Tandy 1000 ex/hx PLUS Expansion to 8-Bit ISA Riser card project

[DavinD]

Question for you, Did you have to do anything special to get your IDE-CF adapter to power from the bus?  I can get the lights to come on, but it always hangs when the bios says Booting C.  It works fine when I connect the power cable.  I tried all combination of the 3 jumpers.  Not a huge deal as I just used a splitter, but it would be nice to have one less cable in there.

Also, if someone comes across one of the Tandy monitor stands that holds the monitor over the top of the PC, let me know.  I'm looking for one.

[djos]

Question for you, Did you have to do anything special to get your IDE-CF adapter to power from the bus?  I can get the lights to come on, but it always hangs when the bios says Booting C.  It works fine when I connect the power cable.  I tried all combination of the 3 jumpers.  Not a huge deal as I just used a splitter, but it would be nice to have one less cable in there.

You need to supply 5v to Pin 20 (aka the "Key Pin") and the both your IDE cable (if using one) and adapter need to support power via pin 20. UDMA IDE cables dont have the Pin 20 connected (the ones with a blue IDE connector).

Some of the adapters out there are just crap and dont properly implement IDE - see the post below for pics of the ones that dont work and the ones that do:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/vintage-computing/tandy-1000-exhx-plus-expansion-to-8-bit-isa-riser-card-project/msg1233022/#msg1233022

and here is a link to eBay for the working CF adapters which also support 5v on pin 20:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Compact-Flash-CF-To-3-5-40Pin-IDE-Bootable-Drive-Adapters-Converter-Card-/182734576729?epid=2208588899&hash=item2a8bd45c59:g:UaMAAOSw~iRZodiz

Btw, some flash cards are a bit hit and miss too - I actually use a Seagate ST1 4GB CF Microdrive which has perfect compatibility due to being a real hard drive in miniature form. In terms of Flash cards, I found the most compatible are the Transcend "Industrial" CF cards.

[djos]

Also, if someone comes across one of the Tandy monitor stands that holds the monitor over the top of the PC, let me know.  I'm looking for one.

I was really lucky, I found one on eBay and it cost me almost as much as my EX did (Shipping from the USA was the killer).

[djos]

So I finally got some time to myself if the Workshop and built one of my SmartWatch+ boards up.

Report:
Physical Fit = Perfect!
Tandy BIOS still works = YES!
SmartWatch chip sets the time = FAIL! Utility Crashes the machine. (utility works ok with OEM SmartWatch)

I need to spend some time with my DMM and the schematic to see if I've fk'd up something - although it could be a dud Dallas DS1216 too. I'll remove the current one and put a socket in for testing.

[djos]

So I found an error in my clock boards power setup - it supports 2 batteries and I wired them up wrong and as a result I think I blew all my Dallas DS1216's up before I twigged to my error. So I've ordered some more and I'll see what happens then.   

In the mean time, some OLED's screens arrived and my Gotek HxC got a very nice little upgrade today! 

Before:


Testing:


After:

[bitseeker]

That's a snazzy upgrade. Now, all it needs is a mode with large track number display — for when you get older.

[djos]

That's a snazzy upgrade. Now, all it needs is a mode with large track number display — for when you get older.

Yeah I can crank up the display settings, just haven't worked out how yet. The firmware sports a bunch of different resolutions and you can configure the number if display lines too.

[bitseeker]

Neat!

[djos]

I thought I'd try an experiment using my Tandy 1000 EX, with one of my Edge-to-DB25 Printer adapters, to see if it worked with a Covox Speech Thing clone!

https://youtu.be/Q0OfISezrsU

[djos]

Tandy 1000 EX SmartWatch+ Project Update:

So after quite a bit of trouble shooting, I realised I had made several fundamental mistakes.

1/ the DS1216 needs to intercept the data lines etc from the BIOS ROM, not just need to be connected to them. 
&
2/ My dyslexia had kicked in and I'd confused some of the pins due to my upside-down design and a couple of traces where simply connected up wrong. 

anywhoo, I've ordered some V1.0 editions from elecrow to test. 

[bitseeker]

2/ My dyslexia had kicked in and I'd confused some of the pins due to my upside-down design and a couple of traces where simply connected up wrong. 

Nah, I think that's just the southern hemisphere abnormality effect.

(You know I had to )

[djos]

2/ My dyslexia had kicked in and I'd confused some of the pins due to my upside-down design and a couple of traces where simply connected up wrong. 

Nah, I think that's just the southern hemisphere abnormality effect.

(You know I had to )

  yep, happens all the time, I'm just lucky my pet kangaroo wasn't around during the design phase or I'd prolly have a broken MacBook too. 

 

[bitseeker]

Yeah, for sure.

[djos]

Hi all, I promised the community that once I'd made the 50 (yep 50!) Tandy 1000 EX / HX PLUS-ISA/R v1.1 adapters I needed to use up the parts I had to bulk buy, (to keep costs down), I'd release the Gerber files with no strings attached.

So here they are ... I'm making no demands on how you use them, they are now 100% Public Domain.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3mu8zdts7im36rc/Tandy%201000%20ISA-PLUS%3AR%20v1.1.zip?dl=0

[djos]

I've made another video showing a the new OPL2LPT Parallel port Adlib Card and a Covox Speech thing clone working on my 1000 EX, I hope you enjoy it.

https://youtu.be/jVgY7fRG0Vs

[bitseeker]

Yeah, the OPL2 has a lot more punch than the Tandy sound, but what the soundtrack is really missing for the Tandy is a percussion track.

Is the OPL2LPT that you assembled the same kit that the 8-bit Guy reviewed?

[djos]

Yeah, the OPL2 has a lot more punch than the Tandy sound, but what the soundtrack is really missing for the Tandy is a percussion track.

Is the OPL2LPT that you assembled the same kit that the 8-bit Guy reviewed?

Quite true mate, although the OPL2 has the advantage of being at least a few years newer than the Ti chip used by Tandy and the PCjr.

It's the very same kit, I ordered mine from Europe tho as I didn't realise 8 bit guy was selling them until later.

[DavinD]

Any update on the smart watch board?  My plus adapter is still working great.

Also, here's one for you guys.  I'm looking to do a pretty crazy project with a 1000HX.  I'd like to get an adapter to use the internal keyboard hooked to a motherboard with a PS/2 port.  I'm pretty sure the protocols are different, so some kind of micro controller would be involved.

[djos]

Any update on the smart watch board?  My plus adapter is still working great.

Also, here's one for you guys.  I'm looking to do a pretty crazy project with a 1000HX.  I'd like to get an adapter to use the internal keyboard hooked to a motherboard with a PS/2 port.  I'm pretty sure the protocols are different, so some kind of micro controller would be involved.

I've been busy with other projects but I'm going to redesign it it. I wss trying to take shortcuts and design it in the PCB designer and as a result I keep making silly mistakes. I'm gong to take the time to design the schematic properly first.

Nice, that should be an interesting project.

[james_s]

Lol, yeah clone 386 boards are hardly collectable. 

You might be surprised. I would expect to get at least $50 for one of those boards, how often do you see them for sale? Most of them got thrown out, the few that remain tend to command higher prices once you find someone who needs them.

I remember when people were buying complete Apple II's for a few bucks each at thrift stores to harvest parts. Now a working one fetches a couple hundred bucks.

[djos]

Lol, yeah clone 386 boards are hardly collectable. 

You might be surprised. I would expect to get at least $50 for one of those boards, how often do you see them for sale? Most of them got thrown out, the few that remain tend to command higher prices once you find someone who needs them.

I remember when people were buying complete Apple II's for a few bucks each at thrift stores to harvest parts. Now a working one fetches a couple hundred bucks.

Good point, I never did harvest it for parts so i might see if I can repair the damage and get it going.

[DavinD]

Turns out the keyboard itself in the 1000HX I'm using for this new project doesn't have a controller built in.  Looks like pressing a key simply completes a circuit between two pins on the ribbon cables.  I should be able to do something with an arduino to make it work.  Anyone know what kind of connectors are on the motherboard for the ribbon cables?  I'd like to find some online, but I have no idea what they're called.  As a last resort I guess I can un-solder them from the MB.

[djos]

Turns out the keyboard itself in the 1000HX I'm using for this new project doesn't have a controller built in.  Looks like pressing a key simply completes a circuit between two pins on the ribbon cables.  I should be able to do something with an arduino to make it work.  Anyone know what kind of connectors are on the motherboard for the ribbon cables?  I'd like to find some online, but I have no idea what they're called.  As a last resort I guess I can un-solder them from the MB.

I did some looking about and it's in the "IDC" Class apparently - couldnt find much more than that.


Btw, I sent of my latest PCB design for manufacturing, it's an external Drive adapter for the EX / HX machines and re-uses the cable & 1 edge connector adapter I made to replace missing floppy drive cables. The main point of it is to allow folks to hook up a Gotek Virtual Floppy drive for those without an external Tandy drive chassis. It will work with real floppy drives too, as long as they support being configured as DS1 (most PC drives are fixed to DS0 and cant be changed).

[djos]

Due to continuing demand and the time consuming nature of building the PLUS-ISA/R adapters, I got my PCB maker to build 50 Adapters for me, it bumped the price up a bit but saves be a HUGE amount of time!

Anyhoo, they arrived yesterday! 



If anyone would like 1 or 2 (most folk buy 2, 1 for each Ram expansion socket), please PM me your order with email address and I'll send you an itemised PayPal invoice, they are $19 USD each + $5 USD for shipping.

For those who would prefer to buy the Adapters via eBay - here's the link (it's in Australian $ but converted = ~$23.34 USD + $7.75 USD shipping):

http://r.ebay.com/HG9Gcu

[bitseeker]

Congrats on your volume getting to the point where you want/need to have them assembled. Neat.