ST536 assembled interests (canceled)

[exxos]

Even with a relocator it won’t fit under the keyboard. I have experience with this and the original TF536, documented elsewhere.

That's what I mean.. I did the STE relocator PCB but it still is too tall for under the keyboard.

[HigashiJun]

Even with a relocator it won’t fit under the keyboard. I have experience with this and the original TF536, documented elsewhere.

That's what I mean.. I did the STE relocator PCB but it still is too tall for under the keyboard.

Would it fit with the TF536 directly soldered to the relocator, ie without any socket between ?

[arti040]

I think I should point out / remind people that it's not going to fit in a original case unless you have a H5 motherboard that is.

While there is a relocater for the STE, it's too tall to fit under the keyboard properly . With the STFM there's even less room and about 400 motherboard revisions. So doing separate relocators for all the boards just isn't viable.

Well that's the issue... :-( I got another question - problem is that relocator isn't perfect and I could, for example, design my own, to move the card more back in the Atari case or there is absolutely none of possibility to fit the card inside?

[exxos]

Would it fit with the TF536 directly soldered to the relocator, ie without any socket between ?

Unfortunalty even without the STE relocator it still wouldn't fit. The whole thing is about 1cm to tall. On the Veloce they soldered the CPU direct on the board to get it all to fit. I guess if everything was stripped down it might fit. But the IDE connector would still be in the way of the keyboard. A relocator for that might work.

[exxos]

Well that's the issue... :-( I got another question - problem is that relocator isn't perfect and I could, for example, design my own, to move the card more back in the Atari case or there is absolutely none of possibility to fit the card inside?

It's possible to physically fit I guess. But with longer relocators and extensions, I'd imagine there may be stability issues.

With having so many projects on the go, I don't have time to figure it all out unfortunately, it probably needs someone with time and creative talents to figure it out.

[HigashiJun]

Would it fit with the TF536 directly soldered to the relocator, ie without any socket between ?

Unfortunalty even without the STE relocator it still wouldn't fit. The whole thing is about 1cm to tall. On the Veloce they soldered the CPU direct on the board to get it all to fit. I guess if everything was stripped down it might fit. But the IDE connector would still be in the way of the keyboard. A relocator for that might work.

Thanks exxos for this information.

I would be in for one if the TF536 could fit under the keyboard.

What a pity !

[PhilC]

I do have a few ideas how it can all be made to fit together after seeing how the ST536 fits into other computers. I can likely come up with a few suggestions for people to try but wouldn't have the time to try it myself unfortunately.

[exxos]

If people are expecting this to fit in the case on original machines,then I think I will abandon this project. It is better suited for the H4/H5 platform. As said before, with so many STFM variations I would have to design and come up with multiple solutions which is a limited number of people interested in things to start with would not be worth the time and effort to go to the trouble of designing a board which only one or two people will ever buy.

As for the STE. I think this is why people tend to only do upgrades for this machine. Aside from them been technically easier than the STFM because of various issues, the STE tends to be a standard form factor.

The TF536 board which I adapted better for the Atari was just to bring a low-cost 030 solution as there was basically nothing out there. It took a lot longer than my had originally anticipated. I really treated it as more of a "weekend project". Of course a few people showed interest which was why I continued it further. As originally there was basically zero interest until like a year later. But even so, the interest in accelerators does seem to be extremely low to start with.

The only solution would be for me to redesign the board to specifically fit the STE. Unfortunately with lack of time and my R.S.I. I cannot really do such work any more. I will probably have to find someone & pay them to adapt the board. But again with developing more prototypes and more costs, I am not sure it would really be worth it if only 5-10 people would be interested.

Meanwhile the birdseed boards are still in the store people want to build up their own and experiment.

https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/store2/#0220

[stephen_usher]

This is the lowest I could get the original ST536, relocating as far back as possible...

IMG_2082.jpg

As you can see it's still almost a centimetre too high.

I had to build an external keyboard unit using an old case.

[PhilC]

As @exxos has just said, fitting the boards into any old machine is troublesome.

For instance:

They will fit in a typical short ST but would need to either fit a relocator to bring it further forward and then to the right of the case or stack a few 68k sockets on top of one another but both cases leave you needing to relocate the IDE header which can be fitted to the bottom of the board but then leave you with a non standard cable configuration for the IDE.

The board will fit in a Mega ST and it will work fine but will require mandatory fixes and a bit of timing bodging by fitting caps, pull-ups etc BUT the Mega ST is such an unreliable machine in the first place block wise, so it doesn’t make for a reliable and stable system.

STFMs have so many different configurations and cpu socket placements that it becomes difficult to know what to use for cpu relocation. Again mandatory fixes are required but in the end there are still no guarantees that the board will even boot, even using special slowed down firmware.

Now I like my H5s and the boards do fit fine in them with use of a few stacked cpu sockets but obviously not everyone can afford an H5 unfortunately.

I’m also going to try it in the ATX Atari once I’ve built it.

I do have an STe but it maybe gets used once a year and actual demand for an accelerator for them is very limited, so whilst I have a few ideas on how to get it to fit it’s not worth the little bit of time I have these days.