Archival technical documention for the Voltmace Database

[Derek Andrews]

I finally broke down and bought myself not one, but two Voltmace Databases. It will be a while before I have the time to get them powered up on 110v and displaying their video, but in the meantime I plan to open them up and document their construction. I have a list of things I want to record (below), but wonder what others might like to see recorded for posterity.

 

Photos of the original box artwork.

Photos of the polystyrene packaging.

Photos of the mouldings with dimensions.

Photos of the circuit board, top, bottom and one superimposed on the other, from which a circuit diagram could be constructed.

Parts list.

Manufacturer and date code of all the IC's which may give a clue as to the approximate vintage of these two consoles.

Ditto the cartridge wiring and construction. (My regional library has a 3D scanner and printers, so I will see if it is possible to scan the two parts of the cartridge mouldings and print new ones).

 

[boulinha]

Hello Derek

I will try to get some of the info requested.

 

By the way, I was looking for some info about the DazRAM module #27 for the Voltmace Database and I found this in a scanned page of the ZX Computing magazine here (page 58):

 

retro8bitcomputers.co.uk/Content/downloads/magazines/ZXcomputing/ZXComputing_Jun-Jul_1983.pdf

 

 

 

and here: www.retro8bitcomputers.co.uk/Content/downloads/magazines/ZXcomputing/ZXComputing_Oct-Nov_1983.pdf

on page 90:

 

 

 

 

Do you know anything about this tool for the ZX81? It seems amazing!

In your page https://sig2650.wordpress.com/about/it seems you were working on it.

 

[Derek Andrews]

Thanks, that is interesting but I honestly don't know if they ever actually sold any of those. But yes, I did all the design work for DAZRAM. Given that it was nearly forty years ago, I don't think I can add much beyond what is in the advert. One end plugged into the ZX81, presumably an expansion port, and it had a ROM with Z80 code that I wrote to allow the user to input 2650 machine code. The code was stored in a RAM and connected to the Database cartridge. Given that the user was going to have to write their program in assembler and convert it to machine code themselves, and the complexity of programming the console to do very much at all, it would have taken someone with a lot of perseverance to get very far. This was probably one of the crazier things I have ever been involved in, but I was getting paid to do it.

[boulinha]

Thanks Derek for the info. I suspected this item was not never sold, I never found any one on markets.