Articles from Techtravels Amiga Blog

My PAL stimulator

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll see that I’ve been reversing a Commodore Amiga SCSI HDD Expansion card called the Dataflyer. On that Dataflyer, there’s a PAL that handles address configuration (the latch), chip selects, and converting the 68000 signals to those the peripherals understand.

Commodore Amiga AutoConfig expansion card process

Since I’ve been reverse engineering a DataFlyer Plus HDD SCSI expansion card for the Commodore Amiga, I’ve needed to get a much better understanding of how the AutoConfig process works. I’m by far no expert on it, but I have learned a lot and wanted to share a couple logic analyzer traces of this occurring in the wild. The Commodore documentation refers to these expansion cards as PICs or Plug-in Cards.

Dataflyer 500 reversed schematics are coming….

While trying to reverse the function of the Commodore Amiga Expansion Systems DataFlyer 500 BUSS PAL, I really needed to know what was connected to what. There are no, as far as I know(!!), schematics available for this board, so I thought I’d bring that to end.

I will be publishing schematics relatively soon once I’ve had some more time to double-check them.

Building a PAL reader for TL866A

So I’m in the process of trying to reverse engineer some custom PALs from a Commodore Amiga Dataflyer 500. It would be ideal to read those PALs directly, however I don’t have a compatible PAL reading solutions. I’ve found some online but they are easily $800-$1200. So someone on a previous blog post commented about a potential solution that works with the TL866A eeprom reader.

HP Agilent 5382A tear down with photos

I recently tore down an Agilent E5382A Flying Lead Set. I used a Torx T-4 bit to remove the (4) tiny tiny screws.

This adapter has a 90-pin connector that comes from HP logic analyzer cards, and then goes out to single ended flying leads for direct connection to the System Under Test.

Setting up a SCSI2SD on HP 167xxA for CDROM and HDD targets

This quick guide contains instructions on how to setup, configure, burn, and launch an install from a SCSI2SD when inserted into an HP/Agilent Logic Analyzer on the 16700 series. A fresh install is always recommended, just like for other operating systems like Windows. I do not recommend imaging your previous SCSI drive, and then trying to burn it directly onto the card.

I’m using a 32GB SD card for this. You’ll need to play with the sector count field if you vary from this.

Evaluating Battery Backup Solutions for CPAP machines

I recently had a need to provide a battery backup solution for a CPAP machine. A CPAP machine helps people, who suffer from sleep apnea, get a good night’s rest. About 20 million Americans suffer from this condition. This machine provides a large amount of heated, humidified air through a mask. Motors (like those driving a large air pump), and heaters (heating the water to prevent drying out membranes) take a lot of power. The CPAP machine consumes 35w nominally, and 90w peak.

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