It's absolutely crazy story :) I can imagine how frustrating the whole process was. But It's huge achieve to have a working 1581 unit build from zero. Cheers!
What was wrong with it ?. Will remain unanswered as one of the great mysteries like most retro stuff it’s cursed take my harlequin for example lol 😂. Great video enjoyed it happy it’s working for you nothing beats that’s feeling of something working that you built :) 😊
DALEY THOMPSONS!! jeez that takes me riiight back lol This was a battle to understand. Some things are supposed to remain a mystery 🤣 Came good in the end, good work 8bit 👍
I built a 1581 ENHANCED v2 from COREi64 (Thomas Christoph in Canada) a few years ago and it did weird things during initial testing. Mine was built with the W65C02 CPU and WD1770 controller. After a few weeks of frustration I found my problem to be that I installed one of the resistor packs near the floppy drive connector the wrong way around. After I rectified this I've had no further problems with it. I have heard that some recommend using an original 6502 CPU rather than the new Western Digital version.
Yeah, they don't like W65 cpus for sure .. this is the same board as yours... i mite revisit the alpha labs board again .but not just yet lol ... There is plenty of amiga stuff to get done for people.. Thanks for watching
I just want too say that I hate these fucking boards almost as much as an amstrad ........ Your board you sent me we did intact get it to save, however these clone boards from alpha labs really have problems, the 2 I build I managed to get 1 to work with a gotek and the other to work with an amiga drive, it would NOT work with a known good PC drive and the adapter board....... The 2 replica boards from forum64.de ( the toms01 ) boards however, worked 1st time with every drive and zero issues........
I have bought two of those Alpha lab pcb replicas for the 1581, mounted all components on them and tested successfully on a C64 and C128. Never had any kind of issue with both of them. What is exactly the issue you are having? If you have built your replicas from a bare pcb it may be that something is wrong with chips or component mounted on it (assuming that your soldering work is fine). I do not know where you source your ICs but beware from those coming from Cina, I had some bad surprises in the past with some fake chips or rebranded ones.
@repetto74 Hi .. all the chips had been tested and even replaced for the hell of it lol .. everything has checked and 2 other are having the same issue ... error 74 file not found ... I found a way around it using jiffydos and the C64 F1 key for dir .it seems to unjam it for a while .. this issue is not just alphalabs it's other types too ... Thanks 😉
It's absolutely crazy story :) I can imagine how frustrating the whole process was. But It's huge achieve to have a working 1581 unit build from zero. Cheers!
Thanks mate 👍
Got there in the end bud! Yourself and the other Retro Repairers have some serious commitment! But sure would be nice to solve the mystery... ;)
Yeah, it would .. its given me a little motivation. So I mite have another play about with the other board .. but who knows lol 😆
What was wrong with it ?. Will remain unanswered as one of the great mysteries like most retro stuff it’s cursed take my harlequin for example lol 😂. Great video enjoyed it happy it’s working for you nothing beats that’s feeling of something working that you built :) 😊
I wish I knew what the issue was .. but whatever it was, it's gone .. tested now over a few days .. works perfectly now ..
DALEY THOMPSONS!! jeez that takes me riiight back lol This was a battle to understand. Some things are supposed to remain a mystery 🤣 Came good in the end, good work 8bit 👍
Thanks mate 👍
Interesting. Thank you.
Wow, what a nightmare. I wonder, working sometimes and other times not if there is a noisy circuit.
I built a 1581 ENHANCED v2 from COREi64 (Thomas Christoph in Canada) a few years ago and it did weird things during initial testing. Mine was built with the W65C02 CPU and WD1770 controller. After a few weeks of frustration I found my problem to be that I installed one of the resistor packs near the floppy drive connector the wrong way around. After I rectified this I've had no further problems with it. I have heard that some recommend using an original 6502 CPU rather than the new Western Digital version.
Yeah, they don't like W65 cpus for sure .. this is the same board as yours... i mite revisit the alpha labs board again .but not just yet lol ... There is plenty of amiga stuff to get done for people.. Thanks for watching
6502 and 65C02 are entirely different chips (in terms of technology), only partially compatible with each other.
@watchmakerful yeah correct it hates the W6502
The problem can easily be in incorrect PCB trace length compared to the original board. Even a tenth of a millimeter can be critical.
Is it the filter cap at C5 that's supposed to be connected to 5v but is instead connected to ground, like with the v2 boards? :)
That's something I need to check ..altho its seems to be working at the mo
How can I get a complete and functional unit?
Message me either by email or discord or Facebook. All the links and my email are in my latest video description. Thanks
Does it work with disk changes
Yes .. 😉
I just want too say that I hate these fucking boards almost as much as an amstrad ........ Your board you sent me we did intact get it to save, however these clone boards from alpha labs really have problems, the 2 I build I managed to get 1 to work with a gotek and the other to work with an amiga drive, it would NOT work with a known good PC drive and the adapter board....... The 2 replica boards from forum64.de ( the toms01 ) boards however, worked 1st time with every drive and zero issues........
I feel your pain ... but mines over now lol 😆 😂 🤣
I have bought two of those Alpha lab pcb replicas for the 1581, mounted all components on them and tested successfully on a C64 and C128. Never had any kind of issue with both of them. What is exactly the issue you are having? If you have built your replicas from a bare pcb it may be that something is wrong with chips or component mounted on it (assuming that your soldering work is fine). I do not know where you source your ICs but beware from those coming from Cina, I had some bad surprises in the past with some fake chips or rebranded ones.
@repetto74 Hi .. all the chips had been tested and even replaced for the hell of it lol .. everything has checked and 2 other are having the same issue ... error 74 file not found ... I found a way around it using jiffydos and the C64 F1 key for dir .it seems to unjam it for a while .. this issue is not just alphalabs it's other types too ... Thanks 😉