My summer project: A colour Stacy

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Gitbizy
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Re: My summer project: A colour Stacy

Post by Gitbizy »

@derkom

What is the daughterboard that you put on the bottom of your Stacy? If it’s not for the panel then I’m guessing it’s for the rgb2hdmi?

Do you have layout gerbers?
Atari Stacy 4 w/T25 Accelerator. External Ultrasatan. Working on Stacy color monitor upgrade via RGB2HDMI.
Atari Mega STE 4/350. SCSI disconnected. External Ultrasatan.
Atari 600XL (in the progress of upgrading with U1MB, Sophia 2, etc.)
Atari 130XE with CSS Ultra Speed Plus OS 320kb
ATR8000 and a bunch of other Atari goodies
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derkom
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Re: My summer project: A colour Stacy

Post by derkom »

Gitbizy wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 5:56 am What is the daughterboard that you put on the bottom of your Stacy? If it’s not for the panel then I’m guessing it’s for the rgb2hdmi?

Do you have layout gerbers?
The HDMI cable connects to the RGB2HDMI, which you can see in this post. That's just a bog standard RGB2HDMI 12-bit with the 12-bit extender board, which is connected via ribbon cable to the buffered shifter pickup. You can find everything necessary to get these boards manufactured at those URLs. (Finding the necessary semiconductors may prove challenging these days. I haven't looked.)

The only unusual thing I've done is build my own daughterboard for the buttons and stick that behind a 3D-printed replacement for the TOS chip access door (see attachments). Note that this arrangement won't work unless you've replaced TOS with something else (as I've done via Cloudy), because there's room for the daughterboard only if the TOS chips are absent.
Attachments
TOS door RGB2HDMI controls.stl.zip
(111.57 KiB) Downloaded 79 times
TOS door RGB2HDMI controls.kicad_pcb.zip
(2.74 KiB) Downloaded 80 times
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derkom
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Re: My summer project: A colour Stacy

Post by derkom »

Gitbizy wrote: Thu Dec 30, 2021 7:29 pm snaking through the stacy "hole" pivot:
3) wires from LCD controller board to LCD daughter board
Oh! Upon reviewing my own older posts when creating that last reply, I realise that you're correct here. I totally forgot that the LVDS controller has a daughterboard for its buttons, which I've placed behind the RAM access door in the bottom of the Stacy, so yes indeed there is a #3 coming through there. :oops:
Gitbizy
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Joined: Mon Aug 09, 2021 4:22 pm

Re: My summer project: A colour Stacy

Post by Gitbizy »

@derkom

Thank you for the detailed explanation. Much appreciated.
Atari Stacy 4 w/T25 Accelerator. External Ultrasatan. Working on Stacy color monitor upgrade via RGB2HDMI.
Atari Mega STE 4/350. SCSI disconnected. External Ultrasatan.
Atari 600XL (in the progress of upgrading with U1MB, Sophia 2, etc.)
Atari 130XE with CSS Ultra Speed Plus OS 320kb
ATR8000 and a bunch of other Atari goodies
Gitbizy
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Aug 09, 2021 4:22 pm

Re: My summer project: A colour Stacy

Post by Gitbizy »

@derkom

You're correct, I can't use this same setup that you did, because I am keeping my TOS and memory "stock". So I will have to figure out another place to locate both of these.

In regards to moving the RGB2HDMI controls, is the way you did that - move those controls remotely - is to solder wires (ribbon cable?) to the buttons on the RGB2HDMI board itself and run wires over to that PCB? In effect, mirror the 4 buttons over? I am guessing there's no simpler method of doing that other than to solder/run wires to a PCB like you made?

Did you mirror all 4 buttons? (I haven't had a chance to review your ZIP files yet, sorry).
Atari Stacy 4 w/T25 Accelerator. External Ultrasatan. Working on Stacy color monitor upgrade via RGB2HDMI.
Atari Mega STE 4/350. SCSI disconnected. External Ultrasatan.
Atari 600XL (in the progress of upgrading with U1MB, Sophia 2, etc.)
Atari 130XE with CSS Ultra Speed Plus OS 320kb
ATR8000 and a bunch of other Atari goodies
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derkom
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Re: My summer project: A colour Stacy

Post by derkom »

Gitbizy wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 5:48 pm You're correct, I can't use this same setup that you did, because I am keeping my TOS and memory "stock". So I will have to figure out another place to locate both of these.
Stock RAM is not a problem with my setup, as there is sufficient room (barely) behind the RAM door for the LVDS controller daughterboard. This is on a 4 MB Stacy, with the RAM soldered. I suspect (but cannot verify) that it would not be feasible with a 1 MB Stacy that has been upgraded with SIPs.
In regards to moving the RGB2HDMI controls, is the way you did that - move those controls remotely - is to solder wires (ribbon cable?) to the buttons on the RGB2HDMI board itself and run wires over to that PCB? In effect, mirror the 4 buttons over? I am guessing there's no simpler method of doing that other than to solder/run wires to a PCB like you made?

Did you mirror all 4 buttons? (I haven't had a chance to review your ZIP files yet, sorry).
Yes, I just "copied" the buttons by soldering wires directly onto the RGB2HDMI board. (Individual wires, not a ribbon. Ribbon would be fine, but a bit fiddly for this due to the buttons being in different locations on the RGB2HDMI.) I did duplicate all four buttons. It isn't completely necessary to copy the RGB2HDMI's reset button, but there was also no reason not to.
Gitbizy
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Re: My summer project: A colour Stacy

Post by Gitbizy »

@derkom

thanks again- I'm probably looking at Feb/March to do the Stacy->Color monitor conversion. Once I start up the process, I will photograph the process and post my progress.
Atari Stacy 4 w/T25 Accelerator. External Ultrasatan. Working on Stacy color monitor upgrade via RGB2HDMI.
Atari Mega STE 4/350. SCSI disconnected. External Ultrasatan.
Atari 600XL (in the progress of upgrading with U1MB, Sophia 2, etc.)
Atari 130XE with CSS Ultra Speed Plus OS 320kb
ATR8000 and a bunch of other Atari goodies
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Darklord
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Re: My summer project: A colour Stacy

Post by Darklord »

@derkom...


Sorry if I've asked this before (I honestly can't remember if I did or not), but
can you still use your external monitor port on your STacy since all of your
modifications?

Thanks...
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derkom
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Re: My summer project: A colour Stacy

Post by derkom »

Darklord wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 12:43 am Sorry if I've asked this before (I honestly can't remember if I did or not), but
can you still use your external monitor port on your STacy since all of your
modifications?
I don't recall if I ever got back around to commenting about that. Yes, the port works, although I stuck a piece of 3D printer waste plastic into the spring-loaded plastic surround on the inside of the Stacy, which keeps the port in the "something is plugged in" position, as on the Stacy this spring-loaded mechanism grounds the mono detect line, since when using only the internal stock monitor the Stacy needs to be running in mono mode.

Mono vs colour is selected by the modified ubeswitch, toggled by the reset button. I haven't tried, but ostensibly if one plugged in a mono monitor, one would always get mono, no matter what the ubeswitch tries to do. But if one plugged in a colour monitor and toggled the ubeswitch to mono, the Stacy would output a mono signal to the colour monitor, which would obviously produce no usable output.
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Darklord
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Re: My summer project: A colour Stacy

Post by Darklord »

Coolness. I always thought the external port was such a handy feature.

I used it at work on slow nights by "borrowing' one of the offices monitors,
then hooking it up with an Ambery adapter to do low-res for games. It
worked great like that.

Nice to know we don't lose it. Thanks! :)
Welcome To DarkForce! www.darkforce.org "The Fuji Lives.!"
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