Mike's PCjr Page

My display went off without a hitch at VCFMW this past weekend. Here's details and pictures, including a link to my presentation slides so you can see what I talked about for an hour: http://trixter.oldskool.org/2013/10/03/ ... arter-kit/

Very nice setup. I really like how you presented different configurations for different types of users.
Since you mentioned using the Racore keyboard adapter on your hobbyist model, I was wondering if anyone here has a schematic of it. It would be neat if I could replicate it given that they are practically impossible to find... While I have the KB5151 keyboard, it's incredibly mushy and not fun to use at all, not to mention its huge size. An XT keyboard would be so much better.

Thanks for the kind words. I was fairly happy with it myself, even if the stock system's floppy drive wasn't 100% functional.

The Racore keyboard adapter and jrIDE are things I've been waiting a 15 years for so that I could actually program directly on the hardware easily, so as soon as I got them that's when I had a brief period of pumping out PCjr software. I achieved a world-first PCjr demo, and discovered two new video modes, so that's good enough for me and I've calmed down a bit. As a result, I'd be willing to loan my adapter to anyone who wants to try to document or clone it. If you have hardware knowledge and are willing, drop me a line (via email, preferably).

I meant to ask you about that xircom PE3 adapter, but I got sidetracked by Kings Quest and Lotus 1-2-3. So what are the limitations on using the adapter? What can you actually do with it?

If you want Ethernet on a machine without using a slot, the Xircom PE-3 is the way to do it.

http://www.brutman.com/Dos_Networking/xircom_pe3.html

Jeff Ingber (Axatax) from the previous PCjr forum (micro-zone) discovered these gems almost 10 years ago. They work on nearly every PC with a standard serial port - there is one odd-ball Olivetti out there missing a signalling pin that it does not work on.

With Ethernet you have networking applications ...

http://www.brutman.com/mTCP


Mike

Trixter wrote:Thanks for the kind words. I was fairly happy with it myself, even if the stock system's floppy drive wasn't 100% functional.

The Racore keyboard adapter and jrIDE are things I've been waiting a 15 years for so that I could actually program directly on the hardware easily, so as soon as I got them that's when I had a brief period of pumping out PCjr software. I achieved a world-first PCjr demo, and discovered two new video modes, so that's good enough for me and I've calmed down a bit. As a result, I'd be willing to loan my adapter to anyone who wants to try to document or clone it. If you have hardware knowledge and are willing, drop me a line (via email, preferably).

Thanks for the offer, but I'm not experienced enough to take a chance at damaging this rare adapter. If I had a schematic, then I could take a stab at recreating it without endangering anyone's hardware but mine

Brutman wrote:there is one odd-ball Olivetti out there missing a signalling pin that it does not work on.

Sadly, that odd-ball PC is my first love, the AT&T PC 6300 (also known as the Olivetti M24). The 6300 also has a weird bus where word transfers arrive at the CPU hibyte/lobyte swapped, so I have to ensure any cards and drivers perform byte transfers.