[Adopting two 520 STe machines]

On 3/11/2019 at 1:08 AM, atarian1 said:

Excuse my electrical ignorance...Did you have to be aware of connecting the ground holes to the power supply bracket? What happens if you rotated it 180 degrees so that you mount it with the non-grounded holes? I don't recall doing that when I fitted non-Atari power supplies to the bracket. But then, that was ages ago...

I thought this was a great question, so I did some digging...

 

On page 4 of the manual is a reference to grounding points M1 and M2.  M1 is safety ground, and it REQUIRES grounding.  Also, M1 and M2 should be connected to chassis ground as well for "better EMC performance".

 

 

Meanwell RPD-60-SPEC.PDF

[I'm taking a pot shot (in the dark) by asking, but does anyone have a better copy of this article?]

The article also was in Texas Monthly, which seems to still be a going concern.

 

https://www.texasmonthly.com/issue/april-1984/

 

Unfortunately the article is not viewable online, but you could try the contact us page.

[CD32 ... the third attempt (or the fourth?)]

33 minutes ago, evisu said:

Planned next steps: re-cap the system, probably new laser unit, TF330 is something what sounds great too.

 

Is there a chance to connect a P/S2 or USB keyboard somehow to the console?

There are guys that sell the TF330 with a riser which has a PS2 connector. For example here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/TF330-Expansion-for-Commodore-Amiga-CD32-64MB-Ram-IDE-030-50-Riser-CF-card/233406330699?hash=item365819f74b:g:aRoAAOSwaKVcvLAo

 

The above seller is based in Canada but there are others who are based in Europe. You can ask on the TF330 forum here: https://www.exxoshost.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=70

[A500 Classic520 Accelerator Review]

I used tin snips to make a cutout in the shielding for my accelerator.  I made room for the new caps as well - they were just slightly too tall.

 

[Amiga 500 3300uF cap replacement...odd issue]

For removal of hot glue, I use a little isopropyl alcohol.   It will pull right off if you can get a little alcohol between the glue and the pcb. Just give the alcohol a few minutes to work. 

[High Score Competition (April: Starfort)]

tough game

 

1137

 

 

[What have I done...]

You'll probably want to take it apart and make sure to replace the internal battery.  Those batteries will damage the motherboard if you leave them in.  I have a few M100s and have replaced the batteries with super capacitors.  See the before (brown battery) and after (blue supercap) in the attached pics.

 

Just something to keep in mind - I believe that it won't boot if there's no battery.

 

I would also recommend you replace the capacitors on the board as well.

 

[PS3 40g with backwards capability...red ring! :(]

My experience with PS3 Specialist:

 

 

[TI Related -- Ebay / Heads Up Notice]

30 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

I have my reservations on a brand new eBay account with zero feedback... does anyone happen to know this guy?

I believe it's @globeron

[Classic99 Updates]

40 minutes ago, Torrax said:

Anyone noticing any slight static or noise added to the sound output of this latest release??

I'm running Win 10 on a laptop and a desktop - I haven't noticed any noise.  I just tried now on my laptop and seems ok.

[High Score Competition (April: Starfort)]

I can't seem to get to 50K

 

45,080

 

 

[TI-99/4A EU PAL 1981 V2 - New electrolytic capacitors]

22 minutes ago, Sid1968 said:

Why not changing the 12V DC/DC-Voltage Controller too? Your PSU-Board would get a loooot less warm!

Why not taking axial Elkos, instead of radial?

I have this problem that whenever I order electronic parts, there is always one thing that I forget.  This time it was the DC-DC converter.  I will order one at a future date.

 

Digikey does not seem to sell the axial types - at least I could not find them on the site.

[TI-99/4A EU PAL 1981 V2 - New electrolytic capacitors]

13 hours ago, --- Ω --- said:

83 days @ 24 hours a day or a little over 3 years @ 3 hours per day... is that correct?  What is the normal operating temperature of the power supply?

 

I don't know about the operating temp, but the caps are rated for 2000 hours at 105C. 

 

For every 10C decrease in operating temperature, the lifetime roughly doubles.

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/a/31600/124611

 

Given that, we can expect the following lifetimes for a range of temps:

 

95 C / 203 F = 4,000 hrs

85 C / 185 F = 8,000 hrs

75 C / 167 F = 16,000 hrs

65 C / 149 F = 32,000 hrs

55 C / 131 F = 64,000 hrs

45 C / 113 = 128,000 hrs

35 C / 95 F = 256,000 hrs

25 C / 77 F = 512,000 hrs

 

According to google, you can touch something that is 140 F, and HAVE to pull your fingers away after 5 seconds.  If we assume this temperature for the TI, we get a little over 32,000 hours of continuous operating life.  At 3 hours a day, we get 10,667 days or 29 years.

[TI-99/4A EU PAL 1981 V2 - New electrolytic capacitors]

I've been wanting to recap my TI for a while, and recently did the internal power supply.  Here's what I used :

 

3300µF/35V Radial. Quantity: 1. https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/panasonic-electronic-components/ECA-1VHG332/P5557-ND/245156
1000µF/25V Radial. Quantity: 1. https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/panasonic-electronic-components/ECA-1EHG102/P5544-ND/245143
470µF/25V radial. Quantity: 1. https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/panasonic-electronic-components/ECA-1EHG471/P5543-ND/245142
47µF/25V Radial. Quantity: 2. https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/panasonic-electronic-components/EEU-FM1E470/P12923-ND/762833
4.7µF/50V Radial. Quantity: 1. https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/nichicon/UPW1H4R7MDD1TD/493-11360-1-ND/4319999

 

Note that some caps have higher voltage ratings than the originals.

Also, all caps here are rated at 2000 hours at 105°C.

 

[TI Related -- Ebay / Heads Up Notice]

Plain old TI-99/4A going for $300+

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Texas-Instruments-TI-99-4A-NEW/264501307766

 

New in box, but I'm surprised anyone is willing to pay this much.

[The most outrageous, far-out, super cool probably never to be made dream item for the TI-99/4A...]

57 minutes ago, Gilbyph said:

I'd like to be able to use a joystick with more than one trigger button. How many buttons can a TI recognize? Just a maximum of one?

You could hook up a modified Genesis joystick, and use one of its many buttons as an additional fire button.  This would require any game to poll both joystick 1 and joystick 2 for button presses.

 

 

[A few changes - Heatwave BBS and repair work]

Just curious, do you have source code for MA BASIC?

[High Score Competition (April: Starfort)]

29590

 

[New kid in town]

Never saw one of those power supplies with an LED.  It seems you have a rare machine here.  I've never seen a Silver & Black with 2.2 firmware.

[High Score Competition (April: Starfort)]

I'll start it off: 22950

 

 

[High Score Competition (April: Starfort)]

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TI-99/4A High Score Challenge

 

Month: October, 2019

 

Game: Turmoil, by @PeteE

 

turmoilc.bin turmoil.rpk

[High Score Competition (April: Starfort)]

**Moon Patrol Hall of Fame**

 

chue    68100
jwild    28800
globeron    25150
JB    12000
jblenke    8850
 

[High Score Competition (April: Starfort)]

The trickiest part, for me at least, are the mines. 

 

On the first course I slow the vehicle down to the slowest speed and then jump the mines that way.  This does require precision jumping, which I cannot do with a joystick.  I find that switching to the keyboard during this makes things a lot easier.

 

There is an exception to the speed rule above - I will speed up the vehicle to make a jump when there are two mines that are right next to each other.  There is usually a third mine nearby that needs to be avoided as well, and for me there is always some luck involved as to not hit one of the three.

 

On the second course, the mines always seem to get me.  I always die in the same spot, which is shown in my final attempt.  This spot seems to have gotten @globeron as well:

 

 

[High Score Competition (April: Starfort)]

Final attempt - 68100

 

 

[Patience Pays Off]

That's a very nice looking TI.  Yes the case is a nice bonus.  Now you have a portable TI.