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SmartBoard STE
Posted by Administrator (arne) on Jan 16 2022
News >> Development news

SmartBoard STE - a new add-on board for 520/1040STE

It connects to the ROM sockets of the STE mainboard and sits between mainboard and floppy disk drive (FDD) and adds the following features:
  1. one Atari Falcon030 compatible IDE port
  2. FlashROM for three (up to four) STE compatible TOS/MagiC operating systems
  3. a MegaST(E) compatible RTC i.e. no software driver is needed
One of the production PCBs runs in my 1040STE for some weeks now so I think it's time to announce a small batch.
You don't need to drill any holes for TOS switching or IDE activity LED!
TOS switching is solely done via the STE's keyboard. Press [L-Shift] + [R-Shift] + [F1..F4] to select one of the four slots in FlashROM and the operating system it holds.
IDE activity can be made visual in three ways:
  1. drill a hole and attach a LED in your favourite colour
  2. use the (usually yellow) FDD-LED as a combo FDD/HDD LED - you may even replace this LED with one of your (colour) choice
  3. use a bi-colour-LED - I use a green/red one - and replace the original FDD-LED to distinguish between FDD and HDD (IDE) accesses
There are three additional PCBs that attach to the black IDC connector at the back and one of your choice is needed to switch between operating system slots. They differ in the way of visual feeback options:
  • without any visual feedback
  • with red/green/yellow/blue LEDs which give feedback about the selected slot and if a flashing process is in progress. It fits between the topside of the FDD and the plastic grill above the FDD
  • with 7-segment display (red, green or blue) 

Last changed: Jan 16 2022 at 8:28 AM

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