ZXmore or the ZX80CORE follow-up

[IanB]

I was looking at the photographs trying to understand the fabrication process; then I realised that they're made of awesome!

[1024MAK]

I was looking at the photographs trying to understand the fabrication process; then I realised that they're made of awesome!

Mark

[PokeMon]

Kit arrived today (Friday) all built and powered up ok first attempt,

however... it seems that i can only load from USB using the upper socket of the 2 available is that correct ?

regards Andy

p.s pictures to follow

Yes - in the first release only the upper socket is used or was programmed.
I would leave the other one for USB peripherals but could be used for another flash drive/stick as well (when programmed).

Now I am working on the second release you can do hopefully more.
Congratulations to your finished board - did you had any trouble to get it run ?

[Andy Rea]

Hi Karl,

only minor things, silk screen a little difficult to read in places, perhaps a higher resolution component placement drawing in the instuctions, 1 capacitor didn't seem to hve any markings but by a process of elimination it was easily identified.

sequence of assembly makes sense going from the slimmest to the the fattest.

i took the liberty of taking some wet and dry sandpaper to make the close fit IC's i little shorter and now fit without having them in raised sockets

regards Andy

[1024MAK]

I took the liberty of taking some wet and dry sandpaper to make the close fit IC's i little shorter and now fit without having them in raised sockets.

I was wondering about that in your pictures

In the past, I have noticed that different manufacturers have slightly different length DIL packages.

Mark

[Andy Rea]

yes mark, most DIP packages you can flatten the ends without too much bother, as long as precautions are taken antistatic and prevent damage to the pins


picture of typical small dip leadframe, you can see here that you could remove material right up to the outer pins without fear of damage

regards Andy

[PokeMon]

Yes - in fact the NXP packages are much shorter/smaller than the same frome Texas Instruments.

NXP dip package

NXP.jpg (109.25 KiB) Viewed 2827 times

Texas Instruments dip package

TI.jpg (113.13 KiB) Viewed 2827 times

[superfo]

You compare 16 pin (NXP) with 14 pin (TI), that's not right.
Normally the body of 16 pin package is closer to its leg than 14 pin package, it's standard for every company.

[PokeMon]

You may be right in this point.
But I think there is no particular reason for making the body wider than necessary except an historical.
This is just a waste of space even when it's a common practice.

[1024MAK]

I can't say for sure, as I did not take notes, but I'm sure the difference in length applies to chips with the same number of pins.

I know I have had to double check the clearances when laying out my own projects on matrix or strip board.

Also that in a very much older design (I don't think it was a "hobby" project, it may have been a commercial project kit) this has come up before, but alas it was too long ago and I can't remember the details

Mark