Date   : Sat, 28 Feb 2009 02:13:00 +0000
From   : afra@... (Phill Harvey-Smith)
Subject: Atom update and questions

Ok, my two Atoms arrived theis morning, bought from this auction :
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140301677487

The first is in reasonably good condition, and after a little tlc and a 
replacement 6502 sprang to life.

The second had several chips missing, and had been used as a source of 
spares, the 6847, 8255 and several of the 74 series chips where missing, 
also more seriously the 6847 socket had been pretty well mangled.

However replacing the 8255, 6847 & socket etc and repairing the dammage 
that had been done to the board by a previous  owner, this one has laos 
now sprang to life. It does however still have the problem that the 
keyboard has several keys missing, it's the older type keyboard and so 
doesn't have seperate keys, so I'm probably not going to be able to 
repair that :(

On the plus side now I have a real Atom, I can use it to verify the 
functionality of my cloned machine.

Something that does puzzle me however is that inside both Atoms is a 
plug on the keyboard side of the circuit board PL8, which seems to be 
connected to some of the 2114 RAM chips, any idea what it's function is, 
unless I'm being blind it's not on the Atom circuit diagram that's 
floating around.

Cheers.

Phill.

-- 
Phill Harvey-Smith, Programmer, Hardware hacker, and general eccentric !

"You can twist perceptions, but reality won't budge" -- Rush.