The clips on the case are put on backwards, they can be taken out by holding them vertically and pull them out. There's room for the small hex wrench in a little slot in the same compartment as the soldering iron.
In addition to using hemostats to grab things in tight spaces or hold things together, I also clamp them onto wires or leads next to a joint I'm soldering. It acts as a heatsink and protects nearby components from the heat conduction.
My favorite medical instrument is the alligator ear forceps as with their jaws closed, they can be navigated through the tightest passages including a rats nest of wiring to then open and grab something. Or they can be used to install/remove/change a jumper without having to otherwise disassemble something for proper access. Or they can retrieve that dropped jumper, screw, or washer. My favorite size is the ~6”, but they make both smaller and much longer going into laparoscopic territory.
This video is absolutely fantastic! Loved seeing the modern recreation of the IBM CGA card and the deep dive into its functionality. The way you explain each detail makes it so engaging-keep up the great work! 👏
Dual-port SRAMs are also useful in various architectures that have a video subsystem that runs independently of the processor. The dual-porting means you don't need to block/synchronize operations between each side, so the processor can update byes in the video buffer and the video circuitry can scan out frames simultaneously without needing to wait on each other.
The saddest part of the failure to charge certain USB C devices is that "implementing the protocol" in a way that will make a compliant USB PD source happy literally just involves including two tiny surface mount resistors in the device connected to the CC pins. It costs less than one cent to do it correctly, yet it's incorrectly implemented _so often._
I haven't watched the video yet, but I am COMPLETELY STOKED because I see in the thumbnail my IC coffin from Thingaverse. "How do I know I'm not just some a$$h0le making that claim?" Well, there's an Easter-egg in the design: The date code on the chip is my birthday (uh, birthweek). Also, I tweeted Adrian about the topic (before the, uh, rebrand to X). I designed the print with the intent to mail in from the far away land of Hillsboro, OR to be a "dead parts bin" but other folks beat me to the punch on sending in their own bin, the chip didn't fit tightly as a lid, and frankly, I liked the print so much that I just kept it and as a result, I never followed-through. STOKED to see it in the thumbnail and excited to see who mailed it in.
AAAAY!!!! CHAD!!! Yeah, his issues with the design are my issues with the design. I knocked it out in the 3 week gap between job searching and the start of my current gig.
Ahhh too funny!!! My friend who printed it for me lives near me in SE Portland so he just gave it to me in person. Please email me to my channel email :-)
I believe data lines on those chips run on 5v signal? So 12V is not that far off. It will drop dead for sure, but i dont expect smoke or some light show effects.
Hemostats, thanks to my Dad, will always populate my soldering toolbox. He was a paramedic in his college years, and learned soldering electronics using his improvised kit, and the hemostats were repurposed into it. Obviously, I learned on his tools, and here we are!
Indeed. I've asked for some from hospitals but they have to dispose of them in medical waste after one use! Seems they no longer sterilize and reuse them because it's cheaper just to destroy them and open a new sterile one.
@@adriansdigitalbasement2 so true. I spent the summer in the hospital (8 weeks total) with a serious bowel perforation. The amount of STEEL TOOLS they used on me and then threw away… I understand the reason, but I’m such a recycler of PC parts, it just hurts! LOL
From the manual: "To project your TC004 screen to PC, you need to switch your TC004 to USB mode first (Go to Setting > System Setting, and tap Using Mode to switch to USB mode)."
@@der.Schtefan Then I would contact the seller and ask why their manual seems to mention functionality not found in his unit. Worst case: the flashing of the firmware didn't go as 'flawless' as we thought.
Companies know that even if you don't "review" a product, just showing it on your channel helps them out a ton. Super cheap advertising for them. That's why RUclips requires any compensation, including free products, even if no money changes hands, to be disclosed by selecting the "contains paid promotion" checkbox on the video. EU also requires it to be in the description, IIRC.
Not to generalize, but honestly that thermal camera is just representative of the slightly-higher-quality Shenzen market Chinese junk. It almost feels like companies trying to make the effort to not be shovelware trash, but they lack the technical knowhow and experience to get it done properly. The things they make _mostly_ work, but there are always a few small issues that cause big problems. You can spot these things a mile away by their 5 or 6 letter names that often feel like random Latin letters flung together. Because that's exactly what they are. A for effort. Hopefully some of these companies can actually get it together and find some success because having working quality gear at a fraction of the cost would be a huge benefit for smaller creators and for people just getting started in electronics because the kit can be overwhelmingly expensive sometimes.
Ironically the other stuff they make is pretty decent. They make car scanners with the launch software, battery testers and a really beefy Car power supply for diagnostics etc.
I remember using a old thermal camera that was SOO big that you had to put the power supply and image unit on a cart! (and a LONG extension cord). But we were also using ones like the one you have now. They are cool to use!
Dual port ram is actually the most useful to implement graphics adapters that can have their contents updated by the cpu while they are drawing out the picture, to prevent CGA snow
Yep and I would had gone with it in my project if that type of ram wasn't so pricey! I needed 64K worth of video RAM for mine and well, doing 64K total of dualport would had been crazy expensive.
@@sprybugthe Mac SE/30 uses 64k of dual port and those chips aren't too expensive. See D41264 and HM53451P, they are 4 bits x 64k. I think there are other pin compatible brands but many old video cards used these as I stole one from an old scrap video card just the other day.
@@sprybug: Sadly it'll probably be too much work for the result, but just in case take a look at embedded (not "standard", _also not_ LPDDR) DDR 4 ram- my understanding is that it moved to dual-port as a _standard_ feature for increased throughput.
Yes! CPLDs on that CGA reproduction. I've been working on a computer project for the last 4 years or so, and recently learned how to program those type of CPLDs. The difference is I use the Altera MAX EPM7000 series. It's very similar to the ATF series, in fact it's totally pin compatible too. However, I use Quartus II for my software, and a special version which includes the EPM7000 series. This creates the programming files specifically for the MAX series, so I go with that, and my USB Blaster will program them via JTAG. Both the ATF and EPM7000 series uses 5V, which is why they used it, and which is why I went with it myself since I'm using vintage 5v chips in this project.
I've had the all same issues with the HTI/Topdon IR Cameras...freezing video, bad drivers, sdcard issues. I tried a firmware update and it ended up bricking the unit (no amount of power button pressing would fix it, but I may give it one additional try based on your "long power button press"). In the end, I gave up and bought the FLIR One camera adapter for my iPhone. It's a little cumbersome, but it works reliably. As for the battery issue on the FLIR One, I just keep it plugged in to a USB charger until I need it.
Oh, and I use a lightning extension cable and a flexible mount to position the FLIR One over my work bench to characterize my ATX DC2DC switcher boards for S-100 Bus voltages.
I bought the infiray p2 pro, excellent device, amazing refresh rate and acceptable price. I have the usbc model and I use it with an android device. app is crappy but it works fine
of course one of the most common uses for the dual port ram is for video ram so the display can access the memory without interfering with cpu access or timing which will reduce cpu performance.
@@adriansdigitalbasement2 The standard "dual-ported" video RAM chips (VRAM) actually are single-ported DRAM and a "big" shift register built into one die. The shift register is as big as a full row, and you can use the random-access port not only to read/write single "words" (4-bit nibbles in case of the Mac SE/30 chips), but also to re-load the shift register. The "serial port" does not interface to the RAM matrix at all, but is just an interface to the shift register. Most (all?) VRAM chips also allow serial writing into the shift register and transferring the shift register into the row buffer, but this mode of operation is not used in graphics cards, but it is nice for frame-grabbers. This mode is likely omitted in later VRAM variants specifically targetted at graphics cards (like the WRAM used by Matrox).
Hi Adrian, the menus on that thermal camera looks very similar to those on my Uni-T 260, so I would assume the capture-mode works the same. In order to get the video-capture to work, set the USB Mode from Disk mode, to camera mode.
From the manual: "To project your TC004 screen to PC, you need to switch your TC004 to USB mode first (Go to Setting > System Setting, and tap Using Mode to switch to USB mode)."
@@adriansdigitalbasement2 I do hope you did check with everything connected? Sometimes they like hiding menu options when they don't detect anything connected.. idk could be right? Anyway, good luck!
@@adriansdigitalbasement2 I am wondering, if you have tried the two camera icons/buttons in the lower left corner of the camera window, directly above the 'Auto' switch. Looks like you can choose between single shot and video feed there.
Also, I'm a medical professional and use those hemostats all the time in my work. I can confirm that even those procured through official sellers - the curved ones are much much better at precision work than the straight ones. It's sort of a rule of thumb over here. :) And for straightening pins, there's nothing better than a knife's edge.
@@adriansdigitalbasement2 Mine is the TS001 which is the "mobile" version, no screen, it plugs into Android - but also on a PC. On a PC it has an app which shows the thermal image and can record on the PC. Does not work directly with OBS unfortunately but I can record the app screen if I want. I selected the TS001 because it was the only one able to focus very close to PCBs - when I checked, all the hand-held ones were minimum 10/15cm or so. Still useful but the TS001 can read very close to components. I was told there would be a handheld version soon. Little warning: the Windows app does not deal well with high DPI so the temperature readings are VERY small...
I have the same thermal camera, fit some laser cutter lens on the front to give it a macro capability, I.e. get the camera closer to PCBs etc. I 3D printed a wee lens holder and hold it in place using blu-tac. I use it for repairing electronics on my channel.
That's a classic Topdon product alright: great hardware running mediocre software... To preserve battery longevity, it's best not to charge beyond 70%; below 50% is best if it's only used occasionally.
I used to be able to buy hemostats from the local university used equipment store. Teaching hospitals go through a lot of them. Very high quality. Sadly, they went to online auctions only, and stuff like that is auctioned as scrap metal.
Adrian, watch out for shiny metals (like RF cans), natural aluminum and light colored anodized heatsinks. The IR camera won't read the temperature properly, it'll instead read reflected objects in the room. Put a piece of black gaffer or electrical tape on it to get it to read properly. Matte black spray paint is REALLY good for thermal readings. It dries fast, almost instantly using a hair dryer. It also doesn't affect the heatsink's performance. Black chalk spray is also really good and it washes off. Not the chalkboard spray paint but actual powdered chalk spray.
That CGA card is still pretty neat for what it is and makes for a great alternative for those that can't find an official one. I also looked into thermal imaging cameras and they all seem too expensive for what you get. The age old method of touching the chips still works most of the time for me, but it can be useful to detect anomalies that are hard to sense with touch alone.
USB not working _could_ be due to usb bandwidth constraints. if your top down camera and capture card etc are also connected via usb, and connected to the same underlying usb root, that could explain the behavior you're seeing.
Yes, I think its a very low level restriction of USB, they would basically need to put a USB hub into the device which pipes through both the storage device and the camera device to the host. It might be auto switching to camera mode if no SD Card is detected.
I had a similar issue with my Android Auto setup as you have with this Topdon camera... I've tried tens of different USB-C cables, to finally find one working fine, it was also the one with the cheapest look (black PVC cable and plugs), but it was actually branded (UNITEK). All these fancy silicone or shoe-laces-like cables either didn't work at all or were working for a few seconds and either hung the multimedia unit or started to reconnect from scratch.
Vertical video from the thermal cam is good so you can have it on one side of your edited video along with your face. Especially since it isn't high resolution so half of the screen would be plenty.
@36:10 - Please note there are multiple companies abbreviated "AMI", "American Megatrends, Inc." famous for their PC compatible BIOS is not the only one. I'm sorry I forgot the name of the other AMI, but you should be able to find it if you are interested. @55:00 What you call "keyboard BIOS" (that name has been used since the 80's) is more precisely called a "keyboard controller", which is (drumroll!) an Intel microcontroller from the MCS48 series (specifically, the 8042, which is optimized to being used as target device on a bus). The chips you show might be MCS48 chips as well, or they might be from the successor MCS51 familiy. You might be able to distinguish the families by the Intel copyright years on the chip, but as the case is DIP40 for both the MCS48 and the MCS51, and the markings are custom, it's difficult to tell them apart. So you were quite correct by stating they "look like keyboard BIOS chips", but on the other hand, COMDIAL definitely has different software programmed in them than a PC compatible keyboard controller firmware.
I have another make of thermal camera with similar specs with similar problems. It did work before installing OBS. Not revisited as it was for a training so not needed but have another coming up so will look into it again soon. Yes I had to remove the SD card before booting anything but it was reliable until I tried to stream it! Good luck & if you get it fixed would be useful information.
2 месяца назад
I didn't know there was a town called Cadiz in Kentucky, hahaha. The genuine one is Cádiz in South Western Spain. By the way, you pronounced it really well!!! Kudos, Adrian! Your channel is really awesome. Cheers from a Madrid (Spain) viewer.
Of note, it may be the USB ports provided by the computer system’s chipset. I had to add a PCIe USB 3.2 with a RealTek controller to handle a cheap Chinese-made audio controller… which was awful and I replaced with a BEACN, and it thinks my regular ports are fine.
Something to watch out for with those socketed CPLDs is that they do not always make the best contact I notice that the middle of each socket bows out a bit - I fell foul of this when I used a similar CPLD (EPM7128) for a VGA display - a pin was not contacting and was very hard to find as it was a new design. Didn't know whether it was hardware or firmware problem. Ended up stripping off some components to check. Messy!
Hi Adrian ☺. Absolutely Love your channel, especially SMMC. im from London UK and also love finding old pre 2000s computer , peripheral and electronics instrumentation gesr. One tint thing though. I have to say this. Sorry if I appear a pedant but , as we know, there are two types of the old ROM chips : EEPROM and EPROM. The types you were sent there, yes they are the older EPROMs and they are pronounced EPP as in DEPUTY or REPutation. It is the Electronically erasable type that are pronounced EEP as in DEEP or People. ( I know I know.... ☺) xxx
21:58 Indeed... very frustrating... I bought a new Samsung phone, it only came with a usb-c to usb-c... no psu.. Fortunatelly, I bought a 30w PSU and 2 usb-c to usb-a cables... few weeks later I bought a headset which has usb-c... the PSU + usb-c/usb-c charges my phone but not the headset... but my pc + usb-c/usb-a charges slowly my phone and the headset.
@@volvo09 They are. Looks like the same type I got off of ebay. Those are the bigger 84 pin PLCC sockets. I cracked 2 sockets already that I had to glue and use vice grips to get it back in original form to be fully working again. It happened when trying to carefully as I could, to remove the chip out of the socket to test another chip. The chips, once in those, are in there so tight, that it takes a bit of force with a PLCC chip remover tool, and I ended up cracking the plastic on them.
Since your flash of the device got stuck, even though the device is booting, I would reflash it and factory reset it again. See if you can get the update to fully apply.
Just FYI, 20Hz is pretty low for a thermal camera when you want to use it to see what's heating up super fast once power is applied. That's where HIKMICRO comes in. Dollar per Hz they can't be beat.
I bought Uni-T phone IC camera last year, same ZX spectrum resolution, around $220. Not a slightest issue with it, although software runs on the phone, not on the camera itself.
59:13 It's worth asking if you've tried plugging it in to a different computer, just to test whether it's something OBS is doing or whether you're experiencing USB bandwidth issues.
I wonder why they couldn't put the 6845 into programmable logic, too, its basically just a few counters and comparators. But okay, all those config registers etc. are eating up your flipflops FAST, especially in CPLDs with only one per cell.
I have a same cam from a different brand called the Infiray C200+, probably the same as the TC005 version because I have the normal cam as well and more color plates. I looked everywhere and even mailed Infyray but no answer yet where to find an update. Mine came with the same software version as yours so I wonder if I can use the Topdon firmware. I wonder if the new firmware has the possibility to setup upper and lower measure limits for a better image comparison. I also could not get my live view to work, it seems I need to double click on the founded camera and it works flawless. Edit, just downloaded the Topdon firmware and the zip was named C200, hmmmm.....
I've seen a lot of old boards from unknown things on ebay and often wondered what kind of value they are for IC salvage, but not really knowing what's good or not, I of course don't buy them, though one I kind of wished I bought was something that turned out to be an arcade game board with 68k CPU, ROMs, RAM, etc., I think someone else knew though as there was a small bidding war on it, but still only sold for about £30ish...
If you go to the site mentioned on that CGA clone card, there's a schematic posted for it including all the outputs for the CPLDS. If I'm reading them right there are two outputs on the chip marked B3 that might be composite out. Maybe you can confirm this Adrian.
I like how you can tell that the card was used in a slot before you used it as the Goldfingers clearly show signs of use. Hopefully it was just for QA testing.
For that CGA card, apparently, if you enable the Composite CGA mode on the MCE2HDMI, you'll get a composite output. Apparently it can interpret the signal to make it into a composite signal (my theory, to be confirmed). I've seen videos of people using that to play 8088MPH like "Retro Erik" did.
Is that an 8-inch Priam hard drive at 53:37 on the bottom-right corner (next to the shelf)? I got similar model that lacks controller board (the upper one) unfortunately.
If per chance you catch this late comment - Dec 2024 the hemostat AliExpress link doesn’t go anywhere anymore. And the Ali images in their app don’t show the detail needed to see if the bunch of similar listings have the markings. Can you still find the Ali seller and if so post the text of the store / name so we can find it?
LOL I just mentioned that you need a thermal camera in your last video and I planned on buying one for you. It was a bit selfish because the camera would be more useful to us for real numbers other than 'it feels hot' which you usually use. I even had some commentary on my comment.
MT4264 is correct. 4164 is the generic number that most manufacturers (NEC, Samsung, TI, Fairchild, Mitsubishi, Siemens, Mostek, etc.) used for that RAM chip, but some manufacturers used other numbers. Micron called theirs the MT4264. Hitachi's was the HM4864 (and HM4865). Intel and Sharp labeled theirs 2164, Motorola was MCM6664 or MCM6665, Sanyo was LM3364, and Oki was MSM3764.
Hey those hemostats look pretty useful, i didn't realise they could stay clamped like that! I wonder how that CGA card would do with the 8088mph demo :)
Just received my own Pinecil 3D printed case this week! The bearing is a stand for the hot iron. I need to find out which silicone USB-C lead you recommended though!
My first guess with the video issue is that you need their custom driver installed in order for Windoze to properly use the camera. There's probably issues with using the default driver. I suggest looking on their site for a driver and if there is one, install it and try again. Then again, there are other people saying that you need to switch the USB mode from storage to camera. I'm assuming that's a setting in the camera.
The software didn't install any drivers and comes with none. ... So it seems to rely on the built-in drivers. This camera has no mode switching, that seems to be for a different revision.
About the standard Microsoft drivers for the thermal camera, maybe topdon has some own drivers that might work? Sometimes stock Microsoft drivers don't work, by example I've a webcam what seems to be installed correctly but just didn't work nicely, got different drivers from the webcam manufacturer and works like a charm now. Cheers.
Im probably way of here or someone else has mentioned this, and I dont have time to research this but I noticed a "zip" file in the "updatesys" folder for that IR camera. Should that not be a bin file or some binary file? I wouldn't think that unit has the ability to decompress a system update zip file? Im sure im missing something but thought id add my 2 cents.
Hi Adrian! Are you aware of the "Graphics Gremlin HDMI" project? It's an open source project to build a CGA/MDA compatible 8-Bit ISA Card with more modern outputs like VGA and HDMI. Not software defined like e.g. the PicoGUS, but at least something. Maybe it could be interesting for you and others. Greeting from Germany!
I had but it uses a FPGA and I'm so weary of that. FPGAs tend to be expensive and seem to go end of life and/or suffer from availability issues. Right now the RGB2HDMI is having similar issues due to the CPLD it uses to digitize the video. It's impossible to get which makes it really hard for anyone to get a complete RGB2HDMI.
@@adriansdigitalbasement2 the CPLD on the RGBtoHDMI is a really old part (25+ years) because its 5V compatible, the FPGA on the Graphics Gremlin is not an old part and thus it can't do 5V, that is why its using voltage shifters everywhere so it can use a way newer FPGA
Adrian, Your link for the hemostats is missing an "l" on the end, and doesn't work. When I edited the link to end in "html" instead of "htm", it worked, although the language came out in Polish, I think. I was able to change the location to some other country, then back to USA, to get it in English,
fyi: UVC stands for USB video class, which means you shouldn't need a manufacturer specific driver for it, standard USB video device drivers should "just work".
![Adrian's Digital Basement ][](http://yt3.ggpht.com/ytc/AIdro_k7CrQRe71qN6c0Ua7A1P_I8KkxjqLa70u0zYeCvdvnKw=s48-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj)
The clips on the case are put on backwards, they can be taken out by holding them vertically and pull them out. There's room for the small hex wrench in a little slot in the same compartment as the soldering iron.
In addition to using hemostats to grab things in tight spaces or hold things together, I also clamp them onto wires or leads next to a joint I'm soldering. It acts as a heatsink and protects nearby components from the heat conduction.
I keep forgetting to do this!! Yeah such a good idea. They are so insanely versatile.
we used them in the 70s as roach clips, i.e. a way to hold marijuana cigs right down to the end without burning yourself
My favorite medical instrument is the alligator ear forceps as with their jaws closed, they can be navigated through the tightest passages including a rats nest of wiring to then open and grab something. Or they can be used to install/remove/change a jumper without having to otherwise disassemble something for proper access. Or they can retrieve that dropped jumper, screw, or washer. My favorite size is the ~6”, but they make both smaller and much longer going into laparoscopic territory.
This video is absolutely fantastic! Loved seeing the modern recreation of the IBM CGA card and the deep dive into its functionality. The way you explain each detail makes it so engaging-keep up the great work! 👏
Dual-port SRAMs are also useful in various architectures that have a video subsystem that runs independently of the processor. The dual-porting means you don't need to block/synchronize operations between each side, so the processor can update byes in the video buffer and the video circuitry can scan out frames simultaneously without needing to wait on each other.
The saddest part of the failure to charge certain USB C devices is that "implementing the protocol" in a way that will make a compliant USB PD source happy literally just involves including two tiny surface mount resistors in the device connected to the CC pins. It costs less than one cent to do it correctly, yet it's incorrectly implemented _so often._
Yeah it's so insanely lazy! Feels like they took an old Micro USB design and simply changed the connector without doing anything else.
I haven't watched the video yet, but I am COMPLETELY STOKED because I see in the thumbnail my IC coffin from Thingaverse. "How do I know I'm not just some a$$h0le making that claim?" Well, there's an Easter-egg in the design: The date code on the chip is my birthday (uh, birthweek). Also, I tweeted Adrian about the topic (before the, uh, rebrand to X).
I designed the print with the intent to mail in from the far away land of Hillsboro, OR to be a "dead parts bin" but other folks beat me to the punch on sending in their own bin, the chip didn't fit tightly as a lid, and frankly, I liked the print so much that I just kept it and as a result, I never followed-through.
STOKED to see it in the thumbnail and excited to see who mailed it in.
AAAAY!!!! CHAD!!! Yeah, his issues with the design are my issues with the design. I knocked it out in the 3 week gap between job searching and the start of my current gig.
I (hastily) edited the Thingiverse description to include a link to this video and the name of this account.
Ahhh too funny!!! My friend who printed it for me lives near me in SE Portland so he just gave it to me in person. Please email me to my channel email :-)
you should grab an old SE/30 board, force 12V through some random data bit, and see how the trace lights up!
It's mean to twist the 12V knife in the wound...
Too soon 😅
That'd be one hell of a light show.
I believe data lines on those chips run on 5v signal? So 12V is not that far off. It will drop dead for sure, but i dont expect smoke or some light show effects.
Hemostats, thanks to my Dad, will always populate my soldering toolbox. He was a paramedic in his college years, and learned soldering electronics using his improvised kit, and the hemostats were repurposed into it.
Obviously, I learned on his tools, and here we are!
They're better than pliers for fishing too when the hook won't come out easy. Especially with small fish.
Indeed. I've asked for some from hospitals but they have to dispose of them in medical waste after one use! Seems they no longer sterilize and reuse them because it's cheaper just to destroy them and open a new sterile one.
@@adriansdigitalbasement2 so true. I spent the summer in the hospital (8 weeks total) with a serious bowel perforation. The amount of STEEL TOOLS they used on me and then threw away… I understand the reason, but I’m such a recycler of PC parts, it just hurts! LOL
From the manual:
"To project your TC004 screen to PC, you need to switch your
TC004 to USB mode first (Go to Setting > System Setting, and
tap Using Mode to switch to USB mode)."
Read the full manual
22:48, there seems to be no "Using Mode" in the System Settings. He went through every option in the menu
@@der.Schtefan The mode switch might only be shown when a USB cable is attached?
@@nicholas4839 What I wrote didn't need more info, this should have been enough according to the manual.
@@der.Schtefan Then I would contact the seller and ask why their manual seems to mention functionality not found in his unit.
Worst case: the flashing of the firmware didn't go as 'flawless' as we thought.
Companies know that even if you don't "review" a product, just showing it on your channel helps them out a ton. Super cheap advertising for them. That's why RUclips requires any compensation, including free products, even if no money changes hands, to be disclosed by selecting the "contains paid promotion" checkbox on the video. EU also requires it to be in the description, IIRC.
A great mod for the Pinecil is to replace the screws with tiny thumbscews. The tip securing screw on the top is an M2, 4mm long.
oh heck yes
Awesome tip, thanks!!!
Not to generalize, but honestly that thermal camera is just representative of the slightly-higher-quality Shenzen market Chinese junk. It almost feels like companies trying to make the effort to not be shovelware trash, but they lack the technical knowhow and experience to get it done properly. The things they make _mostly_ work, but there are always a few small issues that cause big problems. You can spot these things a mile away by their 5 or 6 letter names that often feel like random Latin letters flung together. Because that's exactly what they are.
A for effort. Hopefully some of these companies can actually get it together and find some success because having working quality gear at a fraction of the cost would be a huge benefit for smaller creators and for people just getting started in electronics because the kit can be overwhelmingly expensive sometimes.
This. Amazing hardware made useless by terrible software is sadly becoming the norm.
Ironically the other stuff they make is pretty decent. They make car scanners with the launch software, battery testers and a really beefy Car power supply for diagnostics etc.
I remember using a old thermal camera that was SOO big that you had to put the power supply and image unit on a cart! (and a LONG extension cord). But we were also using ones like the one you have now. They are cool to use!
Dual port ram is actually the most useful to implement graphics adapters that can have their contents updated by the cpu while they are drawing out the picture, to prevent CGA snow
Yep and I would had gone with it in my project if that type of ram wasn't so pricey! I needed 64K worth of video RAM for mine and well, doing 64K total of dualport would had been crazy expensive.
@@sprybugthe Mac SE/30 uses 64k of dual port and those chips aren't too expensive. See D41264 and HM53451P, they are 4 bits x 64k. I think there are other pin compatible brands but many old video cards used these as I stole one from an old scrap video card just the other day.
@@sprybug: Sadly it'll probably be too much work for the result, but just in case take a look at embedded (not "standard", _also not_ LPDDR) DDR 4 ram- my understanding is that it moved to dual-port as a _standard_ feature for increased throughput.
The thermal camera was neat. A few years ago I worked at a hospital, and they used thermal cameras to detect bed sores.
Ohh was it some super expensive medical grade one?
@@adriansdigitalbasement2 Yes. My guess it was tuned to show a specific window of temperatures.
Yes! CPLDs on that CGA reproduction. I've been working on a computer project for the last 4 years or so, and recently learned how to program those type of CPLDs. The difference is I use the Altera MAX EPM7000 series. It's very similar to the ATF series, in fact it's totally pin compatible too. However, I use Quartus II for my software, and a special version which includes the EPM7000 series. This creates the programming files specifically for the MAX series, so I go with that, and my USB Blaster will program them via JTAG. Both the ATF and EPM7000 series uses 5V, which is why they used it, and which is why I went with it myself since I'm using vintage 5v chips in this project.
How long will you be able to get these chips? I worry all your work will be for not as they will become impossible to find.
I would like to see the labels removed. The CPLDs likely could be reclaimed MAX7000, which of course are erasable and reprogrammable.
I've had the all same issues with the HTI/Topdon IR Cameras...freezing video, bad drivers, sdcard issues. I tried a firmware update and it ended up bricking the unit (no amount of power button pressing would fix it, but I may give it one additional try based on your "long power button press"). In the end, I gave up and bought the FLIR One camera adapter for my iPhone. It's a little cumbersome, but it works reliably. As for the battery issue on the FLIR One, I just keep it plugged in to a USB charger until I need it.
Oh, and I use a lightning extension cable and a flexible mount to position the FLIR One over my work bench to characterize my ATX DC2DC switcher boards for S-100 Bus voltages.
I bought the infiray p2 pro, excellent device, amazing refresh rate and acceptable price. I have the usbc model and I use it with an android device. app is crappy but it works fine
of course one of the most common uses for the dual port ram is for video ram so the display can access the memory without interfering with cpu access or timing which will reduce cpu performance.
Indeed. The Mac SE/30 does that although on it there is only one set of address lines and select signals compared to this big boy.
@@adriansdigitalbasement2 The standard "dual-ported" video RAM chips (VRAM) actually are single-ported DRAM and a "big" shift register built into one die. The shift register is as big as a full row, and you can use the random-access port not only to read/write single "words" (4-bit nibbles in case of the Mac SE/30 chips), but also to re-load the shift register. The "serial port" does not interface to the RAM matrix at all, but is just an interface to the shift register. Most (all?) VRAM chips also allow serial writing into the shift register and transferring the shift register into the row buffer, but this mode of operation is not used in graphics cards, but it is nice for frame-grabbers. This mode is likely omitted in later VRAM variants specifically targetted at graphics cards (like the WRAM used by Matrox).
Hi Adrian, the menus on that thermal camera looks very similar to those on my Uni-T 260, so I would assume the capture-mode works the same. In order to get the video-capture to work, set the USB Mode from Disk mode, to camera mode.
From the manual:
"To project your TC004 screen to PC, you need to switch your
TC004 to USB mode first (Go to Setting > System Setting, and
tap Using Mode to switch to USB mode)."
There are no mode options for Disk Mode on this version. You just plug in the cable and the USB drive shows up, with nothing obvious on the camera.
@@adriansdigitalbasement2 I do hope you did check with everything connected? Sometimes they like hiding menu options when they don't detect anything connected.. idk could be right?
Anyway, good luck!
@@adriansdigitalbasement2 I am wondering, if you have tried the two camera icons/buttons in the lower left corner of the camera window, directly above the 'Auto' switch. Looks like you can choose between single shot and video feed there.
Also, I'm a medical professional and use those hemostats all the time in my work. I can confirm that even those procured through official sellers - the curved ones are much much better at precision work than the straight ones. It's sort of a rule of thumb over here. :) And for straightening pins, there's nothing better than a knife's edge.
I’ve got the TS001S from Topdon, I like the HW but as you say the SW needs some improvements 🙂 welcome to the world of thermal imaging!
Can you use it as a camera while capturing?
@@adriansdigitalbasement2 Mine is the TS001 which is the "mobile" version, no screen, it plugs into Android - but also on a PC. On a PC it has an app which shows the thermal image and can record on the PC. Does not work directly with OBS unfortunately but I can record the app screen if I want.
I selected the TS001 because it was the only one able to focus very close to PCBs - when I checked, all the hand-held ones were minimum 10/15cm or so. Still useful but the TS001 can read very close to components. I was told there would be a handheld version soon.
Little warning: the Windows app does not deal well with high DPI so the temperature readings are VERY small...
I am very happy you are back doing SMMC videos! I have finally subscribed to both of your channels!
I have the same thermal camera, fit some laser cutter lens on the front to give it a macro capability, I.e. get the camera closer to PCBs etc.
I 3D printed a wee lens holder and hold it in place using blu-tac.
I use it for repairing electronics on my channel.
Well that's really cool! Is the STL on thingiverse?
That's a classic Topdon product alright: great hardware running mediocre software...
To preserve battery longevity, it's best not to charge beyond 70%; below 50% is best if it's only used occasionally.
I used to be able to buy hemostats from the local university used equipment store. Teaching hospitals go through a lot of them. Very high quality. Sadly, they went to online auctions only, and stuff like that is auctioned as scrap metal.
Adrian, watch out for shiny metals (like RF cans), natural aluminum and light colored anodized heatsinks. The IR camera won't read the temperature properly, it'll instead read reflected objects in the room.
Put a piece of black gaffer or electrical tape on it to get it to read properly.
Matte black spray paint is REALLY good for thermal readings. It dries fast, almost instantly using a hair dryer. It also doesn't affect the heatsink's performance.
Black chalk spray is also really good and it washes off. Not the chalkboard spray paint but actual powdered chalk spray.
That CGA card is still pretty neat for what it is and makes for a great alternative for those that can't find an official one. I also looked into thermal imaging cameras and they all seem too expensive for what you get. The age old method of touching the chips still works most of the time for me, but it can be useful to detect anomalies that are hard to sense with touch alone.
USB not working _could_ be due to usb bandwidth constraints. if your top down camera and capture card etc are also connected via usb, and connected to the same underlying usb root, that could explain the behavior you're seeing.
Man, that JPG compression it saves to the SD card is nasty. Maybe a part of your feedback PNG output would be better suited.
Indeed
In the settings of the FLIR device you may want see if there is a setting for storage/video. Sometimes things can only be storage mode or video mode.
Yes, I think its a very low level restriction of USB, they would basically need to put a USB hub into the device which pipes through both the storage device and the camera device to the host. It might be auto switching to camera mode if no SD Card is detected.
I had a similar issue with my Android Auto setup as you have with this Topdon camera... I've tried tens of different USB-C cables, to finally find one working fine, it was also the one with the cheapest look (black PVC cable and plugs), but it was actually branded (UNITEK). All these fancy silicone or shoe-laces-like cables either didn't work at all or were working for a few seconds and either hung the multimedia unit or started to reconnect from scratch.
Vertical video from the thermal cam is good so you can have it on one side of your edited video along with your face. Especially since it isn't high resolution so half of the screen would be plenty.
Der Sticker ist echt gut gemacht und trifft den Nagel auf den Kopf. "It just freakin' works" 👍👍👍
I have a similar thermal camera and it's so useful for fault diagnosis, hope you get the OBS/software issues sorted.
@36:10 - Please note there are multiple companies abbreviated "AMI", "American Megatrends, Inc." famous for their PC compatible BIOS is not the only one. I'm sorry I forgot the name of the other AMI, but you should be able to find it if you are interested.
@55:00 What you call "keyboard BIOS" (that name has been used since the 80's) is more precisely called a "keyboard controller", which is (drumroll!) an Intel microcontroller from the MCS48 series (specifically, the 8042, which is optimized to being used as target device on a bus). The chips you show might be MCS48 chips as well, or they might be from the successor MCS51 familiy. You might be able to distinguish the families by the Intel copyright years on the chip, but as the case is DIP40 for both the MCS48 and the MCS51, and the markings are custom, it's difficult to tell them apart. So you were quite correct by stating they "look like keyboard BIOS chips", but on the other hand, COMDIAL definitely has different software programmed in them than a PC compatible keyboard controller firmware.
I have another make of thermal camera with similar specs with similar problems.
It did work before installing OBS.
Not revisited as it was for a training so not needed but have another coming up so will look into it again soon.
Yes I had to remove the SD card before booting anything but it was reliable until I tried to stream it!
Good luck & if you get it fixed would be useful information.
I didn't know there was a town called Cadiz in Kentucky, hahaha. The genuine one is Cádiz in South Western Spain. By the way, you pronounced it really well!!!
Kudos, Adrian! Your channel is really awesome. Cheers from a Madrid (Spain) viewer.
Did you notice the Spain car registration when he was looking for the chips? that was hilarious
My parents had a hemostat when I was a kid, and I remember trying and failing to use it as a pair of scissors.
I just remember in the 1970's they used to use hemostats for something else...
@@SenileOtaku Knowing my parents, yeah!
I'm imaging that Thermal camera reading that Recent Mac SE30 board.
Of note, it may be the USB ports provided by the computer system’s chipset. I had to add a PCIe USB 3.2 with a RealTek controller to handle a cheap Chinese-made audio controller… which was awful and I replaced with a BEACN, and it thinks my regular ports are fine.
I love the sticker! Great job, Chad!
Something to watch out for with those socketed CPLDs is that they do not always make the best contact I notice that the middle of each socket bows out a bit - I fell foul of this when I used a similar CPLD (EPM7128) for a VGA display - a pin was not contacting and was very hard to find as it was a new design. Didn't know whether it was hardware or firmware problem. Ended up stripping off some components to check. Messy!
Just DeoxIT that new dead parts bin. Will let the legs slide in better.
Hi Adrian ☺. Absolutely Love your channel, especially SMMC. im from London UK and also love finding old pre 2000s computer , peripheral and electronics instrumentation gesr. One tint thing though. I have to say this. Sorry if I appear a pedant but , as we know, there are two types of the old ROM chips : EEPROM and EPROM. The types you were sent there, yes they are the older EPROMs and they are pronounced EPP as in DEPUTY or REPutation. It is the Electronically erasable type that are pronounced EEP as in DEEP or People. ( I know I know.... ☺) xxx
21:58 Indeed... very frustrating... I bought a new Samsung phone, it only came with a usb-c to usb-c... no psu.. Fortunatelly, I bought a 30w PSU and 2 usb-c to usb-a cables... few weeks later I bought a headset which has usb-c... the PSU + usb-c/usb-c charges my phone but not the headset... but my pc + usb-c/usb-a charges slowly my phone and the headset.
15:04 It's not a QR code, it's a DataMatrix code. Anything purchased by the US military is required to have a DataMatrix code.
I had picked up the same card, hoping that I could eliminate the snow on my Sperry HT, but no go. It was just as bad as the original CGA card in it.
❤❤
I was really shocked they just replicated the original card down to the snow. Zero improvement on that compromised IBM design ...
I´m just waiting for LGR to pop in here, asking "Where did you get that woodgrain phone case?" 😃
There's no business like snow business...
I'll get my coat
Good idea; snow is chilly.
The bowing on the CGA chip socket probably means cooked/junk sockets, the middle pins might go open circuit eventually.
Those sockets look very cheap... Looks like plastic without any fibers to stiffen it.
@@volvo09 They are. Looks like the same type I got off of ebay. Those are the bigger 84 pin PLCC sockets. I cracked 2 sockets already that I had to glue and use vice grips to get it back in original form to be fully working again. It happened when trying to carefully as I could, to remove the chip out of the socket to test another chip. The chips, once in those, are in there so tight, that it takes a bit of force with a PLCC chip remover tool, and I ended up cracking the plastic on them.
Yeah I saw that. Luckily I have a bunch of quality NOS sockets if I ever have to replace them.
You missed the fact that the TC005 has a higher temperature range than the 004 (550 °C/1022 °F Vs 350 °C/662 °F)
Really interested in the CGA card. Cool!
The TC005 also works up to 550 ºC, intead of the 350 ºC of the TC004.
Since your flash of the device got stuck, even though the device is booting, I would reflash it and factory reset it again. See if you can get the update to fully apply.
51:29 why does infrared Adrian look like LGR? 😅
Everyone always looks the same through an infrared camera if they are wearing glasses!
Was waiting for Adrian to say "greetings!"
Gotta love those confusing menus.
44:25 WCAG 1.4.1 Use of color. “ Color shouldn’t be used as the only visual way to convey information or make an indication.”
Just FYI, 20Hz is pretty low for a thermal camera when you want to use it to see what's heating up super fast once power is applied. That's where HIKMICRO comes in. Dollar per Hz they can't be beat.
I bought Uni-T phone IC camera last year, same ZX spectrum resolution, around $220. Not a slightest issue with it, although software runs on the phone, not on the camera itself.
You just can't beat a quality set of roach clips, I mean hemostat clamps. :p
59:13 It's worth asking if you've tried plugging it in to a different computer, just to test whether it's something OBS is doing or whether you're experiencing USB bandwidth issues.
@2:34 I could have sworn the solder pads on the back of the big CGA card spelled out letters and therefor some words..... Nope
The 4 MBit ROMs are good for Amigas and you can also build MegaDrive cartridges from those. You need an adapter for the TL866 though, iirc.
I wonder why they couldn't put the 6845 into programmable logic, too, its basically just a few counters and comparators. But okay, all those config registers etc. are eating up your flipflops FAST, especially in CPLDs with only one per cell.
I have a same cam from a different brand called the Infiray C200+, probably the same as the TC005 version because I have the normal cam as well and more color plates. I looked everywhere and even mailed Infyray but no answer yet where to find an update. Mine came with the same software version as yours so I wonder if I can use the Topdon firmware. I wonder if the new firmware has the possibility to setup upper and lower measure limits for a better image comparison. I also could not get my live view to work, it seems I need to double click on the founded camera and it works flawless.
Edit, just downloaded the Topdon firmware and the zip was named C200, hmmmm.....
Oooof like $450 CDN for that Topdon. Looks cool though
I've seen a lot of old boards from unknown things on ebay and often wondered what kind of value they are for IC salvage, but not really knowing what's good or not, I of course don't buy them, though one I kind of wished I bought was something that turned out to be an arcade game board with 68k CPU, ROMs, RAM, etc., I think someone else knew though as there was a small bidding war on it, but still only sold for about £30ish...
bro i knew you hadnt held that power button long enough lol
If you go to the site mentioned on that CGA clone card, there's a schematic posted for it including all the outputs for the CPLDS. If I'm reading them right there are two outputs on the chip marked B3 that might be composite out. Maybe you can confirm this Adrian.
The Pico 2 has double the SRAM of the original Pico, which in my mind, has framebuffer written all over it!
ATF1508 are EEPROM CPLDs so they can be reprogrammed
I like how you can tell that the card was used in a slot before you used it as the Goldfingers clearly show signs of use. Hopefully it was just for QA testing.
For that CGA card, apparently, if you enable the Composite CGA mode on the MCE2HDMI, you'll get a composite output. Apparently it can interpret the signal to make it into a composite signal (my theory, to be confirmed). I've seen videos of people using that to play 8088MPH like "Retro Erik" did.
Is that an 8-inch Priam hard drive at 53:37 on the bottom-right corner (next to the shelf)? I got similar model that lacks controller board (the upper one) unfortunately.
I have a couple 8" drives yeah. The visible one I think is some other brand but a Priam one is there below it
@@adriansdigitalbasement2 I've just sent you an e-mail. Thanks!
i have the usb-c flir one, and it still has its own battery.
Get the cheap macro lens for the thermal camera to get up close to the circuitry. It’s well worth it.
If per chance you catch this late comment - Dec 2024 the hemostat AliExpress link doesn’t go anywhere anymore. And the Ali images in their app don’t show the detail needed to see if the bunch of similar listings have the markings. Can you still find the Ali seller and if so post the text of the store / name so we can find it?
pull the trigger to activate the live view.....
will you be imaging those eeproms, they may not be archived anywhere and I would hate for whatever software to become lost.
TC005 has a higher temperature range, up to 550C vs the TC004 at max 350C.
What a chad, I liked the coffin
the TC005 looked like it could measure higher temperatures as well Adrian
LOL I just mentioned that you need a thermal camera in your last video and I planned on buying one for you. It was a bit selfish because the camera would be more useful to us for real numbers other than 'it feels hot' which you usually use. I even had some commentary on my comment.
MT4264 is correct. 4164 is the generic number that most manufacturers (NEC, Samsung, TI, Fairchild, Mitsubishi, Siemens, Mostek, etc.) used for that RAM chip, but some manufacturers used other numbers. Micron called theirs the MT4264. Hitachi's was the HM4864 (and HM4865). Intel and Sharp labeled theirs 2164, Motorola was MCM6664 or MCM6665, Sanyo was LM3364, and Oki was MSM3764.
Hey those hemostats look pretty useful, i didn't realise they could stay clamped like that!
I wonder how that CGA card would do with the 8088mph demo :)
Do you ever read documentation?
Microchip still makes the ATF1508.
Agree. I bought some a year ago.
@@1975RStefanoh I'm quite surprised! Everything 5v seems to be disconnected or about to be.
Just received my own Pinecil 3D printed case this week! The bearing is a stand for the hot iron. I need to find out which silicone USB-C lead you recommended though!
It could be interesting to try the camera on Linux, to see if it's a camera problem or a Windows problem.
Or with VLC.
Maybe flashing the IR camera again with the same firmware would solve the issue. Use smaller SD card, 4G is best shot.
My first guess with the video issue is that you need their custom driver installed in order for Windoze to properly use the camera. There's probably issues with using the default driver. I suggest looking on their site for a driver and if there is one, install it and try again. Then again, there are other people saying that you need to switch the USB mode from storage to camera. I'm assuming that's a setting in the camera.
The software didn't install any drivers and comes with none. ... So it seems to rely on the built-in drivers. This camera has no mode switching, that seems to be for a different revision.
About the standard Microsoft drivers for the thermal camera, maybe topdon has some own drivers that might work? Sometimes stock Microsoft drivers don't work, by example I've a webcam what seems to be installed correctly but just didn't work nicely, got different drivers from the webcam manufacturer and works like a charm now. Cheers.
Those RAM chips fit some of the ZX Spectrums.
Im probably way of here or someone else has mentioned this, and I dont have time to research this but I noticed a "zip" file in the "updatesys" folder for that IR camera. Should that not be a bin file or some binary file? I wouldn't think that unit has the ability to decompress a system update zip file? Im sure im missing something but thought id add my 2 cents.
The zip file has that directory and a bin file inside which is what gets put on the SD card.
Alert!!!
Always check your cables for unknown breaks. Operation of cables is 50/50
Hi Adrian!
Are you aware of the "Graphics Gremlin HDMI" project? It's an open source project to build a CGA/MDA compatible 8-Bit ISA Card with more modern outputs like VGA and HDMI. Not software defined like e.g. the PicoGUS, but at least something. Maybe it could be interesting for you and others.
Greeting from Germany!
I had but it uses a FPGA and I'm so weary of that. FPGAs tend to be expensive and seem to go end of life and/or suffer from availability issues. Right now the RGB2HDMI is having similar issues due to the CPLD it uses to digitize the video. It's impossible to get which makes it really hard for anyone to get a complete RGB2HDMI.
@@adriansdigitalbasement2 the CPLD on the RGBtoHDMI is a really old part (25+ years) because its 5V compatible, the FPGA on the Graphics Gremlin is not an old part and thus it can't do 5V, that is why its using voltage shifters everywhere so it can use a way newer FPGA
Gangsta-grip Flir for landscape
Adrian, Your link for the hemostats is missing an "l" on the end, and doesn't work. When I edited the link to end in "html" instead of "htm", it worked, although the language came out in Polish, I think. I was able to change the location to some other country, then back to USA, to get it in English,
fyi: UVC stands for USB video class, which means you shouldn't need a manufacturer specific driver for it, standard USB video device drivers should "just work".