ACE2 Swap Agnus to 318069-10 for native PAL?

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • Greetings! I have purchased an ACE2 and Agnus 318069-10 from iComp which are both currently en-route to me. I'm very exited such a product has been made available since a 2meg chip RAM A500 is just outstanding. Thanks for making this happen!


    I am curious if you think there would be any issue refitting the "native" NTSC Agnus with PN 318069-10 so I don't need to switch into PAL mode via software? Electrically 318069-10 and 318069-11 are identical, so unless your CPLD implementation somehow requires the NTSC part, I assume this swap would be fine?


    Further, it looks like it would be a very tight fit with the pads for the GARY leads being in close proximity, should fitting a low-profile PLCC socket be possible?


    I have an IR BGA rework tool so safely lifting the existing Agnus shouldn't be an issue assuming this "NOS" chip doesn't "pop" from moisture infiltration, and I'm careful not to damage the "inverted" PLCC socket underneath.


    And I obviously accept any responsibility for damage.


    My PAL A500 is fitted with a TerribleFire 68030 40MHz accelerator in the 68K socket, so no need for an ACA500 - which unfortunately means no facility to kick the Agnus into PAL mode in early start-up... so I'd prefer to either convert this to a native PAL device, or even better- a socketed one to switch between them if necessary.


    Cheers!!

  • Moisture should not be an issue with the newly-produced ACE2 units, as they have been low-temp baked before production.


    The PAL Agnus you've purchased is a VBB type, so it will be a drop-in replacement for the NTSC type.


    I would not use a PLCC SMD socket. I have never seen any SMD PLCC socket of decent quality, and you're only constructing an instable-by-design-machine.


    We do have some internal software (internal=not properly tested, therefore not published) that switches to PAL and then continues to boot: It's a Bootblock, so should fit on any disk that does not have a trackloader. And for Trackloaders, it would be "insert disk, wait for dick-change-prompt and insert trackloading disk". Development/testing of this software has been interrupted in favour of all the projects that need to be finished this year, but we may get back to that in december.

  • Thank you for the information Jens. It's nice to see a product creator also engaging directly with his customers!


    I agree PLCC sockets can be flaky, and in fact the same can be said for any kind of socket-none are more reliable then solder. In my experience though, when high quality sockets are used properly (only clean components socketed, use of proper pulling tools, chip swaps kept to a minimum, etc) they seem to hold up OK. As a tech veteran I'm willing to accept these caveats in exchange for the ability to swap between native PAL or NTSC Agnus if necessary.


    In any event, should you decide you'd like some beta testing your bootblock PAL/NTSC switching tool please feel free to reach out to me.


    Cheers Jens!

    Dieter

  • Hi, I also have the same problem, ACE2 which is seen as NTSC and creates problems with the INDIVISION ECS V2.

    In two years, have you found a way to switch between NTSC and PAL?


    Thank you

  • Use the "force PAL" option of the ACA500 or ACA500plus.


    Edit: Just saw that you've made another post where I can see an A2000 motherboard in a picture, so this solution does not apply here.

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