pandrew wrote: ↑16 Feb 2021, 08:39
About using pin headers, the pins are not really arranged in a very regular fashion. So you'd have to make a custom version of one of the xwhatsit-like boards, that would have the same arrangement of pins. Also keep in mind, I don't know the diameter of those holes, there's a very good chance that those via holes to which we are soldering wires today, will not be able to take a pin header, and then you will have to drill a bigger hole, but you can't just drill through the existing hole, because you'll destroy the existing via, and soldering is gonna be a nightmare. You would have to solve that problem somehow if you want to use pinheaders.
The ICs mounted to the original PCB look fairly standard 2.54mm-spaced, so it should definitely be possible to solder pin headers to them once they are removed. I will check once I'm reunited with my board.
Regarding the connections to xwhatsit: Of course, that would be non-standard. But I'm not going to do any SMD soldering and I'm not going to pay huge sums for some prebuilt controller PCB which does not seem to be sold anyway. And I could just as well solder the TH-xwhatsit components to a prototyping PCB along with some pin headers in the exact required spacing.
It's not going to be a trivial mod, so I will first make absolutely sure that I cannot save the original controller.
Mine is not completely dead but
sometimes - when you least expect it - spits out random characters. So quite possibly, swapping out the capacitors will already help.
Btw. perhaps somebody knows exactly which capacitors are used on the original XT PCB (the newer variant of the two). That could save me some time. Unfortunately, the
kbdbabel schematics aren't very precise. This kind of information (and schematics) would also be appreciated for the
Model F Technical Reference which is a bit sparse on the XT-side of things. This question is popping up again and again. For the XT, there is an increased interest in fixing the original controller since it will never be as "easy" as for the other model Fs to install an xwhatsit.
If I have to build a custom TH-xwhatsit, I will of course inform you about the results and try to document it as best as possible. If I successfully manage to swap out the capacitors, I will also share this information.
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