That gowin FPGA is proably able to Run whole your computer inside of it... I dont get the point of this "cart" at all, it would me more practical, and proably even cheaper that this "card"... My 25 USD Tang nano 20K can run whole Atari ST with no problem at all (and you can run it on even cheaper 9K version)

A .jed file (in this case) refers to a bitstream which is used to program an FPGA. The old .jed file for the Lattice fpga has absolutely no chance of working on the Gowin (unless the people at GoWin stole the Lattice IC chip masks and are making identical clones.) If you were somehow able to send up the old .jed file, at best the FPGA is bricked until the correct configuration is written ... but more than likely, there will be internal gates configured incorrectly, resulting in outputs connected to other outputs, and/or fpga pins which should be inputs, configured as outputs. In either case the FPGA probably self-destructs.

I have worked on a couple of projects porting stuff to those Gowin devices and I think I have an idea what's happened here. The Gowin chips have a somewhat unusual architecture because their logic blocks (which they call "CFUs") contain both logic and routing resources, so depending on the placement the fitter might have to route signals through multiple CFUs. This makes setting a long default maximum propagation delay and just assuming that it's always going to be much quicker than that (ok, it's bad practice - but it works pretty well on the Altera and Xilinx parts) a major problem because if you tell the fitter that this signal can tolerate lots of delay then it may well take you up on it and route it halfway across the chip. My guess is that the HDL had timing constraints that were either missing or too loose but worked anyway with the original FPGA.

I wish I had watched this before outlaying $$ to buy Rapidus for XL. I can see now that Rapidus has been discontinued... that says a lot. 😐

Watching this got me thinking. My SIDE3 3.0 is collecting dust for a while now, since it won't work with 0.69 driver on any of my machines. I downgraded JED from 1.3 to 1.1 and now it looks like it's working. Thanks! Lotharek stopped selling SIDE3!

Rough times sounds like they are trying to move away from your firmware

I bought a SIDE3 years ago when I first got my hands on an 800XL. I also bought a U1MB and a VBXE -- *all* of them from Lotharek. He seemed like a pretty good guy at the time, and I would give him some repeat business when I got my hands on an Atari ST some time later, and have largely been pleased with what I purchased... That is, until I actually tried to install the VBXE. I should preface this next part by saying that I'm no slouch with a soldering iron. I grew up as the son of an electrical engineer and so soldering (and desoldering) was commonplace for me. I don't have the 60-plus years of experience my Dad has, but when he looks at my completed boards and routinely says, "Looks fabulous, just clean off your flux and you're good to go," I tend to think I actually know what I'm doing. What I got from the VBXE was glitchy video, inconsistent drop-outs and maddening levels of screen-scrambling that all stemmed back to two things: reliance on turned-pin sockets for DIP chips and an "adapter" that doesn't actually fit properly in a machine with my style of keyboard. I knew the adapter was the source of the issue when I could power the machine on and gently push on the ANTIC and get the screen to freak out. So I pulled it and everything worked fine. It's a shame, too, because I really wanted the VBXE to work so I could easily integrate the 800XL into my AV rack. I looked into trying to desolder the VBXE from its adapter and put it into a redesigned one that's lower profile and allows the ANTIC to mount *through* the adapter instead of stacking sockets. However, the adapter board seems as though it's been *deliberately* designed and laid out to make this all but impossible because you'll damage the paper-thin traces before you ever get the solder cleared from those header pins. It feels malicious, in retrospect. I don't know that I would ever recommend buying from him again unless he starts taking some responsibility for decisions that he deliberately appears to be making to put his personal stamp on designs and/or software that *don't belong to him.* As far as I can tell, all he does is *produce* the boards -- he isn't responsible for the hardware designs (that's Candle) and he DEFINITELY isn't responsible for any of the software (that's you). It makes me wonder what would happen if Candle decided to produce boards for his designs on his own.

All I can say - thank God I purchased two SIDE3's (and a batch of U1MBs) last year. And thanks Jon for your support to A8 community and excellent firmwares.

I bought a new side3 cartridge from Lotharek a couple of months ago and it has JED 2.3 and Hardware Version 3.1 and it works fine on my 600 XL

What about altera cpld? Epm570t and larger fpgas Downside is 3.3v level shifting needed I could throw and altera max ii, esp32, some sram, and SD card Don't really need a ROM, just an os handler (driver) and menu, can load that via Sio...

try fujinet

I've watched this and Lotharek's answer. I'd like to start with that I love and apriciate what all three of You (Lotharek, Candle, FJC) do for the community. That said, I think you seem to have big communication and project management issue here. What we see here is a hobby project that grown and is not hobby anymore. What is obvious for me is that you need a project manager person to hold it all together. You need project management, release management and maybe more. I hope that all this problems will soon come to pass, and we'll soon see more incredible releases :D

New JED works with a significantly marked up phase2 delay shifter... Some would call this cartel behavior.

Why didn't you just drill the hole and then use a TAP AND DIE set and thread the big piece of Metal inside the Camera that was there already? (LOL, I see somebody suggested it already)

I was considering ordering u1mb and side3 for two of my machines. Guess I’m not ordering them anymore.

Interesting Lotharek has suspended sales of the Side 3.2 with FJC firmware: SALES OF SIDE 3 is unfortunatelly supsended. in light of recent events and FJC video I AM NOT ABLE TO SUPPLY DEVICE with right FIRMWARE .... Awaits answer from Candle.....

I hope that these differences/disputes/problems can be worked out. I hate to see this. My Atari hobby gives me something to look forward to. I totally understand the frustration expressed, but we need the combination of the hardware availability, your excellent firmware, and support. We will all be in a mess if there is not a supplier of the hardware, support, and firmware. I hope that this does not become a wall that puts and end to great combinations of hardware and firmware for the end users.

Jon, my god talk about doggedness. You're a true bloodhound mate. More power to you.

Entertaining video! I've bought quite a few things off Lotharek over the years and had no problems. I was thinking a getting a Side 3 for my Atari 65XE (upgraded to 130XE with VBXE). I think I'll hold off for now and stick with my SIO2SD. That Ultimate 1MB + Side 3 addon would be amazing, but will it ever be ready to be released. Doubtful ....

Watching this Video has put me off getting any thing of lotharek for my ZX Spectrum, seen there is issues with Atari Hardware.

Jon, the U1MB board you discuss in detail starting around minute 22 also seems to have some corrective hand soldering on the square chip underneath, at least under your filming light it occurs to me so.

So after those purple Incognito and u1mb are sold out will there be no more u1mb at all? That seems odd.

Epic rant! I appreciate your investigations. Now I'm a bit worried because although I don't have a SIDE3, I have purchased other things from Lotharek that I haven't gotten around to installing. X my fingers they're not equally as botched. I'm now a bit gun-shy when it comes to his products. Very sad.

The customer isn't a beta tester...you have seen how Microsoft operates haven't you? Sorry about your frustration. I'm almost glad I can't find one of these things in the US.

Glad after all the odyssey it didn't end in finding something like SD card going bad.

The cart retailers should be paying you a big bonus for solving their stuff ups. And if lotharek has cracked the shits he should apologise

I'm glad I bought my SIDE3 3.1 upon release. When Candle mentioned to me on the AA forums that he doesn't believe in open source, alarm bells went off in my head regarding situations exactly like this. I understand that software and schematics should be kept close to one's chest, but JED files should be made available upon request in situations such as this - Better yet, 'situations such as this' shouldn't exist in the first place regarding the final product. Jon, your obvious passion regarding the product is exemplary. Every time I needed help regarding U1MB and SIDE3 on AA, you were always beyond helpful.

very disappointed in lotharek's lack of taking responsibility

Przemek doesn't seem to speak to anyone who dares to express any kind of criticism of his products. Also, he is a self-taught practitioner and is missing a theoretical background in electronics.

so with 1mb expansion u can run 128kb games? i own AVGcart?

doesnt work with u1mb correctly, doesnt work with usb power adapter, latest demo rewind 2 doesnt work - on other computers works.. somewhere something works, somewhere not.. :/

Man, I have 3 Atari 400s in various state of MOD ready for an Incognito Lite!!! Just sitting... 48K Gaming every other month... Waiting for an innocuous capability expansion... I probably need to sell two of them at this point...

37:07 Wow i thought you wrote the firmware on an actual Atari 8bit machine.

Wait 13:10 how are they programed in the first place? Do you use some other device with the chip NOT in the cartridge? I guess when they are mass produced they are programmed before they are soldered to the PCB and made into cartridges?

bee-ta?

I wish I could offer something to actually help here. I appreciate your passion for the Atari platform and community. The Ultimate 1MB / Incognito firmware is a work of art IMO. Thanks FJC.

I used to be a fan of Lotharek as I've bought many things from him, but that has soured over the last couple years. I bought his Medusa video scaler at launch and when it arrived it was damaged due to poor packaging. While it still worked fine, the case itself was badly dented in one corner. So I emailed him thinking it wouldn't be an issue. However after arguing with him why I accepted the package delivery if it was damaged (it was delivered to my UPS store mailbox so I never had a chance to decline delivery), he finally told me to ship it back to him in Poland and he would replace the case and ship it back. He wanted me to pay for shipping to him and he would pay return shipping. I asked instead if he could just ship a replacement case and I could install it. He said no. I insisted that that seemed wasteful and I didn't understand why I would need to cover return shipping costs. After that, he stopped responding to me. I sent him a couple follow up emails and he hasn't responded to any of them. So i refuse to do business with him directly and leery to even buy his stuff from resellers. The Atari 8bit computer scene badly needs other folks developing these addons rather lotharek being the single point of failure in this.

Wow Jonathan! That was a long one for sure! Worth the watch to the end though. I was waiting to make a decision on which cart to buy, the Side2, Side3, AVG, the ultimate cart, and finally the AVGSubcart. This video reinforced my decision to ultimately (no pun intended) go with the AVGSubcart in the end. It just seemed to support every file type and also your Sideloader firmware. With that said, even the Subcart has its issues that I haven't quite figured out how to get past them. My machine is a perfectly stock 130XE and I'm hesitant to do any major mod upgrades to it, so the Subcart seemed the way to go, or so I thought. I also own a Fujunet v1.6, and to be honets, even though the commnuity has said great things about it, I'm not thrilled with it. There are too many firmware updates and constant development changes that make it more and more bug ridden. The only product I was ever completely satisfied with was the S-drive Max. It just works, however it doesn't support all file types. It's a shame that a lot of these projects that are supposed to be heavily tested before being released to the Atari community really aren't. I agree with you, the end purchaser/user is not and should not be a beta tester. The Karin minidrive is another one I purchased recently as it looked like a good idea, but once again in the end it only sort of works. Now the A8-picocart is the latest thing the community is raving about.......it clearly hasn't been tested enough either. So for now, I'm going to save my money and wait until something has been out that actually works and doesn't get changed all the time for the sake of cost or whatever. Matter of fact I'm most likely going to start parting ways with some of the new gear I bought thinking it would be great after seeing videos that other people have made stating this....the whole you have to get this as it's the latest, greatest thing for your Atari. I wonderhow many of those people were paid by the product developers to put such videos up? Hmm......anyway, I hope things can be resolved on the whole Side3 matter with you and Lotharek.

Jon, You've done more than most with helping people with their 8bit gear. Even in instances where you didn't get paid for it like when you helped me via email last year with my 800XL (which did get fixed at least in part with your advice). What you've shown here is conclusive proof of what the problem is and how to fix it and just as importantly that it's not your fault despite what the unprofessional buffoon says. The situation smacks of somebody (who isn't you!) looking to cash out with 1 last whack at the pinata with little regard for others but it will backfire on him going on the reactions I'm seeing in the comments here. You were 1000% right calling this out for what it is. I'm 1 of the people glad you made this video showing the reality of the situation. Despite the fact I got a U1MB and a Side 3.1. Both still work fine. But I've since added a 130XE and an XF551 that needs a bit of work. Frankly I'm gonna be looking for something different for upgrades on that system (not decided which yet but won't be another side 3).

I’m going to have to check mine, was ordered in early December from Lorharek, received mid-January in the US. I just put the U1M I ordered the same time in, so far it appears to work but I haven’t pushed it much yet. Would you happen to have a video on the 74LS chip replacement? While my 800XL is open, I’ll just swap it out.

@flashjazzcat - Great video as always! Excellent troubleshooting! Just wondering why there is no source control on this so that you would be able to see what changed and roll back easily (without worrying about finding an older version file that may no longer exist). No need to make it open to the public, but just my $.02.

No hardware revision nor firmware revision, nor JED revision should be released to the wild until they have been thoroughly tested by all parties involved in its development. Sure, it takes longer, but it avoids BS like this happening. Lotharek totally screwed the pooch on this dumpster fire. My life experience as a software engineer and sysadmin has been "if it ain't broke, then don't fix it".

As a software developer I feel your pain and frustration. You have my respect and I appreciate everything you do for the Atari 8-bit community.

Feel for you, I really do... feels like the vendor (Rhymes with Shipwreck) is interested in selling new shiny things and has no interest in supporting the hardware previously released. Of course, the market size for these sort of products is limited, so I suspect this is why, to keep a fresh revenue stream coming in. Not keeping you in the loop with revisions, and the technical reasons why is unforgivable, in my opinion.

Thanks for sharing. I have had issues with a different product (Rapidus for XL) and installed it myself (I'm no stranger to installing/soldering) and found that it just doesn't work. But, now after watching this, I'll try swapping out the LS08 for a F08 and see if the Rapidus starts to work. I've tried reaching out to Lotharek about the board not working but, got no reply - as far as I'm concerned that's piss poor customer service.

It's really disappointing to hear that Lotharek has become so difficult to work with, FJC. As a life-long troubleshooter, programmer, and IT professional, you have all my sympathy in this situation which could've easily been avoided. I've always been impressed with the quality of your work on both the technical and artistic end of things, and I hope the Atari community continues to benefit from your output for decades to come.

what a rant! But you did a good job pointing out the problem. Will stick to my two Side2.... Keep up the good work, Jon

Brilliant, thorough and informative. I watched the whole thing and I hope they keep you in the loop like they did in the beginning moving forward. I went to Lotharek site to buy a side3 last year and felt like I was filling out a test. I ended up purchasing a 3.1 (same as your working one with the cap fitted) from the brewing academy. I bought many things from Lotharek in the past and making purchases was a breeze. I can’t say the same now. I personally wouldn’t be interested in some of these things if it wasn’t for fjc. Your firmware is top shelf and you put on one hell of a promotion for these products. Once again, thank you for the detailed video.

I guess I won't be upgrading my SIDE2 for a SIDE3.

Hi Jon This is my baby i gather, can i say what a incredible customer service you have given, you have let me know every step of the way with all the faults that you have found and what you are trying to do to fix this. I feel so bad this has happened and the amount of time and money to solve this problem, i am eternally grateful.