Atari Forum Falcon FAQ

Here are some answers to question asked by the forum users.
The answers links back to the postings on the Atari Forum.

Video Graphics subsystem

How to get more colour & higher Rez on a Falcon?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=2850 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=10267 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=14325 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=16559
Nova: https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=12207

With programs like Videlity, Videl Inside, Blow Up, you can get a resolution of 800*592*256 colours easily.
For better resolutions with better colour depths, harware mods are needed.
You can get normally in 16 bit:
- RGB/TV: 640*400 (768*480 in overscan)
- VGA: 320*480 (with tools like "videlity" you get a little bit more)
For Mint/Xaaes:
- 640x480x256 is video=27
- If you set video to 15 you can choose resolutions from the Screenblaster software.
Screen Blaster III drivers here.
Modified Nova drivers for the Falcon

Why does the Falcon slowdown in higher video Modes?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=13270
Bottleneck is the bus to ST RAM. This bus is more occupied by the video chip. The processor sometimes has to wait to get to the data in ST RAM. Slowdown is high when moving big chunks of data in ST RAM (lot of bus time needed). Slowdown is almost zero when heavy computing is done in tight loops that fit in the 68030's processor cache (not much bus access needed).
Chart on Videl's memory consumption is in the thread above.

Can my Falcon use a LCD panel?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=8708 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=10017
LCD works just fine with every resolution, including ST modes, as well as standard Falcy VGA and extended Centscreen modes. The only reservation with an LCD display is with the frequency. You have to treat an LCD/SVGA as if it were an old fixed-frequency 60hz screen, which is fine for the majority of stuff, but some games and demos like to use weird screen-busting 100hz modes, which an LCD cannot display.

Where can I find the VGA adapter pin out for the falcon?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=17122

19pin DTYPE MALE >>> 15 pin VGA MALE
pin 1 red>>>>>>> pin 1 red
pin 2 green>>>>> pin 2 green
pin 3 blue>>>>>> pin 3 blue
pin 13 >>>>>>>> pin 13 sync
pin 14 >>>>>>>> pin 14 sync
pin 5 >>>gnd>>> pin 6,7,8,10

Photos of the connections can be seen in the post at the thread above.

What Screen grabber are available for the Falcon?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=7545
The 'Reservoir Ripper' can be use to grab screens. CT60 version available for downloading.

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Hardware

What is a Clock Patch / SCSI patch ?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=13506 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=13827 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=16181
Photos of the what a clock patch is shown in the thread above.

How do I restore the Falcon PSU & TV output fix?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=8312
Detailed description of repairing are given in the thread above.

What are the keyboard pins on the Falcon motherboard?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=10414

Pin 1 - gnd 
Pin 2 - n/c 
Pin 3 - ide/floppy led 
pin 4 - vcc 
pin 5 - rxd 
pin 6 - txd 
pin 7 - reset 
pin 8 - gnd 
pin 9 - KTOX (Could be KTDX) 
pin 10 - KROX (Could be KRDX)

These first 8 pins are equivalent to the keyboard connector in any ST/STE.

KTOK = KEYBOARD TRANSMIT OPERATION
this signal is connected U52 pin7 and supplys an irq. High pulse when the keyboard interface chip is requesting service to let the keyboard controller chip know there is an operation in progress and to buffer data instead

KROX = KEYBOARD RECIEVE OPERATION
This is an input pin i think used to say im ready {buffer empty etc} pin 150 TOK combel{maybe transmited ok flag or something}

How to fix dead battery / NVram in falcon?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=9790
The thread above and the sticky documents various method of fixing the dead battery.

How to reset NVRAM of Falcon??

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=12700 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=12831
When you change the NV RAM chip, do a HARDWARE RESET of the NV RAM (Alt+Ctrl+right Shift+Undo) during bootup screen (Atari logo) because otherwise the system does not accept new settings, besides date/time.

How to fix "Coprocessor protocol violation" issues?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=10233
I was getting some problems with booting, that I narrowed down to the FPU. I'm not sure why, but I do have quite a bit of hardware hanging off the motherboard (Nemesis and MightySonic32). On bootup, it was hanging around the point it loads the ext2 filesystem driver. Removed FPU, all was fine.

What is the Revisions of Falcon motherboard?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=12119
A = Alpha version inhouse developement
B = Beta version sent to the gimps who then bum on about it shows and exibitions
C = Main release version
D = revised to fix major errors
E = revised to fix minor errors left over....
a new revision is made each time the factory/factories plan to make and build another release of machines

How to make the Falcon CTR14 memory board work?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=15665
It has some short circuits, on top side you have to cut 2 tracks, on the bottom 3 tracks.
Photo in thread above shows where to cut.

Why does the falcon sometime crashes with graphics error?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=15450
Graphics errors could be related to RAM problems. Removing the Memory card and putting it back into the falcon may solve the issue.

How to revive an Falcon with clicking sound from HDD?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=14255
This is probably due to a dry battery in the NVram. Replace the NVRam is the solution.

Can I use a ATX PSU on the Falcon?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=16381#p147218
You basically only need the +5v / +12v and GND for an atari.
On an ATX PSU these will be
RED = +5v
YELLOW = +12v
BLACK = Ground
So, the Blue wire on an ST is +12v so you can substitute the BLUE on the ST with the YELLOW on the PSU. However, the BLUE on a PC PSU is actually -12v so dont mistake them.
Also, in order to force an ATX PSU to ON, you will need to ground the GREEN wire too! When I did this withe the Mega, I used the GREEN-BLACK shorting with a simple PTM-PTB Switch and this worked a treat.

What are CLab customisation ?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=17979
CLab MK-X customization noticed are

Internal SCSI (this has been done by C-Lab, but I think it has been modified somehow)
Line out (2x 6.3 mm bus)
Line in (2x 6.3 mm bus)
Volume control
SCSI clock mod

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Re-Casing

Can the Falcon be put into a Rack?

2U rack : https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3460
A Falcon with CT60 can be stuffed into a 19" 2U rack. Photos in the thread above.

Case : https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=11854
Various standard PC tower can be used to house the bird. Photos in the thread above.

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Networking/Internet

How to setup Internet access on the Atari?

PPP: https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=11134 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=12597

PPP via Linux can be found at http://paradize.atari.org/ and click "STing + Nullmodem" link.
PPP via Windows can be found at http://phsw.110mb.com/nw-w7ppp.html

Can Internet Radio be used on the Falcon?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3799
Yes with a combination of Cab Browser,Falcamp, and 56k modem / network.

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Storage subsystem

Can I have a IDE cd-rom or CD Burner on the Falcon?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3287 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=7736 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=11752 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=13833 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=16943

I have a 3.5 IDE CD writer connected to my Falcon. I use the Wizztronics 2.5 to 3.5 adapter on the internal IDE port. It gives 2 IDE 3.5 connections. I use SPIN as a driver for the CD writer, but I never tried to burn a CD with it, I use it only as a CD-Rom player. For power, I just connected it to the ATX psu needed by my CT60.
I tried a yamaha cd-writer on my falcon. I store CD images on the IDE HD and had the writer on SCSI. This gave me 4x speed. I burned about 150 CDR's without a single error using CD-LAB by Francois Galea. When reading from CDR to HDD I got about 4.2x speed *g*
HDDriver will pick the drive up, but you still need some other program (like spin, exntedos) to be able to read CDs. CDs have different types of filing system, and AFAIK it's never been added to HDDriver.

Can I have Compact Flash/SD card/SSD on the Falcon?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=6285 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=6924 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=6931 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=9030 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=11382 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=12130 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=13432 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=15948

yes you can use 2 ide device on the f030
A friend has an IDE CF reader in his Falcon and it works pretty well with the last version of HDDriver. If you want to read DOS-formated CFs, you can use BigDos, Mint or Magic.
I just wanted to let everyone know that I was successful in installing and booting my Falcon from a Compact Flash (CF) card. I tried both 512mb and 1gb cards. I was originally not successful since I was using HDDriver 7.61 (for compatibility with the CT60) This locks up when attempting to boot or ID the CF card. I ended up using ICD Pro Utilities 6.5.5 (I think) and it works fine.
I have been using a CF Adapter and card for yonks now. HD Driver v8 is required to boot from it properly, but then v8 is supposed to have issues with CuBase Audio.

What is the speed of a CF on the Falcon?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=14403 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=14248
On a hard drive I would normally expect 3-5 files per second but on the Compact Flash card it took 10-15 seconds for 1 file.

What Hard disk defragment tools are there?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=6033

Diamond Edge.
HPOptimizer 2.9
HPOptimizer 2.9X - MiNT only

What is the HDD size limit of the Falcon ?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=10649

HDdriver states "Support for SCSI drives up to 8192 GByte and IDE drives up to 2048 GByte. For SCSI drives with a capacity > 1 GByte Atari ST and STE require an ICD compatible SCSI host adapter, e. g. the LINK97."
OS limitation:

OS-Release              Size 
---------------------------------------------------------------- 
TOS 1.00 - 1.02        256 MByte 
TOS 1.04 - 3.xx        512 Mbyte 
TOS 4.0x              1024 MByte 

MagiC / BigDOS        1024 MByte 
                      2048 MByte (Compatible Dos) 

MagiC 6.1       FAT32 -> Terrabyte (not MagiC 6.01) 

FreeMiNT 1.15 / FAT16  2048 MByte (DOS/TOS comp. Partition) 
FreeMiNT      / FAT32  ->  Terrabyte

Can I connect a ST ASCI drive to a Falcon?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=5934
Unfortunately the 19pin connector is not SCSI. It's ACSI, that connects to any atari but F030.

How many IDE devices can I put in the Falcon?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=5826 https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=6924

You can use at least 2 devices without problem. I have 1 CD Burner and 1 HD, both are IDE devices.
You can use 2 ide device on the f030. Remember to set the boot drive as Master, and PC/TOS drive as slave.
You just need a 3-way 44pin IDE cable, one end plug into the motherboard while the 2 other sockets into your IDE devices.

Can I connect a HDD to both a Falcon & PC?

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=8123
Connecting a PC and Falcon to the same SCSI drive is supposed to be possible. Both controllers and hard disk drivers need to support SCSI Bus Arbitration, and be sure to keep in mind that the PC and Falcon's SCSI interface IDs need to be different.
Thread above details how to do this.