Another Elk to play with - It's a doer upper.

[rubber_jonnie]

@rubber_jonnie it's not a case of having to part with things as such But if the worst happens then my wife would have less stuff of mine to deal with as she has no idea about electronics and retro values.

Understood, and I very much hope it doesn't come to that.

[rubber_jonnie]

Have to say I'm very pleased with the results of the retrobriting, the case and keys look so much better ;)
Before:

IMG20240729125742.jpg

After:

IMG20240803132634.jpg

It's immersion retrobriting for me from now on.

Just waiting on a speaker, some case screws and a proper replacement for Q7 as I used an equivalent, but I don't think it's quite right.

[JezC]

@JezC no rush mate, I have a couple of C64Cs, a couple of breadbins and even a couple of C128s that I should really part with as my C64 obsession was getting a bit much :lol:

Ok, maybe something to discuss if you can make it to CL 3? I'm most likely dropping my wife & daughter off on the way to look round a university, so I may be less resistant to temptation (as long as any additional kit is small enough to be 'lost' amongst whatever else I take down/bring back.

Maybe we should continue this in a different topic?

:threadjacked:

Oops - too late :lol: ;)

[JezC]

@rubber_jonnie it's not a case of having to part with things as such But if the worst happens then my wife would have less stuff of mine to deal with as she has no idea about electronics and retro values.

Understood, and I very much hope it doesn't come to that.

+1 from me on this!

[rubber_jonnie]

Hmm, interesting.

So I had finished testing of the scabby Elk, and unplugged the ElkSD 64 card, and it won't boot to BASIC. Or rather it will, but it misbehaves, as though there is a keyboard issue.

OK, so I take the original Acorn ULA out and drop in mogwaay's replacement and it works just fine. OK, let's see if the ULA has gone bad and drop the original ULA into my spare mainboard.

Works just fine and dandy, and the Elk WSS diagroms show nothing wrong at all. Interestingly the Acorn ULA originated in the machine it now works perfectly in.

A bit strange, but as long as swapping ULAs around ends up with both machines working, then it's all good, and I still have Budgies ULA replacement to build as well.

The other interesting thing is that the display flickered in my test mainboard with mogwaay's ULA in fast mode, but it doesn't in this one.

Seems like perhaps these machines all have individual peculiarities.

[rubber_jonnie]

OK, so the Elk thread is finished for now :)

At least I hope it is :)

Here are all three:

IMG20240808084058.jpg

The one on the left is my original, now with it's original repaired mainboard (That took 3 years to fix...) It's in original un-retrobrited condition and I think looks great considering.

The two on the right were my backup machines, but I think they's come up great having been submersion retrobrited. Of the two on the right, the lower one used to look like this compared to the one on the left:

Brown_Elk.jpg

The one with the 'Slogger' sticker was somewhere between the two in terms of browning, but I think the overall result is great and looks even better in person. They keys in particular have turned out excellent.

I have an ST that I tried to retrobrite years ago and it turned out all patchy, so I may try that one again, plus a really brown example I have. I just need some more hydrogen peroxide to turn up and for the sun to stay shining and bright :)

[rubber_jonnie]

OK, so this saga isn't quite over yet...

The yellow output has become so pale it's almost white, so given my last colour issue, a lack of red, was down to IC15, I'm prepared to put money on it being the same problem.

Given RGB output is clear, colourful and sharp I know it isn't the Jamsoft ULA replacement, so time to see if I have any spare 74LS86's in the parts drawer.

Which reminds me, I need a better solution for storing my 74LS ICs, it's getting a bit hard to find any one IC these days...

[stephen_usher]

The problem is that there are so many types and variations.

Do you separate LS/S/HCT/HC etc etc etc or lump them int he same container? Or do you lump chips together if they're in the same number range, so 274s and 275s live in the same house?

Impractical to have several hundred draws.

[rubber_jonnie]

The problem is that there are so many types and variations.

Do you separate LS/S/HCT/HC etc etc etc or lump them int he same container? Or do you lump chips together if they're in the same number range, so 274s and 275s live in the same house?

Impractical to have several hundred draws.

I have one drawer and all of them go in there in separate packages, so I have to dig through each and every time I want to find something. It was OK when I had a small number of parts, but horribly impractical now, and yes, I separate LS/S/HCT/HC etc but I really need something better. I think if they were all in tubes that would help, but I have probably about 50/50 tubes vs bags atm.

I think probably a system where they are separated by range, so like you say 274s & 275s etc together, so at least I have a smaller target area to look in.

[stephen_usher]

What I've started to do is use the four by three sets of 0.3L "Really Useful Boxes", lined them with conductive paint and put the chips in there.

IMG_3671.JPG

Admittedly, I've nowhere completed this. (Picture is from early in the process.)