@Duffman The one on amazon is based on Asmedia, so I bought one from eBay.

@Eivind is there somewhere in the wiki a pinout for mt32 LCD? Unfortunately, I have no multimeter now, so I wonder if my soldering was terrible or if I'm doing something wrong, as I can't get anything on display.

Right now, the only thing tinyllama needs is the MPU-401 port to connect the joypad or joystick. I thought about USB pass thru device that can intercept USB joystick and map joypad buttons and direction keys to keyboard keys. For example Arduino should be enough to handle this. The only problem is that you will need to store configuration per game. So usability could be limited.

sndlbn wrote on 2023-03-09, 05:14:

@Eivind is there somewhere in the wiki a pinout for mt32 LCD? Unfortunately, I have no multimeter now, so I wonder if my soldering was terrible or if I'm doing something wrong, as I can't get anything on display.

Hm yeah, I should put that somewhere! If you look at the board, pin 1 on the "I2C_OLED" pin header is closest to the 3.5mm audio jack. The order of the pins from 1 to 4 are: GND, VCC, SCL, SDA.

sndlbn wrote on 2023-03-09, 05:14:

Right now, the only thing tinyllama needs is the MPU-401 port to connect the joypad or joystick. I thought about USB pass thru device that can intercept USB joystick and map joypad buttons and direction keys to keyboard keys. For example Arduino should be enough to handle this. The only problem is that you will need to store configuration per game. So usability could be limited.

I made a conscious decision not to include the full 15-pin joystick port on the TinyLlama because of space constraints. However - the CH559 MCU that controls the "USB_HID" ports is already hooked up to the joystick input pins on the CS4237B. That means that with some clever changes to the HIDman firmware, USB joystick/gamepad to either keyboard keys or real joystick signals translation is possible.
I haven't had time to look at this myself, but I'm sure @rasteri wouldn't mind if anyone wanted to give this a shot and submit a pr! 😉

@Eivind

I'm looking at using a Samsung 25W USB-C phone charger as a PSU for the tinyllama.

are these specs OK?

Specifications: - Output interface: Type C - Input voltage: 100 - 240V - Output voltage (normal charge): 5V - Output voltage (fa […]
Show full quote

Specifications:
- Output interface: Type C
- Input voltage: 100 - 240V
- Output voltage (normal charge): 5V
- Output voltage (fast charge): PDO: 9V, PPS: 3.3-5.9V or 3.3-11.0V
- Output current: 3A
- Maximum output power: 25W

I don't know what PDO or PPS are.

Duffman wrote on 2023-03-09, 14:49:

@Eivind […]
Show full quote

@Eivind

I'm looking at using a Samsung 25W USB-C phone charger as a PSU for the tinyllama.

are these specs OK?

Specifications: - Output interface: Type C - Input voltage: 100 - 240V - Output voltage (normal charge): 5V - Output voltage (fa […]
Show full quote

Specifications:
- Output interface: Type C
- Input voltage: 100 - 240V
- Output voltage (normal charge): 5V
- Output voltage (fast charge): PDO: 9V, PPS: 3.3-5.9V or 3.3-11.0V
- Output current: 3A
- Maximum output power: 25W

I don't know what PDO or PPS are.

PDO = power delivery objects, PPS = programmable power supply, both parts of the USB-C PD (power delivery) system I think. The TinyLlama doesn't have any USB-C PD negotiation circuitry, only the 5.1k resistors on the CC1 and CC2 lines that means it asks the power supply for up to 3 amps at 5V. As far as I can tell, that PSU should do the trick - if it delivers what it says without dropping the voltage at higher current draws. Try using a short, good quality cable as well!

@Eivind

Cool, I wanted to make sure it was safe to use since I saw 9V on there. I'll get that one.

Duffman wrote on 2023-03-09, 16:11:

@Eivind
Cool, I wanted to make sure it was safe to use since I saw 9V on there. I'll get that one.

Yeah, USB-C power supplies will never pump out anything above 5V unless specifically asked by the device! 👍

Hi there!

New Tinyllama V2 user here! I received my board(s) a couple of days ago, and man has it been a journey! I can't think on anything else! I get home from work and... Tinyllama time until bedtime 😁
Thanks to @Eivind for creating such an AMAZING piece of hardware and for his great support. You can have your PS5's, I'll stick to my Tinyllama for DOS pleasure.

Now, I am trying a LOOOOT of DOS games on this beast, and I have found some games that refuse to play correctly, no matter what settings I try (EMMS/NO EMMS, XMS/NO XMS, all possible combinations of CPU speed with LEVEL 1 CACHE ON/OFF), so if someone knows how to make them work well, please tell me.
I am using the "default" Vortex86VGA Mini PCI-e module on my Tinyllama V2, if that matters.

-Ishar: Legend of the Fortress -> Game plays well, but Sound Blaster audio is horribly crackling and crunching, and sounds too slow. No, it wasn't like this on a 486-class PC with a Sound Blaster... PC-Speaker and Adlib audio is correct, however.
Disabling Level 1 cache fixes the audio cracking, but it's still tooooo slow and the game is too slow.

-SuperFrog -> Game plays well but shows a noticeable screen tearing defect on the bottom of the screen. Strange...

-Pinball Dreams -> Game plays without audio because the included SETSOUND.EXE program reboots the computer, so I can't select card and parameters.
I can manually edit SOUND.CFG and set SBPRO.SDR, SB20.SDR or SBLASTER.SDR as the sound driver there, but the game is still silent with those.

-Another World -> Game is VERY slow with Sound Blaster audio set to 1000Hz. It's fine at 5000Hz and when using other audio options.

Any ideas? Maybe we should create another thread for TinyLlama games compatibility tricks?

I briefly look at the firmware code and the spec from the signaling of two USB game controllers I own. And looks like not a trivial job. So, for now, I ordered RPI PICO and will add two USB ports and map joy input to the USB HID keyboard, as the USB HID joypad library is supported on PICO out of box. I will also add SD and display to store different configurations per game or game type. Should have working prototype quickly.

Eivind wrote on 2023-03-09, 06:35:

I made a conscious decision not to include the full 15-pin joystick port on the TinyLlama because of space constraints. However - the CH559 MCU that controls the "USB_HID" ports is already hooked up to the joystick input pins on the CS4237B. That means that with some clever changes to the HIDman firmware, USB joystick/gamepad to either keyboard keys or real joystick signals translation is possible.
I haven't had time to look at this myself, but I'm sure @rasteri wouldn't mind if anyone wanted to give this a shot and submit a pr! 😉

vanfanel wrote on 2023-03-09, 16:41:

New Tinyllama V2 user here! I received my board(s) a couple of days ago, and man has it been a journey! I can't think on anything else! I get home from work and... Tinyllama time until bedtime 😁
Thanks to @Eivind for creating such an AMAZING piece of hardware and for his great support. You can have your PS5's, I'll stick to my Tinyllama for DOS pleasure.

Thanks, man!! Modern games are fun, but DOS games are ❤️

vanfanel wrote on 2023-03-09, 16:41:

Any ideas? Maybe we should create another thread for TinyLlama games compatibility tricks?

Maybe create a Google sheet or something? I'll put a link to it in the first post in this thread if you like?
I haven't tried the games you mentioned, I'll give it a shot later this weekend and see if I can figure out what's going on. For games where audio seems to be the issue, I'd be interested to know if there'd be similar problems on other systems using a sound card with the same chip (Crystal Semi CS4237B)...

sndlbn wrote on 2023-03-09, 16:44:

I briefly look at the firmware code and the spec from the signaling of two USB game controllers I own. And looks like not a trivial job. So, for now, I ordered RPI PICO and will add two USB ports and map joy input to the USB HID keyboard, as the USB HID joypad library is supported on PICO out of box. I will also add SD and display to store different configurations per game or game type. Should have working prototype quickly.

Cool, sounds like a great project!! 👍

Eivind wrote on 2023-03-09, 17:27:

Thanks, man!! Modern games are fun, but DOS games are ❤️ […]
Show full quote

vanfanel wrote on 2023-03-09, 16:41:

New Tinyllama V2 user here! I received my board(s) a couple of days ago, and man has it been a journey! I can't think on anything else! I get home from work and... Tinyllama time until bedtime 😁
Thanks to @Eivind for creating such an AMAZING piece of hardware and for his great support. You can have your PS5's, I'll stick to my Tinyllama for DOS pleasure.

Thanks, man!! Modern games are fun, but DOS games are ❤️

vanfanel wrote on 2023-03-09, 16:41:

Any ideas? Maybe we should create another thread for TinyLlama games compatibility tricks?

Maybe create a Google sheet or something? I'll put a link to it in the first post in this thread if you like?
I haven't tried the games you mentioned, I'll give it a shot later this weekend and see if I can figure out what's going on. For games where audio seems to be the issue, I'd be interested to know if there'd be similar problems on other systems using a sound card with the same chip (Crystal Semi CS4237B)...

I will help also with testing when I receive my Tiny Llama 😁. I am used to struggle with those capricious DOS games, so I think I can lend a hand to get them working as they should. I am also about to receive an Orpheus II for my main retro PC rig (includes the same Crystal sound chip), and I have another 386 full equip for testing aswell.

I know that Windows 98 is not supported, but I would like to share a few quick notes from yesterday's Windows 98 SE installation:

- Installator has no problem with any part of the installation. I did install it from a separate partition using 64GB MicroSD
- After installation, you must update the driver for PnP Bios -> and choose Generic PCI bus. It allows Windows to discover other ISA and PCI devices
- Installing the Primary IDE controller cause Windows not to load, so you need to disable it in Device Manager in safe mode
- You need to replace the generic VGA driver with the SVGA driver, as there is no dedicated VortexVGA driver. https://bearwindows.zcm.com.au/vbe9x.htm
- I was not able to find working Sound drivers, as one that is available on Vogons (2 different revisions) didn't work and overwrote EPROM. When using drivers from vogons, the sound was looping and slowing down windows. I tried some OEM Dell drivers, but they don't work either, and there was no sound. It could be that I need to change IRQ of soundcard to 5 as driver is pointing to it
- The sound card is working, don't use the first Win9x driver from the vogons c-media package. After installing the driver, you must force IRQ 7.
- Still looking for USB drivers, as the vortex website responds with 500 when you want to download.
- Some minor things, ISA to PCI controller is shown twice in the list of devices, Ethernet is shown in device manager as network card is part of the SOC package. Windows don't want to shutdown, perhaps lack of ACPI support in BIOS.

I tried to install some basic 2D windows games, and they work well. Tried Diablo and Warloards 3, and they are working great.except there is no sound. Did anyone try to install Windows 98 and resolve some of the above problems?

@sndlbn

Windows 98 should detect PCI devices automatically, you don't normally have to manually install the PCI Bus.
I'm curious if the PCI IDE not working is the same problem that the WeeCee has.

Didn't the inbuilt windows 98 CS4237B driver work?

did you use any setup switches when running windows 98's setup?
did it BSOD at all during setup?

Duffman wrote on 2023-03-14, 01:00:

Windows 98 should detect PCI devices automatically, you don't normally have to manually install the PCI Bus.
I'm curious if the PCI IDE not working is the same problem that the WeeCee has.

So this is a well-known problem with SeaBios. It happens too, when using virtualized Windows 98 with SeaBios. Nothing major.
I have no idea about IDE. When disabled, it is working. There are many problems with IRQs, so I disabled some of the hardware I never used.

Duffman wrote on 2023-03-14, 01:00:

Didn't the inbuilt windows 98 CS4237B driver work?

So build-in driver caused a constant loop when playing the sample. I use the 1.02 driver that I found on vogons drivers.

Duffman wrote on 2023-03-14, 01:00:

did you use any setup switches when running windows 98's setup?
did it BSOD at all during setup?

I use /is to skip the disk check. But I tried without /is and installed it without any problem.
So, after installing a newer version of DirectX, the registry was rebuilt from scratch due to some error, and I was forced to reinstall all drivers .

Is it possible to easily connect an ESP8266 wifi module to Rev 1.1 TinyLlama board? The v1.1 has an unused TTL serial port header (COM2) so was just looking to add some modem connectivity if not too difficult. Thanks

Aaron707 wrote on 2023-03-14, 18:32:

Is it possible to easily connect an ESP8266 wifi module to Rev 1.1 TinyLlama board? The v1.1 has an unused TTL serial port header (COM2) so was just looking to add some modem connectivity if not too difficult. Thanks

Yeah sure, take a look at the 2.1 schematics, you'll only need to hook up RX2, TX2, GND and VCC (5V). The first 3 from the "TTL_SERIAL" as you said - 5V you can get from the "FAN_PWR" or "I2C_OLED" connector (or solder a wire directly from somewhere else).

Other games I can't make to work half right on the Tinyllama are:
-The Elder Scrolls: Arena -> Goes back to DOS prompt.
-Psycho Pinball -> Hangs after selecting a table.
-Wing Commander -> Hangs on the demo sequence. If I skip if by rapidly hitting a key, I can get in-game, and then it hangs on the space battles.

In all cases, I tried setting EMS/XMS ON/OFF, enable/disable UNISOUND loading and sound in game setup utilities, enabled/disabled L1 cache, memeater to leave 8/16MB of memory, tried 60MHz CPU speed...

I already knew games that need slow CPUs (like Wing Commander, which needs a 386@25 MHz or equivalent) would give problems, but Psycho Pinball and Elder Scrolls: Arena should work on the Tinyllama without much trouble, I believe.

I got my boards back from JLCPCB and got the crystals and audio connectors soldered. Also bought a cursed USB-A to A cable and programmed the HIDMan on all of them. I've attached a picture of one of the boards after adding the crystal and audio jack, and then top/bottom pics of one fully complete. I'll be flashing the BIOS and testing mine this evening.

If you're in the US and interested in one of the semi-complete boards, see my post here. I've got 6 left.

Quick update on a Saturday evening:

I've updated the v2 BIOS to properly handle setting typematic rate/delay ("mode con rate=32 delay=1" 😉).

Also, I got the Dreamblaster S2 that Aaron707 so kindly ordered for me from Serdashop, and Serge also sent me the Dreamblaster X2GS for free! (thanks again, Serge, if you're reading this!) 😁
I hooked it up to the TinyLlama using a few wires, and sweet sound came straight out!
This bodes well for the adapter board, I'll finish it up and put in an order from JLC one of these days.

Eivind wrote on 2023-03-18, 21:52:

Quick update on a Saturday evening: […]
Show full quote

Quick update on a Saturday evening:

I've updated the v2 BIOS to properly handle setting typematic rate/delay ("mode con rate=32 delay=1" 😉).

Also, I got the Dreamblaster S2 that Aaron707 so kindly ordered for me from Serdashop, and Serge also sent me the Dreamblaster X2GS for free! (thanks again, Serge, if you're reading this!) 😁
I hooked it up to the TinyLlama using a few wires, and sweet sound came straight out!
This bodes well for the adapter board, I'll finish it up and put in an order from JLC one of these days.

That's awesome! I have a spare X2GS laying around, I think it will be a nice add-on to the tinyllama seeing the lack of pi zero nowadays...