exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

PhilC wrote: ↑Fri Aug 05, 2022 11:56 am Wow @rubber_jonnie youre going to have a busy weekend. Even busier if I get a chance to post the pcb as well

Indeed I am, as I also have to replace the derailleurs & chain on my bike!!

I really need to get back to the MSX Mapper/Megaram and CoCoSDC and see if I can actually do some good stuff with them. Of all the SD solutions I have, they are the most awkward to use.

And I need to pull out my STEs and see if they have the snap, crackle and pop issue.

rubber_jonnie wrote: ↑Fri Aug 05, 2022 12:02 pm And I need to pull out my STEs and see if they have the snap, crackle and pop issue.

Can we offically call it the Atari STe Rice Crispies problem then?

mrbombermillzy wrote: ↑Sun Aug 07, 2022 4:39 pm

rubber_jonnie wrote: ↑Fri Aug 05, 2022 12:02 pm And I need to pull out my STEs and see if they have the snap, crackle and pop issue.

Can we offically call it the Atari STe Rice Crispies problem then?

Works for me

In an effort to give myself more to do (Like I needed to), I've just got myself an OSI Superboard 600 Rev D via a chap over at Stardot.


Looks like I'm going to have a busy rest of the year!!

It's interesting that it's been manufactured without a solder resist layer. That's very late 1970s that is.

stephen_usher wrote: ↑Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:54 pm It's interesting that it's been manufactured without a solder resist layer. That's very late 1970s that is.

Given it's a repro board, clearly the whole plan was to make it look as original as possible.

The lack of solder resist was about the first thing that caught my eye too.

Minor panic with the OSSC, it started losing sync over SCART, and since that is one of the primary inputs I use, I was worried something had gone bang!!

I tested through the component connection using my TI99/4a and all seemed well, so I pulled it out of the case and noticed a lot of flux left over the bottom of the board, and specifically the SCART connector. Since it was a new item when bought a few years ago, it's a little off that it wasn't cleaned up during assembly.

I cleaned that all up with IPA and then reflowed the SCART socket. Fingers crossed it's done the trick and I've left it running to keep an eye on it, my Atari 600XL is the test machine running the enhanced version of PETSCII Robots

So far so good.

Well, seems like I have a few things on the cards.

1. Caps are ordered and on the way for the Cumana drive for the BBC.
2. Memory is on order for the Dragon 32
3. The TRS-80 has a power issue, but since the PSU is working, but there seems to be no power to the ICs, it's somewhere in the muddle that is the rectification and voltage generation section. I may just hook up 5v from my bench PSU to see if I can get any activity. At least I have decent schematics, unlike those for the D32!!

Should keep me busy for a bit.

Another component with an identity crisis:


And yes, it was connected the right way around (In reality, the component tester doesn't care and figures it out itself)

And just in:


The RAM tester recommended by @stephen_usher, which has beyond doubt proved that 5 of the 8 RAM ICs from the TRS-80 were indeed dead as dead can be.

The 41256 was known good and tested just fine