[MAME] Emulating the MTX

Pernod
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Re: [MAME] Emulating the MTX

Post by Pernod »

I've added emulation of the CFX system to MAME:
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Any chance of an image of the CF card that's usually supplied with the actual device?
- Nigel

BBC Model B, ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, etc.
Martin A
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Re: [MAME] Emulating the MTX

Post by Martin A »

The SDDISC.BIN file from Andy Key's rememotech distribution is where I started for the prototype CFX's CF image.

I dont know though if that's the starting point for the "productiion" versions or not though.
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Dave
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Re: [MAME] Emulating the MTX

Post by Dave »

Yes, Andy’s images are the starting point

Regards
Dave
Pernod
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Re: [MAME] Emulating the MTX

Post by Pernod »

Martin A wrote: 11 May 2022 09:24 The SDDISC.BIN file from Andy Key's rememotech distribution is where I started for the prototype CFX's CF image.
What's the difference between sddisc.bin and sddisc2.bin?

They both seem to work, can boot into CP/M and load MTX and RUN files.
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Think I'll take a look at the MAGROM next. I'm struggling to find any technical info on how the 512K ROM is paged into RAM, which IO port is used and how does it affect the memory map.
- Nigel

BBC Model B, ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, etc.
Martin A
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Re: [MAME] Emulating the MTX

Post by Martin A »

The write up of the early magrom build is on Dave's site as is the rom source, most of the later changes are discussed on the thread here.

However:

The rom itself is double mapped. the 2nd 8k appears as a paged rom, in addition 16k chunks appear in an otherwise empty ram page from #4000 on a hardware selected page. Which incidentally means if data rom page 0 is selected, the control rom software is visible at #6000 in "ram" as well as #2000 in paged rom.

Which page of ram the data rom occupies is set by the jumper on the board. For a MTX500 it needs to be page 0, for the 512, page 1, for the RS128 page 3. The software works out where this from the system variable LSTPG.

The rom paging port is #FB on all the production boards, moved from #FF on the prototypes.

There V1.1 board also has an additional jumper to alow the control rom portion to appear in paged rom slot 6, instead of the default page 7 of the original version. That's to avoid a clash with the language rom in some "international" keyboard models.

The write up on Dave's site mentions that the data rom needs to be in the same page as the last 1/2 page of paged ram . That's critical, as that is
a) the only memory page that has both ram at #8000 to run the games in, and nothing at #4000 to avoid any form of memory contention.
b) the page that can be identified from LSTPG.
Martin A
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Re: [MAME] Emulating the MTX

Post by Martin A »

Pernod wrote: 12 May 2022 15:22 What's the difference between sddisc.bin and sddisc2.bin?
One's a 54k CPM, the other the more usual 59k ??
Pernod
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Re: [MAME] Emulating the MTX

Post by Pernod »

Martin A wrote: 12 May 2022 23:54 The write up of the early magrom build is on Dave's site as is the rom source, most of the later changes are discussed on the thread here.

However: ...
Thanks, was relatively simple to implement.
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What's the situation with the ROMs for the 'Reflex' Video Wall? They're password protected so can't even try to emulate this.
- Nigel

BBC Model B, ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, etc.
Pernod
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Joined: 21 May 2017 17:26
Location: Croydon, UK

Re: [MAME] Emulating the MTX

Post by Pernod »

Finally, I can now play HexTrain using the CFX:
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- Nigel

BBC Model B, ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, etc.
Pernod
Posts: 27
Joined: 21 May 2017 17:26
Location: Croydon, UK

Re: [MAME] Emulating the MTX

Post by Pernod »

I'm trying the Fuzix image that comes with the fork of MEMU, but clearly needs more than a CFX.

It seems to be setting up a 6845 on ports 38/39 which is the original 80 column card. Then writes lots to port 60 which is the Parallax Propeller in the CFX-II, so looks like I'll need to emulate this too. But why does it also setup a 6845 if present?

Is it possible to run Fuzix with just the VDP and CFX (and lots of RAM)?
- Nigel

BBC Model B, ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, etc.
Martin A
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Re: [MAME] Emulating the MTX

Post by Martin A »

Not masses you can do with it, but yes Fuzix will boot to the VDP
784k MTX running Fuzix
784k MTX running Fuzix
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