Most liked posts in thread: I'm going to build a WEFAX interface

Hi Matt
That printer seems very good value for the money, looking forward to seeing what you can do with it
When your ready to try out KiCAD I'll email you the design files I used, along with the library parts I've made specific for the Atari. I'm sure they'll come in useful at some point.

 

I must say that the Atari computers keep having new stuff build for them ...

 

Matt I'm going to have to change the PIA board again as the traces from the original to the extra PIA are likely to cause a problem, and I pushed them even closer to fit in the 22 pin header so I'll redo these before I send off and find they are't reliable !!

 

O.K. here goes.. Plus updated PDF

 

Wonderful - well spotted, Matt.

Just showed Bev that article and her eyes went to heaven!!

Yep, our machines are still far, far from finished.

As the excellent article says, chaps:

The Magic of FujiNet...

 

Then call it a program. I called it an "app" because that's the current buzz word for what are programs. We used it back in the day too, but just used the full word "application." A program is a universal term for any that programs a computer to do something, then you have sub-catagories of programs like games, applications, drivers, whatever.

 

I think I'd better get out one of my esp moduals and program it, as it seems a nice system to use, although using the slow SIO (slow in comparison to PBI I should say)

EDIT
I just looked at the Git repositry, seems they don't have code you can upload directly you end up installing a load of programs such as Microshit's Visual Studio IDE and addon's for platformio, then add the ES32 enviroment.. and then you create your own compiled version.
I can't be bothered with that at the moment, as I'd likely have to build the enviroment in a Virtual machine and make sure it's not 'phoning home', as much Microshit software does.
For open source they don't help much in the way they produce the PCB files you have their design or start from scratc, from a schematic shows as a picture, then read down to find there are cuts to make on the PCB's as a mistake was made etc. What It dosnt meantion is if the files have been corrected as if the board is wrong then so will be the schematic. and so on.
Saying that It's great that it's being released and not kept to themselves so you can if you wanted to build your own, something I'm sure I'll do in the future but not just yet ..
I'll see how Matt gets on when his arrives.
I did however have the few chips and moduals it required likely the resistos and connectors etc as well. maybe a breadboard and try it out.

 

Matt hows the 3D printer going ?? and are you able to join us tommorow late afternoon for you ?

 

@Graham I haven't done anything further with the 3D printer, as getting the Fujinet yesterday distracted me as I started reading about it and it's features and how to get it set-up and running, then I plugged it in to start doing stuff, and wasn't able to do anything because my 800's keyboard stopped working again! I checked all the keys to see if there was a contact issue like I finally found with the space bar the last time, but everything looks good.

But the last time I had it apart I added some Dupont connectors to the wires going to the CPU board for easier removal in the future, so one or both of them must have come loose while I was putting everything back together. So later today I'm taking her all apart again to look into it. It's not an issue with the POKEYmax itself, I don't think because the audio/visual test in self test mode is still working, so I think it's a loose or pinched wire someplace.

So, everything else is on hold until I can get my 800 working again. Plus, with the 3D printer I need a version of mini or micro or whatever (so many versions now) that I don't have, so there's no way for me to connect it to the PC right now and get it installed as a printer on my PC to use the software needed to print stuff, etc. The same is actually true of the Fujinet, as I need a USB cable to use software on the PC to install software on the Fujinet before I can start using it's WI-FI abilities and then not need the USB cable again until I need to upgrade firmware, etc. when they release new versions, as they are still adding new abilities to what it can do. So both of those are on hold until I buy a couple more USB cables (the 3D printer and Fujinet, of course, are both using different USB mini/micro/whatever cables!)

As to joining you tomorrow, if you are talking about another live chat, I still haven't gotten around to getting a mic and camera drivers and whatnot going so I can join those...too much other stuff going on around here!

 

@Graham There is this site too for Fujinet ( https://fujinet.online/download/ ). but once you get it up and running, you go to a site on your Atari using Fujinet, where you download any programs for it. That's one of the main points of Fujinet, is you don't download off your PC and get them onto your Atari, but you get on-line with your Atari and download directly to Fujinet. The article about the weather report program I posted on the previous page tells/shows you how.

 

Nice one thats what I was looking for

 

Not mine, they must be too old.

 

Yes, actually, for many years now I've been meaning to properly partition my hard drives on all my PC's to have several versions of Windows and Linux too. And actually, I did once know how to use Linux, way back in the 90's I learned Linux in a college computer class and then after college I worked for a company out in Southern California were we used Linux machines to duplicate the old style back-up tapes (for get what they were called now) for the latest changes in parts catalogs for car dealerships and mechanic shops. But it's been 25 years and I've forgotten most of it, I'm sure, for the most part, though I could probably relearn relatively easily since it was similar to Command line DOS's like MS-DOS and Atari SpartaDOS (which I still use) in the searching directory/sub-directory/file tree aspect, that much I remember.

I also learned to use the old Lynx networks back then and spent a lot of time in those old chat rooms texting back and forth with students from other colleges. It was also the dawn of the Internet and learned to use it with the old Netscape browser...God I miss Netscape. Long before Ubuntu of course.

Actually, I bought that old PC of mine used, and it came with Ubuntu and Linux OS on it, but I was so confused by the early Ubuntu, and I wanted to turn it back into the MS-DOS/Windows gaming system it was originally designed for, so I just re-initialized and re-formatted the HDD for Windows, since I didn't feel like learning Ubuntu at the time either.

 

Mate,
It does not surprise me one little bit!
Us lads marvel at the stuff you (and Matt for that matter) get involved with/have got involved with.
Keeps the rest of us... wanting to know more(!)

 

I lurve it, Graham - I just knew that you had had to have had a hand in one of these babies too!!

 

Well, I've been using the 1.0 design I purchased from The Brewing Academy for a couple of weeks now, and it works great so far, with either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth (Bluetooth requires a patched OS, unless you have the Incognito (or probably U1MB which are basically the same) as the BT ability is built in to the Incognito firmware. If better upgrades are to come, I'll build the next one myself as you plan on doing @Graham. Of course the firmware for Incognito is constantly being improved and updated, but there is a very nice and simple to use flasher program (with debug mode) to reflash upgraded firmware with a USB cord from the PC to the Fujinet device, which I just did less than a week ago for the latest firmware.

It can do so much and works great for everything I've tried so far, including running software remotely from TNFS sites around the world, it basically obsoletes SIO2PC and 1050toPC devices and is much easier to use. And just like SIO2PC you can use any combination of real hardware and all the virtual hardware it emulates: Drives, printers, 850 interface with R: and all legacy terminal programs work with it.

The latest firmware adds all kinds of new N: device commands to SDX too and it works great with it too, from what I am told, I haven't explored it yet, but I already updated my SDX on Incognito for it. So I'm perfectly happy I jumped on the bandwagon already, though I didn't know anything about it really before I bought it except that I'd have wi-fi capability and they already have many two player games converted to play with a friend remotely, and I've been play the fantastic 8-bit slicks online game that previously required the no longer produced Dragoncart, that they converted for Fujinet. All at high speed divisor 0 SIO (that can be set to what ever divisor is needed) through your personal Fujinet web page were you can set up all kinds of virtual peripherals and much more, even set up a MIDI-maze game site to play with others instead of MIDI LAN networks.

I just love it and am perfectly happy with it's current hardware state at 1.0 ESP32 version. And I can always upgrade it myself later if needed. It's not some buggy hardware or firmware that has constant issues, and any bugs that do come to light from users are being addressed straight away with the firmware. Most changes are enhancements to do even more. It just works! Well worth the $75 I spent on the 1.0 version with all the bells and whistle and a case that matches my 800 (or whatever variant you want to match your machine).

And if exponential hardware improvements are made in the future, I'll build another for my 1200XL, since I now have a 3D printer to print my own case for it and SIO w/pass-thru port. I'll have far too many upgrades in my 1200XL by then to try and fit it internally, but it can remain plugged in, on or off and lets all your other hardware just work too.

It gives priority to real hardware and only boots itself if there is no other D1: real or virtual already. I just keep drive one turned off when using it, but all my other drives and HDD CF card on Incognito work with it fine. Even though it has it's own HDD SD on board too, I can use both at the same time, Fujinet SD as D1: and my CF HDD with SpartaDOS I've normally have set as D5: anyway so I can still use D1:-D4: with real drives or other virtuals like SIO2SD or SDrivemax or even SIO2PC if I wanted, though those are on my 1200XL and I don't need them with Fujinet's own facilities.

It's been working great for me, and my current Internet and wi-fi are over my smartphone hot-spot along with my PC and Xbox 360, and, of course, I can use it via Bluetooth with my smartphone and PC too. It does more than I ever expected or dreamed of before I got one and knew next to nothing about it, and it does it all fantastically, now.

But I'm not trying to peer-pressure you into building or buying one now, @Graham I'd rather have you working on the dual PIA upgrade instead anyway!

 

Hi Matt
I wasn't having a go about Fuji Net and what it does as that's great, and it's being inproved all of the time.
I was refering to what appears to be a split, Verion 2 you would expect to be that latest hardware (not firmware) revision, and this looks like this https://atariage.com/forums/topic/298720-fujinet-a-wip-sio-network-adapter-for-the-atari-8-bit/
This is a Rev2 board and its associated NodeMCU:


The brewing academy are selling these https://fujinet.online/



The hardware for these is currently version 1.3 and was only modded 14 days ago.
https://github.com/FujiNetWIFI/fujinet-hardware

and only just added a resistor 5 days ago.

All I'm saying is that there appears some disparity between what the version numbers are and that the hardware is still being revised.
I've had a good look at the schematics and they are not laid out very well. at some point I'll produce my own in KiCAD, so that I can build my own design of boards. They have released them in Diptrace, but I don't want to use yet another layout program, again purely a personal choice

So all I'm am saying is that I'm personally disappointed, as 1
, they don't lay it out in a program I use
2. Hardware is still being changed, in fact only 5 days ago.
3,The latest changes have added buffered SIO line's and also power off the buffers themselves to me from an electrical side, I'd be better off using the correct buffers in the first place that are what's known as Tri-state outputs and enable them or not when required, in this case the chip is still physically connected, just it's power turned off by two FET's.
So I suspect that this may well be looked at again.
I also don't see much in the way of protection from static via the USB port. something else that needs looking at as could possiably kill the cp2102 the tiny 4mm square chip with it's 24 legs not the easiest to replace.

BUT HAVING SAID ALL THAT IT'S STILL BRILLIANT AT WHAT IT CAN ALREADY DO, AND WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR IT.

 

@Graham I didn't know there were two different hardware versions until you mentioned it. But personally, I'd just ignore that the version exists with the ESP8266 as I've not seen any mention of it in the Fujinet sub-forum and it seems most current users are using the ESP32 version of the hardware. I have a feeling the other hardware version will die off and be forgotten eventually. But I understand your preference to wait and see.

Vintage Computer Shop also sells Fujinet 1.0 and 1.3 versions, and I've heard one or two other places as well. https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com/product/fujinet-1-3
Vintage Computer does have a warning about problems with their version flashing on PC's, they use MACs, But I had no issue flashing the version 1.3 I got from TBA on my PC.

Edit: I read further down on Vintage Computer Shop's site and they say they are suspending version 1.3 Fujinet due to hardware issues and suggest buying the 1.0 version. But again, I've had no issues with the one I got from TBA, so this may just be an issue with VCS's version. I guess the old adage applies; if you want something done right, do it yourself.

 

Well, as per my last post, don't get it from Vintage Computer shop, they are only selling 1.0 now. Wait until TBA has more in stock, as that's what I have. There are other shops, as I said, that sell Fujinet too.

Scratch that TBA is selling version 1.0, I thought they were 1.3 for some reason, but as per @Graham 's link above, I double checked TBA and it does indeed show 1.0 on the board they have pictured. So I have version 1.0 appaerently. So, version 1.0 has been totally stable and reliable in my two weeks experience with it, and apparently 1.3 needs to be avoided. So if you want what I have, version 1.0, you can get it from Vingtage Computer Shop I linked above.

 

One thing, I said I'd flashed the latest Incognito firmware for use with Fujinet and it's N: device for SDX, I meant flashed SDX on Incognito with the new Firmware, not the Incognito BIOS firmware.

 

It's nice that SDX has been updated, and all the additional tools built in, you only need the 256K of space as well so there still room to add additional tools if required at a later date.
FUJI NET is really going some place's, whilst adding additional fuctionality in software drives a few changes to the hardware.
V1.3 I think that the main Idea was to cure a few oddities than can crop up under certain conditions, however other bits have been changed, hence the V1.3 revised even as late as 5 days ago.
I've used the list of parts for the latest version and surprised at how little the cost is (this is only for the electronic parts)
it's less than £10, and likely cheaper (but not by much) if I'd used smaller components (I need to be able to see them to solder them)
I guess the power of a 32 bit co-prcessor in the ESP32 really makes a difference, along with it's 8Mbytes RAM & 16MB Flash ROM a bit more than the ol' Atari with its 48K & 16K
I took a few photo's one of the chips the CP2102 used to be a QFN 28 package, 5x5mm it's now been reduced to 4x4mm 24 Pin package .. heres a picture of the original 5x5mm version with 28 pins.
By the way there are still unused pins on the 24 pin package.

I'm not looking forward to soldering in the smaller version that's the only one available ..
Thats a Micro USB connector in front ..
When all has settled down I'll make one up for internal fitment to my XLD, XEL & XEGS. hence no requirment for the SIO plug/socket arrangement.
As this will be identicle electronically, and thus the same software, if anyone is interested better let me know.
I can also off board the SD card slot and change to a full size one if people want that.
I'm guessing by the time I've had the boards made etc. be about £20-25. I'll see how stable the hardware is first so likely 2-3 months away.
By then I Hope Matt will be an absolute mine of information.
Matt how about starting off a Fuji Net Blog and updating as and when you try something new ?
Look forward to seeing more.. maybe a new thread as well, as rather off topic ...hehe

 

Sounds like a great idea @Graham , I'll do that blog. But I guess I'll have to get around to learning to use it with SDX and the R: and N: handlers, both of which I've never used before, even back in the day. But then Incognito has some Z: handler I've not bothered to look into either. I don't know if that's all a part of the latest SDX or if that's separate in the Incognito firmware, I'll have to learn and see.

 

Yep, I have reading glasses of both 1.25 and 1.5 magnification I use when working on electronics (and reading), as well as an LED lit visor I were on top of the reading glasses that has lenses from 1.0 X to 3.5 X magnification, I use most of them, depending on how close I have to see something! And of course other lights and lamps illuminating everything as much as possible.

 

Well I'm definatly going to have a Fuji Net by the summer. I did have another look at the schematics, as I'm guessing to address the issues they are trying to fix, they have sort of ripped bits off in one place and added a buch of stuff in other's One main difference is that the resistor pack to protect components on the SIO buss has gone and replaced with 74LS07 chip's these in turn have there power turned off by tiny FET's when the power switch is in the off position. the FETs are needed as the SIO would back feed the original. It's just made the diagrams posted much more difficult to read, I guess as they have been rushed out to get them online

 

I've a nice counter poise lamp I got for Christmas; dimmiable & three different LED colours(varients of white) , but I also use two dimmiable torches, for really close work, or the Microscope I use has built in led lamps Still find it difficult to solder when looking elsewhere .. did your TKII board under that .
I've thought of the LEDS built in to a visor with magnifying lens, maybe I should invest in a set to try .
I think Matt that a Microphone and Webcam are needed..
Make it easier to converse