The Sinclair QL Forum

Noticed a couple of people wishing to purchase QubIDEs / (Super) Gold Cards but some of the logic is obsolete.

One solution is to replace the offending part with a CPLD and voltage conversion buffers (Voltage conversion buffers are necessary because modern CPLDs' voltage is less than 5V.

For the QubIDE, replacing all of the logic would be best, I would have thought.

Have we got the schematics / programming files / etc for the (Super) Gold Card's Altera Classic (EP1810) CPLDs at all? Also, what's the problem with the new vs old EP1810 CPLDs?

Just thinking.

Tim.
A very senior FPGA / CPLD Design Engineer

Well Tim, if you fancy a go, then the best person to speak to is Tony Firshman - I have tried asking Stuart McKnight a couple of things about the SGC lately, but he has not kept any notes!

I can;'t remember who built the units for Quanta.

Dave may also have some details...

So far as I recall, the issue with the old / new Altera Classic (EP1810) CPLDs was that the code was written on the original, using some undocumented feature - the chip was then altered, but because it was still in spec, they did not alter the identification numbers. As a result it left a bit of a bad taste, as they are one-shot only chips, and it was only having programmed a batch that Miracle Systems found out that the undocumented feature no longer worked! So they ended up with a batch of expensive chips which were couldn't even be sold on - the manufacturer refused to have them back, as they said that they remained within Spec.

I have some CPLDs here that are NOS, and were pointed out to me by Nasta back in 2000 or so - let me see what I have and report back (I am out of town until next week).