zektrex pictures

[Graham Toal]

I found my small format (8" x 5.75") 75-350MHz Pentium singe board
computer (SBC). Can't remember what speed the actual processor in it
is.

[There are much smaller & better systems available now - have
a look at http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT8498487406.html
if you're thinking of doing this yourself from scratch...]

Here's the SBC and the Zektor side-by-side for size comparison:
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Here is the SBC in the vectrex case (down the left-hand-side as
you would look at it from the front) and the Zektor tucked in
the roof of the case in front of the carrying handle:

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You can see the white stand-offs on the SBC. These need to be
replaced with something which won't require drilling holes in the
side of the Vec case. Are there any standoffs available with flat
sticky pads on the underside? I.e. can I effectively glue these
PCBs to the side of the case?

Anyway, here's the most important pic...

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this proves that the case can be closed with the boards inside :-)

Here's the PIM-581 board info:
http://www.icn-france.com/indust/pdf/pim-581.pdf

It's no great shakes now, although it was when I bought it many
years ago (and it cost a fortune then :-( )

It has a watch-dog reset timer which will be great for using
it as an arcade box, and a 32-pin "disk-on-chip" which at the
time it came out could handle up to 24mb; I'm not sure what
it'll support with today's larger sizes, but 24Mb should support
MAME and a good set of roms.

The disk-on-chip is fairly neat:
http://www.m-sys.com/Content/Products/Product_PF.asp?pid=2
It looks like I can test the system with a hard drive in place
and just format this as C: and copy the files when I'm ready
to turn it loose... apparently the flash drivers are built in to
the BIOS on this board and it looks just like a hard drive.

The board also has an on-board NE2K ethernet, so lots of scope here
for neat hacks, including an ether to 802.11B adapter. (There's
room in the speaker housing and probably lots of other spots)

Does anyone know if the Vectrex PSU (there's a 4-wire cable going
into the 6809 board that could easily have a new plug put on it)
has the same voltages as a PC power connector?

By the way I discovered that the picture fluctuations on one of the
Veccies I bought recently for this project coincided with the Airco
turning on. Obviously poor power cleanliness. I guess a UPS will
solve that problem, crudely.

I'm looking for an internal power supply for the SBC. I've found this:
http://mini-box.com/pw-60.htm - but it's ATX, I just need the standard
4 pin connector. (This link has that, the CF<->IDE, and a Mini-ITX
board: http://store.yahoo.com/ituner/otherhardware.html )
This is neat too: http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT2683549967.html

G
PS Zonn pointed out the IDE<->CF adapter. Here's another equally
neat hack: http://www.area450.com/thesampozone/articles/wad.htm
Not much help here but great for say an early model RelayTV...

[Richard Hutchinson]

Are there any standoffs available with flat sticky pads on the underside?
Does anyone know if the Vectrex PSU (there's a 4-wire cable going
into the 6809 board that could easily have a new plug put on it)
has the same voltages as a PC power connector?

Vec logic board power connector gives -

-13V
+5V
-5V
GND

PC ATX PSU - http://www.jeae.dk/Computere/atx_-_psu.htm






Richard H.




BTW Is that a nylon carpet the PCB's are laying on !?!

[Graham Toal]

Post by Richard Hutchinson
Vec logic board power connector gives -
-13V
+5V
-5V
GND
PC ATX PSU - http://www.jeae.dk/Computere/atx_-_psu.htm

It's not an ATX. It's the same power connector as a disk drive.

G

[Richard Hutchinson]

Post by Graham Toal
It's not an ATX. It's the same power connector as a disk drive.

It's just +12V (yelllow) +5V (red) and GND (black) you need then.

I'm pretty sure you can tap into a +12V somewhere else on the power board



Richard H.

[Graham Toal]

Are there any standoffs available with flat sticky pads on the underside?

Session timeout. I'll go in from the top. What am I looking for?

G

[Graham Toal]

Post by Graham Toal

Are there any standoffs available with flat sticky pads on the underside?

Session timeout. I'll go in from the top. What am I looking for?

Found some! Google search for "self-adhesive" "pcb standoffs"


Loading Image...

G

[Graham Toal]

Post by Graham Toal
Found some! Google search for "self-adhesive" "pcb standoffs
http://us1.webpublications.com.au/static/images//shop//hi/1003701069hi.jpg

Spoke too soon. The only sources of these I can find (after
extensive net searching) are in Britain, Australia, ... and Sri Lanka!

I guess I won't be doing that part of the project this weekend...

G

[Richard Hutchinson]

Graham, what I've done in the past is take one of these -

Loading Image...

cut off the end opposite to the bit that goes into the PCB, file it smooth
and use one of those double sided sticky foam pads (overhang trimmed off) to
secure it to the surface -


Richard H.

[Graham Toal]

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[Mark De Smet]

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[Graham Toal]

Post by Graham Toal
when I got home I primed the back first - looked good, so I
started on the front. About 1/4 of the way through the primer
ran out - Argh! Rushed back over town to get more of each, only
to find the model shop had not really been open, they had just
been taking deliveries and had let us in - they were closed by
the time I got back an hour later :-(

by the way the silvery-grey primer looks pretty good on its own!
in fact it's a very close match for the PSX arcade joystick I
bought a couple of weeks ago in expectation of hooking it up
to Clay's adaptor. I think I'll take a picture of them together
tomorrow before I finish the paint job. I'm having second thoughts
about the desert-sand yellow. I'm wondering if bright red with
flames coming out of it, and a small painting of the Veccy
itself on the back wouldn't be more fitting :-)

(that was a Rio Grande Valley pickup truck joke - I wouldn't really
ruin a perfectly good Veccy like that, I promise!)

Actually the grey also matches the grey stripe on the CPO and at the
top of the box. I really am half tempted to leave it grey.

Another tweak I plan to do - you know I've done some damned good
rip-off joystick overlays - well, a little tweak with photoshop and
I should be able to do an equally convincing version in a different
colour! In fact I can do that for *all* the printed surfaces -
I carefully peeled everything off before I started and they came
away in remarkably good shape, suitable for scanning. Print on
shiny self-adhesive paper and Robert is your mater's brother.

G (Just call me "Rice Boy"!)

[Graham Toal]

Post by Graham Toal
by the way the silvery-grey primer looks pretty good on its own!
in fact it's a very close match for the PSX arcade joystick I
bought a couple of weeks ago in expectation of hooking it up
to Clay's adaptor. I think I'll take a picture of them together
tomorrow before I finish the paint job. I'm having second thoughts
about the desert-sand yellow.

Grrr... turns out I should have bought *three* cans of paint
as I ran out *again* before building up the paint thickly enough.

At least the back of the case looks real nice now. The colour
really was a good match for the BBC Micro which was the look I
was going for (same period).

So, another day to add some more colour and then apply the clear-coat
on Thursday, which means I should be playing on Friday...

Graham

[Graham Toal]

blah blah blah...

FYI... using the Testors spray cans (they're about half the
size of the standard automotive spray cans beloved of graffiti
artists) if you want to paint your own vectrex you will need:

2 cans of primer
3 cans of coloured paint
1 can of clearcoat

Boy did I get that last one wrong :-( Mind you if I use all
three cans it's going to be nice and shiny :-)

I discovered that the front and back of the Vectrex (at least
of mine anyway) is made of different plastics and that one takes
the paint much better than the other. And that although the
raw vectrex feels quite sooth, when it's painted you discover
the surface is as rough as sandpaper! Which incidentally you'll
need, to smooth it down for panting. Very VERY fine sandpaper.
In fact the plastic rubbing papers that you get for polishing
pool cues would be just great if they were a bit bigger :-\

So... build it back up in the morning and get it running again :-)

(This isn't actually the one I've been testing with the Zektor,
this is one of the cheap semi-working ones. I'll do a heart
transplant once I'm happy that the plastics are done...)

G