atari8warez Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 (edited) Jinks, here's a little update: I was able to fix the IDC connector with two missing pins with a homemade solution and it works, but it is temporary and I am waiting for the new IDC connector to arrive, which by the way turned out to be a rare item in North America. Only Jameco carries it, and I also needed to buy other stuff to avoid paying an extra 5 dollars handling fee they charge for orders under $10. I needed other parts anyway but the way Jameco structured their shipping fee is strange, and if you add an extra item after you have a certain number of items in your shopping cart, no matter how small the item is, the shipping fee jumps from $10 to over $25 because they now use UPS instead of USPS. Strange part is that they use number of items in determining which carrier to use, instead of shipping weight and/or size of the package. Anyway I had to do some juggling around to avoid the handling fee and keep the shipping rate at $10 So now the U1MB works fine but the extra keyboard connector on the 600XL poses a problem with the U1MB's installation position. That means I will have to move U1MB to the left side of the case between the power switch and the "former RF modulator". This was one more reason to get rid of the RF modulator which is now removed. You will have separate Composite and S-Video jacks + two RCA jacks for audio. Both audio jacks will have the mono signal, but if you install a stereo pokey mod later, they can be used for stereo output. In the meantime I am playing with the SIO2BT using my 65XE to make sure it's functional before I install it internally to your 600XL. Once it is installed, I will modify one of the U1MB OS slots to have the BT compatible OS as an option. I was planning to use the space reserved for the Diagnostic ROM unless you have another choice. Here's some photos of the current upgrade status. Note that U1MB will no longer be mounted near the SIO plug due to keyboard interference as mentioned above. Edited January 23, 2015 by atari8warez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted January 24, 2015 Author Share Posted January 24, 2015 Looks great! Thanks for your help!! Yeah the sio2bt works for sure I was using it for almost a month. The xbios_4_bt loader is a must in d1. As it works great and use xex files in d2 with a size of around 50kb or less. If you can set up the u1mb to run with the side 2 that would be great as well.. I have to get a cf card reader a compatible cf card(as it is picky as I have read) and then figure out how to put games on the cf card(fat32, partitions, atr compatible loading and all that mumbo jumbo that means nothing to me) and then figure out how to load them with the u1mb and side2. Should be real fun!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 So...I received my U1Mb with a SIO2USB fro Lotharek about 2 weeks ago but didn't have time earlier to install it. Remembered this thread and some good info in it (like where to solder the 4 wires on the mobo). So....I set up my weller soldering station, open the 600XL and get the iPad for the instructions. Then........total frustration......Lotharek please please please......WHY isn't there a nice connector included for hooking up the 4 wires that need to be soldered ?? I mean the two ribbon cables are included, but why not this ?? Now I need to find a nice connector with 4 wires etc. even further, I also have a simple stereo (which I temporraely removed as it has problems, machine works fine with Pokey back in socket). Now if I want to hook that up to the U1MB it would be cool there would be a cable for that too. I realize this will add some costs, but It would make installing this a LOT easier. Yes of course you still have to solder the 4 wires on the PCB, but who wants to solder to the connector on the U1MB ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Lotharek solders the wires straight to the pads and presumably expects you to do the same. I'm afraid I can't agree with the lack of Dupont connector housings, crimp pins and gold pin headers on the board. They cost pennies and make for a far more practical installation. You can buy them by the bucket load from HK and it would be nice to see them in the box. That said: do the right thing and purchase these parts before installing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 That's a very good question! In his defense, they can be direct-soldered, or lots of folks would have those Dupont connectors in their parts bins. But certainly not everyone would have them on hand. Cheap on Ebay, but you have to wait for the "slow boat from China." But still, a very nice product, and works like a champ, especially thanks to Jon's UFLASH. -Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Directly soldering wires to the pads is just great until you want to remove the board for some reason. To me, it's right up there with switches directly mounted to the computer's plastic case. But you're dead right about the "spares bin": after doing a few of these installs the right way, you'll have a bunch of these things lying around. I bought about a hundred five way Dupont housings with crimp connectors from HK a couple of years back for a couple of quid and the things can be trimmed down to 3/4 way housings with a craft knife if you run out of the smaller ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 I actually don't mind soldering the wires to the mobo, but it would be neat to have a connector on the U1MB side. This would also offer the chance to have a fixed color code for the wires so everyone knows which color goes to which pad. Of course, being the electronics guy I got it working....I cut off a ribbon header from an old PC Centronics/RS-232 metal thing that you installed at the back of your PC (God it's been ages since I saw a machine like that). Of course there were way too many pins and it blocked being able to close the "lid" so I sawed the connector in two parts leaving 10 pins (5x2). Removed the extra clamp on the top to lowere it even further and soldered the wires. Double checked the soldering and powered up: black screen. crap....what did I do wrong, I'm sure the soldering is correct. Had another look at the included ribbon connectors in the chips and ahummmmmmm.......wrong way around.....both of them. Guess I just looked at the orientation of pictures from others.....and didn't pay attention to the red ribbon. Stupid. Swapped them and sure enough the Atari and U1Mb survived :) Works great....now for the Simple Stereo.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Ok, nothing on Lotharek's site about how to interconnect simple stereo and U1Mb....any tips ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 (edited) Your best option is to buy a "USwitch" from Lotharek and follow the instructions provided. USwitch is especially designed for the job. I actually don't mind soldering the wires to the mobo, but it would be neat to have a connector on the U1MB side. Soldering the wires to the motherboard is taken for granted: certainly we're talking about push-fit connectors on the U1MB side. You'll be glad of them when the time comes to change the RTC battery. Edited January 28, 2015 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Meh, that battery is going to last at least 10 years.....but yeah I like to be able to get things loose again.... Oh man...............should have known that before I ordered the U1Mb and Sio2USB (which I also installed on my PC this evening, works great !)........now I need to order this for less than 3 Euro's and pay shipping costs again...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari8warez Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) That's a very good question! In his defense, they can be direct-soldered, or lots of folks would have those Dupont connectors in their parts bins. But certainly not everyone would have them on hand. Cheap on Ebay, but you have to wait for the "slow boat from China." But still, a very nice product, and works like a champ, especially thanks to Jon's UFLASH. -Larry Yeah, I am out of my vintage CD audio connectors for PC as a source for those DuPont connectors, also "the boat from China is slow indeed", and who wants to pay $8 shipping to Digikey to get a connector that's worth only pennies, so it would definitely be nice to have the cable assembly included with the device. In the meantime here's my homemade solution (it's only temporary Jinks, don't worry ); used surplus SIO plug pins and a gob of hot glue: Edited January 29, 2015 by atari8warez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 Its not a full kit. Like who all knows what kind of connector to use to connect to the u1mb board. Google search again. I would have paid up to 15 dollars for all the connectors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Regarding cost for "emergency" Dupont connectors: there's likely a local eBay vendor selling half a dozen of the things for a couple of bucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I used male to female jumper wires for mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari8warez Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Regarding cost for "emergency" Dupont connectors: there's likely a local eBay vendor selling half a dozen of the things for a couple of bucks. Unfortunately i couldn't find any local sellers on Ebay, only some single pin jumper wires for Arduino in Canada, there are a lot of Chinese sellers though and I will order some for future use as it takes about a month to get here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari8warez Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) Its not a full kit. Like who all knows what kind of connector to use to connect to the u1mb board. Google search again. I would have paid up to 15 dollars for all the connectors. Your parts from Jameco arrived this morning, so I will be able to ship your 600XL back sometime during the coming week. I went local shopping this Monday (brick and mortar) for the Dupont connector, no luck, but I instead bought 4 pin Molex connector and will replace the homemade solution with that. Edited January 29, 2015 by atari8warez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Similar to/same as a 3.5" drive power connector? -Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari8warez Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Yes.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 (edited) All my recent installs always end up using female pin header trim down to necessity. It's easy to remove the extra pins and cut the plastic and file the excess, it takes really 30 sec now. Then I solder the wires to the top of the female header (and glue for insulation if needed). [all my mods are now on perfboard and always have male headers as well so it is a snap .... literally] It is not ideal as the wire is a little exposed at the soldering point with the female header but I found out it works fine (again hot glue as insulation can be used effectively). Search for "female header single" on ebay to see what I mean. You can buy different pin counts but I usually buy long ones and trim them as needed. Edited January 31, 2015 by phoenixdownita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari8warez Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Looks great! Thanks for your help!! Jinks, your 600XL is ready, i'll be shipping it back to you on Monday. Here's a couple of videos for you: Internals: External look: Both audio jacks carry the same mono output. So if you connect the computer to a monitor via S-Video and Composite, you can have audio for both by running two audio cables to the monitor. The switch close to the audio/video connectors is to reduce Vertical Banding on LCD monitors (See the second video below) Vertical Banding reduction: Switch in ON position reduces banding by reducing Chroma signal strength so you may want to keep it in OFF position when you use a CRT monitor because it also reduces color intensity. Composite vs. S-Video: Tested on an old Sony 32" television with monitor inputs. Ultimate 1MB and Bluetooth: I replaced the Stock XL OS selection of U1MB with a 600XL OS patched for Bluetooth. http://youtu.be/X3sT1OixNrk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 Looks great! Thanks very much for your work! I am very happy it turned out the way it did! Can't wait to try it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 A8w did a VERY nice job here on this 600XL. I wish you lots of fun with it Jinks. Atari 8bit is great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Funny I came to the same spot for the U1MB. Just need to mount it, good idea how you did it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari8warez Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 I've drilled one of the RF modulator mounting slots into a round shape as big as the hole on the nut and then soldered the nut over to the hole, that way one doesn't need to take the motherboard off the plastic base to remove U1MB for a battery change when/if it ever needs to be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Totally love that idea and I'm going to copy it ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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