STE V1.5 32MHz BOOSTER - STATUS

[exxos]

New PCBs arrived today...

A quick test to see if it fits this time...

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.. and perfect fit 3rd time's the charm!

Will try and find some time to build it up soon and test.. but as its basically a clone of the V1 booster then it should work OK..

[rpineau]

Nice.
I wonder if we should do this for the 68020 booster instead of using the expensive PLCC plugs.
Not as nice but a lot cheaper and easier to find (PLCC plug is still better for proto ).

[exxos]

I wonder if we should do this for the 68020 booster instead of using the expensive PLCC plugs.
Not as nice but a lot cheaper and easier to find (PLCC plug is still better for proto ).

Maybe I got some plastic squares cut to "fake" the CPU to hold the adapter in place, its the most expensive part, but still cheaper than a proper adapter. Idea is tested for long time with my MMU 4MB kit, so it works

[ube]

3D printing time!

[exxos]

3D printing time!

Need to be really accurate for this job, so they going to be machined

[rpineau]

May be it's time to build a small CNC out of a broken 3D printer and use something like a small stack of acrylic sheet glued together after cutting them to make a fake CPU.
Just thinking out loud here
Rodolphe

[troed]

May be it's time to build a small CNC out of a broken 3D printer and use something like a small stack of acrylic sheet glued together after cutting them to make a fake CPU.
Just thinking out loud here
Rodolphe

A friend of mine has a 3D-printer sized CNC, AFAIK it wasn't very expensive. He's even used it to mill working one layer (could probably do two if careful when aligning) circuits from copper plated boards.

[exxos]

Assembly started

So nice not to have one of those evil sockets

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[exxos]

Sometime later...

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Seriously not fun to build these!

[exxos]

So initial tests are a bit complicated scenes the 8 MHz line needs 150pF otherwise the machine does not even tried to boot..

It was running well until we got to the blitter test and it crashes every time. I spent the past couple of hours trying to figure out why, and I just remove the booster and put the original CPU backing, and the blitter test still crashes. So this motherboard has some strange fault I already change the chip twice and now I am doing memory test to see that reveals anything.

So I am currently stuck testing out the booster properly until I can figure out what is wrong with this motherboard

UPDATE:

Okay it seems there was some bad connection on the ROM board somewhere as to why it would run perfectly well with all the other tests is beyond me

I guess I am discovering new depths of screwyness all the time..