Thread resurrection... The Superbrain II is stirring....
I've been
exceptionally lucky. I bought a 3D printer thinking I could print a new case for this Superbrain II board, and fit all the gubbins inside it, but the problem is the SB case is full of compound curves that are hard to model in 3D if your are a novice like me. So I posted a wanted thread on VCF for a Superbrain case on the off chance, and some very kind soul replied saying he has a spare (really, he has two Superbrains but wants to keep one machine plus the mainboard for the other as a spare), and he has let me have it, along with a PSU and CRT / LOPT / Video board. In other words, everything I need (apart from the floppy drives) to turn my SB II main board into a fully fledged Superbrain.
Because this case and PSU are from an early Superbrain (not II), it will not just connect to my SB II board. Intertec updated all the connectors in the II, so I will need some sort of adapter. The Superbrain PSU board also carries the two serial ports as well as the video signal, and a single 22 way ribbon connects it to the Superbrain main board. So I will need to have a little adapter that takes that 22 way cable and breaks it out into a 7 way power connector, 7 way video connector and 50 way expansion (IDC) connector (because the serial lines come out of the SB II's expansion port).
This is what I came up with:

- Adapter schematic

- Adapter PCB
There's a spare 50 way socket for onward expansion, a uIDE socket so I can move that board off the main board and recover a Z80 shim, 2 power sockets, 2 floppy power sockets, a fan connector and the 22 way ribbon connector. This'll make it easy peasy to integrate the SB I parts with the SB II board. I ordered a set of three from OSHPark at great expense, so if anyone wants one do let me know!
Meanwhile, I decided the keyboard needed a clean. Just the usual pulling the keys, wiping the key switch stems with Armor All to help them move smoothly, wash and dry the keys and refit. I actually thought these were museum grade key tops as the board hasn't really been used (it was supplied as a service part to an Intertec UK service engineer who goes by the name of Talywain round these parts), but on closer inspection I can see some discolouration. Oh well, let's call it "patina".

The next consideration is the lack of floppy drives. I do have one Tandon TM100-2 here which I thought was broken but it turns out it is good. This will be fitted as Drive B:, with a Gotek as Drive A: for convenience. Don't forget the machine has uIDE so the floppies won't see that much action anyway. Obviously a Gotek needs some help to fit in the huge space vacated by Drive A:, so I had a look on Thingiverse and found a couple of models I could chop and hack together to create a printable part to mount the Gotek at a good position in the Superbrain case.
I printed it in black PLA and fitted the Gotek PCB. Then, a trial fit inside my existing Superbrain (in the right hand bay).
I think that will do nicely. The new case arrives in five days so I will spend the time between then and the adapter arriving from OSHPark checking its PSU and video boards out. More soon!