PCBway and the availabilty of CPC projects

salvogendut · 10:44, 10 August 25

Made a second board today and... same problem. It works very slow and in bursts and still no light on the led. The thing is I used the TL866 II programmer selecting PIC16F84 instead of PIC16F84A in the zif socket (if I select correctly PIC16F84A, which is what is marked on my chip the programming will fail @Rabs I am curious to know how you programmed it. Now waiting for a new programmer PICkit3 and we'll see)

Rabs · 19:06, 10 August 25

Quote from: salvogendut on 10:44, 10 August 25Made a second board today and... same problem. It works very slow and in bursts and still no light on the led. The thing is I used the TL866 II programmer selecting PIC16F84 instead of PIC16F84A in the zif socket (if I select correctly PIC16F84A, which is what is marked on my chip the programming will fail @Rabs I am curious to know how you programmed it. Now waiting for a new programmer PICkit3 and we'll see)

Hi, cannot remember now. But don't think I had any problems. Will program another and let you know.

Rabs · 19:56, 10 August 25

Quote from: salvogendut on 18:36, 09 August 25Ok so I have built my first try at this and.... it does not work properly. The LED does not turn on and when I move the mouse, it moves briefly (directions work and also clicking works) and then it gets stuck for a few seconds, then moves again and so on, as if some timing was bad. To a trained eye maybe it will be easy to spot the wrong component in the wrong place. I am going to go to do some debugging any suggestions are welcome. Here is a few pics of my baby please don't solder shame me, I am still a noob

Good try. OK I will have a closer look at the component side tomorrow but you may have a few dry joints. If the solder is dull or round in shape then it is probably a dry joint and you will get intermittent results. You have some nice looking joints on the ICs but the D-Type connector could do with re-flowing. Also have a look at one of the transistor legs (these are tricky to solder where the pins are so close together). Have a look at mine. Oh an try setting Auto-Detect to the off position (it should in most cases be left in the OFF position. This is the Auto-detect position). It should also work in BASIC where you will see the arrow symbols when you move the mouse.

It takes practice to get good solder joints, and I get caught out sometimes and always learning.

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Rabs · 20:05, 10 August 25

Quote from: salvogendut on 18:37, 09 August 25PS: I tried in SymbOS only so far, if you have any suggestions on other testing programs you are welcome

Just try from the BASIC prompt to start with, you should see the arrow characters when you move the mouse.

Rabs · 20:09, 10 August 25

Quote from: Rabs on 19:56, 10 August 25
Quote from: salvogendut on 18:36, 09 August 25Ok so I have built my first try at this and.... it does not work properly. The LED does not turn on and when I move the mouse, it moves briefly (directions work and also clicking works) and then it gets stuck for a few seconds, then moves again and so on, as if some timing was bad. To a trained eye maybe it will be easy to spot the wrong component in the wrong place. I am going to go to do some debugging any suggestions are welcome. Here is a few pics of my baby please don't solder shame me, I am still a noob

Good try. OK I will have a closer look at the component side tomorrow but you may have a few dry joints. If the solder is dull or round in shape then it is probably a dry joint and you will get intermittent results. You have some nice looking joints on the ICs but the D-Type connector could do with re-flowing. Also have a look at one of the transistor legs (these are tricky to solder where the pins are so close together). Have a look at mine. Oh an try setting Auto-Detect to the off position (it should in most cases be left in the OFF position. This is the Auto-detect position). It should also work in BASIC where you will see the arrow symbols when you move the mouse.

It takes practice to get good solder joints, and I get caught out sometimes and always learning.

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Sorry the image of my board did not load.

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Rabs · 20:16, 10 August 25

Quote from: salvogendut on 10:44, 10 August 25Made a second board today and... same problem. It works very slow and in bursts and still no light on the led. The thing is I used the TL866 II programmer selecting PIC16F84 instead of PIC16F84A in the zif socket (if I select correctly PIC16F84A, which is what is marked on my chip the programming will fail @Rabs I am curious to know how you programmed it. Now waiting for a new programmer PICkit3 and we'll see)

I used PIC16F84A and I have Check ID on.

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This is the version of my TL866 II

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Rabs · 20:21, 10 August 25

Maybe check the version of PIC you have.

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salvogendut · 20:27, 10 August 25

Thank you @Rabs I will double check the PIC version tomorrow. Kudos for the clean looking soldering, those transistor pins are difficult to solder as there is not enough room. The second board I made looks a bit better than the first and I am getting the arrows at the basic prompt when I move the mouse but there is still something wrong with the speed as if the data came in bursts then stopped then started again. My feel is that either I have incompatible PICs or fake ones as I have used the same options as you in the TL866II plus (though I have a more updated version of the software ). Also I believe you used the 1.0 version of the firmware, didn't you?

Rabs · 20:45, 10 August 25

Quote from: salvogendut on 20:27, 10 August 25Thank you @Rabs I will double check the PIC version tomorrow. Kudos for the clean looking soldering, those transistor pins are difficult to solder as there is not enough room. The second board I made looks a bit better than the first and I am getting the arrows at the basic prompt when I move the mouse but there is still something wrong with the speed as if the data came in bursts then stopped then started again. My feel is that either I have incompatible PICs or fake ones as I have used the same options as you in the TL866II plus (though I have a more updated version of the software ). Also I believe you used the 1.0 version of the firmware, didn't you?

Well done, sounds like it is almost working. Yes I would have used the firmware from the wiki page, the 1.0 version. If you have another mouse you could try that, or try the auto detec on and off.

salvogendut · 20:46, 10 August 25

Where did you source your PICs , if I may?

Rabs · 20:52, 10 August 25

Quote from: salvogendut on 20:46, 10 August 25Where did you source your PICs , if I may?

Digikey

https://www.digikey.co.uk/en/products/detail/microchip-technology/PIC16F84A-04-P/303534

Alberto · 19:51, 11 August 25

Quote from: salvogendut on 15:31, 18 July 25I was curious and checked if PCBway had any CPC stuff that I can build myself... alas there were just 4 projects available: a memory expansion, a sound chip replacement adapter, a multi crtc selector and a joystick splitter. If you search for 'Commodore 64' instead you are flooded with projects. Why is that there are no 'open' available projects out there? I see in the wiki there are dozens of projects that could benefit being published. I realize PCBway is a for profit company but still...

Recently, thanks to this forum, I discovered a couple of open-source projects for the Amstrad CPC here. Anyone can download the Gerber files and order the circuit boards from any manufacturer that offers PCB production. This opens up some exciting possibilities for those looking to experiment or enhance their Amstrad CPC experience. If anyone here has tried these projects or has tips on getting started, I would love to hear your thoughts!

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PCBway and the availabilty of CPC projects