exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

Finally I have started ! This build will be very slow for various reasons, including not having dedicated workspace, being lazy after days at work (non exhaustiv nor limitative list :D )


Anyway I received my parcels from the exxos store recently. And I have started with the 3 DIP-40 IC sockets.


I have continuity checked some of the 120 pins I have soldered tonight (all the pins that were easily linked to a test point, so around half of them), my sample set gaves a 100% success rate, so far so good...

:bravo:

There is only one thing harder than starting a project.... Finishing it... :lol:

Well done... I'm still working out what I need to order for my H5 as well as H4 #2...

Almost ready to order some bits & feed Harry...then work out what to order from Farnell :shrug:

JezC wrote: 03 Feb 2021 08:15 Well done... I'm still working out what I need to order for my H5 as well as H4 #2...

Almost ready to order some bits & feed Harry...then work out what to order from Farnell :shrug:

As for me, I ordered from exxos little by little all the specific parts and some more, and now some more common parts will be ordered from mouser/digikey/farnell... later.

exxos wrote: 02 Feb 2021 23:56 There is only one thing harder than starting a project.... Finishing it... :lol:

So true. So instead of having a finish line, I will set milestones. The first one will be "switch on and get something on screen -mono resolution through VGA-, hopefully reaching the GEM desktop" (meaning cpu, mmu, glue, shifter, rom, dma and ram, at least ?)

Tonight's session...


I made it so that the plcc sockets of the glue & mmu will be removable. It may or may not be usefull later, so better safe than sorry. Testing the soldering was easier thanks to the smt footprints of the MMU and the GLUE.

I felt like soldering the big dip-64 sockets tonight. I caught a good rhythm and it went quickly. Plus, the continuity check is quite easy using an IO bus port on the side (except for one pin that is not directly linked, but one can visually spot an obvious test point)

And... I noticed after all that soldering about the jumper beneath the 3v3 bus IO port #2 (jp14), I will have to work on it from the underside...


Now I am almost done with soldering socket. I need a socket for the wd1772, the top ACIA (only one socket required, as I plan to make it work with my ESP32 based replacement) and the MFP.

My goal for now is "first light", i.e. switching on and go (hopefully) up to the desktop.

So, the remaining steps after socketing :

• the reset circuit : the switch, IC22 (surface)
• the video circuit : a vga port, the DAC (surface)
• the various jumper to fit my needs, including jp14
• the various power connectors
• pulling from the donor and install : MMU, GLUE, SHIFTER, DMA
• install the RAM, the dual ROM, and the dip-64 CPU
• the power supply : I will buy a shielded 5v psu from meanwell, because I believe that I will not need the 12v source

Well, I have still a fair amount of work to do, and all in all I enjoy it.
And I believe that I forgot nothing, but if something seems wrong, please enlighten me :)

Today's session : socketing the MFP footprint, and soldering the reset switch.

After a few monthes of delaying my order to mouser, I finally could get all the IC sockets I need. So today I soldered all the little ones.


Next time I will deal with the remaining dip-64, and the PLCC socket for the CPU.

Progress :) Everyone else is asleep I think :)

exxos wrote: 09 Aug 2021 21:29 Progress :) Everyone else is asleep I think :)

Definitely....though I've got as far as working out that at least one of the problems with the floppy on my H5C1 is down to the Gotek having fried yet another USB pen drive...
:cussing: