Commander X16 - Second Prototype PCBs are Here!

Kevin Williams · Post by **Kevin Williams** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 8:06 pm

Hi Everyone,



If you happened to see David's video on the Color Maximite 2, then you probably noticed that the new Commander X16 PCBs have arrived! David @The 8-Bit Guy just happened to swing by my house the day they arrived, and he picked them up before I was even able to get all of the parts in. I am still waiting on a few things, so I haven't been able to complete assembly yet. The VERA is also not complete for this reason, but I had to mock it up for the pics! Bear in mind, this is not the correct case, this is from an old tower ATX case I had sitting around. It's a nice platform to mount the board and make sure I have the placement of screws, slots & of course the rear ATX panel aligned correctly. I will likely make a few placement tweaks but overall I am quite happy with the physical layout so I just had to post some photos!

So far, it's working but my ATX soft-start circuit is a bit squirrelly. Not only that, I kinda wired it wrong and didn't catch it before the run. Worked great on the breadboard, but I will have to revamp that before the final. There are also a few other little things discovered since this proto was run, but the real tests will be coming when @Michael Steil is able to get the Kernal up and running. (I would write some test code, but one part I'm missing is the ZIF socket for the ROM. Should be here in a day or two.)

@Perifractic is also sending me the X16 case, so I should be able to install the board in there later this week.

Happy Sunday, and Take Care Everyone!

-Kevin Williams

https://TexElec.com

sturginho · Post by **sturginho** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 8:12 pm

Looks really good!

Yuki · Post by **Yuki** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 8:16 pm

This looks pretty cool indeed!

snake · Post by **snake** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 8:33 pm

Amazing progress in a very short time.

Well done!

JohnGill · Post by **JohnGill** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 9:25 pm

These pics make me very happy! ????

peapod · Post by **peapod** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 9:52 pm

Tasty. Very tasty.

Probably been answered before but can someone just explain the differences between the X16 P, C and E versions when they come around.

Also @Kevin Williams is the plan to mount the user port on the ATX panel above the SD card slot in the final machine? Otherwise we'd be losing a expansion slot bay.

Peapod

Perifractic · Post by **Perifractic** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 9:54 pm

1 minute ago, peapod said:

Probably been answered before but can someone just explain the differences between the X16 P, C and E versions when they come around.

Did you check the FAQ? ?

peapod · Post by **peapod** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 10:24 pm

22 minutes ago, Perifractic said:

Did you check the FAQ? ?

Have now. Completely missed it first time round sorry.

P is what is being prototyped at the moment, phase 1

C is the mini itx version in phase 2

E is the raspberry pi size one in phase 3

Old person brain here, didn't join the dots at first glance.

Ta muchly for the redirect to the FAQ.

Jeff Pare · Post by **Jeff Pare** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 10:31 pm

Looking very good!

BruceMcF · Post by **BruceMcF** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 11:06 pm

45 minutes ago, peapod said:

... P is what is being prototyped at the moment, phase 1

C is the mini itx version in phase 2

E is the raspberry pi size one in phase 3

While not the "real mneumonics", "pro", "compact" and "extremely compact" is one way to keep them straight.

(e seems to be for "enhanced", but mum's the word on what those enhancements might be -- first have to sort out all the details of the CX16p reference system.)

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I am quite chuffed to see the SNES controller ports, I was always a big proponent of using those over the NES ones.