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Charlie · 19 September 2010, 23:43

D*mn!!!

Thanks alexh for explaining things to me.

It's a little IDE interface card for (shhh, an Arc'). The card itself works fine but these things are in short supply in Acorn-land so I thought a bit of reverse-engineering may be helpful to that community.

Soldering SMT components and making PCB's is not beyond me, even blowing ROMs once I get round to it...
...but actually applying some brian-cells to the job of sussing out how those PALs work and re-doing them? Well beyond me I'm afraid.

Here's some 'foreign p0rn' for you:

Castle (the company who made this interface) are still just about in the land of the living so I'll see what old files are hanging about that they may be happy to part with. I suspect not a lot.

Ho, hum. Next plan:
I have another such board made by Watford Electonics that's based around simpler components which should be easier to 'clone' but the software for it is 'not great'.

What I'm really trying to do is avoid designing my own IDE card from scratch. I'm told for these computers it's a trivial task but doing so will be a big step up for me:
Copying old designs and lightly reworking them with hobbyist projects in mind is pretty-well my level.

Thanks again.

19 September 2010, 23:43	#3
Charlie . . Mouse . . Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Nowhere Age: 55 Posts: 1,792	*Dmn!!!** Thanks alexh for explaining things to me. It's a little IDE interface card for (shhh, an Arc'). The card itself works fine but these things are in short supply in Acorn-land so I thought a bit of reverse-engineering may be helpful to that community. Soldering SMT components and making PCB's is not beyond me, even blowing ROMs once I get round to it... ...but actually applying some brian-cells to the job of sussing out how those PALs work and re-doing them? Well beyond me I'm afraid. Here's some 'foreign p0rn' for you: Castle (the company who made this interface) are still just about in the land of the living so I'll see what old files are hanging about that they may be happy to part with. I suspect not a lot. Ho, hum. Next plan: I have another such board made by Watford Electonics that's based around simpler components which should be easier to 'clone' but the software for it is 'not great'. What I'm really trying to do is avoid designing my own IDE card from scratch. I'm told for these computers it's a trivial task but doing so will be a big step up for me: Copying old designs and lightly reworking them with hobbyist projects in mind is pretty-well my level. Thanks again. Last edited by Charlie; 21 September 2010 at 21:07.