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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : I built the FrankOS , needs work (and lots of ram)

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gadgetjack
Senior Member

Joined: 15/07/2016
Location: United States
Posts: 208
Posted: 10:59pm 12 Mar 2026
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I threw the FrankOS project together to see how it works. I am not yet impressed. I did not have a psram ic on my core board so not much runs, no mmbasic at all. It really needs the extra ram. Screen display is very stable , could not get the mouse to work , the keyboard is ok. I have a few PSRAM chips ordered to try again. Will report after the ram arrives.
 
gadgetjack
Senior Member

Joined: 15/07/2016
Location: United States
Posts: 208
Posted: 09:50pm 20 Mar 2026
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UPDATE----
I found the WeAct rp2350b core module that had pads for PSRAM are not all wired in. I chased my tail on this one for days. Out of ideas , I stacked it on the flash with the cs line still going to gp47. Worked first time. Now frankos partially works. There are a few apps on the MOS2 directory that work ok. Stephans basic runs and a few utility programs are ok (the psram app verifies my memory is ok).Still no mmbasic. All programs in the FOS directory freeze and then reboot the machine. I was about to give up , I will try a bit more now.
 
lizby
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Joined: 17/05/2016
Location: United States
Posts: 3742
Posted: 11:34pm 20 Mar 2026
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  gadgetjack said  I found the WeAct rp2350b core module that had pads for PSRAM are not all wired in




If you're talking about the one above, I've soldered PSRAM on two of them and they're working fine.
PicoMite, Armmite F4, SensorKits, MMBasic Hardware, Games, etc. on FOTS
 
dddns
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Joined: 20/09/2024
Location: Germany
Posts: 821
Posted: 11:53am 21 Mar 2026
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Sorry for OT, but the new PGA2350  gives all freedom you need when using the board for own designs. To place bootsel and USB wherever you like plus 8MB PSRAM and A4 stepping.

Regards
 
lizby
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Joined: 17/05/2016
Location: United States
Posts: 3742
Posted: 01:05pm 21 Mar 2026
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  gadgetjack said  PSRAM ... I stacked it on the flash with the cs line still going to gp47.


Does this mean you can do it with essentially any RP2350 board? Like this?


With CS lifted and wired to GP0?
PicoMite, Armmite F4, SensorKits, MMBasic Hardware, Games, etc. on FOTS
 
dddns
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Joined: 20/09/2024
Location: Germany
Posts: 821
Posted: 01:10pm 21 Mar 2026
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@Javavi showed it first
 
Mixtel90

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Joined: 05/10/2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 8769
Posted: 12:21pm 22 Mar 2026
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Well, it's possible because it's been done. It's fiddly though. Personally I prefer to just use a PGA2350 because it's much easier. :)
Mick

Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini
Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs
 
gadgetjack
Senior Member

Joined: 15/07/2016
Location: United States
Posts: 208
Posted: 09:01pm 22 Mar 2026
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Rather than waste the work building for the frankos computer , I loaded it with his other software for the super nintendo system. Now THAT works great!! I will wait till the bugs are worked out of the frank system.
 
bfwolf
Senior Member

Joined: 03/01/2025
Location: Germany
Posts: 235
Posted: 02:40pm 23 Mar 2026
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  gadgetjack said  Rather than waste the work building for the frankos computer , I loaded it with his other software for the super nintendo system. Now THAT works great!! I will wait till the bugs are worked out of the frank system.


I saw yesterday that the author has been quite active in the last few days and has committed new files. There's also something about "memory leaks" in the commit comments.

It seems it's worth waiting for more stable versions.
 
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