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ITX-Llama (Vortex86EX ITX motherboard) - DONE!

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Reply 160 of 637, by Eivind

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Update:

Happy to report that the digital audio output now seems to work perfectly, thanks to a ton of help and patience from the guru of CS4237, 640K!enough! 🏆

While I'm waiting for parts and new prototypes, I'll do a thorough revamp of the BIOS settings menu, here's a preview:

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ITX-Llama motherboard
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Reply 161 of 637, by 640K!enough

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The better this thing starts to look, the more ideas I get for making it even more elegant. An implementation idea that I like is using register X4 to detect the presence of the external FM module (activate external FM, set timer and busy-wait on the status word until expiry to confirm presence), and offering the option only if it responds. Otherwise, disable the option as "not present".

Reply 162 of 637, by Eivind

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640K!enough wrote on 2023-08-10, 20:32:

The better this thing starts to look, the more ideas I get for making it even more elegant. An implementation idea that I like is using register X4 to detect the presence of the external FM module (activate external FM, set timer and busy-wait on the status word until expiry to confirm presence), and offering the option only if it responds. Otherwise, disable the option as "not present".

Ooh, I like that! 👍

TinyLlama 3
ITX-Llama motherboard
TinyLlama SBC

Reply 163 of 637, by ahmadexp

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Sooo amazing guys. Can I get a copy to test it on my hack (passing auto via HDMI?)
Also, can we have all these (or some of them at least) BIOS menus on the TL2 please? I love the TL2

Reply 164 of 637, by Duffman

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@Eivind

Will you still have a PCI version of this board? or are you switching to AGP only?

MB: ASRock B550 Steel Legend
CPU: Ryzen 9 5950X
RAM: Corsair 64GB Kit (4x16GB) DDR4 Veng LPX C18 4000MHz
SSDs: 2x Crucial MX500 1TB SATA + 1x Samsung 980 (non-pro) 1TB NVMe SSD
OSs: Win 11 Pro (NVMe) + WinXP Pro SP3 (SATA)
GPU: RTX2070 (11) GT730 (XP)

Reply 165 of 637, by Eivind

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ahmadexp wrote on 2023-08-11, 01:36:

Sooo amazing guys. Can I get a copy to test it on my hack (passing auto via HDMI?)
Also, can we have all these (or some of them at least) BIOS menus on the TL2 please? I love the TL2

I can take a look over the weekend, it's a bit more involved since the TinyLlama uses an eeprom with config data for the CS4237, whereas I'm loading this directly from the BIOS on the ITX-Llama. But we can probably hack something together. No guarantees it'll work with your SiL chip, though. But we can give it a shot! 😀
I won't port the new menus to the TL2 BIOS, as almost everything that's new only applies to the ITX-Llama.

TinyLlama 3
ITX-Llama motherboard
TinyLlama SBC

Reply 166 of 637, by Eivind

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Duffman wrote on 2023-08-11, 02:43:

@Eivind

Will you still have a PCI version of this board? or are you switching to AGP only?

I thought I'd switch to AGP only if it turns out to work as well as I'm hoping it will.... Do you object? 😉

TinyLlama 3
ITX-Llama motherboard
TinyLlama SBC

Reply 167 of 637, by Duffman

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@Eivind

For me personally I would like to use one of these chinese geforce FX 5500 cards that I got for $50AUD
They're PCI only though.
So I thought it might be a good idea to have on offer either AGP or PCI versions of the board.

MB: ASRock B550 Steel Legend
CPU: Ryzen 9 5950X
RAM: Corsair 64GB Kit (4x16GB) DDR4 Veng LPX C18 4000MHz
SSDs: 2x Crucial MX500 1TB SATA + 1x Samsung 980 (non-pro) 1TB NVMe SSD
OSs: Win 11 Pro (NVMe) + WinXP Pro SP3 (SATA)
GPU: RTX2070 (11) GT730 (XP)

Reply 168 of 637, by Eivind

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Duffman wrote on 2023-08-11, 09:01:
@Eivind […]
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@Eivind

For me personally I would like to use one of these chinese geforce FX 5500 cards that I got for $50AUD
They're PCI only though.
So I thought it might be a good idea to have on offer either AGP or PCI versions of the board.

Fair enough, I'll keep that in mind as I'm nearing completion in a few weeks!

TinyLlama 3
ITX-Llama motherboard
TinyLlama SBC

Reply 169 of 637, by Aaron707

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I vote AGP!! Its so much easier to find good old 98 era AGP cards than PCI ones.

Reply 170 of 637, by nilsnegativ

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Hey there, I made this account just to be able to chime in... 😀

I LOVE this project and I am pro-AGP, for the selfish reason that I have a bunch of AGP cards that should work great with the Llamaboard. So when it becomes available I would be happy to buy one...

Reply 171 of 637, by Eivind

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Update:
Still waiting for those illusive AGP ports to reach JLC for assembly... Meanwhile I've been completely rewriting most of my BIOS code (that goes on top of SeaBIOS, of course), complete with a menu system that'll make it soo much easier to modify later. PWM/Tach fan control are in place, working great. As are all other settings, afaik.
Haven't gotten to the external synth detection routine yet, but I think that's next now that the "boring" stuff is mostly done.

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TinyLlama 3
ITX-Llama motherboard
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Reply 172 of 637, by Eivind

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640K!enough: Here's your auto-detection idea implemented, working fine! 👍

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Reply 173 of 637, by Eivind

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Update:
Got the AGP connectors, more or less ready to order the next batch of prototypes.
I've swapped the CH559 (HIDman) with an RP2040 (Raspberry Pi Pico chip) in hopes of getting USB hub-connected HID devices working properly this time... 🤞

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Reply 174 of 637, by ahmadexp

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@Eivind, would you consider adding the changes for the wavetable? In ITX case things are much easier. We just need the DC2DC to provide the +/-12v and a jumper to switch between 3v3 and 5v Midi-in.

Reply 175 of 637, by Eivind

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ahmadexp wrote on 2023-08-22, 05:39:

@Eivind, would you consider adding the changes for the wavetable? In ITX case things are much easier. We just need the DC2DC to provide the +/-12v and a jumper to switch between 3v3 and 5v Midi-in.

On the ITX board, I already have +/-12V to the wavetable header (from the ATX connector), and only the MIDI signal going to the Pi headers are voltage-divided down - the one going to the WT header isn't.

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TinyLlama SBC

Reply 176 of 637, by 640K!enough

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Eivind wrote on 2023-08-17, 16:10:

640K!enough: Here's your auto-detection idea implemented, working fine! 👍

Implementation was almost exactly what I described, I hope; no unpleasant surprises?

Reply 177 of 637, by Eivind

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640K!enough wrote on 2023-08-24, 03:40:
Eivind wrote on 2023-08-17, 16:10:

640K!enough: Here's your auto-detection idea implemented, working fine! 👍

Implementation was almost exactly what I described, I hope; no unpleasant surprises?

Correct - I just enabled the external FM and ran the good old routine of setting up a timer on the OPL and reading back the status register. No unpleasant surprises! 😁

TinyLlama 3
ITX-Llama motherboard
TinyLlama SBC

Reply 178 of 637, by Eivind

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The AGP-equipped boards are finally in production - I had some helpful guidance from forum member sdz, who's previously made some very nice PCI-to-AGP adapters. Fingers crossed, I'll get this working as well!
In addition, this new revision has a different microcontroller (RP2040, as previously mentioned) for doing the USB HID to PS/2 translation, and a hopefully more robust way of dealing with PWM LEDs and HDD activity "clicker" based on the ATTiny84 and SD card data signals.
I also spent some time cleaning up the PCI/AGP signal routing and improved ground planes.

TinyLlama 3
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TinyLlama SBC

Reply 179 of 637, by Eivind

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Update:
Just got the boards in, plopped on a Geforce4 Ti4200 AGP card, and got video! 🎉
Will do more tests and programming later today, but that was definitely a sigh-of-relief moment! 😀

TinyLlama 3
ITX-Llama motherboard
TinyLlama SBC