/C128_U36_adapter

A new design of the megabit adapter for U36 in the C128

GNU General Public License v3.0GPL-3.0

C128_U36_adapter

A new design of the megabit adapter for U36 in the C128 3D PCB SOIC Version
CRT Monitor

The story began ...

I tried to recreate the original Megabit adapter for the U36 socket in the C128. The information to this project I found on cmb8bit.com. You can find the PDFs and the ROM binary file in the cmb8bit.com directory.

The issue was ...

I designed a PCB with the information of the PDFs and tested the soldered PCB.
Unfortunately it does not work :(
Thankfully a guy (Kinzi) from the great Forum64 helped me out by troubleshooting.
I scoped the signals and figured out, that the transistor I used was too slow to trigger the D-FF.
After that I tried logic gates - but this does not work either. I figured out that there is a GLITCH on Pin12 of U3
GLITCH on U3 pin 12
The GLITCH triggered always the D-FF and so it does not work :( what a bummer ;(

The solution was ...

Kinzi mentioned that the /CS signal from pin12 of U3 has to be synchronized with the 1MHz clock of the C128.
So I poked around with this variation and that was the success.
The solution is to use two 74HCT173 D-FF and one 74HCT14 INV - so the /CS signal from pin 12 of U3 gets synchronized with the system clock and addresses the ROM. BINGO

Take a look into the C128 U36 adapter manual or into the SCHEMATIC for further information.

In the C128D-CR ...

C128D-CR with the Megabit ROM

In the C128 ...

C128 with the Megabit ROM

Fabrication files

You can find a panelized GERBER file version and a single file version.
The panelized version should work for the most PCB manufacturer. I ordered by JLCPCB.

Contact

For any questions (technical / experience), please use the issue tracking system of github.

Greetz

JDet