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avatar_XeNoMoRPH

CPC Dandanator Mini 1.3 - WIP

Started by XeNoMoRPH, 20:58, 17 March 18

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pabloingreece

Job done, the Dandanator was programmed using an eeprom programmer, easy work finally. The CPLD was upgraded using an Arduino uno.


Great application for creating romsets, but some dsk simply didn't work, some were looking for the disk drive A.... Some kind of incompatibility?


Thanks anyway for this great device!

Dandare

#201
All stored games are snapshots. For loading a DSK or a CDT, we created a CPC emulator from scratch (464,6128) that actually loads the game and decides by itself when to make the memory snapshot.
This is what we call "landing zone". Deciding on this landing zone is not an easy task. We have up to 20 parameters that we try to tune for achieving the overall best results, but some time the software fails to select the right capture moment.
This method, as it is, also prevent multi-load games from working, although we are working in a native multi-load support similar to the one we developed for spectrum.


It could also be the case that our emulator fails. We found some games that wouldn't load in our emulator, but Arnold, Retrovirtualmachine, WinApe or other well-established emulators didn't load it neither.


if you have a specific game that does not work, please proceed as follows:
1) check whether the game loads ok in a couple of well-known emulators
2) check that the game is not multi-load
3) check that the game is not a cracked version with cheat menu. Although we have some workaround methods for these cases, they don't always work.
4) Try and look for another version of the game (different tape or disk capture)
5) Contact me and send me the game, we may find a better tweak for the landing zone.


Just a note here: I noticed you have oh-mummy in your romset, but this game won't work in a 6128. Make sure you force 464 mode for this game. This may happen to other games as well, so check them out.

fgbrain

_____

6128 (UK keyboard, Crtc type 0/2), 6128+ (UK keyboard), 3.5" and 5.25" drives, Reset switch and Digiblaster (selfmade), Inicron Romram box, Bryce Megaflash, SVideo & PS/2 mouse, , Magnum Lightgun, X-MEM, X4 Board, C4CPC, Multiface2 X4, RTC X4 and Gotek USB Floppy emulator.

GUNHED

Would be nice to have an English homepage for all DES related stuff.
http://futureos.de --> Get the revolutionary FutureOS (Update: 2023.11.30)
http://futureos.cpc-live.com/files/LambdaSpeak_RSX_by_TFM.zip --> Get the RSX-ROM for LambdaSpeak :-) (Updated: 2021.12.26)

Gryzor


XeNoMoRPH

Quote from: GUNHED on 15:57, 10 December 19
Would be nice to have an English homepage for all DES related stuff.
an English translation is planned  :)
your amstrad news source in spanish language : https://auamstrad.es

CraigsBar

Does anyone have the STL files for the mounting pieces to use a PP6N case?


I was thinking of cobbling something together with PC cabling parts and/or Sugru but proper mounts would be
A: neater and
B: More stable.


Thanks


Craig





IRC:  #Retro4All on Freenode

Dandare

Quote from: CraigsBar on 16:32, 21 July 20
Does anyone have the STL files for the mounting pieces to use a PP6N case?


You can now download the STL for the Supertronic PP6N box from the project website downloads section. Thanks to overCLK for sharing his work.

CraigsBar

Quote from: Dandare on 21:41, 21 July 20

You can now download the STL for the Supertronic PP6N box from the project website downloads section. Thanks to overCLK for sharing his work.


That is awesome, thanks so very much. 😀
IRC:  #Retro4All on Freenode

Skunkfish

#209
Does anyone know anything about the Dandanator Elite/Elite+?

It looks like a DES with a GBA style cartridge slot, but from what I can gather the slot is different to the DES, there the cartridges aren't compatible? (although the Elite+ has a DES cartridge slot as well)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dandanator-Elite-Amstrad-CPC-Compatible-con-DES-/224284622444

http://neotienda.es/index.php?id_product=408&controller=product&id_lang=1
An expanding array of hardware available at www.cpcstore.co.uk (and issue 4 of CPC Fanzine!)

XeNoMoRPH

#210
Quote from: Skunkfish on 17:16, 18 January 21
Does anyone know anything about the Dandanator Elite/Elite+?

It looks like a DES with a GBA style cartridge slot, but from what I can gather the slot is different to the DES, there the cartridges aren't compatible? (although the Elite+ has a DES cartridge slot as well)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dandanator-Elite-Amstrad-CPC-Compatible-con-DES-/224284622444

http://neotienda.es/index.php?id_product=408&controller=product&id_lang=1
yes, the DES project files were released to the public, a long time ago and another group made this kind of clone of DES.
your amstrad news source in spanish language : https://auamstrad.es

Gryzor

Quote from: Skunkfish on 17:16, 18 January 21Does anyone know anything about the Dandanator Elite/Elite+?

Yes, they're ugly :D

That's weird, all I can find are selling listings...

Skunkfish

It seems like the cartridges are incompatible with the DES (unless you get the + model which has two cartridge slots).

I wonder why? I was really excited at a new cartridge format for the CPC, it seems odd that they would instantaneously split the market with an incompatible cartridge format (even though they're the same physical size!)
An expanding array of hardware available at www.cpcstore.co.uk (and issue 4 of CPC Fanzine!)

Gryzor

Indeed, this. It looks like an experiment in futility?

Dandare

Quote from: Skunkfish on 10:02, 19 January 21
It seems like the cartridges are incompatible with the DES (unless you get the + model which has two cartridge slots).

I wonder why? I was really excited at a new cartridge format for the CPC, it seems odd that they would instantaneously split the market with an incompatible cartridge format (even though they're the same physical size!)


Dandanator is a public domain project. I have no control whatsoever of what people do with it.
Sometimes, things like this happen.


The only boards released by me are 1.3b and 1.4 (which is a 1.3b with a different switch alignment)
DES is released by the AUA (Spanish Amstrad User Association) and Elite, dual, etc... are released by a retroshop called Neotienda.

Gryzor

I don't think anyone meant you did the newer ones, though the clarification is useful.

The question remains, of course: WHY!

Dandare

Quote from: Gryzor on 09:20, 01 February 21
I don't think anyone meant you did the newer ones, though the clarification is useful.

The question remains, of course: WHY!


Yep, it was just a clarification, not a disclaimer ;)




Well, I believe different people like to customize things to their own liking, and that's something I think is good.
Splitting the board into two (main+cartridges) may have sense. In fact, it's something we did with the spectrum version back in 2016 or 2017, but it never got much attention. I estimate around some 100-200 boards, compared to the 3000+ single-board zx-dandanators
However, making the Elite with a different memory pinout of the DES was, IMHO, a mistake. One motivated probably by a lack of communication between the two groups, not intentionally. That's why, I believe, the new Elite+ now supports DES memories as well.
In any case, I think both projects are nice and their finishing detail is awesome.


I've been asked several times to customize dandanators (ZX and CPC) with different features and functionalities, but it's something I'm not usually inclined to address, since it creates, unavoidably, fragmentation and confussion in many users.

Targhan

@Dandare I've received my Dandanator MINI, and have trouble with it. The initial rom worked fine. I wanted to upload the 512k ROM of Sword of Ianna and Los Amores of Brunilda, and make a few tries that didn't work (probably because the software was 2.3, not 2.5). I then uploaded the ROMset of Mojon Twins. However, during the process, the upload seems to have failed.

When I boot, I see the menu and hear the music, but the games crash.

Now, it is impossible to rescue the card. I run the "rescue.bin" file on the CPC, and it directly shown "Er". The PC software cannot inject the data when clicking on the USB icon.

Is there any way to flash the ROM to its initial state?

(The PCB reads "CPC Dandanator! Mini v1.3b")

Thanks!
Targhan/Arkos

Arkos Tracker 2.0.1 now released! - Follow the news on Twitter!
Disark - A cross-platform Z80 disassembler/source converter
FDC Tool 1.1 - Read Amsdos files without the system

Imperial Mahjong
Orion Prime

Dandare

#218
Hi, what you describe sounds like a hardware or Pc driver problem.
1) check the edge connection. Edge pads at your CPC should be clean
2) make sure you got a board with a SST 39SF040 memory chip. That's the only one supported.
3) I've seen some boards with missing components, and some with bad or unaligned soldering. Specially on the smaller SMD components such as the usb socket. Please check whether all these points are ok and contact the person you got your board from if the problem persist.


2.3 or 2.5 version is the version of the menu software. Once you install Brunilda or Sword of Ianna, that is irrelevant since there is no menu anymore.


There is also the possibility that your installed usb driver is misbehaving. Try to reinstall or, even better, with another PC.


Your steps are correct and you should be able to flash any romset in a working dandanator.
Gooo luck


Edit: last idea: Check for the memory chip to be properly seated in the socket.
As a workaround, you can always extract the memory chip and program it externally with a memory programmer.

ajcasado

Hi,
I recently received a dandanator mini referred here: https://www.va-de-retro.com/foros/viewtopic.php?t=9113#p162367 .
It had Los amores de Brunilda loaded as default. I tried to upload The sword of Ianna and other compilation romsets but was impossible under Manjaro linux.
Tried the java application 2.5 from @Dandare site and the latest, compiling the sources from the github repository https://github.com/teiram/dandanator-cpc (version 2.6?). It always fail and keeps retrying to upload block #1.
I guess that may be a problem with the included linux kernel driver module for the ch341 usb-serial  chip.
Under windows it works perfect, and that's a thing I'm not happy to say  :'(
CPC 664

Empiezas a envejecer cuando dejas de aprender.
You start to get old when you stop learning.

Targhan

@Dandare Ok good news, we managed to rescue the ROMs by using the older 2.3 JAVA software instead of the 2.5 (using Windows 10).

However, it is still impossible to upload the 512k ROM by Sword of Ianna and Los Amores de Brunilda, they are simply not accepted by the software. How to make them work?? Thanks!
Targhan/Arkos

Arkos Tracker 2.0.1 now released! - Follow the news on Twitter!
Disark - A cross-platform Z80 disassembler/source converter
FDC Tool 1.1 - Read Amsdos files without the system

Imperial Mahjong
Orion Prime

Dandare

#221
Many driver installations under linux require you to explicitly give permissions to the current user. Sometimes it's just a matter of adding the user to de dial out  group, but that depends on the specific distro.
Please, make sure the driver installation is ok. AFAIK, your distribution is not the one overCLK (Romset Creator programmer) is using.

Quote from: ajcasado on 10:36, 30 October 21I guess that may be a problem with the included linux kernel driver module for the ch341 usb-serial  chip.
Under windows it works perfect, and that's a thing I'm not happy to say 

Dandare

Those two Romsets are not standard romsets (menu romsets). You need to add them as "external/alternative file" (can't remember now the exact wording in English" under the preferences menu, loader tab. Same thing happens to the original Mojon-Twins bundle.





Quote from: Targhan on 12:51, 30 October 21
@Dandare Ok good news, we managed to rescue the ROMs by using the older 2.3 JAVA software instead of the 2.5 (using Windows 10).

However, it is still impossible to upload the 512k ROM by Sword of Ianna and Los Amores de Brunilda, they are simply not accepted by the software. How to make them work?? Thanks!

Targhan

Ok great, it works! However, it does NOT work with the 2.5, but works ok with 2.3.

Please, please, please, update the manual to show precise instruction on how to inject such ROMs, and how to change them again! The interface is really counter-intuitive, and without help I would have never manage how to make it work! Also, you could check the bug with 2.5?
Targhan/Arkos

Arkos Tracker 2.0.1 now released! - Follow the news on Twitter!
Disark - A cross-platform Z80 disassembler/source converter
FDC Tool 1.1 - Read Amsdos files without the system

Imperial Mahjong
Orion Prime

reidrac

I'm just an observer interested in the Dandanator, so please feel free to ignore me, but this looks like an issue with Retroworks docs included with the game.

Perhaps they could explain how to put the game on a Dandanator?

In the same way, the issues with the app, could those be related to the Dandanator produced by a 3rd party?

My only criticism to the "official Dandanator" itself is that the website could be cleaner, and ideally in English (to make easier its adoption). I can read Spanish and yet it wasn't too clear where to find the dev docs!

If I manage to release anything using this format, I'll try to include clear instructions on how to put the ROM on a cart.
Released The Return of Traxtor, Golden Tail, Magica, The Dawn of Kernel, Kitsune`s Curse, Brick Rick and Hyperdrive for the CPC.

If you like my games and want to show some appreciation, you can always buy me a coffee.

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