Hi All, I'm a Newbie and have been lurking for a month or two...
I would love to try to solder a REX if you release them. I was also wondering about QUAD but I guess that needs a PLA or some other chip programmed... Atsushi > On May 17, 2016, at 9:48 AM, Stephen Adolph <[email protected]> wrote: > > ..re REX. IF I could release it to oshpark I would. In fact the > boards are there. The problem is... I doubt people will be successful > soldering fine pitch. Do you want to try? The chips can be purchased > on ebay or digikey. > If you want to try I will release the board design(s). > > Steve > > >> On Mon, May 16, 2016 at 8:33 PM, Brian White <[email protected]> wrote: >> The figtronix link broke because I asked him a question about his main rom >> adapter a couple weeks ago, and he updated the board, just the silkscreen >> not anything functional, and he removed the old link and made a new one. I >> don't know if that's just the way oshpark works or if he's just doing >> something wrong. >> >> He ended up doing a bunch of stuff that I wanted for free and without >> asking, so I wasn't going to complain about a little thing like it's >> annoying having to keep finding out the new link! >> >> We ended up trading a lot of emails and he whipped up both the option rom >> board and the programmer adapter after I showed him the club100 links to the >> old EME option rom module. There were several rapid iterations of both of >> those and he did the same thing each time with those too, broke the existing >> link and made a new one. And it takes forever before they show up in the >> oshpark search too. >> >> (Oh yeah, don't trust that search. Find any working link to any board by >> that guy, then click on the guy's name, and THERE you see all his other >> boards, including all 3 M100-related, even though they don't show up in the >> search.) >> >> Anyway there's lot's of ways to skin the same cat of course. >> >> I like your board too. I actually assembled one of your boards too, but I'm >> using the figtronix at the moment, because I don't want a combined system >> and option rom, I want to be able to use the external accessible option rom >> socket to swap roms and install commercial roms, and I want the system rom >> to be socketed and re-programmable or at least swappable. I actually found >> ceramic uv-erasable clcc 27C256, but even replacing OTP plcc ones is better >> than needing a test-clip. >> >> One thing I should verify, maybe there IS actually room to solder your board >> on the motherboard and put a dip socket on the adapter, then trim the legs >> of the eprom a little so the eprom sits lower in the socket, does the >> resulting stack come out 0.55" or shorter? That would meet all my same >> wishes above. Takes a standard eprom, and the eprom is removable and >> reprogrammable with no special adapters. >> >> Ideally I'd like both the main and option roms to use the same kind of >> eprom. not plcc in one and soic in the other. There is just barely vertical >> room for a low profile plcc socket in the option rom, but low profile plcc >> sockets are surface mount so soldering them at home is not simple like the >> regular socket with thru pins. I have old commercial option roms that used a >> full dip28 eprom on a board. it's a tight fit but it works. The holes for >> the eprom are actually pulled in a little closer than the proper dip28 >> spacing, squished inside the half-holes on the edges which are at dip28 >> spacing. No room for a socket, so a board like that you could only >> re-program with either a test clip or a programming adapter, but that's no >> worse than what you already need for the soic board. But at least then that, >> along with your main rom board, means you'd have the same kind of part on >> both system and option roms. >> >> I mean IDEALLY of course, I'd love a REX, but I emailed the address on >> club100 a couple times and never got any answer, and the plans for REX >> aren't published like on oshpark, so oh well. Even if by a miracle one REX >> became available from somewhere, I still probably wouldn't want to invest >> time hacking with it if no one else could ever make use of the results. If >> the REX were reproducible at will and anyone could have one, THEN it would >> be a worthwhile target for hacking/developing. If not, then I'd rather just >> start a new public/open design even if it's cruder and reinventing the >> wheel. >> >> (And now that I say that, I realize I sure like my MISE, and that's >> basically in the same boat. The design is not public. The guy just happens >> to be actively producing and supporting it right now. So maybe I'm being >> inconsistent. At least I made my enclosure for the MISE public, including a >> slick non-trivial arrangement to hold the cf card reader which does not have >> any nice mounting holes or anything, if I do say so myself. ;) ) >> >> In the 102 of course I just stuck a plain socket in and a plain dip 27c256. >> No complications there. Same goes for late m100 too apparently though both >> my m100's needed the adapter. >> >> -- >> bkw >> >>> On Mon, May 16, 2016 at 3:54 PM, Mike Stein <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> Thanks for posting those links. When I mentioned the various options for >>> adding/upgrading System and Option ROMs I wanted to include this one but at >>> the time the link at Oshpark didn't seem to work; I couldn't find any >>> mention on his Figtronix site either so I assumed they were no longer >>> available for some reason. Glad to see they're back and he's added a >>> programming adapter. >>> >>> One advantage of those boards over the board Bill and Steve are discussing >>> is that in a T102 you can add an Option ROM without removing the System ROM >>> chip; however, at the risk of being immodest I should point out what I think >>> are some advantages of the 'Combo' board: >>> >>> Whether you want to upgrade the System ROM and/or add an Option ROM in >>> either an old or a new M100/T102 you use the same board; no need for >>> separate System and Option ROM adapters. >>> >>> To (re)program the IC in an 'old' M100 you'll need another adapter to >>> convert the pinout back to standard JEDEC; no problem, just assemble another >>> adapter 'in reverse' as it were, with a socket. >>> >>> So the one PCB essentially does the same job as all three different >>> Figtronix ones; since you get a minimum of six boards you might save some >>> money. >>> >>> Finally, since it uses a standard 28-pin socket if you want to play around >>> with the System ROM code without burning/replacing/reprogramming the >>> E(E)PROM every time, replace it with a non-volatile RAM chip like the Dallas >>> DS1230Y or the FM1808 FRAM and a minor mod to connect R/W and you can POKE >>> around all you want.. >>> >>> m >>> >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: Brian White >>> To: Model 100 Discussion >>> Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2016 11:42 PM >>> Subject: Re: [M100] ROM burning questions >>> >>> ...Re-post without pic... >>> >>> Old m100 takes a non-standard pinout, new m100 and all t102 takes a >>> standard 27C256 pinout. >>> >>> I just did an old m100 using this plcc adapter: >>> >>> https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/toQDqmVV >>> >>> I burned the Tandy 102 rom with y2k patches from the rex page on >>> bitchin100. >>> >>> The board is easy to assemble except the only hitch is you have to find >>> pin headers that have thinner round pins rather than the more common square. >>> >>> If you have a "new" m100, the chip number on the rom will not match the >>> number silkscreened on this board. In that case you don't need any adapter, >>> just put in a 27C256 dip28 directly, same as for T102. >>> >>> https://goo.gl/photos/GUKXgxxVGaUVt57k9 >>> >>> -- >>> bkw >> >>
