[Coco] Re: Purchase of Cloud-9 Superboard deposit

[jdaggett at gate.net]

RJ

If it was a three pin varactor it and real small it is most likely in a 
sot323 package. Yes they are tiny.

As for through hole parts drying up that is true. These are some 
basic reasons:

1) While through hole parts can be mounted on a PCB via 
automated means, surface mounted parts can be placed faster. 
Pick and place machines now can place several hundred parts per 
minute. 

2) Surface mounted parts allow for smaller products.  

3) Newer solders and smt parts do not require post solder flux 
cleaning like older style wave solder machines. 

4) And yes there is a cost benefit in smaller parts. 

james


On 26 Jun 2005 at 14:39, RJRTTY at aol.com wrote:

From:           	RJRTTY at aol.com
Date sent:      	Sun, 26 Jun 2005 14:39:25 EDT
Subject:        	Re: [Coco] Re: Purchase of Cloud-9 
Superboard deposit
To:             	coco at maltedmedia.com
Send reply to:  	CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts 
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> Torsten and everybody,
> 
> 
>       Yes.   I should have posted earlier.     I am currently
> assembling the beta test board I will be sending you.    I
> have been experimenting with a different varactor
> diode and adjustable coil combination for the
> main oscillator.   I have the board working fairly good
> now but I wanted to make it good enough for actuall
> everyday use on all monitor types before I send it to
> you.      I found an appropiate  diode about a week
> ago on the net.    The main problem I had using it
> was it's size.    This thing is so small an ant coulld
> pick it up and take off with it!     I had to use my
> binocular microscope to mount it on a surface
> mount chip carrierr board before I could use it.
> The reason I didn't use a through the hole component
> was that they dont make them.   Through hole
> components are dissapearing in favor of small surface
> mount components because thier use results in
> lower assembly costs for manufactures.   Anyway,
> I successfully mounted it and it made a big
> difference in performance and noise suppresion in
> the final image.     So,  it wont be long before I send it out
> to you.  (Maybe two weeks at most,  probably sooner).
> 
>           I have also got the monitor cable based I2C com
> link between the coco3 and the Averlogic chips working
> reliably.      It makes such a difference eliminating the
> cassette port cable to the "clean and simple" look of
> the converter.    So, you did good.    I wish I had
> thought of it :)  
> 
>            I have the software to program the video chips
> ready for use.     There was a minor set back there
> because the emulator I was using ( David Kiel's) ate
> it half way through development and I had to start
> over.     His coco3 emulator MUST be set for double
> speed operation or else disk access is unreliable.
> I knew this but I didn't notice that when you do a
> reset it goes back to single speed operation.  :((
> 
>         I was going to post this soon anyway but I
> wanted to make a downloadable line diagram of
> the new converter's internal systems to present
> for public comment first.    I will do that soon.
> I will say for now I have settled on the controller
> I plan to use.     I managed to implement the
> I2C protocol in under 500 bytes of machine code
> on the coco3.    The 2 kbytes of code space
> in the controller should be more than enough
> to do everything we need it to do.
> 
> Roy
> 
> 
> 
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