>Yes please. It is something I had been meaning to do but never found
>the time. Where do you attach the Ps2 mouse - the 'spare' port?
>I had that in mind so a ps2 mouse could be used on sH LITE
Two solutions actually. One with the 'spare' port as we had discussed in
the past (which requires an extra clock signal).
As you remember there are three (four including USB) types of mice out
there, one plain serial, one combo PS/2 and serial (fairly standard with
the exception of MS and Logitech mice all other manufacturers use the same
signals/protocls) and one pure PS/2.
For mice types 2 and 3 to work as standard PS/2 as I mentioned above you
have to get an extra clock signal (from pin 1 on the kbd i/f of the sH).
Some other considerations have to be taken into account which are the
driver that has to be written (or adapted) and any electrical problems that
might arise by sharing the clock line. Note: I was able to read the status
of a PS/2 mouse but the sH wasn't connected at a keyboard at the time (and
I won't attempt it either unless you do Tony ;-)
Now the other solution for mouse type 2 (serial/ps/2 combo) is a lot easier
to implement and I chose that as a. Is fairly common to find decent mice
that are serial/PS/2 combos (I got a great IBM black mouse ;-) and requires
no drivers at all, as in essence you are plugging the mouse to a serial
port of a different shape (If you ask why in earth I just didn't use the
adapter that came with the mouse... well just because ;-)))))... Not to
mention that it's very easy to rewire the adapter if I change my mouse to a
slightly different one :-)
As for the sH Lite is the spare port connected? I was under the impression
that it only worked on sH....
More info regarding the PS/2 protocol its electrical specs at:
http://panda.cs.ndsu.nodak.edu/~achapwes/PICmicro/PS2/ps2.htm
> >
> >
> >Pertaining to that project and regarding the Rom adaptor of the Aurora,
> >I have a couple of questions to all you hardware gurus out there:
> >
> >1. What is the maximum effective length of cable one can make to
> >connect a rom (or romdisq more specifically) to the Aurora?
>Nil. RomDisq is very sensitive indeed to noise, and anything but direct
>connection is likely to give date corruption problems, which will take
>time to appear (probably).
>This is not based on experiment, but on (strong) advice from Stuart
>Honeyball (and common sense (8-)# )
I figured that much but what the heck it doesn't cost anything to ask ;-)
> >I am planning on putting a port on the back of the case to plug in QL
> >roms (and my romdisq) and I want to avoid any data corruption
> >2. Is there a (simple) hardware (by means of a small led activating
> >circuit) way of adding an activity monitor on the rom port with the
> >Aurora (or QL)? (Kinda like the light the romdisq has on it, Since I
> >will be plugging it in the back of the case, I will have no sure way of
> >knowing if data is being exchanged between the QL/Aurora and the
> >RomDisq, short of attaching a cable with led on the romdisq and I wanna
> >keep the thing as "clean" as possible!)
>
>Mplane has an (optional) externally facing ROM port, just for what you
>want to do.
True but the Mplane will require cutting on the case and I am not willing
to do that ;-) I will be plugging the RomDisq using the existing cutout for
the parallel port on the ATX backplate. The only holes on the back are for
the screws that retain the mini-din connectors for the PS/2 keyboard and
mouse which are at the regular place of an ATX backplate. - Unless of
course you can assure me that it will fit there ;-) and I will still have
space for SER 1 and 2 and my kbd adaptors.
In any case I was planning on using ATA-66 grade cable to minimize
interference and make that about 2 cm long (not even... in essence a little
longer than my existing Aurora/Rom port adapter).
I will risk it ;-)
Full specs so far include:
Enlight BookPC V30 black/blue case w/200 W ATX psu, ATX to AT Power cable
converter, 20 Gb hdd (already prepared... took me about a day to format it
with QubIDE ;-), Hot Removable CF adapter (painted black ;-))) -BTW: Nasta
did you fix my QubIDE?- Aurora/QubIDE mounted directly on the metal via the
standard spaces and only half of the Braquet to hold the Q-Plane upright,
2.88 Mb ED drive (hardwired as explained about 5 months ago by Nasta on the
list), network ports mounted on the ATX backplate where the sound jacks are
usually located, sH ser3 converted to D-SUB 9, SGC and hopefully sometime
soon GoldFire ;-).
Everything is on it's rightful place on the standard cutouts or on brackets
and only 4 holes are visible in the back (were the screws for the minidin
connectors will be). Almost looks like factory designed ;-)
All of the above complemented by round cables (approriately in black) and
everything wrapped in an nice black/chrome cable tubing accent kit. I am
debating whether or not I should install neon lighting and a clear window
on the case as well as a lighted case badge ;-) Any proposals on that? Half
the fun was making the damn thing... Now I need to finish my graphics for
the Aurora's 256 mode ;-)
Phoebus
