STE mods

General discussions or ideas about hardware.
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PhilC
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Re: STE mods

Post by PhilC »

Thanks, I'll have to give some a try.
If it ain't broke, test it to Destruction.
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HigashiJun
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Re: STE mods

Post by HigashiJun »

Ok, some update.

PCB rivets were tinned and the whole repair started to look more "natural":
Tinned.jpeg
Tinned.jpeg (402.96 KiB) Viewed 4405 times

2.2K SILs were then soldered:
Done.jpeg
Done.jpeg (517.1 KiB) Viewed 4405 times

and...
Motherboard.jpeg
Motherboard.jpeg (371.01 KiB) Viewed 4405 times
Screen.jpeg
Screen.jpeg (366.33 KiB) Viewed 4405 times
and to conclude today's update:
Hannibal.jpg
Hannibal.jpg (24.23 KiB) Viewed 4405 times
I don't know if it's just my impression, but the Ultrasatan seems more responsive now. It might be the effect of the 2.2K resistor packs.

Next step will be the booster itself...

Cheers.
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HigashiJun
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Re: STE mods

Post by HigashiJun »

Another cool mod for STs and STEs is the Laser Mouse mod.

It works really great and is easy to install.

It looks like this when assembled:
Mouse.jpeg
Mouse.jpeg (230.88 KiB) Viewed 4387 times

I had to trim the original ball retaining cap to keep the mouse as "genuine" as possible (the 3D printed one sold with the kit is ugly and looks like sh.t once fitted...).

For interested fellows, here's a link to a Spanish reseller:

https://amigastore.eu/638-laser-upgrade ... mouse.html

and another link showing how to fit the kit (in Amiga tank mouse though):

https://www.everythingamiga.com/2020/07 ... eview.html

This kit is really worth its price. 8-)
tomster
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Re: STE mods

Post by tomster »

Did you buy the mouse kit from amigastore.eu recently or some while ago?

I had a lot of issues with the jesusdelatorre board (doesn't fit, wrong pin layout, resolution too high) whereas the 'original' Tim Lenke board works great.

I'd strongly recommend anyone who's interested in this board to get it directly from Tim (http://www.lavago.de/stm-1-laser-board.html) rather than buying it from amigastore or anywhere else. Last time I spoke with him he still had some on stock.

Tom
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HigashiJun
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Re: STE mods

Post by HigashiJun »

I bought 2 or 3 kits from amigastore.eu around 2 years ago.

One was defective and I had to RMA it. It was exchanged without any hassle.

I also got 3 Amiga Laser Mouse kits from them and they all work without any issues.

I think Tim Lenke's board is also a jesusdelatorre one but costs twice the price...

There were several Atari mice models, and sometimes the board might not fit without trimming the mouse case.
tomster
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Re: STE mods

Post by tomster »

There are several revisions out there, things went downhill from 2020 on as you can see from the amigastore.eu reviews... let's hope they have a new, fixed batch coming...
tomster
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Re: STE mods

Post by tomster »

Anyway, sorry for derailing - great work, and thanks for the pics! I'm gonna share some work on my STE soon, too.

Cheers
Tom
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HigashiJun
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Re: STE mods

Post by HigashiJun »

No worries at all.

It's good to share your opinions.

Would be really nice to see some pics of your mods !

:cheers:
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HigashiJun
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Re: STE mods

Post by HigashiJun »

I was just thinking where to place the booster...

The position below shouldn't be bad at all:
Booster.jpeg
Booster.jpeg (332.07 KiB) Viewed 4302 times

4 shortened plastic standoffs and the problem is solved. The booster sits low enough to close the RFI shield and there's no risk of shorting something.

The final version will have the standoffs epoxied on the booster side and double-sided taped on motherboard, just in case I need to access the CPU.
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HigashiJun
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Re: STE mods

Post by HigashiJun »

Right, two months have passed since my last post here...

Had no time to work seriously on my project, but here are some pictures of my last progress:

First, the clock signal is soldered to U405 and routed:
ClockSignal1.JPG
ClockSignal1.JPG (426.86 KiB) Viewed 3805 times
ClockSignal2.JPG
ClockSignal2.JPG (433.17 KiB) Viewed 3805 times

Next comes the RESET signal (yes, I know it is not needed and can be tied to VCC...):
Reset.JPG
Reset.JPG (407.12 KiB) Viewed 3805 times

And then I had to prepare vias for CLK8 and CPUCLK on both motherboard sides, since they are covered with solder mask:
Via1.JPG
Via1.JPG (213.78 KiB) Viewed 3805 times
Via1back.JPG
Via1back.JPG (273.34 KiB) Viewed 3805 times
Via2.JPG
Via2.JPG (202.18 KiB) Viewed 3805 times
Via2back.JPG
Via2back.JPG (237.81 KiB) Viewed 3805 times

Next step will be soldering all the necessary signals (and unnecessary ones...) to the motherboard. Here is a photo showing where I plan to solder them:
Signals.JPG
Signals.JPG (390.07 KiB) Viewed 3805 times

That is all for today...

Cheers.
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