retr01
Active member
Whoa!
Someone must be desperate or smelling an opportunity to jack it up again on an eBay listing. 
Recreateing the Apple TechStep
- Thread starter max1zzz
- Start date
Whoa!
Someone must be desperate or smelling an opportunity to jack it up again on an eBay listing.
retr01
Active member
Me too! it's going to be a really awesome bit of kit once it's finished
I agree!
Understood. I am saying having one as a kit, one assembled, and one with a case as options would be friendly in terms of costs.
You all might already have found this, but I didn't see a link to Apple's very detailed patent on the TechStep:
It goes on at length about details like emulating a SCSI device to feed a tiny boot program that dumps into the Test Manager routines in ROM, so that the user doing the test doesn't have to hit the NMI switch at boot. Interesting stuff.
US5357519A - Diagnostic system - Google Patents
A diagnostic apparatus for testing devices such as computer systems, and computer system components such as disk drives or printers. The device comprises a main unit, the main unit having a central processing unit for executing instructions, issuing commands, and receiving data from a first...
patents.google.com
It goes on at length about details like emulating a SCSI device to feed a tiny boot program that dumps into the Test Manager routines in ROM, so that the user doing the test doesn't have to hit the NMI switch at boot. Interesting stuff.
jajan547
Well-known member
I didn’t see this but it’s actually very cool!
jajan547
Well-known member
I know it’s awesome!!!
jwg1962
Member
I love this project. I just saw three of the TechStep units on eBay and all three of them are over $3,000 because of hardcoremac thinking they can get $3,500 for the prototype. If it was a macintosh computer, maybe, but it has been there for 5 years at that price or higher. I offered the one person who has all five ROM cartridges $350 and tried to reason with them. We will see what happens, but at $3,000 or more, those will be up there until someone wants to pay 10 times what they should be going for. There might be someone out there that will pay for that, but that someone is not me. I hope when this goes live, it will force those people to sell theirs for $100 or less. Everyone will want the new one.
I hope when this goes live, it will force those people to sell theirs for $100 or less. Everyone will want the new one.
jajan547
Well-known member
That’s what we’re hoping it’s so close still needs some work but it’s getting there.I love this project. I just saw three of the TechStep units on eBay and all three of them are over $3,000 because of hardcoremac thinking they can get $3,500 for the prototype. If it was a macintosh computer, maybe, but it has been there for 5 years at that price or higher. I offered the one person who has all five ROM cartridges $350 and tried to reason with them. We will see what happens, but at $3,000 or more, those will be up there until someone wants to pay 10 times what they should be going for. There might be someone out there that will pay for that, but that someone is not me.
jajan547
Well-known member
Thank you we will keep that in mind! Really, really appreciate it and we hope to have this thing ready soon.
micheledipaola
Well-known member
Hi, I spotted this on Mercari (not mine, I live overseas... ) and even if it's a lot of money, maybe the seller could be contacted or convinced to put a more reasonable price :
www.mercari.com
At the contrary of what @jwg1962 wrote, I am not any kind of technician, but anything I could do to help, just count me in.
) and even if it's a lot of money, maybe the seller could be contacted or convinced to put a more reasonable price :
Mercari: Your Marketplace
Mercari is your marketplace. It's the perfect place to declutter and discover items that are uniquely you. Say 'goodbye' to your old go-tos and 'hello' to one-of-a-kind treasures.
www.mercari.com
At the contrary of what @jwg1962 wrote, I am not any kind of technician, but anything I could do to help, just count me in.
Last edited:
jajan547
Well-known member
Unfortunately people will price things as what others dis round them multiple sellers have posted these for that same price . I am lucky to have three it just takes time and a lot of patience to find one at a very good proceHi, I spotted this on Mercari (not mine, I live overseas...
Mercari: Your Marketplace
Mercari is your marketplace. It's the perfect place to declutter and discover items that are uniquely you. Say 'goodbye' to your old go-tos and 'hello' to one-of-a-kind treasures.
At the contrary of what @jwg1962 wrote, I am not any kind of technician, but anything I could do to help, just count me in.
Much progress has been made since the my last post to this thread!
Stage 2 is now more or less complete, All the hardware has been reverse engineered and new boards have been drawn up and sent off for manufacture.
A quick overview of the current status of the hardware:
Logicboard:
Port "Pack":
Keypad / Power board:
These are really "development" versions of the PCB's and will likely be altered a little for the final version but we at a point where we just need to get one of these built and make sure it works!
In particular the keypad PCB needs some attention as that massive 18650 holder will get in the way but I just wanted to PCB mount it so it isn't flapping around while I'm testing. (and I just noticed I have two 8's on the keypad, oops )
If I have all my measurements correct these boards should all be able to be stacked and screwed together leaving enough space between the keypad and port pack PCB for the LCD module (Which will sit on a 3D printed bracket) which should make for a rather neat compact solution for testing before we have a case
Stage 2 is now more or less complete, All the hardware has been reverse engineered and new boards have been drawn up and sent off for manufacture.
A quick overview of the current status of the hardware:
Logicboard:
Port "Pack":
Keypad / Power board:
These are really "development" versions of the PCB's and will likely be altered a little for the final version but we at a point where we just need to get one of these built and make sure it works!
In particular the keypad PCB needs some attention as that massive 18650 holder will get in the way but I just wanted to PCB mount it so it isn't flapping around while I'm testing. (and I just noticed I have two 8's on the keypad, oops
)If I have all my measurements correct these boards should all be able to be stacked and screwed together leaving enough space between the keypad and port pack PCB for the LCD module (Which will sit on a 3D printed bracket) which should make for a rather neat compact solution for testing before we have a case
jajan547
Well-known member
Super super excited to see the protos. It’s crazy to think that we Are this close to having this available for multiple people across the world to get the TechStep experienceMuch progress has been made since the my last post to this thread!
Stage 2 is now more or less complete, All the hardware has been reverse engineered and new boards have been drawn up and sent off for manufacture.
A quick overview of the current status of the hardware:
Logicboard:
View attachment 51503
Port "Pack":
View attachment 51504
Keypad / Power board:
View attachment 51505
These are really "development" versions of the PCB's and will likely be altered a little for the final version but we at a point where we just need to get one of these built and make sure it works!
In particular the keypad PCB needs some attention as that massive 18650 holder will get in the way but I just wanted to PCB mount it so it isn't flapping around while I'm testing. (and I just noticed I have two 8's on the keypad, oops
If I have all my measurements correct these boards should all be able to be stacked and screwed together leaving enough space between the keypad and port pack PCB for the LCD module (Which will sit on a 3D printed bracket) which should make for a rather neat compact solution for testing before we have a case
jajan547
Well-known member
I’ll PM You.
sarnau
Member
By looking at the firmware I have hopes that it is a LM041L with a HD44780 controller. That is good and bad: good, because it is well known, bad, because the LM041L seems no longer be available. Modern LCD typically use I2C, but this is clearly not it.
At least the initialization sequence looks like the sample code for the HD44780 which switches the LCD to 4 bit mode, which seems correct (4 bit data, 1 bit for RS and 1 bit for R/W, which is always 0).
The rest of the initialization: not sure.
I have confirmed modern LCD's with the HD44780 compatible controllers do work fine on the techstep
I thought I had posted that in this thread but I guess not... Must have only mentioned it in PM's with @jajan547
Here is the techstep working with a modern backlit LCD (Which looks much better than the original LCD!)
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