GandALF

Disk drives, Monitors, SuperCPU etc.
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eslapion
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Re: GandALF

Post by eslapion »

Gyro Gearloose wrote:You put it in a 1541 and it makes the drive behave like there's a disk in the drive so it makes all the noise and activity of a drive without needing media?
You do put it in a 1541 and it makes the drive behave like there's disk in the drive when there's actually a disk in the drive but it makes absolutely no noise.
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Re: GandALF

Post by Gyro Gearloose »

No I meant it somehow feeds in raw head data so the drive makes noise as it moves its head and runs the motor...

Oh well, that would require a lot of data...

Is it a newer and better 21 second backup that uses wi-fi?

Is it an adapter to use an 8 inch mechanism for a truly bizarre experience? *that* I'd buy! The more surreal, the better.

Or does it let you use a 3.5" PC mechanism and makes a hybrid beast?

Does it activate the mysterious drive 1 and lets you use two mechanisms in the same drive to copy, er, back up stuff?

EZ
5S
7Z
-01

Minus 1?

Nah, guess I'm not close enough to the hardware to get it.
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Re: GandALF

Post by Zippy Zapp »

hmm. Not getting it from those clues.
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Re: GandALF

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:roll:

Every single chip on the 1541 electronics board is either still in production or have an equivalent component available from a different company... except ONE.

If somebody were to make that ONE SINGLE missing circuit then it would be possible to make new boards or make improved boards.
;)
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Re: GandALF

Post by Gyro Gearloose »

eslapion wrote::roll:

Every single chip on the 1541 electronics board is either still in production or have an equivalent component available from a different company... except ONE.

If somebody were to make that ONE SINGLE missing circuit then it would be possible to make new boards or make improved boards.
;)
If you're going to make an improved board, why copy 40 year old packages? Put all the digital crap in a FPGA, and it's not like a head amplifier is magical anymore. For extra surrealness, I'd design one with a Nuvistor.

Watch out for that super tricky TTL/CMOS level thing. It's very hard to understand and easy to make mistakes.
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Re: GandALF

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eslapion wrote:Every single chip on the 1541 electronics board is either still in production or have an equivalent component available from a different company... except ONE.

If somebody were to make that ONE SINGLE missing circuit then it would be possible to make new boards or make improved boards.
;)
Ok. Are you are talking about the 325572-01 motor controller chip? This chip was not used on the first model 1541, the one in the white case with the full length board. So that board could be reproduced too as is.

Interesting.

EDIT: I suspect that a board I have has a bad one of these. Of course you can't find them unless you salvage them from another board.
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Re: GandALF

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Gyro Gearloose wrote:If you're going to make an improved board, why copy 40 year old packages? Put all the digital crap in a FPGA,..
That's pretty much the direction I wanted to take but use 1 or more CPLD(s) instead of FPGA. I'm getting to love those Xilinx XC95xxXL chips; low power, 5V input tolerant and very flexible with slew rate limiters and low power mode.

Since there are purists out there, I wanted to offer the option of using a CMOS 65C02 or an original MOS 6502 by having a 40 pin DIP socket. Also since WDC offers 100% compatible VIAs now ( W65C22N series ), why bother integrate ones that don't meet the purist's criterias so... a pair of DIP sockets for these too and leave the choice to the customer wether to use MOS chips or new CMOS chips.

People want to use various different firmwares so the ROM will also have to be on socket.

Bottom line is CPU,VIAs and ROMs on DIP sockets, everything else surface mounted on the underside of the PCB for minimal footprint. I estimate the new PCB is barely going to make it to the screw holes for the heat sink of the legacy voltage regulators.

... and it's not like a head amplifier is magical anymore. For extra surrealness, I'd design one with a Nuvistor.

Watch out for that super tricky TTL/CMOS level thing. It's very hard to understand and easy to make mistakes.
I considered designing a new head amplifier but if you consider all the components for the legacy design are still available, AFAIK, all in surface mount too, I'm not 100% sure its worth it. I would be very happy if you were to come up with a more efficient design that keeps the same transfer function; there's a lot of filtering in there.
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Re: GandALF

Post by Gyro Gearloose »

Isn't that a 1541-II?
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Re: GandALF

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Gyro Gearloose wrote:Isn't that a 1541-II?
The 1541-II is more compact than a 1541, electronics wise. However, it doesn't use surface mount a lot and it requires an external power supply.

I thought I'd make a VIC-1540/VIC-1541/1541/1541c board that includes switchers and that's a direct drop-in replacement and produces no noticeable heat when fitted with CMOS VIAs and CPU yet offer the ability to carry legacy NMOS VIAs and CPU for purists.

Even the 1541-II does produce heat since it uses NMOS chips. I would expect a new board to be about half the size of a 1541-II's board.

Also, I thought I'd fit the new board with 32k SRAM for full compatibility with high power copiers and possibly other features.
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Re: GandALF

Post by Gyro Gearloose »

Damn dude, that's a spec! Don't fall victim to creeping featuritis.

You can use the AP6502SP-13 switcher IC, for some reason that part number seems right, eh?
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