Just picked up this little beauty from Ireland

Gryzor · 18:35, 28 October 13

Hm, well, here at least you got silicone you can paint over. Maybe it's not really silicone and it has turned into a generic term, but I bought some only last week for my bathroom and the guy at the shop asked me if I wanted to paint over it.

Bryce · 21:06, 28 October 13

Mastic in French is a generic word which means more or less the same as putty in English. The English word Mastic is "borrowed" from French but got a slightly different meaning. Neither of them are silicon

In German it's called Spachtel which translates in English to plaster (the type you put on the wall, not on a cut).

Bryce.

beaker · 22:48, 28 October 13

Sorry, reminded me of that part in Pulp Fiction

Vincent: But you know what the funniest thing about Europe is?
Jules: What?
Vincent: It's the little differences. I mean they got the same shit t over there that they got here, but it's just...just there it's a little different.

Bryce · 23:35, 28 October 13

Yes, that scene is a perfect example of how to do non-visual product placement. Very well done.

Bryce.

beaker · 00:31, 29 October 13

Ah, explains why I enjoy going over to Amsterdam..

beaker · 20:35, 03 November 13

I want to do the audio in mod on the 464

DIY 464 External Audio Socket - CPCWiki

I take it the revision of my board below has the connections in the same location as the one in the link?
[attach=2]

Would I be better ordering the screened 3.5mm mono chasis socket or the non-screened?

Bryce · 13:56, 04 November 13

I didn't think there were multiple revisions.

Unscreened is fine for the frequencies here.

Bryce.

beaker · 14:17, 04 November 13

Cool, thanks Bryce. I wasn't sure as mine seems to have MT0001F stamped on it compared to MT0001A image in the link

Bryce · 14:54, 04 November 13

There were (supposedly) versions that had a different signal on pin 2 (I think). But I've just fixed the motherboard it was connected to and the pinout on the mainboard matches what the mod diagram shows.

Bryce.

Gryzor · 19:46, 10 November 13

Sorry for going back a bit, Mastic actually comes from ancient Greek (same root as the verb "to chew"), and through Latin to the west.

Had to get it off my chest

Bryce · 09:31, 11 November 13

Quote from: Gryzor on 19:46, 10 November 13
Sorry for going back a bit, Mastic actually comes from ancient Greek (same root as the verb "to chew"), and through Latin to the west.

Had to get it off my chest

So we've been using discarded Greek chewing gum all this time and didn't know it?

Bryce.

Gryzor · 09:34, 11 November 13

And an ancient one, at that.

beaker · 17:01, 17 November 13

Well I butchered the case some more and added 2 phono sockets for EAR and REM, and a largish reset switch that I moved slightly over as I realised it was quite close to the SSA-1 volume control when that's inserted.

I just don't know whether to add Bryce's USB mouse adapter internally or find a box and have it external?

decisions...

Gryzor · 17:31, 17 November 13

* Gryzor cringes...

But it looks nice

beaker · 18:45, 17 November 13

Should look even better in blow in the dark blue

Sykobee (Briggsy) · 12:30, 18 November 13

Ooh, make the keyboard back-lit too, I believe electroluminescent wire is used for this commonly.

beaker · 13:11, 18 November 13

lol, I did think about doing this but I wasn't sure if it would interfere with the keystrokes and how much power it was draw.

Gryzor · 21:23, 19 November 13

Electroluminescent wire! Wow, didn't know about that. Couldn't you just insert it between the key rows? I don't know how thick they are, or how much current they draw, though...

Bryce · 22:17, 19 November 13

It's not as easy as you think. They usually need a high voltage (around 100V) and high frequency (1KHz) supply, so you need a mains supply and a driver circuit.

Bryce.

Gryzor · 22:19, 19 November 13

Ooh. Yeah, I don't want another lighting system for my living room

Bryce · 22:23, 19 November 13

It's small enough to fit between the keys, and it would be easy to implement in something like the BBC Master, where the 220V is available inside the case, but doing it on something like a CPC is just too complicated / messy.

Bryce.

Gryzor · 22:26, 19 November 13

Ok, let's wait a few years, I'm sure things will improve. And just imagine, it would look gorgeous!

Bryce · 22:32, 19 November 13

You could do it with the type of ulliminating foil that small LCDs (like on the HxC) do. They work on 5V and give a nice glow in any colour you like, but it doesn't come in long strips, so you'd have to fashion something yourself. Probably with multiple 5V supplies.

Bryce.

Edit: You could do it with something like this on the 6128. It needs 12V, but only 200mA for 1.5 Metres, easily enough for the entire keyboard: EL-BAND 1,5 GN - 1,5m Leuchtband, 10mm breit, grün, inkl. Inverter bei reichelt

beaker · 01:29, 20 November 13

What about the el-wire with USB inverter? Can that be modified to run off the CPC 5V supply?

3M Dark Blue EL Wire Neon Constant DIY Strip Light + 5V USB Inverter | eBay

Bryce · 09:17, 20 November 13

Yes, that could be used on a CPC, but they don't mention how many amps it needs, so you might need to up your supply a bit.

Bryce.

News:

Just picked up this little beauty from Ireland