exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

Thanks for the pics @PhilC

I guess fitting a VOFA card is out of the question then! :lol:

It looks like a twin shifter board might fit over the shifter...I cant see but it *looks* socketed. Is that correct? (BTW, whats the grey thing/mod north of the shifter?!)

Its a darn shame about the IDE height. Like mentioned, could really have done with the headers under the board instead.

This might sound like a silly question, but is the TF board socketed or have you soldered it in?

If not, that might be another possible solution, if you can figure the lowered height problem this then presents at the top/connectors end. :roll:

@mrbombermillzy Agranlund did a crazy card which had a TF536, hand wired ISA graphics adaptor and a blitter. But otherwise, I don't think one will fit.

If you put the IDE on the bottom as it is, it flips the polarity of the IDE, pin 1 being pin 2 position etc But yes, would be great on the bottom but would need a lot of re-routing to do so easily.

One of the Amiga guys did do a Relocator for the IDE on Amiga but that wouldn't help in this case.

Sorry, was completely joking about the VOFA card. However, kudos to @agranlund for actually pulling it off! :lol:

Yeah, I realise the IDE signals would be swapped. There always seems to be a routing issue, whatever you do. Like exxos says, on another board, if the IDE header was actually on the bottom, it might e.g hit an IC.

Didnt @Steve have a setup like this? Did he encounter this problem and find a solution?

mrbombermillzy wrote: 27 Feb 2025 11:25 Sorry, was completely joking about the VOFA card. However, kudos to @agranlund for actually pulling it off! :lol:

Yeah, I realise the IDE signals would be swapped. There always seems to be a routing issue, whatever you do. Like exxos says, on another board, if the IDE header was actually on the bottom, it might e.g hit an IC.

Didnt @Steve have a setup like this? Did he encounter this problem and find a solution?

Yeah it might if you fit it underneath. I think if it was moved back a bit it would still be fine for other ST boards as well, other than the STF&M which would require a Relocator to miss the Shifter box anyway.

PhilC wrote: 27 Feb 2025 11:29 I think if it was moved back a bit it would still be fine for other ST boards as well

Well yeah, that would do the trick. :)

However, Im not sure if Im missing something here, but wouldnt this be a difficult task? Change the board design, remanufacture the board(s) and then resolder/setup the components?!

Or does Exxos tweak/remanufacture boards very often and you are his main ST536 builder? In which case, maybe not so much hassle! :lol:

Yeah for my short ST I followed what @coonsgm did and soldered the IDE header on the bottom.

Steve wrote: 27 Feb 2025 11:55 Yeah for my short ST I followed what @coonsgm did and soldered the IDE header on the bottom.

How did you get over the pins being in the wrong place?

mrbombermillzy wrote: 27 Feb 2025 11:06 I guess fitting a VOFA card is out of the question then! :lol:

If there’s a will there’s a way :) ”some assembly required”

agranlund wrote: 27 Feb 2025 12:06

mrbombermillzy wrote: 27 Feb 2025 11:06 I guess fitting a VOFA card is out of the question then! :lol:

If there’s a will there’s a way :)
IMG_3437.jpeg

”some assembly required”
IMG_3438.jpeg

Good grief!

:dizzy:

:lol:

PhilC wrote: 27 Feb 2025 12:04

Steve wrote: 27 Feb 2025 11:55 Yeah for my short ST I followed what @coonsgm did and soldered the IDE header on the bottom.

How did you get over the pins being in the wrong place?

I think I had to desolder the header on the CF card and resolder them on the underside too.