68kMLA Supporter Bolle Posted April 14, 2020 68kMLA Supporter Report Share Posted April 14, 2020 (edited) The topic of cloning the cache card for the Carrera040 came up in another thread so I would like to gather some information here to push this forward. First off: can someone tell me what kind of connector they used and if I can get one (or an equivalent) somewhere? We're looking for something with 1.27mm of pitch and 2 rows of 50 pins. Preferably should match the original pad spacing so I can keep the original layout: Schematics so far: Working on finishing the board routing and getting the GALs cracked right now. Edited April 14, 2020 by Bolle Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mdeverhart Posted April 14, 2020 Report Share Posted April 14, 2020 Samtec has a line of connectors that look very similar (if not identical) to those: https://www.samtec.com/connectors/micro-pitch-board-to-board/050/strips Quote Link to post Share on other sites
68kMLA Supporter jessenator Posted April 14, 2020 68kMLA Supporter Report Share Posted April 14, 2020 Yeah, same connector on some versions of the ATi Mach64 for the VRAM expansion cards it seems: Looks like mdeverhart is on the right track there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tokyoracer Posted April 16, 2020 Report Share Posted April 16, 2020 They definitely don't look like they would be easy to source, I hope I'm proven wrong. If you do score a load, how do you hope to solder them on? Looks like it would be a real bugger to do by hand. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
demik Posted April 21, 2020 Report Share Posted April 21, 2020 Looks like a simple 1.27 PCB connector would match. Here is the male version : https://www.ebay.fr/itm/20Pcs-50-Position-1-27mm-Pitch-Double-Row-Straight-Pin-Header-Strip/183740371764?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item2ac7c79334:g:3TIAAOSwDdxekLxI And the female version : https://www.ebay.fr/itm/1-27mm-Pitch-Double-Row-Female-Pin-Header-Socket-PCB-Connector-Strip-Breadboard/264126328363?hash=item3d7f27ee2b:m:mE74SeHI5VG6g-Ly1mUua_g They are fairly cheap so it's worth a shot I guess. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
68kMLA Supporter Bolle Posted April 28, 2020 Author 68kMLA Supporter Report Share Posted April 28, 2020 (edited) Going to have to see if I can fit through hole mounted connectors in place. The original (and the PCB I routed so far) uses a SMD connector. I will have to check if there is enough space. Also I advanced on the GAL front. Was able to read out something from all three of them but two fusemaps won’t disassemble into equations using opaljr. The one that does convert into equations looks fine. Didn’t have time today to burn the extracted fusemaps onto new chips yet. I will do that tomorrow to verify if the fusemaps are valid. Edited April 28, 2020 by Bolle Quote Link to post Share on other sites
68kMLA Supporter Bolle Posted April 29, 2020 Author 68kMLA Supporter Report Share Posted April 29, 2020 (edited) GAL copies confirmed: Jedec files, equations and schematics attached. I'll order a set of test boards once I finish something else that I am working on to save shipping costs. If someone wants to make themselves a board in the meantime let me know and I'll send gerber files along. U1_1.jed.jed U1.EQN U2_syn_ac_correct.jed U2.EQN U3_syn_ac_correct.jed U3.EQN Cachecard.sch Edited April 29, 2020 by Bolle Quote Link to post Share on other sites
68kMLA Supporter Bolle Posted June 8, 2020 Author 68kMLA Supporter Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 I have a set of 5 prototype boards on the way together with some other exciting stuff. Once the boards are confirmed to work I will share the gerber files (and pass on the remaining 4 proto boards that I don't need - in case they do work) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AlpineRaven Posted June 8, 2020 Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 Oooooh! Following! Cheers AP Quote Link to post Share on other sites
olePigeon Posted June 8, 2020 Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 Ooooooooo. Awesome work! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
68kMLA Supporter Bolle Posted July 1, 2020 Author 68kMLA Supporter Report Share Posted July 1, 2020 Looking good... On one of my Carreras the cloned cache card would not be stable with 40MHz. Everything is fine at 33MHz though. After some back and forth it turned out that not all combinations of CPU and cachecard will run at 40MHz. I swapped around different CPUs and even found a combination where the original cachecard would refuse to work resulting in a hard crash once the Carrera INIT loads. I will be revising the PCB design a little and then post the gerbers and a BOM so everyone can build their own cachecards. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
68kMLA Supporter Bolle Posted July 1, 2020 Author 68kMLA Supporter Report Share Posted July 1, 2020 Gerbers attached. BOM -C1-C11: 0.1uF 1206 ceramic caps -C12, C13: 22uF/10V tantalum or electrolyte caps -R1: 330Ohm -R2, R3: 220Ohm ->pad size is metric 1206 for all the above resistors and caps -U5-U8: 32K x 8 SRAM 15ns SOJ (IS61C256AL-15JL, IDT71256SA15 and the like) -U9, U10: 8K x 8 TAG SRAM 12ns SOJ (ATT7C174J-12, IDT71D74S12... only exists as NOS, no modern replacement) -U1: GAL20V8 10ns (7ns works as well) PLCC28 -U2, U3: GAL20V8 7ns PLCC28 -U11: 74F74 SO14 -U12: 74F125 SO14 -J1: 1.27mm pitch 2 x 50 SMD pin headers cachecard.zip Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AlpineRaven Posted July 2, 2020 Report Share Posted July 2, 2020 Looking forward to it! Cheers AP Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tokyoracer Posted July 2, 2020 Report Share Posted July 2, 2020 Oh this is looking fantastic! Hats off to you sir, I have no idea how you pulled this off but you have. Will be following closely and hopefully will take one of these for my Cache-less one in my IIci if you ever sell one. Pretty sure mine's a 40MHz one so not sure if I will have some stability issues my end. Might be worth compiling a list of tested CPU's. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Unknown_K Posted July 2, 2020 Report Share Posted July 2, 2020 How many people actually own a Carrerra? I have one with cache if my memory is correct. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
68kMLA Supporter TimHD Posted August 10, 2020 68kMLA Supporter Report Share Posted August 10, 2020 (edited) On 7/2/2020 at 11:55 PM, Unknown_K said: How many people actually own a Carrerra? I have one with cache if my memory is correct. I have one. I think it’s in one of my IIci or se/30s. Pretty sure it didn’t come with a cache card. Edited August 10, 2020 by TimHD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
68kMLA Supporter Bolle Posted January 7 Author 68kMLA Supporter Report Share Posted January 7 Well, now that we've got cachecards the obvious thing to do was making accelerators to have something to plug all those cache cards into: U7.jed U12_CarreraPROM_1FD8.bin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
68kMLA Supporter Bolle Posted January 7 Author 68kMLA Supporter Report Share Posted January 7 (edited) Ugh, images messed up in the post above... only noticed I hadn't attached them on here but linked them to imgur right after the editing window went out. Anyways: Edited January 7 by Bolle Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K Trueno Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 Wow, a Carrera040 clone, now you are talking Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nottomhanks Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 Does this card work with the Micron or Pivot cards? Very exciting!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
68kMLA Supporter TimHD Posted January 7 68kMLA Supporter Report Share Posted January 7 On 7/1/2020 at 4:35 AM, Bolle said: After some back and forth it turned out that not all combinations of CPU and cachecard will run at 40MHz. I swapped around different CPUs and even found a combination where the original cachecard would refuse to work resulting in a hard crash once the Carrera INIT loads. I will be revising the PCB design a little and then post the gerbers and a BOM so everyone can build their own cachecards. Is there a matrix of what works/doesn’t, or had the issue been resolved? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
68kMLA Supporter Bolle Posted January 7 Author 68kMLA Supporter Report Share Posted January 7 3 hours ago, TimHD said: Is there a matrix of what works/doesn’t, or had the issue been resolved? I think this was related to one of the CPUs actually being a 25MHz chip. All my 33MHz and 40MHz parts would work just fine. That one 25MHz chip would work ok at 40MHz without the cache module but would fail once the cache came into the game. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
68kMLA Supporter nickpunt Posted January 7 68kMLA Supporter Report Share Posted January 7 Looks great @Bolle! Consider me interested Have you tried overclocking at all? I imagine most of the later CPUs can hit 50mhz easily, not sure about the accelerator chips or whatever effects it may have on the bus. The Daystars can hit 48mhz. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
68kMLA Supporter TimHD Posted January 8 68kMLA Supporter Report Share Posted January 8 Ditto. Certainly for a cache module. Would also help underwrite by committing to getting one or two more complete sets for other Macs of mine. I assume you'd just supply the board (or someone else here who does this) and we'd need to source CPUs? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
68kMLA Supporter Bolle Posted January 8 Author 68kMLA Supporter Report Share Posted January 8 3 hours ago, TimHD said: I assume you'd just supply the board (or someone else here who does this) and we'd need to source CPUs? Most probably, yes. Sourcing the out of production stuff that's on there is painful enough already, so I'll avoid to add the trouble of finding non-fake CPUs on top of that. 12 hours ago, nickpunt said: Have you tried overclocking at all? Not yet, the clock generator for the 040 probably is one of the limiting factors here - the same part is used on the Turbo040 and the Carrera040: I am using a MC88916DW80 which is rated at a maximum of 40/80MHz for the B- and P-clock respectively. The exact same clock generator (although at a lower speed rating) is also found on some Macintosh logicboards. I have seen Turbo040s with 35/70MHz and lower 25/50MHz rating as well. All Carreras I have seen so far have used the 40/80MHz version. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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