OSI Superboard II repro build

[BigEd]

Oops, bit of a value judgement there, sorry!

[Ronin47]

Oops, bit of a value judgement there, sorry!

Lol, no worries.

[marcusjambler]

I have also been building one of these, and this is my progress so far:


PXL_20240116_140507395.jpg


Appreciate the board very much andrewh, the build has been a fun experience so far, and I'm close to the finish line.

Hi There

Where did you get the keycaps please?

Marcus

[Ronin47]

I have also been building one of these, and this is my progress so far:


PXL_20240116_140507395.jpg


Appreciate the board very much andrewh, the build has been a fun experience so far, and I'm close to the finish line.

Hi There

Where did you get the keycaps please?

Marcus

Ok, so keycaps came from Dave over at the OSI forum: https://osiweb.org/osiforum/viewtopic.php?t=418

I'd warn you they are not cheap and were one of the biggest costs building mine. Dave can sometimes take a while to respond to PMs so be patient, he will get back to you.

I had various problems with my build, so you may want to have a look here if you're building one: https://osiweb.org/osiforum/viewtopic.php?t=845

And there are other interesting topics here: https://osiweb.org/osiforum/viewtopic.php?t=873 and here: https://osiweb.org/osiforum/viewtopic.php?t=876

Though there a lot of other interesting threads on the forum as a whole, these are just those I have been involved with.

Mine will now run in either 24 or 48 character mode with a minor mod, and if your image is off screen then there are ways to move it.

[marcusjambler]

Ok, so keycaps came from Dave over at the OSI forum: https://osiweb.org/osiforum/viewtopic.php?t=418

I'd warn you they are not cheap and were one of the biggest costs building mine. Dave can sometimes take a while to respond to PMs so be patient, he will get back to you.

I had various problems with my build, so you may want to have a look here if you're building one: https://osiweb.org/osiforum/viewtopic.php?t=845

And there are other interesting topics here: https://osiweb.org/osiforum/viewtopic.php?t=873 and here: https://osiweb.org/osiforum/viewtopic.php?t=876

Though there a lot of other interesting threads on the forum as a whole, these are just those I have been involved with.

Mine will now run in either 24 or 48 character mode with a minor mod, and if your image is off screen then there are ways to move it.

Thanks for that... its almost built just waiting for 1nf caps.
I'll have a look for a minimum build and go from there.

Marcus

[Ronin47]

Thanks for that... its almost built just waiting for 1nf caps.
I'll have a look for a minimum build and go from there.

Marcus

No problem.

I'd suggest a look here first: https://osiweb.org/osiforum/viewtopic.php?p=5552#p5552 as it lists all the problems I had and what fixed them.

I was fortunate in that I didn't fail to solder any pins and I didn't have solder bridges, which I was happy about

Also be aware, this machine puts out an NTSC signal and not PAL so you'll need a suitable display that can take that sort of a composite signal.

Hope it all powers on first time

Oh, and don't do what I did and accidentally connect it to 8.5v...

I had been working on something else that needed 8.5v and I forgot to change it, killed a bunch of ICs.

Stupid mistake, but these things happen.

[marcusjambler]

Hope it all powers on first time

Oh, and don't do what I did and accidentally connect it to 8.5v...

I had been working on something else that needed 8.5v and I forgot to change it, killed a bunch of ICs.

Stupid mistake, but these things happen.

It lives!!
Issues were 3 minute solder bridges in the RAM area...
And of course a howling gotcha where I left pin 24 of Basic 4 ROM dangling down the side of the socket

Also, current key choice is a bit janky

edit : added some RAM and jostled the brightness pot

Marcus

[Ronin47]

It lives!!
Issues were 3 minute solder bridges in the RAM area...
And of course a howling gotcha where I left pin 24 of Basic 4 ROM dangling down the side of the socket

Also, current key choice is a bit janky

IMG_5502a.jpg

IMG_5503a.jpg

edit : added some RAM and jostled the brightness pot


IMG_5506a.jpg

Marcus

Good stuff

Now you have the fun of making the cassette ports work (Mine sort of work, though not properly) and if you want an FDD interface then it's the 610 expansion board unless somebody has made something smaller and simpler.

You may want to look at the 48 column ROM as it's a lot more palatable than the 24 column mode.