ELECTRON User Port & ROM/RAM Board with UPURS - NOW AVAILABLE

[CMcDougall]

Has anyone seen or heard from Alex lately ? He's been a bit thin on the ground recently.....?

He said on BoringBook that his Mrs has made him put all his crap to one side, & get the dishes done

[daveejhitchins]

Has anyone seen or heard from Alex lately ? He's been a bit thin on the ground recently.....?

According to "Acorn Computer and BBC Micro Enthusiasts" on FaceBook:

Hi guys as you might have noticed I've been pretty quiet of late , apparently I have a life outside of the Acorn world and my old decrepit body is giving me a hard time , but don't worry , I'm just taking a back seat for a month or two while I catch up on some work and other boring stuff!

Dave H

[MartinB]

Ah, ok - thanks Dave. I just wondered because I've steered a couple of people over here recently who've been enquiring about an EUP - they usually arrive through Paul V's site but no worries, they hopefully won't mind a little wait. Alex' good health come top of the list...

[daveejhitchins]

I'll drop him a line and see how he's fixed . . .

While were in the subject of the UPURS, Martin. Will your CAD package output a DFX of the board outline and component position? I'm almost ready to start the Case - having now decided how I'm going to fix it

Dave H

[daveejhitchins]

If Alex is unavailable (I'll let you know), I should be able to sort two units out.

Dave H

[CMcDougall]

just tried to PM 'uniforix' a few post back , but has only 13 posts so no reply...
I can supply a original one made by 'Sydney' as now don't have enough Plus1s to put them all in

this will inc eprom, but no FTDI cable as mine took 2wk from China & I still need it!

[MartinB]

Hello gents and thanks for the responses. I tend to get shed loads of enquiries about my stuff either directly through email (my address is very much out there) or through Paul's website. It's surprising how many people don't embrace Stardot as the centre of the Beeb retro-universe but I typically try and nudge them over here anyway. In terms of EUP, Alex took over the 'franchise' so I definitely point those requesters here but they don't seemingly always want to engage with a forum and so don't necessarily emerge. Currently, I can only see waltermixx from Canada and today's uniforix that are waiting for an EUP but I don't know that they're here because of me, probably not in fact. Anyway, that's the only reason for my asking, I don't want folk to drift away again if possible but I recognise that it's not always that easy to sort these things.

Dave - I'll check. I used RS DesignSpark so I suspect it ought to do as you ask but do bear in mind that I'm by no means an expert on such things - all I actually heard from you was a burst of static but I can probably stumble along with that....

[danielj]

He is on the facebook group. I did mention this to him earlier. He said he has some left - best thing is to nab him over there I suspect.

"Acorn and BBC Micro Enthusiasts".

d.

[MartinB]

facebook ? Is that some sort of acne...?

[danielj]

Reminiscent of such. Unfortunately benozyl peroxide or antibiotics don't seem to help.

d.

[sixxdog_uk]

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the radio silence been earning brownie points with the mrs , so I can buy more mantiques

Yep I've still got boards and components so can supply kits or fully built EUPs.

Give me a shout below and / or PM me and I'll hook you up.

Lead time on each one is about a week or so.

Thanks for the interest / patience.

Alex

[daveejhitchins]

Sorry for the radio silence been earning brownie points with the mrs , so I can buy more mantiques

I know the feeling - it's the reason I'm taking sooooo long to do things But hey! For a quiet life

Dave H

[uniforix]

just tried to PM 'uniforix' a few post back , but has only 13 posts so no reply...
I can supply a original one made by 'Sydney' as now don't have enough Plus1s to put them all in

this will inc eprom, but no FTDI cable as mine took 2wk from China & I still need it!

Cheers, yes it wouldn't let me reply. I am holidays for a couple of weeks soon so going to see what funds are like afterwards . Just picked up some other goodies too.

[uniforix]

Sorry for the radio silence been earning brownie points with the mrs , so I can buy more mantiques

I know the feeling - it's the reason I'm taking sooooo long to do things But hey! For a quiet life

Dave H

Awesome Mega Games cart though Dave, been loving mine since it arrived friday

[daveejhitchins]

Awesome Mega Games cart though Dave, been loving mine since it arrived friday

Many thanks . . .

Dave H

[Derek Biddis]

Your original thread and sale started in April.
Do you still make this kit?
Do you still have one for sale?

Sorry to ask the obvious.
a) The EPROM fitted, Is it limited to 16kb or can a larger capacity be fitted so it appear as more than one EPROM to the Electron.
We can get 1Mbit EPROMs these days, but would it be possible to take advantage of the extra large EPROM memory?
b) This innovation sits in a cartridge slot in a PL1 plugged into the Electron(Yes)?
c) Is this plug &play - plug it in, power on the Electron and thats it(Yes)?
d) You can help me with this question, it is not about your product.
I have recently purchased a PL3 with the disc drive, but it came without a PL3 mains adapter.
Obviously the power (Current) from the original mains adapter is not enough for the
Electron, PL1+PL3. So I have to buy and use another. My confusion is over the AC voltage.
The Electron appears to be 18v. In the technical reference to the cartridge etc says the voltage is 19v
but the labeling on the PL3 says 21v. I cannot actually buy a mains adapter that meets this criteria,
so I have bought one with plenty of current and a 19v DC voltage from the regulator. My plan
is to extract and use the AC voltage in the mains adapter, before it is regulated. Your comments
would be welcome.It looks like a laptop adapter is about right.
e) I do like seeing and then owning innovations for the Acorn range. have you any other products
in the pipeline? Have you seen the BooBip.com web site. Some of the products developed for the
BBC B could perhaps be useful to owners of the Electron. Being able to fit RAM instead of EPROM
in your PCB ? or a mix of 4kb RAM and 12kb ROM, so an E00 ADFS could be fitted and not cause
PAGE to change above E00. Or a shadow RAM - where HIMEM stays high at &800.
I have ideas(+needs- would like to buy the innovation hardware) BUT no hardware skill.

All the very best.
Derek.

[MartinB]

Hi Derek

Alex (sixxdog_uk) will confirm but I’m sure he still sells these and I think he can supply bare boards, kits or fully-built EUP’s. I suggest you send him a PM if he doesn’t pop up within a few days.

a) The EUP on-board memory chip (e.g. an eprom) can be a 16k single-rom id device or a 32k two-rom id device. Not sure about 1Mb roms, doubtful though - would need a hardware mod I’d think.

b) Yes, EUP occupies one Plus 1 cartridge slot.

c) Plug’n’Play, yes

d) Just use the 19v DC of a PC laptop adaptor, don’t go rooting inside it for the ac! I have a couple of high-current 21v AC adaptors myself so have never used DC adaptors but plenty of folk on here have. I’m sure someone will add some detail and experiences.

e) You can either use a 62256 32k sram device in the EUP rom socket or a 16k/32k rom, eprom or eeprom - personally, I’d recommend the latter (note eeprom) as they are very flexible, non-volatile (no battery) and are in-Elk programmable without needing a separate programmer using freely available comprehensive utilities. You can’t though use EUP as the necessary ‘hidden’ ram host for any &E00 disc FS (I don’t think so anyway.... )

There are lots more Elk add-ons available from various sources, in particular through Retro Hardware where Dave Hitchins (a member on here) is the main POC.

[CMcDougall]

Derek, just use the original cream 19v adaptor, works fine with my Plus3 , plus1 & two carts together!

as Martin says, don't fart about with inside a adaptor! Can be run with no problems from a 12v DC adaptor with 1.5amp output (modem adaptors)

If you use a swram 256 chip (not eeprom) ACP DFS &E00 works

[MartinB]

You can’t though use EUP as the necessary ‘hidden’ ram host for any &E00 disc FS (I don’t think so anyway.... )

If you use a swram 256 chip (not eeprom) ACP DFS &E00 works

Nice one Col - takes an idiot like me to design something and a genius like you to explain what it can do....

[sixxdog_uk]

Hi Derek,

Yep, still got kits boards and pre made EUPs all available, drop me a PM mate and I'll hook you up.

Many thanks,

Alex

Your original thread and sale started in April.
Do you still make this kit?
Do you still have one for sale?

Sorry to ask the obvious.
a) The EPROM fitted, Is it limited to 16kb or can a larger capacity be fitted so it appear as more than one EPROM to the Electron.
We can get 1Mbit EPROMs these days, but would it be possible to take advantage of the extra large EPROM memory?
b) This innovation sits in a cartridge slot in a PL1 plugged into the Electron(Yes)?
c) Is this plug &play - plug it in, power on the Electron and thats it(Yes)?
d) You can help me with this question, it is not about your product.
I have recently purchased a PL3 with the disc drive, but it came without a PL3 mains adapter.
Obviously the power (Current) from the original mains adapter is not enough for the
Electron, PL1+PL3. So I have to buy and use another. My confusion is over the AC voltage.
The Electron appears to be 18v. In the technical reference to the cartridge etc says the voltage is 19v
but the labeling on the PL3 says 21v. I cannot actually buy a mains adapter that meets this criteria,
so I have bought one with plenty of current and a 19v DC voltage from the regulator. My plan
is to extract and use the AC voltage in the mains adapter, before it is regulated. Your comments
would be welcome.It looks like a laptop adapter is about right.
e) I do like seeing and then owning innovations for the Acorn range. have you any other products
in the pipeline? Have you seen the BooBip.com web site. Some of the products developed for the
BBC B could perhaps be useful to owners of the Electron. Being able to fit RAM instead of EPROM
in your PCB ? or a mix of 4kb RAM and 12kb ROM, so an E00 ADFS could be fitted and not cause
PAGE to change above E00. Or a shadow RAM - where HIMEM stays high at &800.
I have ideas(+needs- would like to buy the innovation hardware) BUT no hardware skill.

All the very best.
Derek.

[sixxdog_uk]

After digging in my box of bits before the recent ABUG , i have found some more boards and parts to make these EUP boards up if people are still interested.

Drop me a line here or PM me , or you could contact me via FarceBook if thats your preference

Cheers,

Alex

[CMcDougall]

Have had a few PMs from Wim about getting his to work with a Plus 1 + Plus 3
got mine out to see if got same results, and where same.
I also had the original green UPURS board, and it worked perfectly fine, which I thought strange....

after I swapped the Motorola SN74LS393N ,bottom right of this pic :

blueUPURS mk2

it then behaved!
don't know why, but the replacement from 1984 works great.

so, if your board does not work correctly with the 33p MMC interface and E/MMFS 1.xx
ie, works only after 10x Breaks , then Card? , or after a game for 5mins
then this IS the answer

this may only happen for built or kits from Alex
or anyone else using Motorola 393s , they should of kept to making mobile phones the size of bricks!

[hoglet]

so, if your board does not work correctly with the 33p MMC interface and E/MMFS 1.xx
ie, works only after 10x Breaks , then Card? , or after a game for 5mins
then this IS the answer

This sounds very like the 1MHz clock gitch issue discussed earlier in this thread:
http://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/viewto ... 45#p165745
http://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/viewto ... 25#p166125

The LS393 is used in the circuit to regenerate the 1MHz clock, and a slightly faster part would result in a smaller glitch that is then ignored by the 6522. I don't expect this fix to be very robust, or very repeatable....

Have you tried formatting? That was the worst case for me.

Dave

[CMcDougall]

^Evening Dave,
never format in my old machines, that's what a worthless Desktop /Laptops are for, let them do some work for a change
I just load games etc, everything else making .MMB files are again on PC.

still wonder why old stuff works better though, is it just cheap rubbish /sell quick nowadays

Col.

[CMcDougall]

still wonder why

still why..?
The ones Alex put out are Texas chips (my pic 3 above), Wim had a Motorola LS393N
so Why does the Texas work perfectly fine on my original Mk1 green board :

grn - Signetics /Philips

I found a Motorola on my Atom Disc pack board:

atom DPack Motorola

0000 atom DPack Motorola.JPG (192.59 KiB) Viewed 516 times

works fine on green Mk1, but as with Wim, fails on Mk2
http://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/postin ... milies&f=8
it ain't the 6522s , as they are same from DaveH being : Rockwell, R6522AP-33 yr11wk43

or is it Signetics /Philips are the best makers, or not compatible with other chip makes
(sorry going offT, & dont know what these chips all 'do' with each other )

[MartinB]

EUP’s are like all great works of art, the originals are best.....

(Just kidding Alex )

[fordprefect]

Hiya, just wondered if you were still selling these boards, I'd love to buy a Fully Built EUP with UPURS EPROM and USB 2.0 to Serial Adapter, I would send a pm but I'm new to the forum and can't yet.