C070243 Rev C (520ST+, 1MB, quite botched with extensions)

ST & STM motherboards.
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Gunstick
Posts: 61
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:42 pm

C070243 Rev C (520ST+, 1MB, quite botched with extensions)

Post by Gunstick »

Hi

this is the original 520ST+ used to create Dark Side of the Spoon
Gunstick 520ST+ used for Dark Side of the Spoon
Gunstick 520ST+ used for Dark Side of the Spoon
Gunstick520STplus.jpg (1.24 MiB) Viewed 7774 times
So what are you seeing here?
On the bottom is the 512K RAM, with piggyback soldered on a second 512K bank. This soldering job was originally done by Atari, and so the + in name was created.

From the resistors on the left of the RAM, and from the shifter, runs cables to the 2MB expansion board by GE Soft. Plugging this expansion in will deactivate the 512K expansion from Atari.
GE soft shifter connection for RAM extension
GE soft shifter connection for RAM extension
Gunstick520STplus-RAMshifter.jpg (375.86 KiB) Viewed 7774 times
Unused RAM is sad, so here comes the 3MB RAM configuration using a little array of chips. Don't ask me how or what it does. If I remember correctly they put the 512K after the 2MB. So you end up with the following ram configuration: 0.5M + 2MB + 0.5M = 3MB
3MB expansion
3MB expansion
Gunstick520STplus-3MBcircuit.jpg (336.57 KiB) Viewed 7774 times
So far for the RAM.
On bottom left there is a switch which was used to switch TOS, but I plugged the switchable EPROMS into another ST so you can't see them on this picture.

Under one of the ROM chips is a realtime clock with the battery pack near the ROM port. The RTC takes also some signals directly from the CPU pins.
RTC under ROM
RTC under ROM
Gunstick520STplus-RTC.jpg (486.49 KiB) Viewed 7774 times
And finally we have the second switch on the bottom right. It switches on the hardware overscan. So you could even have overscan in high rez. Very cool. It needs just a 7400 with diodes and resistor which you can see where the RF modulator would usually sit.
hardware overscan
hardware overscan
Gunstick520STplus-overscan.jpg (574.79 KiB) Viewed 7774 times
Gunstick
Posts: 61
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:42 pm

Re: C070243 Rev C (520ST+, 1MB, quite botched with extensions)

Post by Gunstick »

Gunstick wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2018 4:21 pm Gunstick520STplus-3MBcircuit.jpg
I found some paper scribblings when I built the 2.5MB to 3MB converter. It has the following chips:
7400 quad 2-input NAND gate
74375 quad bistable latch
74139 dual 2 to 4-line decoder/demultiplexer, inverting outputs

As input it uses CAS-L & CAS-H , RAS, A9
I should be able to reverse engineer this when I get more time. Will write this below when done.
Gunstick
Posts: 61
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:42 pm

Re: C070243 Rev C (520ST+, 1MB, quite botched with extensions)

Post by Gunstick »

The overscan expansion is called hyperscreen and costs 2€
The description was in STmagazin 05/1985 (in german)
http://www.stcarchiv.de/stm1989/05/hyper-screen
the pictures seems to have been lost. I need to look through my own STmagazine collection and will post infos if I find them.
Gunstick
Posts: 61
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:42 pm

Re: C070243 Rev C (520ST+, 1MB, quite botched with extensions)

Post by Gunstick »

The ram expansion for 2.5MB to 3MB was probably published in STcomputer 03/1990 but is not referenced in the archive http://www.stcarchiv.de/stc1990.php
But they have an errata in STcomputer 04/1990 with part of a diagram
http://www.stcarchiv.de/stc1990/04/news

will post again when I go dig through the pile of magazines at home.
Gunstick
Posts: 61
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:42 pm

Re: C070243 Rev C (520ST+, 1MB, quite botched with extensions)

Post by Gunstick »

A new "ST-Computer magazin" archive has appeared, and this time the RAM expansion from 2.5MB to 3MB is scanned in
Check page 150 (pdf page 154) of magazine 1990-03
https://www.kultmags.com/mags.php?folde ... IvMTk5MA==
And don't forget the errata from magazine 1990-04 (page 10)
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