Hello everybody,
I just registered the other week, I've been helping my old dad clean out his shed, and I found our old CPC6128, with its monitor and DMP2000 printer, as well as a bunch of magazines. I haven't found any disks yet, but I think they should be around.
I didn't have any idea dad still had it, I last saw it in 1990 when I left home. I got re-interested in the cpc back in the mid 90's, played with some emulators I think, I remember a few names that I see active here, I exchanged a few emails with (I don't remember him being a Dr back then) TFM, but then life got in the way, and I forgot all about it.
I was going to post some pics, since I am quite excited to find them, but I think you all know what a 6128 looks like.
I also have :
The original CPC6128 user instructions.
2 x DMP 2000 user instructions (I don't know why there are 2)
8 x Amstrad Action issues.
5 x Computing with the Amstrad issues.
1 issue of Amstrad Professional Computing.
Polyword manual.
1 issue of Amstrad Computer User.
18 x The Amstrad User issues.
Now, some questions.
1. I haven't been brave enough to plug the cpc in and turn it on yet, there could be all sorts of bugs and spiders and stuff inside it, waiting to short something out. What suggestions would anybody have to clean it out, to give it the best chance of working? (I'm not actually sure if it will work at all after all this time, but I want to maximise my chances).
2. Are people still interested in scanned magazine issues? I haven't looked into exact issues, or what sort of condition they are in (I think I remember my younger brother cutting pictures out from the mags). I anybody is interested, I can scan them when I have time.
3. That CPC TREX sounds fascinating, how many people have one? How comaptible is nearly 100% compatible? I see that the C1 board is discontinued, and they recommend the Altera DE1 as the replacement, has anyone tried this board? If my CPC is gone forever, now that I'm all interested again, I might have a crack at this for a project.
I have a wife, 1 yr old son, full time job, and plenty of chores to do around the house, so time is scarce for me, but I have an understanding, tolerant wife, so I hope I can participate in helping keep this scene alive. G'day to anybody in Perth, Western Australia.
do you have feets under water ???
Welcome aboard from the other side of the world... ;)
Quote from: Russkie on 16:23, 16 January 11
Hello everybody,
Hello and welcome!
Quote from: Russkie on 16:23, 16 January 11
1. I haven't been brave enough to plug the cpc in and turn it on yet, there could be all sorts of bugs and spiders and stuff inside it, waiting to short something out. What suggestions would anybody have to clean it out, to give it the best chance of working? (I'm not actually sure if it will work at all after all this time, but I want to maximise my chances).
There was a recent thread about cleaning up a 6128 (http://cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php/topic,1765.0.html), so this might be of some help.
If it doesn't power up, it appears that usually the power switch is the culprit (http://cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php/topic,1480.0.html) (and when I asked about this again recently, arnoldemu wrote a more comprehensive guide too (http://cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php/topic,1608.msg18155.html#msg18155)).
Quote from: Russkie on 16:23, 16 January 11
2. Are people still interested in scanned magazine issues? I haven't looked into exact issues, or what sort of condition they are in (I think I remember my younger brother cutting pictures out from the mags). I anybody is interested, I can scan them when I have time.
Amstrad Action has been scanned (http://cpcoxygen.fxwebdevelopment.com/aa.html) in from the start and so has Amstrad Computer User (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad_Computer_User). But you might well have something that's been missed (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad_Computer_User#Missing_pages_.28not_scanned.29), so could be worth checking.
Quote from: Russkie on 16:23, 16 January 11
3. That CPC TREX sounds fascinating, how many people have one? How comaptible is nearly 100% compatible? I see that the C1 board is discontinued, and they recommend the Altera DE1 as the replacement, has anyone tried this board? If my CPC is gone forever, now that I'm all interested again, I might have a crack at this for a project.
Don't know about this... anyone else?
Quote from: Russkie on 16:23, 16 January 11
I have a wife, 1 yr old son, full time job, and plenty of chores to do around the house, so time is scarce for me, but I have an understanding, tolerant wife, so I hope I can participate in helping keep this scene alive.
Make sure you keep her then 'cos the CPC has a habit of taking up much more time than you realise! ;)
Hello Russkie!
Every time a fellow CPC enthusiast describes his findings I feel their enthusiasm and thrill in my guts... it just feels awesome discovering something from a past era of your life... =) In that regard, photos are most always welcome - you can't have too many CPC pics (plus, sometimes we discover interesting things)!
Cleaning isn't hard to do. Just unscrew the back, watch the keyboard ribbon, then give it a good dust. There are more drastic solutions out there in the forum, but this should be enough in most cases.
Your CPC will most likely work - Amstrad does have a reputation for the most reliable machines. But, also, your drive will 100% *not* work because it will need a new belt (try searching here for 'belt replacement') beause it dries out after a few years of inactivity. This means that, unfortunately, you won't be able to run your programs when you find them... Of course replacement is not hard, but you'll have to order a belt (ebay is your friend, expect to part with GBP3-5. Members of the forum may also help).
I think that by now all english-language mags have been scanned... am I wrong, guys? If you're interested I can send you a DVD with the scans (just for the cost of the DVD/postage, or a pint of beer when I visit Perth sometime next century).
Unfortunately I can give no insight to the TREX, but I'm sure others will.
All in all, welcome here, mate! I do hope you'll stick around - lots of wonderful stuff going on at the moment in the scene!
Cheers
Gryzor
PS Congrats on choosing the right missus :)
PS2 Hey, you say you registered just the other week, but there's a post from you from December 2006?
hey russkie fellow aussie here from melb......
once you get involved in this site and start discovering things and cpc world on the net just be careful cause you'll get hooked and the wife might not be so understanding :)
Thanks for the replies, things will get done bit by bit, I do suspect that the disk drive won't work, but I also suspect that any disks I might find probably won't work either.
Gryzor : Registered was probably not the right word. I didn't recall ever registering, but when I tried to register this time the username was already gone, and I thought that maybe this was one of a gazillion sites I have registered on but forgotten about. Bumbling around with passwords and stuff finally got me reconnected. I just read that original post so many years ago, must have been a bored night of nostalgia, anyway, this time round, I can hopefully contribute.
Is the list of magazines on the wiki all the mags on that DVD you mentioned?
cpc4eva : I hope you guys don't flood too, your whole side of the country looks pretty dodgy at the moment. We just catch fire over this side.
If my wife does get on my case, Ill just get her another kitten, or perhaps another baby human.
Welcome to the forum.
I understand your situation. I too have an understanding wife and child.
we caught fire last year or thereabouts and look what happened :-[ now its floods....
The DMP2000 would that have to be the worst printrer ever made or does the Commodore range of DPS-1101 daisy wheel printer which typically cost more than the computer and floppy disk drive together. or the commodore MPS-1000 dot matrix printer or Commodore 1526 have been worse ???
Quote from: Gryzor on 19:32, 16 January 11
I think that by now all english-language mags have been scanned... am I wrong, guys?
Hmm i had never seen scan of the "The Amstrad User" The Aussie mag, only the covers here.
http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/The_Amstrad_User (http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/The_Amstrad_User)
This is the Nascom imp printer, which must qualify as one of the worst printers, I never had one as it was not that cheap, and apparently could not print properly aligned text.
http://www.80bus.co.uk/pages/nascom/imp.htm (http://www.80bus.co.uk/pages/nascom/imp.htm)
It is a slow site but it will load after a few seconds.
I just cleaned out the CPC, plugged everything, turned it on, and nothing. Nothing at all, no lights/noise/smoke/heat.
Now I need to check if it is the monitor or the CPC itself, or both that is the problem. Since the CPC seems to get its power from the monitor, if I simply plug a separate 5vdc power supply into the CPC, would that be sufficient for it to start up? If I can just get the power light to come on I might be able to assume it is the monitor that is the problem.
There seems to be a 5VDC going in to the CPC from the monitor, and a 12VDC going from the CPC to the monitor. Any suggestions on a plan to test these? I have limited electronics skills, I would rate myself intermediate level.
I was careful when I cleaned the CPC, I am certain that I didn't damage anything, and the insides looked in suprisingly good condition, but there was one chip that looked like it had some glue or something on it. It really looked like gluey type substance, not a damaged chip. Was this a standard practice?
Quote from: Russkie on 20:12, 17 January 11
There seems to be a 5VDC going in to the CPC from the monitor, and a 12VDC going from the CPC to the monitor. Any suggestions on a plan to test these? I have limited electronics skills, I would rate myself intermediate level.
Afaik, the 5v on a classic CPC is enough to power it up. The 12v is used for the disc drive, so you'd be able to see if it's just working with the 5v at least.
The power switch may be broken... this is a bit that often fail due to it's massive use (no reset button...)
I just tested the cpc with a 5V DC power brick, and the power light comes on. Hopefully that means all is well with the cpc part, and the problem is with the monitor.
I don't know that I am brave enough to open up the monitor though, after reading all sorts of dangers and horror stories all over the internet. I'll download the service manuals and info from the main site and see if I think I'll kill myself or not, otherwise I'll get a professional to have a look at it.
I was surprised when I opened up the cpc to clean it, how simple the circuit board is. I expected something much more complicated. I guess that is why it is so reliable.
I still have to go back to my dads and keep looking to see what disks I might find.
Quote from: Russkie on 19:22, 18 January 11
I just tested the cpc with a 5V DC power brick, and the power light comes on. Hopefully that means all is well with the cpc part, and the problem is with the monitor.
Can you not power up the CPC with the 5V and then plug in the monitor with the RGB lead to see if you can get a picture?
I get absolutely nothing from the monitor, it seems completely dead, no lights, none of those faint old crt noises. When I first tested I had the cpc getting it's power through the plug on the monitor, and it was dead too.
I've looked at the schematic for the monitor, and the power supply section seems fairly simple, and it seems like a power problem. Perhaps it is even just the fuse, although things are rarely that simple in my life.
A number of things may have blow off or have leaked over the years... do try opening it, its not such a big deal. Of course CRTs do have a very high load stored for a while, but I've worked with arcade CRT monitors without any particular knowledge in electronics and I'm still here, typing. I had read somewhere that you must leave it offline for a few hours to offload any persistent loads, maybe someone can verify this?
Yeah, I'll have a go at fixing the monitor myself. The service manual look pretty helpful, and there are plenty of resources on the net.
I have started scanning issues of The Amstrad User, since it does only appear to be cover pages as pointed out by Johnny Olsen. I've asked Gryzor for the DVD with the magazines on it, if it turns out they are on there I can stop, in the meantime I'll keep plodding away, 1 page at a time.
Has anyone had any good experiences with OCR software? It would be cool to OCR the magazines, if it will be accurate enough. Surely it is pretty accurate after all these years. Otherwise, jpg it is.
The capacitors in a CRT can hold their charge for months in some devices, so (Gryzor) waiting a few hours doesn't make them any less lethal. I recommend discharging the large capacitors with a 220V bulb and some isolated leads.
Bryce.
how was your aussie day russkie ??
any luck with your cpc ?
Hey cpc4eva, mu australia day was a little bit crap, I had to work at 6pm that evening until 2am. How was yours?
As for the cpc, it seems as though it is working, the monitor is the problem. I'm confident enough discharging large caps, but I'm not at all familiar with this flyback stuff and aquadag business, so I'm possibly a little overly cautious as I go. There appear to be a couple of dodgy looking caps, I'll start with them. I don't know though if it was working before my dad packed it away or not. I have a couple of small tasks to do first, have to keep the wife happy before she'll let me disappear into the shed for a few days.
If it comes to the worst, there are other options for displays, but I'll try my best to keep this original monitor.
I assume many people these days are using emulators, how many people are still using real cpcs?
Quote from: Russkie on 11:37, 29 January 11
I assume many people these days are using emulators, how many people are still using real cpcs?
All the cool kids have a real CPC. Can't beat that monitor hum 8)
I think every person who do somethink on CPC use real hardware.
... use real hardware for final testing, yep. Otherwise ...
Quote from: norecess on 18:09, 02 February 11
... use real hardware for final testing, yep. Otherwise ...
same as I do.
use the hardware for final testing.
Quote from: arnoldemu on 18:15, 02 February 11
use the hardware for final testing.
I learnt this one the hard way when rushing to finish the Xmas demo[nb]The ASIC doesn't clear the hardware sprites on start-up[/nb].
I got my monitor working. I replaced any capacitors that looked a bit dodgy, kept away from any parts of the circuits that I didn't understand so I didn't fry myself, and now it works. It is quite exciting, but I didn't ever end up finding any disks for the cpc, so I haven't really done anything with it yet. Except for turn it on and off, and look at the screen.
I'm thinking that I'll connect a 3.5 disk drive, or that HxC thingy. i haven't really looked into it yet. I have stacks of 3.5 inch disks, but I'm not sure of the condition of the many drives I have sitting around somewhere. SD Card might be best, if it isn't to hard/expensive to get up and running. I need to do some research.
Everything has to wait until I move to a new house though, packing, tidying, repairing is keeping my busy right at the moment.
Lots of 3" disks on ebay uk/de/fr lately. Take your pick :)
Concerning the monitor, btw, I was at an electronics guy's workshop the other day, discussing arcade monitors, and he told us that actually about the only place you can get electrocuted is inside the glass compartment (not sure about the name), where the cable goes. He started touching random parts of a screen that was on, to my horror (should I hit him with a stick? Call the ambulance or try to resuscitate him? :D )...
Just looking at it and listening to the Delete "bleep" is fun enough :)
Quote from: Gryzor on 08:03, 26 April 11
He started touching random parts of a screen that was on, to my horror (should I hit him with a stick? Call the ambulance or try to resuscitate him? :D )...
I guess, I'd kill him instead of the high voltage the moment he does something like that in front of me, just for the shock. ;)
If you're really, really proficient enough, you may do that. Otherwise I'd refrain from touching anything like that.
That also one of the reasons why I like to get rid of the Joyce monitor and put the board inside a box. I wouldn't even think about doing a service of a crt.
MaV
Bloody well done Russkie in getting it working! Oh and yes, do get a HxC SD Floppy Emulator interface because they are superb and very well supported, plus seem quite maturely developed now.
@Gryzor: Touching the Tube (the glass bit I think you are referring to) is not dangerous. The dangerous bits are the two or more large capacitors on the main circuit board and as your repair guy suggested, the HT lead going to the side of the tube and the HT transformer itself. If he touches any of these while they are charged you will need re-consider whether the stick or an ambulance is the better choice :D
Bryce.
Quote from: Bryce on 14:49, 26 April 11
@Gryzor: Touching the Tube (the glass bit I think you are referring to) is not dangerous. The dangerous bits are the two or more large capacitors on the main circuit board and as your repair guy suggested, the HT lead going to the side of the tube and the HT transformer itself. If he touches any of these while they are charged you will need re-consider whether the stick or an ambulance is the better choice :D
Bryce.
If he touches the part, would he be thrown across the room and then be sat there with hair stuck up and smoke comming off him.. but generally ok (in a cartoon type way) or would his hand effectively be stuck on it, he would be shaking uncontrollably with his hair stuck up and you'd be forced to hit him with the stick to free him and telephone for the ambulance at the same time?
(Of course this is a joke, touching live electrical parts is dangerous).
Probably better to hit him BEFORE he touches anything dangerous :D
That said, I stupidly put my hand on an open transformer at the weekend. Won't be doing that again in a hurry :D
I also once tried discharging a large capacitor in an Apple monitor (which I thought was mostly discharged), and the screwdriver more or less welded itself across the contacts.
But I think any lesson you learn without killing yourself is probably a lesson well learnt :D
Bryce.
Like, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I've been stung by electricity three times now, every time it's less painful. I feel ready for a thunderbolt.
I remember at Middle School sometime between 1981 and 1985 saying to my mate next to me, "go on....dare me to stick my fingers in the mains socket". He looked at me like I had lost my mind, so after a moment or two waiting for his response and not getting one, I grew impatient and just did it anyway. Cue scenes of a school kid with one finger in the mains socket and the other arm flailing involuntarily above his head, but not making any noise. The most amazing and unbelievable thing about all of this, was that nobody and mean NOBODY...not even the teacher looked up to see what I was doing! I might as well have been invisible for what it was worth...
But you survived! :D What more could you want. I don't find it gets less painfull with "practice" and I'm just as pissed off now when it happens, as I was the first time. The worst I've had was knocking my elbow against a 425V buzzbar. That really hurt and left quite a burn mark too. I never took the "socket challenge" at school though. Our old school was so crumby, the wires in the wall would probably dis-integrate if they were short-circuited rather than do you any damage :D And besides we were more afraid of the "dodgy" Christian Brothers, than anything a socket could inflict on us :D
Bryce.
Yep I did survive! The first time I did something similar was circa 1980 when out of childish curiosity, I decided to hook up a wound coil transformer component to the mains, with obvious results! LOL! Apart from that the only dumb thing I remember doing was a couple of years back, while I was wiring plugs onto a couple of 4-gang trailing socket boards, which were to plug into my music studio rackmount power distribution system (ART PS4x4). Dunno if I was tired or what but I gripped the bare 4-gang socket wires, not realising that although the power system switch was in the off position, it was still live (designed to do this, not a fault). zzzzZZZZZZZZZZOOOOWWWWW!!! :-o
....lesson learned! :D
I think the lesson here is: electricity is not *that* dangerous.
Yeah, but graveyards are full of people who thought "It's probably not that dangerous / high / fast / sharp / difficult ..." :D So I like to avoid electricity anyway (and it hurts).
Bryce.
Quote from: Bryce on 08:07, 27 April 11
Yeah, but graveyards are full of people who thought "It's probably not that dangerous / high / fast / sharp / difficult ..." :D So I like to avoid electricity anyway (and it hurts).
I've had my coming of age with electricity when I was very young. My father found a lantern at work that looked like an old-style mine lamp, with a light bulb instead of the gas fuse (not sure if that's the proper word). He connected it and it seemed to work alright. Naturally I had to touch it to carry it around. Turns out that the wire must have touched the metal casing somewhere. I was stuck to that bloody thing for what seemed ages until I could take my hand off again. My body was cramped all over. To misquote "Alien": In electricity no one can hear you scream.
But yeah, I survived obviously. And I never touched anything again which I suspected of higher voltage without making sure it's disconnected.
Thank god, we're talking about AC here, high DC voltages will give you no chance of survival if what I read was correct.
MaV
Well, DC is used for electric chairs. Or for killing elephants (http://boingboing.net/2008/01/03/edison-electrocuted.html). Enough said.
Quote from: Gryzor on 11:51, 27 April 11
Well, DC is used for electric chairs. Or for killing elephants (http://boingboing.net/2008/01/03/edison-electrocuted.html). Enough said.
AC killed the elephant[nb]want to keep going here - "no, not just burnt to a crisp, off she went with her trumpety trump, trump trump trump"[/nb].
AC/DC rocks.... (Or did you get "a touch too much"?)
And finally Edison had proved once and for all, that elephants do NOT light up in the dark, even when assisted by 6.600V. This didn't stop Tesla however, who continued his experiments using 3000V on a cocoa fed cow in the hope that he would on day produce ready-made hot chocolate.
Bryce.
The spoil sports never let us do any of this stuff in University. Maybe the labs were just too small.
Any chance of making some hardware to connect a cpc to a cow? perhaps a cpc based milking machine? :laugh:
Sorry it doesn't involve explosions ;)
I'll have to see if the "udder" connector is still available, and if so I'll can start on the CPC = Cow Pressure Contraption project.
Bryce.
Who says it wouldn't involve explosions?
This thread is off the trail.
Quote from: Gryzor on 06:52, 28 April 11
This thread is off the trail.
You'll need a shepherd dog to get them back in line. :D
Back to the electricity and cleaning business: Any good advice on how to clean old computers and monitors? I mean dusting off might damage parts due to electrostatic discharges. I'm about to clean all od my CPCs and a Commodore, and while I've been cleaning enough PCs in my time, those were easily replaceable; the old computers are not.
MaV
Is it the casing you want to clean or the PCBs?
Bryce.
Quote from: Bryce on 09:37, 28 April 11
Is it the casing you want to clean or the PCBs?
Bryce.
The PCBs. Blowing off dust is not enough.
But I'll be grateful for any tips about cleaning the casings as well.
Well there's lots of discussions here and elsewhere regarding putting PCBs in the dishwasher. But ignore these if you value your precious CPCs. The long term damage of dishwasher salt will only become obvious after a few months. You can rinse them with fresh water, but I find this just turns the dust into sticky gunk that's even more difficult to remove. I prefer using a dry paint brush to brush off as much as possible. If it really has baked on dirt, then I use this:
http://www.reichelt.de/Sprays-fuer-die-Leiterplatte/KONTAKT-360/index.html?;ACTION=3;LA=2;ARTICLE=9526;GROUPID=4073;SID=11Tbkvin8AAAIAADl1-jM423d0aa9e46badc213a5dcc631411a62
the same company (CRC) also do sprays for cleaning the casing such as this one:
http://www.reichelt.de/Reinigungssprays-im-PC-Bereich/KONTAKT-241/index.html?;ACTION=3;LA=2;ARTICLE=9499;GROUPID=4072;SID=11Tbkvin8AAAIAADl1-jM423d0aa9e46badc213a5dcc631411a62
Bryce.
Quote from: Bryce on 10:17, 28 April 11
Well there's lots of discussions here and elsewhere regarding putting PCBs in the dishwasher.
:o
I don't like the idea of water at all, much less putting PCBs in a dishwasher.
If I had to do it this way, I'd use at least distilled water.
What about oxidation of the metal surfaces? After all most parts are soldered onto the PCB, you can't remove them.
A paint brush might suffice. I don't expect it to be a 100% clean after treatment.
Quote
If it really has baked on dirt, then I use this:
- snip -
the same company (CRC) also do sprays for cleaning the casing such as this one:
- snip -
Thanks, Bryce. Some useful advice, as always. :) I'll have a look.
MaV
Bryce is right about the dishwasher. Concerning the insides, I've never come across a machine so dirty that it can't be done by a piece of cloth. There are anti-static ones out there, two.
About the case, window cleaners work like a charm...
Quote from: Bryce on 10:17, 28 April 11
I prefer using a dry paint brush to brush off as much as possible.
I opened up my 6128 Plus today and was horrified to see lots of gunk on both sides of the motherboard.
I remembered this thread and was quite skeptical, but I got a soft haired paint brush and was amazed that with lots of gentle brushing the majority of it came off and it's pretty much looking like new.
Great tip - thanks!
Took a couple of pics:
Further to this, has anyone tried Retr0bright (http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/) on a Plus case or keys?
Or have any ideas as to achieve this an easier way? I see some people have mentioned using toothpaste or just Oxyclean/Vanish on it's own, but can't find anything comprehensive.
RetroBright works fine on Beige coloured cases, but I'd be skeptical about using it on a classic 6128, with the Plus it probably works well.
Regarding the paintbrush cleaning you did: It looks really good now, but some of the gunk in the first picture looks like solder oxidation as if the CPC was stored somewhere damp. You may have contact problems later, nothing that can't be solved by touching up the solder joints, but only if you're having random crashes or other problems. Remember Rule No.1: If it's not broken don't fix it.
Bryce.
Quote from: Bryce on 21:29, 05 May 11
RetroBright works fine on Beige coloured cases, but I'd be skeptical about using it on a classic 6128, with the Plus it probably works well.
I am sorely tempted but am not sure about the chemicals involved[nb]I asked at the pharmacy for H202 and got lots of strange looks - but I was wearing this t-shirt (http://www.shotdeadinthehead.com/product_view.aspx?pid=1764) - only bought it 'cos it was £5 and I like Banksy...![/nb], plus you need a healthy dose of sunlight and people have had really mixed results.
Just put my case in and keys in the dishwasher (35 degrees only) and it came out really clean so am pleased. Plus it's my frenchy keyboard one and I'm going to make some key stickers for it so not sure if it's worth the Retr0bright hassle to be honest.
Quote from: Bryce on 21:29, 05 May 11
some of the gunk in the first picture looks like solder oxidation as if the CPC was stored somewhere damp
I did think this, but this Plus is working really well so I will leave it alone for now :)
Can't wait to get this Plus fully operational - it's got an internal 3.5" drive with sideswitch, will have the S-Video output installed and also am making a hole in the case so the cartridge can have a ZIF socket for swappable ROMs. Might also put a reset switch in whilst I'm at it...
Only thing is that I can't fit the S-Video modulator like Devilmarkus has because the extra .5" of the disc drive means there's not enough room there. Might put it sideways on so the socket is next to the disc drive and then move my sideswitch somewhere else such as next to the keyboard - unless you have any better ideas for mounting points for the modulator (couldn't see any really myself)...?
Yeah, trying to buy Peroxide while wearing a Banksy T-Shirt probably wasn't a great idea. I'm a big fan of Banksy, but I try to choose something else from my wardrobe when I go chemical shopping. Although my Marilyn Manson T-Shirt didn't go down well either :D Some people you just can't please no matter what you do.
Regarding the modulator, there's not really any alternative. If you don't have a problem with the connector being at the side, then I'd do as you said and put it beside the drive.
Bryce.
Did some cleaning today with my two "replacement boards".
Kontakt LR works nicely. I'll post results tomorrow as it was to dark for a good picture, and I left the boards on the balcony.
Hey Russkie
Which issue of TAU do you have?
I have some as well and (when time permits) I thought it would be a good idea to scan in the ones I have here:
http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/The_Amstrad_User (http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/The_Amstrad_User)