of Phi2 looking just like triangle
So, I want to fix this but if there is already solution I prefer to use it.

It's the mod you can this near the 6502:



It's just adding a transistor between the Phi2 ouput from the CPU and the normal line going to the ExpPort, the transistor will not work in amplifier but as a switch making the Phi2 output more squarish and cleaner.

[iss]

Thanks Godzil. I'm lucky that my 6502 is on socket, so it will be easier to solder the transistor. I'll post a picture when ready.

[Steve M]

Steve: do you have one or two cumulus?

Just got the one.

[Chema]

Sounds like a pretty clean Phi2

Beware! I have just read somewhere that the kind of probes I am using with my oscilloscope should be set to an attenuation of x10 if the signals to measure have frequencies greater than several kilohertzs. I think this was related to the capacitance of the probe itself.

Anyway, once I did this, the signal changed quite dramatically. Here is the new pic of my Phi2 signal:

Just for the record...

[Godzil]

It's not that bad either

[Dom]

Hello!
I finaly managed to get the Cumulus work with an Atmos But, as you will see, it has not been in a direct way.

First of all, I have to say that the cumulus, once powered with 5V, worked fine. (alone) I mean it recognizes the SD card ( SD HC PNY 4 GO) and allows me to navigate the directories i've created. the DSk files were charged without problem in both the four virtuals drives. Problems strated when I tried to make it work with an ATMOS.

I have two ATMOS boxed since many years, forgotten in a cupboard.
Both are modified. One is a "simple" 8 ROMs ATMOS the other is a 8 ROMs ATMOS but is also a MAESTRO one (equiped with 2 PSG)

None of them worked correctly, even alone, without cumulus.
The first one did'nt seemed to boot (TV sceen stood black). The second one generated a continous PIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGG!!!!

At this stage, i was quite depressed but Maxi, whom I talked about my problems, send me, for free, an unmodified atmos in its original box. Realy a great gift! Thanks MAXI!!!
Before trying this atmos, thanks to the infos found on this thread, I bought à PSU 9V 1200 ma.
ALLas ! This ATMOS refused to boot completely with the CUMULUS. Once I had Half of the HIRES Screen filled with the main screen of ATHANOR then the screen freezed . Most of the time, I had the message "Insert system disc" and a freezed screen.
I tried to use the "AMPLIBUS" It does'nt seemed to have any significant effect.
At this point, I had few to lost and I decided to play with my screwdriver and to open the 3 ATMOS... suspens...

What did I do ? I do'nt know exactly (just kidding)
Well in fact I changed the keyboard of the PIIIIINNNNG ATMOS with the one of the unmodified received from MAXI, I also use the powered scart cable which came with maxi"s ATMOS and ...

Halleluya ! The no more PIIIINNNNG ATMOS WORKS with the Cumulus !
Thanks again to all people involved in this adventure

[Chema]

Glad to hear one worked. What is the 8 ROM thing you talk about, btw? It would also be interesting trying to find out why the Atmos Maxi sent you did not work...

[Dbug]

Whaou, that's an interesting mix and match of side effects :-/

[Dom]

In an 8 ROMs atmos, the original ROM has been removed and replaced by 2 EPROM.
3 switches on the top of the Oric allow to select the rom you want (3 switches ==> 8 ROMs )

[Chema]

Oh, I see.. Nice!

However using an EPROM may be an issue... Check

http://forum.defence-force.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=850