My new 6128 purchase .. not bad for £10! (*)

[MugUK]

(*) OK, so that's £10 plus the £20 train ticket needed to go and pick it up

After getting back a couple of hours ago from my afternoon trip to meet the seller (she was picking her son up from university in Stafford .. otherwise it would have been a trip down to somewhere in Kent!) - I've powered up the 6128 and it's all fine, except that the drive doesn't read any disks.  It sounds like this is a common problem and I'll be ordering some replacement drive belts (and a tape loader cable so I can load from my mini MP3 player) after Wednesday.

It looks like there are 9 or 10 original disks (but until I can confirm what's on them, I'm not sure if the previous owner's sons have wiped their contents as there was a Microprose original but with scribbles over it and some other game's name written on the label).  There's also a boxed Fun School 2 (no use for me, even as a technical author!).

As for the 'blank' disks, there looks to be 9 in boxes and approx 25 without boxes.  As per the above, until the drive is working, I won't know if what's scribbled on them is actually on the disks.

All in all, it's not too bad a collection for what I paid for it.

[Gryzor]

10 pounds? You lucky b@st@rd...


A pity thebelt needs replacement, but it's to be expected. You can find them on eBay, going for a couple of pounds usually (I remember buying 3 for 5 quid the last time).


Ain't it a grand feeling, turning a machine of old on for the first time?

[MugUK]

10 pounds? You lucky b@st@rd...

I thought that too when I saw how much other ones go for - especially the prices being charged for 'just the computer' on some eBay (UK) listings.

A pity the belt needs replacement, but it's to be expected. You can find them on eBay, going for a couple of pounds usually (I remember buying 3 for 5 quid the last time).

Aye - payday is Wednesday, so it's a few days to wait before I can order the replacement belt(s) and the tape loader.  I'm assuming that loading .WAVs off an old MP3 player is OK?

Ain't it a grand feeling, turning a machine of old on for the first time?

It will be when I can get it fully up and running

[beaker]

I'm assuming that loading .WAVs off an old MP3 player is OK?

Damn I am jealous, I am after one of the original 6128's at the moment and that seems a great price! 

I didn't use an MP3 player, instead I set up my 6128+ next to my laptop and just used the soundcard to load tape software until my HxC floppy emulator turned up. These were the instructions I followed: Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource and grabbed a load of tape images from CPC-POWER, sauvegarde du patrimoine de l'Amstrad CPC. Turned out to be more reliable than my old 464    Good luck!

[MugUK]

It's a cheapo MP3 player that cost £5 off eBay last year.  Uses Micro SD cards so it's just the conversion to .WAV files that will take the time.  We (as in the Retro Computer Museum) have used these MP3 players with a 3/4 success rate on the Oric-1, Enterprise and other machines where it takes an enormous amount of arcane analog audio knowledge to get them to load from tape properly.  Not what you want at an event

[ralferoo]

10 pounds? You lucky b@st@rd...

Lucky, yes, but not uncommon. I got an almost perfect condition 6128 with colour monitor, all in boxes for £11. I actually gave them £20 and told them to keep the change because I felt so guilty!

[ced64k]

And the opposite 

Amstrad CPC 6128 +HxC Floppy disc Emulator Full Power Supply Kit & VGA Scart Kit

[Gryzor]

Well, the HxC alone is 100 euros or so. Still expensive though

[MugUK]

Tape leads and drive belts ordered.

Also borrowed (with a view to buying if possible) another 20 original game disks from the collection belonging to a pub in Manchester. It has a Retro Gaming Night every 2 weeks but has not got a 6128. So at the very least I'll test then and scan both sides for the Wiki ;-)

Sent from my Galaxy S2 using Tapatalk.

[beaker]

Also borrowed (with a view to buying if possible) another 20 original game disks from the collection belonging to a pub in Manchester. It has a Retro Gaming Night every 2 weeks but has not got a 6128. So at the very least I'll test then and scan both sides for the Wiki ;-)

That sounds a great idea compared to the old pub quiz! What games are in the collection?

[MugUK]

The originals that I have are:

Bought separately: Graphic Adventure Creator & Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja

Came with 6128: Fun School 2 (boxed), Scalextric & Scrabble (no idea what's on side B as a new label has been put on top and the original label is not viewable), Slaine, Combat School, Sonic Boom, Raid, Annals of Rome and something called 'G.M.S' which has an option to run either the 'Simulator' (RUN "SIM") or the 'Creator' (RUN "CREATE") and that's all that's written on the label.  Any ideas what this is?

Guessing by the age of the seller's son as she was picking him up from university in Stafford when I picked up the machine, I'm guessing that the bad writing is theirs *and* there's the possibility that all of the disks included will not have what's on the label actually still on the disk.

As for the ones from the pub with the retro games night, they are:

Prince of Persia, Amstrad compilation (Tuberuba, World Series Baseball, Shape & Sound, Qabbalah, The Prize & Supertest 1), Pipemania, Hard Drivin', Turrican, Robocop, Rick Dangerous, Myth, Incredible Shrinking Sphere (loved the tune on the Atari ST version), Ghostbusters II, Fighter Bomber, Batman The Movie, Trivial Pursuit, Microprose Soccer & Six-A-Side, Cyberball, Scalextric & Scrabble with Monopoly & Cluedo on the other side, Live and Let Die, Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja, Operation Wolf, Castle Master, 3D Construction Kit, Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer, Shadow Warriors, Strider, Batman The Caped Crusader and an Accolade compilation on 2 disks which is Jack Nicklaus' Golf. 

Enough to keep me going when the drive belt is fixed

Now which ones are needed to be scanned / photographed using my Samsung Galaxy S2 to use on the Wiki?

[Gryzor]

My, how I'd love to have a pub running retro nights indeed... *sigh*


As for the scans, I'd suggest waiting a few days, I've got something new in the works...

[MugUK]

No worries. My tape leads and replacement drive belts turned up today so I'll be busy tonight ;-)

Sent from my Galaxy S2 using Tapatalk.

[steve]

No worries. My tape leads and replacement drive belts turned up today so I'll be busy tonight ;-)

Sent from my Galaxy S2 using Tapatalk.

Just wondering, do you get paid for advertising your phone or does it add that little message whether you want it or not?

[MugUK]

That's Tapatalk - I only use it when I'm in work as all *fun* places like this are blocked by the company firewall

It puts something there - either its own advert or you can put your own text.  Never thought to switch it off (as I've bought the app) as it's always been there

[Gryzor]

There is an option in Tapatalk to customize it or turn it off...


Sent from my kitchen stove.

[Bryce]

Wow, your kitchen stove is wifi enabled?? 

Bryce.


Sent from a device made entirely out of lollipopsticks and three rubber bands.

[Gryzor]

ONLY THREE?! You hardware god, you...


No, sadly the stove is cabled to the router.

[ukmarkh]

(*) OK, so that's £10 plus the £20 train ticket needed to go and pick it up

After getting back a couple of hours ago from my afternoon trip to meet the seller (she was picking her son up from university in Stafford .. otherwise it would have been a trip down to somewhere in Kent!) - I've powered up the 6128 and it's all fine, except that the drive doesn't read any disks.  It sounds like this is a common problem and I'll be ordering some replacement drive belts (and a tape loader cable so I can load from my mini MP3 player) after Wednesday.

It looks like there are 9 or 10 original disks (but until I can confirm what's on them, I'm not sure if the previous owner's sons have wiped their contents as there was a Microprose original but with scribbles over it and some other game's name written on the label).  There's also a boxed Fun School 2 (no use for me, even as a technical author!).

As for the 'blank' disks, there looks to be 9 in boxes and approx 25 without boxes.  As per the above, until the drive is working, I won't know if what's scribbled on them is actually on the disks.

All in all, it's not too bad a collection for what I paid for it.

How much for Combat School... love that game?

[MugUK]

I'll let you know when I've got the drive belt swapped over *and* assuming that fixes the problem

Turns out the disks from the pub are mine if I can work out what's wrong with their DivIDE and some C64 add-on cart that's been purchased.



With this run of (almost) good luck .. anyone want me to pick their Lotto numbers?


And I've found my Tapatalk settings and switched off the message.  I'm guessing it's on by default until you buy it and I never bothered to switch it off

[Bryce]

@Gryzor: They are red rubber bands, they have a much higher bandwidth than the yellow ones but the Lollipopsticks are standard Magnum sticks, which is why it only has Wlan g/b and not n.

Bryce.

[MugUK]

Boo-Hoo .. drive still stuffed:  New thread here: Grrr! 6128 drive still not reading disks after belt change

[Shredder11]

Hi Mug, nice to see you around this place and I never knew you were a CPC afficionardo!     I had a CPC464 back in the 1980s and always viewed it as a baby 8-bit brother to the Atari ST which I dreamed of owning.  A couple of years back I got a 6128 for £17 but it came with nothing else.  The drive is not reading disks but I still need to fit a new belt (I have two new ones in a box).  It makes spinning access noises and the LED lights up, but that is all.


*** I've just read that other topic you linked to and found that very helpful.  Just need to have a bash with it all now ***

[MugUK]

I got it working even with my fat fingers so it's possible - just I wasn't prepared for 'knackered RAM chips also' - hence me picking up a now working 6128 tomorrow at the RCM Member's Event.

As for 25 years ago - if it wasn't for the payment for the graphics conversion for Out Of This World on the Amstrad and the other machine ... I have to be careful on here  - then I wouldn't have bought my Atari ST in '87 ;-)

[Shredder11]

Ahh I forgot about you doing that game, yeah you mentioned it over at Atari-Forum I think.  I'm currently deliberating on how to install the RGB S-Video interface that Bryce on here made me last year.  I could just solder it directly to my 6128 motherboard and then fudge neatly secure it to the rear of the case.  However I would like to keep it separate so I can plug it into other CPCs.  The other day I did the simple mod on my Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K (rubber keys), to convert it from RF to Composite.  Dead easy job and it gives a decent picture and passes video and sound via a SCART cable. Nice!  Still got tons of stuff to get through on the Atari STE and Falcon 030.......  NEED MORE TIME!