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barnieg

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Everything posted by barnieg

  1. Been a while since I've been able to properly post here. Is anyone working on any Aquarius related projects? I'm planning to revisit my Aquarius related game ideas, having the Micro Expander makes that a lot easier! Barnie
  2. I've been out of the Loop with retro stuff , only occasionally dipping in. Discord is something I probably need to look at anyway, just a quick thought what does it give us that isn't available on AtariAge? Facebook is a pretty terrible platform for this sort of stuff so from the point of view a good move. Will sign up to the Discord this weekend. I'm now into finishing the 1st year of My Fine Art & Illustration Degree and am finding I've got more time to devote to hobbies which have sort of blurred into everything. First game project to complete is the Aquarius stuff, I need to take stock of where I got to and work out a plan of action.
  3. Another radofin link, mentions a lichtenstein subsidiary http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/radofin_-_triton.html
  4. Some previous research on add-on electronics, links to a world of spectrum page that's now a bit broken but does contain details of the issue of home computer weekly.
  5. I wonder if looking into addon electronics would help? They were jointly owned by radofin and datel from memory
  6. Interesting question, one I've looked into now and again over the years. First some legal background https://www.begbies-traynorgroup.com/articles/insolvency/the-consequences-of-intellectual-property-rights-when-a-company-becomes-insolvent The issues will be were any rights sold on? I'd hazard a guess that patents have expired. As to copyright, depends on the software on question, did Mattel games retain their original copyright for example? What about licensed properties i.e Tron and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons for example. Most of the hardware in the Aquarius was off the shelf except from memory the PLA, character rom and basic. Maybe someone as a list of Any patents related to the Aquarius that can be checked? I'd really like to see an opensource 8bit basic to replace the Microsoft one on old micros. Is is historical research or are you looking at developing something commercial?
  7. I bought a microexpander on Ebay and got it up and running earlier this week, I wanted to be able to develop stuff easily and my original plan of using casettes is on the back burner. I think my plan now is to create a rom image release of what originally started out as robotwon 2525 and get some carts manufactured. Still a way to got development wise but this should help considerably. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10220538253224694&id=1184205523
  8. Awesome idea. I do wonder if it would be practical to make the keyboard compatible with other retro systems possibly have an adapter for various systems?
  9. I'm back at University next week to start my degree. I plan do some work on creating silicon moulds for some low quantity runs of various items as and when the opportunity arises for project work.
  10. Sounds like a great idea, thinking out loud anyone that doesnt want to open the Aquarius has the other options available. How hard would it be to implement the USB interface from the microexpander Internally?
  11. A big thank you to Jay for my custom Aquaricart with 32k ram ? Very impressed by the whole package and attention to detail particularly with regards to the accompanying manual. Now I just need Bruce's microexpander and a way to physically attach both at the same time and a reliable tape recorder ?
  12. Taking some screenshots from R-type on the Gameboy http://www.honestgamers.com/assets/4740/view/0.html ( I looked at this from the perspective of lowest resolution system that had a commercial R-Type release) I cropped the images to 320x192 then fed them thru cjmartin's bmp2aq . Scores could be added on the top line . It would be nice to say take the output of bmp2aq and convert to a rexpaint compatible format. A couple of the tests were done with full character set, the other with 80x72 bloxels Certainly with some decent editing and emphasizing the chunky look a decent translation could be achieved Barnie
  13. I've got http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=115&t=30306 andapart from some keyboard issues works quite well Has anyone else had a chance to look at this core? It would be nice if it can be brought into sync with someone of the recent and planned hardware addons My intention until I can get the Real Aquarius loading from cassette is to create ROM images to run on the Mist Aquarius Barnie
  14. Thanks. Amazing what could be achieved considering the limitations. As I want to load from casette whatever I do will need to fit into ram. Will post further when I've made some more progress Barnie
  15. Some progress, I've been able to semi relibly load the basic header of a few test games but the basic is slightly corrupt. Laptop can go up to 153% which seems to work best, can't go any higher. Not sure what's next maybe my desktop will work better? Barnie
  16. That's amazing, are you running samples thru the 1 channel sound? I'd like to produce more than just simple tones and beeps, effectively im looking at what's possible with an Aquarius + memory and nothing else loaded via tape file Thanks Barnie
  17. Thanks, very useful. I'm starting to dig through the old posts I might have missed over the years. Hoping to get some aquarius stuff done as some collaboration work for my final project this year at uni Barnie
  18. It's pretty straight forward to create simple sounds in basic with the sound command, however is their a way to create sounds with more flexibility without adding the mini expander. I noticed the on the memory map the sound and casette output are on the same port but how would say creating sound in machine code work in practice? Barnie
  19. Wired up a cassette cable and got the Aquarius to record to tape. Could not reload with various volume settings. I'm going to check the cable over the weekend and try again
  20. I'm using composite and it looks OK though not great. Will follow your advice and look at the mylar and do some brief testing. Another option I've come across is bypassing the keyboard and using a ps2 interface although I'm not sure if this has any downsides Thanks Barnie
  21. Update: I've opened up the XE and cleaned the keyboard connector. I did notice a lot of corrosion on the shield is it OK to leave this off for now? Also noticed corrosion on the top of the rf modulator and on the back of the composite socket. On powering up again and testing keys 1 to 6 don't work the rest seem OK. Best option replacement keyboard? Thanks Barnie
  22. Thanks all for the replies. I'll start by having a look at the mylar. It maybe that I consider sending it off for a refurb in the near future Barnie
  23. I've finally been able to setup my 65XE after a long time in storage. It powers on and I get to to basic OK. On a brief test of the keyboard some keys particularly the number row don't work. Any ideas? I've been thinking of getting an ultimate 1MB installed but obviously this needs sorting first Thanks Barnie
  24. I should be able to test loading and saving on the Aquarius this week and I have a few questions: 1. What volume level(s) work best? 2. I have a tape which I believe may contain the original owners basic programs any precautions to take before loading and steps to take if any issues? 3. Any methods of turbo loading and saving to casette? I was in poundland (UK discount) store yesterday and found they sell new casette tapes ? so I bought a pack of two they are 60 minutes so should suffice for now!
  25. Regarding the sound chip, there are boards available for the original zx spectrum to provide ay sound to the 48k models. I wonder how hard an adapter would be to create? Saying that maybe an other option would be a small board for the Aquarius that provides just the sound chip and a pass through for those that don't want to open their machines.
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