128 to 256 help

[adika]

hi
i soldered one of the pins on my 128 to make it 256 when i try to read says unknown card is this what is supose to read(phoenix)?
after i soldered a few more pins toghether not all and now it dosent recognize at all,can someone direct me pls how to do it?
thanx

[den0045]

Soldering 128 to make it a 256 will not work.You must change out the 128 atmel to the 256 atmel.If your 128 is original leave the 18.00 or 18.432 crystal the way it is as alot of people changing there 256 atmel and 18.00 crystal to 24.00 mhz run into failed to program problems with never phoenix.Just change the 256 atmel and you should be ok.Hope this helps.

[empulse]

Wow. where in the hell did you get the idea to try that? That will not work. If you are trying to convert your 128 to 256 you need to get a new IC/Microprocessor which would be the atmega256You can desolder it with a hotair station and replace with the 256. Something tells me I am way over your head already.


But I will compliment you on taking the term "testing " and running with it.

[adika]

hxxp://www.marketrealm.com/private/showthread.php?t=14646 this is were i found the advise but thanks for your info

[satman4928]

Okay, I think what the post on the other site forgot to say is that you have to remove the old 128 chip and replace it with a 256 chip. The 128 cannot be converted into a 256. The pins that they show to solder are the only pins that are actively used by the wafer. the rest of the pins serve no purpose. and you arent supposed to solder them together! That may ruin your LPT port on your computer! You are supposed to solder the marked pins indevidually to the wafer pads - without them touching eachother. Lastly, I dont know what this is supposed to offer since I dont believe there is a working fix for the 256, however I may be wrong. good luck though

[blao]

Okay, I think what the post on the other site forgot to say is that you have to remove the old 128 chip and replace it with a 256 chip. The 128 cannot be converted into a 256. The pins that they show to solder are the only pins that are actively used by the wafer. the rest of the pins serve no purpose. and you arent supposed to solder them together! That may ruin your LPT port on your computer! You are supposed to solder the marked pins indevidually to the wafer pads - without them touching eachother. Lastly, I dont know what this is supposed to offer since I dont believe there is a working fix for the 256, however I may be wrong. good luck though

why wast so much time. fix for at128 comes before fix for 256. unless you go for usb at256

[SEARCHY4]

so.whats the diff? besides the usb port.is the actual chip the same? 256 and 256 usb. if same then why can it only be usb thats being programmed?nobody stepped up to creat a way to flash the reg 256.

[DonaldTheGiver]

128 and 256 have fixes just not publically, " and thsi is a known fact by me not just a guess" the difference though is the usb has a co processor that helps deal with alot of the new issues, im sure 128 and legacy 256 would have been up as well, but source code for the usb256 was not released by fab5 like was promised months ago, and no one can seem to want to work together for the community anymore, everyone wants there own stuff and there own bankroll, whatever happend to true 3m and freeware?

[backspace]

Donald , are these fixes for dish also or only bev?

[SEARCHY4]

So Turning A Old 128 Into A Usb 256 Cant Be As Simple As New 256 Chip And Installing A Usb Connecter.

[satman4928]

That is correct. I guess it CAN be done, however, its too difficult to be worthwhile. the 256USB has the atmega 256 chip, along with an additional eeprom and math coprocessor. I'm also willing to bet there is something coded into the eeprom and/or 256 to prevent it from being just easily assembled from scratch parts, in an effort to prevent cloning.

[Ubermaxed]

128 to 256 - Not gonna happen.

There are too many variations of the 128 out there to even attempt. There are THREE variations of the 256 out right now, and none are compatible. I'm thinking that ALL have some sort of bootloader code (or whatever the hell it's called) to protect them. I know at least one does.

Just buy what you want and be done with it.

You can replace a 128 with a 256 at design time, but I don't think people would have much luck doing it this way.

[empulse]

hxxp://www.marketrealm.com/private/showthread.php?t=14646 this is were i found the advise but thanks for your info

That post is confusing and @ best says nothing. With no info provided as to what I am seeing, it looks like (and I assume this is what you did) that you could bridge those locations and have a 256. But that is not the case.

As to converting (I am sure Donald has seen it at the other place) Taking the USB Atmega apart has been done, there is a bootloader / watchdog preventing dumping the code. I can assume its already been done and not made public. You could easily reconstruct a USB Atmega but it would never load the code, without this.

I too hear of private Atmega fixes, but have yet to see one.. guess that why they are private. Supposedly DSSLegends has Atmega Support but don't know if that includes Atmega (Legacy) fixes.

[satman4928]

I kinda figured there was a bootloader on the atmega, otherwise we would have seen clones by now. oh well

[Ubermaxed]

TONS of 128 clones. I know someone who makes them from schematics posted here and other places.
The Parallel 256 version (Lexus) has a bootloader to protect it. I've heard the Lexus and the original 128 were very close in design.

Not sure of HU Mexico or Fabs design. Thinking the Mexican 256 is serial port programming, never seen one though. Do they even support it anymore?

Supposedly, Fab was gonna release the design and software for public use. I have NO idea if that is correct or even close, just what I read back 2 or 3 months ago, so no bashing.

Suprised to here that about the USB Atmega 256, I thought milli stated it did not have a bootloader.....

[DonaldTheGiver]

well just so everyone knows its plenty possible to make 128-256 work just fine, i have been getting tons of chips from atmel and have assembled counteless numbers of these and they work just fine, wicked loaders, pfgs all work just fine, the usb256 really wont be that much of a feat to hack, "assuming its not done already" humex 256, why would anyone bother? its not much different then the lex 256 other then the fact everyone wants there own bankroll so each has there own protection.

also to add in fab5 was indeed going to release code for public but as you can see another crock of shit from another group, sounds familiar hearing that and quite familiar not seeing it happen.until there is more then one person coding this card and the source is public the usb256 will not see a penny of my money, and i am not alone with that plan.

[Ubermaxed]

OK, so your saying you are making 256 (Parallel port version) Atmegas? What does the software see them as? I'm curious, I was under the impression that those had a bootloader. So just slapping them on a 128 PCB wouldn'dt work.

Also, what's the gain? I generally see the 256 code released with 128, unless they are releasing 256 first, no advantage.....

[DonaldTheGiver]

just slapping them on 128 pcb works just fine, and works just fine with either the 18 mhz or 24 mhz xtal, software sees them as just what they are atmega 256, the gain is with the future fixes coming up, 128 is less likely to be carried on, everyone is making money on these 256, 128 has been around for years and is still plenty capable of working but the focus is on 256 now.

[empulse]

Legacy Atmega 128/256 (also called Lexus Atmega)

No Bootloader. Code can be dumped, and some (although its older) source has been released. Anyone can code for it. Its freeware.
No fixes as of late.

Humex Atmega256

Has a bootloader. Programmed through RS232 / Serial port. Same as the Legacy Atmega 128/256 in design, except makes use of the watchdog feature available on the Atmega. Also swapped RX / TX pins. **rumored to have also had access to newer Atmega code from WiCKED. rumored.**
I believe Humex has this card up.

USBAtmega256

Has bootloader, possibly using the FTD USB Unique ID (on the USB to serial IC) Has reportedly a 1mb memory (SRAM) and Mathcoprocessor function. Code or some sort of Dev kit was supposed to be released... but that has never materialized.
Bev is up with this device D!ck is down


**More rumor, not trying to cause a rukus**
Enigma and USB Atmega are from the same mommy and daddy. why do some say that. Both based on the Atmega chipset. Both use same hardware setup. Same material used in manufacture (ie- capton type material and pwb manufacture). Same ink and font used in silk screen on card.

[empulse]

building the legacy atmegas is a piece of cake, and frankly alot of fun to play with, i have replaced xtals(crystals) with oscillators, added LEDs, turned them into EMU boards.. they are very versatile. Thats what makes freeware so much fun. The other cards / incarnations of the Atmega are for $$$. Personally thats what draws all the heat on testers, is the amount of cash FTA and coding for $$$ does to raise the ire of the providers.

[Ubermaxed]

Thanks Empulse. Some of it is exaclty what I've heard, some totally opposite. Live and learn.

[blao]

building the legacy atmegas is a piece of cake, and frankly alot of fun to play with, i have replaced xtals(crystals) with oscillators, added LEDs, turned them into EMU boards.. they are very versatile. Thats what makes freeware so much fun. The other cards / incarnations of the Atmega are for $$$. Personally thats what draws all the heat on testers, is the amount of cash FTA and coding for $$$ does to raise the ire of the providers.


you have more info how to do it for dummy. (pic and step by step) i have schematics by veyr hard to understand.
thanx blao