[Sophia 2 preorder thread]

46 minutes ago, woj said:

I considered designing a PCB to have normal HDMI instead, but I was not up to the task of mixing in the analog audio too, I could not find ready solutions / schematics for this, and without that it seemed pointless. Without audio doing a board like this to ship from JLC or PCBWay should take you a couple of days if you have ever done something of this sort before.

For ready solutions search for “HDMI Audio embedder” and then re-engineering the PCB.

[Dedicated Atari VGA upscaler/scan doubler on ebay. Thoughts?]

Has anybody already experience with the RetroTink 4K and our Ataris?

https://www.retrotink.com/post/introducing-the-retrotink-4k

 

[PBI extension cable thread]

16 hours ago, Mark2008 said:

Although mentioned in another thread, I won't derail that thread, and just start a PBI cable thread here.  My goal is to see if one can set a PBI device away from the Atari on the other end of a cable, say 1m or 1.5m away.

 

I ordered an Atari 800XL off  e-bay for the computer side of the test, and I will use my SysCheck as the device.

 

No particular news today, just researching options.  These are the one's I like, at this moment.

 

1. Belden 9V28350; Shielded Jacketed Vari-Twist Cable with mass termination runways
   Designed for external interconnection applications.

   url: https://www.elliottelectronicsupply.com/9v28350.html (note: picture does not appear to be accurate)

 

   Drawback: Flat cable

 

2. 3M157847-5-ND; 50 (25 Pair Twisted) Conductor Multi-Pair Cable Gray 28 AWG Foil, Braid 

   url: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/3m/3600G-50-100/9478469
   
   Drawback: Not mass terminated

 

3. 3M 3659/50; Ribbon Screened Cable, Round Jacketed Flat, Per M, 50 Core, 28 AWG, 0.072 mm , 1.27 mm 

   url: https://www.newark.com/3m/3659-50/ribbon-screened-cable-round-jacketed/dp/08WX9924

 

   Drawback: Not twisted pair

 

I was reading a lot of discussion on the TI-99/4A forum about their flat cable that allowed the Peripheral Expansion Box, which typically housed 32k of memory for the system, to be placed several feet away from the TI and yet it still operated at full CPU speed.  Wondering what options there may be for Atari PBI cabling.

 

I ordered cables 1 and 2 listed above.

 

Mail is slow recently,  but hopefully I'll have the first parts arriving before this weekend.

 

Have you had a look at this type already: https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/22045O/3mtm-round-shielded-jktd-disc-wire-cable-3750-series-ts0072.pdf?&fn=ts0072.pdf

 

[Sophia 2 preorder thread]

Two for me too

[Scorch - physical release]

I like one copy too.

[Making A New Atari 5200 Controller In The Original Form Factor]

I‘m in for 2 as well

[SIO cables anyone?]

In order to be able to use 10 connections the none standard RJ-50 10P10C could be used.

Only 3 connectios to be omitted.

[Atari 130XE keyboard rebuild: vintage keycaps on modern switches]

52 minutes ago, ScreamingAtTheRadio said:

 

 

Not sure what you mean by that: the number of keys is limited to what matrix you can build with 5 wires + GND. CX85 maxes this out, pretty much.

 

Can you explain exactly what you have in mind with this?

With 5 bits you can decode 32 keys, see attached mapping table for the cx85. Adding the trigger input might give 6 bits and 64 key values.

on the driver side you can map any combination to any key value.

[onEscape Physical Release - Information and Ordering]

1 soundtrack edition for me

please. Thanks 

[1008 K Axlon Compatible Board w/Base RAM and no soldering]

Today the boards arrived.

Thanks a lot for doing them.

[1008 K Axlon Compatible Board w/Base RAM and no soldering]

I‘m interested in a 800 and 400 version

[1008 K Axlon Compatible Board w/Base RAM and no soldering]

I‘m as well interested in 2 sets of boards for the 800 and 2 for the 400.

[OSS 5 in 1 Remake]

I would like one.

[1090XL remake]

10 hours ago, reifsnyderb said:

 

What's the consensus on my adding a voltage regulator for +5vdc and running power to the cards as that isn't on the original specification?

 

I think that makes absolutely sense. Since there are 5 card connectors the supply of maybe 5x 500mA needs to be accounted for.

[Aide - The Absolute Disk Editor by Roklan, found and released!]

5 minutes ago, Allan said:

Did this ever get scanned?

I sent it to @Farb and he is in the process of scanning it.

Actually he already made a disc image of the floppy which is equal to the image he already has therefore confirming it and the manual will take some more time.

[1090XL remake]

8 minutes ago, massiverobot said:

Doesn't the FujiNet pretty much already do whatever you could do with this, and for a lot cheaper? Disk, cassette, SAM, printer, modem - and with the protocol adapters it can do whatever you'd want in terms of 'networking' like telnet, ssh, https, ftp.

 

I'm not saying don't do this, it would be interesting, but realistically what is the use case for this say if you already have a FujiNet?

 

 

What could we do with a PBI FujiNet which doesn’t need to care about the SIO-bus dependencies?

[Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative]

30 minutes ago, leech said:

Now to figure out how to say, "that is a beautiful poodle, may I pet it?"  ?

I can help here 

 

Das ist ein wunderschöner Pudel, darf ich ihn streicheln?

 

 

[Tensor Trzaskowskiego - physical release]

44 minutes ago, Mq. said:

…

We kindly ask people willing to subscribe to the list here.
…

Herewith I state my interest.

Great to see another physical release.

[Atari 800 XL Remake]

Can you please cater for a DIN8 socket as monitor port?

I am pretty sure that a DIN5 & 8 share the same 5 pins at the same location on the PCB.

[Atari 800 XL Remake]

12 minutes ago, wildstar87 said:

 

I think most people that are using Sophia2 are probably hooking to the digital portion of DVI, not the VGA analog signals, not sure how many signal lines there are in that.  Don't have the documentation handy though. 

For DVI minimum 10 pins are needed (according Sophia2 docs) plus 3 for stereo or 2 for mono plus one for composite.

[Atari 800 XL Remake]

2 hours ago, reifsnyderb said:

To confirm:  looking at the DVI Connector, you are thinking about using C1, C2, C3, C4, and C5.  Then keeping 2 for stereo and 1 for ground?

That would be one possible setup if one once to have RGB and stereo on the DIN8.

Prerequisite is that the pin assignment can be easily changed on the PCB.

 

A DIN13 would give even more setup combinations including DVI.

Downside is that one needs to have an adapter cable to convert the DIN13 to the required standard connectors like DIN5 or DIN8 and chinch for audio or svideo or DVI or what ever is needed.

[Atari 800 XL Remake]

1 hour ago, reifsnyderb said:

I just downloaded the Sophia 2 connector information.  Sophia 2 uses 16 connections (2 being grounds) on the connector.  I am not sure how to drop that to 13 pins.

Out of the 16 connections 5 are for RGB and 11 for DVI taken that 2 are ground still 2 for stereo and separate ground is possible.

Disadvantage is that switching between RGB and DVI requires opening the case and rearranging the pin out.

Still worth for me not modifying the case.

 

But it is your choice you are doing all the work here designing the board layout.

Thanks for doing it.

 

[Atari 800 XL Remake]

42 minutes ago, reifsnyderb said:

The Atari DIN 5 and a DIN 8 don't have the same pin configuration, unfortunately.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_connector)  I'll check to see if a DIN 5 and DIN 8 uses a similar footprint so that either could be soldered in place.  I doubt a DIN13 would have a close enough footprint.  I do like the idea of avoiding case modifications.

I think DIN8 shares the same 5 pins as DIN5.

DIN13 has nothing in common so that would be a change not compatible with the current connector.

But can be remedied with an adapter cable.

 

In my opinion, we should go the DIN13 route to avoid case modding to use the new fancy stuff easily preserving the cases.

I believe who ever builds himself this board can do as well the adapter cable.

[Atari 800 XL Remake]

I don’t know if it is possible to cater additionally for a DIN13 at the same spot where the DIN5 for video sits.

That would be great for those running Sophia via RGB. You could run as well the DVI connections through the DIN13, so that there is no need to modify the case. Just a special adapter cable needed to get the DVI connector.

 

If not possible let’s have a DIN8 with the option to easily change the pin assignment via bridges.

 

just my thoughts.

[Aide - The Absolute Disk Editor by Roklan, found and released!]

Ok, just bought it.

Once it arrived I forward it to someone who can archive it.