Retro events

[Bryce]

I'm in France (Nord) quite regularly (being a chti she has 10.000 relatives that "need visiting" ), I just haven't found a plus machine for sale yet, when I do, I'll probably collect it myself, if it's anywhere near enough to get to.

Bryce.

[MacDeath]

To back to the original topic (i know I often slip away).

The problem with retro-events :
the CPCscene is scarse and dismantled in europa.

So international is to be if we want a proper number of peoples.
Of course, plane-travel in europe can be not that expensive if done properly

er...85€uro for the 2way travel from Lyon to Madrid.
And i must add the fact I live 100km south of Lyon.

Also the cost of multiple Cerveza i'll have to wash with spanish mates.
And the Hardwares I'll probably buy there (if there are any interesting).

Yet this fact is uneasy, because as long ranged travel, you can't properly bring computers.
And we know Amstrad is often to be used with the proper screen.


Fun, in phenix informatique forum, we're having a thread concerning the future of the CPCscene.

http://www.phenixinformatique.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=4590&post_id=38231#forumpost38231

(In franchais...sorry.)

And same questions are rised here and there.

In October 2009, in Arles (France) there was the "Main event #4".
I couldn't go there (work).
But it was quite huge.

Lots of entries.
Can't find the page of categories...yet I think there was a old console category (Wild ?).
The kind of category to include Sega 8/16bit, nintendo and so on...

The thing is Amstrad scene is completely missing such thing.

But hey, the GX4000 is a valable Hardware for such category, so yep, we are screwed because no Modern day cartridge solutions.

http://pouet.net/party.php?which=1288&when=2009
the main event entry category "wild" enabled Amiga, c64 and even TI-8x, and MSX.
Yet no amstrad there.

Also those events (demoscene events) often include the Chiptune/musci part.

Again Amstrad is completly missing this because no proper hardware/software solution.

Please Deutsches fellows...Can't you do something ?

A proper Rack/card/system enabling to add a set of amstrad on a Sound system, of perhaps Multimedia system...this would be nice and may create some vocations.

Other event :
http://forever.zeroteam.sk/index.php
in slovakia.
Well, supposed to include Amstrad, but this fail as it may be a bit too fare from the West europa, the traditionnal territory of our beloved Amstrads.
Even a bit too far from Deutsches or Hellenicos' scener.

Only the 2007 edition seems to have had Amstrad category, and only in music.

Perhaps we should export some Amstrad there from France... 

Yet in their picture section, seems to see a cpc6128...
So in those kind of event, perhaps even if we can't go there, we may find someone attending to and owning a CPC, then contact him so he may put the existing demos on CPC for a display/show..

[villain]

But the fact is that many switched to 16 bit computers and those are more beloved, as they were more powerfull.

Only hardcore nerdz find it fun to stay on 8 bit to show what they could achieve.

I don´t think so. In my opinion the C64-scene for example is much more active/productive than the Amiga-scene...

One "problem" of the CPC scene was always that different national scenes existed but no really international scene. Of course in every country different users had contacts with foreign CPC users but there never was real "networking". Besides of this fact CPC users always prefered to stay among themselves. In Germany only the XzentriX as a multiplatform party is visited by a significant number of CPC sceners (this mainly caused by the fact that one of the organizers (Mr. AMS) is a CPC user). On the XzentriX some links to the Atari 8/16-bit scene grew over the last years. Therefore Mr. AMS visited the Forever8bit last year together with german Atari guys.

And yes, some germans meet each other quite often but there are a lot of topics to discuss, most of them not CPC related. 

[OCT]

@Bryce: your spouse being chti, she surely has a family in france.So if a cousin of brother sister can manage to get a Plus for you if a proper occasion appears.
30€uro for a complete 6128+ is good, but most are old at 50€uros...even more sometimes.

Better yet would be the UK models, in notoriously short supply on eBay (in particular for overseas shipments - charged, erm, royally by the Royal Mail for "seas" as wide as the Channel/Chunnel).
The Plus machines seem to be more easily available from France (language barriers notwithstanding), but which steps does it take to change them to QWERTY?
(I.e. how hard/tricky/risky is it to change keycaps; does the cartridge need to be replaced; or any jumper soldered to a different position?)

[Grim]

but which steps does it take to change them to QWERTY?

What makes a French, Spanish or English keyboard are the charset and keymap stored in the Firmware ROM. From the CPC/Plus point of view, the keyboard is just a bunch of contact switches, it doesn't matter what is printed on the keys.

[MacDeath]

Yep, just change the Rom into a properly burned EPROM, and re-write upon the keys...
This may be a nice occasion to craft yourself a multiEprom cartridge actually.

(I hope my travel to españa will enable me to craft one too there, as there are specialists there.)

Perhaps canibalize the keyboard' keypad from a 6128, hadn't checked if those are exactly the same parts/compatible, but it seems Amstrad just re-used the same ones...

Seems the Amstrad Plus wasn't released for German setting/market ?

Yet I'm not really sure a British qwerty setting would be that great for a German user.

English seems to lack the accent on letters stuff, while French despite lacking perhaps the ïüöä...can give you ùàéè thay may be sort of ersatz.

yet it's up to you to see what suit you better of course.

[OCT]

What makes a French, Spanish or English keyboard are the charset and keymap stored in the Firmware ROM. From the CPC/Plus point of view, the keyboard is just a bunch of contact switches, it doesn't matter what is printed on the keys.

So, same keyboard membrane for all versions then. Do the keys come loose (to change A for Q, Z for W etc.) without breaking them on the Plus range? (Barely possible on some old-gen models...)

[MacDeath]

On the CPC 6128 I remember I could separate the mechanical keyboard pad from the membrane and from a metal plate.

Just have to be carefull when unclipping : plastic clips from the Mechanical part, passing through the membrane and clipped into the metal "plate".

Like a sandwich.

I did that to remove dust.

so if the Plus actually has the same part, this may even be compatible with the CPC6128 old range concerning the mechanical part.

[ukmarkh]

Would a 464 UK QWERTY Keyboard unit work if I stuck it into a 6128 Plus AZERTY model. i.e. would it now work as a UK model? 

[MacDeath]

er...
the 464 ? which one ?

If it is a CPC464 (old) it wouldn't fit on a 6128Plus, just look at pictures of those, completely different layout.

Also it is the Rom that set the UK, French or spanish Keys setting.

[ukmarkh]

Yep... I'm talking about the 464 plus. If i put the uk keyboard InTo an azerty 6128 plus, Wouldn't it just be a case of then plugging in a uk based cart. 

[Apollo]

I did this with mine and worked flawless.
First I got a 6128+ from France but the keyboard  made my fingers cramp
Later I ordered from UK a Catridge with Parados 1.1 and english layout, plugged into my 6128+ and voilá I got english layout with a french keyboard.
The next step was that I got a cheap 464+ from the UK, removed the keyboard and plugged it into my 6128+.
So now I have a 6128+ with english keyboard and english layout and parados and a 464+ with french keyboard and english layout. But the later is just there to be in my collection.
 
But I must admit that I was not shy to expend a good amount of money as the sending cost often more then the computer itself. (damn you mail companies!) 

[ukmarkh]

Cheers Apollo... now I know this works, I'll have a go myself this weekend.

[MacDeath]

Why not simply re-write the keys ?

[Gryzor]

Why not simply re-write the keys ?

You mean blow a new ROM? Not everyone has the facilities I guess...

[Executioner]

The next step was that I got a cheap 464+ from the UK, removed the keyboard and plugged it into my 6128+.

Hi Apollo, I've got a French 6128+ with ParaDOS cart I bought off eBay (amusing since I wrote it ), not I just need a cheap or dead 464+ or 6128+ to get the keyboard. Anyone know where I can find one?

Cheers,
Richard

[Gryzor]

Cheap Plus? Hmmmmm...

[MacDeath]

By re-write the keys i mean to rewrite on the keys...
you scratch the letters/symbol and overwrite another one on the key...you know , IRL, not in software... just got to find the proper ink/paint ?

Or simply displace some of them (letters)
Dismantle the keyboard, there must be a way to remove each key...gently, and put them in different layout. of course this would just work for letters, but it's a beginning...

Or, well...why not simply trying to use an AZERTY indeed.
After all, i managed to use a QWZERTY when younger. it helped me a bit, when a game/programm doesn't really process in AZERTY, i'm happy i know a bit the QWERTY...

Also : are the mechanical parts compatible with cpc6128 ? mmm it sems this is not the case...the keys are designed slightly differently, leaning a bit more on the PLUS.

cheap or dead 464+ or 6128+ to get the keyboard.
In QWERTY ?
would be even simpler to just get a working one.
It's a fact : most PLUS are AZERTY...
a QWERTY one (or spanish) would be rarer, so not "cheap"...
And most dead PLUS must have ended in the garbage...sadly.



All right, I'm going to España tonite...

Fiestas é cervezas é Amstradas!