DosFox

https://tech.lgbt/@DosFox

Computers are binary but I am not.

All views are my own and do not represent my employer.

Public Key

npub1xzs2uxhswuw74ecteuejs43wxr4g4f2yz6r4tvxatz6h6kaf5qqqthgqe4

NIP-05 Address

dosfox_at_tech.lgbt@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsrpg9wrtc8w802uu9u7veg2chrp65254zpdp64krw43dtatw56qqqndq3g7

Author Public Key

npub1xzs2uxhswuw74ecteuejs43wxr4g4f2yz6r4tvxatz6h6kaf5qqqthgqe4

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Last Notes

2024-10-03 17:02:15

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how decent is a decent offer?

2024-09-30 18:51:43

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68hc705e1s are also still available from eBay - for fairly cheap as well. It's yet to be seen if they are blank.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294427027566

2024-09-30 18:50:39

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So it's a "simple" case of flashing an EEPROM with the part number of your choice, sticking it into the socket, toggling some switches and checking that it programs!

2024-09-30 18:49:51

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The archive has you covered!
https://archive.org/details/macroms

2024-09-30 18:47:25

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Except... Wait. What about the actual ROM files. How would someone be able to dump the ROM files from a working Egret?

2024-09-30 18:46:51

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And that's quite literally what that board is.
You stuck a 68HC705e1 into an adapter, you have to flash an external EPROM to program it (ah well), set the switches and hey presto - it flashed a 68HC705eq1

2024-09-30 18:46:02

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No programmer as far as I'm aware supports the 68HC705e1.
Except they provide schematics for it in the datasheet.
https://media.tech.lgbt/media_attachments/files/113/227/982/309/145/620/original/81a5d07472f690c0.png

2024-09-30 18:43:07

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You see - the 68HC05E1 has a sister. The 68HC705e1.
What does that 7 mean?
Well. it means the main ROM inside it is actually an EPROM. Not a mask rom.
I.E, it's programmable.
See where this is going.

2024-09-30 18:42:15

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The microcontroller in question is a 68HC05 - specifically, a 68HC05E1.
The main issue around the 'e1 is that the ROM is a mask rom. Apple would have sent the manufacturer the ROM file, and they would have churned them out.
Problem? Not really.

2024-09-30 18:40:40

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Even though the EGRET looks like an ASIC, smells like an ASIC, and generally looks like a bit unreproducible hardware... It's actually a microcontroller.
See where I'm going with this?

2024-09-30 18:39:39

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So what does this PCB have to do with a dead Colour Classic?
Well, in a colour classic the main reason a system will not fire up is due to one IC - the EGRET - being dead.
The EGRET is - as you can probably tell - designed to handle a few low level things like geoports and soft power.

2024-09-30 18:38:03

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This is actually a very very deep rabbit hole that I went down one Friday evening.
Long story short - I've got a dead colour classic.

2024-09-30 18:37:11

So things are afoot.
I've had my latest batch of PCBs from JLCPCB, and this is one of my designs that was in the batch.
What is it? Well, it's the #RavenProgrammer of course!
https://media.tech.lgbt/media_attachments/files/113/227/944/013/571/795/original/6eb2c80c84596482.jpg

2024-09-26 21:18:31

Alright I need a bit of help.
I build an apple ii clone a few years back in 2022. It *almost* works, but it seemed to have a bit of an issue with more complicated programs/graphically intensive stuff.
This is it trying to load frogger ii - it will load the title screen, try to load the game and then just... Crash.
Does anyone have any ideas what I should be looking at?
Hopefully some apple ii experts have a better idea than me...
https://media.tech.lgbt/media_attachments/files/113/205/928/180/367/152/original/c428d0ce58bf897c.mp4

2024-09-22 22:04:26

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well yes and no.
The Macintosh is running the drivers for the Dayna Daynaport - which was an era appropriate SCSI to ethernet adapter.
This was emulated on the piscsi, which in then was then added to the bluescsi.

2024-09-22 21:36:50

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I mean the network connection is literally just WiFi (thanks to a bluescsi with a Pico W, so I can get Daynaport emulation running)
It's sluggish, but it works!

2024-09-22 21:25:45

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Literally. This is my Macintosh plus that I built.
Doing a VNC server.
That my phone can connect to.
My mind is *blown*

2024-09-22 21:24:59

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does it work on a Mac plus?
Oh you bet.
https://media.tech.lgbt/media_attachments/files/113/183/310/037/547/359/original/3b075e8c1aafda3f.png

2024-09-22 21:23:19

@npub1xq6…s6hw just casually dropping an intriguing bit of software they found on my lap just as I was about to sleep.
There's a VNC *server* for classic macs.

2024-09-20 20:05:14

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So.
Bottom line.
Macintosh Plus on a PCIe card anyone?

2024-09-20 20:04:56

So! Silly idea!
I've just completed cloning a Macintosh Plus - which leads to the prospect of *even more 68000 Macintoshes* being built - which is great!
I also know that Timbuktu is a bit of software that basically gives a Macintosh VNC like control, but over appletalk.
I also know that a Piscsi can pass an AppleTalk connection over ethernet, via SCSI.
I also also know that a Pi Zero can be used as an ethernet to USB device.
I also also also know that mPCIE to USB 2.0 adapters are very cheap.
I also also also also know that mPCIe can easily be converted to PCIe pretty easily.
I also also also also *also* know how to design PCBs, and I wouldn't mind trying to design a PCIe card at some point.

2024-09-17 18:40:08

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oh nice! Finally picked up a Lisa ;)
Shame it's not the open source card though!
https://github.com/warmech/lisa-hardware/tree/main/2MB%20RAM%20Card

2024-09-12 21:48:34

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It's like we went "well the Brazilians did it in the 80s, the Germans did it in the 90s - I guess it's now our time to make our own Macintosh clones"

2024-09-12 21:47:56

With the #MacintoshPlusClone RTC now working, and the Mac Plus now fully working with zero apple parts - I've had a weird realisation.
This entire thing has been a broadly British affair.
The Logic board - was reverse engineered by a Brit.
The PALs were mostly reverse engineered by a Brit (except for the LAG and TSM, which were both dumped by two ex apple engineers [and the lag was forward engineered *TWICE*] - still the maddest part of this project)
The Sony SND was designed by me - also a Brit
The Pico Analogue Board hardware was designed by me, but based off another design *by another Brit*
The SCHWIM hardware was also designed by me, and based off research by yet another Brit
And finally the final incarnation of the RTC, was again, implemented by a Brit.

2024-09-06 13:34:05

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aha! Precisely what I meant.

2024-09-04 12:59:30

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thank you!

2024-09-04 07:51:02

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oh!! Where did you find them? I had to eyeball my own last time

2024-09-03 20:11:58

People who design open source PCBs! I have a request!
Can you pretty pretty please make sure that you export your schematic as a PDF, and can you have your Gerber files exported in a .zip file.

2024-09-03 17:58:34

Gah. If there's one thing I would absolutely love software wise for 68000 Macintoshes, would be a new web browser

2024-09-03 17:42:37

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I also have a bloody lot going on this month

2024-09-03 16:16:10

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oh no, I'm terrible at writing

2024-09-03 15:30:06

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ah! There you are! Sorry it seems like Tusky (or my instance?) doesn't show Fosstodon accounts.
The answer is sort of! My boards are present on my GitHub, and the Plus reloaded boards are on Max1zzzs GitHub.
I need to do a writeup of this project.

2024-09-02 20:09:46

Reading about the computer you made... On the computer you made.
How meta.
https://media.tech.lgbt/media_attachments/files/113/069/761/616/979/650/original/148c2644637550f8.jpg

2024-09-02 06:23:45

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...look alikes Jr. My God we actually found it.

2024-09-02 06:22:18

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now that is definitely the art style that I vaguely remember - although the one thing I distinctly remember is the lack of people!

2024-09-01 21:28:04

This is very off topic for me, but I need help with finding a book that I had as a child.
The best way to describe it is "every day scenes (such as a cinema, a cityscape, a bathroom) made out of random arts and crafts materials".
The best/only example I can find is the art found on Bidfood trucks in the UK.
https://www.bidfood.co.uk/about-us/landscapes/
Mastodon hive mind help! This is driving me mad!

2024-08-30 22:20:48

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I guess it doesn't even register that this is *something I made*
*By hand*
And here it is with a full graphical user interface, decent sound, a proper file manager and expansion interface, with networking.
This is just... Wild that I was able to do it.

2024-08-30 22:18:02

And with the ROMs replaced with EEPROMs, the #MacintoshPlusClone has joined it's sibling - the #AppleLisaClone - in containing zero apple hardware within it.
This is probably the first time a Macintosh clone has been produced since the weird German "Jonathan" clone of the 90s.
https://media.tech.lgbt/media_attachments/files/113/053/269/691/162/995/original/07990adb6c526cca.jpg

2024-08-29 00:49:18

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and the floppy emu isn't much better 😬

2024-08-28 22:15:48

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YEP.
Floppy drives are expensive. Even the DB19 connector is expensive, so I'm okay omitting it.

2024-08-28 20:56:55

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So what does this mean?
Well.
It means that you can build a Macintosh Plus clone without ANY APPLE CHIPS AT ALL. ZERO. NONE.

2024-08-28 20:55:30

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I had a feeling something like this would would work - but never had much success when I tried it the first time round.
Testing it now with literally two chips, it bloody works.
I am MAD

2024-08-28 20:54:48

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So what the heck is going on here?
There was a theory out forward by @npub1x54…yu6w, that when the system reads 1101111 at the location of the integrated woz machine (D7 -> D0), it will assume that everything is hunky dory, and it'll ignore the IWM.

2024-08-28 20:53:25

NO
FUCKING
WAY.
I'VE MADE A FAKE INTEGRATED WOZ MACHINE.
A FWIM.
https://media.tech.lgbt/media_attachments/files/113/041/627/081/169/904/original/2c229997cce4d1d9.jpg

2024-08-22 21:42:37

We have boards for the #MacintoshPlusClone !!!
This is both the Pico Analogue Board (P.A.B?), as well as the Sony SND replacement.
I believe I have enough components for the SND, and 90% of the parts for the PAB.
Speaking of which - does anyone in the UK have a spare right angled ATX connector?
https://media.tech.lgbt/media_attachments/files/113/007/837/599/202/614/original/196056efebe3a598.jpg
https://media.tech.lgbt/media_attachments/files/113/007/837/943/048/630/original/ce25ef1bd95256a0.jpg

2024-08-17 19:09:10

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I mean I could always design it to be ITX compatible with the option of it being Macintosh chassis compatible
And hey! Build an SE reloaded ;)

2024-08-17 18:43:54

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I'm also considering adding a built in version of the analogue board I designed - but with the option of installing the board into an actual Macintosh Chassis.
Maybe the ATX PSU and VGA board could be an extra board?

2024-08-17 18:41:40

So as mentioned before, I'm kind of planning to design a new Macintosh Clone, based off the knowledge I've gained from the #MacintoshPlusClone
It's basically going to be the nice aspects of the Macintosh Plus (SCSI, 4mb of ram, Din8 serial), but with the off the shelf-ness of the Macintosh 128.
I will also be adding a few extra nice details to keep the cost low (such as using readily available 72 pin ram, using a modified Macintosh ROM that doesn't use the IWM, keeping it a two layer PCB).
Perhaps I should call this the #OSHintosh ?

2024-08-16 20:28:43

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It'll also avoid what I like to call "wet spaghetti routing"

2024-08-16 20:27:37

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Yes, I'm aware this is probably going to make EEs internationally eye twitch, but it'll definitely help people who are just starting out.
It'll help with applying best practises, as well as make open source hardware more reliable and bullet proof.

2024-08-16 20:25:33

You know what I want to do at some point?
Community schematic and PCB reviews.
Grab a few EEs on a discord call, talk about your project, what you're planning to do and your initial schematic/routing.

2024-08-16 17:39:54

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10k is a bit weak in my opinion, I usually go for 4.7k

2024-08-13 19:01:11

I wasn't able to fix my original MDA monitor - but I was able to fix the Pico scan converter!
Turns out the logic levels on the 128/512/Plus are a bit different - resulting in the Pico not detecting the video signal.
Granted I'm literally shoving the output into a Pico (I'll swap it for a Pico 2 soon), but for now it works!
https://media.tech.lgbt/media_attachments/files/112/956/250/076/873/724/original/3058155f69d26da4.jpg

2024-08-11 20:17:56

There isn't a port of DOOM for 68000 macintoshes is there?

2024-08-11 12:36:55

A friend once said that what's worse than no internet, is internet that is present - but barely works.
That is the current position I am in.

2024-08-10 22:41:30

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somehow I can see individual profiles that are following me, but not the actual number

2024-08-10 21:52:02

I like how I haven't got a bloody clue how many people are following me, as both the "following" and "who you follow" counters are stuck at 0.

2024-08-05 21:54:55

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sadly not the case - the PALs are known to work with 4mb of ram.
https://media.tech.lgbt/media_attachments/files/112/911/639/792/183/132/original/95d4f52046d9445c.jpg

2024-08-05 19:41:21

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fairly confident the design is good - I've shuffled the ram around to no avail

2024-08-05 19:17:51

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it'll be something dumb

2024-08-05 19:07:43

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Well. Looks like I have ANOTHER ISSUE.
THAT SHOULD BE 4MB. NOT 2MB.
GAH

2024-08-05 18:58:12

So. SCSI was fine the entire time.
https://media.tech.lgbt/media_attachments/files/112/910/939/998/740/985/original/6c44d1624d749b36.jpg

2024-08-05 12:24:56

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hah, first thing I'd check is if C8 is shorted

2024-08-04 21:07:02

Some slight improvement with the #MacPlusClone project - we now have (albeit slightly terrible) video coming from the board itself.
https://media.tech.lgbt/media_attachments/files/112/905/781/540/289/543/original/f3476ab362fd7118.jpg