Spectre GCR Manual Manuals - Atari Documentation Archive

& V Getting It Going
Getting It Going
"This is about half as hard as half of you think it is." ·
This is all stuff you'll have to do just once. This section covers installing
the ROMS, and plugging your cartridge in (128 or GCR). Next,
it walks you through starting up the Spectre off floppy for the first
time, just to give you a quick lesson on what it's all about.
While you're wondering what on earth that means, take apart the
Spectre 128 or Spectre GCR cartridge. Just pull it apart.
Spectre GCR: On the GCR, pull it apart at the circular openings for
the drive connectors. Note: we ship the GCR already apart to help you
out.
Spectre 128: On the Spectre 128 only, see the three pegs in the
plastic cover? If you put it back together with those pegs aligned on
the top and bottom halves, you're going to have a heck of a time
getting it apart again, I promise you. That's why we ship with the top
half "reversed", so you can get the lid off.
I'd recommend real strongly that you leave the lid off, or with the
pegs reversed, until you're sure everything is working. It really is hard
to get that lid off once those pegs grab ahold of each other.
Okay, inside the plastic, we have a circuit board. Put it component
side up and check it out. Note the gold fingers. They aren't the usual
cartridge connectors, because they're so expensive; gold is very
malleable (soft) and thus makes a much better connection inside your
ST. A lot of companies use tin, which corrodes, and needs periodic
cleaning. Also note the green stuff on the cartridge; this is "solder
masking", which helps prevent hair-thin solder shorts on the cartridge,
which mean big trouble. When you make circuit boards, all these
.. What the quote means, by the way, is that I too read J.R.R. Tolkien.
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