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Re: Sporniket's log on hardware stuff
Posted: 17 Nov 2023 22:03
by sporniket
Re: Sporniket's log on hardware stuff
Posted: 17 Nov 2023 22:08
by sporniket
Installing a connector to IKBD Tx (pressing both shift keys and then a key among F1 to F4 select the ROM image to use)

- 2023-11-12--07-easy-connect-to-ikbd-Tx.jpg (68.33 KiB) Viewed 12697 times
Soldering a wire to the DMA interrupt line

- 2023-11-12--08-hdint.jpg (76.81 KiB) Viewed 12697 times
Sourcing the 16MHz clock, I take advantage of the soldered Shifter. Once again, the recommended via is covered by solder mask on my motherboard, so I preferred that setup instead :

- 2023-11-12--11-wire-fixed.jpg (84.65 KiB) Viewed 12697 times
The 12V power supply for the LED module :

- 2023-11-12--12-12V-rail-on-C108.jpg (56.83 KiB) Viewed 12697 times
Preparation of the LED module (that is also sniffing the IKBD Tx for ROM selection) :

- 2023-11-12--13-led-module-ready.jpg (182.33 KiB) Viewed 12697 times
Re: Sporniket's log on hardware stuff
Posted: 17 Nov 2023 22:11
by sporniket
Time to finish...
Isolating the metallic cans of the various oscillators of the area

- 2023-11-12--14-isolating-the-oscillators.jpg (298.98 KiB) Viewed 12698 times
Removing the ROMS and setting the jumbers

- 2023-11-12--15-removing-roms-configure-jumpers.jpg (252.77 KiB) Viewed 12698 times
Plug the board

- 2023-11-12--16-plug-the-smartboard.jpg (281.2 KiB) Viewed 12698 times
Connect 16MHz

- 2023-11-12--17-solder-16MHz.jpg (270.72 KiB) Viewed 12698 times
Connect the 3-wires connectors (FDD led + DMA int, the red wire is not used, isolated and fixed.)

- 2023-11-12--18-3-wires-connector.jpg (226.47 KiB) Viewed 12698 times
Re: Sporniket's log on hardware stuff
Posted: 17 Nov 2023 22:15
by sporniket
Connect the 6-wires connector

- 2023-11-12--19-6-wires-connector.jpg (58.13 KiB) Viewed 12697 times
Connect the 10-wires connector

- 2023-11-12--20-10-wires-connector.jpg (63.28 KiB) Viewed 12697 times
Notice the orientation of the flat ribbon cable, the recommanded orientation is so that the flat cable is going up starting from the main board.

- 2023-11-12--21-beware-orientation-ribbon-cable.jpg (135.6 KiB) Viewed 12697 times
Plug the LED module to the ribbon cable, the power supply and to IKBD Tx

- 2023-11-12--22-led-module-plugged.jpg (292.96 KiB) Viewed 12697 times
Preparing the RTC battery

- 2023-11-12--23-preparing-coin-battery-holder.jpg (80.99 KiB) Viewed 12697 times
Re: Sporniket's log on hardware stuff
Posted: 17 Nov 2023 22:20
by sporniket
Ready to go

- 2023-11-12--24-ready-to-test.jpg (296.71 KiB) Viewed 12697 times
And... after having fixed P100 as mentionned...

- 2023-11-17--02-success-slot1.jpg (55.53 KiB) Viewed 12697 times
I get to the desktop. The IDE is detected but no driver loaded, I have to check my card.
The boot screen of the other ROMs pre-installed. Arne provided a patched 1.06 and 1.62 ROMS to be able to boot from IDE, as soon as my card is correctly setup I presume.

- 2023-11-17--03-success-slot2.jpg (46.06 KiB) Viewed 12697 times

- 2023-11-17--04-success-slot3.jpg (31.53 KiB) Viewed 12697 times

- 2023-11-17--05-success-slot4.jpg (45.77 KiB) Viewed 12697 times
Also, I will have to setup and check the RTC clock.
If I have time this week-end. But anyway, after about one man-day of work, the installation is done.
Re: Sporniket's log on hardware stuff
Posted: 19 Nov 2023 00:51
by Darklord
Nice! Congratulations. :)
Re: Sporniket's log on hardware stuff
Posted: 19 Nov 2023 07:13
by sporniket
Thanks, I've yet to have a working CF cards, the one I had is not working, my linux computer cannot do anything with it.
Re: Sporniket's log on hardware stuff
Posted: 19 Nov 2023 22:10
by Darklord
I've never used CF cards, although I've heard good things about them.
Always went the SD card route with Ultrasatan's and card reader adapters
for use with my Kubuntu Linux laptop and Win10 box. Great, super easy
way to exchange files between machines...
Re: Sporniket's log on hardware stuff
Posted: 20 Nov 2023 22:15
by sporniket
CF cards are pluggable into PATA/IDE bus, thus it was an easy conversion for Falcon, if I don't make a mistake. Exchange with modern computer may or may not be easy, depending of how partitionning is done and how the driver works.
Re: Sporniket's log on hardware stuff
Posted: 27 Nov 2023 22:33
by sporniket
Waiting payday for buying a new CF cards.
Meanwhile, I finally got something sensible with regard to the modulator part of the ST motherboards. I had too much of discrepencies between schematics and the scanned pcb of the service manual that I was using.
Fortunately, the real motherboard I own had this part unpopulated, so I redid this part with my motherboard on my laps, a glass magnifier with flickering led lights (flimsy push-button), and I improvised something for Q11/R140/R141 that my motheboard had not (but there was footprints for designators that do not exists -anymore-)
Anyway, I got progress on that front too. I also migrated to Kicad 7, that finally allow to attach an image to a layer, so now I can use the scan directly instead of a vectorized version that is full of holes (and takes a lot of places : together with the pair of background image, github started to advise me to try "large file" github...)

- Capture d’écran du 2023-11-27 23-22-21.png (215.52 KiB) Viewed 12500 times