The TF536 arrives

[PaulJ_2.0]

I'd be happy to make up some boards if that's a possibility.

[terriblefire]

There will be another batch sometime soon. There are no blank boards left.

[kludge]

There will be another batch sometime soon. There are no blank boards left.

You talking about TF330 now, right?

[terriblefire]

There will be another batch sometime soon. There are no blank boards left.

You talking about TF330 now, right?

I've no boards of any kind atm. I kept a few TF534s back and they all got shipped as replacements for those that go missing. I think Amiga people assume i'm making a killing off this.. i really am not.It just about keeps my wife off my back for the money i put in.

I made enough on the TF328 to buy the gear to make the TF330. I got my new microscope with this (£300)
I made roughly the money back on the TF330 to cover the losses on the Tf534... not quite.

In fact it was Mrs TF that set the price on the TF330 because she was unimpressed with how much I was handing out freebies.

And this doesnt even take into account my time. If i was expecting minimum wage for my time i'd be 15 grand down (in just time) at this point. So when people try to bully me into doing loads of work for the couple of quid markup i charged for the board they can f*ck right off. I dont feel guilty. I dont owe anyone anything.

Rant over.

[kludge]

You talking about TF330 now, right?

I've no boards of any kind atm. I kept a few TF534s back and they all got shipped as replacements for those that go missing. I think Amiga people assume i'm making a killing off this.. i really am not.It just about keeps my wife off my back for the money i put in.

I made enough on the TF328 to buy the gear to make the TF330. I got my new microscope with this (£300)
I made roughly the money back on the TF330 to cover the losses on the Tf534... not quite.

In fact it was Mrs TF that set the price on the TF330 because she was unimpressed with how much I was handing out freebies.

And this doesnt even take into account my time. If i was expecting minimum wage for my time i'd be 15 grand down (in just time) at this point. So when people try to bully me into doing loads of work for the couple of quid markup i charged for the board they can f*ck right off. I dont feel guilty. I dont owe anyone anything.

Rant over.

I can’t be an Amiga person then. I know how much this stuff costs, and I’m in the same situation as you: I don’t want to make money off of this hobby, and I’m more interesting in creating stuff than producing stuff. But I’m mostly doing small projects, so it’s not the same amount of money that you’re spending. :)

I asked my question about PCB’s because we’re still in the 536 thread.

[go0se]

You talking about TF330 now, right?

I've no boards of any kind atm. I kept a few TF534s back and they all got shipped as replacements for those that go missing. I think Amiga people assume i'm making a killing off this.. i really am not.It just about keeps my wife off my back for the money i put in.

I made enough on the TF328 to buy the gear to make the TF330. I got my new microscope with this (£300)
I made roughly the money back on the TF330 to cover the losses on the Tf534... not quite.

In fact it was Mrs TF that set the price on the TF330 because she was unimpressed with how much I was handing out freebies.

And this doesnt even take into account my time. If i was expecting minimum wage for my time i'd be 15 grand down (in just time) at this point. So when people try to bully me into doing loads of work for the couple of quid markup i charged for the board they can f*ck right off. I dont feel guilty. I dont owe anyone anything.

Rant over.

Personally I think the price you set for the boards is more than fair considering what has gone into producing them. I would much rather buy boards directly from you and contribute something back to the development costs than wait for the sources to be opened up. It actually feels a bit grubby having followed the project to wait for sources to be opened up and then order a batch from a board house myself off the back of all your hard work, especially if I'm then selling the boards I end up building.

I also appreciate that ordering PCBs and then posting them out to people, especially in low volume, is another additional hassle that you don't need.

The cost of a blank PCB bought from TF is less than 10% of what the boards end up being sold for. Considering the time, effort and skill he's put in, that the money is going back into further development and that these accelerators go for a fraction of what equivalent original hardware (if it even exists) costs then that's really nothing...

[kludge]

To clarify, I think the PCB (and connector) prices are fair also :)

[richx]

I am gonna try soldering it the other way round next time. It just seemed logical to me that one would want longer pins on the bottom, but I guess I was wrong.

You are not wrong, most motherboards use dual leaf sockets and using the top solder side pins (mine are ~0.58mm) would not be a good idea for dual leaf sockets. For comparison, regular flat IC pins are around 0.28mm thickness. Machined/turned pin standard is around 0.44-0.46mm I think, same as the thinner bottom side pins on mine.

Could any stability issues be due to the power delivery to the board, with less surface area of the round pins in contact with the dual leaf socket (plus corrosion)? What is the voltage drop from motherboard to board? Would testing with a floppy or AMP type cable soldered to the board be a good idea to ensure power delivery?

As a side note, I did see these regular flat IC pins on ebay.com/ic-china: items 254251573942 and 254251585095. Not sure how easy these would be to solder, but much cheaper than some other regular flat pin alternatives I've seen..

[terriblefire]

Don't think you are not wrong, most motherboards use dual leaf sockets and using the top solder side pins (mine are ~0.58mm) would not be a good idea for dual leaf sockets. For comparison, regular flat IC pins are around 0.28mm thickness. Machined/turned pin standard is around 0.44-0.46mm I think, same as the thinner bottom side pins on mine.

But we never plug directly into the motherboard because there are too may obstacles to clear.. we always (or at least I do) put turned pin socket strip in the board to gain some height... this is where the issue was.. the skinny pin rattle around in the these sockets.

Could any stability issues be due to the power delivery to the board, with less surface area of the round pins in contact with the dual leaf socket (plus corrosion)? What is the voltage drop from motherboard to board? Would testing with a floppy or AMP type cable soldered to the board be a good idea to ensure power delivery?

No it was simply HALT/VMA/DTACK were floating low simultaneously locking the damn thing up. I could see it on the LA.

As a side note, I did see these regular flat IC pins on ebay.com/ic-china: items 254251573942 and 254251585095. Not sure how easy these would be to solder, but much cheaper than some other regular flat pin alternatives I've seen..

[richx]

Don't think you are not wrong, most motherboards use dual leaf sockets and using the top solder side pins (mine are ~0.58mm) would not be a good idea for dual leaf sockets. For comparison, regular flat IC pins are around 0.28mm thickness. Machined/turned pin standard is around 0.44-0.46mm I think, same as the thinner bottom side pins on mine.

My original quote to Alen should NOT read "Don't think you are not wrong", looks like you replied before my edit was approved :)

But we never plug directly into the motherboard because there are too may obstacles to clear.. we always (or at least I do) put turned pin socket strip in the board to gain some height... this is where the issue was.. the skinny pin rattle around in the these sockets.

No it was simply HALT/VMA/DTACK were floating low simultaneously locking the damn thing up. I could see it on the LA.

Interesting..

At first glance my A2000 mb using a 12mm height round pin strip it looks like it should fit, but I don't have a board to really know :)

I've just run into wire AWG issues, ATX cables (due to cheap copper wire and crimps I suppose) etc dropping voltages lately, so was curious.