Commodore 128 tower project continued!

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Many, many parts have come in and much, much work has been done! I'm getting tired tonight but I will touch on a little bit.

The power supply!!




Yes, that is a 128D power supply connector :-D As you see, there is a 120VAC -> 9VAC step down transformer bolted to the top of the ATX power supply. The 128D requires 9VAC, which the ATX standard down not provide. Here's another pic.




There is an ATX to AT adapter in use. The 128D does not need this, but I will for a later part of this project. This adapter also provides 2 leads I hooked to the switch, which will give a nice on/off switch!
:banana:

In other news, briefly.. The 128D internal 1571 has been converted for tower use, pictures will follow in a day or so. What a ball buster that was :crazy: I've even adapted a PC 5.25 faceplate, with fair results. Re-routing the joystick and keyboard ports will be finished tomorrow. With any luck I will have a full functioning, basic 128 tower tomorrow!!

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trekiej wrote:
I look forward to seeing it when it is finished.

Thanks :-) I am taking my time on this, it will take a long while to finish completely. Only a few people have done such a project and no one has published information on it.

For 80 column video output I have purchased a CGA to VGA adapter. It is missing the intensity input for RGBi, but Commodore user Mangelore has published a simple fix. Cost $120 shipped(OUCH). This converter has a pass through and input switch. The converted 40 column singal will go into the input and the input switch will be routed to the top front of the case for video selection. This adapter has arrived and should be installed in the case this weekend!

For 40 column output I purchased a common composite to VGA adapter. Cost ~$40 shipped. Has not arrived yet  :boohoo:

Ports:
If you saw earlier pictures you know the joystick and keyboard ports are toward the front of the case. The case closed in this configuration. However, with a bare connector plugged into the ports, the front part of the case will barely not fit even after grinding what little surface off I could. The solution is de-solder the original right angle DB9 and DB25 connectors and replace them with straight connectors. I could just solder wires to the board, but I am trying to keep this clean. Straight connectors have arrived and also should get installed this weekend.

 :hammer:

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motorollin wrote:
Sponsored by Coca Cola... ;-)

--
moto

I wish! :lol:

This project is getting real expensive real quick!! Hmm.. I guess it could be sponsored by motorollin if you would like! Want to make a donation?  ;-)

FrankenCommie - Sponsored by motorollin

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trekiej wrote:
So that is where the 128D case came from.  lol

Do you have a superCPU128?  It would be a cool add on.

Yup, that's where the case came from :-D I do indeed have a SuperCPU which I intend to incorporate into the tower at some point!

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trekiej wrote:
Ah man!  That is just wrong!  :-D     I never had a superCPU.  I would like to get some C64 and 128 stuff again and find a superCPU or make my own.  Unfortunately, I can't now.
 

Do to lack of space, time and money I made myself chose between C= 8bit and Amiga a while back for my hobby, C= 8bit won. For some reason old Amiga hardware seems to be getting flaky, more so than the even older C= 8bit hardware.

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Hodgkinson wrote:
Are you sure that you need 9VAC?

If that’s the supply to the C128 then surely you could follow the supply chain down on the C128 and wire in the +V DC supplies from the PSU directly to the C128? Probably after some regulator stage or summat?

NB. I’m guessing here, I've never had a C128. Note that you’d have to disconnect whatever’s before your feed point to prevent damage.

Just an idea.

Hodgkinson.

Some people operate without the 9VAC, but you lose the time of day clock, user port and other problems. I want to do this as properly as possible. Here's a clip from usenet.

Internally, the 9VAC is routed to
the user port, CIA time of day clocks, and is regulated to 5VDC and 12VDC with a charge pump technique.  These are used to provide separate power to the VIC and SID which keeps all the high frequency noise inside the computer off the power supply of these IC's, which would result in audio or video
distortion.

I know that huge 120VAV/9VAC step down transformer is a bit unsightly, but for a first project of this type I will go this route. That transformer was a bit hard to find too and cost me about $18 shipped.

Thanks for your input :-)

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@Jope

Is the transformer alays connected to mains, or did you add a relay to toggle it as the PSU starts?

The transformer is currently connected to the the load side of the ATX power switch (main) and it is fused. If I shut off the ATX power supply switch(on the PS itself), the transformer shuts off. If I use the case on off switch, the transformer is staying live. Shouldn't be a problem, but I will probably add a relay at some point.

http://jope.fi/c64t/ in case you're interested.

Saw that, pretty nice dude :-)

Nate/Vanessa Dannenberg's C-128 tower project has been on her website since 10 years ago.. The site seems to be down currently, but you can check out archive.org:

http://web.archive.org/web/20070628230052/starbase.globalpc.net/~vanessa/hobbies/c128tower.html

Hope it comes back up some day so you can see the pictures.

Shame it's down and no pictures on archive.org. Vanessa has been very helpful on comp.sys.cbm with questions I've had and gave a very nice explanation on how to create an expansion port extension cable.

This has become a HUGE project, but I expect stage one to be done this upcoming week. I am mainly waiting on the composite to vga converter to arrive in the mail. Stage one will be a fully functional 128 with 1571 and 1750, with one VGA output. Stage 2 will probably be to incorporate 64HDD internally and stage 3 will be to incorporate SuperCPU 128 and RamLink internally.

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Here's more pics!! I'll follow up tomorrow with details, tired tonight  :lotsacoffee:



Here it is buttoned up running CP/M on a 15" SVGA monitor.



Inside pic #1



Inside pic #2


g'nite :-)

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What other 5.25 drives do you think you can add?

I probably won't add any more 5.25 drives, but I plan on putting a 1581 3.5 drive internal.

Maybe it would be possible to cobble together a tape cassette drive in there (if they exist in that form)?

I have no use for a cassette drive. I know they were popular in the EU, but not so much here.

Did the C128 ever had the option to use standard 3.5 floppys?

Standard 3.5 DD floppy disks? Yes. Standard 3.5 PC drives? No. I will convert a 1581 to go internal.

Sorry to bombard you with questions but it would be great to see the tower go to even better use.

No problems with questions. Don't worry about it going to better use, I am still only at the beginning of this project. Just about every inch of real estate inside the case will be used. I'm going to write some details this morning about the status. I guess I will use this thread, should be done soon.

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This is the back of the tower. Currently the ports you see are standard SVGA (db15), keyboard (db25), 2x joystick (db9) and standard audio out in the top slot(pseudo stereo).

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Here we go..

I have mentally broken this project into 3 loosely defined stages. I am close to the end of stage one now.

Stage 1:
Modify case heavily to accommodate 128D motherboard
Modify ATX power supply for 128D MB, include 9VAC transformer
Modify internal 1571 from 128D to use in tower
Modify standard PC 5.25 floppy faceplate to use with 1571
Remove DB9, DB15 and DB25 right angle ports and replace with straight panel mount type on 128D MB.
Make and install extension cables to relocate MB ports to back panel
Modify panel mount power switch to add 12V LED and mount to case
Install RGBi to SVGA converter with pass through
Install Composite video to SVGA converter, put output into RBGi converter pass through
Install video select toggle switch to front panel
Install standard audio jack to back panel, wire for pseudo stereo from 128D audio out
Remove original 128D internal 1571 floppy indicator LED and wire to LED on modified 5.25 faceplate
Install "Chicken Head" Commodore case badge

Stage 2:
Create expansion port extension cable
Mount SuperCPU 128 internally
Mount RamLink internally
Add battery for RamLink backup
Mount 1750 ram expansion internally
Add TBD RS232 adapter, possibly Swiftlink Clone, mount DB9 to back panel
Modify and install 1581 internally
Modify PC 3.5 floppy faceplate to use with 1581
Install MMU adapter
Install JiffyDOS for 128D
Remove original 128D MB and 1571 reset switches, wire to momentary switches on front panel
Add buttload of switches and LEDs to front panel, including all for SuperCPU and RamLink plus all 8-11 selection switches for internal drives
Install expansion (cartridge) port pass-through to front 5.25 bay

Stage 3:
Install SBC Pentium-1 internally with CF card
Install MSDOS and 64HDD
More TBD

Well that's it off the top of my head, I'm sure I'm missing a lot and I'm sure things can change some as time goes on. That's a pretty good snapshot at this time :-)

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A1260 wrote:
why dont you post about this at http://www.lemon64.com/forum/index.php people there love this stuff.... ;-)

Be my guest :-D I'm already posting abot it here mainly, but also commodore128.org and comp.sys.cbm at times.

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I think I'd rather punch cards over cassette tapes! But the idea is to make this more modern, not retro :crazy: You guys are nuts with that cassette idea :-P

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adolescent wrote:
No Datasette, but a DC2N would be cool!

That does indeed look pretty cool if someone had a bunch of old cassette tapes!  :-) Certainly have been a bunch of hobby projects like this lately for the Commodore 8bit. To bad it hasn't happened with the Amiga for the most part, except Minimig.

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tokyoracer wrote:
Scandoubler/flicker fixer? Do they exist for the C128?

Composite (40 column) to SVGA - very common, I bought this.

RGBi (80 column) to SVGA doesn't exist, one has to be modified. I bought this and modified it myself. The modification is quite simple. This is a scandoubler, but not a flicker fixer. The VDC does indeed have interlace modes, but almost no software supports it. I have not tested mine for interlace yet, but I suspect there will still be flicker.