My Gigatron Build

[at67]

To add to Delpozzo's excellent response:

- BabelFish supports the following Arduino configurations:

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Arduino Uno
Arduino Nano
Arduino Micro
ATtiny85

- Make sure you thoroughly read BabelFish.ino as it contains all the documentation for each of the individual configurations.
- For the ultimate in Gigatron connectability, (controller, keyboard and SD card), check out Norgate's awesome thread here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=169

You can also upload .gt1, .gasm, .vasm and .gtbas files directly to your Gigatron through one of the above Arduino solutions using right click in my emulator. The emulator will automatically attempt to upload/assemble/compile based on file extension and doesn't require a Python installation to achieve this; but you must configure loader_config.ini, e.g.

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[Comms]                ; case sensitive
BaudRate    = 115200   ; arduino software stack doesn't like > 115200
ComPort     = COM6     ; can be an index or a name, eg: ComPort = 0 or ComPort = COM5
TimeOut     = 6.0      ; maximum seconds to wait for Gigatron to respond
GclBuild    = D:/Projects/Gigatron TTL/gigatron-rom ; must be an absolute path, can contain spaces

P.S. GclBuild allows you to right click on .gcl files as well, you must have python3 installed and the path pointing to your main Gigatron repo as shown above.

[delpozzo]

You can also upload .gt1, .gasm, .vasm and .gtbas files directly to your Gigatron through one of the above Arduino solutions using right click in my emulator.

That is really cool at67, I didn't know your emulator could do that! I just tried it and it works if I enter the loader manually on my Gigatron first. However, if it is at the main menu it navigates to WozMon (instead of Loader) and attempts the upload there. Was just wondering if there is something I am missing in my configuration?

[RetroCode]

Wow, before I started, I thought the options would have been quite limited, but looks like there are some pretty awesome options.

Thanks so much for the detailed responses.

Stupidly I thought I had a spare VGA cable, but looks like I'll need to wait until tomorrow for a new one to be delivered, and to try it out properly!

[at67]

That is really cool at67, I didn't know your emulator could do that! I just tried it and it works if I enter the loader manually on my Gigatron first. However, if it is at the main menu it navigates to WozMon (instead of Loader) and attempts the upload there. Was just wondering if there is something I am missing in my configuration?

I've had a quick look at this issue and it seems there is a number of different things going wrong, I'll copy your question and what I have learnt so far into one of the emulator threads so that we don't clutter up this thread.

[RetroCode]

Just some photos of the new-born Gigatron, feeling right at home...

Gigatron-And-Monitor.jpg (3.58 MiB) Viewed 6096 times

Gigatron_Museum.jpg (2.75 MiB) Viewed 6096 times

Gigatron_Museum_2.jpg (2.85 MiB) Viewed 6096 times

[walter]

Nice! What's the system on the bottom right?

[RetroCode]

Thanks! That's my heavily modded Amiga 1200. Custom case and keys (from a1200.net), Gotek floppy emulated (also hacked to add a rotary encoder, lcd display and piezzo speaker to simulate the drive sounds), and an 8MB expansion. I also took a huge gamble when I recapped it myself... I had soldered previously, but never surface-mounted components, so that was quite scary. Fortunately it went well, and works perfectly! (after also replacing the keyboard membrane, which is a known weak point with the design).

[at67]

Awesome pics and setup.

I am super jelly!

[RetroCode]

Thanks!

And also thanks for all the info. Hopefully I'll get a PS2 keyboard tomorrow - the USB adapter I got predictably failed to work, so hopefully I'll be able to do at least a "Hello World" this weekend.

May take me quite some time, but I would really like to update the ROM, and try out some of the cool stuff people are writing... not least of all the cool looking Pucman

Anyway, just on the unlikely off-chance anyone is interested, I updated my blog (it's more for my own records than anything) with my experience so far with the Gigatron - most of which I discussed here first.

https://retrocode.uk/gigatron.html

[at67]

Anyway, just on the unlikely off-chance anyone is interested, I updated my blog (it's more for my own records than anything) with my experience so far with the Gigatron - most of which I discussed here first.

https://retrocode.uk/gigatron.html

I checked out some of your blog article's, clear, concise, well laid out and easy to read. I am now even more jelly knowing that you received the last ever official Gigatron kit.