+Ksarul Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 There haven't been any prototyping boards available for the TI in a long time. They rarely show up on eBay, and many of the ones that do show up are the ones from TI that need you to add an edge-connector in order to connect them to the PEB bus. I just sent a layout for a new Prototyping board off for manufacture. Once I get them anyone needing one should contact me--the price was reasonable (they cost $22 each, shipped to a US address--overseas will be somewhat more, depending on where it has to go and what the postal rates are). These have traces for all of the buffer chips set up already, places for both 5V and 12V power, and an LED. All signals are available at a row between the buffers and the prototyping area to make things easier to work with. Each signal is labeled. This should make certain types of programming projects a bit easier to realize when they have an associated hardware component. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Count me in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jens-eike Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 I'll take a few, too! :-) (and if you have any 99/8 specific boards left...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 These should work with either machine, Jens-Eike. I made sure I brought the AMA, AMB, and AMC signals up to the positions for all of the signal tie posts. Do you have a card-edge on your 99/8 or a 50-pin Centronics type connector? I plan on doing a short run of purpose-built PEB cards and side connectors for the flat-cable Armadillo interface mode sometime later this spring. Then you should be able to use it with a PEB directly. I had 30 of them made this time, but I can always do another run if there is enough demand for them. These have gold fingers and holes, as do all of the boards I've done from my current source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 These have traces for all of the buffer chips set up already, places for both 5V and 12V power, and an LED. All signals are available at a row between the buffers and the prototyping area to make things easier to work with. Each signal is labeled. They say an image is worth a thousand words. Could you post a photo of the finished product when it arrives? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 When the boards get here in about two weeks, I will. Later this week I'll also post a picture of my new 128K cards for the PEB, as I got the boards for that one in this week. . . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 I would love to have a couple as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjt Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 I've already said yes to this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 5, 2014 Author Share Posted May 5, 2014 I already had some reserved for you, SJT You and Marc Hull were the first two on my list--and the two of you were the reason I did this board now, instead of after my Armadillo Interface boards for the 99/8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Me too already said yes for one of this cards... so please, one more reserved Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 6, 2014 Author Share Posted May 6, 2014 For the prototyping board or for the Armadillo Interface, Ciro? I'm doing a run of the prototyping boards now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 oh ok... sure for the Amarillo too ... but i will be glad to have one of the prototyping boards if possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jens-eike Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 My /8 has the card edge connector. Which Armadillo Interface do I need, the "flat cable" or "round cable" type? Are there other variables than the different pin-out of card-edge versus Centronics connectors? The interface card itself should be the same in both cases? Is your 128k RAM card 99/8 compatible and can it be adjusted to different mapper areas? How many projects are you working on - with all these cards and banked-ROM and Über-GROM cartridge boards now? I am interested in: 5 prototype boards 1 Armadillo interface 2 128k RAM cards Next project idea: a large RAM card for the 99/8 to fully exploit the 16M address space.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 11, 2014 Author Share Posted May 11, 2014 The 128K board is actually only for a TI-99/4A, and is based on an original design from TI by Mike Bunyard. I did the layout for it five years ago--and I'm finally making some of them, as I found a place to do the boards for a reasonable price a couple of months ago. You would need the flat cable Armadillo Interface board. Once I send them off and build one to make sure I didn't make any mistakes in the layout, I'll let you know. This one is a two-part board: the PEB card and the connector for the side port of the /8. A standard 50-pin ribbon cable connects them together. I should have the prototyping boards in hand in about a week, maybe ten days. I also did a layout for the TI EGROM box (and the cartridge board that goes with it), but I haven't made any of those yet, a Parallel interface card in Eurocard format for the Powertran Cortex (same, as I'm still fine-tuning it), a Round Cable Armadillo Interface (still needs some work before I declare it ready for production), a through-hole version of the IDE controller (about 70% done, but the last 30% is the hardest bit), the HyperAMS board (I'll do those soon too), and lots more. . .I'm doing a lot of board design lately. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+hloberg Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I a newbie when it comes to hardware. Is this what you all are talking about being a prototype board (except it's Apple). http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Apple-II-II-PLUS-IIe-Platinum-IIgs-DEV-PROTO-board-Atmel-Microchip-Arduino-/111347357088?pt=US_Vintage_Computing_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19ecd1d5a0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 13, 2014 Author Share Posted May 13, 2014 Yes, but the TI protoboards are a bit different. Here's an old auction of one of the original ones from TI, made in the 1982-1983 timeframe: http://www.ebay.com/itm/141185748972? I won the auction. . .and was totally surprised that I was the only bidder, but that may have been because of the fact that the board needs a special Attleboro connector to connect it to the PEB, and they are pretty much unobtainium now. My boards already have the necessary connection built in, so there are no problems there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 13, 2014 Author Share Posted May 13, 2014 Since several folks have asked how the various boards I have been working on look, I took some pictures of the bare 128K boards for the 99/4A to put up here. These are designed to fit into a TI clamshell case, although you can insert them without one. The protoboards were designed with PEB tabs (not pictured yet, but the boards are on their way as of about 2:00 this morning). 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Nice. Are you still using ExpressPCB to make the boards, or someone else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I feel an expletive coming on! Holy shee-yat! They look awesome! :thumbsup: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 13, 2014 Author Share Posted May 13, 2014 My boards left Cincinnati about 5:00 this morning on their way to me, so I might even be able to pick them up tomorrow morning! I do the layouts in Express PCB, Stuart, but then I export them to Gerber format using another program and send them off to a factory in China for manufacture, as the cost is about half what I'd pay using any service I've found here to date--and the quality is high. The time to delivery is about the same too. . .an order takes about 12 days to get here. The protoboards were done using the same blue solder mask as the 128K cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertLM78 Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 (edited) The 128K board is actually only for a TI-99/4A, and is based on an original design from TI by Mike Bunyard. I did the layout for it five years ago--and I'm finally making some of them, as I found a place to do the boards for a reasonable price a couple of months ago. You would need the flat cable Armadillo Interface board. Once I send them off and build one to make sure I didn't make any mistakes in the layout, I'll let you know. This one is a two-part board: the PEB card and the connector for the side port of the /8. A standard 50-pin ribbon cable connects them together. I should have the prototyping boards in hand in about a week, maybe ten days. I also did a layout for the TI EGROM box (and the cartridge board that goes with it), but I haven't made any of those yet, a Parallel interface card in Eurocard format for the Powertran Cortex (same, as I'm still fine-tuning it), a Round Cable Armadillo Interface (still needs some work before I declare it ready for production), a through-hole version of the IDE controller (about 70% done, but the last 30% is the hardest bit), the HyperAMS board (I'll do those soon too), and lots more. . .I'm doing a lot of board design lately. I was just reminded of your 128K board project earlier today from another thread . Edited May 14, 2014 by RobertLM78 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 14, 2014 Author Share Posted May 14, 2014 I will be picking up the Protoboards in the morning. . .and trying to finish assembling one of the 128K boards this weekend. I've been way too busy over the last two weeks to fo much of anything hobby-wise except mail all of the cartridge boards I had assembled out to the community. I'll have to assemble some more of those on Friday too. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 15, 2014 Author Share Posted May 15, 2014 I got the protoboards this morning. Now I just need to take some pictures and build one as a test object. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc.hull Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 I got the protoboards this morning. Now I just need to take some pictures and build one as a test object. . . My tinker muscle just twitched a bit Jim. Those isa proto boards aren't the best to work with. Thanks m' man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 15, 2014 Author Share Posted May 15, 2014 Thank you, Marc! It was you that asked me a long time ago if I had any spare prototyping boards--and I said no, I only had one or two of the Willforth Boards, but that I could always try to do a layout for a new one. I think I even sent you an early iteration of the ExpressPCB file. I just finally got the time, money, and inclination to finish it and get them manufactured. . .and almost half of them are spoken for already--I may actually have to do a second run of them at some point. Glad to hear the hardware bug is still coursing through your veins too--you tend to have good ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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