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R.I.P: PC↔Commodore transfer adaptor
The mini XAP1541 adaptor
[XAP-Adaptor, front view,
67KB]
Today, all the transfer modes, cables and many, many different
LPT-ports, -cards and -chipsets have been tested very intensively.
Many users seem to be very satisfied with the Star Commander
version 0.82 and so am I. Currently there is no need for further
tests, since the transfer routines are stable and reliabe. For my
own all-day transfer jobs, I don't want to use
the bigger all-purpose interfaces,
so I built a very, very small adaptor of the latest technology.
This section describes this mini XAP1541 adaptor.
Many tests and measurements with expensive equipment for the final version of the XA1541 cable and it's derivatives led to a transistor technology, that is only available as SMD part (surface mounted device). Although difficult to handle (soldering) on the one side, someone can build very compactly designed devices on the other side. I tried to design such a compact device, so that a whole XAP adaptor could be squeezed into a single parallel port plug shell (a somewhat oversized type).
You may have recognized the little SMD DIP switch on one side of
the adaptor case. In combination with a somewhat extended parallel
cable, which provides more cables between the C64 or a PC and a
connected Commodore disk drive, several different DOS ROMs (e.g.
Speeder systems) can be selected with it.
[XAP with opened case, bottom view,
79KB]
[XAP-Adaptor, top view,
93KB]
Download versions of the pictures above
-
XAP-Adaptor, front view,
1024x768 pixels, 481KB
-
Open XAP, SMD transistors,
1024x768 pixels, 522KB
-
Open XAP, other SMD parts,
1024x768 pixels, 533KB
-
XAP with opened case, bottom view,
1024x768 pixels, 499KB
- XAP-Adaptor, top view, 1024x768 pixels, 591KB
Version 2 of the mini XAP1541 adaptor
In 2003 the mini XAP1541 adaptor showed in the previous section went jerkey, probably one of the many lines of this prototype became broken. Therefore I started to design the ultimative adaptor based on a PCB (printed circuit board). The intention of this design was the wish, that someone else may be able to put the adaptor into mass production.
The pictures of this section show the new version. It still is a prototype with handmade wiring, but all components are soldered onto a prototyping PCB that was designed before.
The two pictures of the first row show the modifications made to a standard Sub-D shell. The lower row presents a deep look onto both sides of the board itself, the primary pictures were taken with a 2400dpi scanner. Have a concentrated look onto all these small SMD components that are used here again.
By the way, yes of course, this particular piece was extensively tested and it does work :-)
The following set of CAD graphics exports document an intermediate step of the construction of the PCB layout for my little beast. The new version 4.1 of the layout software CadSoft Eagle (a freeware version is available for hobbyistic projects) allows the rotation of parts at any angle. That was very helpful.
Download versions of the pictures above
-
XAP1541 V2 adaptor, SUB-D shell, top/front view,
1024x768 pixels, 134KB
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XAP1541 V2 adaptor, SUB-D shell, top/back view,
1024x768 pixels, 119KB
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XAP1541 V2 adaptor, opened, bottom view,
1024x768 pixels, 115KB
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XAP1541 V2 adaptor, opened, top view,
1024x768 pixels, 122KB
-
XAP1541 V2 adaptor, opened, back/bottom view,
1024x512 pixels, 101KB
-
XAP1541 V2 adaptor, top view,
868x768 pixels (downscaled from a 2400dpi scan), 94KB
-
XAP1541 V2 adaptor, bottom view,
868x768 pixels (downscaled from a 2400dpi scan), 108KB
-
XAP1541 V2 adaptor, top layer view,
900x600 pixels, 15KB
- XAP1541 V2 adaptor, bottom layer view (mirrored), 900x600 pixels, 16KB
-
XAP1541 V2 adaptor, dual layer view,
1300x1500 pixels, 46KB
- XAP1541 V2 adaptor, schematics and layout, in CadSoft Eagle 4.1 source format, compressed ZIP file, 35KB
