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Another Gigatron blinks into life!

Posted: 05 Jul 2019, 00:41
by bobbi
First of all I would like to compliment Walter and Marcel for creating such an amazing kit. Every aspect of the production from the manual, the PCB and even the wooden box are beautifully thought out and perfectly executed.

After a bit of a delay in Canada Customs, the package arrived at the end of day yesterday. I spent most of the day today having fun putting it together. I am not quite done yet (still need to solder the VGA, serial I/P and audio stuff) ... but I have the blinkenlights!

The only issue I had during assembly was I clumsily folded over one of the pins of U25 (High Adder). By the time I realized my mistake I had soldered most of the other pins, so I used a bit of spare wire (from a resistor lead) make a repair. This didn't work first time (all four lights stuck on, not cycling). However it took about 10 minutes to track down where the issue was and to reflow the solder.

Hopefully I get to finish it off tomorrow. Here are a few pics of the build, and my messy workspace. You can see my bodge on U25 (third pin from the right). I thought the clock signal looked quite clean on the scope.

Once again congrats to Walter and Marcel for this awesome gift to the (hacker) world.
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Re: Another Gigatron blinks into life!

Posted: 05 Jul 2019, 15:56
by walter
Thanks for the compliments!

It was probably a wise choice to stick in a piece of wire, instead of trying to desolder. Your workbench looks quite nice, love the empty cup of coffee there :-)

Re: Another Gigatron blinks into life!

Posted: 05 Jul 2019, 21:19
by bobbi
Finished it off today. VGA, sound and Pluggy McPlugface are all working :)

I spent an hour or two chasing down some of my bad solder joints. The system seems to be reliable now!

The Gigatron is very cool!!
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Re: Another Gigatron blinks into life!

Posted: 01 Nov 2019, 16:08
by lwizzit
Hi Bobbi,

Thanks for your post. I am in Montreal (Canada) and have been thinking of ordering this kit. You mentioned a delay at customs. Were there any fees, duties, taxed due upon receipt?

Thanks
G