BillyHW Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Just came across this pic of the ZX Spectrum motherboard and couldn't help but note that it is a work of art. Everything is just so organized and lined up perfectly, very space efficient. Anyone have any other notable motherboards? Please post pics. Also if there are any particularly ugly motherboards you know of, please post pics of those too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 (edited) Oric Edited December 22, 2015 by JamesD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 (edited) Commodore 116 Prototype Commodore Plus/4 Edited December 22, 2015 by JamesD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 (edited) TRS-80 Color Computer 3 Prototype: Color Computer 2: Color Computer 3 (photo has RAM, GIME, and 6809 marked): Edited December 22, 2015 by JamesD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Commodore 64 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 I'll see your Amiga 1000 motherboard and raise you... the prototype! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyHW Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 a1000ntsca.jpg This one is nice. Almost as if it was designed by the same guy that did the Spectrum. Had to look at the filename to figure out what it was though...which is maybe an idea for another thread: Name That Motherboard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Just came across this pic of the ZX Spectrum motherboard and couldn't help but note that it is a work of art. Everything is just so organized and lined up perfectly, very space efficient. ... Anyone have any other notable motherboards? Please post pics. Also if there are any particularly ugly motherboards you know of, please post pics of those too. The only reason the Speccy board looks so nice is because it doesn't have much built in hardware. No sound chip, no joystick ports, no serial ports, no parallel ports, no timer, and it only has RF output. At least the Oric has solder mask on both sides of the board. It also has a sound chip, timer, printer port, video port, and it has a reset switch. This one is nice. Almost as if it was designed by the same guy that did the Spectrum. Had to look at the filename to figure out what it was though...which is maybe an idea for another thread: Name That Motherboard! FWIW, the dautherboard is so the A1000 can use a Kickstart disk. It's a bit of a hack... a well done hack, but a hack none the less. I had a ROM upgrade kit in the one I used. You completely remove the daughterboard for the ROM upgrade if I remember right, and it looked a lot cleaner without it. I really don't see how the Speccy board has any more in common with the A1000 board than any other machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyHW Posted December 23, 2015 Author Share Posted December 23, 2015 The only reason the Speccy board looks so nice is because it doesn't have much built in hardware. No sound chip, no joystick ports, no serial ports, no parallel ports, no timer, and it only has RF output. At least the Oric has solder mask on both sides of the board. It also has a sound chip, timer, printer port, video port, and it has a reset switch. FWIW, the dautherboard is so the A1000 can use a Kickstart disk. It's a bit of a hack... a well done hack, but a hack none the less. I had a ROM upgrade kit in the one I used. You completely remove the daughterboard for the ROM upgrade if I remember right, and it looked a lot cleaner without it. I really don't see how the Speccy board has any more in common with the A1000 board than any other machine. It's the way the resistors are grouped and lined up so neatly and logically. In this respect they are similar and I think it's a good-looking design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=PC_Board_Esthetics.txt&showcomments=1 Who cares what it looks like if it runs like crap heh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=PC_Board_Esthetics.txt&showcomments=1 Who cares what it looks like if it runs like crap heh FWIW, some of the embedded systems I've worked on were wire wrapped. I wish I had a photo of the one. Lots and lots of wires. At least 5 times that Mac board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Ivy Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 (edited) Atari 400 motherboard. It just looks so simple and elegant to me in its layout. Edited December 26, 2015 by J.Ivy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickled_Pink Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 Just came across this pic of the ZX Spectrum motherboard and couldn't help but note that it is a work of art. Everything is just so organized and lined up perfectly, very space efficient. Anyone have any other notable motherboards? Please post pics. Also if there are any particularly ugly motherboards you know of, please post pics of those too. I really need to put up a pic of my Issue One. Took them a few months to get to the design above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickled_Pink Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 The only reason the Speccy board looks so nice is because it doesn't have much built in hardware. No sound chip, no joystick ports, no serial ports, no parallel ports, no timer, and it only has RF output. At least the Oric has solder mask on both sides of the board. It also has a sound chip, timer, printer port, video port, and it has a reset switch. That's why I think the entire original Spectrum was a work of art. True, the keyboard isn't great but for me it has even more nostalgia than the Ataris. It was designed to bring colour computing to the UK masses at a time when we were expected to pay through the nose for US machines. The UK was in a bad way at the time and people simply didn't have the money to spend on computers that they have today. It's amazing to me, as a non-engineer, how they were able to cram in so much functionality into such a small footprint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 (edited) Atari 400 motherboard. It just looks so simple and elegant to me in its layout. ... A separate power board, a CPU board, a RAM board, and a main board... simple? The 600xl and 800xl pretty much did the same on a single board. "KERI" the 800XLCR prototype: 600XL: 130XE: Edited December 26, 2015 by JamesD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClausB Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 Atari 800 prototype: http://atariage.com/forums/gallery/album/1485-atari-800-engineering-serial-26/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustfilledhobo Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 FWIW, some of the embedded systems I've worked on were wire wrapped. I wish I had a photo of the one. Lots and lots of wires. At least 5 times that Mac board. This is my type of aesthetic! It's also my type of headache when trying to fix a problem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSG Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 I thought the Apple 2 motherboard was beautiful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 It was a low-angle shot of the motherboard that got me liking the II series when I was a kid. Sophisticated, complex, I just had to have one. I knew great things would come of it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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