GX4000 to Plus Mod Disk Interface Nearing Completion!

[Badstarr]

Hi guys!


Well I got a little side tracked with Christmas etc but my GX4000 mod continues, albeit a little slower than I had hoped.


The status of the project so far...


I have a working keyboard.


I have successfully hacked a Burnin' Rubber Cartridge into a Basic/Firmware Cartridge with Burnin' Rubber included (thanks to Bryce for the Flash Ram IC tip!)


The Disk Interface is complete, well pretty much, it looks ugly as sin but it is ready to be connected to the main PCB and a floppy cable needs to be attached plus I'm not leaving anything to chance so I will be checking my work against the schematic a few hundred times as I don't want anything to go bang at this stage!


So at this point I just want to check that my planned way of connecting the Disk Interface makes sense. So Bryce if you are reading any advice would be appreciated! Same goes for anyone else who has any advice! 


Ok, so I plan on connecting the Disk Interface via the Cartridge Connector. More or less all the signals I need are present there and would seem to match the Plus CPU schematic on the Wiki. As far as I can see this should be acceptable but I don't want to have missed anything. The next thing is the +5v supply to the interface, could I patch into to +5v feed on the cartridge socket or would I be better off looking elsewhere?


Well once this part is completed and I have sorted an expansion socket (which I'm also planning on patching into the cartridge connector) the electronic side of things will be done, assuming it doesn't explode, I hope not! lol! Next will be to create a nice looking slightly adapted case for the console and the keyboard housing then I can sit back and look at it for a few hours and feel a great sense of pride lol!

[Gryzor]

My, congrats on your dedication...

[MacDeath]

Pictures as proof for your madness please !

[Badstarr]

Thanks Gryzor!    MacDeath, I will post some pics when I'm next off work so will be in the next few days, to be honest I didn't want to do the "reveal" until I was finished but I guess I can post some pics of my progress  even if it all looks a little ugly right now. I'm determined to get the disk interface into the main unit so the disk interface has been split up into several bits of perf board so I can get it all in there. Trust me I have a plan! I guess what I will do is get the interface finished and installed temporarily so you can see where I'm going with it all! I have been over the schematics a dozen times and it looks like I can splice into the cart port for all but 5 of the signals I need so it limits the amount of fiddly soldering direct to the asic. Progress should be quicker this way... So watch this space.