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SE/30 & Micron Xceed & clear plastic goodie

Bolle

Well-known member
Sweet, thanks guys. The information and pictures are much appreciated.

I think I am having enough input now to whip something together.

The board is nearly finishe. Now I have to get my CNC mill up and running again before I can get the board onto copper. This might take some time.

I will report back on how things work out or if any questions arise. 

 

Bolle

Well-known member
Small update: My neckboard is going to look like this:

Bildschirmfoto 2017-09-10 um 21.03.40.png

When using the TO92 package for the transistor things get a little bit tight if I keep traces thick enough for my milling machine to mill them out properly.

I had to trick around a little bit by faking a layer 1 trace on T1 and will just bend one of its legs to fit into the hole further away so I can route a trace below it and do not have to add another jumper wire.

If things work out I can share the Eagle files as well.

 

Bolle

Well-known member
Here we go:

082977ED-5DD9-4C7C-ADF2-7AA3B6B20418.jpeg

Not perfect but should work for a first test.

Now on to getting everything soldered down and getting the harness together.

 

Bolle

Well-known member
Finally I had the time to finish everything up.

My SE/30 is up and running with internal grayscale  :simasimac:

IMG_3114.JPG

Here is what my selfmade neckboard looks like after assembly:

neck.jpg

I managed to get this done as single layer with only one wire jumper on top.

Size is roughly the same as the original CRT board. I wanted to keep size as small as possible to make it fit in together with the backpanel board of my Asante MacCon.

Making the harness was easy with the wiring diagram found in the patent files from Micron (and thanks to joethezombie for pointing out the missing pin count on said diagram).

It came out like this:

IMG_3061.JPG

And here is everything stacked up and tucked together... things get tight in there with two cards stacked on top of each other and the wiring harness:

IMG_3077.JPG

Now the only thing missing for the ultimate grayscale SE/30 is a socketed Powercache  }:)

 

joethezombie

Well-known member
Yeah!  Absolutely magnificent!  Nearing the epoch of SE/30 goodness!  Have you tried the Micron Virtual Video on it?  It surprises me everytime I enable it just how silky smooth it works.

 

Bolle

Well-known member
any chance you could make this available as a shared project on osh park?
Is there an easy way to do that without having to sign up with them? Only way to upload something gets me to their PCB order thing unless I am not seeing some hidden Share-your-Design-here-button.

Cooked up a V2 already that does not need any wire jumpers and is completely single layer so everyone can make those easily at home:

Bildschirmfoto 2017-10-31 um 22.22.56.png

I can send the files to everyone who wants them.

 

apm

Well-known member
Nice work! I'd be interested in the design files for my resolution hack project (PM me?).

I'm curious about the voltage level of the video signal when it arrives from the Micron to this board. Is it more similar to VGA (0.7V) or to the TTL video (5V)? Are you able to measure it with a scope? Thinking ahead to what will be needed to adapt other video sources.

 

Bolle

Well-known member
The Micron documents say that the card outputs 0-1V which then is amplified on the neck board to 0-30V.

So this could probably used to get a VGA signal to show at least something on the screen.

 

kreats

Well-known member
You'll have to sign up with them yeah - could just use dummy info I suppose. It really is the best way of getting the design out there though - you can order pcb's shipped worldwide for a couple of bucks - which is way easier and cheaper than making them at home.

From what I gather, it has to be submitted as either:

  • an Eagle .brd board file
  • a KiCAD .kicad_pcb board file
  • a .zip file containing Gerber CAM files
Plus there are some guidelines they like you to follow

I've never uploaded a design before - but I've ordered a few PCBs of interesting products from people who have made their designs available (mainly for game consoles) with good results.

 
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