Proto-Schlock wrote on 2024-06-16, 09:16:

Hi everybody,

Please email me at

repeat:
If you do not receive a response, write from another email address.
Sometimes emails end up in the spam folder and I don't always see it.

I agree if someone makes a batch of adapters for forum members, and he will even sell the surplus in his country (except Russia).
My ban is only on sales on international trading sites such as eBay, Amibay, Aliexpress, etc.

In addition to JLCPCB, there are other manufacturers of printed circuit boards in China. You can find them using Google (for example NextPCB, Elecrow, PCBWay, etc). Although I ordered these PCBs from JLCPCB, and did not have any problems.

ENIG is a layer of nickel with a thin layer of gold. Nickel provides mechanical protection and corrosion resistance. It is durable and has a fairly thick layer. A thin layer of gold is needed only for soldering. Nickel cannot be soldered with conventional fluxes, so it is coated with gold. In any case, ENIG is much preferable to HASL for contacts.

Thanks everybody for your support and good words!

Rio444 wrote on 2024-07-02, 11:42:

Thanks everybody for your support and good words!

Your PS/2 mouse adapter is the best. It's a simple card. Very compatible. Smooth movement on my HP KVM switch even when I use a USB mouse on the switch. Maybe someday something like Picomem will present a USB alternative, but that seems like it is a long way off.

Rio444 wrote on 2024-07-02, 11:42:

I agree if someone makes a batch of adapters for forum members, and he will even sell the surplus in his country (except Russia).
My ban is only on sales on international trading sites such as eBay, Amibay, Aliexpress, etc.

If anyone is making a batch, I'm interested. Europe, Denmark

I'd also be interested in another unit if someone is making batches. I have 2 units, but they both ended up in systems. I need a 3rd for testbeds.

2 units here also, actually 😀

I'm still interested in building a batch for members if others want to collaborate. I can order the PCBs and solder the components, but I have no experience flashing chips.

I'm interested in purchasing some in the US if folks are still building these

Proto-Schlock wrote on 2024-11-11, 06:13:

I'm still interested in building a batch for members if others want to collaborate. I can order the PCBs and solder the components, but I have no experience flashing chips.

Mark me down for one. How much we talkin?

How are we doing the rear I/O bracket?

Is there a place online you can order brackets to spec from?

Proto-Schlock wrote on 2024-11-11, 06:13:

I'm still interested in building a batch for members if others want to collaborate. I can order the PCBs and solder the components, but I have no experience flashing chips.

I'd be interested in two of them!

I'm way behind on the posts here and don't have the time to look through all 15 pages to see what kind of chip it is that needs to be programmed. I have some experience flashing certain types of chips. What kind are we talking about?
UPDATE: I think I found it. Looks like an Atmega8 and Altera EPM3064.
I've flashed Atmega's before so long as I have all the files.
I think I've also done an Altera chip.

Would need the program software though, didn't see that with the BOM and the Gerber files post.

Should be a .elf and a .hex for the Atmega, although I think it can be slightly different. Some of the Atmega have fuse bits that need to be programmed, just have to make sure to have the file that contains all that info. Should be able to figure it out if someone can point me at files. Last time I did this I only needed a USBasp to program the Atmega completely.

For the Altera...it's been a while, but I think those were easier to program. Would need the firmware to burn as well.

I can also solder, but don't have tons of time is my issue 😀. But happy to help if I can.

And I've read the concerns about not releasing this into the wild and happy to keep it contained and still glad to help get some made if I can.

Before anyone asks, no I will not be assembling these for sale. Personal use only. However, I may have an extra PCB or two left over to send to someone in the US.

I will also be providing instructions to use the ATF1504AS in place of the out of production EPM3064 if I am successful in doing so. If Rio grants permission, I can also provide a converted firmware for it.

I'm also interested if someone in Europe gets to build these cards. I had a look at the BOM but some chips aren't really available to buy at a reasonable price, and then of course there is programming...

Hello,

Would there be any chance of redesigning a pcb to accept drilled components instead of smd? It would be great, even easy to make at home...

I'm finally getting around to programming the uc's for this. So far I've done the ATMEGA. Here are some tips:

I used the ICSP cable included with the TL866 and the Xgpro software. The Xgpro software will tell you the pinout of the ICSP cable and you just match it up to the image (!!!_ISP_.png) included with Rio's firmware files.
The EEPROM part of the chip is left blank. The .eep file included with the firmware package from Rio is nothing but a EOF record in Intel hex and may be ignored.
The flash region of the chip should be programmed with the .hex file included with the fw package. Make sure "Intel HEX" for file type and region "flash" are selected when loading the file in Xgpro (HEX should be automatically ticked based on the file extension.)
The .rom file included in the fw package has the same content (in a different, incompatible format) as the .hex file and should be ignored.
The screenshot of the fuses included with the fw package is INVERTED from what Xgpro presents. Make sure that the hex values for the high (0xC9) and low (0x04) fuse bytes match in Xgpro. This is accomplished by ticking the opposite boxes than are shown in the screenshot. Rio's screenshot also shows the lock bits as ENABLED. Unless you want to lock the device for your own personal use (you don't) I strongly urge leaving all lock bits UN-ticked in Xgpro for a lock bit byte of 0xFF.

Ok the Atmel/Microchip ATF1504AS has been programmed and the card works! The smoothness of movement over a native serial mouse in win 3.11 is immediately noticeable!

I will be covering the BOM changes and programming procedure for substituting the ATF1504AS for the out of production EPM3064 in this thread. The ATF1504AS is a native 5V CPLD which is still in active production and available at mouser and digikey!
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/mi … -10AU44/1008359
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Microchi … dQ1qD2Ymw%3D%3D

Because this is a native 5V CPLD, the voltage regulator in the original design (DA1) must be omitted and 5V must be connected to the Vcc of the chip. There are two easy ways to do this - first (and my) choice is to bridge the input and output pads of the footprint for DA1 with a piece of wire or component leg. Second choice is to use a bodge wire on the back of the PCB connecting the + pads of C1 to C2. C2 may be omitted since only one bulk decoupling cap is needed on this rail, as opposed to an input and output one on either side of the regulator. Additionally R1 and R2 must be omitted since the ATF1504AS has optional internal pullups on TMS and TDI, which I have enabled in the converted firmware. Optionally I also recommend omitting R4, as a pullup on TDO is not necessary IMO and not recommended in design guidelines for this CPLD. R3, the pulldown for TCK, is still recommended to be installed, but I used a value of 2K instead of the original 1K in the BOM. Either one would probably be fine. If you really want to be a cheap ass like me, you can also skip the LED (VD1) and its associated current limiting resistor (R5). According to Roman, "The LED is for diagnostic purposes only. It shows that the connection to the mouse is established and that the device is exchanging data with the computer."

So to summarize the required changes from Rio444's BOM:
DA1, C2, R1, R2, R4, RN1 are all DNP
Connect + pads of C1 and C2 with a wire
DQ1 is ATF1504AS
XS1 is DNP depending on your programming technique - more on this later

Now to the programming. I will not be covering the conversion process to convert the EPM3064 firmware to the ATF1504AS firmware, however Rio444 has granted me permission to distribute the converted files to any vogons member who requests it in DM. There are two files - a .JED file which is used with Atmel's own ISP utility and a .SVF file which is used with OpenOCD. I will only be covering the procedure for using OpenOCD on Windows with an Adafruit FT232H as the programmer. This is available here: http://adafru.it/2264 You can either solder pin headers to the FT232H and the XS1 footprint on the card, or just use male to male dupont pins as I did.

The first step is to connect the wires from the FT232H to the programming header on the card. Use Rio's image to connect:
CARD : FT232H
TCK: D0
TDI: D1
TDO: D2
TMS: D3
5V: 5V
Gnd: Gnd

Do not connect the pad labeled "Vcc" on the card to anything - it is not needed!

Next hurdle here is to get proper drivers for the FT232H installed which work with libusb-1.0 Windows. I will only be covering this for Windows 10/11, different OS you're on your own sorry. The default drivers windows will install for the interface are the FTDI drivers which do not work. I recommend a utility called Zadig https://zadig.akeo.ie/ to solve this problem. Connect the FT232H to your PC and download and run Zadig. Select Options -> List All Devices. Then select "USB Serial Converter" from the list. Hit the "Replace Driver" button to replace the FTDI driver with WinUSB. This process takes way longer than you'd think, be patient. This driver will only last as long as you have the device plugged in, so don't disconnect until we're done! If you do replug the device you must run Zadig again!

Next download and run OpenOCD from the file attached to this post. This includes the correct USB library for Windows as well as a config file for the FT232H. Credit to unprovable on Github for the config file. https://github.com/unprovable/FTDI-Oh-My/blob … 32H-openOCD.cfg
DM me for the SVF file and drop it in the same folder as OpenOCD. Then open up a command prompt in the OpenOCD folder and run 'openocd' no switches. OpenOCD should print that is has detected the Atmel device and then stay resident. At this point you must use a telnet client to connect to it. Connect to localhost:4444 and you should get a prompt from OpenOCD. Type 'svf sample.svf' (no quotes)

The svf is a script and will run through a ton of JTAG commands in front of you, it will pause for a moment a couple times, and then when finished it should print that the operation is complete with no errors. If you got this far congrats, you're done. The script both programs and verifies the CPLD. Then type 'shutdown' (again no quotes) to close OpenOCD. Now you can disconnect the FT232H and programming header. Enjoy!

Pics of my card

Impressive amount of effort that you put into this best-in-class PS/2 mouse adaptor. Once you've used it, you never will go back to ordinary PS/2-to-serial protocol converters. In my opinion, having a spare one of these cards in your drawer/box is as important as having an ISA sound card.

Had you looked for EPM3064 from 3rd parties? To me, it seems like the amount of effort required to convert the firmware from EPM3064 to ATF1504 would be far greater than the effort required to obtain EPM3064 from non-Digikey/Mouser sources. Like most new initiatives, perhaps you did not realise the time and mental commitment prior to the conversion?

How will you handle the slot bracket and its mounts?

I have bought a couple of cards directly from rio444 in the past but what is the process now if I want a couple more?
Also good job moving to atf1504 maxtherabbit!

feipoa wrote on 2025-06-27, 21:44:

Impressive amount of effort that you put into this best-in-class PS/2 mouse adaptor. Once you've used it, you never will go back to ordinary PS/2-to-serial protocol converters. In my opinion, having a spare one of these cards in your drawer/box is as important as having an ISA sound card.

Had you looked for EPM3064 from 3rd parties? To me, it seems like the amount of effort required to convert the firmware from EPM3064 to ATF1504 would be far greater than the effort required to obtain EPM3064 from non-Digikey/Mouser sources. Like most new initiatives, perhaps you did not realise the time and mental commitment prior to the conversion?

How will you handle the slot bracket and its mounts?

Atmel provides an automated tool to convert the firmware, if I had to do it by hand I wouldn't have considered it. I already had the FT232H and OpenOCD setup from previous projects, so obtaining whatever bespoke programmer and vendor specific programming tools for the obsolete part would probably have been more effort tbqh.

Yes the EPM3604 is no doubt available from ebay sellers and the like, but you never know what you're getting with them and I wanted my card to work on the first try. Even if it was slightly more effort to do it this way, I wanted to provide the firmware for posterity. As you say, this adapter is a wonderful design and I wanted to help ensure that people will continue to be able to build them in the future.

Documenting the process was probably the most effort I put into it, but again posterity. Doing it with the modern part also reduced my overall cost since there was no voltage regulator or additional shipping costs from a 3rd party, and I did not have to purchase any additional programming equipment.

As for the slot bracket, I don't know. Maybe someday I'll get around to making a 3d model of the entire thing for printing. I don't have the proper fixtures or tooling to drill a metal one properly.

As it stands, I will probably just run it bracketless. Yes this is below my usual standard of professionalism, but the card is so small I don't think I have to worry too much about it coming loose.

Speaking of unprofessional, I also got my PCBs in HASL... but I did at least bevel the card edge with a sanding block!

keropi wrote on 2025-06-27, 22:01:

I have bought a couple of cards directly from rio444 in the past but what is the process now if I want a couple more?
Also good job moving to atf1504 maxtherabbit!

Email Roman for the ATMEGA firmware and then get a run of PCBs from the board house of your choosing. I can DM you the Atmel firmware.

The gerbers and BOM are here:
Re: Another PS/2 Mouse ISA (ISA8) card adapter