Had to straighten out my k/b extender cable...

Was giving me fits. I made it in poor lighting and didn't realize not all of the strands of two wires were not tinned right and it gave me no end of 'wrong key' syndrome. Got it fixed tonight...



Here's a pic of a two-liner running on my repacked CoCo3 , with Roy's VGA adapter driving a 15" HP LCD. For a full review, see CaptCPU's review...

Later...

Okay Gang, it's time, it's time for some more Repack Pix!!!

In the pic above, You can see Roy Justice's VGA adapterattached to the side of the drive tower, the ATX PS in the middle, the Model IV keyboard under the CoCoIII keyboard and the half-assed keyboard extenedr cable I made from an old floppy cable, a cut up ISA slot connector on one end (you'll see the other end in a bit).



Here's the current mounting for the CoCoIII motherboard. The two 'hooks' at the bottom are TRS-80 Model III clips dipped in Plasticoate. Currently, there is only one screw holding the ass'y up. There will be others when things become more permanent. In this view you can see the other end of the keyboard cable. this end is soldered to a 8-bit sound card card edge that I removed from an ancient SoundBlaster (R.I.P.) :)



Here's a pic of the screen generated by Mr. Justice's converter.



And a little better... Roy, if you have any idea how to center the picture, (as Ross Perot said) I'm all ears...

Another (small) milestone reached...

I de-soldered the 68B09EP CPU from the repack mobo, installed the socket, then the 63C09EP!!! YAY ME!!!!

Seriously, I thought I torched the mobo in the process. I was trying out my Chinese rip-off version of the Hakko 852 rework station.



I actually tested it by removing caps, resistor IC's from an older PII mobo and an old ISA sound card. works really well. I just didn't take into account a 21 year old circuit board. Just below and to the right of the CPU, the board warped a little bit. I'd call it more of a bubble, however, the raised part is not flexible.

The 6809 came out relatively unscathed, just one mildly bent pin. Cleaning up the CPU solder pads proved to be the most difficult, and where I warped the board. I first tried to use the hot air to blow the solder from the holes (yeah, realized how stupid of an idea that was...). Then I tried to use some solder wick, which was pretty useless for this endeavor. What should have been the obvious solution, the dreaded solder sucker, came next. Hey, it worked, 'nuff said. Then it was back to the Hakko rip-off to solder the socket in. I can only say I love how fast this thing heats up, and how easy it is to solder small items with it.

Here are some pics:

Off to the left you can see just a wee bit of the ATX power supply.




Not not completely obvious to the untrained eye, thar she blows!!! That is a socketed 63C09EP working very little at this point...


Here's a pic of the ATX and the former resident of the CoCo3 mobo:




And here's a quick screen shot of it 'running.' I was too tired to dig out the MPI and hard drive stuf to really give it a go. I have 9 6309's left, so I'm sure I'll do this transplant again...

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Small project to kill some time

While waiting for a few items for the re-pack, I was watching the auction on eBay for the Wico Atari joystick adapter. I remember that the other Bob has the schematic for one on his website. Since I do not have the etch tank or other equipment for etching my own boards, I took a different approach; stripboard. Here's a pic of my layout:




Quick parts list:

74HC4066 - $0.31 ea Jameco #74HC4066
10Kohm resistor - $0.69 Jameco #108126
47kohm resister - $06.9 Jameco #108206
Stripboard - Large $1.95 http://www.futurlec.com/ProtoBoards.shtml
6 pin circular DIN plug, inline, $1.26 Digikey - CP-1060-ND
Wire suitable for use as jumpers

I've included most items except the DB-9 connectors. A 14 pin IC socket for each 4066 would be advisable but not necessary. This construction would make two complete adapters.

Roy's VGA adapter

Zowie!!! This thing looks great!! Can't wait to see what it'll do. For those not in the know, Roy made me a custom VGA adapter for the Model III repack. No case, no PS and a couple leads for running +5vdc (thanks for the correction, Roy!!!) from the ATX power supply. Working out how to mount it inside the case. Thinking PC type plastic motherboard spacers with hot melt glue... Now, if CaptCPU can send me the Model III keyboard article he promised in October... :) Once I get it mounted, I'll post some pics...


Later (B)