Icky Projects

[czietz]

Slightly related: In this thread https://forum.atari-home.de/index.php/t ... l#msg94354 (use Google Translate if you don't speak German) a user did 1152 x 864 (interlaced) on an SM124 with a Raspberry Pi and a HDMI -> VGA adapter. Later in the thread he modifies the monitor for grayscale display and hooks it up to a Windows PC.

[stephen_usher]

Well, a 60Hz paper white monitor is easy on the eye for writing text, so even at a low resolution is may be nice for writers, connected to a Windows PC in some way.

[Icky]

Well I have pulled out my old STFM DEV motherboard out as am looking back at the FPGA stuff (https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=80) that has stalled due to all the other projects that are on the go.

Firstly going back to the old board from having the H4 sat in front of me 24x7 on my desk has been a bit of a come down. I much prefer the H4 as it fires up every time and is more tolerant to changes. With these old boards when you get them back out something is not quite right and you have to fiddle around to get it to fire up.

That said it is back up and running and whilst I had it on my desk I thought I would see how the Phoenix Shifter would look. Lots of DIL stacks later and it fitted above the case pillar. Took a screen shot of Frontier just to show it working.

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[Icky]

Starting to get the rendering sorted out for the H5 build guide. A few 3D model updates need sorting out.

This build should be easier with all the majority of the SMT parts pre-assembled. All the through-hole caps and resistors gone will save a lot of time and snipping :)

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[Cyprian]

That said it is back up and running and whilst I had it on my desk I thought I would see how the Phoenix Shifter would look. Lots of DIL stacks later and it fitted above the case pillar. Took a screen shot of Frontier just to show it working.

"Phoenix Shifter " nice name. Would be cool to have one!

[Icky]

Back to the TT.

Fitted a Lightning USB VME board but have run into to a problem. The TT being the one with the 68030 daughter board and top shielding does not lend itself to fitting the shielding over the top i.e. no slot for the Lightning card to poke through. Will need to detach the VME tray and leave the top shielding off but keep in case anyone wants to put this back to original spec. Interestingly the VME upright board is not soldered into the motherboard like the newer TT's. It comes loose very easily without the top shield on.

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[Icky]

More slow progress on the TT. I removed the VME tray from the top shielding and am able to get it positioned correctly without the rest of top shield.

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However this got me thinking as ideally running the USB sockets from the Lightning VME board out to the back and have a 3D printed plate would be good but what a TT really needs is a better graphics card via a Nova board.

No here is the problem. A new project starting to form :twisted:. I have never really liked the VME Nova boards as they are a lot of board with not much on them and take up a lot of space which then makes it harder to fit the graphics card inside the TT.

So here is the project. I am going to design a new Nova board that will replace the VME stand off board (picture below) in the TT

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On this version of the TT the board is loose but on newer ones its soldered into the main board. However as the most popular card that goes in this VME slot is a Nova board why do we need to fit to what the VME design is.

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There is a huge amount of space (yellow square) with all the VME area removed. Thus I am looking to design a board that will replace the VME stand off board still work with and accomodate the VME Lightning board provide the NOVA circuit and just offer up the ISA connector so the graphics card can sit nicely out the back panel.

A couple of other things to keep in mind is to provide a smaller modern speaker on the board to replace the original but can be switched on/off and an optional fan connector as we know the Mach64s get pretty hot.

[DoG]

As you said, it's not much on the nova card. I will follow this with great interest.

[Icky]

Hmm, just throwing a few ideas around on this TT-Nova-Frame project. Will need to research dimensions and fit more but the current thinking is to have the Lightning VME board plug flat on to the frame base board (horizontal board) as the header cables will stretch. If that doesn't work will look at 90 degree headers and the Lightning board can connect as it does already. Then a jumper from the USB header on the Lightning board to the base board which will go to a dual USB socket which looks like it will fit in the ISA gap and out to the TT back panel. Then hopefully with a bit of fettling the ISA card without the ISA metal bracket will fit in the rest of the space.

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[Icky]

Progressing. Looking at fitment of the graphics card with heatsinks etc.

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