22 Aug
2006
22 Aug
'06
12:31 a.m.
On 22/8/06 08:30, "Jules Richardson" <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:
According to this advert from 1977ish some of the CPU signals go directly to
the edge connector at the back, also note the expansion at the lower right
for an external keyboard..
http://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/scripts/picshow.php?image=mk14.jpg&fol…
Museum/Adverts&back=/Museum/Adverts/index.php
(erk, url wrappage!)
Also, here's a later one that features such niceties as a 'vdu module' which
to me looks like a eurocard.....
Also, here's Nick Toop's own MK14 in large JPG format; note later membrane
keyboard, power module and wires at the top going to the cassette interface.
The metal box it's in was Nick's own design but Clive never took it on,
probably because of cost :)
http://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/nickmk14.jpg
--
Adrian/Witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer
collection?
Well, the
keypad was terrible (I ended up soldering 20 switches from
Maplin onto the MK14 PCB, the holes and traces were there for them...).
There were some very marginal bits of logic design (hint : a '157 is a
multiplexer, a '175 is a latch, but the MK14 uses the former as a the
display output register. It works for _some_ makes of '157...). The CPU
buses are not broungt off-board, so expansion was a pain.
Hmm, that is really surprising about the (lack of) expansion ability - I would
have thought it's one of the primary reasons in choosing a machine of that
class. I can't imagine doing something like in the ZX series (solder-pad edge
connector) would exactly have put the manufacturing cost up by much! 
