Would it make more sense to use optoisolators here? I'm a bit leery of connecting motors/mechanical controls with an independent psu and a decent amount of induction directly to a c64 userport for fear of having the CIAs or other more irreplacable chips let out their smoke if the motors are at the end of their range. On 5/24/2016 10:57 AM, Dan Roganti via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
oh hey, I almost forgot, I still have the SVI-2000 robot arm if you want something else for the HOPE exhibit or the NYC MakerFaire. http://www.theoldrobots.com/images58/Robotarm-w1.JPG But I'm not sure if I can find the cartridge, it plugs into the C64 User Port. But it's very easy to make, all it was is a 4028 decoder with a row of output transistors. They get switched on/off by the software and it connects to both joystick ports on the robot arm . Personally, on something this slow I would use relays to keep it Retro. Nothing like hearing the clickity-clack on vintage hardware :) Because the bipolar transistors just suck up power away from the robot motors. So it runs slower than normal. This was originally made to use a pair of the popular joysticks, such as the Atari or C64, so it had direct power to the motors. If you want to masticate on it further, then Mosfets are the best. I could whip up this cartridge on wknd. Just have to find a case later. Oh and bring extra batteries, they go fast on a busy day. I don't know if you can find the original software, but they have one here http://csdb.dk/release/?id=122345&show=summary and here [german] http://retroport.de/Hardware_P-Q.html If you like, I can ship it, just have to find a big box at work, we have plenty of foam too - I'll just pick it up the next time I visit. I used it once at the Science center many years ago as a robot excavator inside a Martian landscape diorama. The martian rocks were painted chunks of styrofoam, and the dumpster rover was painted white with Nasa insignia decals. The kids had a ball. Dan
-- Jonathan Gevaryahu jgevaryahu@gmail.com jgevaryahu@hotmail.com