frailn

I recently obtained six old Amiga's (3xA2000, 1xA3000, 2xA500) and a bunch of peripherals from an estate sale and sold them on eBay. I held back one A500 to sit next to her little C64 sister in the man cave. I have a two A500 PSU's left from the crazy eBay sale - a heavy one and a light one. It occurs to me...the Amiga 500 PSU might be a good one-stop power solution for the MBFM. There were two PSU's created by Commodore for the Amiga 500 back in the eighties and nineties. One was linear (heavy) made in Germany. The other was switching (light) made in India or Asia, not sure. Here are the specs for the heavy linear version: Type: A500 type 1 Part number: 312503-02 Current: 5V/2.5A * 12V/1.0A * -12V/0.1A Total power: 25.7W Might be a good one-power-cord solution. I'm at work, so I haven't looked to far into this solution. But, thought it might be good to post and get other's thoughts.

I would like to use your work to create a clear acrylic option from Ponoko, if you don't mind. I can verify what you have created using Wilba's FPD file - by comparing the position and sizes of all the holes, text, etc... The hard part I'm finding is that FPD and Inkscape use a different anchor point. For example - in FPD, the position of an LED hole is based on the center of the object. In Inkscape, it's based on the top-left position of the object. It's not a show-stopper, just a huge pain in the butt and the risk of getting an object's position wrong becomes greater. Maybe I'm not using Inkscape correctly? This information is based on me playing around in Inkscape. I haven't opened up your file to review it yet.

Hey, Jase - how's the ponoko project coming along? I've been working on the same front panel in Inkscape, when I have time. Looking forward to see how this works out for you.

Yep, wouldn't work on opaque plexi. But that clear 2mm plexi from ponoko....hmmm... Here's a simple demonstration from Instructables http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-LED-Plexiglass-Heart/

I just signed up for the free account on Ponoko. But, I'm not seeing this thickness for acrylic on their materials page - in the US or NZ. Unless...I see that with a paid account the number of materials is listed as "60 + your requests" Just curious if getting .06" acrylic is possible to obtain with a paid account.

How do you think PETG would work? Ponoko has it in 1 mm. Too flimsy?

I think you mean this link It's a group of photos with very informative notes associated with each photo.

8-bit beowulf cluster?

JaseM - I was considering doing this for MB-6582 panels, as well, after reading Wilba's post regarding Ponoko and the new sammichSID. Are you ordering from the US location? If so, I would be interested in going in on a panel set with you. Guess it depends on how many panel sets you can get on one sheet of material and how many sets you need and which material you are using. I'm just looking for one set. Let me know if you are interested.

Nice work, Wilba! My 18 year old son came to me last week and told me that a friend of his gave him his copy of Fruity Loops because he didn't want it. Then he looks at me and says, "Now I get it, dad - now I know what a midibox is! I want to build one and use it with Fruity Loops!" So, after talking to him about midibox for the past three years, trying to explain it to him, he finally gets it. This kit would be perfect for him - his first midibox. I'm definitely in for one kit.

Very nice - I like the idea of the clear transparent panel. Where did you have the panel created? Also, what is the part number for the Optrex display. I like it! I might consider this for my MB6582 build...with a twist. I'm thinking that very lightly smoked transparent panel would be nice - with the LCD display area not cut-out and non-smoked (rectangle with rounded corners). If I go this route, I may trade you my red Waldorf knobs for your P401's. They look great with the transparent panel! Let me know what you think.

I have an extra C64 keyboard if you like. I'll send it to you for no charge - except you would have to pay for shipping. I'm located in Kansas City, MO, USA.

Received mine this past weekend in the US. Thanks, Wilba, for putting this order together. Now I can happily avoid desoldering these chips from the old ISA sound cards sitting in my desk drawer. Now I can use the old sound cards in a PII or PIII motherboard for a MAME set up...I've got too many projects on my list!

I asked the same question!

You could add the MP3 as an attachment to your post. :)

Looks like he must have sold out. Smash used to carry: Rotary Encoder High quality Bourns encoder 24 Detents, 24 PPR 6mm x 20mm "D" Shaft Specifications $1.00 Rotary Encoder with switch High quality Bourns encoder With push switch 24 Detents, 24 PPR 6mm x 25mm "D" Shaft $1.25

It took some hunting, but I manged to find these after searching on "hexagon push button" - you may or may not want to purchase from this dealer, but it's at least a starting point in a search for other suppliers...

Look what else I found in Popular Mechanics:

I think you can just skip the fan if it's too noisy. I think Wilba mentions on the wiki that you don't have to use a fan, if you don't want to. Otherwise, you may need to experiment with a different speed. There's some notes in the wiki you can check out. Now, if she shows up at your place with beer and asks to hear your MIDIbox, you might need to plug in that fan!

The only way I was able to capture most of the information I have been using for MIDIbox projects is to print out all the documentation I find, then re-read the hardcopy and highlight the mandatory information that applies to my project. Also, I print out any info I find off the beaten track, like in a forum entry. If you have an hour to kill, try searching on something random like MBSID LCD issue or MB-6582 in the forum and just read people's issues and the resolutions. It has helped me tremendously. Sometimes it helps to go to the wiki and find a page of generic information that is not related specifically to your project. Like the LCD page. It may have a lot of info that does not apply to you. But, there will be one little nugget in there that is a must have. I'm an IT project manager, so I may be over-organized. But, having all the print outs in a folder, with the appropriate information highlighted saves me a lot of time and headaches.

I went round and round and round with the optimized PSU and it turned out my C64 PSU's were to blame. At first, I thought I was getting the right voltages out of my PSU, but apparently not. I didn't discover this until I bought a panel-mount DIN female plug, plugged in my C64 PSU(s) and then tested the voltages, touching my meter probes to the back part of the DIN female plug, rather than the male plug of the C64 PSU. Only then did I get accurate readings. Just a thought based on my experience. If this isn't the problem, you might have a short somewhere on the Optimized PSU build.

You might want to double check all your LCD connections on both ends. I recently ran into the same problem, but I KNEW that I ordered the correct PIC, pre-loaded with MIOS from SmashTV. It was my LCD wiring was the problem not the PIC. You have the right PIC for MBSIDv2. It won't hurt to upload MIOS, if you want to give it a try, even if MIOS has already been uploaded by SmashTV. But, after building a mono SID and working on MB-6582, both times, I ran into this problem and it was my LCD wiring/soldering that was the source of the issues. Also, don't forget to wire up your LCD for four-bit for a MBSID, if you haven't already, following this schematic.

Very nice! I really like the compact design and the enclosure. How much did Gold Phoenix charge to do those 8 PCB's? How did you get the front and back panel's cut?

Yes. An app for MIOS would have to be written. But, Like I said before, that's a ways off for me. Won't be this year, for sure! Well, I figured that I've gotten pretty far on MIDIbox by building a monoSID and now working through MB-6582. I'm hoping eventually to get enough knowledge to actually get creative on a MIDIbox instead of following others plans and designs.

I did get your PM and I'll respond when I get home from work tonight. I need to check the quantities you mentioned. But, I can definitely get you most of what you need. Yeah - I was thinking the same about the 2206CP. Would be cool to figure out how to make sounds with it. I figure it would be good experience/education to do this as a small project on my own without instructions or a forum to help. I really want to learn more about how to put these types of electronics together and TOTALLY understand what I'm doing. If someone doesn't get to it before me, I'm hoping to eventually work on a MIDIbox for the Ensoniq ES5503 chip. But, that will be awhile. I've got a lot of learnin' to do before I get to that type of project.