This past weekend I attended the 21st Annual Chicago CoCoFest and brought over the Atari 130XE as well as a passel of assemble Liber809 boards. Interest in the project was high even though attendance was obviously geared toward the Color Computer.
On Saturday afternoon I gave a presentation on the development of the board and the software. There were good questions asked, and everyone seemed pleased.
Currently, we have plans to attend both VCF Southwest and the VCF Midwest this year. Our hope is to have the Liber809 board expanded to other 8-bitters by that point. Stay tuned.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Up and Ready for Sale
Today I updated the Cloud-9 website at www.cloud9tech.com to reflect the fact that the Liber809 is now shipping.
Several folks have asked what is required to really make use of the Liber809. A SIO2PC device, which mates the Atari SIO port to a PC via a USB cable, is required to do any loading of applications into the Atari itself. SIO2PC devices are available at various places on the Internet.
Several folks have asked what is required to really make use of the Liber809. A SIO2PC device, which mates the Atari SIO port to a PC via a USB cable, is required to do any loading of applications into the Atari itself. SIO2PC devices are available at various places on the Internet.
Monday, April 30, 2012
And Another One Down...
This evening I verified that the Atari 130XE works great with the Liber809 board (thanks to Mike Rowen for graciously donating the system to me for testing). Since the latest incarnation of the Liber809 is so compact, I was able to put the Atari 130XE together, case, screws and all. Makes it look all natural!
You can see how it looks, and even watch it boot NitrOS-9 from DriveWire on this YouTube video.
You can see how it looks, and even watch it boot NitrOS-9 from DriveWire on this YouTube video.
Almost Ready...
The last 5 days or so have been spent putting together the board and testing. Three trace cuts and three added wires later, the board is coming up on the Atari 800XL here on the bench. The trace cuts and wires were needed to work around omissions in the latest board run (our fault, not the PCB manufacturer's).
Because of this extra post assembly work, I've decided against selling kits and will instead sell entire boards already put together. This allows some quality control and assures me that what I'm sending out actually works.
There's still an issue with the board working the Atari XEGS, so we're trying to pin down the proper equations to deal with the timing issues surrounding that system. Once that's in place, the boards will start going out the door.
There's still an issue with the board working the Atari XEGS, so we're trying to pin down the proper equations to deal with the timing issues surrounding that system. Once that's in place, the boards will start going out the door.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
They're Here....
The boards arrived this morning via FedEx and they look great. I'm still waiting on another order of parts to arrive before I begin to assemble and test the board. That should happen early next week. Assuming all goes well, we'll start making kits available shortly thereafter.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Coming Together
The absence of a post over the last couple of weeks shouldn't be an indication that nothing is going on.
On the contrary, things are on the move. A few days ago, we sent final artwork over to the PCB manufacturer and should be getting boards next week. Parts have been ordered and I will be assembling a number of boards. The preferred method of selling the Liber809, however, will be in kit form.
The product will be sold through www.cloud9tech.com. A final price hasn't been set yet, but that should be set soon. In the mean time, anyone interested in one of these boards, either in kit or in assembled form, can email me to be put on the list.
On the contrary, things are on the move. A few days ago, we sent final artwork over to the PCB manufacturer and should be getting boards next week. Parts have been ordered and I will be assembling a number of boards. The preferred method of selling the Liber809, however, will be in kit form.
The product will be sold through www.cloud9tech.com. A final price hasn't been set yet, but that should be set soon. In the mean time, anyone interested in one of these boards, either in kit or in assembled form, can email me to be put on the list.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Progress On The Software Side
This evening I spent some time reworking the NitrOS-9 port. The change in the Liber809 boot ROM made it necessary to do some modifications to the kernel to accommodate the new loading style. But now all is good and we're booting NitrOS-9 Level 1 on the Atari 800XL.
Which brings me to Slor's excellent demo. Fuji started life out as a blob of code loaded from the ROM load routines via DriveWire. It was later modified to be position independent, but still had absolute references and self modifying code, neither of which are welcome in an OS-9 environment.
I spent some time with Slor tonight, reworking Fuji to actually run as an OS-9 executable. It's not quite the good NitrOS-9 citizen that it should be, but with a bit more work, we will be able to run it from the shell, then quit it at our leisure and return back to the OS.
Finally, I'll be doing a KeyNote presentation on the project at the upcoming CoCoFest (http://www.glensideccc.com). I plan on making this a very thorough and detailed presentation and will post the notes when I'm done.
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