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Anyone identify this hardware?

MaccMacc
edited November 2013 in Hardware
P041112_13_21.jpg P041112_13_22.jpg

First one fits snugly into a ZX81, this is a pic of the ports coming out of it, the second, not a clue
Post edited by Macc on

Comments

  • guesserguesser
    edited November 2012
    First could be some sort of IO adapter. General purpose "user port" type things.

    Second perhaps for connecting an old switched joystick to a an analogue gameport?

    Really need to see inside to tell.
    My rubbish website including the redrawn Amstrad schematics and the Sinclair Wiki.
  • MaccMacc
    edited November 2012
    That might be hard as they arent here at the minute, a mate popped round with them to see if I knew what they were, ill have a word and see if he cant open em up and take a snap or two
  • PilsenerPilsener
    edited November 2012
    From the way the holes are cut, it looks very homemade.
  • MaccMacc
    edited November 2012
    dhglweu_009.jpg

    Thats the best we can do of an interior shot of the ZX81 interface, any thoughts?
  • guesserguesser
    edited November 2012
    Macc wrote: »
    Thats the best we can do of an interior shot of the ZX81 interface, any thoughts?

    Yup, the Z80 PIO chip is a dead give-away :)

    Two 8 bit general purpose I/O ports.
    My rubbish website including the redrawn Amstrad schematics and the Sinclair Wiki.
  • guesserguesser
    edited November 2012
    Looks like the board is designed to work for the speccy too.

    I wonder if it is a project out of one of the mags since it's obviously a professionally produced board. Are there no identifying markings at all?
    My rubbish website including the redrawn Amstrad schematics and the Sinclair Wiki.
  • cmonkeycmonkey
    edited November 2012
    It's an AMX Mouse interface.
  • MaccMacc
    edited November 2012
    Cheers all! Identified by cmonkey!
  • schombischombi
    edited November 2013
    Just for my education: What is the Z80 on the AMX mouse interface for and what does the grey connector do? The black one connects to the AMX mouse.
    My retro collection
    schombi.de/my-retro-collection.html"
  • WinstonWinston
    edited November 2013
    It's not a Z80 - it's a Z80 PIO, basically a parallel interface chip (there were several chips called Z80 - something: the Z80 CPU which we all have in the Speccy, the Z80 PIO that gives three general purpose parallel IO ports, the Z80 CTC (timer IC), and the Z80 DMA. The Z80 peripheral chips (PIO, CTC, DMA etc) are designed to work with the Z80's IM2 interrupt scheme and support a ripple priority interrupt scheme.

    Basically the Z80 PIO is being used to interface the mouse to the Spectrum's bus. Given it's a general purpose IO chip you could use it for other things too.
  • guesserguesser
    edited November 2013
    schombi wrote: »
    Just for my education: What is the Z80 on the AMX mouse interface for

    That's a Z8420, the Parallel Input/Output controller for the Z80 family.

    Zilog made various chips in the Z80 family, designed to be used together.
    Z8400 is the CPU
    Z8410: DMA controller
    Z8420: PIO controller
    Z8430: Counter/Timer Circuit
    Z8440: Serial Input/Output controller
    Z8470: Dual Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter

    and a couple of other weird things too I think
    My rubbish website including the redrawn Amstrad schematics and the Sinclair Wiki.
  • skagonskagon
    edited November 2013
    If the AMX Mouse for the Spectrum is any indication, it's a parallel printer port.
  • guesserguesser
    edited November 2013
    Seems likely. Course given the dumb nature of the board the ports are really whatever software tells them to be :)
    My rubbish website including the redrawn Amstrad schematics and the Sinclair Wiki.
  • skagonskagon
    edited November 2013
    Obviously, mate. The parallel IO controller can be anything.
    However, the pin-out of the connector in "printer ports" is arranged in such a layout so that you can use a straight ribbon cable with a female IDC connector on one side and an IDC-Centronics connector on the other and connect to a Centronics printer without any further need to rearrange wires.
    Those are your clues... ;)
  • The_BertThe_Bert
    edited November 2013
    Hi.

    There's a repository here http://k1.dyndns.org/Vintage/Sinclair/82/Peripherials/Mouse%20Interfaces/AMX%20Mouse%20Interface/ which includes hi-res pictures of the PCB's, including that of the mouse itself.

    Might be handy for converting a legacy 3-button mouse, e.g. one of those listed here: http://dsa.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=3-button+mouse&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313&_nkw=serial+3-button+mouse&_sacat=0 , to work with the interface.

    Cheers :D

    photo.jpg "It never hurts to help."
    Author of BertoMenus, soon to become BertoBASIC +3 ;)
    Feel free to help yourself to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3 Manual.pdf
  • schombischombi
    edited November 2013
    Interesting, thanks everybody. Again, I learnt something new. Got my interface and black AMX mouse as part of a Spectrum+ bundle. Will try the AMX Art package today. Also thanks to The_Bert; very useful information/photos.
    My retro collection
    schombi.de/my-retro-collection.html"
  • The_BertThe_Bert
    edited November 2013
    schombi wrote: »
    Interesting, thanks everybody. Again, I learnt something new. Got my interface and black AMX mouse as part of a Spectrum+ bundle. Will try the AMX Art package today. Also thanks to The_Bert; very useful information/photos.

    You're welcome :)

    Now, since there doesn't seem to be a manual for the Spectrum version of the AMX mouse available, i thought maybe the Amstrad AMX manual (can be found here: http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/AMX_Mouse ), or the BBC AMX manual (here: http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/AMX/AMX_MouseUG.pdf ) might be at least SOME help.

    Cheers :)
    Author of BertoMenus, soon to become BertoBASIC +3 ;)
    Feel free to help yourself to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3 Manual.pdf
  • skagonskagon
    edited November 2013
    I think I have the manual... let me have a look and see what I find.
  • The_BertThe_Bert
    edited November 2013
    skagon wrote: »
    I think I have the manual... let me have a look and see what I find.

    Have you had any luck finding the manual? I'd be very interested in a scan of it, if possible :)
    Author of BertoMenus, soon to become BertoBASIC +3 ;)
    Feel free to help yourself to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3 Manual.pdf
  • skagonskagon
    edited November 2013
    I do have the manual. Don't have a scanner here, though... :/
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