exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

My Atari STE 1040 had the rom chips soldered directly onto the mainboard. I have desoldered and removed them so I can solder in DIP-32 sockets to give the option of using a different version of TOS.

I don't feel confident doing a lot of soldering so I was wondering is it possible to first solder two regular DIP-32 sockets onto the mainboard, put the original ROM chips into the sockets. Then maybe later on plug the 'STE DUAL TOS' upgrade kit sold by Exxos into the regular DIP-32 sockets and not the other type of DIP-32 socket that has the circular pin holes that is the ideal\mayble only fitting for the circular pins on the STE Dual TOS upgrade kit.

Most people plug the kit into the sockets.

I do however recommend the board be soldered into place as sockets generally become unreliable.

The round pin sockets are probably better to suit the STE dualtos boards as they are using round header pins.

Both of my STEs have the dualTOS upgrade in a socket and are just fine, but exxos is right about sockets, and you are better going for turned pin sockets as they will provide a better overall connection than the cheaper spring pin types, which both of mine happen to be..

I am a electronics novice and learn as i do new things (which also means I am missing a lot of concepts but I have fun)

Can I plug the 2 DIP-32 ROM chips into 2 DIP-32 'turned pin' sockets?

Yes.

I have soldered DIP-32 sockets onto the mainboard, put the ROM chips in those and thankfully the STE boots up. Soon I will get a STE Dual TOS kit and plug that into the DIP-32 sockets. I could find a way to solder four of the round pins on the kit to the DIP-32 sockets to make it more secure. Thanks for the help.

Personally I wouldn't solder the four pins to the socket to secure the dual TOS, because you'll find the turned pin sockets provide more than sufficient grip to hold it in place. Also, if you find that you need to remove it for any reason, desoldering those four points will be quite difficult. I have 2 dual TOS STEs in spring pin sockets and have never had an issue because the fdd holds them in place too. If you solder it to the socket, you may as well solder directly to the mainboard. The other mod I do when I'm around that area is to replace the 3 zero ohm resistors at W102, W103 & W104 with header pins and jumpers.

xav2075 wrote: 06 Apr 2019 22:47 I have soldered DIP-32 sockets onto the mainboard, put the ROM chips in those and thankfully the STE boots up. Soon I will get a STE Dual TOS kit and plug that into the DIP-32 sockets. I could find a way to solder four of the round pins on the kit to the DIP-32 sockets to make it more secure. Thanks for the help.

I generally don't like socket and rarely use them. Only when I know I'll be changing chips or to plug in an daughter card. If I do use a sockets in a permanient installition I use the round pin sockets and never had a issue with them. I would not solder any od the pins, it would be hell cleaning out the holes so you could change the chip. If your going to do it that way you could just skip the socket and solder the chip in.

Ok I will not solder the round pins into exposed pins on the 2 x DIP-32 socket. If the kit is fairly secure plugged into the 2 x DIP-32 sockets that will do fine.

I was just cleaning the underside of the mainboard where I soldered in the 3 x DIP-32 sockets with 99% isopropyl alcohol. But that left a sticky residue so I got rid of that with tap water and again using a tooth brush.