PAK in 1040STE?

[Rustynutt]

Have a PAK030 with buffer board and FRAK gathering dust for a bit. It's one of the newly made units from the UK Retro Store.
Thought it might require a MEGA ST to fit into, until reading about Darklords journey fitting into his STacy.
Anyone know if it will fit into a Ste physically and if compatible?
Thanks

[Atarieterno]

Have a PAK030 with buffer board and FRAK gathering dust for a bit. It's one of the newly made units from the UK Retro Store.
Thought it might require a MEGA ST to fit into, until reading about Darklords journey fitting into his STacy.
Anyone know if it will fit into a Ste physically and if compatible?
Thanks

Where is that device sold, mate?
Can you put a link?
Greetings.

[Rustynutt]

Let me check, off eBay, think they call themselves Retro Computer. They only have infrequent availability.

[czietz]

Assuming you have the required adapter (PLCC CPU socket to DIL), a PAK030 will also work in an STE. However, the manual mentions that this adapter is often the cause of problems due to bad contacts.

[Rustynutt]

Have a PAK030 with buffer board and FRAK gathering dust for a bit. It's one of the newly made units from the UK Retro Store.
Thought it might require a MEGA ST to fit into, until reading about Darklords journey fitting into his STacy.
Anyone know if it will fit into a Ste physically and if compatible?
Thanks

Where is that device sold, mate?
Can you put a link?
Greetings.

https://www.ebay.com/str/zp-manchester

[Rustynutt]

Assuming you have the required adapter (PLCC CPU socket to DIL), a PAK030 will also work in an STE. However, the manual mentions that this adapter is often the cause of problems due to bad contacts.

Yes, that is a difficult adapter to aquire.
They were sort of made to work with the MonSTer boards, but not available now.
There are places that will manufacture, I'm sure be a few bucks.

[artik-wroc]

I trying to install PAK in MegaSTE

https://translate.google.pl/translate?s ... id%3D15793

[Rustynutt]

I trying to install PAK in MegaSTE

https://translate.google.pl/translate?s ... id%3D15793

Sorry admin, mistaken "reported" this post

Do you have the buffer board?

I had a Mega see purchased the FPU GALs for. Brad at Best Electronics said some have problems.
I used a 68882, and no software of bench programs could see it.
All I could think of was maybe the 68881 was somehow different and the GAL did not support the 882.

[Greenious]

Assuming you have the required adapter (PLCC CPU socket to DIL), a PAK030 will also work in an STE. However, the manual mentions that this adapter is often the cause of problems due to bad contacts.

Yes, that is a difficult adapter to aquire.
They were sort of made to work with the MonSTer boards, but not available now.
There are places that will manufacture, I'm sure be a few bucks.

The elusive plcc plug adapter..

http://www.a-flex.com/PLCC-Plug.html

It seems very difficult to source in small numbers.

[Greenious]

I trying to install PAK in MegaSTE

https://translate.google.pl/translate?s ... id%3D15793

Sorry admin, mistaken "reported" this post

Do you have the buffer board?

I had a Mega see purchased the FPU GALs for. Brad at Best Electronics said some have problems.
I used a 68882, and no software of bench programs could see it.
All I could think of was maybe the 68881 was somehow different and the GAL did not support the 882.

Well, on some MSTE mobo's you need to do more than just insert the GALs and FPU, if I remember correctly there's also a resistor on the underside of the mobo that needs to be removed and possibly there was something else.

The FPU works very differently with a 68000 vs a 68030. With 68000 it is a peripheral device, which makes it slower and cumbersome to use, it is basically just a memory mapped adress that performs math... with 68030 it hooks up as a genuine co-processor, which from a programmers point of view makes them look as one united CPU. Hardwarewise it's very different on how they are connected.

I read the thread, I guess the pak got hardwired timings for a 8MHz bus, a redesign of the logic should be possible to make it work at 16MHz, and then it could possibly also benefit from the cache in the MSTE. It would be interesting to see what impact that would make on the performance, since the 030 got it's own cache (albeit smaller), so it will probably not make the same huge difference it does for the 68000.

[Greenious]

Have a PAK030 with buffer board and FRAK gathering dust for a bit. It's one of the newly made units from the UK Retro Store.
Thought it might require a MEGA ST to fit into, until reading about Darklords journey fitting into his STacy.
Anyone know if it will fit into a Ste physically and if compatible?
Thanks

I highly doubt it will physically fit in any STE without some very creative thinking. There is just not enough room between the CPU and the keyboard, the shielding has to go.

Back in the days there was a company that made new top cases for ST/STE, together with a kit to make the keyboard external, which basically made the ST/STE to look like the bastard child between a MST & a MSTE... or a very wide MST.

[Rustynutt]

Desktopper case
Thanks for the link, I have another book marked somewhere, still prototyped though.
Yes, there is a mod on the bottom of the board to do, forget exactly what it was, but simple and is documented with the GAL package from Best.
Darklord picked up the motherboard from me last year, don't know if he got anywhere with it.
I haven't stacked the hardware to physically check the height, and was kind of waiting for an Mega to show up. There's a really nice STe auction I saw, made me want to inquire.
Shielding?
What's that
Afterburner user
2 Falcon CT60/63
2 Mark X
Sadly, sold all but Falcon hardware before moving 2 years ago.

[DarkLord]

Sadly, it's still packed away - just haven't had time. /sigh...

It's important to note that while I successfully (with a ton of help from the
Atari community and Pakman) put a Pak 68/3 board into my STacy, it is
without either a Frak or PuPla board.

To put either one (or preferably both) in, I would have to wire extensions
to install them *horizontally*, rather than vertically. Not enough room in
the STacy to even stack one, let alone both.

Something to think about before installing one in the STe...

[artik-wroc]

Well, on some MSTE mobo's you need to do more than just insert the GALs and FPU, if I remember correctly there's also a resistor on the underside of the mobo that needs to be removed and possibly there was something else.

Resistor on the underside or jumper W3 depending on the motherboard version.

[Rustynutt]

Sadly, it's still packed away - just haven't had time. /sigh...

It's important to note that while I successfully (with a ton of help from the
Atari community and Pakman) put a Pak 68/3 board into my STacy, it is
without either a Frak or PuPla board.

To put either one (or preferably both) in, I would have to wire extensions
to install them *horizontally*, rather than vertically. Not enough room in
the STacy to even stack one, let alone both.

Something to think about before installing one in the STe...

Ah, thought you had installed the FRAK too...

[DarkLord]

Nope, sad to say - although (like many things Atari) I've thought about it
and the PuPLa both a lot.

Make sure you read that newly translated Pak manual - there are lots of
"gotcha's" to an STe installation....

[Rustynutt]

My Afterburner and NOVA work fine at 20mhz bus with a 4" ribbon cable on the Falcon expansion

[DarkLord]

My Afterburner and NOVA work fine at 20mhz bus with a 4" ribbon cable on the Falcon expansion

Ribbon cable is what I used when I moved the internal power supply board to the battery compartment in the STacy,
to make room for the Pak board.

Tedious soldering to say the least!