An extra 0.1uF capacitor has been inserted, as has a 1.8432 MHz crystal. Subsequent comes an 8-pin male header, which can also be soldered into place.
High left: Here is the absolutely soldered board earlier than something has been inserted into the plugs and sockets.
High proper: Subsequent, Andy attaches a cable to the 8-pin header.
Backside left: He attaches the opposite finish of the cable to the second board that homes the USB and audio interfaces.
Decrease-right: An in depth-up of the second board.
Oops! Andy remembers he was imagined to insert the ACIA chip into the 28-pin socket first earlier than attaching the cable to the boards. No hurt finished; he does it now.
The underside proper picture reveals a facet view of the cardboard’s audio and USB interfaces.
The ultimate step in assembling the cardboard is to lock the 2 boards along with a zipper tie. An additional pair of palms (high proper) is required to safe the tie.
One workshop attendee, Tony Diaz (see his Apple II web site), modified his card to attach the 2 boards straight, bypassing the necessity for a cable and zip tie. “I simply take away the pins from the MP3 module, leaving holes within the PCB, add two items of double-stick padding to the underside facet of the MP3 card, and drop that down over the connector the place the wire harness was linked,” he defined.
The underside picture reveals the finished playing cards: Tony’s on the left and Andy’s on the fitting.
It is value noting that the A2MP3 card that is now on the market at Briel Computer systems, not like the one the workshop attendees constructed, has additionally been modified to remove the cable connection and have a direct plug-in to each items.
Now that the cardboard’s assembled, it is time to check it. The cardboard will be inserted into any of seven growth slots on this Apple IIe. Andy chooses slot 3.
Off-camera, Andy masses a floppy disk that incorporates the A2MP3 card’s interface software program. (The software program comes on a CD that must be copied onto a ProDOS quantity — floppy disk, arduous drive, CompactFlash card, and so on. It can be downloaded from the Web.)
Andy is now the proud proprietor of a working A2MP3 card.
Postscript: Lower than every week after getting his palms on his personal A2MP3 card, workshop attendee and programmer Michael Kent took it upon himself to enhance the rudimentary software program interface for the A2MP3 card. His model, proven on the backside, helps 80-column textual content and lowercase letters, and it lists the primary 20 songs on the flash drive. The brand new and improved software program is obtainable as a free obtain from the Briel Computer systems web site.
Word that each Kent’s and Briel’s software program is designed for 8-bit computer systems (Apple IIe, IIc, and so on.). The 16-bit Apple IIGS ought to have its personal A2MP3 software program later this yr, courtesy of programmer Eric Shepherd, who plans so as to add the flexibility to switch information on and off the cardboard, in all probability built-in with the Finder.
Copyright © 2011 IDG Communications, Inc.
