A2Pi V3 Photos
A2Pi V3 Photos
A2Pi V3 Photos:
I thought it might be nice to show some options now I actually have the darn thing running. First the populated board itself:
Back and Front
I hope anyone interested will agree it's a neat enough little board... I'm especially pleased with my new logo, I used a half tone printing technique to get a little something interesting out of the PCB fab process. This board is populated with a couple of power rail smoothing caps but as long as you use a good R65511P they shouldn't be needed for stability. On that subject one can also solder some smoothing caps across both ICs power pins, but again optional.
I've tried to make this board as flexible in set up as possible. Below I've attached a Pi Zero via a plug in header:
A2Pi Zero Front and Back
(This one's Iain's)
There's nothing to prevent the board from being soldered directly to the Pi's GPIO pins for a more secure connection. This will also give a little extra clearance for any card in a lower numbered slot, especially if using a Pi Zero as it's so flat the two boards can be mounted very close to each other. For video I'd go for a miniHDMI to HDMI panel adaptor lead to the back of the Apple II as that will carry sound too, but composite output is doable too for greater 'authenticity'. For USB out with the Zero I'd suggest a small miniUSB to USB hub attached on top of the Apple's PSU behind the knock-out. My Apple IIe Platinum has RFI shielding painted inside, so if using WiFi a USB dongle to the outside will be needed.
Below is the Pi 2 set up. This time with both boards soldered together:
A2Pi 2 Front and Back
(This one's mine)
Set up for an A2Pi 2 is much the same as the Zero but full size panel adaptor leads can be used for USB and HDMI, RJ45 Ethernet too if wished. It should be noted there isn't a whole lot of clearance for the Pi 2's HDMI port once the Apple's lid is back on so a 90deg or 270deg HDMI adaptor will be needed, the smaller the better!
Here's a close up of the soldered attachment of the two boards on my A2Pi2:
Soldered and Bolted
Maybe soldering plus nuts & bolts is overkill, but useful to get alignment right before soldering. Still, useful extra support if the boards are to be socketed together.
One final point is that this board has been made to fit earlier 26pin GPIO Pi's too with the use of a shorter socket. On the down side the holes for nuts & bolts won't line up but on the up side how may unloved old Pi's must be knocking about? Also older Pi's have a separate composite connector. The only Pi with proper GPIO that won't work is the Pi 3. Too much strain on the Apple's PSU and power rails and the software itself is reported incompatible.
Right, I'm going to go and actually have a play with my computer at long last.
PS
Here's the Eagle files for the A2Pi v4 board. Functionally the same as v3, above, but the schematic is hopefully easier to follow and the board hopefully improved in a couple of areas:
icard
