So you just got your ATW800/2 or you’re thinking about getting one and your brain is full of questions?
Before asking the team or posting into some forum, maybe the answer was already given… so check this FAQ first and safe yourself from being flamed or called a ‘noob’ 😅
You can also check out the ATW800/2 category in the GeekDot Wiki for more details.
Currently this FAQ has these sections:
General questions
Q: It seems you’re sold out. When will you start the next batch of cards?
A: Well, it’s an enthusiast project, not a real commercial product. So I (Axel) neither do warehousing nor will I build cards 5 days a week.
It’s a hobby and thus I do things when I’m up to it. It’s still a lot of work, even when having the cards populated with the basic parts in the PCB factory.
So all I can say is: Have patience, young padawan. I do my very best.
Q: Ok, I’m confused. How many versions will be available then?
A: There are two main variants: One for the Mega-ST expansion bus and one for the VME bus available in the Mega-STe and TT.
These variants are populated depending on what makes sense on the specific platform – all versions have the graphics part, i.e. Seurat and Absinth.
For the ATW800/2-VME card it will be basically just that. Most additional features are useless or redundant in an Atari Mega-STe or TT.
On the other hand the vanilla ATW800/2 for the Mega-ST comes with TOS ROMs, optional IDE drive, the clock-battery holder and an auxiliary power cable.
Both variants can be additionally equipped with a “real” Transputer interface, so you can plug in 2 Transputer Modules (aka TRAM) and/or connect a Transputer farm externally.
This interface adds an extra 10€ to the base price.
Q: What does the ATW800/2 cost?
A: Because the first batch showed that the population of the cards took way more time and work as assumed, we had to raise prices for the coming batches. Still, we think for the given features it’s still a steal:
Mega ST – 190€
Mega ST+T – 200€
VME – 170€
VME+T – 180€
Q: If I chose not to go for a “Transputer interface” in the first place, can I populate those parts myself later?
A: Sure! All extra functionalities are build in Absinth (the CPLD) already. If you’re fine with soldering and do not expect support on your additions, give it a shot.
Q: Hey, I have an idea: What about adding [enter cool feature here] !?
A: Sorry, we had hard times to even hold ourselves back from feature-creep. Actually, we think the ATW800/2 has enough features already. Some maybe obvious but not implemented functionalities are just handled better by already available devices .
Q: This sucks! XYZ is way better than your crap!
A: Yes, you’re absolutely right. So please move on, there is nothing to see here.
Hardware
Q: How do firmware updates work?
A: Seurat (the FPGA) has to be updated via the USB-C connector on his piggy-board using the GoWIN Programming software (Registration required, Linux and Windows only but also works fine in VMs). See the ATW800/2 manual which has a dedicated chapter about this.
In the very rare event that Absinth (the CPLD) needs to be updated, one will need an Altera USB Blaster and the proper Software (part of Alteras/Intels Quartus II IDE, registration req’d… sorry.)
We’ll provide proper documentation should an update ever be necessary.
Q: I just don’t get this Transputer thing. Is it needed to use the card? What is it anyhow?
A: Basically, a Transputer is/was a CPU like any other but with some twists. Firstly, it was very fast (for its time) and secondly you could easily connect many of them to increase computing power.
That said, no, you do not need a Transputer to use the ATW800/2… actually you will get one ‘for free’, because inside the FPGA is a synthetic Transputer already.
Q: So is the Transputer inside the ATW800/2 FPGA used as an graphics accelerator like in todays GPUs?
A: No, not really. Not out of the box. The Transputer is a separate CPU which happens to have shared access to the video buffer which your ATARI’s 68000/030 also accesses – by the way something which was not possible on the original ATW800.
That said, it is thinkable to write some code running on the synthetic Transputer which acts as firmware for (complex) graphics. So the ATARI sends graphic primitives like ‘gourand shaded plane from x,y to a,b’ and the Transputer would do the calculation and painting into VRAM. But that’s all theory until some brave soul writes it.
Q: Will it work with device XYZ and/or accelerator ABC?
A: We tested the ATW800/2 with peripherals we own ourselves. That’s probably 5% of the things ever made for the Atari ST/TT – so there won’t be a guarantee that a device we don’t own will perfectly work with the ATW800/2.
That said, we will depend on your feedback and are happy to support creators of other devices to make the ATW800/2 behaving well.
As for now we positively tested the ATW800/2 against these accelerators:
- AdSpeed
- Turbo25
- PAK030
- TerribleFire 536
Also those devices seem to work OK up to now (more in-depth testing needed):
- Lightning ST
- Cloudy(-Storm) ST
- Thunder TT & Storm TT
Q: Regarding software compatibility, would you consider adding Blossom support? I mean Blossom hardware registers like blitter, screen resolutions etc.
A: No, we’re not doing anything Blossom’ish. There’s actually not much sense behind this for some reasons:
Nothing supported Blossom besides the Helios graphics/X11 driver.
The Atari-side of the ATW800 had no access to Blossom at all.
Developing VDI drivers for it requires reverse-engineering of hardware which we do not own
It’s simpler to start from scratch and add things as we need them.
So “Seurat”, the controller inside the FPGA is accessible by both, the Atari (VDI etc.) and the Transputer(s). Even at the same time(!) if this would make sense in some cases.
Seurat also has more possible video-modes than Blossom had with 1MB video RAM:
mode 0: 1280 by 960 pixels, 16 colors out of a palette of 4096
mode 1: 1024 by 768 pixels, 256 colors out of a palette of 16.7 million
mode 2: 640 by 480 pixels, 256 colors out of a palette of 16.7 million
mode 3: 512 by 480 pixels, 16.7 million colors
With 2MB video RAM Seurat can go from 320×200 up to 1600x1200x8. Bit depths are currently ranging from 1 to 16bit.
It also supports the original Atari modes like 640x400x1 and could do 640x200x2 and 320x200x4… even there’s not much sense behind this.
Q: I don’t have an HDMI display, what about good old analog VGA?
A: We had to decide how to use the limited space at the external edge of the card. So the onboard HDMI of the used FPGA board was a natural choice.
Sadly all Nano FPGAs provides a just a “TMDS” signal which does not provide all features and needed signals a real HDMI source would deliver to external converters etc. This includes HDMI to VGA converters or power-injectors.
Q: I have no sound on my Mega-ST(e)! What did I do wrong?
A: The “HDMI” connector of the ATW800/2 only provides a TMDS video signal… no audio, sorry. You will need external speakers.
To get sound on the Mega-ST you have to connect to the onboard monitor connector (DIN-13 plug, pin-1 is audio-out).
There’s a nice “RGB to VGA video Adapter with AV RCA JACK” designed by Edoardo kinmami over here.
Also ePay has some adapter (cables), just search for “atari st vga” – some have a 3.5mm audio jack.
The Mega-STE and TT provide stereo RCA connectors in which you can plug speakers directly, while the TT also has an internal speaker, so if there’s no audio coming from, something else is broken in your machine.
Q: Why didn’t you just took a Raspberry Pi?
A: Have you read our goals? Please do so now. Thank you.
Q: Do I need a bigger power-supply?
A: It depends. If you’re still using the original power-supply of your Mega-ST this might be a good moment to replace it with something more recent.
The ATW800/2 is not tremendously demanding. With one TRAM plugged into the board, calculating Mandelbrots and displaying them in 1024×786@8bit, a 4MB Mega-ST draws 1.65 amperes in total.
Q: I have a ATW800/2-VME and the pins of the FPGA (Seurat) are sticking out of the top! What happened?!
A: This is done by intention for various reasons, mainly efficiency and saving time. The VME card needs to by as flat as possible on the backside to fit into the Mega-STe/TT VME slot cage.
Also the FPGA piggy-back board needs to sit low on the card so the HDMI connector can be brought out to the back nicely. Soldering the connecting pins upside-down saved space on the underside of the card and the tedious work of clipping them down for me.
If you don’t like it, you can cut them with *proper* pincers while making sure you’re not cutting anything else! If you break it, your fault! Do not come to me complaining 😉
Q: Can I have the source-code, schematics or gerber files?
A: Sorry, this is not an open-source project. We have to cover quite some initial R&D costs and we actually don’t like those ePay copycats.
That said, we – the extraordinary transputer gentlemen – are open for personal request in which you can explain why you need those and if there’s a convincing reason, we might share what we have.
Software
Q: Does it work with [your favorite software package here]?
A: We tested a lot of well known & used software packages. Generally said, if your software is well programmed following the GEM guidelines, it should work fine.
“Dirty” stuff accessing the (video)hardware directly will most certainly not work.
Q: I don’t get the NVDI driver you’ve provided working.
A: Well, first of all, make sure you have a working version of NVDI5 running. We’re not providing this.
If this that’s running fine on your machine, copy the provided files from their directory into the your existing NVDI directories with the same name.
Finally adjust your ASSIGN.SYS file accordingly, so it uses the ATW800/2 video drivers you’ve just copied. Alternatively, you can also replace your ASSIGN.SYS file with the one provided in the driver archive at your own risk. Make a backup of yours before doing so.
Q: That bouncing XVDI logo after booting nags me like hell. Can I remove it?
A: Sure. Inside the XVDIMENU there’s an option to set the timeout. Set it to 0 and you’re golden!
Q: Using the XCONTROL.ACC control panel accessory (or others like ZCONTROL.ACC) the symbols and text in window title bars disappear.
A: Yes, this is a know error in the COLOR.CPX control panel extension. Either remove that CPX use XVDI Version XYZ or higher.