PI/Arduino Processor Emulator

[tin]

I posted in the "today I got" thread but thought worth posting here too. I had a little go, but then tried to find a suitable board to test some stuff out on and didn't come up with anything in the time I had. Work dictates won't get back to this for a couple of weeks but still, it looks lovely on the bench

and gives me some time to review Mark's videos again.

 

[silverfox0786]

Awesome mate. Hope you get some more play with it. Also gives me time to get the pod adaptor a sorted.

 

[andrewsm]

Just uploaded some videos of my tester fixing a Scramble board that has been converted (badly) to Super Cobra.

 

[silverfox0786]

Proof of the pudding is in the eating

here is a really bad Scramble Board that was converted to Super Cobra

Fixed using nothing but the Tester's Diagnostics

[tube]TfXI1WAWA3o[/tube]

[tube]OzgnvKXT1r0[/tube]

[tube]0TCW_n9P__o[/tube]

[tube]bCjA9i8ENi4[/tube]
silverfox07862016-10-04 01:13:15

 

[radfoo]

Just uploaded some videos of my tester fixing a Scramble board that has been converted (badly) to Super Cobra.

Great, I really like the A.D.T. part, I think that's what originally made me want the system. Hopefully when I get one my pile of broken boards will be as easy to fix.

Thanks

 

[andrewsm]

Glad you like. Im back into tester build mode now. getting another out this weekend and working though them again.
Wont be too long till you can get these boards hopefully working with it.

andrewsm2016-10-05 23:22:53

 

[funhouse]

Loved the Scramble videos - I see the AR81 is very versatile.

I have a couple of newbie questions for anyone that knows:

When you place the POD on the powered board, is the processor being fully emulated (ie. the game runs)? or is it only allowing red/write on specified memory addresses?

How do you get to know which memory address ranges and associated ICs the board has? Is it specified on most schematics etc?

Cheers.

 

[andrewsm]

Hi thanks.

The pods will allow full control of the address and data buses so memory can be read and written to. It wont run the code atm so no the game will be frozen or just act as if no processor is in place. I do have plans to try and single step the game in a future addition but thats when I get more time to develop stuff. The addresses can be found using mame or there will be shortly a command in the tester that will find the memory map for you. I have it sort of working now but still a little work to do yet. Typically Roms start at addresses 0000 and go up. Ram can be anywhere. Its not that hard to find them. Also schematics and data for the board you are testing will reveal the addresses and how select lines are enabled. IO ports are the same.

Hope this helps. I will try to add as much info as I can on the website as its been set up to provide a information hub for these testers. You can log into it and add stuff too. The more the merrier.

Im currently taking orders for the second batch of testers which will be Mark 2 ones. All do the same thing just some of the add ons will be built in.

 

[funhouse]

Thanks. I expected it wouldn't fully emulate the processor as I'm sure it must be a lot of work to do!

All my arcade stuff is in storage right now and I'm in the middle of moving but hopefully in the coming weeks/months I'll be in touch for one.

Just thought, as this thread is getting long it isn't easy to find the link to the Wiki. Would you be able to add it to the first post, or perhaps even better, add it to your posting Footers? Cheers.

 

[silverfox0786]

Its now on my Footer

 

[porchy]

Mine arrived today, thanks Mark.
Had a mess around for 10 minutes tonight as time permitted.
Things I tried seem ok but will give a proper test run this weekend.

 

[porchy]

I generated a complete test set for the 74LS244.
The in circuit testing does work very well. Occasionally the states get sampled during transition changes which will flag up a fail condition but that can't really be avoided

 

[andrewsm]

Glad its all ok mate, I PMed you back. When I get more time I will look at the ADT a little more as have an idea how I can reduce the errors. Not a major issue but nice to solve if possible.

 

[andrewsm]

Just a note to say more updates have been put on website.

Theres a new shortcut with logo added plus the latest tester code loaded on too. Suggest everybody that has a tester loads the latest arduino code and tester code so you get all the new features and bug fixes

 

[PaulSwan]

If you use a fly lead to connect to the master clock on the board and detect an edge from that to synchronize the IC pin sampling you should be able to get a reliable sample that's always stable across all IC's and thus avoid the transition instability.

The idea would be to detect the clock edge then read in all of the byte-ports then process them later to minimize the delay between clock edge to sample point.

It's a fantastic idea to build the IC tester portion, btw

Paul.

PaulSwan2016-10-17 17:34:23

 

[porchy]

I used the stuck pin check yesterday to find a long standing fault on my chiplifter pcb.
My board has had a small graphics fault for over a year now, ive tried a lot of different things but never able to find anything solid. Using the stuck pin check i could see that on a high number of occasions an output pin would fail high. Looking on a probe it looked active. It turned out the leg underneath was intermittantly shorting to the vcc line.

In a short space of time this has helped me find a fault but its really worth mentioning that there is no magical bit of test equipment available that will just pin point your fault, some knowledge of whats going on is still required. Test equipment like this and others are a huge help though.

Thanks Mark for the support you have given me this far

 

[Purity]

Just a note to say more updates have been put on website.

Theres a new shortcut with logo added plus the latest tester code loaded on too. Suggest everybody that has a tester loads the latest arduino code and tester code so you get all the new features and bug fixes

I assume the new tester code is just a case of copying and pasting the new code, over the original code from the gitub?

Is there any info coming soon to updating the firmware on the website?
Purity2016-10-17 19:52:22

 

[silverfox0786]

Just a note to say more updates have been put on website.

Theres a new shortcut with logo added plus the latest tester code loaded on too. Suggest everybody that has a tester loads the latest arduino code and tester code so you get all the new features and bug fixes

I assume the new tester code is just a case of copying and pasting the new code, over the original code from the gitub?

Is there any info coming soon to updating the firmware on the website?

The update instructions are on the website and also on the GitHub read me file. Just a copy paste in correct locations.

 

[Purity]

I'm missing something then dude, because it says:

Updating Firmware

Content Coming Soon

http://www.arcadetester.co.uk/index.php/Updating_Firmware

 

[silverfox0786]

I'm missing something then dude, because it says:

Updating Firmware

Content Coming Soon

http://www.arcadetester.co.uk/index.php/Updating_Firmware

your not missing anything im missing the plot

i forgot to add it to there but have added it here

http://www.arcadetester.co.uk/index.php/Firmware