Camputers Lynx 128 Board Folk Edition reproduction case. by Stephen_Usher This is a case for the Board Folk reproduction of the Camputers Lynx 128K British 8 bit computer.The GitHub repository for the PCBs is here: https://github.com/Board-Folk/Camputers-LynxThe case is bas...

You can now download all the files needed to print one yourself from Thingiverse.

www.thingiverse.com/thing:7336456

The Camputers Lynx reproduction build case has finally been finished.

Once I get my act together I’ll upload the designs to Thingiverse for anyone to use.

Pretty much this.

I know of a section of an organisation which was supposed to deliver IT products for the organisation who didn't have useful deployment as a success criterion. The criteria merely included meeting specific milestones.

Quite often the winners of the internal awards were projects which never deployed

No doubt it passed all the unit tests and the criterion of working with the public wasn't one of those on the list for project success for the development company.

It's that two steps forward, one step back type thing with the Lynx 128 reproduction build.

The RAM refresh issue had been fixed by injecting the Z80 refresh signal directly into the main RAM, ORing it with the other /CAS signal using a bodge.

The case is nearly there, other than printing problem.

You’re short changing the machine. 😊

The ELC was the IPX (SS2) equivalent machine. The SLC was the SS1/IPC equivalent.

Maybe they didn’t want a load of tripe?

Seeing as I’m awaiting the delivery of faster chips I thought i’d get on with designing and printing the case for the Lynx recreation.

This is the test print of the top used to refine any issues. Printed in brown as it uses about a 1/4 of a reel of filament & not enough grey left.
Needs tweaking.

Yet again, we see how YouTube enables theft and fraud to a massively audacious degree. YouTube is focused only on distancing itself from the predation riddling their platform but they *are* responsible for it. They allow it, they make it easy to do, they ensure it can be done with no repercussions.

You will own nothing and be happy.

ChatGPT generated "cover art" for a non-existent Terry Pratchett novel.

By the way, this is what ChatGPT's artistic imps thought the book cover art may look like.

Not quite up to the original books' level but quite fun.

You know, it's a great pity that Terry Pratchett is no-longer with us.

No doubt by now we'd have had a cracking Discworld novel involving The Unseen University, Hex and the search for Artistic Imps.

I'm now thinking that the original Board Folk BOM, using 74LS components throughout, is incorrect.

A photo of the original machine's PCB shows quite a lot of 74S series logic throughout the timing critical RAM and I/O decoding section. These can be an order of magnitude faster.

New parts ordered.

OK, not QUITE fixed.

After running nested for-next loops for a couple of hours the program was corrupted.

Given how close to working this is it's going to be very difficult to diagnose the issue. The timing is so close to working as it's probably a couple of nanoseconds or less out of spec.

I tried a Z80B, which should be 6MHz capable. Later tried 8MHz rated and 10MHz rated, but it made no difference.

Well, well...

Lynx 128K "sit rep"... It's now working!

It was very forgetful.

Changed 4164 RAM (TI 150ns & 120ns): No change.

Changed CPU: no change.

Theory was that it was a refresh timing issue, being too slow.

Tried 80ns (non-TI) 41256 chips to see if it made things worse... Fixed problem!

The last of the chips for the Camputers Lynx 128K reproduction build arrived today.

The good news: It mostly works. The keyboard types and I can run BASIC programs.

The bad news: It doesn't run for long.

Seems to be a main RAM refresh issue as if active machine runs for longer before crashing.

They’ll say that it’s all an AI generated fake.

A little progress on the Lynx 128K repro build.

Discovered that the TEA1002 needs 12V so rejigged the power to take 12V in and use a buck regulator to generate 5V. The "3A" device gets very toasty at 1A.

More sockets installed, but not the 7 pin DIN as it has wrong footprint.

Oh, and sound works!

I remember seeing it on Newsround. And yes, I always expect the bad outcome now with human spaceflight.

Australian eSafety: “It is a ‘dark pattern’ to permit people to 1/ amend mistakes 2/ be in control of information about themselves 3/ be obliged to validate abuse reports” Clearly the perspective which the Australian eSafety Commissioner brings to the table is “users are untrustworthy scum and must be whipped into control” – basically like MPs, then…

Australian eSafety: “It is a ‘dark pattern’ to permit people to 1/ amend mistakes 2/ be in control of information about themselves 3/ be obliged to validate abuse reports”
https://alecmuffett.com/article/152831

I really fucking wish reporters would stop repeating the lie that the law only affects 10 sites when it's literally every site that allows UGC

Most of the discourse about the (proposed) social media ban(s) has been about steps to verify that people are over 16 to enable them to participate in adult social media.

I’ve not seen anything about steps to verify that people are *under* 16 to enable them to participate in child social media.

Slight typo there, "72LS145" should have been "74LS145" obviously.

Anyway, issues to be addressed include the crystal connected to the TEA1002 is not oscillating, so no colour over composite.

The Camputers Lynx 128K repro build is continuing.

The factory bodge has been identified and implemented. (Nearly) all of the chips arrived yesterday and after a "D'oh!" moment with the ROMs was overcome the machine started working (mostly).

The keyboard has been built, except for the 72LS145.

Camputers Lynx 128 repro build status: waiting on chips, crystals and caps.

I have managed to do some testing using a signal generator, some bodge wires and a LS08 instead of an LS09 in one position.

Clock and reset circuits working. Even had the CPU trying to run code from the ROMs.

The Timeless Fear of Corrupting the Youth | WSJ Excellent piece: The lesson from these examples isn’t that protecting children online is misguided or an unworthy goal. It is that the means proposed to achieve this end pose significant risks to h…

The Timeless Fear of Corrupting the Youth | WSJ
https://alecmuffett.com/article/151916
#OnlineSafety #OnlineSafetyAct #SocialMediaBan #censorship

Got as far as I can with the Camputers Lynx 128K without the deliveries from Mouser, eBay and Cricklewood Electronics.

Clock circuit tested with a signal generator, all good, and no magic smoke.

I still need details on the required bodge wire between IC61 & IC46. Not written up anywhere! Help!

I am very much looking at the Apple Age Verification (AV) approach as the least bad way to do something terrible AV itself is tantamount to Digital Identity, it is illiberal to deploy everywhere and it is misconceived to imagine that it solves social problems The least bad way of getting AV is for people to b…

I am very much looking at the Apple Age Verification (AV) approach as the least bad way to do something terrible
https://alecmuffett.com/article/151652
#AgeVerification #apple #censorship