CDTV Technical Information

by Darren Ewaniuk
Last Updated July 5, 1997

Quick Links within this document:
[Introduction] [Peripherals][Software Tricks] [Workbench 2][Memory Map] [Hardware Pinouts][Hardware Hacks] [Manufacturers][Acknowledgments]

Introduction:

I've done a number of hardware hacks for the CDTV, and have been frequently answeringtechnical questions about it. I've been wanting to try writing a"real" web page, and think a technical info FAQ about theCDTV would both provide me with some experience, and the Amiga communitywith some useful information. So here it is.

CDTV Peripherals:

The CDTV comes without much in the way of peripherals. It can be expandedto about the equivalent of an A500. Here is a list of some peripheralsthat work for the CDTV:

Display:

The CDTV has a number of output ports to connect toone form of display or another.

First, on the back panel of the CDTV is a complete 23-pin Amiga video outputconnector. A standard Amiga monitor or video device such as a DCTV or genlockcan be attached to this port.One note about this port is that its input comes from the video card'soutput. For the cards available for the CDTV, this doesn't matter, but Ithink it was a good design decision, since this means that you wouldbe able to view the output of the video card without extra connectors,cabling or switchboxes. However, it also means that if you remove thevideo output module from the CDTV, you won't see anything coming out theCDTV's video port either.

The unique thing about the CDTV is that its video outputs are on aremoveable module, so that you can replace the module with a different oneif you need more functionality. This module can be seen at the back leftof the CDTV, and is secured in place with two scews. The followingmodules were designed for the CDTV's video slot.

RF-Output module

CD1300 Genlock module

CD1312 SCART RGB Module

This is a SCART video module for the CDTV. This is available from

W.A.W Elektronik GmbH

CDTV DCTV module

Digital Creations had produced an output-only version of the DCTV boardfor the CDTV's video slot. This board was only available to developersand VAR's for kiosk use.

One interesting thing I found about the video port is that you can makean adaptor cable to use CDTV display modules with a standard Amiga. TheS-Video output especially makes the display module good for use withyour other Amigas for output to a good TV or VCR. Check out thehardware hacks section to find out how to do this.

Floppy Drive Port:

W.A.W. Elektronik GmbH

CD1411

AmigaLink

AmiTrix Development

Serial Port:

The CDTV has a standard RS-232 serial port connector.

MIDI IN and OUT Ports:

These MIDI instrument ports are a part of the standard serial portcircuitry on the CDTV. In other words, you can use your CDTV witha serial device or a MIDI device, but not both at the same time.

Parallel Port:

Parnet

Keyboard:

hardware hacks

Joystick/Mouse Controller Port:

not

CDTV Trackball:

The CDTV Trackball is a keypad with trackball available from Commodore.In addition to the trackball, it provides standard joystick and mouseports to plug in a normal joystick or mouse. The Trackball could also beused in infra-red mode only if you don't plug the cable into the wiredinput.

Brickette:

Brickette

CDTV Wired Mouse:

Commodore came out with a wired mouse that plugs into this connector.

CDTV Infra-red Mouse:

Although this is not for the wired controller port per se, it is analternative. The Infra-red Mouse produced by Commodore turns on bypressing a button on its side, after which you can use it. It turns offafter a couple minutes of inactivity.

Memory Card:

not

addmem

hardware pinouts

DMA Expansion Slot:

DMA expansion slot

SCSI-TV:

SCSI-TV

AmiTrix Development

W.A.W. CDTV to SCSI:

W.A.W. Elektronik GmbH

TOMS SCSI Interface:

TOMS in Warsaw, Poland has a SCSI interface. It's a very small cardthat fits in the back of the CDTV providing the user with a standardDB25 SCSI connector.

Internal Expansion Options:

Diagnostic connector

MegaChip:

MegaChip

Bigram CD:

W.A.W. Elektronik

Bigram CD

Bigram CD 8:

W.A.W. Elektronik

diagnostic

ELSAT CDTV Memory Expansion board:

MagazynAMIGA

ELBOX Memory Expansion board:

Magazyn AMIGA

68010 Processor:

really

Turbo CD:

W.A.W. Elektronik GmbH

Turbo-CD

AdSpeed:

To add a bit of extra accelleration to your CDTV, you can get anAdSpeed. This replaces your CDTV's 7 MHz 68000 with a 14 MHz 68000with a bit of cache. One warning, however, is that for some peopleusing this, the CDTV's CD-ROM drive doesn't work at the fast speed.

Derringer 68030:

To add a lot of extra horsepower and memory to your CDTV, you canreplace the 68000 with a Derringer 68030 board (meant for the A500).The board is too high to put the CDTV's lid back on, so you will haveto run your CDTV without its lid, or modify/make a new case to fit.As with the AdSpeed above, your CD-ROM drive will probably not operatereliably with the accellerator board activated.

AdIDE:

AdIDE

Software Tips and Tricks

Front Panel Time Display

The front panel time display on the CDTV is controlled by the clockchip on the CDTV. The clock chip is refreshed by the main poweras long as the power cord is plugged in, whether the CDTV's power switch is on or off (not a battery like the A500 or A2000 clock).Otherwise it is the same chip in the same memory location as a standardA500 or A2000 clock.
To change the display for your own programs, all you have to do iswrite the time to the clock registers (see the A500/A2000 TechnicalReference Manual). Of course, in doing this, you change thebacked up time as well, so when you're done, you probably shouldrestore the clock from the system time (I.E. using setclock save).

CDTV Memory Map

000000-0FFFFF Chip memory100000-1FFFFF Space for extra chip memory (Megachip)200000-9FFFFF Space for AutoConfig memoryA00000-BFFFFF CIA chipsC00000-C7FFFF Space for slow-fast memoryC80000-DBFFFF SpaceDC0000-DC7FFF Power backed-up real time clockDC8000-DC87FF Non-volatile RAMDC8800-DCFFFF Space in non-volatile RAM decoded areaDD0000-DEFFFF SpaceDF0000-DFFFFF Custom chipsE00000-E7FFFF Memory card address space for front panel memory cardE80000-E8FFFF AutoConfig configuration spaceE90000-E9FFFF First AutoConfig device, used by DMACEA0000-EFFFFF Space for other AutoConfig devicesF00000-F3FFFF CDTV ROMF40000-F7FFFF Space in CDTV ROM decoded areaF80000-FBFFFF Space in Kickstart ROM decoded area (used by Kickstart 2)FC0000-FFFFFF Kickstart ROM

Workbench 2 and the CDTV

The CDTV uses a standard 16-bit Kickstart 1.3 ROM in socket U13, exactly the same as theROM in a 2000 or 500, with an additional pair of 8-bit EPROMs in sockets U34 and U35 containingthe CDTV-specific code such as the audio player and the CD-ROM filesystem.

The CDTV-specific code wedges into the Kickstart 1.3 ROMs and executes onstartup. Because of some changes made to Kickstart 2, the CDTV codedoes not start up correctly, thus the 2 Kickstart ROM will not work,even though it is electrically compatible with the old Kickstart 1.3 ROM.

Official solution to running Workbench 2

There is a solution to this problem, which entails disabling the CDTVfunctions. This will allow Kickstart 2.0 to work with the CDTV, at theexpense of the CD-ROM drive. This does work in conjunction with aROM switcher, though, so you could have Kickstart 1.3 and the CDTV functionsintact, or you can switch to Kickstart 2.0, losing the CD-ROM drive.

To do this, open the CDTV up, and remove the jumper on JP15, which is nearthe front centre of the CDTV. Removing this jumper disables the CDTV functions,placing it on the left two or right two pins (it doesn't matter which) willenable the CDTV functions. You could put a SPST switch across the left twoor right two pins, and use that in conjunction with your ROM switcher toturn off and on the CDTV functions at the appropriate time. Remove theKickstart 1.3 ROM from socket U13, which is near the back centre of the CDTV. Place the Kickstart 1.3 ROM in your ROM switcher along with the2.0 ROM, and put the ROM switcher back in the Kickstart socket U13.

To use Kickstart 1.3 and the CD-ROM drive, enable the CDTV functions byflipping the switch to on, then select the Kickstart 1.3 ROM on yourswitcher.

To use Kickstart 2.0, disable the CDTV functions by flipping theswitch to off, then select the Kickstart 2.0 ROM on your switcher.

Of course, enabling or disabling the CDTV functions should be done with the CDTV power off.

Developer EPROMs

Commodore at one time did have a fixed set of CDTV EPROMsthat worked with Workbench 2. These replace the EPROMs in sockets U34 and U35, and allowthe use of a standard Kickstart 2.04/2.05 ROM in the CDTV. The bad news is that whenthey were available, they were only available to developers, and were included underthe non-disclosure agreement. This essentially means that they were never availableto the public, and that developers could not sell their ROMs to the public evenif they are no longer using them. Being a CDTV developer forAmiTrix Development, I havea set of these EPROMs in my CDTV, which does work quite nicely under Workbench 2.1,although older CDTV products like Lemmings don't run because of Workbench 2.However, since these assets now belong to Amiga Technologies GmbH, withoutpermission from them, it will be illegal to sell or otherwise distribute these,so don't ask me for them, please!

TOMS Kickstart 3 Adaptor

TOMS in Warsaw, Poland has devised some method of using Kickstart 3.xROMs with the CDTV. ContactRafel Wiosna <rafamiga@polbox.com.pl>for more information.

W.A.W. Elektronik CD Bios

W.A.W. Elektronik has two products to allow you torun Kickstart 2.x with your CDTV.

CD BIOS is a replacement for U34 and U35 which allows youto use a standard Kickstart 2.04 or up ROM on your CDTV. This optioncosts 65 DM.

CDTV OS2.x includes the CD BIOS above plus the KickstartROM if you don't have a spare Kickstart 2.04 ROM. This costs 100 DM.

They also have a Kickstart switcher, CD-Kick which allowsyou to switch between two ROMs. This is 40 DM.

Hardware Pinouts

Memory Card Port

This slot is for Commodore memory card modules. This is nota PCMCIA slot. This slot is located on the CDTV front panel behind aremoveable cover.

Connector:

          1111111111222222222233333333334 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890+----------------------------------------+|OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|+----------------------------------------+ 1=D0        2=D1        3=D2        4=D3        5=D4        6=D5 7=D6        8=D7        9=D8       10=D9       11=D10      12=D1113=D12      14=D13      15=D14      16=D15      17=A1       18=A219=A3       20=A4       21=A5       22=A6       23=A7       24=A825=A9       26=A10      27=A11      28=A12      29=A13      30=A1431=A15      32=A16      33=A17      34=R/W      35=/CSMCOD  36=/CSMCEN37=VCC      38=GND      39=A18(#)   40=A19(#)

Signal Description:

/CSMCOD: Chip Select for Memory Card odd bytes
/CSMCEN: Chip Select for Memory Card even bytes

D0-D15: 68000 Data Bus

A0-A19: 68000 Address Bus (#=not connected on stock CDTV)

Short J16 to connect A18 to the processor address bus
Short J17 to connect A19 to the processor address bus

Note: The memory card decode logic only decodes the $E00000-$E7FFFF address space.To obtain a 1M address space, and make A19 useable, you will have to relocatethe memory card address space and modify the decoding logic somewhat (see the

hardware hacks

R/W: 68000 Read/Write - high for read, low for write

VCC: +5V
GND: Ground

Video Slot:

This slot houses video display card modules. CDTV systems comewith the Standard RF-Modulator installed in this slot.This slot is at the back left of the CDTV, and can be seen once thevideo display card is removed.

Connector:

 2  4  6  8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1  3  5  7  9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29   0.1" spacing double-row edge connector          viewed from back of CDTV 1=GND       2=GND       3=XCLK      4=R         5=/XCLKEN   6=BR 7=GND       8=G         9=GMS0     10=BG       11=GMS1     12=B13=/PIXELSW 14=BB       15=VSYNC    16=CSYNC    17=HSYNC    18=BCSYNC19=GND      20=AUDR     21=DGND     22=AUDL     23=-12V     24=DGND25=+12V     26=/CD/TV   27=VCC      28=/CCK     29=GND      30=VCC

Signal Description:

R, G, B: Analog Red, Green and Blue signals going into the video card

BR,BG,BB: Buffered Analog Red, Green and Blue signals coming out of the video card

VSYNC: Vertical sync signal going into the video card
HSYNC: Horizontal sync signal going into the video card
CSYNC: Composite Sync signal going into the video card
BCSYNC: Buffered Composite Sync signal coming out of the video card

/CCK: 3.58 MHz colour clock (C1 clock)

XCLK: External Genlock Clock in
/XCLKEN: Enables External Clock on XCLK pin when asserted (output to CDTV, active low)
/PIXELSW: Indicates when pixel should come from CDTV or external input (Genlock)
GMS0, GMS1: TTL input from CDTV, selects genlock modes when genlock button pressed

/CD/TV: TTL input signal from CDTV, controls RF-Modulator

AUDL, AUDR: Left and Right channel audio inputs to RF Modulator

VCC: +5V
+12V: Obvious
-12V: Supposed to be -12V, but could be -5V (check first!)
GND: Video ground
DGND: Digital ground for TTL signals

Expansion Slot:

This slot is meant for DMA expansion devices, such as hard disk controllers.You should also be able to use it for other DMA devices such as networkcards, audio codec cards, or anything else you can dream up. It alreadyincludes Intel-style /IOR, /IOW, and interrupt lines for PC-style I/O devices.Its limitations are that it only includes 8 bit I/O, and has only 8address lines, and is not well oriented to general I/O. It is connectedto DMAC in the CDTV, which is the same DMA controller as what is in the2091/590 hard disk controller. DMAC in the CDTV controls the customCD-ROM drive, plus whatever hardware you install in the DMA Expansionslot. Note that this is not a complete SCSI slot, as you will needto add the necessary SCSI controller and other components on yourexpansion card to complete it.This slot is located to the right of the Video slot, and can be accessedby removing the panel labelled "Expansion".

Connector:

 2  4  6  8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1  3  5  7  9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29   0.1" spacing double-row edge connector          viewed from back of CDTV 1=GND       2=GND       3=VCC       4=VCC       5=SD1       6=SD0 7=SD3       8=SD2       9=SD5      10=SD4      11=SD7      12=SD613=/SDREQ   14=/INTX    15=/CSS     16=/SDACK   17=/IOR     18=/IOW19=A8       20=7M       21=A6       22=A7       23=A4       24=A525=A2       26=A3       27=/IFRST   28=A1       29=GND      30=GND

SD0-SD7: Expansion Slot Data Bus

These are not connected directly to the 68000 data bus. Instead, they areconnected to the data I/O lines of the DMAC chip.
A1-A8: 68000 Address Bus

7M: 68000 7.16 MHz system clock

/IFRST: Reset signal for the Expansion Slot device, active low
/SDREQ: Expansion Slot DMA Request, active low
/SDACK: Expansion Slot DMA Acknowledge, active low
/INTX: Expansion Slot Interrupt Request, active low
/IOR: Intel-style I/O Read, active low
/IOW: Intel-style I/O Write, active low
/CSS: Expansion Slot Chip Select, active low

Output from DMAC, asserted when accessing DMA Expansion Slot device.Since DMAC is AutoConfig, and is always the first device, this willbe in the $E900000-$E9FFFF address space, although you should useFindConfigDev to find it (Manufacturer=$202, Product=$3).

VCC: +5V
GND: Ground

Diagnostic Slot:

This slot is the equivalent of the side expansion slot of the A500,and includes most signals necessary for serious expansion.This slot is located inside the CDTV, on the right side of themotherboard, and uses a unique 80 pin connector available from KEL.

The connectors that mate with the CDTV motherboard connector areare 8801-080-170S (preferred), 8800-080-170S, or 8802-080-170S.Last time I checked, small quantities (~100) are available in the U.S.from Lo Dan West, (415)592-4600 or 1-800-541-1001.

Connector:

 1=GND       2=GND       3=VCC       4=VCC       5=/CFGOUT(#)6=/CFGIN(#) 7=GND       8=/CCKQ     9=CDAC     10=/CCK     11=/OVR     12=XRDY13=/INT2    14=nc       15=A5       16=/INT6    17=A6       18=A419=GND      20=A3       21=A2       22=A7       23=A1       24=A825=/FC0     26=A9       27=/FC1     28=A10      29=/FC2     30=A1131=GND      32=A12      33=A13      34=/IPL0    35=A14      36=/IPL137=A15      38=/IPL2    39=A16      40=/BERR    41=A17      42=/VPA43=GND      44=E        45=/VMA     46=A18      47=/RST     48=A1949=/HLT     50=A20      51=A22      52=A21      53=A23      54=/BR55=GND      56=/BGACK   57=D15      58=/BG      59=D14      60=/DTACK61=D13      62=R/W      63=D12      64=/LDS     65=D11      66=/UDS67=GND      68=/AS      69=D0       70=D10      71=D1       72=D973=D2       74=D8       75=D3       76=D7       77=D4       78=D679=GND      80=D5

Pins 7 to 80 on the Diagnostic Port are the same aspins 13 to 86 on the 86 pin connector of an A500.

A1-A23: 68000 Address Bus

D0-D15: 68000 Data Bus

R/W: 68000 Read/Write - high for read, low for write
/AS: 68000 Address Strobe, active low
/UDS: 68000 Upper Data Strobe, active low
/LDS: 68000 Lower Data Strobe, active low
/DTACK: 68000 Data Transfer Acknowledge, active low

Note: Normally asserted by Gary. In most cases you would not needto control /DTACK. Wait states should be inserted using XRDY, or, inspecial cases, /OVR./VMA: 68000 Valid Memory Address, active low
/VPA: 68000 Valid Peripheral Address, active low

Note: Automatically asserted by Gary. Do not use for expansion boards.
/BR: 68000 Bus Request, active low
/BG: 68000 Bus Grant, active low
/BGACK: 68000 Bus Grant Acknowledge, active low

CCKQ: 3.58 MHz CCKQ clock (C3)
CCK: 3.58 MHz CCK clock (C1)
CDAC: 7.16 MHz CDAC clock, leads system clock by 90 degrees
E: 68000 E Clock

/FC0-/FC2: 68000 Processor Function Code Status
/BERR: 68000 Bus Error, active low
/HLT: 68000 Halt, active low
/RST: 68000 Reset, active low
/IPL0-/IPL2: 68000 Interrupt Priority Level lines

(Controlled by Paula, expansion board use should be read only)/INT2: Level 2 Interrupt, active low
/INT6: Level 6 Interrupt, active high

/OVR: Override, active low

XRDY: External Ready, active high

/CFGOUT: Configout Autoconfig signal (NOTE: not connected)
/CFGIN: Configin Autoconfig signal (NOTE: always grounded)

NOTE: since there is only one card, /CONFIGOUT is not required andis therefore not connected. What is bad is that /CONFIGIN is permanentlygrounded, even though DMAC is AutoConfig, and comes up first.Any AutoConfig card in the Diagnostic Port connector MUST NOTuse the /CONFIGIN signal to config itself. There are two ways to get aroundthis. First, you can put a jumper to DMAC pin 72 to /CONFIGIN of yourAutoConfig logic, since that signal is available at DMAC (sad really,they had the logic and failed to connect the trace). Or, you can haveyour board look for a config or shutup of DMAC, then assert an internal/CONFIGIN. I have developed PAL equations in ORCAD to do this, whichis described in the

hardware hacks