Original Russian text by Syd, taken from the Speccy2010 documentation package (latest version available from Speccy2010 downloads). Translated by Gasman (with a little help from Google Translate).
1. I got a blank Speccy2010_r2 board, what to do next?
2. Why does the list not include all items that are in the schematic?
Some items are not required to build the basic version. They are not in the list. Also on the PCB, some components are substituted with alternative parts, to keep the item as an affordable package.
3. I have the first revision of the board - what to do?
The first revision of the board contains two errors that need to be fixed for correct computer operation.
The TDA1543 was wrongly powered with 3.3 volts - it needs 5.0V. To fix, cut the track to pin 5 of TDA1543 (marked in red) and connect a wire to 5V (marked in yellow).
If you use the chip in a DIP8 package, the patch looks like this:
If you use the chip in a SO16 package, the patch looks like this:
Generator 20 MHz collected on a single inverter 74HCU04 does not work consistently. This manifests itself in trembling lines and periodic errors when working with the SDRAM. To correct, you should insert at least one more inverter (there are 5 available) between the generator and the clock input of the FPGA. One of the options for modifying the layout:
Cut the track marked in red;
Lift legs 11 and 13 of DD8 (indicated by red dots) in the air;
Rotate resistor R140 by 90 degrees;
Connect 3 wires marked in yellow (2 wires going to the legs which hang in the air).
4. I have already assembled the board - what else do I need?
Minimum requirements:
Power supply 5V, 1A;
SD flash card (FAT16, FAT32);
Cable to connect to a TV or monitor;
PS/2 keyboard;
USB cable for programming the boot microcontroller.
5. There are many connectors on the motherboard. How do I connect them?
XS10 - 5V, centre positive / ground on outside;
XS1 - USB cable for programming and debugging the boot microcontroller;
XS6 - Audio;
XS8 - S-Video output;
XS9 - VGA output, also used as an output to TV mode RGB;
XS7 - Composite video;
XS2 - PS/2 keyboard input;
XS5 - PS/2 mouse input;
XS4 - SD card slot;
XP2 - Joystick input 1;
XPZ - Joystick input 2;
6. How do I connect the Speccy2010 to a TV via SCART cable, using the RGB output?
VGA connector
SCART connector
Assignment
1
15
R
2
11
G
3
7
B
6
13
R GND
7
9
G GND
8
5
B GND
14
20
PAL SYNC
13
16
RGB SWITCH
5
8
GND (TV/AV)
10
17,18
GND
If there are not enough wires, you can combine all ground connections into one.
Pin numbering on the VGA connector (view from cable side - male).Pin numbering on the SCART connector (view from cable side - male).
7. How do I connect the Speccy2010 to a TV via SCART cable, using the S-Video output?
S-Video connector
SCART connector
Assignment
1
17
GND Y
2
13
GND C
3
20
Y
4
15
C
1,2
16
GND (RGB SWITCH)
1,2
8
GND (TV/AV)
1,2
18
GND
Pin numbering on the S-Video connector.
8. How to connect up the SCART audio?
Audio connector
SCART connector
Assignment
1
4
GND
2
2
RIGHT
3
6
LEFT
Pin numbering on the TRS connector.
9. And what does the joystick port look like?
Compatible with Atari and SEGA joysticks with 9-pin connector (female). Assignment of pins:
DB9
Assignment
1
UP
2
DOWN
3
LEFT
4
RIGHT
5
+5V
6
BUTTON A/B
7
SELECT
8
GND
9
BUTTON START/C
Pin numbering on the DB9 female connector.
10. I'm all hooked up, what next?
The first thing is to install the firmware bootloader into the microcontroller. Firmware version 41 and later will not work without the bootloader. To do this:
11. What should be written on the SD card in order to start up?
A set of firmware (from the archive speccy2010-bin-revXXXX) in the root directory:
speccy2010.bin - Microcontroller firmware;
speccy2010.rbf - FPGA firmware;
speccy2010.hlp - text file with the instructions.
ROM images in a directory 'roms':
system.rom - if present, will be written to zero bank loaded on reset mode in the Pentagon, if available - a regular run (16kB);
trdos.rom (16kB);
48.rom - firmware for official ZX Spectrum (16kB);
pentagon.rom - (32kB).
Disk images (formats trd, fdi, scl), tapes (tap, tzx) and RAM dumps (sna).
12. How to update the firmware of the microcontroller and FPGA?
Just replace the firmware files in the root directory of the new card. Firmware updates will occur during the next boot. Attention! If the firmware revision you had before updating was 40 or below, you must first flash the bootloader as described in section 10. All future updates will only require copying new speccy2010.bin, speccy2010.rbf and speccy2010.hlp onto the card.
13. How do I find out the current firmware version?
Run terminal and get a boot log. Also, starting with revision 41 the version of the firmware is displayed at the startup of the explorer (F12).
14. Can I upgrade the firmware of the microcontroller via USB (old way)?
Not recommended, but possible.
First you need to delete the file speccy2010.bin from the card (NB if you leave it, it will revert to the version stored on the card every time);
connect the board to a computer via USB cable (connector XS1), wait until you get a new COM port;
close jumper XP7, then power up the board by closing jumper XP10 (or if power is already on, press reset - SB1);
run str750prog (version 1.1 or above) - the command line should look like this:
15. And what to do with the old firmware (revision 40 and below)?
This firmware will not work with the bootloader, and if for some reason you need to return to an older version, it needs to be flashed over USB using the command:
16. Can you break the board by doing something wrong when flashing the firmware?
No. The board won't break.
17. How to turn on the computer?
Close the jumper XS10 - card must be inserted and jumper XS7 removed. Downloading only takes a few seconds.
18. I have assembled the board and I am ready to run it, what can I use for debugging?
You can run any terminal (e.g. Tera Term) and connect it to the port used to program the microcontroller. The transfer rate of the port is 115200. The log shows a set of diagnostics. Normal log looks something like this:
Speccy2010 boot ver 1.0!
SD card init OK..
Skipping firmware upgrade.
Speccy2010, ver 1.0, rev xx !
SD card init OK..
FPGA configuration started...
FPGA configuration status OK...
.................................FPGA configuration conf done...
FPGA configuration finished...
FPGA clock - 19.99762 MHz
FPGA PLL clock - 83.99002 MHz
ROM configuration started...
ROM configuration finished...
>
19. Something is wrong - in the logs there is a message: "SD card init error :(!"...
If the SD card is not on the board, then this is expected. If the card is present, there's a problem with the signal SD_CP (card present). If your SD slot is missing signals SD_CP and SD_WP, then to function correctly the respective contact pads must be connected to 0V. For example, as suggested by zst:
20. A few seconds passed, but the picture does not appear - the log is all correct, what to do?
You may need to switch the video output mode.
Ctrl + 1 - turns on PAL Composite / S-Video;
Ctrl + 2 - turns on PAL RGB;
Ctrl + 3 - turns on VGA 50Hz (scandoubler);
Ctrl + 4 - turns on VGA 60Hz (scandoubler + acceleration by 20%);
Ctrl + 5 - turns on VGA 75Hz (scandoubler + acceleration by 50%).
The selected mode is stored in the settings and restored automatically the next time you turn on.
21. The picture appeared, but no sound, what to do?
Go into the settings menu (F9), set the correct value in the section \ABAudio DAC mode\BB. Most likely this will be \ABTDA1543\BB. Also pay attention to all the other settings. To exit the menu, press ESC.
22. And how to run a game?
If it is a tape image in tap or tzx format - go to the explorer (F12), press ENTER at the desired file. Type LOAD "". Hit ENTER. Start playing the tape with the "+" key. To stop the tape, use "-". Pressing "-" again continues to play tapes from the place where it was stopped.
If it's a RAM dump (snapshot) in sna format - go to the explorer (F12), press ENTER at the desired file - the snapshot will load and run.
If it is a disk image in trd, fdi, scl format - go to the explorer (F12), press ENTER at the desired file - the image is mounted to drive A and TRDOS starts automatically. If you want to mount the image without rebooting, this is done by pressing "1" - "4" (drive A - D, respectively) on the selected file in the explorer window.
23. I want to see loading screens loading line-by-line, what to do?
Press F6 between blocks of program loading - it will reset the attributes on the screen to the value of "black on white".
24. All the time I die and have to play from the start, what to do?
For this purpose you have the ability to store a memory dump (snapshot) in sna format, and then at any time, you can load it back, and continue to play from your favourite places. This is done by pressing F11. In the dump all 8 pages of RAM are saved, along with all registers, and neither the stack nor the screen area are corrupted. It is also possible to save the RAM dump in sna format with a fixed name - Alt + number (0..9).
25. How to specify a name when you save the sna file?
Use the key combination Shift + F11. If the name contains digits at the end (before the extension), and you subsequently save a dump with the F11 key, this number will increase. If no name is specified, then it will be saved under a name generated automatically based on the name of the last saved snapshot / image. If the first character of the name is "/" it is interpreted as a full path - otherwise the file written to the current directory.
26. What are the keys?
Power (or PrintScreen) - Reset;
Arrows, LCtrl - joystick emulation (the type of joystick is selected in the settings);
'+' (or '=') - start playback of a tape;
'-' - stop / resume playback of a tape;
Pg. Up, Pg.Down, Home, End - emulate the cursor keys;
ESC - hex editor (by skyther);
F1 - disable Turbo mode;
F2 - Turns on the Turbo x2;
F3 - Turns on the Turbo x4;
F4 - turns on the Turbo x8;
F5 - delay execution of the program for 1 cycle;
F6 - clear attributes of the current video page;
F9 - configuration menu;
F10 - menu of mounted discs (Backspace - unmount);
F11 - save RAM dump in sna format;
Shift + F11 - save sna file under any name;
F12 - explorer;
Alt + number (0..9) - write RAM dump in sna format with a fixed name;
Ctrl + 1 - turns on PAL Composite / S-Video;
Ctrl + 2 - turns on PAL RGB;
Ctrl + 3 - turns on VGA 50Hz (scandoubler);
Ctrl + 4 - turns on VGA 60Hz (scandoubler + acceleration by 20%);
Ctrl + 5 - turns on VGA 75Hz (scandoubler + acceleration by 50%).
27. What are the keys to the Explorer?
Arrows - move the current directory;
Enter - select an image to upload, input the directory;
Backspace - the output from a directory to a higher level;
Space - select a file;
'+' - select all files;
'-' - deselect all files;
'\' - invert the selection;
1, 2, 3, 4 - to mount the selected image TRDOS on the appropriate drive (A, B, C, D);
F1 - display control key help page;
F2 - select destination directory;
F3 - view a text file;
F4 - create an empty trd image;
F5 - copy a file (group) in the destination directory;
Shift + F5 - copy the file;
F6 - move a file (group) in the destination directory;
Shift + F6 - rename the file;
F7 - create a directory;
F8 - remove a file (group) from the current directory;
F9 - Format trd image;
CapsLock - uppercase;
LCtrl + LShift - toggle English / Russian keyboard layout.
To do this you need to install the subversion client. This is a small, but very simple program.
32. How to compile the firmware?
Compiling the FPGA firmware requires Quartus. I'm using Quartus 9.1. Firmware for the microcontroller is compiled with the opensource GCC compiler. I use the free Lite assembler from CodeSourcery (EABI version) for Windows in conjunction with the best opensource development environment for C / C++ - code::blocks.
33. I want to change / add something in the firmware, but what to do?
