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Multiboard from Brainsoft Ltd |
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PaulV (17:59 2/4/2013)
andypoole (18:48 2/4/2013)
PaulV (20:53 2/4/2013)
egel (20:55 2/4/2013)
PaulV (21:32 2/4/2013)
sirbod (08:40 3/4/2013)
PaulV (11:19 3/4/2013)
SteveD (18:54 3/4/2013)
SteveD (18:58 3/4/2013)
SteveD (22:13 3/4/2013)
PaulV (22:24 3/4/2013)
SteveD (13:14 4/4/2013)
swirlythingy (14:10 4/4/2013)
PaulV (18:55 4/4/2013)
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Paul Vernon |
Message #122231, posted by PaulV at 17:59, 2/4/2013 |
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Posts: 135
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Hi All,
I've recently acquired one of these podules which is usually referred to as a Multipod from what I can find on the Internet.
It is essentially a Video Digitiser, Stereo Sound Sampler, dual RS-232 port and analogue joystick adapter all in one. Quite a lot of functionality for one podule.
The photo in the link shows the three connectors.
http://www.retro-kit.co.uk/user/custom/Acorn/3rdParty/Brainsoft/MultiPod-5.jpg
The BNC is marked on the PCB as being the video but the other two connectors appear to be proprietary and I can't find any documentation about them at all.
Did it come with custom cables? If so does anyone have them still so they could provide pinouts for me?
Also, without any software to drive this board, although it appears to be working when plugged in to the point that it appears in *podules and *ROMModules etc. There's no real way to get it running to test it so if someone does have the software I'd appreciate some help there too.
If anyone can offer any other insight on this podule, I'd be most appreciative.
Paul |
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Andrew Poole |
Message #122232, posted by andypoole at 18:48, 2/4/2013, in reply to message #122231 |
Posts: 5558
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It is essentially a Video Digitiser, Stereo Sound Sampler, dual RS-232 port and analogue joystick adapter all in one. Quite a lot of functionality for one podule.
The photo in the link shows the three connectors.
http://www.retro-kit.co.uk/user/custom/Acorn/3rdParty/Brainsoft/MultiPod-5.jpg
The BNC is marked on the PCB as being the video but the other two connectors appear to be proprietary and I can't find any documentation about them at all. The one on the left looks like an analogue joystick port (DA-15) like the one found on the BBC Micro (see this picture), although it's a male connector as opposed to the female connector on the BBC Micro.
The one on the right looks like it's a standard DB-25 port, so presumably the RS-232 port.
Also, without any software to drive this board, although it appears to be working when plugged in to the point that it appears in *podules and *ROMModules etc. There's no real way to get it running to test it so if someone does have the software I'd appreciate some help there too. If it's a really old board, I'd be surprised if it worked with newer versions of RISC OS. It certainly wouldn't with RO5 (32-bit, etc), and I seem to remember later versions of ROL's OS being fussy over a lot of podule boards. It's a while since I've attempted to use one though, so I stand to be corrected, there.
But yeah, without the software that goes with it, it's probably fairly useless unless you feel like reverse engineering it  |
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Paul Vernon |
Message #122233, posted by PaulV at 20:53, 2/4/2013, in reply to message #122232 |
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Posts: 135
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The one on the left looks like an analogue joystick port (DA-15) like the one found on the BBC Micro (see this picture), although it's a male connector as opposed to the female connector on the BBC Micro.
The one on the right looks like it's a standard DB-25 port, so presumably the RS-232 port. But that's what I was getting at. They're not standard ports at all. From those two ports it offers 2 RS-232 ports, support for 2 analogue joysticks and a stereo sound sampler.
I'm intending to fit it into one of my Arc's if I can get the software and pinouts for the device but I'm not holding my breath.
It's more out of curiosity than anything else that I want to see it working, there's almost nothing online about these things.
CJE list one but given that the description appears to be incorrect regarding what it does, I'm guessing it's just the board with no instructions/software/cables and without those things or the info to re-construct teh cables at least, it's not worth fitting 
Paul |
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Wouter Rademaker |
Message #122234, posted by egel at 20:55, 2/4/2013, in reply to message #122231 |
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Posts: 17
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Does this help:
http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/Brochures/Acorn_APP311_GoldVARProductCatalogue.pdf
page 14 of 36
Brainsoft Ltd
106 Baker Street
London
W1M 1DF
Tel: 0836 648551
Fax: 071 486 2111
BRAINSOFT MULTIPLE I/O EXPANSION CARD
RRP: £117.00 exc VAT
Minimum RAM requirement 1Mb
The Brainsoft Multiple Input/Output Expansion card consists of a video digitiser, a sound digitiser and an RS232 serial interface to connect to other computers and modems. Also included on this board is an analogue joystick interface, capable of interfacing to third-party analogue joysticks which conform to Acorn specifications.
The ROM/RAM filing system provided on this card is capable of accessing ROMS up to 128Kbyte in size located in three ROM sockets on the board. By using the 6502 emulator (C) Acorn Computers Limited) certain unprotected and legal' 6502 ROM-based programs available for the BBC microcomputer Models B, B+ and Master Computer Series may be executed.
A 32Kbyte ROM manager is fitted on the board in socket 0, and provides a series of high- and low-level commands for utilising the functions on the expansion card.
[Edited by egel at 20:57, 2/4/2013] |
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Paul Vernon |
Message #122235, posted by PaulV at 21:32, 2/4/2013, in reply to message #122234 |
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Posts: 135
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Does this help I've just found that myself too. It doesn't help much as it just describes what it does, not how it does it and it provides more functionality than the number of ports would suggest on the face of it so it's a tricky one.
From what I've found online, it's possibly one of the first 3rd party podules available for the Arc.
Paul |
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Jon Abbott |
Message #122236, posted by sirbod at 08:40, 3/4/2013, in reply to message #122231 |
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Posts: 563
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Not much use, but I found these doing a search:
25 pin is serial
BNC is Video
15 pin is analogue I/O, so joystick and stereo audio
It was reviewed in Archive magazine:
http://www.danceswithferrets.org/phpArcScan/view.php?pub=1&vol=2&issue=12&highlight=1728
Also reviewed in AU:
http://www.acornuser.com/acornuser/year8/issue86.html |
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Paul Vernon |
Message #122237, posted by PaulV at 11:19, 3/4/2013, in reply to message #122236 |
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Posts: 135
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Not much use, but I found these doing a search:
25 pin is serial
BNC is Video
15 pin is analogue I/O, so joystick and stereo audio This is the thing though, the serial port on the board is a dual affair meaning the equivalent of COM1 and COM2 are on the same 25-pin connector. This is backed up by the fact that the board has two MC1488 RS-232 receivers sat directly behind the socket so the pin-out for the connector is not your traditional serial port pinout.
The same goes for the analogue port.
On the Beeb, the analogue port has the analogue channels, strobe and light pen connectivity. This is not the case on the Multipod as it supports the ADC functions and the sampling functions.
Looking at the board, it appears that the audio sampler is connected to the pins that would support the light pen on the Beeb and the rest of the pins seem to be wired to an 8 channel mux 75HC4051 which passes some signals through to the ADC.
I can probably derive the pinouts with enough time and the datasheets for the IC's that sit behind the sockets to a point. Most annoyingly, the ADC chip has had its information removed on purpose by something akin to a Dremel which makes life difficult...
Given that the pinouts are different to what is the norm, I was thinking that the board may well have been supplied with Y-cables to split out the serial ports and the analogue port and sampler with the serial Y-cable offering two 9-pin D-type serial ports and the analogue port being split into a female 15-way socket for joysticks/ADC functions and either a set of two phono connectors or a single stereo 3.5mm jack socket for the audio sampler.
Having these sorts of cables would allow me to derive the pinouts much more easily, hence why I asked if anyone had any knowledge of this thing.
Paul |
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Steve Drain |
Message #122250, posted by SteveD at 18:54, 3/4/2013, in reply to message #122237 |
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Posts: 4
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Way back I bought a couple of these for my school. I have looked on my drive and found an archive containing the Help file and software. I have not read through in detail but I would be happy to send it to you. Let me know at steve at kappa dot me dot uk. |
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Steve Drain |
Message #122251, posted by SteveD at 18:58, 3/4/2013, in reply to message #122237 |
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Way back I bought a couple of these for my school. I have looked on my drive and found an archive containing the Help file and software. I have not read through in detail but I would be happy to send it to you. Let me know at steve at kappa dot me dot uk. |
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Steve Drain |
Message #122253, posted by SteveD at 22:13, 3/4/2013, in reply to message #122237 |
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Way back I bought a couple of these for my school. I have looked on my drive and found an archive containing the Help file and software. I have not read through in detail but I would be happy to send it to you. Let me know at steve at kappa dot me dot uk. |
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Paul Vernon |
Message #122254, posted by PaulV at 22:24, 3/4/2013, in reply to message #122253 |
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Posts: 135
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That's fantastic news! I've sent a quick e-mail.
Thanks.
Paul |
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Steve Drain |
Message #122256, posted by SteveD at 13:14, 4/4/2013, in reply to message #122237 |
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Posts: 4
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Way back I bought a couple of these for my school. I have looked on my drive and found an archive containing the Help file and software. I have not read through in detail but I would be happy to send it to you. Let me know at steve at kappa dot me dot uk. |
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Martin Bazley |
Message #122257, posted by swirlythingy at 14:10, 4/4/2013, in reply to message #122256 |
Posts: 460
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Way back I bought a couple of these for my school. I have looked on my drive and found an archive containing the Help file and software. I have not read through in detail but I would be happy to send it to you. Let me know at steve at kappa dot me dot uk. ...I think he heard you. |
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Paul Vernon |
Message #122258, posted by PaulV at 18:55, 4/4/2013, in reply to message #122256 |
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Posts: 135
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Way back I bought a couple of these for my school. I have looked on my drive and found an archive containing the Help file and software. I have not read through in detail but I would be happy to send it to you. Let me know at steve at kappa dot me dot uk. Thanks for the software Steve, sadly, it doesn't work. It isn't that the board is broken, but it seems the software you have is for version 0.9 of the Multipod ROM and the ROM on my Multipod is dated 1.61. It seems in between times, all the SWI's were re-written so they don't match up at all.
It's a shame it didn't work but at least I know what I'm looking for in the future if I ever do want to get it working.
Paul |
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