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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : MuP-VT Feedback
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| mindrobots Newbie  Joined: 21/05/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 32 |
Hey Mick, The little fellas work!!! It certainly took me long enough to gather the parts (no fault of yours)but once I had everything and sat down to do some soldering, it all worked! I missed the step some place where it says to put a solder blob on the R, G, B solder pads to pick what color you want, so my monitor told me, "out of range" but once I fixed that, I had a VT100. Once I set the baud rate to 38,400, I had a VT100 talking to the MuP attached to it! As a personal not, if you EVER use a surface mount mini-B USB connector on a board again, I'm driving over to Australia, hunting you down and making you buy me a beer! That little bugger was a real pain to solder! (Remember, some of us are getting on in years!!!  )
Now,this cute little package REALLY needs a way to save program some place because it is WAY TOO much like my 1977 vintage Ohio Scientific 4K BASIC computer. Maybe paper tape or a nice cassette tape interface? (Working around the little boo boo wasn't a problem - the directions in the manual are perfectly clear). Hats off to Geoff too! The VT100 terminal on a MX250 looks like a treat to use so far! Thanks guys!! Rick |
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bigmik Guru  Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2946 |
Hi Rick, Thank you for your good comments... As to hunting me down, I am going to `cross the ditch' and shack up with Grogster ... so you wont find me 
Re. The mini USB, in retrospect, I should have looked further for Through-Hole units which as, Greg pointed out to me are available from DX.com cheaply, although it has been well over a month and they still havent arrived here.. I am going to offer an option with this connector pre-soldered, (wont be perfect as I am getting on in years too). I have the connectors now but it is time I am very short of till mid November due to work commitments. Also it was pointed out to me yesterday that where I reccomend shorting all three solder blobs for WHITE, Geoff suggests in Silicon Chip mag not to do more than 2 due to current draw.. Whilst I `so far' havent had any issues, maybe its best to limit it to one color... I havent got much time at the moment to research that one properly.. But the circuit is basically exactly the same as Geoff's ASCII VIDEO TERMINAL so the rules that apply to it apply to MuP-VT. Anyway I am glad that there is one ,almost, happy customer out there. Mick EDIT** Geoff also suggests lowering the value of a resistor from 220R to 165 if TWO pads are shorted together... I havent got all the details at the moment as I am struggling trying to rescue my main i7 from a major HDD crash, my backup I did back in August is corrupted and I cannot recover from them. Damn GPT drives and win 8.1 ... no install disk included Blaghhhh... I think I am on the home stretch now, will find out soon. Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
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| mindrobots Newbie Joined: 21/05/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 32 |
I'm happy! Just a bit cross-eyed from soldering!!
I really like the package when you put the boards together. It will be a great small footprint interface for some sort of embedded application that needs terminal support. I haven't played with the different colors....aren't VT100's SUPPOSED to be green?? |
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| WhiteWizzard Guru Joined: 05/04/2013 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2927 |
If anyone wants to buy a MuP VT with any components pre-soldered then I am still young enough to do this
BigMik always ensures I have stock of his excellent PCBs (quicker & cheaper service for EU BSF members). Just PM me what you need soldered - no labour cost will be charged to BSF members! Hope this FREE service may benefit some of you. WW EDIT: Same applies to Zonkers PCBs too  |
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| bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2946 |
Hi MR, I admit that it is not the easiest to solder but was a lot easier than that strange uSD socket I used on the UBW32-MCC board. Whilst the couple I have done so far have NOT been the prettiest, I really didnt have that much trouble.. probably takes 5min or so to do. I use liquid flux and spread it over the pads before I place the connector then apply a bit onto the pads and using a sharp tip melt some solder and apply the tip to the junction for a second or so and remove.. I did short a couple of pins and needed to use some `dick-wick' to remove the solder and redo but I eventually got there with minimal fuss. EDIT** I soldered the shell first when the pins were aligned and the pins after the shell was securely soldered. Thank you, I like the stacking idea as well and the fact that all the IO is still available makes it still usable as a controller. I remember those days, I couldnt afford a Green screen monitor or the horribly expensive GLASS screen covers so I used a bit of see through Green Perspex and cut it with a jigsaw to shape. Memories... (don't get me singing ... PLEASE) Regards, Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9502 |
I have come across quite a few orange VT100 terminals. But they all seemed to be either green or orange. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2946 |
Hi Grogs, I remember them too. I seem to recall something about Green screens being bad for the eyes and orange being `safer'. Personally I loved the Green screen, Orange made me feel `Blaagghhhh!' Was it Wyse that brought the Orange ones out initially? Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
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| mindrobots Newbie Joined: 21/05/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 32 |
Oh, I forgot to add a little more detail. On the MuP I built for use with this, I used right angle headers on the ICSP and also on the I2C so the can be connected while still in the stack. Cool stuff! |
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| bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2946 |
Hi MR, A good idea.. 
Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9502 |
Not sure about that, but I can confirm that the ones we had were Wyse 100 terminals, and were orange CRT. (with very serious phospher burn-in - you could easily read the main menu with the power off!)  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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MicroBlocks Guru Joined: 12/05/2012 Location: ThailandPosts: 2209 |
Burn in is caused by user inactivity!
I remember programming menus and status lines 'floating' by moving them a little to even out the burn in. Each time the menu was displayed it was offset a line up or down and shifted left or right. Microblocks. Build with logic. |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9502 |
Absolutely - totally agree, but that was the system we were the techs for at the time, and the main menu was the main screen, on the screen 24/7, most of the time. The Wyse 100's had to be replaced every couple of years, because the burn-in was so bad, that it became quite hard to read the WANTED text output, over the shadow of the burn-in!
The system was built back in the 80's, when screensavers were something futuristic! Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| WhiteWizzard Guru Joined: 05/04/2013 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2927 |
Lets ask Geoff if he can add into his VT100 firmware the ability to recreate ScreenBurn |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4004 |
The only genuine VT100 I can recall using (*) was white (not green or orange). (*) and I hated it as I was used to better devices; for me it had a horrid little screen and a nasty keyboard John |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9502 |
@ WW - Perhaps Geoff could!  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2946 |
Yes until recently we used these horrible QUME QVT-321 VDUs 
Now we use HP PCs with a SFF PC bolted on the back of the LCD Monitor and run PowerTerm for Windows. Much better and more reliable. Reagrds, Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9502 |
What?! Not the VT100 terminal on the back of the LCD's? Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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Oldbitcollector Senior Member  Joined: 16/05/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 172 |
I'm looking forward to playing with one of these... Is there a couple open pins I can hang my Propeller off on for program storage? My Propeller/Micromite mini-computer project. |
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| bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2946 |
Hi Jeff, All IO pins (of the uMite) are available via two 14 pin header strips see the manual HERE Regards, Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
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