@root42@chaos.social
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root42

@root42@chaos.social

https://www.youtube.com/root42
Coding, tinkering, ancient hardware and software.
he/him
#retrogaming #letscode #demoscene
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root42, to random
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New video for Patrons:
Black Amiga 500
https://www.patreon.com/posts/black-amiga-500-104547080?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

root42, to random
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And these are the before and after pictures of the cast metal frame. I used deoxit and an old cloth and cotton buds to remove the dirt and cover the metal at the same time with the deoxit, which usually gives a very thin coating that will protect the metal. Smells horribly though. :)
I think I will need to lube the top and bottom ball bearings of the spindle. The top one I can reach easily. For the bottom one I probably have to unmount the flywheel, but I don't want to...

A much cleaner metal frame, with significantly less visible corrosion

root42,
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The read/write head is freshly cleaned, the rails have their dust removed and a thin coat of lithium grease has been applied to all surfaces that slide around.

root42,
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@Zitruskeks There is a central screw on the flywheel. But yeah, I got a drop of oil in between the top pulley and the die cast frame. There a bearing was barely visible.

root42,
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Now everything is put back together. All things that I could reach are lubed. I am slightly optimistic...
To do:

  • one more drive mechanism
  • testing the transformer
  • maybe getting rid of the mains filters...?
root42,
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This is drive unit 0, which I still have to clean. It looks better AND worse at the same time as drive unit 1. The corrosion on the die cast metal looks worse, but the microswitch looks better. The spindle motor looks slightly different...

Closeup of the metal drive clamp, showing white corrosion on the metal bars.

root42,
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Interesting! The two mechanisms are slightly different! Drive unit 1 is a 101S and drive unit 0 is a 101SM. I wonder what the differences are, except for the slightly different motor.
To me the motors look exactly like the tacho motors used on the Micropolis mechanisms. I do have one or two spares should the need arise...

Closeup of the flywheel and sticker of the other drive, saying "MPI Model 101SM" manufacturing date October 1983

root42,
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Another interesting difference compared to the 8050 with Micropolis drives is this weird contraption at the back of unit 0. It is there to support the drive PCB! On Micropolis drives the PCB is simply mounted on top of the mechanism. But the MPI mechanisms only allow for a half length PCB! So the Commodore built PCB hangs over at the end and has to be supported!

tubetime, to random
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another silicon valley electronics flea market thread!

root42,
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@tubetime If you see a 100tpi 5.25" mechanism, please pick it up for me! :-) I think I might need one or two for the 8050...

root42,
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@tubetime The secret of Monkey Island?

apzpins, to Electronics
@apzpins@mstdn.games avatar

It's time for you to leave, dead regulator.

Desoldering tool used to remove solder from a 2 legged part.

root42,
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@apzpins did they solder in the screws for the ground terminals...?

root42,
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@apzpins So... hot air to remove the screw?

apzpins, to Electronics
@apzpins@mstdn.games avatar

Time to take a stab at this thing. The LM338k regulator has finally failed on this WhiteStar platform driver board. I wish there was a switching PSU replacement for it like there is for the LM323K used in WPC games.

The regulator is at the upper left corner with a huge heat sink. It runs quite hot!

root42,
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@apzpins Do you replace it with another NOS LM338k? Or With a LM338T in TO220?

root42,
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@apzpins How common are the 338K in those machines? And which voltages are they usually used for?

root42,
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@apzpins Ok, if push came to shove you could use another 5A 5V regulator instead. That's good. And they don't seem to be very common.

root42, to random
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Slow start and unpredictable weather today. But now a bit of sun!

root42, to random
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But I won't give up quite yet. If the motors work, and if the head is good (it measures fine), maybe we can restore this thing and/or use the mechanism on the other drive. This will require partial disassembly of the mechanism and lots of scrubbing, oiling and lubrication.

The drive mechanism removed from the case, showing white corrosion and rusty spots. Lots of dust as well.

root42,
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So, let's do this! Documenting where all the plugs go, so I can reassemble it later. Note all the dust and white corrosion! Also quite a bit of rust.

A small PCB with three plugs with 1, 2 and 4 wires.

root42,
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The drive latching mechanism has this interesting little feature. I guess it will prevent the doors from locking when no disk is inserted? or ...?

A gloved hand moving a black plastic lever that pushes a spring loaded screw.

root42,
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The microswitch detects if the door latch is closed. It has a metal leaf attached that is totally rusted. A quick dremel later and it is looking better. I will coat it with lots of deoxit to keep further corrosion at bay...

The same switch with a more shiny metal leaf.

root42,
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These are the before and after pictures of the plastic parts that can be removed. Dish soap and LOTS of water plus an antistatic brush and cotton buds helped in removing 40 years of dirt.

Clean black plastic front bezel and side panels.

root42,
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@1024Bytes White balance of both images is not the same... So yeah, the left should be somewhat darker.

AndyGER, to retrogaming German
@AndyGER@mastodon.social avatar

Until now I do not own any storage system whatsoever for my Commodore C64 breadbin.

I am looking into several solutions like the SD2IEC (several) combined with a Final Cartridge III+ cartridge or an EPYX FASTLOAD cartridge.

The perfect yet pricy (for me) solution would be the Ultimate 1541 II-L cartridge.

Another one could be the Pi1541 but I haven't yet found any offer that can sell me the complete thing with the case ...

root42,
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@ipaschke @AndyGER SD2IEC means you can't run most demos. Which is, at least for me, very important.
The SUBcart you are mentioning: is that the same as AVGCart? That seems to cost around 75 EUR, which is in the order of the Pi1541, and seems to have disadvantages, too: "supports ATR (floppy image) files (read/write) - support is limited without an optional SIO or ECI/PBI cable due to Atari cartridge port constraints (e.g. SW that uses RAM under OS does not work)"

root42,
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@ipaschke @AndyGER Furthermore the Pi1541 is only slow because it is a cycle accurate emulation of the 1541, which is slow! But the Pi1541 I linked to includes the Epyx Fastload, so that is less of an issue. Modern productions come with their own IRQ Loaders anyway and are not slow anymore, even on original 1541.

root42,
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@ipaschke Hm, I use a PiZero on my Pi1541 and have had very little trouble running demos. However I must admit that it sees very little use these days, as I run almost everything from real floppies... But eventually those will run out, so Pi1541 it will be. :)
I will have to test Next Level some time. Only watched it on floppy so far. But even with real floppies the IRQ loaders have issues. Krill's loader used to be a bit picky, producing garbage on some of my wonky drives. He fixed that, though

root42,
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@ipaschke The KFF is a great choice. Limited D64 support even.

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