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Post by jj0 on Apr 9, 2021 13:27:35 GMT
Seeing that there's a free memory slot on the Mini's PCB I bought some SK Hynix H5TQ2G63FFR 256MB SMD memory. It took a friend of mine about 5 minutes to solder it on the PCB, using a SMD soldering hotplate. Now I have a Mini with 512MB memory...  From UBOOT: HELLO! BOOT0 is starting!
boot0 version : 3.0.0
dram size =512
From dmesg: [ 0.000000] Machine: sun7i
[ 0.000000] sun7i_fixup... Platform Size: 256MB
[ 0.000000] [sun7i_fixup]: From boot, get meminfo:
[ 0.000000] Start: 0x40000000
[ 0.000000] Size: 512MB
I'm not sure where the 'Platform Size: 256MB' is set, it doesn't appear to be influenced by the kernel 'mem=XXXM' argument the but the extra 256M is discovered anyway. This doesn't improve the Carousel / C64 emualtion of course, 128MB is plenty for that. So not much actual practical use unless you want to run a real Linux distribution. But still nice to know it can be done  |
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Post by spannernick on Apr 11, 2021 10:16:25 GMT
Nice one, You could now put on it Retroarch and Emulationstation... its needs 512mb to work but the kernal on the C64 Mini is not compatible with the latest version, the joystick don't work...  so you would have to use a older version say from 2012 or 2016. |
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Post by jj0 on May 16, 2021 16:03:49 GMT
I've now ordered two 4Gb RAM chips, so in a couple of weeks I'll try to use those with my Maxi, see if it takes it up to 1GB RAM.
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Post by spannernick on May 16, 2021 17:09:00 GMT
Oh so you going to remove the 256mb ram from the board...?
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Post by jj0 on Jul 16, 2021 13:02:08 GMT
I've now ordered two 4Gb RAM chips, so in a couple of weeks I'll try to use those with my Maxi, see if it takes it up to 1GB RAM. For the Maxi it is a little bit more difficult. I (well, ok, that friend of mine) added a 2Gb (=256MB) SK Hynix H5TQ2G63FFR to the free memory slot but it still only rported 256MB in total. Then we removed both RAM chips and replaced it with a single 4Gb (=512MB) ST Hyinx H5TQ4G63AFR-PBC but it still only reported 256MB in total. But when I booted in FEL mode with a different uboot bootloader it reported 256MB. So to make use of the extra RAM the u-boot bootloader on the internal NAND would need to be modified which is not trivial. |
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Post by spannernick on Jul 23, 2021 8:36:44 GMT
Do you have a picture of it with the new ICs memory chips on it...? Is it possible to change the NAND..? And does the NAND only support only one uboot, is that why it can not be changed... no its the kernal stopping it so its the kernal, it can run a different uboot(you just did run a different uboot with FEL Mode), I just answered my own question... the NAND uses a special kernel, so thats why it can not use just any kernel. I think you did try to hack the kernel, (using something like HxD to look at it and take parts of it and add it to a new kernel) cause its just a binary file like the64 file, and boots the system partition NANDB(kernel is NANDA its 16 mb), and enables things too, like drivers and that. We need to make a new payload for it (new kernel and system partition) so It loads everything the carousel needs and able add what we want to it, enable stuff in the kernel or add driver modules, thats one of its problems and why some things don't work or work on THEC64 Mini and not on THEC64 Maxi/VIC20 and vise versa but RGL has made it impossible without the updated source code. I do not think RGL will make any more updates, the last one that added Classic Mode to THEC64 Mini was a big update and that why I think it was the last and it been just over 3 years now since THEC64 Mini was released(29th March 2018 in the UK/Europe)so most devices have only up to 3 years cover on them, RGL say they do not get any money making updates but they do, THEC64 Mini was a Prototype and was released early to get money for THEC64 Maxi so they needed a way of updating the firmware to make it better so the product would sale and they could change the mistakes they made in the carousel or add new features like the USB File Loader(1.1.0), it was called that originally now its just called File Loader, it could only run one image file on usb stick when it was released in Europe, March 2018, it tock RGL 6 months to make the File Loader that came out on 9th October 2018 when the US version was release, it was a feature they added cause users wanted a browser to load games from the usb stick, it was added as well as a sale feature so users would buy THEC64 Mini US version the PAL version did not get great reviews before it, that's why you see a file called thec64-drive8.d64 on the root of the usb stick, because thats the only file you could load from usb stick, its created when you run the C64 emulator in Basic/Classic Mode, if you do not run Classic Mode and just run the carousel it will not create it. |
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Post by jj0 on Jul 23, 2021 12:48:04 GMT
Both u-boot and the Linux kernel need a nand driver that is compatible with the various nand types used in the Mini or Maxi. For the Mini RGL released the source for u-boot and the kernel but the nand driver is not the right one - If I remember correctly it doesn't compile and also the nand ID strings it uses are less bytes than the one the actual nand.ko driver uses. For the Maxi we have no source code. You can replace the u-boot in the nand with a different 'standard' one but it will not recognise the nand so you would only be able to boot from USB. Oh, and to replace the NAND with SD or eMMC, see linux-sunxi.org/Replace_NAND_with_eMMC_howto. |
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Post by jj0 on Jul 23, 2021 18:49:58 GMT
 Attachments:
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Post by spannernick on Jul 24, 2021 13:38:24 GMT
Did RGL do something to the nand thats why it needs a special NAND Driver, was it originality partitioned NANDA and NANDB, was it made like thats or did they partition it in the factory so it would only works with there uboot, Kernal and Nand Driver...?
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Post by jj0 on Jul 25, 2021 18:07:56 GMT
Did RGL do something to the nand thats why it needs a special NAND Driver, was it originality partitioned NANDA and NANDB, was it made like thats or did they partition it in the factory so it would only works with there uboot, Kernal and Nand Driver...? I think RGL used an updated nand driver so they could use current NAND chips. And the updated nand driver has some features that are not supported by the nand drivers of which source(es) are available. That's really the only difference. The partitioning seems a bit odd but is likely derived from Android. |
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so you would have to use a older version say from 2012 or 2016.
