PAL-1 photo thread: Show us your kits and setup!

[Hendrik-Jan Megens]

The obligatory thread for showing off your completed kits and setup for the PAL-1. Also a great place to share building stories or ideas to inspire others. 

I'll kick off with mine:

Inspired by an original KIM-1 that was attached to a piece of cheap plywood that is on display at the Homecomputer museum in The Netherlands, I decided to attach my PAL-1 to a piece of leftover floorboard - advantage: it doesn't warp! 

Below is a picture of my PAL-1 ROM card connected to the ROM emulator designed by Kris Sekula (Mygeekyhobby.com). 

Cheers,

Hendrik-Jan

[GN L]

Today’s setup😊

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Best Regards,

Liu GN

[Neil Andretti]

My current setup. Everything mounted on a Plexiglas, the PAL-1 itself is covered with plexi.

Above the Motherboard you see the raspbery zero running piGFX, on the bottom of the motherboard you see the dTR Tape emulator.

(sadly this does not work  in combination with the tape interface).

Nils

[John Kennedy]

I used my PAL-1 to help test a 6502 emulator I wrote - details here: https://github.com/GrantMeStrength/KIM1

I made a case out of acrylic and 3D printed some key caps too.

[Marco Rey y Sander]

Just assembled and performed the first tests. To match my software development the KIM Uno and the 6502 Microprocessor KIT (for which I am just trying to expand the monitor program):

[Ronny Ribeiro]

This post is my "hello world!" to the group :D

I wanted to show you the solution I adopted to get rid of the hot 7805 linear regulator. I've found this small 78xx pin-to-pin compatible dc-dc converter on aliexpress and it is very inexpensive. It can take 24V input and output 3A max. Worked like a charm!

By the way, I would like to thank everyone for all the information posted here. It helped me a lot!

Best Regards from Brazil,

Ronny

[GN L]

Hi Ronny,

Thank you for sharing your photos and modification here!

It’s pleasure to see the PAL-1 on picture, and happy tinkering~

> On Apr 11, 2022, at 9:06 AM, Ronny Ribeiro <ronny...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> This post is my "hello world!" to the group :D
> I wanted to show you the solution I adopted to get rid of the hot 7805 linear regulator. I've found this small 78xx pin-to-pin compatible dc-dc converter on aliexpress and it is very inexpensive. It can take 24V input and output 3A max. Worked like a charm!
> By the way, I would like to thank everyone for all the information posted here. It helped me a lot!
> Best Regards from Brazil,
>
> Ronny

> <PAL-1_detail.jpg><PAL-1_setup.jpg>
>

Best,
Liu

[Magnus Olsson]

Ronny,

I see you've put heat sinks on the 6502 and 6532. Did they get hot, too? Mine don't get warmer than about 30 degrees or so during normal operation.

I will put a heat sink on the 7805, in preparation for when my expansion boards arrive.

[Hans Otten]

 NMOS like 6502 and 6532 get warm, not hot. Cooling is not necessary, never done it at 1 MHz, but it the will not hurt. Cooling the 7805 is advisable when yiu add extensions. 

[Magnus Olsson]

I have never seen an 8-bit computer that had a CPU cooler, that's why I asked. 

Below is a close-up of my board just after assembly. 

[Ronny Ribeiro]

Hi everyone!

They don't get hot, but they get pretty warm here in the tropics.

And here is what I think: these are vintage chips, they will not be around for much long. According to Arrhenius law, lifetime is shortened at higher temperatures (there are some chemical reactions and physical processes slowly going irreversibly forward inside every electronic component).
I just love these chips and computer so much that I decide to make things a little harder for entropy to take them away!

And the heatsinks brought some personality for my beloved PAL-1!

Cheers!

[Jeremy Starcher]

Mine is mostly unmodified, but I've got it safely in a case case, well, I'm a clutz.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/6q08zLR/a341631b

[GN L]

Good looking case!!

I post a thumbnail of the pictures here for quick look~

On Apr 17, 2022, at 8:37 AM, Jeremy Starcher <jeremy....@gmail.com> wrote:

Mine is mostly unmodified, but I've got it safely in a case case, well, I'm a clutz.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/6q08zLR/a341631b

On Tuesday, April 12, 2022 at 5:16:03 PM UTC-4 ronny...@gmail.com wrote:
Hi everyone!

They don't get hot, but they get pretty warm here in the tropics. 
And here is what I think: these are vintage chips, they will not be around for much long. According to Arrhenius law, lifetime is shortened at higher temperatures (there are some chemical reactions and physical processes slowly going irreversibly forward inside every electronic component).
I just love these chips and computer so much that I decide to make things a little harder for entropy to take them away!
And the heatsinks brought some personality for my beloved PAL-1!

Cheers!
Em terça-feira, 12 de abril de 2022 às 04:57:28 UTC-3, mne...@gmail.comescreveu:
I have never seen an 8-bit computer that had a CPU cooler, that's why I asked. 

Below is a close-up of my board just after assembly. 

On Monday, April 11, 2022 at 8:17:30 PM UTC+2 hansj...@gmail.comwrote:
 NMOS like 6502 and 6532 get warm, not hot. Cooling is not necessary, never done it at 1 MHz, but it the will not hurt. Cooling the 7805 is advisable when yiu add extensions. 

On Monday, April 11, 2022 at 5:59:22 PM UTC+2 mne...@gmail.comwrote:
Ronny,

I see you've put heat sinks on the 6502 and 6532. Did they get hot, too? Mine don't get warmer than about 30 degrees or so during normal operation.

I will put a heat sink on the 7805, in preparation for when my expansion boards arrive.


On Monday, April 11, 2022 at 3:06:37 AM UTC+2 ronny...@gmail.comwrote:
This post is my "hello world!" to the group :D
I wanted to show you the solution I adopted to get rid of the hot 7805 linear regulator. I've found this small 78xx pin-to-pin compatible dc-dc converter on aliexpress and it is very inexpensive. It can take 24V input and output 3A max. Worked like a charm!
By the way, I would like to thank everyone for all the information posted here. It helped me a lot!
Best Regards from Brazil,

Ronny

Em domingo, 31 de outubro de 2021 às 06:49:58 UTC-3, mreyy...@gmail.com escreveu:
Just assembled and performed the first tests. To match my software development the KIM Uno and the 6502 Microprocessor KIT (for which I am just trying to expand the monitor program):

johntk...@gmail.com schrieb am Freitag, 22. Oktober 2021 um 20:08:35 UTC+2:
I used my PAL-1 to help test a 6502 emulator I wrote - details here: https://github.com/GrantMeStrength/KIM1

I made a case out of acrylic and 3D printed some key caps too.

On Monday, October 18, 2021 at 5:48:40 AM UTC-7 master...@googlemail.com wrote:


My current setup. Everything mounted on a Plexiglas, the PAL-1 itself is covered with plexi.
Above the Motherboard you see the raspbery zero running piGFX, on the bottom of the motherboard you see the dTR Tape emulator.
(sadly this does not work  in combination with the tape interface).


Nils

liuga...@gmail.com schrieb am Montag, 18. Oktober 2021 um 14:30:14 UTC+2:

Today’s setup😊

On Sun, Oct 17, 2021 at 20:25 Hendrik-Jan Megens <hjme...@gmail.com> wrote:
The obligatory thread for showing off your completed kits and setup for the PAL-1. Also a great place to share building stories or ideas to inspire others. 

I'll kick off with mine:

Inspired by an original KIM-1 that was attached to a piece of cheap plywood that is on display at the Homecomputer museum in The Netherlands, I decided to attach my PAL-1 to a piece of leftover floorboard - advantage: it doesn't warp! 

Below is a picture of my PAL-1 ROM card connected to the ROM emulator designed by Kris Sekula (Mygeekyhobby.com). 

Cheers,
Hendrik-Jan

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Best Regards,
Liu GN

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Best,
Liu

[Jeremy Starcher]

Shoutout to the case's maker and page on Thingiverse.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4817583

[Michael Doornbos]

Great case!

--
Michael Doornbos
Imapenguin.com

Evadot.com
michaeldoornbos.com

myzenith750.com <—- yes I’m building an airplane in my garage (hangar)
828-450-7418

HAM: N4LNX 

On Apr 16, 2022, 23:40 -0400, GN L <liuga...@gmail.com>, wrote:

Good looking case!!

I post a thumbnail of the pictures here for quick look~

<Screen Shot 2022-04-17 at 11.37.49 AM.png>

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pal6502/6D77130C-CDE0-4960-B790-A9F73F56646F%40gmail.com.

[Neil Andretti]

Good job! I just used the 3D printed Keycaps of the file.

Btw: John also created some printable keycaps: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4885469

The dTR housing is very cool. Tuesday at work, I have access to the 3D printer \o/

Thank you Jeremy

Nils

[Hans Van Slooten]

Liu asked me to post my setup in here. I took a cue from masterhit1 with the PigFX RPi Zero terminal to make a self-contained computer. Ordered a male RS232-TTL adapter that will eliminate the need for a gender changer as well. 

Using a wireless USB keyboard and a small LCD connected to the RPi for the terminal. Green acrylic for the base with rubber feet for stability.

Related, I printed the "First Book of KIM" at the local Fedex with a plastic cover and black vinyl back. It was more expensive than I would've liked, but it was much cheaper than a used copy.

Hans V.

[D Hassler]

Hiya, group.  Here's my current setup: the PAL-1 and a homemade 32K RAM board made from (mostly) stuff I had laying around.  It was my first build-it-just-from-the-schematic project, so the fact that it works at all is a minor miracle -- and it wouldn't have worked at all without the help I received here in this group.  PS: no, you do not get to see the backside of the RAM board  :^)  And the white stuff on the header connector to my improvised backplane is tub-n-tile sealer ... flexible but strong, and sticky as all get-out when wet!

[Marco]

Hi all,

I have been slowly building and adding stuff over the past couple of weeks, and it's now finished enough to show, I guess. All in all great fun so far!

Most obvious is the 3D printed base, it's a two-part job (white and black) with countersunk m3 nuts. If anyone is interested I could add it to Thingiverse.

I replicated the 7805 with a more efficient R-78B5 switching regulator. Yes they are more expensive, but stay cool. The somewhat more noisy 5V signal is no problem for the PAL-1.

The power LED resistor is changed to 330 Ohm, to dim it a bit. I will probably swap it out for an even higher resistance.

The RS232 to UART adapter has the Rx and Tx pins swapped. It's connected to an UART to USB board mounted on a prototype board. The idea is to eventually change over to Esp-link on a NodeMCU board for WiFi terminal access, but I haven't got that working yet...

I copied the extended ROM to an 27C256, of which I have a few lying around. Not that these are better but just because I could ;-)

Cheers,

Marco

Op woensdag 10 augustus 2022 om 22:53:28 UTC+2 schreef blueja...@gmail.com:

[Marco]

In the mean time I got ESP-link on a NodeMCU board working, so now my PAL-1 terminal is WiFi connected :-)

ESP-link's build-in web terminal isn't much good, only for testing if the connection with the PAL-1 actually works. ESP-link however also offers the terminal on port 23 (telnet). On my Linux workstation, in a script, I first create a virtual COM port with socat ( socat pty,rawer,b4800,link=/tmp/ttyPAL1,waitslave tcp4:<ip address of ESP-link>:23,ignoreeof,forever,keepalive,reuseaddr & ) and then use picocom to connect to it ( picocom -b 4800 -i --send-cmd "ascii-xfr -s -l 100 -c 100" /dev/ttyPAL1 ). The same script also kills socat again when picocom is closed ( pkill socat ). This works like a charm. Baud rate and transfer delays may be a bit conservative, but it works.

Cheers,

Marco

Op dinsdag 4 oktober 2022 om 15:26:00 UTC+2 schreef Marco:

[GN L]

Thanks for sharing a new approach in photos!

> On Oct 7, 2022, at 7:14 PM, Marco <crou...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> In the mean time I got ESP-link on a NodeMCU board working, so now my PAL-1 terminal is WiFi connected :-)
>

> <MDX-221007-S10-OC24911-x.jpg>

>
> <MDX-221007-S10-OC24910-x.jpg>
>
> ESP-link's build-in web terminal isn't much good, only for testing if the connection with the PAL-1 actually works. ESP-link however also offers the terminal on port 23 (telnet). On my Linux workstation, in a script, I first create a virtual COM port with socat ( socat pty,rawer,b4800,link=/tmp/ttyPAL1,waitslave tcp4:<ip address of ESP-link>:23,ignoreeof,forever,keepalive,reuseaddr & ) and then use picocom to connect to it ( picocom -b 4800 -i --send-cmd "ascii-xfr -s -l 100 -c 100" /dev/ttyPAL1 ). The same script also kills socat again when picocom is closed ( pkill socat ). This works like a charm. Baud rate and transfer delays may be a bit conservative, but it works.
>
> Cheers,
> Marco
>
>
> Op dinsdag 4 oktober 2022 om 15:26:00 UTC+2 schreef Marco:
> Hi all,
>
> I have been slowly building and adding stuff over the past couple of weeks, and it's now finished enough to show, I guess. All in all great fun so far!
>
>
>

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> <MDX-221007-S10-OC24911-x.jpg><MDX-221007-S10-OC24910-x.jpg>

Best,
Liu

[Marco]

I cheered too soon, the ESP-link WiFi terminal isn't flawless (yet). I haven´t tested everything, but here's what I found:

• The default monitor works fine, there is no difference between ESP-link and an FTDI cable connection.
• Microsoft Basic on expanded ROM bank 0 works equally well.
• Switching to bank 1, it immediately becomes very unresponsive. I can for instance go to address B400 and try to start PBUG ('G'), but it only responds after a couple of enter keys, with error messages, and is generally unworkable. There is some feedback, but only partially (the help menu stops halfway, for instance) or none at all. I have no problems when FTDI cable or UART to USB board connected, so the ROM is fine.

I suspect it is a limitation of ESP-link on the NodeMCU board, since all of the other factors (PAL-1, socat, picocom, etc) work fine with FTDI. I was trying a lot of different settings yesterday to get it working, but without success. I have been using ESP-link on other projects (RC2014 for instance), but of course one success story is no guarantee. And that makes this hobby fun ;-)

Op vrijdag 7 oktober 2022 om 13:14:44 UTC+2 schreef Marco:

In the mean time I got ESP-link on a NodeMCU board working, so now my PAL-1 terminal is WiFi connected :-)

[Marek Karcz]

Congratulations to other group members on their PAL-1 systems.

They all look great!

Here is my humble setup with mobo and cassette interface for now, running clock app. from "The First Book of KIM".

Building it was great fun and absolute delight. This is a very good quality product.

The cassette recorder I own is rather cheap and crappy (one of the modern ones, not vintage) and has no tape counter, but thankfully still works with the system.

On the lookout for a better one.

RIOT expansion kit is coming and I am planning to build homebrew RAM and EPROM cards myself.

I also have a homebrew terminal device of my own design (with SD card storage functions) made out of the Propeller chip,

8052 microcontroller and TI99/4a's keyboard (seen on the left side), which I am using now with another 6502 based computer of my own design.

I plan to adapt it to also work with PAL-1, so it will be a self-contained system. I will post more pics later when I am done with these planned additions.

[Mark Cohen]

[Voyageur]

Bonjour à tous !

I am French, living in Australia and travelling often.

After one month, I received it yesterday, so some soldering today...

Parts not finished : power supply, expansion connector and serial port (waiting for first mods...).

Voltage check... passed ! That sounds good.

All chips on board and ... that immediately works !

Thanks Liu !

I'll publish later my "quick and dirty" expansion board with RAM, ROM on board with some connectors for RIOT, PIA, VIA, perhaps a 6850, and other stuff...

A+

[Ryan Roth]

Nice, I've been meaning to post my current project, the KIM-1 replica on the right :)

[Hans Otten]

Looks good! The KIM-1 replica, Eduardo Casino designed this,   eduardocasino/kim-1: MOS KIM-1 Single Board Computer replica (github.com)

[Ryan Roth]

Correct, this is from Eduardo's design. I had 5 mainboards, keypads, and 6530 adapter PCBs made, so once I verify it all works, I should have spares available for anyone interested in building one.