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Acorn PocketBook II in good condition
It's a lot of fun!

Anyone hankering after this gem for their collection?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ACORN-BBC-Mi ... Sw6IVdocDd

Just like to register my interest too I have a working Elk and one that needs some TLC so this would be a great fit for that it would be nice to have an original and the 'V8' version running at the same time!!

I also have a A3010 with a 512Mb DOM from IanS on these forums. It works great, so I am also looking at solutions to get software onto it. The best thing I've found are the Gotek floppy drive emulators, which if you're not familiar, allow you to transfer disc images from a PC onto a USB drive, so ef...

Hi Kazzie,

I tried formatting on the Arc and reading on PC, but the same issue occurred. I'm returning the drive, it may be faulty, but having said that I think the Gotek route may be more reliable anyway (no disc rot to contend with!).

The drive is recognized and shows up as A:, the device itself is seen as a Mitsumi drive, so I think it's the format that's the issue. Either that or a duff drive. Either way, I'm returning it. I feel like Gotek is a good solution, especially as you can keep all the floppy images on the one USB stic...

Thanks for your replies, Steffen. I think the Zip drive is an interesting option, if only because I yearned to have one during the 90s. :wink: I don't know what the issue is with the USB floppy, when plugged into the PC it tries to access the disc for at least two minutes, then fails. I'm going to r...

Hi All, Thanks to CJE Micros, IanS, DaveH and some lucky eBay finds, I am now enjoying my A3010 like I did back in 1993/4, playing Speedball last night with my new QuickShot Starfighter 1 joypad, an eBay find for a fiver (it's the same one I had BITD). This is wonderful, and having a hard disc is so...

IDE Interface plus DOM from IanS, a copy of the RISC OS 3 User/Apps Guide from DaveH, a USB floppy drive for the PC from Amazon, and a Benq BL702A, used from eBay for £25. Let the fun commence!

AndyMc1280 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 17, 2019 1:14 pm

Not sure what podules to fling in it other than SCSI for MEU and possibly Color card from R260 as it doesn't get used properly in that machine.

Ethernet podule? Relive the internet ca. 1996

It definitely flashes the codes from the floppy drive, so if you're not getting any codes from it now it's certainly got worse! Others might give you a better idea on whether its recoverable from this point.

Haha, always the issue. Spending a few quid on a machine, then thousands on an extension to accommodate it and everything that goes with it! Especially if you get a monitor with it....

Theres plenty of them on ebay at the moment! a couple of low start A3000's

I love the aged look of 80's computers. It's a bit like an old man's permatan

I'd like the RISC OS 3 Apps/User guide - I've PM'd you

Mine is very humble, but hopefully still something to appreciate! The A3010 is currently hooked up to my 25" AOC monitor, I have a small (15") old flat panel I may use, but I'm also considering getting the Benq BL702A that is recommended for these machines, and having it on a dual monitor ...

Just a quick update to this. I decided in the end that it was beyond my limited skills to work any further on this machine, and I didn't want to risk damaging it further, so I decided to re-sell the machine on eBay as spares/repairs, to allow someone with better knowledge and skills than I to attemp...

If you want a guaranteed working board, CJE Micros is probably your best bet - not cheap but it will be working, so probably cheaper in the end than gambling on eBay ones

Welcome, I'm not far away either, just up the A19 at Kellington (near Eggborough powerr station)

Thanks Phil, PM'd

yeah, I've tried to do something but ended up knocking off one of the resistors. I'm scared I've caused more damage than helped anything and I don't want to do any more work on the board myself

ok I am no good at soldering. couldn't even get a wire between the battery connection point and r73. I need help with this. is anyone willing to have a proper look at it for me?

Thanks for the confirmation. so at the moment, only tracks to repair - to get the rtc and CMOS chip reconnected, and the new battery fitted. then I guess if that doesn't fix things it's back to the drawing board. as a sanity check, I am thinking of soldering patch wires to reconnect the battery term...

After perusing the board diagrams a bit further, it appears the 'C6' I mention above is actually C64, which according to the schematics, forms part of a circuit named 'HF Decoupling'. I have been assuming that 'C' refers to Capacitor, is that right?

OK, can I use any old electrical wire (thinner the better?)

Scrap the above, just done a re-measure. So, R60 is reading 177 ish. R60 is reading around 47. This is on the 200 setting on my multimeter. This suggests that R60 at least is working, not sure about R61 but could be fine? So, just the traces to fix, between the -ive battery connector and R73, and th...

Thanks, I thought to try that. Bear in mind I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing!! So, from what I have read, a 472 labelled resistor is a 47K value, therefore I should use the 200K setting on my meter? Using this I get a value of 00.1. the 101 next door also reads 00.2. one of these elsewhere on the bo...

Hi all, So I'm doing some of the continuity testing. First time doing this, and here are my results so far: IC5 pins all seem to be correctly connected. IC5 to C65 is ok. C65 to R61 - no continuity. R61 to D15 - no continuity. D15 to C6 ok. R61 to R60 - no continuity. R60 to +ive battery terminal ok...

Steve, your encouragement is very much appreciated and heartening! Thank you. I need to get it open again to try and diagnose the potential broken tracks or dead chip/s. I will probably find time to do this tomorrow. Does anyone here recommend any videos or tutorials on checking these items properly...

Yes, I now have the equipment to do so, but that will have to wait for another day (it's my birthday and if I spend any more time on it I will start to annoy my family!). Thanks for all the help so far, I shall be back with more questions when I get a chance to open the machine up to check the track...