oracle_jedi
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Posts posted by oracle_jedi
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63,790
Wow this game is a lot harder than I remember.
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2 hours ago, impactlapod said:
@oracle_jedi yeah it's assuredly shoved all the way in
I've made sure of that and with multiple carts. When you refer to +5v line (pin21) that's on the cartridge connector right?
Yes, might be simplest though to take the case off a cart and then measure across one of the chips.
Pin X is the reset line. Ground that and the VIC should reset.
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I wonder if they'd just sell a space bar?
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At the risk of stating the obvious.... are you certain you are pushing them in fully? The VIC cartridge slot is very tight, the cartridges need a good shove to push them all of the way in. Far more than for an Atari or the later C64.
If you are certain they are fully in, the obvious suspects is the +5V line (Pin 21). There are multiple GND points on the slot. As a test you might ground the reset line and see if that resets the VIC.
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Looks like the same physical key used on the A500 Mitsumi keyboards.
Here are images of the underside of the A500 space bar, and then laid atop the 128s keyboard. They are the same width and shape.
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I never owned a Spectrum, but plenty of my friends did.
In the early days many of the titles were cross ported to the VIC20 or Dragon 32. Games like Horace Goes Skiing, Jet Pac and Arcadia were all fun.
Spectrum exclusives I recall were Penetrator - a pretty good Scramble clone, Ant Attack and the Psion Flight Simulator. I was amazed watching the landing lights move on the screen in response to the inputs, and furious that Flight Path 737 on my VIC20 could not deliver the same experience.
Later games were 48K and competed with the Commodore 64. The Hobbit was very impressive when it came out, Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy, Sabre Wulf and then all of the isometric games like Alien 8.
One of my favorites was Time Gate, an interesting spin on the Star Trek/Star Raiders theme. I recall we played that one for hours.
Lots of great titles for the machine, and some truly impressive achievements given the limitations of the platform.
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2 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:
Query the command channel immediately after startup.
Thanks, it reports "UIEC V0.8.2"
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18 minutes ago, RobertB said:
Oh, if your SD2IEC's have not been updated, then they are very old. You're using firmware anywhere from 0.6 to 0.8.1. See https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/sd2iec_(firmware)
Is there a way from CBM BASIC to interrogate the SD2IEC to report the firmware version?
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7 hours ago, str0m said:
Can you update yours? I was planning on buying from here, it's a V5 whatever that difference is.... there is a link to firmware at the bottom, that might improve compatability, it does say it works with D64 but I guess there might still be ones which don't work
Good question! Not sure. My SD2IECs are pretty old. I think I bought them from Jim Brain back in 2008 or 2009.
I was looking to see if there was a list of fixes/enhancements of the different firmware but didn't see it yet.... -
1 hour ago, hofster said:
Looks like you are running a PAL Retro Replay image on an NTSC C64. What was your question?
I just plugged the Ultimate II+ in. Nothing is running other than the default software in the unit. Is this expected behaviour?
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So explain this to me....
Ultimate II+ on an NTSC 64.
PEEKing 65408 returns the value 3.
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7 hours ago, str0m said:
I plan to get a SD2IEC for mine as who has the time for 8 minute loading waits these days lol
I have a very old SD2IEC which I adapted to power off the user port, and I use with the Plus/4. For simple PRG files it is fine.
I am noticing that a lot of the D64 images downloaded from http://plus4world.powweb.com/ need something that can better emulate a genuine 1541.
I have an Utimate II+, but as I expect you know, it wont plug into the Plus/4. So I have the 64 being a disk-drive for the Plus/4 for those images.
The Infocom games, Mercenary, Flight Simulator II and Corruption so far have all needed the Ultimate II+ 1541 emulation to work.
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1 hour ago, remowilliams said:
Not a Plus/4 but this is generally how I handle heat sinks on the old machines when the chips produce enough heat to warrant it. It's longer generic heat sink stock cut down to size, attached with good thermal tape.
I ditched the massive top shield in this 128 when installing the Lumafix.
What tool do you need to cut the heat sinks down to size?
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Interesting indeed!
Bill Herd certainly is an expert, and he is of the opinion that additional heat sinks don't help at all. And may even do more harm.
I do find his argument odd though:
"Then there is the effect of heat on chips, put bluntly if heat was a problem the chips would have died their first year. The chips that are left after 35 years are proof that heat isn't an issue."
I am reminded of the old adage: "It's not the age, its the mileage!".
Here in the U.S., in my experience, it is not uncommon at retro shows and gatherings to find Commodore 16s and Plus4s mint-in-the-box. Cosmetically they look brand new. Even the boxes show minimal shelfware. My guess is that most recipients of these machines, back in 1984 or 1985, had asked Santa for a Commodore 64. The Plus4 probably got used a handful of times, but back in its box, at the back of the closet, and was forgotten about for 40 years. At PRGE in 2019, one vendor had a stack of C16s, all boxed, all looking pretty fresh. By contrast I don't think I have ever seen an original 64, "mint in the box" this side of Y2K. They all got used to the point the cases discolored and cracked, the boxes disintegrated and sometimes the keys fell off. Same with Apple IIs and Atari 800s.
So that the TED chips in these mint machines still work is a testament that the IC thermal management was more than adequate? Or that it was never really tested in the first place?
With that said Bill is the expert. I am the enthusiastic amateur. I'll take his advice and smear some fresh artic silver on the TED, then bend the RF shield tongue down to make a firm contact. I might slap a copper sink in the 8501 just because I don't think it will hurt.
Then I can explore the amazing software conversions done by the Hungarian hackers for this quirky machine.
Thanks for the links!
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Interested to know the brain trusts opinion of the best way to heat sink the TED chip in a Plus/4.
Fresh thermal paste and bend the original heat sink tongue down from the RF shield to make a strong contact?
Or one of the many third-party ones available online?
And if the latter what size and material is best suited to stop the TED chip from cooking itself to death?
In fact same question could be applied to the VIC2 chip in a 64, and the SID chip, and any of the other ICs in an 8-bit Commodore.
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On 1/13/2023 at 12:33 AM, Keatah said:
Furthermore I don't recommend getting more than 2 or 3 favorite classic systems. You just spread everything so thin with more than 4. Time. Money. Space. Concentration. Personal interest. All are commodities and resources we don't take inventory of until the hobby (any hobby) consumes us.
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On 1/10/2023 at 1:09 PM, Hwlngmad said:
The TS1000 / ZX-81 is a pretty hardy little device all things told. As far as electronics go, I am sure that one could keep the machine up and running a heckuva lot longer than most modern devices I would think. But, once we lose all power and go back to the stone age, post-its would win out big time.
Yeah but then you'll need the ZX81 to get the abandoned nuclear power plant back online and safe civilization.....
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There is a Pi native port of Doom and I believe Quake. There are some other native Pi ports of 3D games too.
Decide if you want to run the native ports or the DOS games through an emulator. I started using the native ports but quickly gave up - they are much too buggy, missing features and had bizarre control mappings. That was a while back and no doubt things have improved, but I found the experience generally just annoying.
As @wierd_w and @zzip already stated, DOSBox provides the ability to run the DOS games through emulation. I found this the best way to go, although I was running them on a Pi 400, so YMMV. I generally do not use RetroPi as I find it just gets in the way, but I know many find great value in it.
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Just adding this here and relying on Google to do the heavy lifting for anyone looking to replace the CPU socket on an Atari STE.
The STE uses a 68-pin PLCC socket but the pin arrangement is unusual, in that the inner and outer pins are offset from each other.
Most PLCC68 sockets, the pins are inline, meaning that you cannot just buy a generic PLCC68 socket from your favorite parts vendor and drop it in.
My STE had been basically busted for 5 years. I was browsing Best's site before Christmas looking to see if I wanted anything and stumbled upon part number CB101503-G - a replacement socket with the correct pin alignment. Probably been there all along and never noticed it.
The STE is up and running again with a new CPU socket and the original CPU back in its place. So that's a good start to the new year.
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My first guess was some sort of CF card reader might have been installed, but internal HDs on those STs are not simple to pull off, so my second guess is that someone ran the 34 pin floppy ribbon cable out of the side of the computer to a second floppy that sat on top, powered externally.
Its a clean cut though. Very impressive.
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Shuttle continued to make AT form factor motherboards right through earlier Pentium class CPUs.
My 5170 ended up with a Pentium, Sound Blaster Pro and an AGP Voodoo Banshee graphic card.
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Wasn't Xtree Gold the big thing back then? I seem to recall using it a few times with HD equipped ATs and it not buckling under the burden.
Usually I just used CD commands with a directory structure that made sense to me.
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Here's mine:
I used one of the existing holes in the motherboard and a single stand off. It is enough to keep the board secured.
In this image you can also see the Stereo board. I think this 1200XL uses a Clear Video fix but the UAV should not cause any problems in my opinion.
Good luck.
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As you've already worked out - you didn't hit the jackpot.
The 520ST is a nice system, and yours is a very nice example, but the whole set is worth a few hundred at most.
The monitor you have is the SC1224 JVC edition. That is the best of the ST color monitors, and prized by some collectors for its vivid colors and true black. Someone will pay for that, although shipping monitors is a dicey proposition, even with the original packing carton like you have.
Please don't bin it. If you're not interested in selling it, at least consider listing it on your local Craiglist or Offer Up or equivalent for free. With luck a collector will grab it. At worst a trader will pick it up and resell it. At least it wont end up in a landfill, and hopefully someone will get some enjoyment from such a well preserved example.
And if you're in the Seattle area let me know.
Good luck!
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I've made sure of that and with multiple carts. When you refer to +5v line (pin21) that's on the cartridge connector right?
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Vradark's Revenge for Spectrum Next & PC.
in Classic Computing Discussion
Posted
Nice.
If my ZX Spectrum Next 2 ever shows up, I will be sure to check this out.
Alas in the spirit of recreating the authentic Spectrum experience, it seems people who order the Next are subject to shipping delays that make the original 1982 wait of 6 months or more pale by comparison.