olix

Maybe Duddie can take over production, sales and shipping again?

I still have an older V2 PokeyMax (no 2b). This requires 10 uF electrolytic capacitors at the audio connections. Can I use tantalum capacitors instead of the electrolytic capacitors? These would be smaller.

But another big question is: Will the PokeyMax V4 be available to buy anywhere? For most of us it will be impossible to assemble the board ourselves, even with a little SMD experience these components are far too difficult.

Nice to hear that the PokeyMax success story continues. But what is the goal to be achieved with version 4? Cheaper than PokeyMax V3? More and new functions than V3? Better availability than V2 and V3?

I think you should leave the layout as it is now. If there are components on both sides of the board, it only makes assembly unnecessarily difficult. You can't save that much space either, because there has to be room for at least the pin header, even if all the other components are moved from the top front to the bottom.

Overange was kind enough to sell me two of his extra-small UGV boards. As these were not assembled, I first had to get the components and then embark on the SMD soldering adventure. Assembling the board is not necessarily suitable for a soldering beginner, but with a little experience and patience you can do it quite well. The most difficult part was actually that I had to switch between three different pairs of glasses during assembly: normal glasses for distance, reading glasses for close-up and magnifying glasses for the very small things. And then a microscope for checking. But everything worked out well and the two UGV modules worked straight away. Overange did a really good job and made the already good UGV from Mytek even better, as it now fits into the 600XL without any problems. I really love this little piece of hardware.

I am also interested in one ore two front panels for my existing mega speedy.

Ah, I see. The area around the pokey is really very densely covered with routes*. I imagined it would be easier. The idea with the additional pads is also just a "nice to have" and not a "must have". The idea of using a breadboard area for this is completely sufficient. You shouldn't change to a 4-layer PCB just for this reason. That would only increase the costs unnecessarily. I am happy with your board as it is. *By the way, what is the right word in English for the routes on the pcb : conductor, conductor path or trace?

I have a small suggestion in case there is ever a new board revision: In addition to the connections pads for the console buttons, it would be very practical if there were also connection pads for the signals required by a stereo Pokey extension (PokeyMax): - A4 - GTIA Bell (GTIA Pin 15) Even better: A5, A6 and A7 (for Quad Pokey, Covox or similar) I don't think that would be too much effort, but it would be a great help.

I have tested 5 more crystals. All purchased from Mouser: I had the best measured frequency with the ECS-35-30-4X: 3.57934 MHz Also good results with: LFXTAL016962Bulk and ECS-35-17-4X Only an grey image (no colors): ECS-35-17-1X and LFXTAL000052Bulk (All tests without additional capacitors) LFXTAL016962Bulk https://www.mouser.de/ProductDetail/449-LFXTAL016962BULK HC49/4H Frequency: 3.57945 MHz Load Capacitance: 30 pF ESR: 300 Ohms Tolerance: 30 PPM Color-Image: Yes Measured frequency: 3.57923 MHz --- ECS-35-17-4X https://www.mouser.de/ProductDetail/520-HCU357-17X HC-49/US Frequency: 3.579545 MHz Load Capacitance: 17 pF ESR: 200 Ohms Tolerance: 30 PPM Color-Image: Yes Measured frequency: 3.57917 MHz --- ECS-35-17-1X https://www.mouser.de/ProductDetail/520-HCA357-17X HC-49 Frequency: 3.579545 MHz Load Capacitance: 17 pF ESR: 120 Ohms Tolerance: 30 PPM Color-Image: NO Measured frequency: 3.57813 MHz --- ECS-35-30-4X https://www.mouser.de/ProductDetail/520-ECS-35-30-4X HC-49/USX Frequency: 3.579545 MHz Load Capacitance: 30 pF ESR: 200 Ohms Tolerance: 30 PPM Color-Image: Yes Measured frequency: 3.57934 MHz --- LFXTAL000052Bulk https://www.mouser.de/ProductDetail/449-LFXTAL000052BULK HC-49 Frequency: 3.579545 MHz Load Capacitance: 20 pF Tolerance: 10 PPM ESR: 150 Ohms Color-Image: NO Measured frequency: 3.57838 MHz

This is my installation: I soldered a socket, so i could change the crystal faster without soldering.

I have made today some crystal tests. Short story: My crystal from the german shop "reichelt.de" - only a grey picture on tube tv. Scope shows 3.57840 Mhz (to low) same crystal with 22pico on each side: COLOR. Scope shows 3.57989 (little bit to high) I had also tested a very cheap crystal from China (AliExpress): COLOR (without 22 pico) Scope: 3.57915 (little bit to low) I have ordered some more crystals for testing.

I used one from a shop in Germany: 3,5795-HC18: Standardquarz, Grundton, 3,579545 MHz bei reichelt elektronik With S-VIDEO on an LCD screen, I have a color picture. But I have not yet tested a composite signal or a CRT TV. I will test that in the next few days.

I also fitted the first board and everything worked straight away. At least almost straight away, because at first everything remained dark - but the error was quickly found: I had mixed up Pokey and PIA. So it was my mistake. Fortunately, the two ICs were not damaged. So I installed the two components correctly: And everything worked. By the way, this is my first NTSC Atari, since I live in Germany I usually only have PAL devices. I will build the next 800XL Adcanced board in PAL. @reifsnyderb : Many thanks for your great work and especially for the support with shipping to Germany

Oh, that sounds exciting. Is there more information about this OS version 6.2 here in the forum?