Adventures with my CSD :)

[AndrewNC]

This originally came from the cellar of a games shop i used to work in. It has been sitting in my loft for the past 10 years or so, thought it was about time i dug it out:)


Am planning on getting some cartridge PCBs made up to fill the empty slots in this (the only GX4000 cart i own is Burnin' Rubber).






Metalwork has a small amount of rust and some chips to the paint, but all in all, it's still in good shape. First job was to disassemble the unit and make sure nothing was damaged before i even attempt to power it up.





Next job, dump the jukebox cartridge ROM. I'm pretty sure someone in the world has already done this, but i wanted to do it anyway.





Above is the hastily built cart adaptor for my EPROM programmer.





Success:)


More updates to come over the next few days......


Andy.
http://vectrex.playntradeonline.com/ - Home of the 72 in 1 Vectrex Multicart

[TotO]

I got a CSD too, but not the jukebox cartridge with... 

[TFM]

Hi AndrewNC,
It would be great if you can upload the Jukebox ROM file here
So maybe one day we can rebuilt the CSD.

[MacDeath]

A good point would be to get it with an in built ACID chip so you can put "normally ripped" ROMs on it...


Also what is the PLUS Motherboard actually used ?
They often used 464PLUS motherboards, this means you can add extra RAM, Tape or even Disk plug, Keyboard too and get the best Awesome PLUS machine on earth, the main unit being hugier (=bigger) than even a PC1640.


From the picture I would say this even looks like a "lite 464" board... are there even the "tape enabled" components ?


A good thing would be to redesign such extra board as an extension for any PLUS computer so we can have a huge Multicart/multiROM megaboard design available...


with modern components it may even be possible to have those using fare less chips but I'm sure Bryce could answer this betterly (or any other Hardmens from the community)


Is this connected only into the cartridge port (plus some power supply or is there another thing connected in order to give it some orders/instructions ?


with those 12 free cartridge slots you can put almost half the games available on the format, and actually all the good ones.


you should definately find a keyboard and a Basic+Burnin' Rubber cartridge too.


Concerning the keyboard, perhaps you can cannibalize a CPC464 or CPC6128... as a real PLUS may be more costly where you live.


Otherwise, to sacrifice a complete 6128PLUS to put with this could be cool too.

[Bryce]

Very nice unit, but I wouldn't mod it, I'd keep it as original as possible.

I'd also like to get the Jukebox ROM Image, have you uploaded it anywhere?

@MacDeath: A multicart with all the games would be very easy and not much bigger than a standard cartridge. I already did the 4 way cartridge, a 16 way would just be an extansion of this. No need for a huge addon.

Bryce.

P.s. It's a standard 464+ PCB, the tape components are present. but it seems to already have an "ACID only Cartridge" in the original slot, so the cartridges were ACIDless?

[arnoldemu]

The CSD has some extra hardware to switch between the cartridges.
I have tried to simulate this in my emulator and it works to a limited degree.

I am happy to write some non-destructive test cartridge software that would be installed as one of the cartridges that can be chosen.
When chosen it would test the extra hardware and give us some more details about how it works.

I can also provide some hardware that the software can be written to.

I would then publish the info on the wiki here.

[arnoldemu]

the csd system cart can be downloaded from urusergi ftp.

[dragon]

The csd information in cpc wiki(and in the www) is very poor.

I think a picture when you can see the text of the ic can be a good idea.

Where it connects? to the cartridge slot or to the expansion port?.

[Octoate]

Btw, it would be great if you can upload a picture of the CSD to the Wikipedia. They only accept pictures with the correct license and nobody has uploaded an image of a CSD to it yet.

[arnoldemu]

I believe the carts were standard complete with acid.


I would also like to see more pictures of the pcb, the box and more to help make the info more complete.

[AndrewNC]

I'll upload more pictures over the coming days. The expansion board is mainly just 74 series logic chips and an ACID chip. It connects to the cartridge port via an adaptor board which only has the ACID pins connected, AND to the expansion port. The games cartridges that were used originally were definitely just standard carts, not sure if the Jukebox cart has an ACID chip in it as i've not opened the case. Will test it in my GX4000 at some point to see if it boots.


@arnoldemu - I'd be grateful for any info you already have on how the cartridge selection is handled by software, i'd like to re-use the Jukebox menu for a multicart at some point in the future. Am happy to assist with any testing of the CSD hardware you'd like to be done.


Andy.

[MacDeath]

while it uses standard game cartridges (each with its own ACID) it would be nice to see if it bypass those individuals ACID in order to use only one of those : the one in the "OS" cartridge or perhaps another on onboard ?


(there is one ACID on the mainboard or on the connector ?)


I mean, switching from one ACID to another may be source of bugs (miss one cycle and you may freeze the machine I guess, just a theory) so perhaps the whole system use some Man in the Middle system, the standard cartridges for games offering only the ROM, but still being standard cartridges for practical purpose : you don't need to build extra specific stuff, just unbox any game and get it on the board...


Would be good to get a whole analisis of the processing of this system anyway.

not sure if the Jukebox cart has an ACID chip in it as i've not opened the case. Will test it in my GX4000 at some point to see if it boots.

would be interesting indeed.


So.
what are the option of the "jukeboxOS" ?
I think you can select the time to play each selected games ? can it be switched into "infinite time" ?
I suppose the board have some sort of in built timer so it switch back to the JukeboxOS after the set time limitation.


To comme back to the OS does it simply reboot/reset ?

I already did the 4 way cartridge, a 16 way would just be an extansion of this. No need for a huge addon.

what about a 32way or even a 64way ?


where is the existing wikipage on this machine ?


oh yeay, here it is :
Amstrad CSD - CPCWiki - The Ultimate Amstrad CPC Community & Encyclopedia!


I think this page would need to get more categories and be linked from more pages, so it can have more visibility.


I will do it.

[steve]

256 rom pages would "only" need 4MB rom.

[MacDeath]

ok i edited a bit the Amstrad CSD page and a few others in order to give it more visibility in the Wiki...




Amstrad CSD - CPCWiki - The Ultimate Amstrad CPC Community & Encyclopedia!


you may check the "page linking to this page" special page and so on in order to verify if it is good.


Needless to say, this amstrad CSD page would need more content too, not sure there are no some other related page somewhere.


While being a quite rare machine, it seem not far from un-rebuildable from scratch...
Also I guess some better OS for such sort of system could be very nice indeed.


Like a huge MegaROMboard PLUS with also extra RAM and RAMdisks and stuffs... let's dream.


also I can't see, are all the components on the extra board all put on sockets ?

[Devilmarkus]

I added the JukeBox .cpr file

Amstrad CSD - CPCWiki - The Ultimate Amstrad CPC Community & Encyclopedia!

[TFM]

I'd be grateful for any info you already have on how the cartridge selection is handled by software, i'd like to re-use the Jukebox menu for a multicart at some point in the future. Am happy to assist with any testing of the CSD hardware you'd like to be done.


Andy.

Post us the file of the ROM and we can tell how it works.



EDIT:

I added the JukeBox .cpr file

Amstrad CSD - CPCWiki - The Ultimate Amstrad CPC Community & Encyclopedia!

Thanks' a lot Markus 

[Badstarr]

Hmmm, I would love a closer look at the cartridge bus PCB any chance you could up some hi res pictures of both sides? I'm planning on a similar system in my uber CPC project, (can't wait to get home and get going doing some proper work on it soon!) the idea I have may not be quite as good as the Amstrad solution so I would love to know how it all works!

[arnoldemu]

I have a commented dissassembly I made of the cartridge.
I will find it and upload it, either this week or next.

I have put some details on the csd page already.
with the code it's not 100% obvious to see what each value does.

[arnoldemu]

Hmmm, I would love a closer look at the cartridge bus PCB any chance you could up some hi res pictures of both sides? I'm planning on a similar system in my uber CPC project, (can't wait to get home and get going doing some proper work on it soon!) the idea I have may not be quite as good as the Amstrad solution so I would love to know how it all works!

be aware that the solution Amstrad chose uses both the expansion and the cartridge slot.
Many of the signals you would normally use to do switching (i/o, write are NOT available on the cartridge slot). It has address lines and data lines and an enable.
No write, no i/o

[AndrewNC]

I've not had much time to play with the CSD this weekend:( But I've tested the jukebox cartridge on my GX4000, and can confirm that it boots.

[MacDeath]

dem sweet 4096 colours on screen.... d'awww.

[TFM]

Crazy! The Jukebox does work on GX4000 - but with WinApe I get a black screen and that's it!

[dragon]

" Crazy! The Jukebox does work on GX4000 - but with WinApe I get a black screen and that's it! "


This desmotrate,that emulation of a system,never is perfect,Unless you know how the hardware is constructed internally.


In the other hand,The gx400 now have a new game imposible of found .




PD:in my case with parados rom,the systems reset.


PD2:But it works in my winape,so ignored my text .

[TFM]

PD2:But it works in my winape,so ignored my text .

Really? I switched ALL expansion ROMs off, but it doesn't work. Can you post you cart-image here? Maybe mine is corrupted.

Ok, it runs here now too. Had to set the "enable Cartridge" option. (Which sense it ever has...I don't know).

[mahlemiut]

Works for me in MESS...