At 05:25 �� 10/4/2002, you wrote: >On 09/04/02 at 12:23 Phoebus Dokos wrote: > > >Hi all, > >I am turning to the list for any ideas... > >As you might have guessed at last I have a working (well sort of) Aurora > >setup... However I experience a couple of problems, mainly with >resolutions. > >... > >Specifically, I give DISP_SIZE 640, 480 but nothing happens (still >512x256). > >OK, this has been solved. >The soulution has two parts: the usual one, and the 'read the manual' >(oops, sorry, don't think it's in there!) part.
Actually it's not :-) >The usual part is taking out the 8302 ULA and cleaning it's pins, which for >some reason have a tendency to oxidise. They do this even when left alone >in a drawer - I have three spares and they all had their pins turn black >while sitting peacefully in my QL spares box, in their antistatic rail. > >The ...other part is quite simple in retrospect: SMSQ/E was not detecting >the Aurora, hence always thought it was working with regular QL compatible >hardware. How? Simple: the problem has nothing to do with Aurora or SMSQ/E >- rather with the address setting of the Qubide, also present in the >system. Well actually I had tried all (possible) address combinations for the QubIDE and it just didn't work :-) I finally installed it at the top of the IO area and works great (even with a JM rom :-) It seems as the oxidised ULA was causing the problem together with a cut off pin on the superHermes (poetic justice huh? :-) Being in the Aurora subject BTW, To switch to 512x256 mode 256 do you recommend setting both M0 on $18043 and $18063 (bits 3 on both) (together of course with M1 (bit 4) on $18043) or just EMCR will suffice?... I've been (once more) playing around with the Aurora screen memory and I have to say again(as I get to remember things I was doing 4 years ago) that the damn thing is ingeniously designed :-) >IMPORTANT!!! >When an Aurora is used, only the following two base address settings are >legal: >0C000 (i.e. ROM slot) >FC000 (top of IO area) > >Obviously, if you are using the Aurora with a GC for any reason, there is >no IO area so you only have the 0C000 address to use. If this is set, in >either case the ROM slot will be disabled, and anything plugged into the >slot will be 'invisible'. At present, there is no way around this problemm >save for using a SGC so the address can be set to FC000. Or a Goldfire ???? (Still waiting I know :-))) >So, why did SMSQ/E fail in changing resolutions? Simple: C0000 to FBFFF >(this appears as 4C0000 to 4FBFFF on SGC) are used for the Aurora screen >RAM. Anything else set to any part within the same address range (like a >Qubide, for instance) will result in Aurora screen RAM test fail during >initialization of the Aurora screen driver, and the system will revert to >emulation mode. ALL Aurora extended graphics support, including DISP_SIZE >will be switched off. There may be other consequences, such as superHermes >not being initialized correctly. Apparently the superHermes is a tough cookie ;-) as it managed to work with one pin missing! Which proves that good designs are timeless... Hehe Tony (same for you as well Nasta!) >USers that start the system with a JM ROM have a unique problem here >because this ROM will not initialize any IO peripherals unless they are at >0C000 or C0000. AFAIK, the GC/SGC software corrects this, so there should >be no problem. SMSQ/E also corrects it. Minerva also looks for ROMs in two >alternative addresses, 10000 and 14000. If you are using GC/SGC and Qubide, >DO NOT attempt to use these addresses because GC/SGC do not support them >and Minerva will not find a Qubide at these addresses even if everything >'should' be just fine. See above, I did not have the QubIDE set there... somehow the ULA was causing all the trouble with the resolutions. Nonetheless it's all solved now :-) >If you have a ROMdisq, and use SMSQ/E, you can set the Qubide to FC000, >load SMSQ/E from ROMdisq, at which point SMSQ/E will correctly initialize >Qubide. Alternatively, you can use the LRESPR-able version of Qubide or >figure out the Qubide init routine address from it's ROM header and just >CALL it 'by hand'. I don't know if v. 2.49 of SGC corrects the mistake (that's the version I have which IIRC is the last one too) but the QubIDE DOES initialise prior to SMSQ/E loading :-) >Nasta > >PS can't believe I'm doing Qubide support after all these years! Hehe and I cannot believe I was just reading an IQLR issue where you were discussing both the QubIDE (yep THAT old... courtesy of Tim Swenson - Thanks Tim!) and that ULA replacement from Miracle :-)))) (Hmmm just a question... what happened to that?) Thanks for everything though... Your remarks (as well as Tony's) saved the day and at last I have a working Aurora system - Yippeeeee!!! Phoebus
