Sidequest: VGA scan doubler

[Smonson]

I know right! Yeah all the components are on the top side (apart from the through-hole IC socket pins) and it's a two-layer board. The bottom layer is mostly ground.

[exxos]

Looking good! @Smonson :thumbup:

[PaulJ]

Great work @Smonson , thing are really coming along great!

[Smonson]

Just a random thought for the day.

Due to the high price of SRAM, I'd like to go in this direction in the future and just have a MAX 10 device instead of the MAX V and two SRAMs. It works out to be slightly cheaper, and a little simpler (as long as you don't count the utterly ridiculous amount of bypass capacitors these things apparently need) with the extra bonus of being a little faster in theory.

The only problem is these (10M02) are actually impossible to buy. Mouser isn't getting any more until November. Something's always gotta go and ruin the plan. :evil:

vidmod16.png

[exxos]

The only problem is these (10M02) are actually impossible to buy. Mouser isn't getting any more until November. Something's always gotta go and ruin the plan. :evil:

Ah crap :( Yeah parts are getting really hard to find these past few weeks :( Not sure if myself or @Icky might have brought some of these at some point ?

[Smonson]

Ah crap :( Yeah parts are getting really hard to find these past few weeks :( Not sure if myself or @Icky might have brought some of these at some point ?

It's not a deal-breaking problem because I can always just continue with the existing design until then. I'm assuming it's the COVID effect which has impacted the entire semiconductor industry, and it will be eventually back to normal.

[Icky]

The only problem is these (10M02) are actually impossible to buy. Mouser isn't getting any more until November. Something's always gotta go and ruin the plan. :evil:

Ah crap :( Yeah parts are getting really hard to find these past few weeks :( Not sure if myself or @Icky might have brought some of these at some point ?

Yeah @Smonson there seems to be a shortage of chips all round unfortunately. I was purchasing some of these just yesterday and was having similar problems. I have an assorted array of these Max10's and finally managed to sort out the BGA variants yesterday on the Sparkalaphobia.

(as long as you don't count the utterly ridiculous amount of bypass capacitors these things apparently need)

I didn't need to use so many on the Phoenix Shifter or Sparkalaphobia etc when using these.

@Smonson I have some 10M04SCE144's I can send you if you want to test with them but they have a slightly different pinout.

[Steve]

Very elegant design @Smonson !

[Smonson]

@Smonson I have some 10M04SCE144's I can send you if you want to test with them but they have a slightly different pinout.

No need, but thanks for the thought :)

These blue ones work fine... I just need to fix the top edge obstruction for the next version and then I'll be relatively happy.

[Smonson]

My new prototype boards arrived that will fit around the electrolytic capacitors (on my two boards, anyway). I went with yellow this time. Of course I prefer desktop-friendly green, but it's good to be able to tell the boards apart when I'm looking through my drawer full of random prototypes...

Here's the fitment into a C070789-001 rev D board:

C070789-001 rev D.jpg

And this is the fitment in a C103414-001 rev 1.1 board:

C103414-001 rev 1.1.jpg

Since the electrolytics aren't obstructing it now, these will fit properly with ordinary machined pins to fit into the shifter socket.

IMG20210725155820.jpg

I'm looking forward to putting a couple of these together but unfortunately it's just way too cold in my garage at the moment (5 degrees) to work with solder paste, it'll be too viscous to flow into the stencil properly. So nothing to do but wait for a better day.