A CPC is Born! GX4128

[Badstarr]

Phew! More or less up and running again. Seems I will need a new RGB decoder chip, but the monitor output is working for now. I still need to repair part of the expansion port connections to the ASIC, but I have a bit of a headache probably due to lack of sleep so I'm not entirely in the mood for soldering tiny wires back up again. So TFM/FS, if you have thought of a benchmarking/testing routine, I should still be able to test it for you, but as you probably guessed, no rush! lol!

[OCT]

it seems my cat has attacked my GX! I found it about 6 feet away from the work bench where I left it

That number and the dastardly deed of the beast... that cat may be possessed by the spirit of a 6502, making it see the CPC as an enemy (or obstacle to World Domination™): if that's the image you see when looking it deep in its feline eyes (if not blinking, don't press RUN STOP - consider yourself lucky that the demon is sleeping!), you may wish to refer the case to a qualified veterinary exorcist (1-800-CALL-A-CATHOLIC).

[Badstarr]

Haha! I don't know if he's possessed by the spirit of Commodore, maybe he was just trying to help with the remainder of the mod? On the other hand he certainly likes to push things off tables, usually one at a time! I think he might have grabbed at a dangling cable and cat-apulted the GX across the room. I'm back on speaking terms with him now that I have the F1 F2 menu back and just a bit of soldering to restore the 4 or 5 expansion connections that have detached from the ASIC. As for the RGB encoder, I'm hoping all I need is to solder in a replacement.


I'm glad it's not completely goosed, I'm kicking myself as I usually clear everything away when I'm finished working on something, its not unusual for me to find the cat flinging screw drivers or reels of solder around.

[OCT]

Haha! I don't know if he's possessed by the spirit of Commodore

This being a tomcat, obviously not called Regan... still, in particular if the occurrences started this April: In the voice of Max von Sydow, ask the spirit if he goes by the name of Jack and had been previously incarnated as a bumblebee (though I'd thought this one had been upgraded straight to hardware heaven)...

maybe he was just trying to help with the remainder of the mod?

Installing a mouse port, obviously.

On the other hand he certainly likes to push things off tables, usually one at a time! [...] its not unusual for me to find the cat flinging screw drivers or reels of solder around.

The "hardcore" version of woolen fluff balls. Then again, if he tries to assimilate metals, the possession might rather be one by Borg nanoprobes.
Well, fortunately just playing with the solder and not the recently used iron: "chat échaudé craint le feu" as they say (i.e. once bitten, twice shy - the Germans have the scarier variant of "gebranntes Kind", i.e. baby burnt).

[Gryzor]

 *OT* What??! I've been washing my car for nothing then? Goddamn!!! *OT*


For some time I had actually given the bottom of a c64 case to my cat, lined with a fleece blankie. He liked it, until he overgrew it.

[Badstarr]

Ha! I like that! Heavy metal cat toys! Great stuff! Trying to install a mouse port! That's actually quite funny as he has been bringing me an awful lot of mice recently neatly piled up on the back door step lol! I honestly think he might have been trying to join in with the GX4000 modding, he does watch me rather a lot, he seems fascinated but from his feline perspective he probably thinks its some kind of game (not totally wrong I suppose) one that's difficult to play without opposable thumbs (there's an Eddie Izzard sketch in there somewhere!)


Back to the topic (sort of) I have just realised, my cat has helped me in a strange way, my next mod was going to be a GX4000 in a 464 case. I wanted to run it off 5Volts and switch the video output to one of Bryce's marvellous S-Video dongles. Which as you might have guessed, negates the need for the SCART RGB encoder, the modulator and the 10Volt power! I'm hoping that the 5 Volt regulator can handle the expansion power demands I will have to check that!


So now, this project will form the basis of my upcoming Uber CPC project... The Amstrad CPC 6512 GX. And the console that was to become the 6512 will become the GX4128 (MkII Codenamed Dakota... after my cat lol!)


This new project will have 512k Memory, built in MegaFlash (self built hopefully),S-Video Out, built in HxC, built in mouse port (since my cat insisted), built in Disk Drive Interface, Built in 3.5" slimline drive, Built in cassette (that may change), and possibly some digital audio storage, for digitising cassettes while loading. The plan is to also have a huge built in selection of Flash RAM based EPROMS that will be accessed via the cartridge port, so hopefully all Plus/GX4000 cartridges only a few switches away. All this housed in a classic 464 case!


Its gunna be fun building this one! lol!

[TFM]

OMG! What a nightmare! I really like cats, but ... 

[Badstarr]

He's a great cat really, he has been a little bit of a pest recently though, very excitable and racing round pulling power cables/speaker cables/laptop PSUs with his teeth, thats what makes me think he could have knocked the GX down by pulling on the PSU cable. Stupidly I had not screwed the case back together, shame I didn't spot that capacitor though as if I had the machine would be all back up and running 100%.


As they say though, every dark cloud has a silver lining, and in this case, the unfortunate experience has made me reconsider how to proceed with my GX projects. It was a bit of a head slapping moment where I kind of thought "Duh! why am I attempting to restore functions I don't require for my next project?" If I hadn't thought of that I would have essentially removed the features in another GX4000 after reinstating them in an already modified system lol! Can't see the wood for the trees sometimes!


Anyway I have ordered the parts I need for the S-Video unit, could only find the NTSC crystal oscillator as the PAL one didn't turn up when I did a search, but strangely enough several references to the AD724 IC showed up. My TV supports both standards so it makes no real difference. The 5Volt psu I will be using with the final system is producing a bit of a noisy signal so I reckon I will make a filter on the socket to deal with that, I think a Cap and a Diode should do it.