wrd@tekigm2.UUCP (04/17/86)
Having managed to trade my two RAMBO XL kits for two Newell kits, I am now
seriously trying to install one in my 800XL. Having torn apart the 800XL
and determined where everything is and the fact that it is all socketed
(thank goodness), I started going thru the instructions step by step and
have several questions. [However, firstly, is Newell on the net? I would
like to talk to him but want to talk to anyone who has successfully placed
a Newell board into a 1200XL.]
In the instructions, #s 7, 8, 9 and 10.
7. Am I to assume that the five pins are to be pulled from the socket
bent horizontally and have the wires soldered to them?
8. This pin is to remain in the socket? Sure not much to solder to!
9. Do not see a feedthru hole, again I assume pin stays in socket but
soldered to it?
10. This appears to be the right hand pad (looking from front to back)
-- correct?
It seems to me that the cable from the Newell board to socket U27 is too long.
What are you supposed to do with it or do you reverse the board upside down?
Does anyone see what I mean?
One comment: I can see why people do prefer the RAMBO XL kit to the Newell
kit, the instructions are 100% better. Newell's board may be technically
better, but the instructions are loose and goosy. Also, the Newell board
has a lot of leads bent over on the back almost touching or touching the
adjacent runs. Much cleanup of the board is required.
Newell talks about routing the jumper wires thru the cartridge slot clip
holes, but if you do this, how do you clip the plastic part on? It would
definitely be an advantage to be able to run the wires underneath, but I
do not see any practical way to do this. Further examination of the board
may show me an area where a feedthru hole could be drilled, but in my first
examination, I could not find any area big enough.
On to the 1200XL. Found out what I had done to it. Turns out it has two
delicate areas, both of which I broke. One is the narrow cable running
from the keyboard to the mainboard -- not the wide (15 pin) cable, but the
five pin cable. Where it fastens to the little board on the keyboard
assembly, I managed to break the solder joint of all five pins to the etched
circuit board. A simple matter of resoldering fixed that. The other
problem was a little more subtle and harder to fix. The corner or right
hand rear power transistor broke all three leads where they attahed to the
etched circuit board. This is due to removing the screw holding the heatsink
down to the board -- when I removed it, apparently the leads could not take
the strain and broke. Since I had another main board, I simply pulled one
of the power transistors off and redid it. It is a common transistor (I
think, if memory serves me correct -- it is a LM340T). I have it up and
running now, will leave it at 64k until I get the 800XL up to a 256k 800XE.
Has anyone on the net had a chance to try to install a Newell in a 1200XL?
I am open to any suggestions on the 1200XL installation.
One final question, has anyone tried to do an upgrade to the 130XE to get it
to the same 256k (260k) status? I have heard of some upgrades that get an
130XE up to 192k, but know nothing much about what it entails.
Thanks in advance,
--Bill--
--I guess, since I am a Mechanical Engineer not an Electrical Engineer, it
was fitting that I should break my 1200XL in a mechanical way, not an
electrical failure!