exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

They didn't seem to colour code the wires on the power supply did they. Blue, blue, with blue and blue. I'm guessing the brown may be GND. :-)

stephen_usher wrote: 18 May 2020 11:52 They didn't seem to colour code the wires on the power supply did they. Blue, blue, with blue and blue. I'm guessing the brown may be GND. :-)

Yeah, I reckon they got a good deal on blue and brown/orange wire for that batch of machines! Literally everything is those colours, including all the keyboard and display wiring. And none of it is ribbon cable, it's all individual wires to plugs.

And how many screws?

Well, I just installed the FPU into my Mega STE, and it is probably the least exciting upgrade I've done. Ever. And I've done a lot of upgrades over the years!

However, there are some more upgrades to be found here that look considerably more entertaining: https://forum.atari-home.de/index.php/t ... 623.0.html

And for my next trick :)

stephen_usher wrote: 18 May 2020 11:52 They didn't seem to colour code the wires on the power supply did they. Blue, blue, with blue and blue. I'm guessing the brown may be GND. :-)

I managed to find a PSU pinout for the Alt386 over the weekend:

1. +5v
2. +5v
3. +12v
4. -12v
5. -24v
6. GND
7. GND

Everything is fine but +24v which is only showing +17v. I need to try and find a schematic, though I may just replace the capacitors as a starting point and see what's what.

On another subject, the Mega STE, I have been having a play around over the weekend, and wow it feels snappy with the cache on at 16Mhz :)

I also decided after hooking up the CosmosEx, which worked brilliantly, I will most likely order an internal Ultrasatan and adapter from Lotharek. One thing I did like with CosmosEx was the feature to set the clock on boot, so I can do away with a battery entirely.

Since the Ultrasatan also has a clock, that will similarly allow me to use the clock from that and leave the internal battery disconnected.

I'd seriously consider fitting the CosmosEx internally, but there is the small problem of the access hatch. Mine has the non HDD hatch which means it is really deep moulded plastic with no facility to mount anything. If I could get a new hatch it would be a different matter, but at least the internal US is small enough to hide somewhere internally.

rubber_jonnie wrote: 26 May 2020 09:57 One thing I did like with CosmosEx was the feature to set the clock on boot, so I can do away with a battery entirely.

Since the Ultrasatan also has a clock, that will similarly allow me to use the clock from that and leave the internal battery disconnected.

"A man with one watch knows what time it is. A man with two is never sure." :lol:

derkom wrote: 26 May 2020 10:16

rubber_jonnie wrote: 26 May 2020 09:57 One thing I did like with CosmosEx was the feature to set the clock on boot, so I can do away with a battery entirely.

Since the Ultrasatan also has a clock, that will similarly allow me to use the clock from that and leave the internal battery disconnected.

"A man with one watch knows what time it is. A man with two is never sure." :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Well, on a non ST related subject, my workbench PC, only recently set up, suddenly lost all display.

I pulled the lid off to find this:


Which was slightly disappointing.

One of the spring loaded retainer pins had pinged off, and the other had pulled the heatsink down on one side. Card is now dead and has a slight curve due to overheating. I could try and fix by trying to reball it, but just not worth the time and effort.

Thanks to giant parts bin that is eBay I have a replacement on the way for under £10, and I can use the crappy integrated card in the meantime.

glue it on ;)

exxos wrote: 05 Jun 2020 15:09glue it on ;)

I bet that duck tape you used would work wonders in this situation. :D Unless you used it all.

I did repair it, but I still haven't found the missing plastic pin, though the spring was in the bottom of the case.

However, too late, the heat has had its way, and no amount of duct tape will be fixing this puppy.

On a positive note, the heatsink and fan still work, and backplate is still good....