The Franken //e

[Gibsaw]

Yeah, but I happen to know he has more than one.

[SeanKennedy]

I sent him a note via the Parallel printer card, but at the same time I've ordered a prototyping blank from Bulgaria and a pile of IC's that I can't easily get locally (ie not in he Jaycar catalog) so I'm almost committed to building my own. That would be how we would have done it back in the 80's when we wanted CP/M so it's kind of fitting.

Nice to see that the other option (being the Apple clone on TradeMe) went to yetiseti for his cave in Dunners. It will probably live on intact here, whereas I would have cannibalised it for drives and cards

[SeanKennedy]

Quick update - I have managed to track down a Super Serial Card - in Alaska. Got it for a reasonable price, and the shipping was not too nasty. Yay for Youshop (and for traders that won't ship outside the US!)

I almost have all the parts to make a Z80 card now, just a couple of ICs to pick up from Jaycar. And a whole lot of track schemeing to work out how to do it on the prototype card:

[SeanKennedy]

Hmm - about time for an update.

So I managed to move into a new house about 8 months ago, and have gotten the bench setup just about right now.


I spent the first few weeks building up a Z80 CP/M card from the base components and waited for an age for the chips to roll in.




The result is pretty messy, and heaps of wirewrap, and when I finally had all the chips, and the gumption to pop it in a slot, I ended up flexing the board (audibly) and next thing I know I get garbage on the screen and random mirrored characters on startup. Bah - bad joint/broken track somewhere.

So it went on the back burner. Until I got wind that my CFFA3000 was enroute. Better find somewhere to put it.

So last weekend I had the //e out on the bench (and worked out that it is much easier to work on by unscrewing and removing the case rather than wiggling the motherboard out through the lid!) with the output hooked up to my telly which sits in the window sill and allows me to get a bit of TV and the odd display for HDMI/Raspberry-Pi and the Apple.

I needed to pop out to a shed, so I went via the kitchen, and next minute the wife and I were cowering under a door frame, wine bottles crashing down (but not breaking!) around us, and distressed kids being, well, distressed. Thanks earthquake.

Not too much broken glass to clean up, but...




You'd think that after 5 years and 14,000 shakes I would have learned to fix, fasten and forget. Oh well, off to the dump with the LCD - all it gets now is the spider channel.

Then I wondered if the wee trip off the bench may have magically fixed the defunct connection on the Apple board.

No.

So I replaced the RAM sockets again, and mapped out the traces and put new sockets in and found a couple of disconnects (No doubt the result of vigorous removal of the orignal un-socketed RAM chips) - replaced those traces with jumpers, and the //e lives again!

And the CFFA3000 turned up, and works a dream. Now all I have to do is make a 5.1/4" cleaning disk so I don't have to pull the drives apart to give the head a clean.

Shouldn't be too hard...

PS - no idea why the iPhone pics are coming through sideways. Even after rotating them in Windows.

[tezza]

Great to hear progress and these experiences. Yes, the CFFA3000 is a cool piece of kit. I have one in my II GS.

I can't imagine living with all those earthquakes. If they happened here, I'm sure the upstairs floor of my garage would collapse. I'm already concerned about the weight up there. One strong earthquake and things will not end well.