Setting up the MIRE

What's in the Box

• MIRE PCB
• FPGA module, pre-configured
• 2GB or larger SD card (or microSD + adapter) containing LDOS, utilities, and blank floppy images.
• Switching power supply, US plug (size, shape and plug orientation may vary from photos)
• Ribbon cable assembly for connecting to the TRS-80
• Four metal spacers and screws for use as board "feet"

Each M3SE has been fully tested with all the exact same components shipped with it.

1. Important: Before opening the anti-static bag containing the MIRE PCB, ground yourself with an anti-static wrist strap to avoid damaging any of the semiconductor devices. If possible, place the MIRE on an anti-static mat. At the very least, touch a grounded surface (such as a metal PC case) to drain off any static electricity before proceeding.
   
   
2. Place the MIRE PCB on a non-hard surface. The blue FPGA module should come pre-installed. If not, align its pins with the four 2x14 receptacles, with the 10-pin programming box header hanging off the back of the MIRE PCB (the side with the power connector.) Press down firmly until there are no gaps.
   
   
3. If you have a memory expansion inside your keyboard unit, see here for information on how to prevent it from conflicting with the MIRE's SRAM.
   
   
4. Attach the four metal hex spacers to the mounting holes near the corners of the MIRE PCB using the screws provided.
   
   
5. Clean any oxidation off the TRS-80 expansion edge connector using DeoxIT or a non-abrasive pencil eraser (aka deoxit classic.)
   
   
6. Using the ribbon cable assembly provided, connect the TRS-80 keyboard unit's expansion card edge to box header HDR1 on the MIRE PCB. If you have a card edge-to-card edge assembly you'd prefer to use, you can attach it to edge connector CONN1 instead. MIRE will not work with a "buffered" Expansion Interface cable.
   
   
7. If you have any floppy drives you wish to use, connect their ribbon cable to card edge CONN3, making sure the red "pin 1" stripe is toward the left (pin marked "1" on the MIRE PCB.)
   
   
8. If you have one, attach your MISE to CONN2 with the pin 1 stripe toward the back.
   
   
9. If you have an audio amplifier with a 3.5mm plug, you can connect it to J5 on the back side of MIRE for cassette audio.
   
   
10. Connect your printer to J2 on the left side of MIRE.
    
    
11. Connect any RS-232 device you wish to use to J1 on the right side of MIRE. Make sure that if the device is considered "terminal" equipment like MIRE (a PC's COM port for example) that you connect using a null modem or null modem cable. If the device is a modem or a serial mouse ("communication" equipment) the null modem is not required.
    
    
12. Connect the AC adapter to the MIRE power jack. The AC adapter should not be powered on until you are ready to use the system. It is strongly recommended that you plug the AC adapter, keyboard unit, floppy drives, MISE, etc. into a single power strip that is switched off when the TRS-80 is not in use. If this is not possible, unplug the AC adapter when not in use rather than just disconnecting it from the MIRE.
    
    
13. Insert the included SD card into the socket.
    
    
14. Powerup sequence: Open all floppy drive doors. Make sure all floppy drives are empty or floppies are fully inserted into them, leaving doors open. Turn on your power strip or power up the MIRE and floppies/other peripherals. If you have a MISE attached, hold down <SHIFT>. Switch on the keyboard. LDOS will boot from SD. By default LDOS is mounted as physical floppy drive 0, and a virtual floppy with utilities is mounted as physical floppy drive 1.
    
    
15. MIRE is shipped with the uppercase-only display driver enabled on the default LDOS image. If you have an lowercase modification in your keyboard unit, try running LOCASE (a program on the drive 1 MIREUTIL SD image) to enable the upper/lowercase driver. If this works correctly and you wish to save the new configuration, you'll need to un-write protect the LDOS image (or copy it to a new image and un-write protect that) using the DSK program before the "SYSTEM (SYSGEN)" command will work.
    
    
16. Read the various documentation found on this website then configure your floppy system the way you want it.
    
    
17. Powerdown sequence: Open all floppy drive doors. Make sure all floppy drives are empty or floppies are fully inserted into them, leaving doors open. Switch off the Model I keyboard. Switch off your power strip or otherwise power down MIRE, floppy drives, and other peripherals.
    
    
18. If you have a MISE attached to your MIRE, you can boot directly from its CF hard drives as usual by not holding down <SHIFT> during boot. MISE ships without a double-density floppy driver installed, but the physical drive 0 and 1 images, which are mapped to logical drives :6 and :7 by default on MISE, are double-density. In order to see them when booted from CF you need to enable double density first. The simplest way to do this is to enter the DDEN command and then SYSTEM (SYSGEN).

• As alternatives to the default connectors, box headers may be populated for the RS-232, line printer, floppy drive, and expansion connectors. You can install these yourself or they can be custom-ordered with your MIRE.
• Red LED: Power indicator.
  Yellow LED: SD activity.
  Green LED: SD filesystem mounted.

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