Memory / Peripherals for Sharp PC-1600?

[Tinue]

Given the recent announcements of newly developed hardware for the Sharp PC-1500, I thought I'll ask here: Is anyone aware of available periphery or memory modules for the Sharp PC-1600? I would already be happy when I can find a cassette interface, but I can't even find building instructions for soldering a new one. Thanks!

[charger73]

Hello Tinue,

The PC1600 has a genuine RS232 interface. This can be connected to a PC via FTDI USB.

Here is a good guide:
https://forum.silicium.org/viewtopic.php?t=42285

The pitch of 1.27mm is very small for soldering. But I will try it now. Perhaps I'll find an adapter from 1.27 to 2.54mm.

Of course, one could also attach an Arduino to the serial interface and then backup the programs to an SD card... Interesting project :-)

Best regards,
Tobie

[Tinue]

(04-15-2024 05:42 AM)charger73 Wrote:  The pitch of 1.27mm is very small for soldering.

Thanks, that's exactly the problem. First I need to find some sort of connector with this pitch, and then I need to solder it. I can't just plug the connector into a breadboard, I would have to produce (or find) a small adapter board, which I have never done before.

Regards, Martin

[charger73]

   

[Tinue]

I also found this: https://manib.bplaced.net/blog/?page_id=655

[charger73]

Looks good. We also need a solderer with good eyes here :-)
I'll go ahead and order the adapter, give it a try, and report back here.

[KeithB]

That would be me. With 8 diopters of nearsightedness in my left eye, I have really good close up vision without my glasses.

[vaklaff]

(04-15-2024 01:50 PM)KeithB Wrote:  That would be me. With 8 diopters of nearsightedness in my left eye, I have really good close up vision without my glasses.

:-) You made my day, sir!

I'm in about the same situation and I have become my wife's reading device for fine print. Well, now it's almost any print... Sometimes I wonder which is worse, my life-time long nearsightedness or her age-related farsightedness. But I digress, sorry.

[KeithB]

That's OK, it wouldn't be a community without some banter!

I have both! I need to use reading glasses when I have my contact lenses on.

[badaze]

(04-15-2024 05:42 AM)charger73 Wrote:  Hello Tinue,

The PC1600 has a genuine RS232 interface. This can be connected to a PC via FTDI USB.

Here is a good guide:
https://forum.silicium.org/viewtopic.php?t=42285

The pitch of 1.27mm is very small for soldering. But I will try it now. Perhaps I'll find an adapter from 1.27 to 2.54mm.

Of course, one could also attach an Arduino to the serial interface and then backup the programs to an SD card... Interesting project :-)

Best regards,
Tobie

The same user has made a batch of 30 USB Stick interface module for Sharp PC-1600. Obviously, the 30 devices have been sold.

https://forum.silicium.org/viewtopic.php?t=47982 (in French and English).

Some pictures.

   

   

   

   

[Tinue]

I got some parts, but I am still stuck. Even if I could solder the rather thick cables, I would still need to isolate them with a shrink tube. If this all works, I can plug in the cable, but I'll never be able to unplug it without it getting destroyed in the process.

So I also need some sort of 1.27mm prototype board, which seems to be impossible to get. It's not easy, unfortunately.

Quite some projects seem to have been done in the late 2010s, and unfortunately not one of them is still alive.

   
   

Edit: I ordered the adapter shown further up. Hopefully I can solder the pins to the adapter, and then use the adapter to plug/unplug the entire thing without breaking it. Also, I don't need shrink tubes this way. The adapter is only 12 pins, and not 15, but luckily the pins that one needs to connect are less than 12 pins apart.

[Tinue]

I got the boards, all 30 of them (I didn't realize that "one unit" is 10 boards). Soldering was easy, and I was successful in receiving the output of an "LPRINT" command on my Mac. So far I have no idea on how to send or receive Basic or machine language apps, though.

   

   

[charger73]

When 'LPRINT' works, you're almost ready... I'm also at this stage.

On the Sharp, you can use:

SAVE"com1:",A
SAVE"com1:"

to save a program from the main memory.

Load: LOAD"com1:"

Your terminal program must be able to save the received data.

The "save" works for me, but the "load" doesn't...

more information:
https://www.sharp-pc-1600.de/ENG_Soft_uebertragung.html

[Tinue]

Good to hear that your hardware works! I have soldered all wires and can use RTS/CTS, and it seems to work.

There are always issues with CR/LF etc, or binary / non binary data using these terminal emulator programs. Possibly your issue with loading is rooted there somewhere. Most likely I'll end up writing a small Java program for sending / receiving data on the Mac.

Edit: After the successful prototype, I built version 2 of the adapter:

   

[Bill (Smithville NJ)]

Glad you were able to get a cable working. When I first played with a PC-1600, I just poked wires in pins 2, 3 & 7 and connected it to the RS-232 cable. Worked fine, but didn't have any handshaking.

In case you haven't run across it, there's a great site on the PC-1600 which has interfacing information:

Welcome to the Sharp PC-1600

There's tons of information there including User's Manual, Technical Reference Manual, Repair Manual and manuals for many other items along with some programs. I think the English User Manual & Technical Reference Manual may be the same ones that I had scanned many years ago from original manuals.

I used to play around a lot with the PC-1600 and did some programming in Z-80 for it. I used a Cross Assembler on the PC - Paragon ASMZ80 Assembler by Micro-Tec Research, Inc. It would create intel z80 listings that I could then upload to the PC-1600. If I remember correctly, I had a Qbasic program called SENDZ80 that ran on the PC and a Basic Program on the PC-1600. The Basic program on the PC-1600 would poke the received data into memory. Since I didn't have any handshaking, I think I just sent some data, and then had the PC-1600 send back the data for checking, etc. Not real fast but it worked.

Several years ago I got rid of my entire PC-1600 collection. And I no longer have the programs that I had created and used.

But you should be able to create something.

Good luck and enjoy the PC-1600. They are great little computers.

73
Bill WD9EQD
Smithville, NJ

[Tinue]

Thanks for the link! For the cross assembler, I plan to use TASM. It works fine for the LH5801, and I guess it will also work for the Z80.

@charger73: I have some trouble even with saving. For one, there are spurious bytes in the serial buffer when I start reading, before I even start writing. And then there seems to be no end of file marker. The PC-1600 simply stops transmitting. Maybe DTR/DSR could be observed, but I can't reach the signal with my 12-pin connector.

I wonder how it works the other way around, because also the PC-1600 could not tell when the transmission is finished. Maybe it declares "done" after some timeout has expired?

[Tinue]

I just wasted an entire afternoon, before I found this post.

Apparently loading code from a modern Mac to the Sharp PC-1600 simply does not work, except if one artificially waits after every line.

I then copied my small Java app onto a Raspberry Pi, and I could load a Basic program to the PC-1600 on the first try.

From PC-1600 to Mac works fine, on the other hand.

[Tinue]

Just an FYI. My experiences so far with the Sharp PC-1600 are now in a Github repo:
sharp-pocket-computer

[charger73]

Thank you very much for your valuable information and documentation. I will continue to try. By the way, I am also only working with 3 (RX, TX, GND) lines as Bill described above. (less soldering involved) - I will get back to you as soon as I know more. I still have an Arduino solution in mind...

[Tinue]

(05-13-2024 05:44 AM)charger73 Wrote:  I still have an Arduino solution in mind...

Same here, except that I would use a Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040) ;-)

These devices are way cheaper than the FTDI cables, and might actually work better overall.