amstrad cpc+ basic cartridge?

[erikarn]

Hi all,

I've finally acquired a (Spanish!) CPC464+. It however came sans BASIC cartridge.

Would anyone be able to give me a hand getting a cartridge board going? in particular:

* The ACID chip is now fully decoded, right? So I should be able to emulate that given a fast enough microcontroller (or if I get around to it, a PLD.)
* Can one run multiple expansion ROMs from the cartridge slot? Or do I need to roll together an expansion peripheral for that?

Thanks!


Adrian

[erikarn]

.. and if someone has a spare 464+ BASIC cartridge they'd like to sell, I'd also be interested in that.

Thanks!

[steve]

There is an english basic cartridge for sale on ebay now although it is ridiculously overpriced, you could however make an offer of a more reasonable price, it is english though and you might prefer to find a spanish one if they made one.

This cartridge is being sold for more than I have paid for a complete 464+, so don't pay the full price unless you have to.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AMSTRAD-LOCOMOTIVE-BASIC-CARTRIDGE-464-6128-/310244159714?pt=UK_VintageComputing_RL

[arnoldemu]

Hi all,

I've finally acquired a (Spanish!) CPC464+. It however came sans BASIC cartridge.

Would anyone be able to give me a hand getting a cartridge board going? in particular:

* The ACID chip is now fully decoded, right? So I should be able to emulate that given a fast enough microcontroller (or if I get around to it, a PLD.)

Some details of the signal timings have not been confirmed, but essentially yes.

* Can one run multiple expansion ROMs from the cartridge slot? Or do I need to roll together an expansion peripheral for that?

If you are talking about having Parados, or Maxam or Protext or similar then you need a eprom box expansion peripheral.

If you are talking about multiple cartridges, then really I am not sure. The Amstrad demonstrator did have multiple cartridges, but had additional hardware where you could choose (in software) which cartridge was active.

[OCT]

...if someone has a spare 464+ BASIC cartridge they'd like to sell, I'd also be interested in that.

You've got a personal message regarding a "Burning Rubber & Locomotive BASIC" cartridge from the UK, as well as one more much sought-after cartridge of KLAX (never used, still new as packaged by the manufacturer and with its original price tag of 229 French Francs).
Inquiries by other proud owners of the Plus also welcome (looks like I'll never get a UK one myself, <sigh>), in particular if anyone would like the bundle of both...

[steve]

Over the past couple of weeks there have been at least 5 amstrad 464 plus machines on UK ebay, the last one included a colour monitor and sold for £31, I have not seen any 6128 plus's.

[OCT]

Over the past couple of weeks there have been at least 5 amstrad 464 plus machines on UK ebay, the last one included a colour monitor and sold for £31, I have not seen any 6128 plus's.

Having had to twist my fingers around AZERTY far too long (for someone from QWERTZ-land), I have  a search running on eBay.co.uk that much to my regret only very rarely comes up with a CPC6128plus, and hardly ever from anyone willing to ship "overseas" (with these vast wild seas being the Channel, or even just the Chunnel) - and at any rate (pun intended) the Royal Mail lives up to its name by charging, erm, royally... even without a monitor.

[steve]

Your best option may be to get a 464 plus and add memory and possibly the disk interface components to the PCB, since most software is on cassette, you need the cassette deck more than the disk drive

[steve]

Oct's post reminded me that the spanish keyboard may have a different layout to a UK keyboard so a UK cartridge may not work properly with a spanish keyboard.

[OCT]

Oct's post reminded me that the spanish keyboard may have a different layout to a UK keyboard so a UK cartridge may not work properly with a spanish keyboard.

It might actually be an easy way to "upgrade" the layout to a UK one - no CPC+ to try though.