A member of the ASSEMblergames forums asked whether I could try some of the Sophia hardware in an ordinary retail VA0 Saturn.

Naturally I had to find out.

I moved the Sophia CD mechanism and SH-1 daughterboard into a retail Saturn with a VA0 motherboard.

Both worked. That sure does make my day.

That is a very useful result because I still cannot properly test the complete Sophia itself while it is missing its SH-2 processor cards. This confirms that the CD deck and SH-1 board I received with the Sophia are at least functional and compatible enough with the retail VA0 hardware to operate there.

We were secretly hoping the Sophia parts might do something interesting with burned discs.

No such luck.

Still, proving that two major pieces of otherwise difficult-to-test development hardware actually work is a pretty good consolation prize.

For now, though, this takes two more unknowns off the repair list. I’ll also be taking much more detailed photos as the machine slowly goes back together over the next few weeks. Yes, I am that slow at the moment.

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