stardot.org.uk

Ok folks, I've placed an order for a 2nd batch of boards. Unfortunately board manufacturing has been severely disrupted by the Coronavirus outbreak. The PCBs have all been manufactured, but the SMT assembly is still outstanding. Could be another couple of weeks yet before that's done, and then a fu...

Hi Dave... Picking up on the comment about the possible incompatibility with the IntegraB board, I dug out my 1MHz Bus FPGA Adaptor board today with a view to ordering up all the necessary components to test this out. However, I notice that the ebay seller no longer stocks the Xilinx FPGA Spartan 6 ...

But i think it's becouse of Integra-B, since i use that board it freezes sometimes... tomorrow i'll give a try with my others micros Your IntegraB shouldn't be causing your computer to freeze. This will give me the motivation to build up my 1MHz Bus FPGA Adaptor, just to confirm it works with the I...

I've made a blank 512MB image & associated disc geometry file which can be dropped into a BeebSCSI directory if anyone is interested in that as a "quick-start", it squashes down to only a few KB. Although I would make my own image from scratch anyway, I couldn't easily find whether there was alread...

BTW: if you could upgrade my expression of interest to a 1MHz bus interface and a tube adapter, that would be great. :) although depending on price I may need to consider 2 of each ... especially if soldering is involved ... don't ask ... Updated to one of each. No soldering required. Should work s...

Ok folks, I've placed an order for a 2nd batch of boards. I'm still not taking orders yet, but assuming they work as expected, then the following is the list of noted interest in the order I received it. If you think I've missed your name out, or if you would like your name added, please let me know...

Hopper wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 08, 2020 10:52 am

Anyone putting together beebscsi hardware?

I'm in the process of building a 1MHz port level shifter, which allows the BeebSCSI software to run on a Raspberry PI, if that would be of any use. Just finalising the board layout now.

It's probably going to be a few weeks yet before I can start offering these for sale. I've been working with a couple of the forum members to try and address the audio quality issues I mentioned earlier, and I'm hoping we're just about there now. I'm just waiting for some components so I can test th...

A quick update for those who are waiting. There was a bit of a delay to testing as I tried to get a Master up and running over the weekend, so I could run the Music 5000 software. That's now done, and testing with the Master is ongoing. Now that I know what I'm doing with Music 5000, I've also manag...

Does anyone stock replacement key switches for the Master? A couple are still unreliable, even after cleaning the pins.

Thanks.

Edit: Got a few on order from RetroClinic.

Yes, it's an AP3. Whatever one of those is!

After poking around a bit more with this one, I now have colour again. But the screen is still corrupt. It doesn't come out very clearly in the photo, but this is Mode 2 showing the 8 colours, but with corrupt text. I get the same corruption in both normal (Mode 2) and shadow (Mode 130) modes: 20200...

Master 128 No2 has had a bit of battery leakage (or other corrosive fluid) damage to the upper left hand corner of the PCB. I still need to do a proper clean of the board, but I've had a quick look at the tracks (shining a torch through the PCB), and they all look to be in place. I've also done some...

I'd hook up power from a bench supply and see if I can work out what is getting hot to locate the short. The short is enough to shut down the Master PSU. Would a bench supply work differently? In any case, I don't actually have a bench supply, but I have been considering getting one, and this might...

Most of the decoupling capacitors are brown ceramic disc. I can see one rectangular capacitor that is blue in colour. Good plan about cutting out the capacitors and testing. I'll need to order up a replacement batch first, though.

Any other thoughts from anyone?

Not so much 'Today I received as 'Today I re-discovered'... The other day, I went searching my Master, and found it in the loft. When I opened it up, it didn't have a Co Pro in it, and I recalled having a Co Pro when I looked at it last. Anyway, putting that to one side, today I tried to power up th...

Hi folks, I'm trying to get an old Master 128 up and running. The battery pack is needing replaced, but that's the least of my problems right now... Unfortunately the bigger issue is that, even with all external devices (PSU, keyboard, battery pack & speaker) disconnected and removable ICs (IC15 & I...

KenLowe: It sounds like the Viglen Host Adaptor is an exact clone of the Acorn board, would you agree? Yes, I believe so. It's using all the same components. I did start to trace out my newer Viglen board to verify it against the circuit diagram that's floating around the web, but that's another st...

I get a 'Disc Error 70 at :1/000500' error for *MOUNT 1 Similarly, I get a 'Disc Error 70 at :2/000500' error for *MOUNT 2 This is with a Viglen host adaptor connected to a Fujitsu SCSI drive (ie not an ACB-4000A). I'm fairly sure it's not possible to have mutiple LUNs with this drive. At one stage...

I wonder if your TV perhaps doesn't support RGB via Scart? I had a look through the manual, and couldn't find any reference to it. My LG TV has a label specifically indicating that Scart input AV1 supports RGB. If your TV doesn't support RGB via Scart, then you might want to consider using a Scart t...

I get a 'Disc Error 70 at :1/000500' error for *MOUNT 1 Similarly, I get a 'Disc Error 70 at :2/000500' error for *MOUNT 2 This is with a Viglen host adaptor connected to a Fujitsu SCSI drive (ie not an ACB-4000A). I'm fairly sure it's not possible to have mutiple LUNs with this drive. At one stage,...

That's great progress Ken, looks like you are sorted. And as an added bonus, I've now got new spare RAM, a Cypress FX2 development board and some new Dupont cables on order for future projects 🙄. I'm sure they will come in handy. I'll probably still also order the CPU breakout board PCBs, because t...

That's correct. ROM versions 0.01 and 0.04 both work in my 2nd processor when run along with NFS 3.34 in the Beeb.

Or upgrade the Tube ROM to version 0.05, and it will work with current Tube Host code. Spot on. That worked: 20200128_182001.jpg Also, please do upload a dump of this NFS version, in case the tube host code is non-standard. Attached: NFS_334.ROM One other thought on compatibility... Your Co Pro has...

Hmmm. Interesting. With NFS3.34 installed: So Dave, as you suspected, there isn't actually anything wrong with it! Phew!

Now just need to this version of the tube host code into MMFS & DNFS!!!

This Co-Pro definitely used to work fine on a standard OS1.2 beeb. I'm fairly sure it worked with the standard DNFS ROM, but I know it definitely worked with a slightly older NFS (3.41?) ROM. I'll dig out this older ROM later this afternoon / evening and try it with that instead.

Nice, that will work very well I think. You also need to find some nice "dupont" cables that don't keep falling off (like mine do). Maybe you have some of these already. Dave Yup. I've got a few spare dupont cables, but I'm running a bit short, so I'll need to order some more. It'll be a couple of ...

The alternative I guess is to make a small breakout/adapter board. This could either be a proper PCB, or just a pair of turned-pin DIP sockets with wires soldered into the middle. Great idea! That's exactly what I'll do. I'm about to place an order for some new 1MHz level shifter PCBs, so I'll get ...

Here you go, though I'm not suspecting it to be a ROM issue. As all early ROM versions fail in all emulators leads me to believe there is something different with this co-pro. The code runs on the Beeb and co-pro and doesn't jump into the unknown, the OS sits waiting for a response from the Tube. T...

The alternative I guess is to make a small breakout/adapter board. This could either be a proper PCB, or just a pair of turned-pin DIP sockets with wires soldered into the middle. Great idea! That's exactly what I'll do. I'm about to place an order for some new 1MHz level shifter PCBs, so I'll get ...