1088XEL Atari ITX Motherboard DIY Builders Thread

[bfollowell]

Super! That is exactly what I needed. Thank you MacRorie!

[Mr Robot]

 

 

Here is a quick and dirty video. I have attached some pictures as well. Let me know if I can help.

 

Thanks for all that! My VBXE install is on hold until the rgb to vga board arrives from China. You will almost certainly be hearing from me when it arrives

[+DrVenkman]

The keys are laid out as on the modern(ish) PS/2 keyboard. Quotes and ampersand typed on the PS/2 keyboard appear correctly on the Atari screen. No worries on that score at all.

 

START is F5, SELECT is F6, OPTION is F7 and SYSTEM RESET is F8.

[bfollowell]

I'm curious about some of the top covers I've seen on various 1088XEL builds. Several of them are a variation of the one below. I'm curious about the symbol on there. It looks like it may be made for LEDs or something. Does it serve some purpose, or is it just a design engraved into the cover?

 

Thanks.

 

[+DrVenkman]

I'm curious about some of the top covers I've seen on various 1088XEL builds. Several of them are a variation of the one below. I'm curious about the symbol on there. It looks like it may be made for LEDs or something. Does it serve some purpose, or is it just a design engraved into the cover?

 

Thanks.

 

The symbol above the 1088XEL lettering is Mytek’s logo. No LEDs there unless the builder rigs something up on his own and has the cover plate machines with the holes drilled through for them.

[bfollowell]

OK, that helps. Thanks.

 

I'm designing my own case lid for the 1088XEL build I'm going to start later this year. I want to make my own 1088XEL label using an Atari XL style font and I'd like to have big fuji on it as well. I need to import these as PLT files to put them on my lid design in Front Panel Designer. From what little research I've done, it seems that I should be able to create the text or the fuji design in something like AutoCAD or CorelDraw, but I don't use/own either of these and they are quite expensive. Is anyone aware of any cheap, or better yet, free options that are easy to use that I could do this with?

Thanks.

[+DrVenkman]

OK, that helps. Thanks.

 

I'm designing my own case lid for the 1088XEL build I'm going to start later this year. I want to make my own 1088XEL label using an Atari XL style font and I'd like to have big fuji on it as well.

I have a vector Fuji that I was able to convert to the proper format (using an online web-based graphic converter). I can post it here tonight after I get home from work. The benefit of the vector format of course is that you can scale it however you like for your design.

 

[bfollowell]

Excellent! I believe it was your lid design that I was admiring when I got the itch for one on mine. If you have the time, and kind find the details, I'd appreciate it if you could steer me towards the online graphic converter you used. I'd like to see if I could use it for my text label as well.

 

Thank you very much!

[bfollowell]

OK, I'm a small step closer. I created my ATARI 1088XEL label text for my lid, and was able to convert it PLT and import it into Front Panel Designer. The issue now is that the lettering is only outlined, and I want it to be solid, like the text on the lid in the picture below. I think I want my fuji to be solid as well. Everything import seems to come in only as an outline. Is this an issue with Front Panel Designer, or with the conversion tool I'm using?

 

Any ideas?

[+DrVenkman]

OK, I'm a small step closer. I created my ATARI 1088XEL label text for my lid, and was able to convert it PLT and import it into Front Panel Designer. The issue now is that the lettering is only outlined, and I want it to be solid, like the text on the lid in the picture below. I think I want my fuji to be solid as well. Everything import seems to come in only as an outline. Is this an issue with Front Panel Designer, or with the conversion tool I'm using?

 

Any ideas?

 

Unfortunately not. It's been awhile since I've messed around in Front Panel Designer to any extent. There *might* be a formatting feature somewhere when specifiying/editing details of each of the graphical elements of the design. But be aware as well that the a "solid" symbol will require substantially more machining and will likely drive up the cost to match.

 

Anyway, here are the SVG file I used for the Fuji logo, and also the FPD file for the top panel in case it proves helpful.

atarifuji.zip

1088XEL Fuji.zip

[bfollowell]

Thanks! I finally figured it out with the conversion tool I was using. I managed to get my text and your fuji to come through solid and here's my preliminary lid design. I have a few months to ponder on it, but I really like it.

 

I appreciate your help DrVenkman.

 

[+mytek]

I like the solid Fuji. Please post your FPD file here or in the Mini-ITX case thread.

[bfollowell]

I will, once I figure out what I've done wrong. The design looks great, but the pricing shows it'll cost $4,200 to make!

 

I really have no idea what I may have done to impact the price so much. The plt files I imported were much larger than the cover, so I resized them and positioned them, but I wouldn't think that should make any difference. I removed the resources one at a time, so that I could see how they each impacted the price. The model labeling adds $2,600 and the fuji symbol adds almost another $1,500! Without either it's only $70.

[Bikerbob]

Thanks! I finally figured it out with the conversion tool I was using. I managed to get my text and your fuji to come through solid and here's my preliminary lid design. I have a few months to ponder on it, but I really like it.

 

I appreciate your help DrVenkman.

 

 

bfollowell can I get a copy of your file if you dont mind?? I have something I am sending to the FPD guys.

 

Are you pricing the text and the logo as being milled out?? or screen printed on to the aluminium .. check that.. I am doing something for my boat electrical system that is 3 x more complicated with cutouts etc.. and its costing me about $220..

 

James

Edited April 19, 2019 by Bikerbob

[bfollowell]

Bikerbob, yes, I had the label and the logo engraved into the aluminum. I changed them to a print graphic and the price has come down to less than $90, but they're black, and I can't seem to find a way to make them white.

[+mytek]

I will, once I figure out what I've done wrong. The design looks great, but the pricing shows it'll cost $4,200 to make!

 

I really have no idea what I may have done to impact the price so much. The plt files I imported were much larger than the cover, so I resized them and positioned them, but I wouldn't think that should make any difference. I removed the resources one at a time, so that I could see how they each impacted the price. The model labeling adds $2,600 and the fuji symbol adds almost another $1,500! Without either it's only $70.

 

Ask the guys at Front Panel Express to help you figure out what caused such a major cost increase when adding those items. They're pretty good about helping to resolve issues like that.

[Brentarian]

Thanks! I finally figured it out with the conversion tool I was using. I managed to get my text and your fuji to come through solid and here's my preliminary lid design. I have a few months to ponder on it, but I really like it.

 

I appreciate your help DrVenkman.

 

My top panel is similar, but I chose to keep the CF slots in the back. It is slated for delivery on the 23rd. Finally, after two years my 1088XEL won't be naked anymore.

[bfollowell]

It may be kind of pointless as it is, but I'm attaching my fpd file. You guys can play around with it if you like. If I figure out what's going on and get the price down to something more reasonable, I'll repost it then.

 

I have emailed Front Panel Express.

 

It wouldn't let me attach the original file. It said I wasn't allowed to upload that file type, so I renamed it to txt. Just download it and rename it to fpd.

1088XEL Realan Top with Dual CF with-cart & fuji.txt

Edited April 19, 2019 by bfollowell

[+DrVenkman]

It wouldn't let me attach the original file. It said I wasn't allowed to upload that file type ...

That’s why I zipped my original files a few posts back. Saves Al a little bit of storage and bandwidth in the process as well.

[+mytek]

There's a lot of information being stored in that file. All my fpd files load into the program quickly, but not yours. So my best guess as to why it's being reported in the 1000s of dollars is because it's probably doing 1000s of machining operations to create that solid filled Fuji as well as your text. When doing solid fills you want to create them with the largest tool you can get away with, and do only as many concentric passes as required to take out the required material. I use a simple CAD program sometimes to create such objects that I want engraved with a solid filled inside, and then convert them into HPGL for import into the Front Panel Designer through the use of a plotter print driver.

 

Hint: if you have an HPGL that you wish to use a few different tool sizes within the design, or want to be able to specify a few different color infills, assign different plotter pen colors when exporting the object. Each pen color assignment can then be given it's own tool and color infill in FPD.

[bfollowell]

There's a lot of information being stored in that file. All my fpd files load into the program quickly, but not yours. So my best guess as to why it's being reported in the 1000s of dollars is because it's probably doing 1000s of machining operations to create that solid filled Fuji as well as your text. When doing solid fills you want to create them with the largest tool you can get away with, and do only as many concentric passes required to take out the required material. I use a simple CAD program sometimes to create such objects that I want engraved with a solid filled inside, and then convert them into HPGL for import into the Front Panel Designer through the use of a plotter print driver.

 

Once I saw the crazy price, I did try to adjust the size of the engraving tool that was used, but if I went larger, everything got fat and the lines blurred. All the detail was lost and the lettering and the fuji looked terrible.

 

I'm definitely going to have to play around to see if I can change things a little bit.

[+mytek]

Once I saw the crazy price, I did try to adjust the size of the engraving tool that was used, but if I went larger, everything got fat and the lines blurred. All the detail was lost and the lettering and the fuji looked terrible.

 

I'm definitely going to have to play around to see if I can change things a little bit.

 

The problem is that your HPGL graphic is requiring too many lines to make it. Changing the tool width won't change that simple fact.

 

So to give you a better idea of what I am talking about, here's a quick example I did to create a solid filled letter T.

 

 

As you can see I've based it on a 1mm TOOL diameter, so the idea is that each line that makes up the fill can not be spaced greater than 1 mm. If I were to double, triple, quadruple the number of lines inside the T nothing would change other then it being slightly smoother inside the engraving, but it would require more passes, and thus more time, and more cost.

 

Even better then my example would be to do the fill similar to an etch'a'sketch where the TOOL would touch down in the middle and remain so as it spiraled outward, only lifting when the entire object had been engraved.

 

[bfollowell]

 

The problem is that your HPGL graphic is requiring too many lines to make it. Changing the tool width won't change that simple fact.

 

So to give you a better idea of what I am talking about, here's a quick example I did to create a solid filled letter T.

 

Wow! So it isn't as simple as import a graphic and converting it to a plt file. Basically, you have to re-create every single image in widths the swath of a milling tool. That seems like an insane amount of work. You think there's be a software tool that would do the work for you.

[+mytek]

Wow! So it isn't as simple as import a graphic and converting it to a plt file. Basically, you have to re-create every single image in widths the swath of a milling tool. That seems like an insane amount of work. You think there's be a software tool that would do the work for you.

 

It looks like CorelDraw has this ability: https://community.coreldraw.com/talk/coreldraw_graphics_suite_x6/f/coreldraw-x6/47708/hpgl-format-with-fill-and-no-fill

 

And probably there are other cheaper, maybe even free apps that can do this as well.

 

But yes you have to take into consideration how this graphic is to be used by the end process, and make it as simple to do as possible for that process .

[bfollowell]

Mile at Front Panel Express said:

 

We took a look at the file and the engravings you mentioned weren't
converted properly and have way too many contours in them.

If you could send over your logos and outlines, we can convert those for
you and send them back.

 

So, I sent him my files and I'll see if he can work some magic for me and get this down to something approaching a more reasonable price. I'll let you guys know and will post what I get.