The resurrection of Mega Speedy!

[macsonny]

Hi All,

 

Well, after a number of months, many failed PCBs being manufactured, many emails with #Hias and #Guus I'm very please to say that I have finally got a working production Mega Speedy unit going earlier today.

 

I received a batch of the next PSB from PCBWay today and decided to populate the board this afternoon. It was going to be my very last attempt and if it didn't work I was going to abandon the effort as I've already invested hundreds of $$$ to get this far. Thankfully, after building and installing to worked! A few minor issues that were quickly resolved and now all good.

 

I have purchased enough parts to build around 3-5 extra boards. If you are interested please let me know. I'm still trying to work out a reasonable price.

 

There are a few "quirks" of these units as follows:

 

1. When displaying a "7" on the track display such as tracks "07", "17", "27" and "37" the bottom segment of the display glows dimly. I've worked with Guus and Hias to try and solve but so far no luck.
2. The front reset button works fine but the controller to select different modes doesn't seem to work for me. Not sure why. Again, I've asked Guus and Hias for help so it's a work in progress.

 

Otherwise they are working units with the latest 1.10 firmware loaded. I'm super excited to get this project working finally as I think it's one of the best mod's for the 1050 drive around.

 

Again, if interested let me know.

 

Thanks

Sonny

[+mytek]

6 hours ago, macsonny said:

Well, after a number of months, many failed PCBs being manufactured, many emails with #Hias and #Guus I'm very please to say that I have finally got a working production Mega Speedy unit going earlier today.

Board looks very nice 👍

 

Although I'm surprised to hear that it took so much to R&D it, since I thought the PCB layout was done ages ago by MetalGuy. Or am I thinking of a different project?

[BillC]

40 minutes ago, mytek said:

Board looks very nice 👍

 

Although I'm surprised to hear that it took so much to R&D it, since I thought the PCB layout was done ages ago by MetalGuy. Or am I thinking of a different project?

Must be thinking of a different project. The Mega Speedy, designed by @guus.assmann, won second place in the 2014 ABBUC hardware contest.

 

[+KlasO]

8 hours ago, macsonny said:

Again, if interested let me know.

Great work! Interested - yes indeed.

[+Stephen]

2 hours ago, mytek said:

Board looks very nice 👍

 

Although I'm surprised to hear that it took so much to R&D it, since I thought the PCB layout was done ages ago by MetalGuy. Or am I thinking of a different project?

That was the MIO that he cloned.

[+mytek]

50 minutes ago, Stephen said:

That was the MIO that he cloned.

That's right! Sometimes this brain needs a kick to get started

 

3 hours ago, BillC said:

Must be thinking of a different project. The Mega Speedy, designed by @guus.assmann, won second place in the 2014 ABBUC hardware contest.

Still seems odd that there are some issues left after a couple of board iterations. Were these also present in the one submitted for the ABBUC hardware contest, or was that a bread board?. However I shouldn't talk since it took me I think 4 iterations to get the 576NUC+ correct

[GreyHobbit]

11 hours ago, macsonny said:

Again, if interested let me know.

 

I'm definitely interested too

[+kheller2]

[deleted]

 

 

[+mytek]

Getting back to board iterations... If my memory serves me correctly I think there were three for my 1088XEL, and the same for my 1088XLD projects, with most other boards taking at least a 2nd attempt to get right. Good thing PCB manufacturing has gotten so cheap.

 

So @macsonny it looks like the Mega Speedy does all the possible 1050 speed-ups, as well as copy protected disk duplication? And I also see 'IS Plate', 'Flasher', and 'SuperMax', what are those about?

[macsonny]

Those who are interested please feel free to PM me. Based on cost of parts (just placed large MOUSER order) I think the board will run around $100 USD  plus shipping. That's my current estimate.

[macsonny]

1 hour ago, mytek said:

And I also see 'IS Plate', 'Flasher', and 'SuperMax', what are those about?

I'm not the expert on Mega Speedy functionality. Best get our friend "Google" to help you out there 🙂

[HiassofT]

"Flasher" is just a separate MegaSpeedy mode slot dedicated to hold MegaSpeedy firmware with bootable flasher software so users have 4 freely usable MegaSpeedy slots where they could replace firmware (and bootable tools) as they like - kind of a "safe mode" slot which should not be tinkered with.

 

IS-Plate and SuperMax are rather rare upgrades, there's some more info about them here on the forum.

 

so long,

 

Hias

Edited August 22, 2022 by HiassofT

[+Stephen]

1 hour ago, mytek said:

Getting back to board iterations... If my memory serves me correctly I think there were three for my 1088XEL, and the same for my 1088XLD projects, with most other boards taking at least a 2nd attempt to get right. Good thing PCB manufacturing has gotten so cheap.

 

So @macsonny it looks like the Mega Speedy does all the possible 1050 speed-ups, as well as copy protected disk duplication? And I also see 'IS Plate', 'Flasher', and 'SuperMax', what are those about?

Give this a shot - probably has all the info you will need. http://www.realdos.net/MegaDownload.html

[Panther]

7 hours ago, mytek said:

Still seems odd that there are some issues left after a couple of board iterations. Were these also present in the one submitted for the ABBUC hardware contest, or was that a bread board?. However I shouldn't talk since it took me I think 4 iterations to get the 576NUC+ correct

The original Mega Speedy had a small production run, and I've not had any problems with mine.  It's great that these have been made available again.

 

[macsonny]

16 hours ago, mytek said:

That's right! Sometimes this brain needs a kick to get started

 

Still seems odd that there are some issues left after a couple of board iterations. Were these also present in the one submitted for the ABBUC hardware contest, or was that a bread board?. However I shouldn't talk since it took me I think 4 iterations to get the 576NUC+ correct

I don't think it's the board. These are two niggling issues for me but really don't prevent the Mega Speedy from being awesome to use. I love how I can just boot the drive and select the mode I want and easily update firmware ROMs, etc. I've already got a few ideas from Guus on how to fix a few of the niggles.

 

FYI - I've now populated one fully working board and done the hardest part of 3 more boards which is soldering the main ICs. Done. Phew!

 

Just waiting on a delivery from Mouser which is due next week to finish them off and test.

[Pab]

I'm also interested.

 

[macsonny]

Well, a bit of an update after getting some feedback from the two gurus:

 

1. When displaying a "7" on the track display such as tracks "07", "17", "27" and "37" the bottom segment of the display glows dimly. I've worked with Guus and Hias to try and solve but so far no luck.
2. The front reset button works fine but the controller to select different modes doesn't seem to work for me. Not sure why. Again, I've asked Guus and Hias for help so it's a work in progress.

I'm pleased to say that issue #1 is now resolved. Display is showing the numbers perfectly.

 

Issue #2 is still a work in progress. Hoping to have that solved in the next week. 

 

Mouser order is due tomorrow (fingers crossed) so 3 more boards will be done by the end of this weekend. Note that I will only be selling these 3 additional boards so first in first served!

 

[+mytek]

2 hours ago, macsonny said:

Note that I will only be selling these 3 additional boards so first in first served!

Any plans to pass your designs on to someone that can produce this package after your initial offering of 3 boards?

 

BTW, congrats on getting the track display working better 👍

[macsonny]

Well, some good news and some bad news. The good news if after building up the next 3 units and testing - 2 go perfectly (but with selector issue I'm still working through). I found I had a number of questionable 6502 microprocessors and have had to re-order a few more units. The two working units are good to go and the third will be available when I get a replacement 6502.

 

I've also done some math and the final cost will be150 Euro per unit plus shipping. Sorry the price went up from my original estimate but parts have become expensive due to global supply chain issues and this is also consitient with what a Mega Speedy production unit was sold to me for.

 

If you are interested please message. They are ready to ship!

 

 

[macsonny]

On 8/24/2022 at 9:29 PM, mytek said:

Any plans to pass your designs on to someone that can produce this package after your initial offering of 3 boards?

 

BTW, congrats on getting the track display working better 👍

To be honest unless you have all the equipment to build and program these units, even having the PCB designs won't get you far. I've probably sunk over $1,000 (USD) into this project to get 4 working units! You need EEPROM programmers, CPLD programmers, lots of parts (which are all expensive right now) and a lot of hope that it will all work. The programming equipment probably cost me $250 alone!

 

Happy to share what I did but trust me - you're probably just best off to buy a unit from someone who has gone through the experience and has the euqipment.

 

I might consider making another batch now I've got the process reasonable well fine tuned by they will likely go for around 150 Euro each. They just aren't a cheap as I hoped to build.

 

[Dropcheck]

On 8/27/2022 at 9:16 PM, macsonny said:

To be honest unless you have all the equipment to build and program these units, even having the PCB designs won't get you far. I've probably sunk over $1,000 (USD) into this project to get 4 working units! You need EEPROM programmers, CPLD programmers, lots of parts (which are all expensive right now) and a lot of hope that it will all work. The programming equipment probably cost me $250 alone!

 

Happy to share what I did but trust me - you're probably just best off to buy a unit from someone who has gone through the experience and has the euqipment.

 

I might consider making another batch now I've got the process reasonable well fine tuned by they will likely go for around 150 Euro each. They just aren't a cheap as I hoped to build.

 

To be honest some of us do already have those tools and soldering skills.  For sure not everyone, but a few.  If for no other reason than the ability to learn from the schematics and perhaps apply what we've learned to other projects.  I hope Gus and the other original developers would be willing to release their files as well. 

 

I feel your financial pain too.  I've had several projects end up costing too much in development costs to continue.  Supply chain issues over the last two years have certainly stopped several projects in their tracks.  At the same time one of the great things about having the source information to start with is that newer, better and cheaper ways of doing the same thing crop up all the time.  And we've come a long way in supply chain issues since the early dark days of the Covid19 pandemic.   It's getting a little better all the time. 

[reifsnyderb]

On 8/27/2022 at 10:16 PM, macsonny said:

To be honest unless you have all the equipment to build and program these units, even having the PCB designs won't get you far. I've probably sunk over $1,000 (USD) into this project to get 4 working units! You need EEPROM programmers, CPLD programmers, lots of parts (which are all expensive right now) and a lot of hope that it will all work. The programming equipment probably cost me $250 alone!

 

Happy to share what I did but trust me - you're probably just best off to buy a unit from someone who has gone through the experience and has the euqipment.

 

I might consider making another batch now I've got the process reasonable well fine tuned by they will likely go for around 150 Euro each. They just aren't a cheap as I hoped to build.

 

You should see how much money I sunk into the 600xlm and 800xlm boards!  It wasn't all a waste as I learned quite a bit about how the Atari works.

 

I can understand not releasing the sources if you are selling them.  But if you aren't going to sell them or stop selling them it would be great for the sources to be available as every piece of information helps others make more advancements.

[reifsnyderb]

16 minutes ago, Dropcheck said:

To be honest some of us do already have those tools and soldering skills.  For sure not everyone, but a few.  If for no other reason than the ability to learn from the schematics and perhaps apply what we've learned to other projects.  I hope Gus and the other original developers would be willing to release their files as well. 

 

I feel your financial pain too.  I've had several projects end up costing too much in development costs to continue.  Supply chain issues over the last two years have certainly stopped several projects in their tracks.  At the same time one of the great things about having the source information to start with is that newer, better and cheaper ways of doing the same thing crop up all the time.  And we've come a long way in supply chain issues since the early dark days of the Covid19 pandemic.   It's getting a little better all the time. 

Supply chain issues are why I am using 74 logic chips as opposed to CPLD's.  It's sad but when there are supply chain problems reverting to older ways of doing things still makes things possible.

[HiassofT]

1 hour ago, Dropcheck said:

To be honest some of us do already have those tools and soldering skills.  For sure not everyone, but a few.  If for no other reason than the ability to learn from the schematics and perhaps apply what we've learned to other projects.  I hope Gus and the other original developers would be willing to release their files as well.

Source code, CPLD source, schematics and board files are all up on my website:

https://www.horus.com/~hias/megaspeedy/

 

I recently added the board files as well (seems I missed that back then), megaspeedy PCB has been verified to work by macsonny, not 100% sure about the display PCB.

 

Megaspeedy schematics could need a few additional notes (eg we included 2 types of 3V3 regulators in schematic and board but only one needs to be populated) and display schematics seems to miss a few component values (of debounce caps).

 

I don't think I have a full BOM (Guus handled that back then), it would be nice to add that, too.

 

so long,

 

Hias

[guus.assmann]

Hello,

 

As Hias has written, all data is available, without any restrictions.

So if anyone wants to try a production run, all data is there.

Sonny did a smart move and tried a small amount to start with.

 

From my point of view, it was not a small badge of units.

I have had 150 PCB´s produced and got 147 or so working units.

And some prototypes as well, also 10 or so.

The prototypes were fully `handmade` as in no parts pre-assembled.

The production run had the CPLD and Eeprom socket assembled and some of the other SMD parts.

I had to resolder 8 or so CPLD's to get them working.

And manually assembled a lot of other parts, like the Ram-chip and may SMD-resistors.

Programming the CPLD's was fun as well, just like the Eeproms and testing the units.
Oh, the display units and cabeling was a big job as well.

Sourcing all the parts, I remember it was a pain to get the displays and rotary encoders.

 

It was quite a job, but also a lot of satisfaction to get that many units produced and sold.

Also, the international co-operation was very good to experience.

 

BR/

Guus Assmann

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by guus.assmann