Go0se TF534 Build

[go0se]

Components arrived for the TF534 yesterday so set aside this evening to getting it up and running. Still missing a few caps so not behaving 100% yet but boots to Diagrom and detects memory which is a good start. Hopefully once everything is on board it will settle down.

Just wanted to say thanks to Stephen for all his hard work on this one and making it available to build. I've been following this project for a while and it's been great to see it develop.

Cheers.

P.S. The foil sticker on the CPU isn't some sort of crude part number redaction, It's just to distinguish this 030 from another one that I no longer trust! :)

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CPLD.PNG

SysInfo.PNG

Mem16.PNG

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[8 Bit Dreams]

16MB?
Ho ho... Sweet! :lol:

[Milesunder]

Hi Go0se,

Your TF534 is looking good. Are you using any special techniques for building the board?

Out interest have you managed to source all the components from the same supplier or from lots of places?

Btw is 16mb a supported config? My understanding is it was meaning to support only 4mb?

Regards,

Milesunder

[8 Bit Dreams]

just kidding... it's DiagROM bug, showind 16MB :lol: :lol: :lol:

[go0se]

Hi Milesunder,

All ICs (WIth the exception of the MC68030) were bought from Digikey this time as I'd previously built a couple of TF530s trying to economise on the component expenditure and it didn't end well! - They had various issues which I couldn't easily pinpoint and are still sitting on the shelf waiting for me to take another look at them.

I think I've also slipped up with the 534 as well, as the passives, specifically the caps I've currently got on there are mostly ones that I had left over from another less complex project and I suspect they aren't up to the task. I'm currently experiencing stability issues and consistent crashes despite having checked and re-flowed the soldering on the CPLDs and RAM a few times. I wasn't trying to be tight with the caps but just didn't think that the ones I had would cause an issue. I plan to re-order some decent quality passives and replace what I have on the board at the moment.

In short I'd suggest getting all your components from a quality source as repeatedly advised by TF and the other heavy hitters on the forum to give yourself the best possible chance of avoiding headaches. I'd also say a USB microscope is essential for this one. The XC95144 especially is a tricky customer but is actually pleasant, in a zen-like way, while working under the scope.

The scope I'm using is a 25x - 200x usb scope that I've placed on an adjustable overhead mount. It was super cheap but the picture quality and resolution are more than suitable for this work. If you're buying one of these cheap usb scopes go for a low magnification range ~25x - 100x. Higher magnification than this is overkill as I don't really need to see the electrons moving :)

Also, if you plan to put an FPU socket onto this board don't do it until you're 100% happy that your XC95144 has been soldered correctly. Once the FPU socket is on it makes one side of that CPLD practically inaccessible from a comfortable angle.

Also, possibly more controversially, I use standard square header pins/sockets between the 534 board and the CPU re-locator. The gold, round pins are necessary between the re-locator and the 68000 socket i.e. the re-locator underside, but they are extremely fragile and very prone to snapping when repeatedly plugged in and out or indeed if there's a draft in your room or you sneeze near the board :) The square pins are a lot more robust, I appreciate that these accelerators aren't supposed to be thrown around but those round pin connectors are just too fragile for my liking, unfortunately I'm stuck with them on the underside of the re-locator.

Any more pearls of wisdom I gain, I'll let you know.

Cheers.

[go0se]

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re-locator with square and round pin header combo.

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25-200x USB Scope mounted on overhead mount from a traditional lab microscope.

[Maximilian]

All ICs (WIth the exception of the MC68030) were bought from Digikey this time as I'd previously built a couple of TF530s trying to economise on the component expenditure and it didn't end well!

Did you try them with the FPU mounted?

Thank you for the helpful tips :)

[go0se]

Cheers, that's definitely on the list of things to try once I get back to looking at the 530s. I feel better prepared to tackle them than I was previously, mainly due to the experience gained building a couple of 534s/330s over the last week.

All ICs (WIth the exception of the MC68030) were bought from Digikey this time as I'd previously built a couple of TF530s trying to economise on the component expenditure and it didn't end well!

Did you try them with the FPU mounted?

Thank you for the helpful tips :)

[CrazyDave]

Nice idea using square pin headers on the relocator. Makes it much easier to remove I bet :D

[go0se]

It definitely makes the board more robust, so far I've had no pin breakages since moving to the squares. The regular failure rate with the round pins was frustrating.

When separating the board and the re-locator you still have to be very careful as the square headers tend to require a bit more force which can bend the end pins as they tend to come off at an angle, but slowly separating them, no issues.

The obvious drawback to the square female pins on the re-locator is it can't really function as a 68000 re-locator anymore as you lose the proper interference fit with the CPU pins and also the accelerator won't go directly into the 68000 socket on the MB without causing problems.

Nice idea using square pin headers on the relocator. Makes it much easier to remove I bet :D