sparkdrummer Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Came across this today while going thru the box piles. As memory serves me I put it together with the speech synthesizer part. Can't remember if it worked or not. I'm thinking I'd like to put together with the 32k on board. I found my Percom TX99 and It would work out good with a console that has expansion memory on board. I have a Multicom 32k,RS232,PIO sidecar but the TX99 and the Multicom don't seem to like each other. Anybody have any input on the zenoboard? Or.... Anybody have a console with 32k on board for sale?? conTInuing, -Ralph... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Is the Multicom putting all of the necessary signals through? For that matter, if you connect it to a PEB with just a TI disk controller in it, does that work? I've had no problems at all using my TX99 with several of the other 3rd-party sidecars--or the ones from TI. The Zeno Board is nice when moving a lot of stuff into the console--especially when you put the XB or EA chips in there with the Speech Synth chips. I keep getting distracted from building mine though. . .too many projects and too little time. I'll get to it though, as I had to hunt for far too long to find one in the first place. . . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 I love the concept! Now days, those of us remaining in the hobby are more likely to have expanded systems where space is at premium, so being able to free up a slot is a worthy goal in my book. With the reduced physical size of contemporary components, I've wondered why there has never been a 32K add-on for the FLEX CARD INTERFACE. To me, that seems like an obvious place, but there must be a reason why no one has done it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkdrummer Posted February 22, 2015 Author Share Posted February 22, 2015 That's a good idea Ksarul! When I get a free moment I'll hook one of the Multicoms to a PEB with just a disk controller on board and see if they talk to one another.(yeah, right - I keep getting distracted when I dig up another TI treasure, just found my Gramkarte as well.). I bought the Zenoboard direct from Eric Zeno many years ago. Fiddled with it a bit and then stored it with the rest of the hoard. My "hoard" is pretty much the reason I've not taken a picture of my system(s). I have stuff in 3 rooms in my house - accumulated from years of fellow TI'ers baling out to go with a PC or Mac and selling their TI stuff to me. conTInuing, -Ralph... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 I know the drill on the inevitable accumulation of wonderful TI things. I have two rooms on the ground floor completely repurposed for the storage and use of my TI stuff. I think I've ended up with the complete collections of a dozen or so folks who bailed out--which I then parted out to others needing one or another of the items I had too many of, only keeping the items I didn't already have in my collection. Have fun with the testing. . .and please let us know the results, as it may help someone else solve a similar problem further down the road. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 I've a hunch the Zenoboard is rarer than Bigfoot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 (edited) Not that rare, Willsy--Sparkdrummer and I both have them, and there are a few others floating around. I'd even considered doing a new layout for them, assuming anyone still has contact with Eric Zeno to ask permission. Edited February 22, 2015 by Ksarul 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazoo Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Not that rare, Willsy--Sparkdrummer and I both have them, and there are a few others floating around. I'd even considered doing a new layout for them, assuming anyone still has contact with Eric Zeno to ask permission. Right off the bat, I would take out the sections for the Rom & Groms and replace them with sockets for a 1284P and a 512k (or larger, I suggest 1 meg) Rom. Gazoo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 I could fit the cartridge from hell in there--using through-hole only components, I could build an UberGROM with a 2M ROM side, and if I got really creative, I could expand that part to something horrible like 16M if I used eight of the 27C160 chips. . .with 3.3V surface mount stuff it could be even crazier--I think I could get it up to 512MB really easily. . .of course, that would probably also hold all of the software ever written for the TI. . . 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkdrummer Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Boom! Am I ever glad I posted this! conTInuing, Ralph 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 I could fit the cartridge from hell in there--using through-hole only components, I could build an UberGROM with a 2M ROM side, and if I got really creative, I could expand that part to something horrible like 16M if I used eight of the 27C160 chips. . .with 3.3V surface mount stuff it could be even crazier--I think I could get it up to 512MB really easily. . .of course, that would probably also hold all of the software ever written for the TI. . . If you go to surface mount there's an AVR with 512k flash, too 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 I could fit the cartridge from hell in there--using through-hole only components, I could build an UberGROM with a 2M ROM side, and if I got really creative, I could expand that part to something horrible like 16M if I used eight of the 27C160 chips. . .with 3.3V surface mount stuff it could be even crazier--I think I could get it up to 512MB really easily. . .of course, that would probably also hold all of the software ever written for the TI. . . doooo eeeetttt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+InsaneMultitasker Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 I could fit the cartridge from hell in there--using through-hole only components, I could build an UberGROM with a 2M ROM side, and if I got really creative, I could expand that part to something horrible like 16M if I used eight of the 27C160 chips. . .with 3.3V surface mount stuff it could be even crazier--I think I could get it up to 512MB really easily. . .of course, that would probably also hold all of the software ever written for the TI. . . Tony's cartridge menu is going to need a search option.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc.hull Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Neat device that Zeno board. If you want to sell or trade I'd sure be interested. Been hunting one quite a while with no luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 also interesting documents for this board on MainByte website Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 I'd even considered doing a new layout for them..., If you go to surface mount there's an AVR with 512k flash... doooo eeeetttt! Something overly complicated would probably take years... if ever, especially with other items in the queue that people are waiting on. Honestly, I believe people would be happy with just a 1 meg SAM's on board combined with Tursi's PS/2 keyboard adapter. Those are both items that people have expressed interest in and it would not be nullifying the recent hard work and investment of others. As you can see from the board below the current design is a little too large to allow room for the PS/2 interface and connector. The Uber Carts we already have are cool and I believe Greg will be back on track with his speech interface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 Yeh I have two zeno boards, one partially populated, the other bare except for being partially populated with sockets, and am wanting to finish them. Would like to be able to make them do more also, so keep up the good talk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 Sorry to ask the naive question, but what is a Zenoboard? The Mainbyte site is kaput and there is precious little info about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 It lets you move a lot of stuff, including some cartridges, into the console. . .it was a great mod out of NW PA--but not too common. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jedimatt42 Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 Just looking at the photos here... did it really just connect with the cartridge port and 4 other wires? or are there more motherboard connections required? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 Here are JPEGs of the Zeno Board instructions. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 Is one still able to use the cartridge port with it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jedimatt42 Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 The docs I just read, say there are switches to turn each of the sub components off so, you can turn all the conflicting stuff off when you want to use a cartridge. It describes LED installation so you can tell what state it is in as well. Quite interesting.. and it sounded like there was a 16 pin wire harness that goes to the motherboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 I can imagine how super useful something like that would be, especially if outfitted with an UberGrom or something akin to it and maybe a SAMS equivalent. Although regarding the latter, while a nice option, is hardly ever used, so I would not be personally wedded to it. But even the original design is attractive enough in my book. One can dream, right? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 The SAMS in the console is probably the most exciting to me. Sure, 'right now' there is not much for it, but an item like this 'might' encourage development of a future class of programs. Now just because we have the ability to do something does not mean it will happen. The F18A is a prime example, it's widely used, but so far little has been written to exploit it's enhanced capabilities. (There are a couple of programs in active development though. ) At the very least this would free up a slot in the P-Box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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