(Topic ID: 147850)

Gottlieb U8G chip on display board

By Det_Deckard

8 years ago



Topic Stats

  • 10 posts
  • 5 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 8 years ago by paragon66x
  • No one calls this topic a favorite

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    #1 8 years ago

    Is the U8G a chip that needs to be programmed for each individual game or when you buy a display board it will come with the chip pre-programmed to do its generic dmd stuff?

    #2 8 years ago

    It's a generic across the DMD games. I'm not sure if it's different between alphanumeric and DMD games.

    However, there is a game-specific ROM/EPROM that needs to be installed, just like the sound board and MPU.

    #3 8 years ago

    Is this rom on the display board or on the mpu?

    #4 8 years ago

    Is this the part you are talking about?

    ebay.com link: Gottlieb Premier 1995 Big Hurt U8G Programmed Dot Matrix Display Board IC Chip

    If so, are there places to get it cheaper?

    #5 8 years ago
    Quoted from Det_Deckard:

    Is this the part you are talking about?
    ebay.com link » Gottlieb Premier 1995 Big Hurt U8g Programmed Dot Matrix Display Board Ic Chip
    If so, are there places to get it cheaper?

    Try PBResource.com

    #6 8 years ago

    Holy smoke!
    That eBay listing prices that IC at three times what PBR sells it for.
    --
    Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
    Http://chrishiblerpinball.com/contact
    http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
    http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

    #7 8 years ago

    I *used* to sell replacement U8Gs at something like $2.50 each. Years ago when I actually had "free time", I created a PALASM replacement for U8G. Created my own version to avoid Gottlieb copyrights and it worked well.

    Had all my EPROM and PAL stuff on my old XP computer (only computer that could run the old DOS program 'PALASM'). Kept the source code on the computer and backups on a thumb drive. One day, the power supply toasted itself which then proceeded to toastify the CPU board (hey, 20V down a 5V line won't hurt!), toasted the drives and everything else. And of course, the thumb drive that I kept backups on was plugged in... and it was toasted as well. I tried recreating the PALASM source code but have not been successful yet. Maybe someday.

    #8 8 years ago

    I don't know what PALASM source code is Ed, but can you read the image out of a programmed U8 that I have?
    --
    Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
    http://ChrisHiblerPinball.com/contact
    http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
    http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

    #9 8 years ago

    I may be able to read it but many of them had the security bit set so they are unreadable.
    Either way - I have both the original Gottlieb and my *working* compiled JEDEC programming files. But without my own source code, I think I could be taken to court rather easily over this one.

    The files I am missing are the original Source code which is programmed using a program called PALASM (acronym for something but forgot what). This is an old DOS program written by AMD decades ago and has not been updated since it went into public domain roughly 1990.

    Text source code (with ".PDS" extension) --> PALASM compiler --> JEDEC file output
    The JEDEC file (with ".JED" extension) is used by the PAL programmer to program the PAL/GAL.

    My latest U8G source code starts like this:
    ;-----------------------------------------------
    Title Replacement U8G Decoder
    Pattern U8G
    Revision -
    Author Ed Krzycki
    Company Great Plains Electronics, LLC
    Date 21 February 2014

    CHIP U8G PAL16V8
    ;---------- PIN Declarations ------------
    PIN 1 PH2_CLK ; 6502 Phase 2 Clock
    PIN 2 Q4 ; Page register, bit 4
    PIN 3 READ ; CPU Read/Write*
    PIN 4 NC ; Not Used
    PIN 5 ADDR11 ; Address 11
    PIN 6 ADDR12 ; Address 12
    PIN 7 ADDR13 ; Address 13
    PIN 8 ADDR14 ; Address 14
    PIN 9 ADDR15 ; Address 15
    PIN 10 GND ; Ground
    PIN 11 DISP_EN ; Display timing Signal from 68B45
    PIN 12 DISP_CLK ; Display Clock
    PIN 13 ADDR18 ; Address 18 (paged memory)
    PIN 14 PORT_RD ; Read Input Port
    PIN 15 PORT_WR ; Write Output Port (page select)
    PIN 16 PAGE_SEL ; Select fixed or variable page
    PIN 17 RAM_EN ; RAM Select, Active Low
    PIN 18 ROM_EN ; ROM Select, Active Low
    PIN 19 VIDEO_EN ; Video Controller Select, Active Low
    PIN 20 VCC ; Power
    ;----------------------------------------

    ;------- Memory Map ---------------------
    ; ADDR13 ADDR14 ADDR15 Function
    ; 0 0 0 RAM Select
    ; 1 0 0 Peripheral Select
    ; x 0 1 ROM Select
    ; x 1 0 ROM Select
    ; x 1 1 ROM Select
    ;----------------------------------------

    ;------- String Declarations ------------
    STRING RAM_SELECT '(/ADDR13 * /ADDR14 * /ADDR15)'
    STRING PER_SELECT '( ADDR13 * /ADDR14 * /ADDR15)'
    STRING ROM_SELECT '( ADDR14 + ADDR15)'
    .... and so on.

    #10 8 years ago

    I am glad I ordered several of these from you Ed back in the day. John

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