Here it is, the thing everyone has been waiting for, a 48K RAM pack expansion for the Jupiter Ace.
OK, maybe not everyone. I accept in this case the target audience is almost, but not quite, entirely no one.
I designed this when I was looking at repairing George Beckett's Jupiter Ace 4000, although in the end, it was decided to leave the original owner's late 80s mods intact as a non-functional work of art.
Since then, I have made a few of the 48K RAM packs for various Ace owners, and all reports have been positive.
I was recently contacted again and asked if I could supply one, so I thought it was about time I got around to listing this on Tindie.
It is available in kit or assembled versions.
You can use it like that if you like, but the slightly oddly shape PCB is for a reason.
It is designed to fit into a case from Future Was 8 bit, as used on the divMMC and the SD2PET.
The two button holes have been assigned to be a power LED and a reset button (neither of which the Ace has).
The edge connector fits nicely in the space designed for the slightly longer Spectrum edge connector.
There are cutouts on the case for the SD card and joystick. Neither of those are provided. Maybe one day?
Until then, a second PCB acts as a blanking plate.
This slots into the cutout at the back of the PCB.
"This space has been left intentionally blank". Hmm, seemed like a good idea at the time. (it was actually there to make sure the PCB manufacturer added their serial number onto this side of the board so it wasn't visible from the back. These boards were ordered in 2020, before they added the option to have the number removed. yes it has been sitting around that long, sorry. Some things happened in 2020......)
This cased version kit includes the extra PCB and the case.
This version is supplied with a special LED, a 4mm flat top version which fits neatly in the hole.
When assembling, it need to be mounted proud of the board, you can stand it in the case lid so it sits level with the top surface.
Then place over the PCB and solder. It's not obvious, but the lump on the side is negative, as the shorter leg as normal.
There is also a top hat button for the reset button.
Looks quite neat in the end, and unexpectedly matches the step in the case.
Maybe if you were creative you could add some red stripes? If only I knew someone with a new vinyl cutting machine. Oh wait, I do..... (artists impression)
Thanks to Binary Dinosaurs and Mat Recardo for photos of their upgraded Jupiter Aces.
They have been confirmed the RAM is being detected by the Ace.
I suggested in the manual that version of the RAM size detection, I added the 1- so the value printed is the last byte, rather than the last byte + 1. 65535 is the top of RAM with 48K installed, $FFFF. Without the 1- that would return 0 which is not obvious.
Here are some useful links to get software to make use of all the newly available RAM.
- https://github.com/markgbeckett/jupiter_ace/tree/master
- https://gldm.itch.io/
- https://petrih.itch.io/
Stop Press
Just as I was finishing writing the original version of this for Patreon, I got a message about an expected package that will be arriving here shortly......
Adverts
The 48K RAM pack for Jupiter Ace is available from my Tindie store. Don't all rush at once.
There are a selection of other repair and upgrade parts for various machines listed on my Tindie store, many of which can be seen on this PET 2001 board.
Be the envy of all your friends with one of the limited edition run of blue PET Diagnostics modules.
Patreon
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