Cloning an MIF ISA Card

[Bryce]

The layout and function have already been confirmed with the first device which worked perfectly. The chances of all 8 having exactly the same fault is highly unlikely. Something else must be wrong. Let's investigate in a few PMs. Back soon....

Bryce.

 

[PeterNC]

After some routines it appears there must be a pervasive error somewhere. The PCBs will be en route to Germany for analysis by Bryce.

 

[keropi]

maybe a bad batch of logic ICs ... I am sure it's nothing important it's just bad luck

 

[PeterNC]

Indeed. I am sure we will figure it out.

 

[PeterNC]

The package will hopefully arrive this coming week.

 

[PeterNC]

The defective PCBs are back in DE. More news to follow next month.

 

[Bryce]

I've tested the cards and they are electronically all working fine, however I just noticed that the DIP switches are set wrong on all of them! PLEEEEEEEAAAASSSSE tell me that you checked the DIP settings before you sent them all back!! :double

Bryce.

 

[PeterNC]

We will confirm this ASAP.

 

[PeterNC]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Got 2 manufactured MIFs today. They work 100%. It turns out nothing is wrong with them. I messed up not checking the I/O a while ago. They will be available thru middle September in the EU. After that in the US.[/FONT]

 

[Bryce]

Well that's good to know. I'll try to get the others sent out to you at the weekend.

Bryce.

 

[PeterNC]

Cool. Thanks again. I will make it up to you.

 

[PeterNC]

Update: 3 manufactured cards have been sold. 1 manufactured card and 1 manual prototype is in NY. 6 manufactured cards and 1 manual prototype will be / are en route to NY.

 

[PeterNC]

Prototype #2 and 6 manufactured PCBs arrived today and are all confirmed working. I want to thank Bryce for his excellent design and engineering skills!

This concludes Project MPU for now. With the Bryce and NL replicas there is now ample supply of MIF-IPC-As. And this year has seen more OEM MIF-IPC(-A)s on eBay than ever before.

The value of BOBs has also gone up.

 

[Bryce]

Cool that everything worked out fine. I don't think you should be mentioning prices/price trends here though

Bryce.

Gesendet von meinem Motorola DynaTEC 8000X mit Tapatalk 2.

 

[PeterNC]

Good point. Fixed.

 

[sir_beaker]

Not sure if it already got mentioned but did anyone else notice this thread got referenced on Wikipedia?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPU-401

 

[Bryce]

Cool

Bryce.

Gesendet von meinem Motorola DynaTEC 8000X mit Tapatalk 2.

 

[SkydivinGirl]

Hi Bryce!

Great work on the card. I just picked one up and was hoping you might be able provide information on the DIP switch settings. I believe the IRQ one is simply turning one switch on for the IRQ and the rest off, but I'm not sure about the settings for the Address switches. Would you please give me a quick rundown?

Thanks!

Heather

 

[Bryce]

Hi Heather,
glad you like the card. The original cards didn't actually have DIP switches, the settings were hardwired, so I assume they have to be as following: I/O = Off-Off-On-On-Off-Off (I/O address is then &330 to &337), The IRQ has to be INT 2/9 (the first switch) ON and all the rest off. These were the permanent setting for Roland equipment. I just added the DIP switches because (A) it was possible and (B) It might make other things possible such as using multiple cards in one machine or even using it with other hardware expansions.

Bryce.

 

[keropi]

The Roland "standard" is IRQ 2( it cascades to 9) and address #330