MORE OPTIONAL PROGRAMS


This documentation details additional low-resolution programs that are included
with the 8KB BalcheckHR package.

To execute these programs, press the system reset button, then press the
specific key indicated below to run the desired program.



Press key        Executes this program
after reset

    7         Crash Test (10 Fish) Demo

    9         MCM Design Title Page

    A         New Checkmate Demo

    B         Test Dual Display, Display Test Patterns

    D         Test User RAM 6000-7FFF

    E         Test User RAM 8000-FFFF

    TUR       Test User RAM with User Set Up

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CRASH TEST (10 FISH) DEMO

This demo is a variation of Bit Fiddler's Goldfish demo, moving around the entire
screen area, 7 small fish and 3 large fish. A hours, minutes and seconds elapsed
timer is displayed at the bottom of the screen. This demo can be used to check if
a motherboard will run perfectly for a long period of time without crashing or
displaying gliches. An optional background color can be selected by pressing any
key in the keypad rightmost column. The magic XOR function is used to write and
blank the fish.

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NEW CHECKMATE DEMO

The demo is a variation of the on-board ROM Checkmate. New vivid colors are used.
The demo runs 100 rounds nonstop. There is no pausing "pizza break"."DEMO OVER"
is displayed at the end of the demo instead of "GAME OVER". A collision produces
a new flashing screen.

This is a demo only, with no joystick control. The revised Checkmate program was
relocated to 3BCB-3FFFH with the program start at 3ED0. The program is executable
via C3 D0 3E at 2000H or a menu linked list.

The new Checkmate is useable to test a motherboard for graphic action perfection.
It is a pleasant audio/video experience from a Bally/Astrocade.

The demo's program is straight forward. Checkmate's original programming is very
smart and innovative. Since the moving graphic patterns are only 1x4 bytes in
area, no vector block or routine is required. No magic RAM pixel shifting is
used either, just magic "OR" and screen blank writes for motion and arrow
rotation.

Hope you enjoy the new version.
MCM DESIGN

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TEST DUAL DISPLAY, DISPLAY SCREEN TEST PATTERNS

The dual 7-segment display counts up from 00 to FF in hexadecimal and then 
repeats. Three test patterns are also displayed repetitively during the up count.

Note one of the test patterns has some "texturing" within a vertical bar.

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USER RAM TEST ROUTINES

These routines are intended for use with MCM Design's hi-res Astrocade. However,
they may be utilized for a standard low-res motherboard with a user add-on, IF
the user can provide a 50 pin ribbon cable adapter allowing the BalcheckHR board
plus user RAM add-on to simultaneously interface with the motherboard. The user
RAM for the hi-res Astrocade uses three 74LS245 buffers for the memory address
A0-A15 and data D0-D7 bus lines. Note also that the BalcheckHR board utilizes
the BUZOFF (active low) line wired to the motherboard 50 pin expansion. This
line is necessary when the BalcheckHR EEPROM is selected to run its remote
on-board ROM program. So, if your user RAM add-on also utilizes a BUZOFF line,
to prevent a data conflict, you may need to run the two BUZOFF lines from the
BalcheckHR board and the user RAM add-on to a logic gate. Then, wire the output
of the logic gate to the BUZOFF line on the Bally/Astrocade motherboard.

The 3 routines are:

A. Test user RAM 6000-7FFF.
B. Test user RAM 8000-FFFF.
C. Test user RAM with RAM start address, bank size and bank number, user
   selectable via keypad inputs. Minimum bank size (or bank address area) is 1KB.

An error found during the test will be reported on the dual display with an error
code sequence as follows:


04 error code

][

data error*

HE

LP

1.9 sec blank display


* The data error is reported the same as a screen RAM error. See the
  BalcheckHR user manual doc "Error Reports" for details.


The RAM tests will continue repeatedly incrementing the test pass number output
to the dual display, unless an error is reported or the system reset button is
pressed.




TEST USER RAM (TUR) WITH USER SET UP

You can use this routine to test static or dynamic RAM in the range 5000-FFFFH.

The start address of user RAM is entered first. For example, if user RAM
consisted of two 16KB banks of the type 4116 dynamic RAM addressed 6000-9FFFH
and A000-DFFFH respectively, then the start address for user RAM would be
6000H.

The bank size is then entered next. Permitted entries are 01, 02, 04, 08, 10,
20 or 40H (1,2,4,8,16,32 or 64K bytes). In the above example, 10H would be
entered for a 16K bank.

Finally, the bank number is entered. In the above example, 01 would be entered
to test the first 16K bank addressed 6000-9FFFH or 02 would be entered to test
the second 16K bank addressed A000-DFFFH.

The memory allocation of the bank of user RAM selected to be tested is then
displayed on the screen.

The dual display will initialize to 00 and will increment by one, each time a
bank of user RAM is tested, unless an error is reported.

The approximate time required to test one bank of user RAM, with no errors, is
listed below.

Bank
Size    Test Time

 1K      1.2 sec

 2K      2.5

 4K      5.0

 8K      10.0

 16K     20.0

 32K     39.0

 64K*    54.0 sec

* One 64K bank of user RAM is assumed to be addressed only 5000-FFFFH (only
  44K is utilized). The start address and bank size are defined as 5000H and
  40H respectively.

You can optionally test, for example, just 1KB within a specific area of RAM to
see if that particular area of memory is functioning perfectly. Since this test
takes only 1.2 sec, you can run multiple tests in the selected area for a long
period of time to see if an error occurs.

The dual display will reset to zero after it reaches 99 test passes. Testing of
a bank of user RAM repeats automatically unless an error is reported or the
system reset button is pressed. If the dual display stops incrementing for an
unusual amount of time, an error has been detected and there will likely be a
delay in reporting of the error.



End of document
MCM DESIGN
Dec 2018