Electron Ultra Project Wind Up
After four years and four versions (not including small fix versions) it is time to wind up this project. I think I have included all the major updates both old and new with just the odd function needing to be plugged into the cartridge slots. The PCB started out as a two layer board but ended up six layers to squeeze in all the extra functions.
One board that didn't work out well was the v2.1 PCB and it ended up being an ornament...
There is a lot of components on there that could be re-used if removed carefully so I decided I should recover them and build a second Electron Ultra v4.0.
This is the board..it also had a bodge wire on the back.
I heated up my desoldering gun and set to work.. I took off the ULA socket first then I un-soldered the cartridge edge connectors and so on..
I had managed to recover most of the major parts, just a few IC sockets left on when I ran out enthusiasm. With all these parts plus some surface mount resistors I built a second Electron Ultra PCB.
I had been looking to pick up a ULA but nothing turned up over the last few months on the re-selling web sites so I had to raid one from my earlier, now unused clones for a ULA to get this one going.
So my two Electron Ultra's are almost set up..
I would like to set them up with individual screens rather than a shared one. I have a couple of very old VGA LCD screens from around 2005, Acer VL1714's from my old Windows XP computers which would do nicely but they have VGA video inputs.
I first looked to see if I could buy a RGB to VGA adapter but the cheapest I could find cost £46 so that wasn't an option - I could buy a new monitor for that price! My next thought was to use the HDMI output on the Electron Ultra and convert that to VGA, these adapters only cost £1.69 so I ordered two.
I plugged one end into the HDMI output of the Electron and the VGA output to the monitor input - Nothing, no display! After some consideration I thought that the VGA adapter wasn't getting any or enough power from the Electron HDMI port so I tried a powered HDMI switch between the Electron and VGA adapter and it works a treat. I obtained the power for the HDMI switch from the USB socket on the Electron Ultra.
With this setup this project finally comes to a close.
-end-