Aquarius PC Board Layout UPDATED

[+1stage]

Out of necessity, I've created a revised layout of the "PC Board Aquarius 1" layout (scan) that has been around forever. I'm planning on some revisions, and that will necessitate a few things:

• taking a sacrificial Aquarius (known dead) and stripping it of all parts to scan the PCB for complete reproduction... I'm doing this both as an exercise in PCB reproduction and as a means for establishing a baseline from which modified PCBs for the Aquarius can be developed
• cataloging all components, visually, physically (verifying with a component tester), and technically (comparing to archival documentation)... this will help determine which components can be modernized, removed, or reworked completely

 

The impetus for this was the need to update the Aquarius for more consistent and safe power supply. The dozen or so components that provide the Aquarius' power take up nearly 1/8 the board space, and account for about 80% (estimate) of the heat generated in the unit. While it's not difficult to replace the eight electrolytic capacitors inside the computer, the power brick (aka wall-wart), which is hard-wired to the unit, has components inside that are inaccessible and not replaceable.

 

So I drafted this up...

 

motherboard_with_labels_20190902.pdf

 

Caveats:

• The scan of the original PC Board Aquarius I document was NOT clean enough to read many of the component numbers... they can be inferred, but as an example many times it's difficult to tell "R22" from "R33"... so, there WILL be mistakes.
• The original documentation does NOT reflect the final build of the Aquarius. As an example, both the historic schematics and layout indicate TWO quartz crystals, implying that the Aquarius (at some point) could output either PAL or NTSC, but obviously there is now only a single crystal...
• There are some documented components that aren't installed.
• There are some installed components that aren't documented.
• PLEASE PROVIDE FEEDBACK ON CORRECTIONS OR ADDITIONS!

 

Anyway, if ANYONE happens to have access to the ORIGINAL hardware documentation and would be willing to either scan it in higher resolution, loan it to me for scanning, or sell it to me, I would be happy to reconcile and establish an updated set of documents.

 

- Sean

[+1stage]

For those who just want to look at it... PNG file

[jaybird3rd]

I'm not sure if I have any schematics that are different from the ones you already have, but here are the ones I've found so far.

 

docs.zip

[+1stage]

Thanks! I had the MEKO schematic, but not the other three. Those will be helpful.

 

[jaybird3rd]

4 minutes ago, 1stage said:

Thanks! I had the MEKO schematic, but not the other three. Those will be helpful.

Excellent!  That version of the MEKO schematic is (very) slightly different from the original; I discovered one or two mislabeled cartridge port pins, so I made the corrections in the revised version.