Project STacy (STaceX, TOS 2.06 & others)

[Atarian Computing]

Greetings Atarians,

I've acquired a couple of slightly defective STacy units. I have not received them yet but I know that the keyboards need new mylars and don't work. While I'm waiting for them, I've got a couple of questions.

1. Is there any way to connect a MegaST keyboard to the STacy?

2. Does anyone know of working boosters for the STacy other than the well-documented PAK? I'm interested in the exxos 16Mhz booster in combination with Alan's MonSTer. Should that combo work? I'm not afraid of soldering and am well equipped and skilled in desoldering components.

Project Ideas

LCD
I'm interested in a replacement LCD for the STacy. I know that the Darklord had a go at it but I want to explore all options. I will look into a suitable panel that can sync to 15khz for ST-Low (yeah, I know, good luck with that). Another option is to find a suitable panel and scandoubler.

Another option is to fit internal ET4000 and use it for 1024x768x256 as a portable Atari workstation.

Battery
I will look into a cheap and viable battery solution from existing high capacity laptop batteries to adapt to the STacy.

3D-Printed Parts
Since I have a 3D printer, I will try to replicate all the missing plastic parts and covers.

[Anzac]

please keep us posted on developments and share any knowledge... this looks like an interesting project :)

[exxos]

2. Does anyone know of working boosters for the STacy other than the well-documented PAK? I'm interested in the exxos 16Mhz booster in combination with Alan's MonSTer. Should that combo work? I'm not afraid of soldering and am well equipped and skilled in desoldering components.

Alan won't fix monster to support my booster :( I did suggest a very easy fix for him to try and make them compatible, but mostly I just got flamed down for my efforts so I gave up trying.

My V1.5 booster would likely work in the stacy, , its not as fast as the PAK, as mostly its using a 020 or 030. Though you would likely have better compatibility with software as V1.5 uses the original 68000.

I'm interested in a replacement LCD for the STacy. I know that the Darklord had a go at it but I want to explore all options.

I talked to darklord a couple years ago about this, he has been looking for something for a long long time. If anyone is likely to know of any solutions then its him.

[Atarian Computing]

Oh, I wasn't aware of incompatibility with the MonSTer. It's a real shame then.

Are there any other viable solutions for alt-ram upgrades?

I've contacted Darlord and he just replied to me. I'll wait until I get the machines to start playing with them.

[exxos]

Oh, I wasn't aware of incompatibility with the MonSTer. It's a real shame then.

Yes :( I tried to get alan on board to working together with these things, but he just has never been interested at all. Really don't understand why. his PLD and SRAM is more than capable of running at 32mhz. I asked for him to give a output pin on his next build to run the booster and alt-ram at 32mhz, but he said it wouldn't work, no real reason given either.

Are there any other viable solutions for alt-ram upgrades?

I was building my own alt-ram board and IDE, though I don't have time to work on it anymore. Even so, I lost motivation a lot, because its annoying having to re-invent the same thing again and again.

My efforts are all going into the STF remake where proper addon cards for alt-ram etc will be done on that machine instead. Once all that work is completed I may adapt some designs to fit original hardware, but I just always find to many bugs in the motherboard all the time, 90% of the time is debugging random faults on the motherboard and its just got to tiresome now. For people who want all the upgrades a new motherboard is the way to go. Design everything properly from the start.

I don't know of anyone else making alt-ram boards, its not hard to do, just I dont have time to work on everything :( If someone made a board then it can be made to work with my boosters easily. Just someone has to be willing to design and build one.

[Atarian Computing]

I decided to look into utilizing the unused expansion port on the STacy. It seems to be essentially the same as the Mega Bus connect but it's a DIN41612 72 way 3 row connector that cannot be found anywhere.

This would have the following benefits:

• Better placement of expansion cards through ribbon cables

• More expansion card options

• No need to remove the STacy's CPU

After that I would build a Magnum ST card for it.

Since there are no connectors available, what would be the best way to proceed? Populate the connector holes with male header strips? Use a ribbon cable with Mega Bus connector at the end? Would the ribbon cable even work? This guy seems to make them work: http://kc-und-atari.idylle-am-waldrand. ... ste_3.html

Whaddaya think guys?

[Atarian Computing]

I managed to wire a Mega ST keyboard to the STacy using Bama's guide on Atari-Forum: http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.ph ... 27#p293227

I edited the picture a bit.

STacy Kbd.jpg

[Atarian Computing]

So the Mega Bus has INT3, INT5, and NMI but the 68K CPU has IPL0,IPL1, and IPL2. Do these signals get connected at all? If so, how, and is there circuitry required? Thanks.

[rpineau]

These signals are routed to a 74LS148 (U39) which does the 8 to 3 encoding to IPL[0..2].
Rodolphe

[Atarian Computing]

These signals are routed to a 74LS148 (U39) which does the 8 to 3 encoding to IPL[0..2].
Rodolphe

Ok, I see. Thanks. I'm a total noob though. Would I need to connect the IPL signals to the INT lines so the 74LS148 can process them?

Or do they get used at all? As in in the case of MonSTEr with Mega ST adapter.