Albireo - USB/SD/Serial interface for CPC

[Targhan]

Thanks for your answer. I think a first step would be the SNArkos (are there still people needing GF/SF/Wdsk/rDSK?? I won't anyway). But since we are using a ROM version of SNArkos, I believe we don't need a buffer anymore and can directly reach and write in the whole memory, can't we?

[PulkoMandy]

It's been a while since I looked into it, but if I remember correctly, AFT (the PC side tool) just sends the sna file directly, and snarkos store the values of z80 registers in the cpcbooster, and reads them back from there after downloading everything else.


This can be simplified by having the pc side tool do this part of the work instead, and sending the data in the right order for the cpc to load it more easily

[HAL6128]

Information about payments
Please wait until I contact you with payment info (I will do so when I have a board ready to ship for you).I don't want to receive payments too much in advance then have people waiting on me to ship the boards. I would then have to handle the pressure of everyone waiting, and also possibly cancelling and rescheduling orders and whatnot. So I prefer that you pay only when your board is ready to ship. Thanks for your patience!

You can pay either using paypal or a bank account transfer. The price is 20 euros, or 24 euros if you want tracked shipping.
If you want, you can order multiple boards. However, I will try to get the boards in the hand of as much people as possible, so I may delay shipping of your second (and third, ...) boards.

If there is a hardware problem, you can send the board back to me and I'll fix or replace it. So don't worry about getting a prototype. (and if you get a final version, I will do the same, because I don't want the boards to be thrown away in case of problems).

Already shipped (with tracking numbers for those who chosen tracked shipping)

   
• 0 - PulkoMandy (delivered)
• 1 - OffseT (delivered)
• 2 - Gryzor LA004676105FR
• 3 - Prodatron LA004676145FR

Batch 1 waiting list
Status: the PCBs have been ordered, it can take a few weeks before I get them. I have parts of the components to solder, and will order the remaining part when the PCBs are shipped.

4 - cpcmaniaco (x1, prototype board) 5 - ||C||-||E|| 6 - majikeyric (x1) 7 - CraigsBar (x2) 9 - TFM (x2) 11 - pelrun 12 - Optimus 13 - Ast 14 - tonio8bits (x2) 16 - hsimpson 17 - SOS 18 - Audronic 19 - gros_minet 20 - Fessor 21 - Sykobee (Briggsy)

22 - skywalky 23 - Jungsi 24 - Poliander 25 - Yannis_uno 26 - Rennert 27 - HAL6128 28 - Joseman 29 - Tai 30 - Grim 31 - reidrac 32 - cosa_nostra_6128 33 - Targhan 34 - oratyper 35 - NiNxPe 36 - Vandalsk (x2)

38 - Dirtybb 39 - Dubliner 40 - ronaldo (x2) 42 - cpcmaniaco (x1) 43 - Munchausen (x2) 45 - jrodriguezv (x2) 47 - netmercer 48 - Shining 49 - archosmo 50 - awergh 51 - wilco2009 52 - dodogildo 53 - Apollo (x2) 55 - dxs

Batch 2 waiting list
Status: Nothing done yet.

   
• 56 - majikeyric (second board)
• 57 - (awaiting orders...)

...any news about progresssing of further production?

[PulkoMandy]

I have mentionned several times that I am not producing these cards anymore at the moment (due to other problems in my personal life I don't want to share - nothing too bad, but it reduced my available time for assembling cards for some years).


Currently CloudStrife has all the remaining components and he is working on assembling the boards. But he ran into personal issues as well and was not able to assemble a lot of boards, and could not test them because his CPC was broken. And this year we have not been able to meet (he could have sent me back some of the hardware components so I could assemble boards again), but I think he finally fixed his CPC so we may have some news about this. He has been working on a better tool for testing all the features of the assembled boards (I had done some tests manually but it's a waste of time)


For a while we were both a bit de-motivated by the lack of support from software developers. Maybe my fault for shipping the first boards to random people. For my next projects I will ship hardware only to people who are interested in writing software supporting it first, and other users only later when there is software available.


So, it will come, eventually... I hope...

[GUNHED]

For a while we were both a bit de-motivated by the lack of support from software developers. Maybe my fault for shipping the first boards to random people. For my next projects I will ship hardware only to people who are interested in writing software supporting it first, and other users only later when there is software available.

True this, but that's CPC scene. I wouldn't know a single project which got more than very little support from others. Guess all of the "productive" guys made that experience. So it's left to us.

About the Albireo I did some very little thing. But later I needed additional information, which I didn't get. So I lost motivation too. I hope to be able to come back to it though.

[Targhan]

With the advent of UniDOS, there is no reason the Albireo won't be more used. I use it now and love it!

Before that, the only use, for me, of the Albireo was the YM stream between a CPC and Arkos Tracker 2. So I guess the problem with Albireo was it came without software with it. It's a pity, but no one wants to code such thing!

[GUNHED]

In addition it provides a mouse interface, which is still a scarce item for the CPC range. CPCistes from Germany like it for the mouse port. With more software support the Albireo will has its 2nd spring. 

[CraigsBar]

I have mentionned several times that I am not producing these cards anymore at the moment (due to other problems in my personal life I don't want to share - nothing too bad, but it reduced my available time for assembling cards for some years).


Currently CloudStrife has all the remaining components and he is working on assembling the boards. But he ran into personal issues as well and was not able to assemble a lot of boards, and could not test them because his CPC was broken. And this year we have not been able to meet (he could have sent me back some of the hardware components so I could assemble boards again), but I think he finally fixed his CPC so we may have some news about this. He has been working on a better tool for testing all the features of the assembled boards (I had done some tests manually but it's a waste of time)


For a while we were both a bit de-motivated by the lack of support from software developers. Maybe my fault for shipping the first boards to random people. For my next projects I will ship hardware only to people who are interested in writing software supporting it first, and other users only later when there is software available.


So, it will come, eventually... I hope...

So glad I got my first one early on. I use it almost daily as a USB Mouse interface for Symbos. It is an awesome piece of kit for this feature alone.


Thanks @PulkoMandy for the amazing work you do for the CPC community.

[GUNHED]

Well, after a loooong time I got back to the Albireo. I saw that there is some HID mouse code in Z80 ASM, which works. Actually it makes some fun out of me, telling : Asm version (because apparently converting BASIC to ASM is too hard for some...). Haha! Message arrived.

What was the problem?

Well, the provided source code states two times to wait 10 us. My code didn't, so is was to fast. Well, I couldn't know, because back the day it wasn't documented. But now it is. 
And that was the complete problem. Of course my BASIC example was slow enough. The translation into ASM got too quick and therefore didn't work.

Thanks for the code example, which helped to fix the problem. 

[GUNHED]

For the few being interested: Few days ago I uploaded a version for FutureOS which does support the Albireo mouse fully. The driver only needs &81 bytes and is very quick.
Instead of sending request, waiting, reading data from mouse it does it different: Read data from mouse (if any), send new request. So, no waiting time. :-)

[Zik]

Hi everyone,

I just posted a new topic that should interest those who want to purchase this interface:
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/albireo-usbsd-interface-for-cpc-new-version-without-serial/

[HAL6128]

Just a quick question (maybe also @Prodatron ): the Albireo is autodetected by SymbOS and an USB Mouse attached or is something else necessary to let the mouse work (a driver?)?

[Prodatron]

Just a quick question (maybe also @Prodatron ): the Albireo is autodetected by SymbOS and an USB Mouse attached or is something else necessary to let the mouse work (a driver?)?

Yes, the Albireo is autodetected in SymbOS, and if a USB mouse is attached, it will use this for the mouse.

If you have a SF3 attached at the same time, it will use the mouse of the SF3.

Priority is (low to high):
- Multiplay Amiga mouse
- SYMBiFACE II PS/2 mouse
- Albireo USB mouse
- SYMBiFACE 3 USB mouse

Joystick and Joystick compatible mouses can always be used parallel.

[HAL6128]

Ok, understand. I have a M4-Board, with 512KB RAM expansion and the Albireo on a MotherX4. When booting SymbOS the mouse became active (it seems so, because the red LED sensor on the bottom is lit where it was dark before) but no response regarding movements?

[Prodatron]

Hm, I always use the Albireo for the mouse, when working with the M4 Board...

What kind of mouse are you using? IIRC modern game mouses are not working, as they would require a much more complex HID protocol, where you can define the exact number of bits for each single axis, wheels, buttons etc.

I don't remember exactly, but I think it is necessary that the mouse is supporting a simple mode or something like this, and it seems, that game mouses don't support this. So as more simple (and cheap) your mouse is, as higher the chance, that it will work.

It is some years ago again, but this is what I remember without digging deep into the topic again. If this is an issue with all new mouses, even with simple ones, then it could be necessary to review this again.

[HAL6128]

I'm using a regular HP mouse which works well together with the SF3.
Strange behavior.

[HAL6128]

Ok, it is the mouse. I tried a different one (older version of an HP mouse) and it works fine.
Thanks anyway.

[Prodatron]

Glad that the other one works!
It's not really a good situation, that you have to use old/simple/cheap mouses to have a working one for 8bit USB interfaces for mouses. That's not Albireo specific but also Rookie Drive (MSX) or maybe sometimes even for the (R)SF3 etc. (not in your case)
As long as you get the simple mouses it's fine, but for the future either we should think about implementing these more complexe HID stuff on hardware or Z80 side, or it will remain, that you can still buy the simple mouses.

[PulkoMandy]

We had discussed this while you worked on the ñouse driver.

All mouses support HID "boot mode". There is a special command to enable this, and in this mode all mouse will behave the same. But in this mode you only get X/Y coordinates and two buttons. No 3rd button, no mousewheel, and nothing else. So this is very compatible, but a bit limited. I think the SymbOS driver does not use this mode.

Then there is the normal HID mode, in this case, the mouse sends an HID "descriptor" which tells how it sends its data and which bit corresponds to what. This allows any number of buttons and many other things. However, it needs code to parse the HID descriptor which makes the driver a lot more complicated.

So the best compromise is to support basic mouses with only a wheel and 3 buttons (or, really, up to 5 or 6 buttons should be no problem). These all send their data in the same order: one byte with X movement, one with Y movement, and one with buttons status. It allows to support most devices except the most complicated ones, and still get mouse wheel and 3 buttons.

[GUNHED]

A few days I got my Albireo 2.0 (Thank you very much!!!) and I had time to test three different USB mouses with it (under FutureOS). Well, I'm glad to say they all work very well.