exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

Hi,

just want to share my experiences. Have no problems with soldering in the complete stuff, wasn´t complicated IMHO. And some good manuals online, too. But one thing I don´t like: I´m not a fan of directly soldering in PCBs such PCBs...

So I try to use a "socket". I take all the parts in the D.I.Y. kit and mount the male header with the thicker and shorter pins towards the STE mainboard. Then I take some precision female single row header, cut them in the needed stripes and it fits... absolutely perfect! The upper shielding sits absolutely without any pressure over the whole booster PCB. Take a look here:


2nd goal... you can also plug one of the "funky" PLCC sockets into these headers to test the old 8 MHz CPU quickly, if anything went wrong.

Another thing to share... after installing the STE booster the system starts, but a lot of graphic disturbation oocurs, mostly during I/O processes. I take a look at the 32 MHz signal on Pin 1 of the 22V10 GAL and it was... horrible. Approx low voltage 1,76V, approx high voltage 2,21V... this is more analogue than TTL

So I replace the 74S257 with an 74AHCT257 and all fine. Now typical Low is 1,1V and high peak is 3.4V... this is much more as it should be.

Best regards, Jurgen

tfhh wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2017 8:10 pm 2nd goal... you can also plug one of the "funky" PLCC sockets into these headers to test the old 8 MHz CPU quickly, if anything went wrong.

Like this
I only do that though as I need to test V1 boosters out, so a socket is useful for that. Though one thing to bare in mind, you only need a slight bad connection on something and your crashing for no reason at all. So I am not a fan of anything socketed personally.

tfhh wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2017 8:10 pm Another thing to share... after installing the STE booster the system starts, but a lot of graphic disturbation oocurs, mostly during I/O processes. I take a look at the 32 MHz signal on Pin 1 of the 22V10 GAL and it was... horrible. Approx low voltage 1,76V, approx high voltage 2,21V... this is more analogue than TTL

So I replace the 74S257 with an 74AHCT257 and all fine. Now typical Low is 1,1V and high peak is 3.4V... this is much more as it should be.

That is interesting, thanks for the report! And well done for tracking and finding the solution!

I did not realise Atari had actually used the "S" version, never seen it myself here on ST yet. My STE has a 'F' series so assumed all of them did. Well worth knowing and will update that as a caution on my pages

It's really interesting to see this idea in action.

Having installed the STE booster myself, as a fully soldered in device, with no issues so far, I was wondering if you'd experienced any issues as a result of using a socket mechanism?

I know exxos does this, as he has a lot of testing to do, but it would be interesting to understand how reliable it is under normal use.

I think, regarding such themes every hardware tinkerer has it own experiences. Personally I use only the best sockets availible, even if they cost some euros. I have some experimental ("labour") PCBs and mainboards equipped with precision sockets from 3M, Augat and similar where ICs have been attached and removed nearly a thousand times. They work until today flawless.

Of course some addons with big PCBs or heavy parts should be fixed anyway. Then I use - if possible - M3 screws and nuts to fix the PCB any way.

But everybody should make as he (or she) like

exxos wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2017 10:08 pm I did not realise Atari had actually used the "S" version, never seen it myself here on ST yet. My STE has a 'F' series so assumed all of them did. Well worth knowing and will update that as a caution on my pages

Thanks. I´d like to share such things always.

This is the 2nd 1040 STE with such a "S" type I´ve had in my fingers. At the RENO ABBUC meeting somebody a few months ago has also a 1040 STE (stock machine, just 4 MB RAM and TOS 2.06 EPROMs instead of 1.62 ROMs) with, this one makes a lot of trouble with video - but only in monochrome. Colour/RGB works fine. After some investigation I also detect this 74S257 as faulty. I know not any longer, who was the owner, but I never heard any more, so I think the changing of that IC was the final solution.

I´ve exchanged to a 74LS257 this time, because I hadn´t any other with me. But the LS vs. S is only the low power thing, so I´m not wondering that it works.

Jurgen