Many, many parts have come in and much, much work has been done! I'm getting tired tonight but I will touch on a little bit.

The power supply!!




Yes, that is a 128D power supply connector :-D As you see, there is a 120VAC -> 9VAC step down transformer bolted to the top of the ATX power supply. The 128D requires 9VAC, which the ATX standard down not provide. Here's another pic.




There is an ATX to AT adapter in use. The 128D does not need this, but I will for a later part of this project. This adapter also provides 2 leads I hooked to the switch, which will give a nice on/off switch!
:banana:

In other news, briefly.. The 128D internal 1571 has been converted for tower use, pictures will follow in a day or so. What a ball buster that was :crazy: I've even adapted a PC 5.25 faceplate, with fair results. Re-routing the joystick and keyboard ports will be finished tomorrow. With any luck I will have a full functioning, basic 128 tower tomorrow!!

trekiej wrote:
I look forward to seeing it when it is finished.

Thanks :-) I am taking my time on this, it will take a long while to finish completely. Only a few people have done such a project and no one has published information on it.

For 80 column video output I have purchased a CGA to VGA adapter. It is missing the intensity input for RGBi, but Commodore user Mangelore has published a simple fix. Cost $120 shipped(OUCH). This converter has a pass through and input switch. The converted 40 column singal will go into the input and the input switch will be routed to the top front of the case for video selection. This adapter has arrived and should be installed in the case this weekend!

For 40 column output I purchased a common composite to VGA adapter. Cost ~$40 shipped. Has not arrived yet  :boohoo:

Ports:
If you saw earlier pictures you know the joystick and keyboard ports are toward the front of the case. The case closed in this configuration. However, with a bare connector plugged into the ports, the front part of the case will barely not fit even after grinding what little surface off I could. The solution is de-solder the original right angle DB9 and DB25 connectors and replace them with straight connectors. I could just solder wires to the board, but I am trying to keep this clean. Straight connectors have arrived and also should get installed this weekend.

 :hammer:

motorollin wrote:
Sponsored by Coca Cola... ;-)

--
moto

I wish! :lol:

This project is getting real expensive real quick!! Hmm.. I guess it could be sponsored by motorollin if you would like! Want to make a donation?  ;-)

FrankenCommie - Sponsored by motorollin

I'm looking forward to seeing the basic tower.  Nice project.

Ah man!  That is just wrong!  :-D     I never had a superCPU.  I would like to get some C64 and 128 stuff again and find a superCPU or make my own.  Unfortunately, I can't now.
 

trekiej wrote:
Ah man!  That is just wrong!  :-D     I never had a superCPU.  I would like to get some C64 and 128 stuff again and find a superCPU or make my own.  Unfortunately, I can't now.
 

Do to lack of space, time and money I made myself chose between C= 8bit and Amiga a while back for my hobby, C= 8bit won. For some reason old Amiga hardware seems to be getting flaky, more so than the even older C= 8bit hardware.

Hodgkinson wrote:
Are you sure that you need 9VAC?

If that’s the supply to the C128 then surely you could follow the supply chain down on the C128 and wire in the +V DC supplies from the PSU directly to the C128? Probably after some regulator stage or summat?

NB. I’m guessing here, I've never had a C128. Note that you’d have to disconnect whatever’s before your feed point to prevent damage.

Just an idea.

Hodgkinson.

Some people operate without the 9VAC, but you lose the time of day clock, user port and other problems. I want to do this as properly as possible. Here's a clip from usenet.

Internally, the 9VAC is routed to
the user port, CIA time of day clocks, and is regulated to 5VDC and 12VDC with a charge pump technique.  These are used to provide separate power to the VIC and SID which keeps all the high frequency noise inside the computer off the power supply of these IC's, which would result in audio or video
distortion.

I know that huge 120VAV/9VAC step down transformer is a bit unsightly, but for a first project of this type I will go this route. That transformer was a bit hard to find too and cost me about $18 shipped.

Thanks for your input :-)

redrumloa wrote:

As you see, there is a 120VAC -> 9VAC step down transformer bolted to the top of the ATX power supply.

Is the transformer alays connected to mains, or did you add a relay to toggle it as the PSU starts?

I used an AT PSU for my C-64T, mainly because I wanted a single switch to turn the PSU + trafo + monitor totally off. With an AT PSU, I didn't need to hunt down relays, I just tapped power to the trafo after the switch.

Probably a non-issue, as there are no power switches in original C-64 or C-128 PSUs either. Always good to think green, though. :-D

http://jope.fi/c64t/ in case you're interested.

Mine is not tip top, but I tried to make it as neat as possible.. It needs a neater port plate for the back of the tower, but otherwise I'm rather satisfied.

I also opted not to wire in video -> VGA converters, my flat panel monitor has s-video and SCART connectors behind it.

redrumloa wrote:

Only a few people have done such a project and no one has published information on it.

Nate/Vanessa Dannenberg's C-128 tower project has been on her website since 10 years ago.. The site seems to be down currently, but you can check out archive.org:

http://web.archive.org/web/20070628230052/starbase.globalpc.net/~vanessa/hobbies/c128tower.html

Hope it comes back up some day so you can see the pictures.