I recently aquired a CPC 464 with a broken monitor. I made a SCART-cable and adapted a PSU for it and the CPC seems to be fully working. I can save to and read from the tape recorder as well.
Now, the problem is that I don't have any tapes for it. I have a MSX datarecorder connected to my PC so I can transfer tape-images to real tapes, but most CPC games seems to be disk images. Is it possible to convert a disk-image to a tape-image so I can load them on my real CPC? Or maybe I'm just bad at googling and there's a lot of tape-images out there after all?
You can't convert DSK to CDT images.
You of course can filecopy the contents of non-copy protected DSK to a new CDT file. But it's not sure if the CDT then loads as it should.
Best is, that you look for already existing CDT files on CPC-POWER, sauvegarde du patrimoine de l'Amstrad CPC (http://www.cpc-power.com) (Almost every game also has a CDT file here)
Quote from: Devilmarkus on 11:20, 14 May 12
Best is, that you look for already existing CDT files on CPC-POWER, sauvegarde du patrimoine de l'Amstrad CPC (http://www.cpc-power.com) (Almost every game also has a CDT file here)
Thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for :)
Thanks again, I found an old favorite from back when I had a Sharp MZ 700 - Star Avenger :laugh: Not quite as good as I remembered it, but it brought back a lot of memories. Anyway, my LCD TV did not like it and decided to display everything in B/W. So I guess it's time to look for a working monitor or a small CRT TV.
Quote from: joska on 17:36, 14 May 12
Thanks again, I found an old favorite from back when I had a Sharp MZ 700 - Star Avenger :laugh: Not quite as good as I remembered it, but it brought back a lot of memories. Anyway, my LCD TV did not like it and decided to display everything in B/W. So I guess it's time to look for a working monitor or a small CRT TV.
It must use R3 trick for scrolling. So you'll need a real CPC monitor to see it correctly. The R3 trick changes some sync timings and modern tvs can't cope with it.
I don't think so, it switched to b/w when the title/loadingscreen was displayed. Same thing happened when I loaded Head over Heels just now. I guess it's just a picky TV. It has some problems with my MSX's as well.
Which way did you wire it? Try out the alternative version here, it might solve your B/W problem: TV SCART cable - CPCWiki - The Ultimate Amstrad CPC Community & Encyclopedia! (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/TV_SCART_cable#Alternative_RGB_Wiring)
Bryce.
That's how it's wired I'm afraid.
I just picked up a small (10" !) CRT TV and both the 646 and 6128 is working fine with it :) So it was just the TV that was picky.
It is possible to take a CDT or tape file from a PC and connect a tape recorder to create your own tapes.
This will no doubt take some trial and error testing to get it right.
But I have a 6128 and found that I used my ASUS EEE netbook to play WAV files and these seem to work just fine.
Hope these things can help you joska.
As for a monitor you can connect bryces video conversion kit to use a VGA monitor, but you will to supply 5V power as the monitor was used for this and if the monitor is dead then you have no choice.
Regards
rpalmer
Quote from: rpalmer on 07:08, 29 July 12
It is possible to take a CDT or tape file from a PC and connect a tape recorder to create your own tapes.
Yes, this works fine. I have a Spectravideo MSX datarecorder connected to my PC, I use this to create tapes for various 8-bits, including the CPC.
Btw I noticed that the CPC tape connector is very similar to the MSX, it even has the same relay control. A simple adapter should allow MSX datarecorders to work with the CPC.
This was the case for many 8-bit tape connectors. The Acorn Electron is almost the same too.
Bryce.
Quote from: joska on 22:06, 28 July 12
I just picked up a small (10" !) CRT TV and both the 646 and 6128 is working fine with it :) So it was just the TV that was picky.
Do they really sell 10" TVs? Wow.
Quote from: Gryzor on 15:15, 30 July 12
Do they really sell 10" TVs? Wow.
Atleast they did about 15 years ago ;) It even has a built-in VHS recorder and runs on 12V, so I guess it's meant to be used in caravans/mobile homes.
I used to have one of those. They were used alot in Supermarkets and department stores for product display videos. Usually questionable cleaning products and gimmicks.
Bryce.
Would really love to have a small retro TV for my kitchen... not that I watch much TV, mind you, but just for the looks of it...
I have one of these:
(http://www.inest.co.uk/images/XL1548.jpg)
10" is really too small. It's acceptable for games, but doing any "work" in mode 2 is hopeless. And a VCR is too retro, even for me ;)
Nah... this one is not retro, just outdated. It's ancient technology stretched into the present :D But useful for some purposes - if it can record on the VCR it could be used as a primitive security system...
In the early 80's, there were adverts for devices that allowed the user to back up their hard drives to video tape, for a truly retro experience you could try that. :D
They were terrible. I had the chance to test one once (back then) and the chances of reviving anything from the video tape seemed to be about 30%.
Bryce.
Ha! I had one of those VCR backup things, I got it for about £5 from the electronics boutique. I thought it would be a nice cheap way of avoiding buying a bigger hard disk for my first PC with its rather claustrophobic 8gb drive. It seemed like magic plugging in the PCI Card and then plugging in the coaxial cable to the VCR. Just like loading huge CPC cassette games! Then the magic wore off. I managed to retrieve maybe 3 word files before I gave up and bought a CD Rewriter then gave up and bought a 20gb hard disk.
Quote from: steve on 19:26, 08 August 12
In the early 80's, there were adverts for devices that allowed the user to back up their hard drives to video tape, for a truly retro experience you could try that. :D
I have the exact opposite. You can back up your video tapes on hard disk. Talk about terrible picture quality. :D
These machines were still available till the early nineties IIRC. Another backup solution gem: print your data on paper, then sca them back. Seriously.
So how much paper would I need to backup my 6TB of data? Obviously I would only print on one side of each sheet to avoid cross-talk :D
Bryce.
At the time I remember having an 800MB disk. With a small enough symbol set and compression it would not be very impractical. Then you remember how much printer ink costs and it makes sense to have a super SCSI setup to back things up...
QuoteThese machines were still available till the early nineties IIRC. Another backup solution gem: print your data on paper, then sca them back. Seriously.
This is some sort of High Tech
Punched card then.
Quote from: Gryzor on 12:14, 09 August 12
These machines were still available till the early nineties IIRC. Another backup solution gem: print your data on paper, then sca them back. Seriously.
You can still do it. PaperBack (http://ollydbg.de/Paperbak/index.html)
In a way the paper solution ain't half bad as a concept. If the data is printed onto ( or encoded onto) something with a bit more longevity it could be a good way to preserve precious data, albeit in very small chunks. I know it's unlikely to ever happen but if our CPC softwares starts to disappear in 200 years time due to some Armageddon virus that wipes out the Internet and anything connected to it, future CPC'ers may wish we had an alternate back up that in theory could be read by pretty much anything programmed to do so.
Matt Honan should've probably used this method.
500kb per page. Hm.
I know it's not massive capacity but it's enough for one CPC disk, I have downloaded just about every archive I can find for the CPC and have (I believe) probably just about everything that was written for the CPC stored on two SD cards and also on two hard drives. Obviously this doesn't include things that weren't released into the wild or are currently in development. I would imagine a few others have more or less identical backups of the sum of CPC knowledge. It's amazing that digital storage is such that we can store what would have required a room full of disks 25 years ago on something that is smaller (in the case of micro SD ) than a postage stamp!
The Internet seems to ensure that our data will always be there, but what if the Internet gets wiped out? I watched a documentary about this very subject and it concluded by pretty much saying that the best way to preserve digital information was on punch cards.
Quote from: Badstarr on 16:23, 10 August 12
I know it's not massive capacity but it's enough for one CPC disk, I have downloaded just about every archive I can find for the CPC and have (I believe) probably just about everything that was written for the CPC stored on two SD cards and also on two hard drives. Obviously this doesn't include things that weren't released into the wild or are currently in development. I would imagine a few others have more or less identical backups of the sum of CPC knowledge. It's amazing that digital storage is such that we can store what would have required a room full of disks 25 years ago on something that is smaller (in the case of micro SD ) than a postage stamp!
Yes, one stamp to destruct, and everything is lost. I like real discs, because data is seperated, so only small pieces can get lost - and only if you have no backups ;-)
Quote from: Badstarr on 16:23, 10 August 12
The Internet seems to ensure that our data will always be there, but what if the Internet gets wiped out? I watched a documentary about this very subject and it concluded by pretty much saying that the best way to preserve digital information was on punch cards.
Well, never before so much information was lost, as in internet age. And yes, the internet will be down beginning at 12/22/2012. But just for 3 days, then darkness ends. It's not a bad thing to print out things though ;-)
Quote from: Gryzor on 13:03, 07 August 12
Would really love to have a small retro TV for my kitchen... not that I watch much TV, mind you, but just for the looks of it...
They're awsome. Pang looks like a hi def on it :laugh:
Hm, lovely photo there! And yes, I guess I know what you mean about HD :) Small AND scanlines!
Pang also looks rather special on a GT65 too! Maybe it's because I grew up using a GT65 but I always liked the lovely phosphorescent glow especially when you set it up as the manual suggests, lowest brightness and highest contrast. I'm used to colour displays now but I still fire up the GT65 every now and then the image just seems more alive on that screen!