Re: TWgs tc4 tc5 bow ties

[sporadic <sporadically@gmail.com>]

On Dec 16, 2:26 am, "brad" <mrb...@ll.net> wrote:
> So how did you heat up the Xacto knife?  Hold the blade over a candle
> for a few seconds?
>
> ---------------reply to above-----------------
>
> Thats the point I DID IT COLD.... and someone told me after the fact to heat
> up the cutting tool (i assume it is an exacto knife) and then slowly use the
> heated up xacto knife to slowly melt/cut a groove down to where the trace is
> thru the plastic....rather then do it my way DUMB where i just used force
> and a cold xacto knife..
>
> shudders yet again
>
> -------------------------
>
> I've found enough references stating the TC4 and TC5 bow ties should
> be cut.  But the Tony Diaz's upgrade guide and the SHH Systeme page
> about the 32K cache made no mention of needing this.
>
> http://apple2.gs/TWGS/TWGS32K.htmlhttp://www.wbwip.com/shh/twgscache.html
>
> ---------------reply to above--------------
>
> don't know been almost 20yrs i think since i did this mod...may have done it
> in 1993?........but i THINK although i'm not sure the cut of the bow ties
> was to get the 32k cache to work..if i remember right
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
>
> anyway good luck i've pretty much exhasted what i remember let us know how
> it goes
>
> (it works out it don't work out we will be easily entertained by either in
> this group....)
>
> good luck
>
> brad
> former sysop lost-gonzo.com

Well, I got the 14MHz 65816 and the 48 MHz crystal from ReactiveMicro
today, and managed to upgrade the TWgs in about 10 minutes.  Most of
the time was spent trying to figure out how to get the darn CPU out of
the PLCC socket.  The PLCC extractor tool I got from eBay is great for
pulling DIP memory chips, but useless on the actual PLCC socket.  What
I ended up doing was using a pair of tweezers that has a 45 degrees
bend at the tip, and slowly wedge the chip out, one corner at the
time.  A huge sigh of relief when it finally came loose.  I got two
crystals, 40MHz and 48MHz, I originally planned on being
"conservative" and start with the 40MHz, then I thought, what the
heck, the CPU is rated at 14MHz and I'm still underclocking it at
12MHz :)  So now it's running the continuous self-test, after a quick
smoke test with Nucleus.  The low-profile ZIF socket from Digikey was
still a bit to tall so the TWgs is now residing in Slow 4.

I still didn't cut the TC4 and TC5 bow ties.  I'm going to run
Benchmark 5.0 (?) to see if the performance is inline with other 12MHz/
32K TWgses and call it good.  Since no one else chimed in about "must"
cutting the bow ties otherwise the board will blow up, I'm going to
leave well enough alone for now.

To think, nearly 20 years later, the GS I have now is faster than the
GS I had then (ZipGSX 8/64) :)  Not to mention other goodies like the
MicroDrive 256MB and running it on a 24" LCD (dithering artifacts
notwithstanding).

A very merry Christmas indeed!  Apple II Forever!

Jimmy