Commodore 128 tower project thread #3

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The last thread started off oddly and had no real flow :-) A major milestone has been made, stage one is complete! I now have a completely functional, base Commodore 128 Tower with single 1571 disk drive! Now both 40 column and 80 column are viewable on a standard VGA monitor and I may switch between them on the fly with the black toggle switch to the upper right corner of the tower.




Some other details have been completed, like I also added an original 40 col video port to the back panel just in case I want to use an old monitor, or standard video out for recording (Youtube etc). Stage 2 is under way, I am currently working on the expansion port extension cable. Boy is that a ball buster  :angry:

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Thanks Jeff :-) These 2 pics are not completely current but close enough for now. Inside pic and back panel pic. You can also check the last thread for more pics if you wish :-)

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-D- wrote:
It does look fantastic, and a 128 tower is just super cool. Nice job! :pint: (It's given me the urge to set my 'ol 128 up and play a few rounds of yie ar kung-fu, LOL.)

How about playing the 128 version of The Last V8 and telling me what the trick to the first level is :-?

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Darrin wrote:
So, how many of these are you going to build and when are you putting them on eBay?   ;-)   :-D

Haha, yeah right :-P The amount of labor and expensive parts involved makes this a one off project. This is my baby, if I ever sold it there would be a lot of 0s and ,s in the number :-D

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Firedawg wrote:
Awesome, your project is inspiring me to take on another similar mod for an Atari unit I have :idea:.  Your work is very clean and organized.  Thanks for sharing.....  

Thanks a lot, if you do it let us know :-)

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tokyoracer wrote:
That stiker I found has done it wonders, did you ever bother with the other ones I told you about in the end?

Yeah that case badge adds a lot :-) I'm not sure about the large stickers, I'm going to wait until the end to decide on that.

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frootloop wrote:
Wow! That is awesome! How did you handle the VGA output?

Here's a couple pics while under construction, before completion of stage one.
 


I have 2 converters installed. The one shown here is a composite video to VGA adapter.



In the right side of this image you see the other side which is the CGA to VGA adapter, which is modified for the 128's RGBi and displays all 16 unique colors.

The output of the composite converter goes into the pass through of the CGA converter.

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weirdami wrote:

I had the C=64 version. I didn't know there was a C=128 version, but if it's the game I remember, then I spent hours and hours doing that game and only ever passed the first level after a long time practicing. The trick is to just go fast and not crash at all. :-) If it's the same game I'm thinking of, where you race around the streets in the first level trying to get to the door to the underground in time, then the second level is underground and I think was pretty much the same thing with driving around really fast and I never ever got past the second level. Probably due to having to pass the first level again each time I failed the second one. :-/

Yes there actually is a 128 version that runs in 128 mode! The 128 version has more digitized speech and an additional level. The 128 version first level is not in the 64 version at all.

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frootloop wrote:
Ingenius! I would not have thought of the modded cga adaptor for the 16 colour mode!

It's pretty easy, Mangelore over at commodore128.org revealed the easy mod that involved adding 3 resistors and diodes. I'd give a link but the forums over there seem to be down.

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tokyoracer wrote:
That's such a nice tower, il buy 5 of them please. :lol:

When I'm done you can bu this one for $25,000 :-D

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frootloop wrote:
This has inspired me to do a c64 version
That cga mod sounds interesting, think I'll read up on it!

For a C64 tower you don't need a CGA to VGA adapter, but a composite to VGA adapter which is far more common. The CGA to VGA adapter is for the C128 80 column video display, which the C64 does not have.

I used one of THESE for 40 column video. The video quality is acceptable, but you can probably find a better one for a slightly higher price.

Be warned that the power receptacle on the converter I bought was flaky. I had to open it up and bypass this port completely. That wasn't a big deal for me since I wired it directly to the ATX +12V, but it may be for someone else who isn't comfortable with soldering.  

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frootloop wrote:
Thanks - I know the C64 is composite - though I plan to use its svideo like output instead. I was just interested in the cga mod for interests sake ... dont know if any other hardware shares  the c128's 80 column mode spec? I have an old svideo/composite to vga box in the cupboard .. it stopped working a while back, I'm hoping it was just the power supply.  It may be easier for me to get a replacement powerpack for it, than to modify the 5V or 12V from an ATX PSY to the 7.5V it requires.

I forget where I read it, possibly commodore128.org, but there is someone who made a modification to get color composite video from the Commodore 128 RBGi port. You could potgentially use an LCD with SVIDEO in with your C128 80 column.

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Expansion port extension cable is complete.



If I never have to do that again, it will still be too soon  :angry: Tomorrow I start fabricating the mounting brackets for the SuperCPU 128 and RamLink.

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Darrin wrote:
Strewth!  Now that's what I call a DIY project!

Yeah, no kidding! I started Sunday afternoon and only finished last night, I spent many, many hours at this thing :hammer:

So far here is the score card on this project:
Cuts that bled - 1
Burned by soldering iron - 2

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I almost blew up my 1750 on the first test as my power adapter was +12VDC instead of +5VDC :oops: The mistake is fixed and this extension cable has passed tests with multiple expansions, including the SuperCPU 128.