Where can I get these?Oh yeah, now that we have the circuit board layer photos, we can fill in schematics for those missing sound interface TEST circuits that place additional components on the board. That can go on the currently blank page 9.
Thanks @quorten - sorry it was indeed a silly question, it became obvious once I looked at the photos. :-/desertrout, those do look to be photos of the SE/30 logic board, the SE logic board is different and its layout is mentioned elsewhere in the discussion thread. The SE logic board only has two internal layers for power and ground planes.
There has been some talk about it across the forums. Some relative easy ways to improve the board can be achieved. Theoretically, you could just drop a 40MHz 030 on a stock SE/30 board (if it is one of the socketed ones), but you'll find it'll still run at 16MHz. The SE/30's flaw is that it has a singular 32MHz clock crystal, that runs several components' clock signal. It gets divided on the board for the components using it, such as the FPU and CPU receiving a halved frequency, resulting in the 16MHz speed. Of course, if you were to replace it with, say, an 80MHz crystal, the CPU and FPU would now be running at the full 40MHz... but now your video circuitry runs out of whack, and you get an inoperable machine.This project intrigues me. A lot. There's efforts for this on other vintage platforms, like Commodore 64, etc. I don't exactly know how it works with regards to improvements, but would there be any way of improving upon the SE/30 design when remaking it? As in, could a different type of RAM socket be integrated? Support for a faster CPU (like, say, the 68030 40MHz from the IIfx)?
There is only one way: redraw them.Might consider giving it a try if I can find a way to convert KiCad files to AutoCAD EAGLE
Yes, I see several possibilities... implement a clone of the logic that's found on the DiiMo or PowerCache right into the logicboard to get 50MHz CPU/FPU + Cache or solder 128MB in high capacity RAM chips right to the board to get rid of the SIMM slots altogether.would there be any way of improving upon the SE/30 design when remaking it? As in, could a different type of RAM socket be integrated? Support for a faster CPU (like, say, the 68030 40MHz from the IIfx)?
That sounds really awesome! I would totally buy a board that could do these things.There is only one way: redraw them.
That's the same reason I didn't start working on it yet. Can't be bothered to do this with KiCad
I have a lot of the Apple ICs in my personal Eagle library already and I am adding more every now and then when I find some time.
So eventually I will get this started.
Yes, I see several possibilities... implement a clone of the logic that's found on the DiiMo or PowerCache right into the logicboard to get 50MHz CPU/FPU + Cache or solder 128MB in high capacity RAM chips right to the board to get rid of the SIMM slots altogether.
Also what you'll definitely find on a new SE/30 logicboard (if I am doing one) will be four PLCC sockets for xxF040 ROMs to get rid of the ROM SIMM socket as well. That one gets damaged anyways when the battery goes off, so you won't be sourcing that one from your old logicboard.
Implementing ethernet right into the logicboard also wouldn't be hard and could be easily done.
With the price of a large DRAM (around $5) these days I don't know if you would even bother with SIMMS - a FPGA would be useful in any redesign (attach a 50MHz 68030 maintaining original mainboard timing, ethernet, generate all clocks from one source etc..) and could easily make a single chip look like 8 SIMMs. In case you prefer unmodified ROM and don't want to wait so long for RAM check on every boot, make it possible to configure the RAM amount. (And there's the board space issue solved too, a full 90 square centimetres freed of SIMM sockets.)The eight 30-pin SIMMs could theoretically be replaced with two 72-pin SIMMs, allowing for easier and cheaper upgrading to the maximum of 128MB. One 30-pin SIMM is 8 bits, so a bank of four is 32 bits, which is equal to one 72-pin SIMM.
Well, an FPGA can also just emulate an 030 while you're at it ... make enough of these optimizations and at some point we might as well just run Mini vMacWith the price of a large DRAM (around $5) these days I don't know if you would even bother with SIMMS - a FPGA would be useful in any redesign (attach a 50MHz 68030 maintaining original mainboard timing, ethernet, generate all clocks from one source etc..) and could easily make a single chip look like 8 SIMMs. In case you prefer unmodified ROM and don't want to wait so long for RAM check on every boot, make it possible to configure the RAM amount. (And there's the board space issue solved too, a full 90 square centimetres freed of SIMM sockets.)
This has been fixed. Thanks!Making a note that UH7 (page 2) is actually a 'PAL16L8D', not 'PAL16L80' (as per http://mess.redump.net/mess/driver_info/mac_technical_notes) - thanks, having these is a massive benefit!