Stedy's projects in development

[wXR]

Great to have you back Stedy!

[Stedy]

Hi,

I have posted over on Amibay asking for interest, which I now have, I will shortly be producing a batch of picoPSU adaptors for the CDTV. Estimated availability is 2-3 weeks and the price per unit is £10.

The Audio mixer, I finally got around to taking a photo of the prototype. It has the wrong style audio connectors to fit the case. As I have not ordered any components for a few weeks I have yet to buy the correct ones.



Moderators, how do I re-size the photo?


Interest is currently 3 units, not viable to get some PCBs professionally manufactured.

Ian

[prowler]

Originally Posted by Stedy

Moderators, how do I re-size the photo?

That doesn't need resizing; it's fine as it is.

[Retrofan]

Originally Posted by Stedy

Interest is currently 3 units, not viable to get some PCBs professionally manufactured.

Yes, one for me and two left

[Stedy]

Hello and Happy new year to you all.

As 2012 draws to a close, time for a final update on developments but before that, a big 'thank you' to all my customers. Your support helps encourage future developments and I look forward to 2013.

The CDTV power adaptors have been finished and the first few units shipped. A cost reduction opportunity delayed the original release, the PCB was re-designed to support all ATX adaptor variants, thus making it viable to produce the CDTV variant.
Picture below shows the CDTV variant on the left and the picoPSU variant on the right.


I have developed an A1200 keyboard PC keyboard adaptor, Amikey, that clips over the A1200 keyboard microcontroller or can be wired into other models. Some additional software work is going on to support multi-media keyboards, to allow the keyboard power key to wake the Amiga. Oh my new ATX adaptors (and older ones with a wire link) support this. Will provide some pictures soon.

I have two video projects to finish early next year (2013) when I have prototypes, will detail them here. The software effort has been part of the reason for the delays but the lessons learnt have been invaluable.

The Amiga audio mixer, shown in this thread back in September, will not be viable for production due to low interest. The next website update (due in 1-2 days) will contain all the design files for the updated variant. My website is having a lot of updates, one of major the changes is that I am releasing a number of designs, old and new, under the Creative Commons license. Keep an eye on http://www.ianstedman.co.uk for further updates.

It's new Years Eve, should not spend the whole evening in front of the computer

Wishing you all a great 2013.

Ian

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Stedy

I have two video projects to finish early next year (2013) when I have prototypes, will detail them here. The software effort has been part of the reason for the delays but the lessons learnt have been invaluable.

Happy new Year, and why do you tease us so

[Matt020]

Hi Ian,

Will you be continuing work on your RGB -> VGA adapter this year?

Cheers,
Matt
(Australia)

[Stedy]

@Matt020

Yes the RGB -> VGA adaptor (RVA) is in development. Have a software project to clear first then I can attack the design.

@thread

The website is mostly up to date, still a few articles left to publish, have had some issues which are now resolved, mainly NetObjects Fusion could not cope with some pages formatting

[Matt020]

G'day! Big bump!

Any developments on your projects?

Cheers,
Matt.

[Stedy]

Originally Posted by Matt020

G'day! Big bump!

Any developments on your projects?

Cheers,
Matt.

I've finished an update to an old project and it will soon be ready for sale.

The Mark 2 Audio mixer is finished!

Using a low cost supplier, I managed to procure a batch of 10 PCBs for a reasonable price. The design has had some refinements, easy to show some pictures:

Bare PCB


Test fit of components on the PCB



The audio and power connectors.

For a kit of components, with PCB but without dual gang volume controls, the price will be £12. If you only want a PCB, that will cost £4

One of the many cost cutting measures was to tweak the design to have fixed audio levels, to mix the Amiga Audio 2.2V peak-peak with 1V standard audio from a CD-ROM or other device. By changing resistor values, which I will define, you can mix and match inputs but have everything at the same level.

A set of dual gang audio potentiometers costs £5 and once set, do you need to adjust them again?
The design will accept them if required.

Other improvement were on the power supply. You can use wires to your own power lead or the DC power plug shown above. I have added a linear regulator to create an 8V supply. This was to facilitate powering the circuit from an ATX PSU. The linear regulator was quite effective in removing lower frequency <200 KHz, noise from the power supply and completely removed a 250 Hz ripple from one of my cheap PSUs.

I am currently kitting this project. Will also finish the design documentation, once I finalise a frequency tweak.

Other projects move on, albeit at a slower pace. As always I only post when I have some developments.

Ian

[roy bates]

hi stedy.

if i buy the audio mixer pcb only will it be shipped with a parts list on paper mate?

some sort of documentation for the built,i would like to build it myself.

[spoUP]

You don't fancy doing a flashable kickstart sollution for A1200's do you?

Another thing at the top of my HW wishlist would be an A4K keboard to PS/2 adapter.
Anyone fancy doing that? no? Haha.. It would kick ass for UAE and FPGA amiga use.

[Stedy]

Originally Posted by roy bates

hi stedy.

if i buy the audio mixer pcb only will it be shipped with a parts list on paper mate?

some sort of documentation for the built,i would like to build it myself.

When I build the test PCB, I will photograph the build to make a construction manual. Schematics, PCB layout and the bill of materials are now all published on my website. The construction guide will follow later. Take a look here:]
http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/de...mixer_mk2.html

All components except the PCB and audio connectors, can be bought from ESR Electronics Components, CPC, Rapid Electronics or Spiratronics. The audio connectors I buy from CPC and the PCB is available from me. I could supply the PCB and just the audio connectors for £5, if there is interest.

Originally Posted by spoUP

You don't fancy doing a flashable kickstart sollution for A1200's do you?

Another thing at the top of my HW wishlist would be an A4K keboard to PS/2 adapter.
Anyone fancy doing that? no? Haha.. It would kick ass for UAE and FPGA amiga use.

Sorry my project list is full for 2014.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Stedy

Sorry my project list is full for 2014.

Your just lazy. Work harder, not smarter.




Just kidding btw. Love your work tho.

[roy bates]

yes, im interested when your ready mate.

[Stedy]

Hello,

The testing of the Audio mixer is 90% complete and it works well. It's always nice when theory and practice meet. I just need a linear regulator to prove the regulated supply before I can release the design.

The crosstalk measurements were good, -55dB between channels and the frequency response is 20Hz to 40 Khz. Once I get the LM317LZ regulator I can finalise the power figures.

I photographed the build, this will make it easy to follow, I hope. It's not too difficult, the only fiddly part was the audio connector, as I have a small error in the footprint , nothing a pair of pliers could not tease into place.

To help me with orders, are most people interested in PCBs only?
A full bill of materials with supplier stock codes is on my website, http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/de...mixer_mk2.html

At the end of the week the final tests will be done and I can release the design.

Next project is nothing new, just a continuation, project Hermes, the CD32 RAM/IDE and I/O expansion. That's covered in another thread.

I do read and respond to the sensible emails and PMs I receive, asking about new projects and ideas. A simple idea, like this audio mixer took about 20 hours to develop from prototype to a production ready PCB + parts lists + design notes and documentation, so I try and focus my efforts on a smaller number of projects.

One design I have been asked about, many times, is the MK3 floppy adaptor that could support HD floppies. I have a technical solution, that is not thoroughly tested. It was based around some of the ideas from the PCFloppy2Amiga.lha, archive on Aminet, with registered logic rather than combinatorial, thus removing a race hazard. This requires modifications to the original floppy drive, to detach the existing oscillator, feed it through my adaptor, then back to the drive. This is to halve the clock speed for HD access.

With a multitude of different drives and PCB revisions, this is a support headache. It is for this reason I have not released the full design, nor did I finish the HD logic, DD drives work Ok BTW. Would there be interest in this design?

Website and blog updates to follow soon.

Ian

[fatbob_gb]

I would be happy with a PCB

[Stedy]

Hello,

I've been busy finishing off a couple of projects to make room for the next batch

The design and build information for the MK2 Audio mixer is now online:
http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/de...mixer_mk2.html
You can now order PCBs, I only have 9 available, if there is high demand, I can get some more manufactured, see how it goes.

I do need to look at changing my implementation of the Better Paula circuit as I've used a few incorrect resistors. Will simulate and test it in the next few days.

Next job is to fix my CD32 and finish a card for it.

Ian

[roy bates]

ive ordered a pcb for the audio mixer

cant wait to put it together.