ZX Nucleon 512KB - Build Part 3 - Job Done!

Finally we reach the end of our Nucleon build.
Will it boot first time? Place your bets now!!!
This is fanastic kit provided by "CSS Electronics".
I got this kit from eBay.
We've built one before here on the channel. Watch it here - • ZX Nucleon 512K - Full...
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Purple!
Demo credits:
Add Astra - Joker - zxart.ee/eng/software/demosce...
STOPgenocide - Kitten Rescuers, Invaders, SinDiKat - zxart.ee/eng/software/demosce...
Attributica - Speccy.pl - zxart.ee/eng/software/demosce...
In Color - Darklite, Offence - zxart.ee/eng/software/demosce...
Butterflies (Simon's Cat - 512K) - DDp - zxart.ee/eng/software/demosce...
If anyone tells me that the pixels left the shift register in my demonstration the wrong way round, you win a cookie

[@flatduckrecords]

“DIPped” into the bag of sockets, haha!

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Taxi!

[@josefjelinek]

That is some hodgepodge of chips used in Eastern European / Russian ZX clones! I think the Z80 was from Eastern Germany and I saw it last time in late '80s. Wonder where they take the chips from for the kit. :)

[@meh3247]

Nicely built old chap! Nice demos too... (I also said "BOLLOCKS!", completely in synchrony with yourself, which made me chuckle)

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Hahahahahaha

[@cressytisswuff]

How satisfying! A little gutted for you that you couldn't fit a socket in that one place,I think that would have bugged me and my OCD tendencies!

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

I thought about trimming the capacitor hahaha

[@cressytisswuff]

@@HappyLittleDiodes you see, that's totally the type of thing I would do and just unleash an absolute world of pain for myself!

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

You might make some magic smoke doing that

[@garys6583]

Very nice and informative 😊

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Thanks!

As far as I know, the U880 (the "A" I guess may be the speed designation or something) is an interesting one, it's an unlicensed/"illegal" Zilog Z80 clone of the "west" in the "east" if you know what I mean. It's very highly Z80 compatible, though there are some corner/minor cases when it is .... not. By the way, I was always curious where ppl buy the IC sockets (when you mention you need to re-supply soon). I always have bad luck with that and getting crappy sockets (ebay/aliexpress) and places like mouser/digikey seems to be a bit too pricey for me.

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

I bought this batch from eBay and they seem fine....so far!

[@BlackAdder4Ever]

The UA880D is East German Z80 clone, 4MHz max. Depending on version, the pin spacing is either 2.5 mm for use in socialistic countries or regular 2.54mm for western export.

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Awesome thank you

[@user-hd8hp1fk6k]

"MME" is the factory "Mikroelektronik Erfurt" and "W9" is the production date: W:1988, 9:September

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Great info!

[@paszTube]

0:13 “diodes”… just “diodes”?!? Surely these are HAPPY and LITTLE?

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

I apologise for my actions and promise to do better in future

[@meh3247]

@@HappyLittleDiodes To add... are broken diodes in need of replacement "Massive and miserable diodes"? I have a feeling that they ought to be...

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Massive miserable diodes shouldn't be afraid to talk about it, CBT is very effective

[@preferredimage]

I was thinking character rom being empty until you said no pixel data at all. Good catch though. Nice looking board too.

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

I had a similar thought, the same thing happened with a PET a while ago. There is only one ROM though and since the machine was functional I figured it extremely unlikely that the character data was missing

[@kyorin6526]

Circus performer in a previous life...

[@moonandwanderer]

🕹️

[@kyorin6526]

Nice trouble-shooting skills. Is colour-clash not a thing anymore, or is it just good coding by the demo-makers?

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

It's still a thing, it's just outstanding coding

[@cressytisswuff]

I wonder if you could somehow fit a hidden switch to activate invisible ink mode!

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

You certainly could!

[@kyorin6526]

Where can I buy a Nucleon kit? All I'm finding with Google is dead links. I'd like to have a go at building one of these...

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

There is one on eBay right now but it's the last one for the year so the price is higher than usual.

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

You could go for a Harlequin 128K instead, they are a similar experience and more readily available and cheaper

[@kyorin6526]

@@HappyLittleDiodes Thanks, I'll look into it. If I do this, I'll probably donate it to Lee of MoreFunMakingIt for his charity events, once built.