01659@AECLCR.BITNET (Greg Csullog) (11/14/89)
Here is a bit of information extracted from the ST Report Magazine which sheds some well needed light on the state of the Atari TT. The spec's have been listed elsewhere, however the block diagram of the TT inards are very interesting! ----------------------------------------------------------------- > TT - TT/X STR Tech Notes BLOCK DIAGRAM - FUNCTIONS - FEATURES - 16 Mhz Motorola 68030 full 32 bit microprocessor - Optional math co-processor MC68881/68882 Floating Point. - 2 mb or, 4 to 16mb of RAM - 512 Kb of ROM in 4 1mb chips - 1.44 Mb 3.5" floppy drive, will handle 2 drives WD 1772/2793 controller. - VME bus Eurocard expansion [ TT ] - 1 single slot [ TTX ] - 5 slots - ACSI internal bus with external connector for expansion - SCSI internal bus with external connector for expansion - Serial ports: ------------ - 2 asynchronous RS-232 ports 68901 MFP - 2 asynchronous/synchronous RS-232 ports (Appletalk or PromiseLAN) Zilog 8530 SCC - Parallel port Yamaha YM-2149 - MIDI in/out ports - Keyboard port (including mouse and joystick) - Digital 8 bit stereo sound - Stereo audio output jack Monitor output (6 modes): RGB and Monochrome -------------------------------------------- VGA monitor for colour modes, special monochrome monitor Video modes: ----------- Resolution Colours Palette ========== ======= ======= 320x200 16 4096 320x480 256 4096 640x200 4 4096 640x400 "Duochrome" 640x480 16 4096 1280x960 Monochrome - Battery backed Time/Date clock and 50 byte RAM - 145 watt power supply - Desktop packaging - Operating systems - ST TOS - Unix V Release 3.1 Further, Atari added (verbally) that the co-processor was the 16 Mhz 68881 (just plug in the chip, for the small TT it is included in the TTX), the digital sound was the same as that in the new 1040STE (enhanced 4096 colors etc.), and joystick ports would support current joysticks and the new 15 pin analog joysticks (both machines). Also, expect to hear more about "Demand Paging Memory Management" (Unix), GLS, X-Windows BAD NEWS: The monitors will be proprietry as the STs are.(ie NO EASY WAY TO HOOK UP A MULTISYNC) although if you could get a cable/connector it should be easy to setup. TWO MODELS: =========== TT == - A desktop version in an AT style case w/30mb Hard Disk (limited expandability) 1 VME Bus slot A24/D16 Eurocard - ABSOLUTELY NO UNIX ON THIS VERSION. This version will be released first.... sometime around the end of October 1989 and mid November. TTX === - A Tower configuration w/60mb Hard Disk, Multiple hard drive - floppy - optical drive bays (3+) Will support both TOS and Unix. - 5 VME Bus expansion slots; A32/D32 - A24/D16 - A16/D16 Eurocard - Unix will be a separate release Item (as per STart interview with Sam T.) - TTX Release dates not set but will be during 1990. Nota Bene; To be expected, there will be some unavoidable compatibility problems but, Atari is taking all the neecessary steps to maintain an extremely high level of downward compatibility with existing software. > TT - TT/X STR Tech Notes BLOCK DIAGRAM - FUNCTIONS - FEATURES ======================== _____________ _______ Midi in/out mouse ------------ Joystk # ------- # # __________ ___________ _____________ _________ _________ MC 68030 ROM 512kb MC 1468 18a 6850 ACIA 6850 ACIA 16mhz 4 x 1mbit --------- --------- ---------- ----------- ------------- # # # # # # # ###################################################################### # # _______________ ____________ ____________ ##### Yamaha YM2149 ____ Centronics MC 68881/2 # Sound Chip __ Parallel 16 mhz __________ # ---------------_ ------------ ------------ _ ST DMA # __________________ ______________ ___________ "ACSI" ## Dual Purpose RAM ---- Drive Select ACSI port - ---------- # 2 mb 64 bits wide -------------- ----------- # ------------------ ___________ _____________ # ______________ _______________ Flop port flop contrl # Memory Cntrl Stereo Audio 1mb - 2mb - WD 1772/2793# -------------- --------------- ----------- ------------- # ________ _________ ## FUNNEL -------- _______________ TT glue ######## --------_ __ Sound Shifter --------- # ________ --------------- ___________ ______ ## FUNNEL --------___ _______ _______ SCSI port SCSI # -------- - VIDEO - Video 25 pin "D"###Cntrol###### ______________ Shifter out ----------- ------ #### MCS 8901 MFP __ ------- ------- # 2.4576 mhz _______________ # -------------- -- RS 232 Async. # --------------- # ______________ __ _______________ # MCS 8901 MFP -- RS 232 Async. # 2.4576 mhz --------------- # -------------- ________________ # --Ext. Interrupts # ---------------- _________ ______________ # _____________ __________________ VME Bus VME - Bus ## NIBBLE Mode ####### Sys. Ram Option System # R32/D32 ## Memory Cntr 4 - 16 mb Dram --------- R24/D32 # ------------- ------------------ R24/D16 # -------------- #### _____________ ___________________ # "A" Channel -+- RS 232 Serial 25p # ------------- ------------------- ##8530 SCC DMA _ LAN Systems ------------- ------------------- "B" Channel --- RS 232 Async 9p ------------- ------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------
hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu) (11/16/89)
Ah-hah! So, the WD1772/2793 is the magic part number, eh? What'll it take to put one of these in an ST for 1.4MB floppy capability? Does anyone here have access to Western Digital folks for pinouts & other specs for this chip? -- -=- PrayerMail: Send 100Mbits to holyghost@father.son[127.0.0.1] and You Too can have a Personal Electronic Relationship with God!
gl8f@astsun9.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) (11/16/89)
In article <8911150802.AA02649@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> 01659@AECLCR.BITNET (Greg Csullog) writes:
# > TT - TT/X STR Tech Notes BLOCK DIAGRAM - FUNCTIONS - FEATURES
#
# - Serial ports:
# ------------
# - 2 asynchronous RS-232 ports 68901 MFP
# - 2 asynchronous/synchronous RS-232 ports (Appletalk or
# PromiseLAN) Zilog 8530 SCC
Question: Isn't the Zilog 8530 SCC the same chip used by the Mac to do
Appletalk? If so, this is a quite nice chip; it doesn't interrupt every
octet, and it calculates your CRCs for you.
------
Greg Lindahl
gl8f@virginia.edu Astrophysicists for Choice.hase@netmbx.UUCP (Hartmut Semken) (11/18/89)
In article <10132@stag.math.lsa.umich.edu> hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu) writes: >Ah-hah! So, the WD1772/2793 is the magic part number, eh? What'll it >take to put one of these in an ST for 1.4MB floppy capability? Does >anyone here have access to Western Digital folks for pinouts & other >specs for this chip? Well, You want to have an 1.44 Meg drive for the ST? It's really easy: just switch the clock frequency of the WD1772 to 16 MHz (taken from the shifter) and attach a high density drive (like the TEAC FD 235 HFN). Set the seekrate for the drive to 6 Milliseconds (will become 3 with the doubled clock). Format high density disks with my little formatter (posted here). A high density 5.25 inch drive is possible too. But these have no automatic HD-recognition... Works well for me. hase -- Hartmut Semken, Lupsteiner Weg 67, 1000 Berlin 37 hase@netmbx.UUCP Dennis had stepped up into the top seat whet its founder had died of a lethal overdose of brick wall, taken while under the influence of a Ferrari and a bottle of tequila. (Douglas Adams; the long dark teatime...)