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CPC Mainboard Versions

Started by nocash, 14:52, 09 April 10

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arnoldemu

Quote from: Gryzor on 11:17, 13 April 10
In Marcus' comparison photo the connectors are not at the same position... You generally *can* have a redesin and keep the same case (I think all my ST/STes use the same case, though the mobo is different) by keeping the connectors and screw holes as design restrictions

Changing the case,  unfortunately, is not an easy thing to do. Yes, the modifications may appear minimal, but constructing new molds and running test productions with them and whatnot is major... any industrial engineers among us? :)
Yes, the connectors are not in the same position between these two PCB.
But Amstrad *DID* change the position of the connectors on the 464!
I know because I have more than one model of 464.

So in terms of size the comparison is valid, but in terms of connectors it is not.
Maybe Markus should compare this board with the previous revision and show the connector positions?
But really a size comparison is what you wanted?
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Devilmarkus

Interesting:
The board for the 664 MC0005B is the same board than mine.
But it seems that the one on the wiki-photo has been patched.
I marked a resistor on this board with a blue frame. This resistor does not exist on my board
and is also not numbered in the wiki photo.
Do someone have any idea why it's here? Does it patch something or for what should it be good for?

When you put your ear on a hot stove, you can smell how stupid you are ...

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robcfg

A new challenger has arrived!  :o


On sunday we discovered a weird motherboard revision at CPCManiaco's place and we took some pictures.


I've uploaded them here.


They are not of high quality, but I'll scan the pcb as soon as I can.


The mobo has the numbers Z70378 and MC0046A.


QuoteDo someone have any idea why it's here? Does it patch something or for what should it be good for?

I noticed the resistor as the only difference between the two known 664 motherboard revisions. Maybe it's there to adjust the system to IC's working at different speeds. That is, maybe one mobo has faster memory IC's and are selected by putting the resistor there. Maybe.

Devilmarkus

Quote from: robcfg on 12:39, 13 April 10
A new challenger has arrived!  :o


On sunday we discovered a weird motherboard revision at CPCManiaco's place and we took some pictures.


I've uploaded them here.


They are not of high quality, but I'll scan the pcb as soon as I can.


The mobo has the numbers Z70378 and MC0046A.

It looks similar to my PCB for my 1991's CPC 464.
Except the homebrew rom inside...


When you put your ear on a hot stove, you can smell how stupid you are ...

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Devilmarkus

#29
The difference seem to be the blue filter thing @ top of the board.
It's the only difference which I can spot on the fly from rev. MC0044A which had man filters & resistors at this place.

Maybe Amstrad uses this "thing" outside UK only because, as we know, the German boards also had a metal shield around.
Like the Spanish one you just uploaded.
When you put your ear on a hot stove, you can smell how stupid you are ...

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nocash

Yes, the resistor between A0 and /CASADDR seems to be timing or noise related. Having such an "analogue" patch on the digital address bus is a bit strange. On the two photos, the manufacturer logos on the DRAM chips are: "triangle" logo on unpatched board, and "T" logo on patched board. (does that apply for other boards, too?)
Dunno what the logos are for... Camel and Toshiba...? :-)

Yep, listing the board size would be a nice feature. The Z70290 (6128 v2) is 320x155mm. Somebody has more values for other boards?

Eventually, it might look nice too scale them on the page accordingly? Like 400mm=200px, 320mm=160px. etc. At the moment all are 200px in width.

robcfg

#31
The triangle is the mitsubishi logo.





And the other logo seems to be Texas Instruments.



nocash

> The triangle is the mitsubishi logo.
> And the other logo seems to be Texas Instruments.
Could be... older variants. The "T" looks entirely different, just an uppercase T. And the triangle similar, but not exactly same; one wireframe trangle, surrounded by three solid triangles.

Thanks for the photos! I've added the mainboard pic in the list. And deposited the others on the Gallery page... they are resampled to 1MB/total, okay? Easier to handle, and the quality still looks nearly identical to me.

> Changing the case,  unfortunately, is not an easy thing to do.
Maybe, but that part needs to be paid only once. With large quantities, the small cost-down boards should have saved some money.

MacDeath

I took a look at your "Mainboard versions" page.

Good job ! 8)

We should do the same with disk drives... perhaps ?

Devilmarkus

Quote from: nocash on 14:40, 13 April 10
Thanks for the photos! I've added the mainboard pic in the list. And deposited the others on the Gallery page... they are resampled to 1MB/total, okay? Easier to handle, and the quality still looks nearly identical to me.

You can also use the photo I uploaded.
It shows both sides. You can cut it with Photoshop or other software.
It's more "straight" than the spanish one... ;)
When you put your ear on a hot stove, you can smell how stupid you are ...

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nocash

The 5MB png? Didn't download it... took forever :-( yup, it's more square, and looks better in the list. Also added the front/back in the gallery. Just to be sure: The board was in a Schneider, too? Or was it also used in Amstrad models?

And the spanish is still there (gallery), too. The highlight on the that pics has been the rebadged keys with the N.

Devilmarkus

Quote from: nocash on 15:33, 13 April 10
Just to be sure: The board was in a Schneider, too? Or was it also used in Amstrad models?

Yes, it's a Schneider. But mine has UK keyboard (coloured keys) I changed them some time ago because the old keyboard was in a very bad condition.
I used this board + it's case to create my 3d model for a CPC 464 but it uses UK Amstrad textures ;)
The jpg I attached is the original texture for this 3d - model of the board.
When you put your ear on a hot stove, you can smell how stupid you are ...

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Terje_Norway

Update on boards:
Checked 8x CPC6128
Keyboard pt no is Z70221 for all 8 of them. Both Amstrad and Schneider machines


Schneider CPC664             86340    K32-54     A
Keyboard PCB: Pt.no Z70209
Board PCB    : MC0005B  -  Pt.NO Z70205
Volume PCB : MC0007B
Disc Drive Pt.no : 30001  -  Date  NO DATE
Amstrad CPC6128              133790    K32-57   A
Board PCB    : MC0009B  -  Pt.NO Z70210  -  (C) 1985
Volume PCB  : MC0011B
Disc Drive Pt.no : Z70312  -  Date 27 Apr 86
Schneider CPC6128             136998   K31-56   E  (Has not removed shielding ! !)
Board PCB   : MC0012A  -  Pt.NO Zxxxxx
Volume PCB : MC0014A
Disc Drive Pt.no : 30001  -  Date NO DATE
Schneider CPC6128             151494   K32-57   E  (Has not removed shielding ! !)
Board PCB    : MC0012B  -  Pt.no Zxxxxx
Volume PCB  : MC0014B
Disc Drive Pt.no : Z80264  -  Date  6 Apr 89
Amstrad CPC6128                222742   K32-5X    I
Board PCB   : MC0020A  -  Pt.NO Z70290
Volume PCB : MC0022A
Disc Drive Pt.no : 30002  -  Date 27 Aug 85
Amstrad CPC6128               222758   K32-5X     I
Board PCB   : MC0020A  -  Pt.NO Z70290
Volume PCB : MC0022A
Disc Drive Pt.no : 30002  -  Date 30 Aug 85
Amstrad CPC6128                 532 6805853       D
Board PCB   : MC0020C  -  Pt.NO Z70290
Volume PCB : MC0022C
Disc Drive Pt.no : Z70312  -  Date 04 Jun 86
Amstrad CPC6128               542-9310181        K
Board PCB    : MC0020I  -  Pt.NO Z70290  -  (C) 1985
Volume PCB  : MC0022I
Disc Drive Pt.no : Z80264  -  Date 17 Nov 88
Schneider CPC6128         5326523111           B    (Has not removed shielding ! !)
Board PCB    : MC0023C  -  Pt.no Zxxxxx
Volume PCB  : MC0025C
Disc Drive Pt.no : 30002  -  Date 10 Mar 86


Lose disc drives : 
Disc Drive Pt.no (12V) : 30001  -  Date NO DATE
Disc Drive Pt.no (12V) : Z80264 - Date 07 Dec 90
Disc Drive Pt.no (12V) : Z70312 - Date NO DATE - 01 Aug 86 - 22 Aug 86 - 20 Mar 87 - 18 May 87 - 23 Mar 88
Disc Drive Pt.no (  5V) : Z80425 - Date 16 Mar 90 (Plus drive)
Disc Drive Pt.no (12V) : Z70313 - Date 18  Apr 86 - 02 May 87 (PCW 8000 B-drive ? ?)
Disc Drive Pt.no (12V) : Z80265 - Date 20 May 88 - 12 Oct 88 - 17 Feb 89 (PCW 9000 drive ? ?)
Thats it for tonight


Yours
Terje Grind
NORWAY


Gryzor

Seeing this superb rendering (we want wallpapers! 1680x1050!!!!!), I can't help but wondering if they should have added some dead weight in the case, like the heavy-sixer VCS...

Devilmarkus

Quote from: Gryzor on 07:34, 14 April 10
Seeing this superb rendering (we want wallpapers! 1680x1050!!!!!), I can't help but wondering if they should have added some dead weight in the case, like the heavy-sixer VCS...

Ok... Let's hack a bit around...
Here you go...
When you put your ear on a hot stove, you can smell how stupid you are ...

Amstrad CPC games in your webbrowser

JavaCPC Desktop Full Release

Gryzor


arnoldemu

Quote from: Gryzor on 09:24, 14 April 10
Hahaha damn you you mad hax0r :D

Look at these beauties:
http://www.c64forever.com/gfx/wallpapers/c64forever-com_ready_1680x1050.jpg
http://www.c64forever.com/gfx/wallpapers/c64forever-com_64k_1680x1050.jpg

The look like my Type-Ins photo from the wiki;'s main page...
That is a bit too close... would you take another photo but a bit furthur away, us oldies have eyes that can't cope with that?
;)
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My website with coding examples: Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource

Gryzor

Just move your head backwards a bit :)

arnoldemu

Quote from: Gryzor on 09:42, 14 April 10
Just move your head backwards a bit :)
thank you young-un that did the trick.
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My website with coding examples: Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource

Gryzor

Quote from: arnoldemu on 09:52, 14 April 10
thank you young-un that did the trick.


Inspired by the Simpsons episode where Bart orders "Enhance image" and Lisa pushes his head closer to the screen :D

nocash

Hi Terje, what is a 664/6128 Keyboard PCB? I thought real PCBs were used only in very old 464s, and all later models had membrane foils; of which, the 6128 membrane photo at http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Photo_Gallery doesn't show a PT NO.

How are chances that you take some photos/scans before reassembling the computers? And maybe check the board size, the only known size is 320x155 mm for 6128 version 2.

Photo WITH shielding would be funny, too. I think that paranoia stuff existed only german models (?), and people in other countries never saw those super-shieldings. Btw. the shielding isn't soldered to the board, easy to remove: Just held by some screws, and four small metal clips on left/right edges.

EDIT: Found the PT NO, on the sticker on the metal base plate under the keyboard membrane.

Gryzor

The Americans had some pretty strict rules on EM interference as well...

nocash

Uploaded a NoPicture.png version of the NoPicture.gif, bypassing the cpcwiki bug that occurs on GIF files. Maybe the PNG is making it clearer which pictures are still missing on http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Mainboard_Versions :-) your chance - you can be the first person ever to make a picure of the DDI-1 board :-)

Dummy board size "???x??? mm" templates are there, too. Your chance, again. Become the first person in the whole universe who has ever measured and documented the size of the 464 board! Wouldn't that be cool? ;-)

gerald

Hi All

Just to add a bit more confusion, I've got on 464 bought France in the late 85 :
PTNO Z70200 MC0002C copyright 1984 (same as the 472 in the wiki), but with a good old gate array (40007 with heatsink).
PCB size is 405x152mm

One French 6128 manufactured in mid 87:
PTNO Z70290 MC0020G copyright 1985, PCB 320x155mm

One French 6128Plus manufactures mid 1990:
MC0122C 2700-016P-3 1990, PCB 282x142mm (picture attached)



Gerald

gerald

And one DDI-1

160x65mm

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