GEMClub TurboKit Plus Beta Fully Tested
February 14, 2021 | Products | No Comments
The new GEMClub TurboKit Plus has now completed it’s full testing, on three keyboards and working very well.
Whilst the design in based on the original GEM TurboKit, the GEMClub TurboKit Plus has PLCC EPROMs and a managed NiMH battery charging circuit, so the SRAM will retain contents much longer.
One of the last tests was in fact the 2MB of SRAM, which works as expected.
Production TurboKit Plus PCB
All that is left now, is to complete the final production version of the board. which will have improved turned pin headers for connection to the main CPU EPROM sockets and slightly remounted 9 way header.
Whilst this change is not mandatory, as the beta version of the board works fine, it will make it easier in end user alignment of the TurboKit installation (as the original GEM IC sockets were known to be low cost).
As part of the finalisation, the board shape will now be updated so it fully clears the keyboard mounting bracket and a SCSI connector will be added for future options.
Overall, it has been a successful R&D project and looking forward to the final board in about 3-4 weeks.
