WANTED: Booster board for STE

[sporniket]

I want one to replace my Mega ST4's motherboard,
I want one to replace my Mega STe's motherboard,
and (of course!) I want one to replace my beloved
STacy's motherboard!

Darklord has a point, with Mega ST motherboards being so crappy and causing all sorts of issues with upgrade, an H5 in Mega ST format would help a lot of people.

Maybe not an "H5 motherboard for Mega ST", but just a possibility to reconstruct a better PCB, someone motivated enough (not me for now) and with said Mega ST at hand (definitively not me) could do the same kind of work that I did with the Atari STe : using Kicad, capture the schematic, and reconstruct a PCB (no need to be precise to the mm at first). And do it 4 layers for better grounding, as a starter.

The service manual of the Mega ST even have the top and bottom layer of the PCB, even crappy because these are crappy scan, that's better than just pictures of the motherboards.

For the Mega STE, it's possible, but it start to be a lot of work, compared to the "simple" STe.

It does not require high skill in electronic (sure, the more the better), just a lot of free time and cares.

For better replica, one really needs an naked motherboard, for scanning a reference layout.

[exxos]

Then when people get a new board they will want a new case, so its not a refurbish job anymore,its a new machine. In that respect, if cases where produced, smaller cases would be cheaper to manufacture and ship, along with making the PCB as small as possible. But this almost is what the legacy board does. To try and make a smaller motherboard but still fit in a original case, but also can be used in a smaller case in the long term. Having the legacy in a mega style case and use a external keyboard would , IMHO, be a better direction to move in.

[sporniket]

one problem at a time. I expect nobody will achieve another motherboard reconstruction of any legacy format (à la re-amiga of @chucky IIRC or your H5) before long (but someone can prove me wrong). You will surely have plenty of time to get your pink case fully 3D printed from @Icky IIRC.

As for me I wish to have a laptop version (target B5 or A5 sized motherboard), and like all those fancy wishes, I will help myself... someday in a (still) far far away future...