Ali Naci Erdem

I was once into hobby RC airplane stuff – unfortunately don’t have the time to fly these days. (Check my first flight here ) Got myself a cheap 6 channel FM transmitter on eBay back in the day, not that 2.4 GHz rubbish, one with a huge antenna, you know. It was a much cheaper option then. Not of very high quality, but capable of doing many cool stuff and it is highly configurable. It is possible to change throttle curves, do mixing etc. Configuration process involves connecting it via an “apparently” serial connector to its USB dongle (which is then a serial to USB converter) and a computer. Install an old school t6config program (still not an idea where I get it) on a Windows PC and you’re good to go. The serial connection is also used for controlling RC simulations although with a lot of effort. You need to intercept serial stick commands with a software tool (I remember using ppjoy) and map them to real joystick inputs, which the TX is not very helpful a...

Recently I was working on fixing a korg i5m 1995 workstation -that I’ve bought as is on eBay years ago- which has a noise problem in the output. A mechanical but not random weird noise. I also have an i5s (a version with the keyboard and speakers) and I like the samples of that device, so ordered this module version for repairing. After checking voltages and power supply, I first suspected the DAC on the output stage. Easily found a replacement online, waited for it to arrive from China and replaced, with no luck, same problem. Service and user manuals are available for this model online and troubleshooting steps in the service manual turn out ok except for the checksums. But this was the same in my old working i5s, giving random checksum values each time I run the tests. After fiddling around for a while, I decided to desolder the ROM chips in order to narrow down the problem. The system has a 16 bit main bus connecting ROMs RAM and various IO and three MX23C1610MC-15 PCM mask RO...