Hi!

Zoe Robinson · 20:48, 20 October 13

Hello, everyone!

I'm new here so I thought I would say hello. The CPC 464 was my first computer. I loved it, cherished it and keep it in pride of place in my office to this day - so when I noticed there was a CPC forum while doing a wikiwalk, I had to sign up!

I'm looking forward to talking to you all.

Bryce · 21:08, 20 October 13

Hi Zoe,
welcome to the Wiki. Do you still use the 464? And for what? Games? Programming? The fact that it's on your office desk would suggest that it also influenced your career choice?

Bryce.

Zoe Robinson · 21:23, 20 October 13

I sometimes load up the old girl but I misplaced my cassettes long ago and my external disk drive needs a new belt before I can get the disks running again. As a result, it normally gets booted up for some quick coding. I still love type-ins even after all this time (the AA Christmas type-ins book - the one that starts with a set of tips on how to make it Christmas every day by pinching things from around the house and wrapping them up as presents) is a perennial favourite.

Mostly it sits on a shelf and gets used as a prop in videos on occasion, though. It's turned into a mascot of sorts. It did influence my career choices though - I wrote and made (really bad) art on it back in the day and now I write & make (not quite as 8-bit) art on a PC.

Bryce · 21:28, 20 October 13

Get your drive fixed. Cassettes and disks are still easily sourced these days.

Bryce.

Zoe Robinson · 21:32, 20 October 13

It's on my to-do list.

beaker · 22:18, 20 October 13

Welcome

Any plans to write your own game for the CPC?

Zoe Robinson · 22:23, 20 October 13

Quote from: beaker on 22:18, 20 October 13
Welcome
Any plans to write your own game for the CPC?

I wrote a few text adventures when I was younger (mostly using GAC but I did try following that AA guide to writing an adventure game when it was running). I may download GAC and break out an emulator to give it another go. No promises on quality!

Bryce · 22:24, 20 October 13

Emulator?? You have the original hardware there in front of you! There's nothing like working on the real thing.

Bryce.

Zoe Robinson · 22:29, 20 October 13

Quote from: Bryce on 22:24, 20 October 13
Emulator?? You have the original hardware there in front of you! There's nothing like working on the real thing.

Bryce.

What would I save it onto? The disk drive is out of commission and there are no cassettes to hand!

mr_lou · 06:21, 21 October 13

Welcome to the forum. You have definitely come to the right place.

The CPC464 was also my childhood computer.

Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 22:29, 20 October 13What would I save it onto? The disk drive is out of commission and there are no cassettes to hand!

New tapes can still be bought here and there.

But you can also find 3" disks on eBay.

My advice though, is that you ship your disk-controller to Bryce and have him prepare it for the HxC. Then buy a HxC floppy emulator. You will want this solution sooner or later anyway, if you're going to be using your CPC more from now on.

Zoe Robinson · 09:33, 21 October 13

Quote from: mr_lou on 06:21, 21 October 13
[size=78%]New tapes can still be bought here and there.[/size]

But you can also find 3" disks on eBay.

I still have 3" disks in storage. About 40 of them, if I recall correctly. They were stored well, so at least some of them should still be working.

Quote from: mr_lou on 06:21, 21 October 13
My advice though, is that you ship your disk-controller to Bryce and have him prepare it for the HxC. Then buy a HxC floppy emulator. You will want this solution sooner or later anyway, if you're going to be using your CPC more from now on.

I don't know what HxC is but shipping the drive anywhere will mean decoupling it from the monitor's plug, since whoever I bought this off in '89 had wired the two together to save on plug space. It's doable if it needs to be done at some point, but it's annoying.

arnoldemu · 09:48, 21 October 13

Welcome!

robcfg · 09:57, 21 October 13

Hi Zoe!

Welcome to our lovely forum!

I'm pretty confident that you'll have your machine fully functional in no time.

Enjoy!

mr_lou · 11:06, 21 October 13

Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 09:33, 21 October 13I don't know what HxC is but shipping the drive anywhere will mean decoupling it from the monitor's plug, since whoever I bought this off in '89 had wired the two together to save on plug space. It's doable if it needs to be done at some point, but it's annoying.

HxC is a floppy-disk emulator. Meaning, instead of inserting floppy discs, you insert an SD flash card. This SD card then holds your floppy disks in the form of image-files.

A HxC emulator can be connected to an Amstrad CPC, among many other retro computers. But for the DDI-1 disk-controller for the CPC464, a minor adjustment needs to be done first (as far as I remember. Bryce or someone else will correct me if I'm wrong).
So you would need to ship your DDI-1 disk-controller to e.g. Bryce, to have it modified. The disk-drive itself can stay at home.

One drawback to this though, is (again, as far as I remember) that the 3" drive won't work after the modification.

Munchausen · 12:02, 21 October 13

Welcome! I hope you get your machine working fully soon. In the mean time, take a look at what's possible on the CPC by watching batman forever...

robcfg · 13:57, 21 October 13

Don't forget the excellent Orion Prime

And the also incredible R-Type 128kb Remake!

Nice times to have a CPC!

TFM · 17:02, 22 October 13

Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 22:29, 20 October 13

The disk drive is out of commission and there are no cassettes to hand!

Well, the drive probably just needs another drive belt, you can get them at ebay for cheap.

Devilmarkus · 18:40, 22 October 13

Bit late, but welcome, Zoe, here to our forum & community.

Enjoy it!

Gryzor · 18:42, 22 October 13

Welcome Zoe! A pleasure to have you here!

"...fire up the old girl" - now that's somewhat interesting. What do people think their CPC is? for me it's a boy, but of course the Arnold name may have influenced this perception. The Amiga was a girl, obviously, but mostly everything else has a male character... or is it my idea?

Devilmarkus · 18:45, 22 October 13

Quote from: Gryzor on 18:42, 22 October 13
What do people think their CPC is? for me it's a boy

For me it's a CPC

Colorful Personal Chap

Gryzor · 19:09, 22 October 13

Did 'he' smoke a pipe and have a funny accent, too?

Zoe Robinson · 19:47, 22 October 13

Don't they all?

For me, the CPC was always genderless back in the day but I tend to think of it as an old lady, now ("Arnold" be damned!). My other computers don't have genders though, just (annoying and uncooperative) personalities.

TFM · 19:48, 22 October 13

Oh, well, you can not really call her old, rather... a nice lady in her early best years

Zoe Robinson · 20:11, 22 October 13

Quote from: TFM on 19:48, 22 October 13
Oh, well, you can not really call her old, rather... a nice lady in her early best years

I can!

Besides, I measure computers in Cat Years, so thrrrpt!

Bryce · 20:14, 22 October 13

All my CPCs are male except the 664. With those curves she just has to be female

Bryce.

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