Because who doesn't need 8 floppies.Well, I make the Monster FDC.
Because who doesn't need 8 floppies.Well, I make the Monster FDC.
My orders arrived now and to my surprise, it just works!I'm new to this so I apologize for my noob-ish question, but is there a walk-thru or description of how to do this? I recently saw the v. 2.0 Book 8088 and was looking into Gotek or actual floppy drive compatibility. I'm still going through these forums so maybe I'll stumble across a floppy solution.
I've ran both of mine on battery for hours at a time with zero issues. I make sure they're fully charged, however. When it arrives it's not fully charged (you don't keep a lithium battery fully charged for transport or storage for safety reasons (and simply because the batteries hold their charge for storage at a more specific charge range (usually about 40-50%))- I would not recommend using the Book8088 on battery. I had a unfortunate moment after switching the BIOS, where it didn't boot and did buzzing noises instead. Turned out that just the battery was too low.
Yes you just ask the seller or if you feel comfortable with some DIY and soldering, someone on Vogons figured out how to reflash the firmware through I2C https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=1227721#p1227721Signed up so I could join in on this thread.
I've had my Book 8088 v2 for about a week now. Not sure what I was expecting, but I think it pretty much met expectations.
Based on what's been posted on this thread, I have a few questions:
1) The updated LCD driver that fixes the VGA modes - How does one go about getting one? Just contact the seller via AliExpress? It looks like the main difference is what's flashed on a chip on that board, has anyone figured out how to re-flash one of the boards that shipped with the device?
The CGA card won't work with the fixed firmware apparently2) I've tried a couple of the 8088 demos - 8088MPH and Area5150. Both of them are aimed at CGA graphics, but my v2 came with VGA and it looks like these demos bang on the CGA low-level stuff so I get a lot of garbage on the screen. Any known fixes for that? Or should I see if I can track down one of the CGA cards if I want to be able to watch those? (DZT seems to be the only seller on AE and he's sold out).
You can also buy a programmed EEPROM from Sergey, he posted a link in this thread3) Is it worth it to try and update the BIOS? If it is, is there anyone in the greater Austin, TX area in here that has an EPROM programmer?
Thanks, I've messaged the seller, will wait on response.Yes you just ask the seller or if you feel comfortable with some DIY and soldering, someone on Vogons figured out how to reflash the firmware through I2C https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=1227721#p1227721
OK. Maybe best to have both drivers then, if the CGA card ever becomes available, I can swap between them. Not sure what I'd need CGA for though, other than these demos and maybe a few games?The CGA card won't work with the fixed firmware apparently
Yup, had the link, but he'd been sold out. One showed up, just ordered it.You can also buy a programmed EEPROM from Sergey, he posted a link in this thread
They won't send any updated schematics or the CPLD files. Already tried.Does anyone have schematics for the Book 8088 v2.0?
I'd like to remove the provided VGA / CGA cards and see, if an ISA card with an external screen works. I'd /guess/ there will be no bus contention, but it wouldn't hurt to look at the schematics first, if there are any.
OK. Maybe best to have both drivers then, if the CGA card ever becomes available, I can swap between them. Not sure what I'd need CGA for though, other than these demos and maybe a few games?
Ok, then I'll just try it. Probably it will work as expectedThey won't send any updated schematics or the CPLD files. Already tried.
If the card is removed, there'd be no contention to have. the v2 video connectors are basically like 'mini isa slots', so removed and it should just move to what you have plugged in externally.
Interesting finds... and interesting way to 'document it'.. you basically have to engineer the cpld from schematics.. heh.. I have a CPLD dev board on the way to play with, so that level is more at @sergey et al's levels. lolOk, then I'll just try it. Probably it will work as expected
Regarding the CPLDs: I just stumbled upon an "ISA CGA" on ebay, which looks like an ISA version of the book8088 CGA card. The card has "www.8086cpu.com" written on it. This site contains schematics for the CGA adapter, as well as for the CGA CPLDs: http://www.8086cpu.com/lm6/79.html
Not as interesting as the schematics for the main CPLD, but thats something
I also suspect, that this card represents the serial / parallel part of the book8088 v2: http://www.8086cpu.com/lm6/97.html
Because who doesn't need 8 floppies.
I'll just use my own version of the Quad Floppy controller that I made. You quoted the wrong person for that....If you’re really serious, you may purchase a fully assembled Monster FDC while supplies last (not affiliated, an enthusiast.)
Monster FDC by Weird Electronics on Tindie
Monster FDC - ISA Floppy Disk Controller Card Supporting up to 8 Floppy Driveswww.tindie.com
I looked at several popular microcontrollers and I think it might be a STC8 series by STC Micro with an 8051 core and ISP programmable.
The unused pins match up with the SPI port. But it looks like it is programmed using UART on pins 19 and 20.
The BATIN pin comes directly from the battery and lines up with ADC0 adding further to the suspicion that this is the correct micro.
STC Microcontroller---STCmicro Technology Co,.Ltd
STCMICRO is A professional supplier of microcontrollerwww.stcmicro.com
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If it is possible to download and reverse engineer (or just re-write from scratch) that firmware, it could be possible to make use of the un-used keys (like Windows key to launch windows?) But also with the unused pins which have an SPI or I2C interface, one could probably also control a digital pot to adjust the volume and use the volume keys.
Has anyone been able to update the keyboard controller firmware?
I have a Book 8088 v2 with BIOS version 1.0.6. It's fun reliving my DOS game days, however, it's often difficult to play games that use the arrow keys. In particular, I am having trouble with two games where you use the arrow keys to move a cursor: Gunship and Simcity Classic.
In Gunship, the cursor movement is extremely slow. I remember when I played the game on a 286, the longer you held down the arrow key, the faster the cursor moved. However, this isn't the case on the Book 8088. It seems like the problem is even worse with turbo mode. Thankfully, once in the game, everything works smoothly and the EGA graphics are great.
In Simcity, the cursor moves more quickly, but if I hold down the arrow key longer than a second, it just keeps moving when I release the key.
I'm assuming it would be possible to fix these issues with updated firmware (and maybe fix the pause key/enable ctrl-break, etc.). Thoughts?
Ok, then I'll just try it. Probably it will work as expected
Thanks n0p!
I tried out CGA4VGA. In particular, I wanted to see how it affected the CGA mode in Gunship, which I hadn't tried on the Book 8088. This led to a discovery about keyboard responsiveness.
The cursor movement is completely fixed in CGA mode when playing Gunship. Also I noticed after playing the game more in EGA mode, sometimes keys would get stuck during gameplay. So far this hasn't happened in CGA mode, making the game much more playable.
On certain screens in EGA mode, I notice a flickering scan line at the top of the screen. This seems to correlate with the cursor movement--when the scan line is flickering more, the cursor moves more slowly. So, maybe there's something about EGA graphics that's also affecting the keyboard.