Beta First Power On

[Kim Colwell]

Received and put together the Open AC1 board -- very pleasant kit and smooth assembly. 

Powered on and the Activity light flashes and I get "@" on the VGA Monitor.  USB Keyboard seems responsive (Activity light flashes when I type anything), but nothing appears on the screen.  However, if I type "CATALOG", I get a list of the files on the SD Card, as I should -- so I know that the keyboard is transmitting valid commands to the board (however, the "CATALOG" letters do NOT show on the screen, but it works.)  The "LOAD" command seems to work (Activity light flashes), then when I would expect it to be complete, I get a KBD Timed Out error over and over.

RESET and CLEAR buttons seems to work.  I have tried different keyboards (all basic USB - one mechanical); all same.  I am assuming the keyboard connection works since the CATALOG command works OK.

I have checked the usual assembly stuff:  solder joints; Chips in properly; Caps in correctly; resistors in proper placement; etc.  no joy.

Any one have any ideas?  

Has anyone else completed this kit without issues yet?

[famousd...@gmail.com]

The "@" prompt means the PIC32 is working.  If the activity LED flashes for each keystroke, then the keyboard is working.  If "CATALOG" returns a list of programs then the Arduino and SD card are working.

What is left is the CPU, the PIA, RAM, and ROM.

What do you mean when you say RESET seems to work?  What indication do you have that it is working?  When you say LOAD seems to work, how long before you get a KBD error?  I would expect that within a few seconds in the situation you described.

I have built a dozen of these and they all worked.  I'm starting to wonder if they just don't ship very well.  I sent two out a year ago to a couple friends and those worked without a hitch, so I'm stymied why this batch has been so troublesome.

You're welcome to send it to me for diagnosis.

[Kim Colwell]

Pressing RESET clears the screen and back to the flashing “@”.  Entering “LOAD xxx” flashes the activity light for a second or two, then aftere another second or so I get the KBD Timeout errors.

 

“…this batch has been so troublesome”?  have you had other issues with the Beta ones you sent out?  Maybe the ‘batch’ of chips is different somehow?  I noticed the chip labels don’t match the silkscreen exactly (I got the chips in the right spots, but there were some minor differences between the chip labels and the silkscreen/BOM).

 

 

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[famousd...@gmail.com]

Ok, RESET should display a slash "/" and the cursor will drop down one line.  I'm actually surprised that RESET does anything at all on yours, considering the other symptoms you mentioned.  LOAD is not working at all, if it we're actually trying to load a program and you were simply unable to see the line scrolling by, it would take several minutes.

Of course, I only hear anything when there are problems, but you're the third one so far.  This is a beta test, so I'd really like to hear from everyone, whether it works or not.

[Kim Colwell]

Also, I was powering from the supplied Power brick – would it make a difference if I used the Arduino Power connector instead?

 

 

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From: famousd...@gmail.com
Sent: Thursday, August 3, 2023 7:08 PM
To: OpenAC1
Subject: Re: Beta First Power On

 

The "@" prompt means the PIC32 is working.  If the activity LED flashes for each keystroke, then the keyboard is working.  If "CATALOG" returns a list of programs then the Arduino and SD card are working.

 

What is left is the CPU, the PIA, RAM, and ROM.

 

What do you mean when you say RESET seems to work?  What indication do you have that it is working?  When you say LOAD seems to work, how long before you get a KBD error?  I would expect that within a few seconds in the situation you described.

 

I have built a dozen of these and they all worked.  I'm starting to wonder if they just don't ship very well.  I sent two out a year ago to a couple friends and those worked without a hitch, so I'm stymied why this batch has been so troublesome.

 

You're welcome to send it to me for diagnosis.

On Thursday, August 3, 2023 at 6:21:13 PM UTC-5 kcolw..@gmail.com wrote:

Received and put together the Open AC1 board -- very pleasant kit and smooth assembly. 

 

Powered on and the Activity light flashes and I get "@" on the VGA Monitor.  USB Keyboard seems responsive (Activity light flashes when I type anything), but nothing appears on the screen.  However, if I type "CATALOG", I get a list of the files on the SD Card, as I should -- so I know that the keyboard is transmitting valid commands to the board (however, the "CATALOG" letters do NOT show on the screen, but it works.)  The "LOAD" command seems to work (Activity light flashes), then when I would expect it to be complete, I get a KBD Timed Out error over and over.

 

RESET and CLEAR buttons seems to work.  I have tried different keyboards (all basic USB - one mechanical); all same.  I am assuming the keyboard connection works since the CATALOG command works OK.

 

I have checked the usual assembly stuff:  solder joints; Chips in properly; Caps in correctly; resistors in proper placement; etc.  no joy.

 

Any one have any ideas?  

 

Has anyone else completed this kit without issues yet?

 

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[famousd...@gmail.com]

Don't use the power adapter if it's 5v.  That probably won't work.  I have learned it needs a 9v adapter.

You can power it from the USB connection on the Arduino, you just have to make sure to set the power jumper to "Arduino".

[famousd...@gmail.com]

Actually you should have a 9v adapter.  I checked that before the last three kits were sent out, and yours was one of those.

I'm surprised your kit didn't work right away, I tested all the chips before sending those out.  Make sure your jumpers are correct.

[Kim Colwell]

Mine is the 9v adapter. I tried various jumper settings with no change in the behaviour.  I’ll get back to it tomorrow.  After I try a few other things, I’ll get back to you with whatever info I can get.  Thanks for all the work you put into this!

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[Kim Colwell]

Success!!  (Sort of)

 

After much checking of solder joints, component values and everything I could think of, I finally decided to pop all the chips and double check to see if I had any bent pins, etc.  Nothing like that, but .. I discovered that I had swapped the ROM and the RAM chips!  (Oops, dummy rookie mistake).  Putting them in correctly fixed the issue.

 

It works as expected, but I am getting some weird results now … the flashing ‘@’ shows up all the time at the end of whatever is displayed (for example, when I type ‘4F’ on the keyboard, I get ‘4F@’ on the screen –then he ‘@’ goes away after I hit RETURN – even when in BASIC mode.  Doesn’t seem to affect the normal operation.  Also, I don’t get the same values you show in the instructions when I do simple things (examine memory, etc.)  -- see photo.

 

So … swapped ROM & RAM – could I have damaged the ROM (or RAM) chip with that ?  Is there a way to re-write the ROM or get a new one?

 

Otherwise, seems to be working good!

 

Kim

 

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[famousd...@gmail.com]

Well I have never seen that behavior before, but I have never swapped the RAM and ROM before.  That seems like a problem with the PIC32 since that controls the drawing (and erasing) of the cursor.  Can you post a short video of that behavior?

[Kim Colwell]

I’ll try that tomorrow!

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[Paul]

Hi Chris & all

Just put the kit together (waiting for customs, couriers and then time off work)!

Went together very easily and all works OK after its 14,000km journey. No bits fell out of the Arduino, PIC or ROM on the long trip down under...

In terms of parts, I did get a 5V adapter but this wasn't a problem as it doesn't fit Aussie powerpoints (outlets) anyway.  I just grabbed the 9V adapter I use with the Altairduino, and the OpenAC1 works OK.

(Perhaps for international orders make an adapter optional, you'll save on purchasing (and maybe a little on shipping, as the package weight will be less)).  

You do mention a 5V power supply on pages 4, 11 and 16  of the manual though.

My kit also was missing a 16 pin DIP socket and the male pin header strip - again no biggie for me as these are common parts, and I had spares.

As you mentioned, it's picky with keyboards - refused to work with a vanilla Microsoft wired keyboard 600 I had lying around, but works OK with a generic USB wired backlighted keyboard that I picked up on clearance from one of the local chain stores.  

Thanks for the kit,

Paul

[famousd...@gmail.com]

I received your video.  That is completely normal.  Yes, the "@" is an odd cursor, but that's what Woz used back in 1976.

[Kim Colwell]

ok, great .. i guess all is well, then!  thanks for your attention .. and for putting together this kit.

Kim

On Sun, Aug 6, 2023, 7:27 PM famousd...@gmail.com <famousd...@gmail.com> wrote:

I received your video.  That is completely normal.  Yes, the "@" is an odd cursor, but that's what Woz used back in 1976.

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