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My Next Hardware Project - System 80B CPU Board

Revisions are done I think. Just triple checking everything before sending the files off.

Also, Quick video of the free play upgrade in switch test.

 

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Rev 2 prototype boards now ordered. Poibug will be getting one to test to see how it performs in another game. I will keep this thread updated on progress. My gold wings is running better than ever :)
 
REV 2 Protos arrived this morning. :) Now assembling and testing
 

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Jim,

Could i ask where you get your Proto boards produced please, and what you have to supply them with for them to produce??? There's a couple of boards i wouldn't mind getting produced as 1 or 2 off's, however I'm led to believe that it may not be cheap...

Cheers
Paul
 
REV 2 Protos arrived this morning. :) Now assembling and testing
Nice one

At least I have two diff ones here,Frank N Pin and TX to help test-glad I can be of help.At least one other sys 80b I am after in the future too.

Screw space,if one comes up,it'll fit!!
 
Jim,

Could i ask where you get your Proto boards produced please, and what you have to supply them with for them to produce??? There's a couple of boards i wouldn't mind getting produced as 1 or 2 off's, however I'm led to believe that it may not be cheap...

Cheers
Paul

They look like itead/seeed's factory from the pictures.

Small boards are cheap to make, boards the size of a CPU / Driver board will likely be quite expensive and come in quantities of 5.

To produce a PCB you'll need to draw out the schematic and layout the board in something like Eagle Cad. It's certainly not something you can do without any prior experience, unless you invest some significant time learning
 
Some more pics of the rev 2 assembly and testing under way
 

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Rev 2 board now assembled and tested. Working well.
 

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Ok, so the testing of the rev 2 board is complete at my end. All works great. I got this board ready for poibug to test now and here's a few pics of it running the TX sector roms :)
 

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So here's a few pics of the rev 2 board. The first image shows it next to the rev 1 one.
 

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So it's time to talk about the costs of these :)

I want to offer 2 version as mentioned at the start. A kit version where you get all the parts and a fully assembled and tested one. The kit option is there to try and keep cost down, but does require soldering experience and the warranty on this is limited to receiving the correct parts /board etc only.

Having itemised all parts, manufacturing and development costs, I'm currently thinking of offering the following:

mypinballs 80b CPU kit - £125 plus postage
myPinballs 80b CPU assembled and tested - £180 plus postage

Postage would be royal mail special delivery only in uk and air sure internationally.

The boards as described above are still being tested. However, if you want to order one now and get on the list please contact me now. I have 3 other rev 2 boards available now and will order more in blocks of 10-20 etc once they run out. Any revisions would be included in the next order

Also, don't forget about my pop bumper driver board for gottliebees! - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/myPinball...eo_Games_Coin_Operated_MJ&hash=item461a08dd71
 
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I'm sure Poi will tell you if thats in keeping and a resaonable price or not lol :D
 
I'm probably going to be interested in a kit. If only to see if it'll run System 80A gen 4 games. Gen's 1 to 3 are suppose to be backward compatable but Gen 4 seems to be a different kettle of fish and may be in keeping with the system 80b design.
 
Ok, so the testing of the rev 2 board is complete at my end. All works great. I got this board ready for poibug to test now and here's a few pics of it running the TX sector roms :)

If I get any more excited,a little wee may come out!!
Jim sent it today,so it'll arrive this week,obviously wont be early tomorrow as I am off work then:confused:

Of the few sys 80b's I have played they are different,but fun.With great sound.

Sadly not too many here in the UK.Wanna play Robo War,Monte Carlo,Raven,Hollywood Heat etc.
Pretty certain have played Bad Girls at one of the shows,poss Hollywood Heat too.
Love TX and Genesis,Gold Wings good,and Victory ok too

poi
 
Wanna play Robo War,Monte Carlo,Raven,Hollywood Heat etc.
Pretty certain have played Bad Girls at one of the shows,poss Hollywood Heat too.
Love TX and Genesis,Gold Wings good,and Victory ok too
poi

Robo War is on my list along with TX. German Ebay seems a good place to spot 80b games. A raven was on there not too long ago as well.
 
Quick Update.

I've been testing the rev 2 board in my gold wings for around a month now and all working great. Poibug has also been testing another board in his tx sector and genesis which is also going well. A few small things to look at based on feedback from poibug so once those are ironed out i think we should be ready for some pre-ordering. I would like to hear from anyone who would be interested in getting one of these (as a kit or as a finished board). Please contact me directly so i can add you to a pre-order list and so you will be ahead of any future general sales.
 
I've had a good look at your photos, it's nice to see that you have simplified out the unnecessarily complex original POR circuit and added some damn LED's :thumbs:

I'll have to see if I can rescue mine first if not, I will save to buy one of these!

:thumbs:Jim for keeping those nasty unreliable games alive :rofl:
 
Quick Update.

I've been testing the rev 2 board in my gold wings for around a month now and all working great. Poibug has also been testing another board in his tx sector and genesis which is also going well. A few small things to look at based on feedback from poibug so once those are ironed out i think we should be ready for some pre-ordering. I would like to hear from anyone who would be interested in getting one of these (as a kit or as a finished board). Please contact me directly so i can add you to a pre-order list and so you will be ahead of any future general sales.
Just wondered where you get your boards manufactured? Cheers.
 
I've had a good look at your photos, it's nice to see that you have simplified out the unnecessarily complex original POR circuit and added some damn LED's :thumbs:

I'll have to see if I can rescue mine first if not, I will save to buy one of these!

:thumbs:Jim for keeping those nasty unreliable games alive :rofl:


agreed

poi
 
Update:

So its been awhile since the last update, but there has been plenty going on behind the scenes. The rev 3 boards are nearly complete and i have finally resolved all the little remaining niggles. Boards have been tested and working a variety of 80b games. The hardest issue to resolve was a very strange high score store issue. This was finally tracked down to a combination of factors, including what i believe to be a mistake/bad design in the original cpu board by gottlieb. It appears (and thanks to one of my other testers for the added insight here) that the timing of the R/W line from the 6502 is the same as the address lines, so there is no margin, and with the delays in the address decode (which is quite substantial, 3 gate delays or more) things are out of spec when the signal is fed direct. Now, this doesn't appear to be much of an issue with the old 5101 ram, (mainly due to its SLOWNESS), but add in more modern rams and suddenly the issue is magnified, (and yours truly ends up banging his head on the desk for 3 months!!!)

Also the way the non used address lines are tied has a major effect on the address location used for the small amount of bookkeeping storage. On the timekeeper rams that i have been using for an enhanced board version you need to be careful this range doesn't run into the actual clock section of the ram.

Also, with previous scenarios there were occasional bookkeeping value storage issues and non specific errors moving through the totals. And on some games the memory test would report a bad ram. These issues are all also now fixed :)

Also, the board now properly can use both the timekeeper ram and a regular 6264 ram (as used in most dmd games in the 90s) External battery connection to the included ext bat feed is obviously needed here to retain the saved data. I've uploaded a few pics from the tests in my Gold Wings today..

Its time for a beer :)
 

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