Commodore 128 Tower project is rounding out nicely!

Submit "Commodore 128 Tower project is rounding out nicely!" to StumbleUpon

Submit "Commodore 128 Tower project is rounding out nicely!" to Google

Posted 05-05-2010 at 04:30 PM by redrumloa
Updated 05-05-2010 at 04:37 PM by redrumloa

Welcome to my 128 Tower project blog! There has been a modest amount of interest in this project, so I figured a blog would be warranted. This is the first time I have used a blog, so don't expect it to be well written or with very good grammar

This project originally started back in 2008. If you ever used a Commodore 8bit computer with more than one accessory, you know how cumbersome it can be and how much desk space it can take. On top of this, if you start doing modifications it can be far from pretty and at time counter productive. Most of the heavy lifting was done in mid 2008 and it sat in a partially complete state for over a year. Now in 2010 I am determined to finish it, I believe I am now close to that goal.

This is the current state of the system. If I wanted to, I could leave it like this and have a very useful system!

NTSC Commodore 128D(CR) motherboard
- I originally tried to use a flat 128 motherboard, but it turned out to be too long for even this monsterous full tower case!
- The original connectors for joystick and keyboard connectors are oriented in the front of the case. The original connectors had to be de-soldered from the MB and extension cables fabricated to re-route the connectors to the rear of the case.
ATX Full tower case
- I did the best I could to get the biggest full tower case I could find, that looked reasonably good.
- There are 5x usable 5.25 slots. There were also 3.5 slots, but they had to be removed because of space considerations.
- Even though the motherboard factor is for a (old school) full size motherboard, it was still too small for the 128D motherboard. The interior of the case had to be heavily modified. The MB actually comes right up to the back inside of the tower face.
Modified 250W ATX power supply
- I mounted a 120VAC->9VAC step down transformer on top of the ATX power supply. It is connected past the fuse and turned on and off with a contactor. Most people who do C= power supply conversions don't bother with the 9V, I did. Without true 9VAC at 60hz (NTSC) there is no system clock.
- Everything, and I mean everything, is powered by the ATX power supply.
A custom extension cable created.
- The expansion port (aka cartridge port) had to be created.
- This cable consists of 2 flat twisted pair ribbon cables. One wire of every pair is soldered to ground.
- This was by far the most difficult and time consuming part of this project.
SuperCPU 128 mounted internally
- The original case top was removed and the original switches and reset switch was removed.
- The SCPU was mounted internally and is powered by the ATX power supply.
- A custom faceplate was made with a custom wiring harness between the faceplate and SuperCPU.
- There are connectors between the faceplate and SuperCPU, in case I ever need to unplug one. In fact, ever single modification is done with connectors so individual items can be disconnected as needed.
- The SuperCPU 128 has the MMU adapter installed for 128 mode compatability
- SuperRAM is installed with full 16MB.

Two internal 1571s installed
- The 128D's 1571 (1571D) is installed along with an additional 1571.
- JiffyDOS is installed for everything, including both 1571's.
- The primary 1571 has an indicator LED mounted and 8/9 switch.
- The secondary 1571 currently has no LED (yet) and is hard wired for device 11.
- Faceplates were the second biggest headache. After much time and expense, I figured out 1541C faceplates could be made to work.
uIEC is installed internally
- The uIEC is installed in a 5.25 bay.
- Power and activity LEDs are mounted on the faceplate.
- Two momentary switches are installed for moving up and down in the swap list. The red color looks cheesy, they will be swapped for black ones one day.
Video output for daily use is S-Video
- Both 40 column (VIC-II) and 80 column (VDC) and converted to S-Video.
- The S-Video conversion required a slightly modified CGA->S-Video adapter.
- Both video outputs are connected to a modified S-video switcher box mounted internally.
- The black toggle switch on the front of the case switches between 40/80 column video.
19" LCD TV
- I am using a 19" BrokSonic LCD TV everything, the picture is fantastic!
- Interlace mode of the VDC (80 column mode, >640x480) looks rock solid with no flicker!
- Currently also using the built in speakers of this TV, the sound is good too.
Slot expander
- I have an APROSPAN 4x slot expander plugged into the SuperCPU & mounted internally.
Ethernet
- A 64nic+ ethernet adapter is plugged into the Aprospan.
- A cable and adapter was made to mount cleanly to the rear of the case with LED indicator lights.
Keyboard
- Currently I am using a (self) refurbished 128D keyboard.
- I will be buying a C=key128D when they are available again to use a modern wireless PS/2 keyboard.
Mouse
- I am currently using a 1351 mouse.
- I have a Micromys, which has been used on occasion. Eventually the Micromys will be mounted internally and a wireless ps/2 mouse will be used.

That is about it for now! The big thing is, everything works! I have buttoned it up for now, to take a breather for a few days and just use it for every day computing. It won't be too long and I will open her up and start the finishing touches!

Next blog post I will detail what I have left on my to do list. If you have any questions or picture requests, feel free to ask!

-Edit-
I should point out I have been helped out with various portions of this project by Al Anger and Vanessa Ezekowitz!

Posted in Uncategorized

Views 11201 Comments 22

« Prev Main Next »

Total Comments 22

Comments

Page 1 of 2

	That is one badass C128, and no mistake
	Posted 05-05-2010 at 04:51 PM by Karlos

	@Karlos Thanks :-) I probably should have mentioned some of the capabilities, ah well. I guess people can ask if interested. One thing I will point out is the uIEC. It is a compact flash reader. It functions as a mass storage device, or you can mount and use disk images (such as d64, d71, d81). While Geos does not run yet from the uIEC, it does almost everything else including CP/M mode!
	Posted 05-05-2010 at 05:00 PM by redrumloa

	F-ing awesome Red! Let's hear more about the Aprospan adapter and NIC capabilities on this puppy. Like what kind of software is driving the cards, what kind of cards can be plugged into it and lastly, you mentioned "every day" computing. Define please
	Posted 05-05-2010 at 05:15 PM by save2600

@save2600

No problem :-)
The Aprospan is an old school basic cartridge port (aka Expansion port) adapter. Instead of having one cartridge (expansion) device plugged in, you can have up to 4. In this case it is plugged into the pass-through of the SuperCPU 128. If I didn't have a SuperCPU (and homemade extension cable), it would plug right into the cartridge slot. The Aprospan is very basic, with only simple on-off switches. It may or may not get replaced with an X-Pander 3 when it is released.

http://www.jbrain.com/2010/04/13/x-p...3-coming-soon/

Not all expansion / carts can be used simultaneously, but in my case it will be fine. I currently only have the 64nic+ installed, but a Turbo232 (fast IO) and 1750 (REU - Ram Expansion Unit) should all co-exist. That is my current plan. The Aprospan requires no software.

The 64nic+ provides a standard ethernet with 10Mbit connectivity.

http://www.jbrain.com/projects/64nic/

The 64nic doesn't have a ton of software for it yet, but some good ones like the Geos IRC client GeoLink.

http://www.lyonlabs.org/commodore/geoLink/geoLink.html

The 64nic+ is compatible with the rr-net, so it will run all software written for the rr-net. Here is a good list.

http://www.protovision-online.com/hardw/rr_net.htm

Every day computing? Well a lot of every day stuff can be done. I'll often use Desterm128 and log into my linux box, and go from there. I can do just about anything this way and with the turbo232 I get 57.6k speed easy. I can probably do 115k speed, that will be soon :-) I can do IRC, web, ftp, email etc. I can download and transfer directly to the 128. Without logging into the Linux box, I can do many of these things directly. Geos has an IRC client now, there are various web browsers, there is a Twitter client (I don't use) etc. You can do most things on it within reason. Youtube is out of the question for obvious reasons :-)

Posted 05-05-2010 at 06:18 PM by redrumloa redrumloa is offline

	Wow! This is a big ole mess of retro bliss. Enjoy it Red and I look forward to reading new postings soon. What email clients are available for the c-128?
	Posted 05-05-2010 at 07:06 PM by Debaser

	@Debaser For native apps, not too many. There is QWKRR128 which is an offline reader. I haven't used it in a while, I may play with it a bit again. I've mainly just used Pine through a term program (Desterm 128) logged into a Linux box. Pine does a pretty god job.
	Posted 05-05-2010 at 07:18 PM by redrumloa

	BTW: If anyone is interested, here is an old but good book about using a Commodore 128/64 on the internet. http://homestead.vcsweb.com/content/...users-a-manual Hmm... There used to be much of that book online, but it is dead links now... Ah well.
	Posted 05-05-2010 at 07:26 PM by redrumloa

	Did you deliberately not use a 1581 or a hard drive, or was that just a product of availability?
	Posted 05-05-2010 at 11:02 PM by LoadWB

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoadWB

Did you deliberately not use a 1581 or a hard drive, or was that just a product of availability?

Actually, if you look at the top slot you will see there is a 4GB Compact Flash card. I have a uIEC (CF +IDE version) installed. The compact flash card acts like a hard drive and can use the biggest CF available on the market. If you look at the game running in the picture, you will see it is Metal Dust. This is a SuperCPU specific game that is distributed on 4x 1581 floppies. All the data from these 4 floppies are transferred to a folder on the CF card and the game runs in hard drive mode.

There is also an IDE port on it, but I have not installed an IDE hard drive yet. 4GB is *HUGE* for a Commodore 8bit computer. If I need more space, I may just get a bigger CF card. Having no moving parts for the mass storage device is nice. If I ever really do need an actual mechanical hard drive, I can install one to the uIEC.

As for integrating a 1581, it is in my plans. It has been in the plans for a while, but a lower priority. Very few commercial software were distributed on 1581 disk and the uIEC allows me to mount d81 images (virtual 1581 disks). Geos/Wheels does not run on a uIEC, it is about the only thing that doesn't. Geos/Wheels alone dictates I will eventually integrate a 1581. This will be shown when I do my to-do list. Maybe this weekend, maybe next. It is a bit involved... For now I have an IEC (floppy/serial) port mounted on the back of the case. I didn't show that in the pictures or mention it for some reason. I can plug in a 1581 when needed for now.

Posted 05-06-2010 at 05:36 AM by redrumloa redrumloa is offline

Updated 05-06-2010 at 05:54 AM by redrumloa

	That is what one would call a monster C= ! That thing is so awesome. What next? Going to surf the net and start posting on A.Org from your Über 128?
	Posted 05-06-2010 at 05:54 AM by tokyoracer

Quote:

Originally Posted by tokyoracer

What next? Going to surf the net and start posting on A.Org from your Über 128?

I've actually done that beforeit quite a b, but I have not tried since the AO upgrade. Truth be told, AO doesn't look good with Lynx! Hopefully I can give it a try with the stand alone Singular Browser (128/VDC) soon, but the web page to download it was down as of last night :-( I will probably also play with some of the other browsers. I still haven't tried out The Wave.

Posted 05-06-2010 at 07:24 AM by redrumloa redrumloa is offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by redrumloa

*faints*

Posted 05-06-2010 at 08:45 AM by tokyoracer tokyoracer is offline

Thanks for taking the time to answer all our questions Red. Maybe someday when you get the time, would you mind posting what a browser looks like surfing the web? Youtube and those other like minded sites aside, do the browsers support stuff like Java, CSS, etc. at all? I'm guessing not, but... I wonder how A.org for example looks on a 128 vs. an Amiga these days. And thanks for clarifying what the expansion card does. I can see clearly that it's a cartridge port expander now. Duh I was originally thinking it was more of a Mediator type product and you were hooking PCI NIC cards into it or something. lol Jim Brain rocks. Got a chance to meet him at the Emergency Commodore show in IL last year. I absolutely love his "magical" uIEC device.

Posted 05-06-2010 at 10:34 AM by save2600 save2600 is offline

Updated 05-06-2010 at 11:18 AM by save2600

@save2600

I'm sorry for the slow reply, been busy :-/

This picture is taken using the 128 running Desterm128 and browsing this very blog.

Here is another picture, this one taking a pic of me posting this very message :-)

I am logged into my local Linux box and running 'elinks' for a web browser. For more about Elinks capabilities see below:

http://elinks.or.cz

It supports almost full HTML4.0, without CSS.

Posted 05-09-2010 at 08:42 PM by redrumloa redrumloa is offline

	Wow, thanks for posting! That actually looks very pleasing to the eye and the formatting makes sense. I would have expected it to throw characters and line breaks around inappropriately. Pretty slick!
	Posted 05-10-2010 at 08:41 AM by save2600

	That's just awesome! B)
	Posted 05-10-2010 at 09:40 AM by whabang

Quote:

Originally Posted by save2600

Wow, thanks for posting! That actually looks very pleasing to the eye and the formatting makes sense. I would have expected it to throw characters and line breaks around inappropriately. Pretty slick!

No problem :-)

This type of setup is not exclusive to Commodore 128 of course, though my setup does it well. This would be a possible solution for very low end Amigas, especially if you have a Linux box handy. A stock A500 or A1000 with a null modem cable and terminal program such as A-term could do this. For speed, you would probably want at least a better serial port card though. The stock Amiga serial port is pretty slow, especially on older OCS/ECS models.

Posted 05-10-2010 at 12:59 PM by redrumloa redrumloa is offline

Updated 05-10-2010 at 01:49 PM by redrumloa

	This is amazing! Keep up the good work. Now it REALLY looks like a business machine with that ominous HAL9000 tower. Do you ever run CP/M on it? Also is there a cheap/easy/safe way to get 9V A/C for someone not that handy with electronics? Would love to power my 64's with a reliable power supply.
	Posted 05-10-2010 at 01:06 PM by Linde

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linde

Do you ever run CP/M on it? Also is there a cheap/easy/safe way to get 9V A/C for someone not that handy with electronics? Would love to power my 64's with a reliable power supply.

Yes, CP/M works very nicely on this setup. Actually, it will run directly from the uIEC (compact flash card).

I don't have a really good answer for you about a replacement Commodore 8bit power supply that isn't do it yourself. There is one seller on eBay who is selling "heavy duty" commodore power supplies, but I seriously doubt it has 9VAC at all. Most of the time when people do home conversions, they just put 5VDC in place of the 9VAC. I don't like that.

Posted 05-10-2010 at 01:58 PM by redrumloa redrumloa is offline

	Quote: Originally Posted by redrumloa @save2600 I'm sorry for the slow reply, been busy :-/ This picture is taken using the 128 running Desterm128 and browsing this very blog. ... Here is another picture, this one taking a pic of me posting this very message :-) ... I am logged into my local Linux box and running 'elinks' for a web browser. I must say, that looks really good.
	Posted 05-14-2010 at 03:46 PM by Karlos

Page 1 of 2

Archive
< May 2013
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31	1

vBulletin Message

Cancel Changes