Snagged an Aurora!

[Derek_Stewart]

The Qubesoft adapter, was a cable, not seen the one in the picture, looks a little rough, so maybe it is Qbranch

[Pr0f]

I think perhaps it only looks "rough" because someone has been a bit liberal with the hot glue gun

[Derek_Stewart]

Hi,

Qbranch adapters all were hot glued, I remember buyina Q40 ftom them, the 1st in UK, the VGA cable had hot glue all over the 15 pin VGA connector, there was a broken wire in the hot glue, this took a long time to find. Not good when this was at a Quanta Workshop in Bristol, with many people watching them...

Back on topic, the Aurora Enhanced ROM Port, could of been made QL compatible by fitting a female connector and having a guide pin at pins 12-13.

But for best reasons only known to the Aurora manufactuer they did not bother about QL Rom Port compatibility.

[t0nyt]

I'd never seen one for sale in the last 5 years, until that recent one on UK eBay for which the seller is asking really silly money despite it being untested

It's dropped to £800 now...

[Chr$]

I'd never seen one for sale in the last 5 years, until that recent one on UK eBay for which the seller is asking really silly money despite it being untested

It's dropped to £800 now...

Think it was already down to £800, then he/she put it up again. Rare item no doubt, but I can't see it being in that ballpark.

[Pr0f]

I offered him £200 - but he ignored me

I think at a push a working one might fetch £300...


I have spent the afternoon populating a board, just need to get 3 10 pin box header connectors and solder the 2 resistors on the bottom of the board. Next week I will finish making the programming adapters, then I can try both my bad board and the new one with existing and newly programmed chips. The MACH211 chips I got are 12ns not 15ns - but are the non SP variant as per the Aurora - should be ok.

[Chr$]

I have spent the afternoon populating a board, just need to get 3 10 pin box header connectors and solder the 2 resistors on the bottom of the board. Next week I will finish making the programming adapters, then I can try both my bad board and the new one with existing and newly programmed chips. The MACH211 chips I got are 12ns not 15ns - but are the non SP variant as per the Aurora - should be ok.

Please post pics. Be nice to see one connected and up and running - at the very least as an idiots guide to remind me what goes where.

[Peter]

You will need something like a superhermes - not sure if a QIMSI might work? To get a keyboard working.

QIMSI would work for keyboard, but remember you need Minerva, so the machine does not wait for matrix keyboard forever at F1/F2 screen.

You will likely need a backplane for the aurora and GC/SGC to plug into along with some storage - such as a qubide.

QIMSI can do without backplane.

I have a feeling I read somewhere that the ROM port could be used with one of those old floppy adapters[...]

Suitable posts can even be soldered to QIMSI directly, if it is dedicated for this purpose. No ribbon cable in that case.
Don't use the outer pins on both sides!
Just not sure about the EXTINT signal Aurora seems to have instead of the "unused" QL ROM port pin.
QIMSI has the speaker there. No damage possible, but not sure it might trigger interrupts.
In the worst case, the lower right diode on QIMSI could be desoldered.

Side note: There are angled USB OTG cables, which could make QIMSI installation to Aurora more elegant.

[Derek_Stewart]

Hi,

All too expensive, I would put the Aurora to be £100

[Pr0f]

Price is usually subject to availability - such boards are not cheap when there is a demand (due to failures or new people wanting to revisit older designs), but £1000 is taking the proverbial - and explains perfectly why he hasn't sold it yet - he's got quite a few watchers but no bites - surely that tells you your item is mis priced...