Today I received.....

[Lardo Boffin]

Finally got one!

Shame about the fold in overlay but I think I prefer it not to be there anyway.

I don’t think it had been cleaned since 1982. Yuck.

Seems to be working ok although I don’t have a cart to test that with.

It has the background buzz so presumably an earlier one before they fixed that?

It will need a new on / off / volume control as it goes from virtually silent to Very Loud Indeed after the smallest rotation.

Regardless it is as awesome as I hoped it would be!!!!

[Yrrah2]

Now more roms fit in my Master!!
Getting crouded under the cover with the multiOS, and flashdrives.....

[Leew]

Well technically last week...

The Evercade Retro Handheld Games Console and all 10 currently released cartridges for the console. Total of 122 retro games.

They have numbered each of the cartridges, so for collectors like me, that means I will have to buy every one so I can display them on a shelf with all the numbers on the case spine in sequence

Some pretty decent games, but the ones I tend to gravitate to are the classics like Atari 2600 Asteroids and Namcos Pac-Man and Galaxian.

[Leew]

Finally got one!


FDCFFA45-C6EA-4115-AB4E-E9D6F0E4670E.jpeg

Shame about the fold in overlay but I think I prefer it not to be there anyway.

I don’t think it had been cleaned since 1982. Yuck.

Seems to be working ok although I don’t have a cart to test that with.

It has the background buzz so presumably an earlier one before they fixed that?

It will need a new on / off / volume control as it goes from virtually silent to Very Loud Indeed after the smallest rotation.

Regardless it is as awesome as I hoped it would be!!!!

I remember seeing a YouTube video where someone had created some sort of backlit screen overlay that made the Vectrex screen multi-coloured and remember thinking that looks awesome! There was also a kit floating around to fix the buzz issue. But that was a while ago and my memory isn't great so can't remember where I saw it, it might have been on YouTube too.

Five minutes searching I found them... Both on Techmoan channel

[Lardo Boffin]

It has the background buzz so presumably an earlier one before they fixed that?

It will need a new on / off / volume control as it goes from virtually silent to Very Loud Indeed after the smallest rotation.

Regardless it is as awesome as I hoped it would be!!!!

I remember seeing a YouTube video where someone had created some sort of backlit screen overlay that made the Vectrex screen multi-coloured and remember thinking that looks awesome! There was also a kit floating around to fix the buzz issue. But that was a while ago and my memory isn't great so can't remember where I saw it, it might have been on YouTube too.

Five minutes searching I found them... Both on Techmoan channel

Thanks. I think I saw part of a video about the anti-buzz kit but the same video made me think I’ll pay someone else to do it if I decide to go that route!

[tone76]

This is more like 'last week I received'...

After nearly 3 months, my Elk managed to cross the ditch from NZ to Australia. Because pandemic. It's been great to finally scratch my Acorn itch, and it'll tide me over until I get around to recapping and generally zshooshing up my Master 128. (although I bought the Elk before I bought said Master 128 lol)

[anightin]

This week I received... but today I played with it

Brilliant joystick courtesy of Vic

So solid yet precise— thoroughly recommended

[flaxcottage]

That is a very tidy set up. Most worrying!

[davidb]

Mr Ambassador, with this packaging you are really spoiling us.

Some items previously owned by Jim Nagel which I hope to take a much closer look at:

I'm interested in the details of the Replay format, and I'm on a bit of a language trip at the moment, so it's very interesting to look at some of the Acornsoft implementations.

Thanks to Chris, Bart and Viola Nagel for sending the items my way. I'll take good care of them and I'll enjoy looking at them.

[Lardo Boffin]

A Buzz Off kit for my Vectrex.

Fingers crossed nothing dies in the fitting process.

[Yrrah2]

Thanks Ken!

Well actually last week. Didn't finish the laste project yet and the new one is already waiting

[Diminished]

I received a ZX Spectrum+ in the post this morning. It'll likely need an RGB mod before it'll be of any use though.

This is the second retro machine that I was literally just given (the other being an Electron). Seems once you become known as a retrocomputing freak, people just start giving you old systems ...

[Kazzie]

IMG_2828.JPGWell actually last week. Didn't finish the laste project yet and the new one is already waiting

Very nice: I've got the smaller 1030 and 1032 Technic sets. The latter was bought for me as a gift, the former was later scavenged from the school my dad taught at. They're currently in the loft waiting for my kids to get a bit older.

[Yrrah2]

Very nice: I've got the smaller 1030 and 1032 Technic sets. The latter was bought for me as a gift, the former was later scavenged from the school my dad taught at. They're currently in the loft waiting for my kids to get a bit older.

These are nice too!!
With this one and the one I already have (the 1090) its loads of programming fun with Lego Lines. My son didn't care for programming at first, but now his head is spinning to get things done

[Kazzie]

As it happens I've been having a rather Lego-themed week. At my in-laws' (now that we can visit freely) we've been sorting through my wife's old collection. Some of it belonged to her older sister, so there's a lot of Fabuland sets, as well as some later Robin Hood / Castle sets, and a Paradisa Ranch that she had completely forgotten about. I had loads of fun working through parts lists from Bricklink and noting what missing pieces need replacing.

She also has two boxed Technic multi-model sets (8062 and 8064), which means we've got a very good stock of studded Technic between us.

A lot of my childhood Lego ended up going to my stepbrother (other than the two sets mentioned earlier), but a few years back we found a nice bag of Lego in a charity store, which had most of three 1980s Space sets, including a Robot Command Center inside. Working out what sets were in that mixed bag was a lot of fun!

Now if the kids would hurry up and grow older, I could bring more of it down from the loft and play it with them...

[Coeus]

An IBM Model F keyboard:

Mechanical keyboards are popular at the moment and the IBM Model M seems to be popular, and expensive, on eBay. Then I discovered this site: https://www.modelfkeyboards.com/ which claims the IBM Model F, the Model M's predecessor, is better and is selling a remake of it. The one I got seems to be an original, though.

So now for connecting it to a modern PC. One option seems to be Soarer's converter (eBay link). I do already have a PS/2 to USB converter, though, so I am wondering if a simple electrical conversion from 5 pin DIN to the PS/2 connector or simply replacing the cable with a PS/2 one would suffice. The cable is removable - see this pic of the controller:

Or would the PS/2 be likely to struggle because of an earlier version of the keyboard protocol?

There does seem to be a final option which is to replace the original controller with a xwhatsit but that relies on the controller PCB being separate from the PCB under the keys with the capacitive pads.

[Kazzie]

Or would the PS/2 be likely to struggle because of an earlier version of the keyboard protocol?

From the physical layout, I suspect you have a PC-XT Model F. ISTR its communication protocol differs from that used in the PC-AT (which is identical to the PS/2). It looks like you'll have an additional layer of translation to consider.

[Lardo Boffin]

Thanks Beebmaster!

This has got rid of a lot of cables from my office.

[anightin]

This week I received my Stag PP41 programmer from @walkerworks

Having sourced a USB -> RS232 cable I built an adapter lead and fired up the programmer in remote mode under Windows 10.

Useful resources were found here:

http://baddinsbits.altervista.org/stagsoft.html

http://matthieu.benoit.free.fr/142.htm


Looks like I can also update the firmware which is the next job.

Who needs TL866II Plus for retro EPROMS -- not me

[Leew]

Well technically, last week I received...

An original Atari ST Fast BASIC manual, to go with the Fast BASIC cartridge that I recently acquired with an Atari 520STe from eBay. Thanks to JonB for spotting I had the cartridge and offering the manual.

[charlewi]

Yesterday I received... a pair of Archimedes branded mouse mats, printed with the design I recreated here: http://www.davespace.co.uk/doodles/archimedes.html

IMG_2355.JPG

D.

Hi Dave. Nice designs. May I ask which company you used to make the mouse pads?

[spanners]

Hi Dave. Nice designs. May I ask which company you used to make the mouse pads?

Of course. It was A1 Graphics of Annan, via this eBay listing: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Personalised ... 4009033936

D.

[charlewi]

Hi Dave. Nice designs. May I ask which company you used to make the mouse pads?

Of course. It was A1 Graphics of Annan, via this eBay listing: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Personalised ... 4009033936

D.

Thanks, I'll give them a go.

[Lardo Boffin]

A Zxpand+. Thanks SirMorris! And very nice soldering as well.

[1024MAK]

A Zxpand+. Thanks SirMorris! And very nice soldering as well.

He obviously got his fresh delivery of solder then

Have fun

BTW, aren’t you on the wrong forum for this

Mark

[Lardo Boffin]

A Zxpand+. Thanks SirMorris! And very nice soldering as well.

He obviously got his fresh delivery of solder then

Have fun

BTW, aren’t you on the wrong forum for this

Mark

Kind of but as the solder question was raised on here...

[DutchAcorn]

An A5000 Alpha (33MHz) with a Simtec 4MB expansion and an FPA10. And I was sooo well on my way to reduce the number of retro computers I own... I could not resist this much temptation

It has no visible battery damage to the main pcb and works perfectly except for the harddisc. The computer appears to have been stored upside down which has saved the main PCB but the battery alkali have attacked the harddrive. Pitty, a computer with this configuration must have been owned by someone that had enough cash to get interesting software. I hope to get the drive going but I have no experience at all with harddisc hardware.

[1024MAK]

Received earlier this week:

Thanks Ken

Mark

[philpem]

Received tonight - RISC PC motherboard (see repair thread), and also...

Sixteen EF68B54P ADLCs and ten Hitachi HM538253BTT-7 VRAMs.
Alas the tiny little PLCC ADLCs still elude me, but these will do very nicely for making up some more Econet modules, and perhaps an Econet podule.

I am a little surprised at the datecodes. The 68B54s are laser-etched and dated 2000. The VRAMs are also laser-etched and dated 2009 -- if I've read the datecode correctly. If I've got my dates right, they should be branded Elpida or Renesas, not Hitachi...

I've dunked a sample of each chip in acetone and given them a good scrub to no effect -- so if they've been blacktopped, they've been done very well indeed.

Regardless of the fact, the VRAMs certainly work okay! See my thread on upgrading 1MB sticks to 2MB for more -- viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19526

[Kazzie]

Received tonight - RISC PC motherboard (see repair thread), and also...

Sixteen EF68B54P ADLCs and ten Hitachi HM538253BTT-7 VRAMs.

We seem to be crossing paths quite a bit at the moment. I've just ordered some VRAM chips following your successful build (and parts link), and I've also spent this past week considering getting some of those EF68B54s to make a batch of econet modules, having baulked at the current going price for modules!