Progress Update

I continue to work on various aspects of the PC110, but updating information online in of itself is a task!

Bios Patcher
I continue to work towards understanding the method xpatch.exe uses for updating the flash memory, with the goal of creating a “vpatch” which will make the required modifications to the CT65535 bios for use with the TFT display. I will not get too adventurous until my ZIF sockets arrived so I can easily repair the flash program in the event an early version of vpatch “bricks” the unit.

I am using a combination of Turbo Debugger and Ida to understand and follow the actions. I was unable to find documentation for the VLSI VL82C420FC5, however I did find one for the VL82C480, and it appears that many of the configuration registers must have been shared between them.

TFT Display

I have put the AT050TN22 V.1 on the shelf for now, it seems to be very sensitive and not electrically compatible with the PC110 without some further electronics, perhaps some kind of impedance matching, this is something I do not know enough about right now to deal with properly.

The ZJ050NA-08C however works almost perfectly without any special conditioning of the signal lines. I had a slight issue with blue, it may have been a solder bridge or an error in my PCB, I will address this in the next revision of the board. There are some mechanical changes now needed as the ribbon cable location is changed, and the analog power and backlight requirements are different.

This was the concept V2 PCB but it will be totally different for the new display. Of course I had mixed up the footprint of the 30pin connector which is why it does not go in the correct direction.

Bezel
I spent some time in Fusion 360 drawing the bezel, however I just do not have the time to do this properly so I am going to go back to my original plan and find somebody local to draw it for me.

I got quotes for injection molding tooling, and it would be around $3000. If 3D printing cannot produce a good enough result, this may be the only way to get a professional result. I would need to sell additional pieces over time to recover that cost. Maybe $50 dollars each or something.

Keyboard/Mouse Dongle
I managed to find the propritary keyboard/mouse dongle online so I will be able to look closer at the possibility of 3d printing a custom 1mm pitch housing and using other JST or other style pins to fit into it.

4 thoughts on “Progress Update

    • The driver boards are not needed, this is something I was using while we were having issues interfacing the AT050TN22v1. We have moved on from that display though and the AT050TN23V1 requires a much smaller component count for us, and it works without issues so far.

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