Introduction from Finland

[TechnoPenguin]

First of all: I just registered today and decided to say hi, but you guys didn't have a sticky for introductions. (You really should have!) So I made a new post as it seems to be okay.

I'm a student from Jyvaskyla/Finland, age 23, studying Information Technology and had my first computer - CPC 6128 - when I was 7 (I think so, can't really remember that far). A year later I knew how to write BASIC and made some games and programs myself, nothing flashy, the usual kind of simple ones. I had lots of 3" disks and some cassettes, but never found out how to connect a casette player to my CPC. I remember a dot-matrix printer, which spew out one page in a minute or so . CPC was pretty common here, as my cousin and uncle had a similar model too. Those were good times.

I phased out of CPC sometime at age of 12 when I got a PC. Sometimes I used to play along with CPC Emulators, WinAPE mostly, just for the lulz and nostalgia. Later I started tinkering with electronics (now have a finnish blog about it, Miljoonalaatikko.com) and then the love for oldskool kicked in again. And then I remembered CPC. I tested it and it worked like a charm, ran some old programs but the monitor was so big and heavy I couldn't spare room in my small student apartment to tinker more with it. So I started planning an alternative,  a custom power supply/SCART box that would connect to a flatscreen.

And as of today, maybe a year later of coming up with that plan (yes, my projects are kinda long-term), I got it working. I put it all together and got a nice, clean, familiar blue/yellow picture out of my LCD screen. Now it just sits there and waits, "Ready" to serve.

And now, I'm going to hack like there's no tomorrow. I'm going to try everything, every single little thing that I always wanted when I was a kid, but didn't have the equipment or knowledge how to do it. I've already transferred files from a PC to CPC via parallel and sound card, and I have a working 3,5" drive (which is very ugly and I will redo it when possible.) And I've already planned to build ROMboard (maybe that nice MegaROM). But first, It seems I need to replace the drive belt, things really haven't changed...

So hello to everybody and thanks for the wonderful wiki, which I have been reading for the past week, it really helped me sort some stuff out. Maybe I can now help some other people too!

[TFM]

Hi! And very welcome here! Don't hesitate to ask questions.

And don't bother if other people have no introduction, some are soooo long in the CPC scene that they gave their "introduction" over 20 years ago ;-)

[Bryce]

Welcome. Really nice to see new hardware people join the scene. I had a look at your blog, but didn't understand a word If you need any further info about the MegaROM (or any CPC hardware stuff) let me know.

Bryce.

[robcfg]

Hello and welcome to our lovely forum!

I had lots of 3" disks and some cassettes, but never found out how to connect a casette player to my CPC.

Well, nowadays you can find cheap cassette players that have a USB connection, so you can record your tapes with any recording program (I recommend GoldWave) and then convert it to .CDT format with CPCTapeXP or Samp2CDT.


For disks you can always attach your 3" drive to an old PC and transfer the contents with CPCDiskXP.


If you have any question, don't hesitate to ask!


Best regards,
Rob

[MacDeath]

a custom power supply/SCART box that would connect to a flatscreen.

You did it ? and still haven't posted the pictures ?

Anyway welcome to you.

[arnoldemu]

Welcome to cpcwiki forum!

[TechnoPenguin]

Pics will be posted, ofcourse, when I get decent ones and the article for my blog finished (sorry, they have priority).

I had a look at your blog, but didn't understand a word

It's all finnish so Google Translate might help, I've been thinking of getting a Translate Wordpress plugin for international visitors.

Does your Wiki editing need some kind of approval or can I just start typing? Any rules/guidelines to follow? Just wanted to check these out as I have some information regarding the 3,5" floppy disk drive (certain TEAC model will not work, as there's a "disk-change"-signal instead of "ready".) Maybe add a category "Tested drives"? Some useful links too about the drives, I found a lot of Amiga-related stuff that applies to CPC as well.

Maybe some sleep first, it's already midnight here, but hey, one does not need sunlight for hacking. 

[Bryce]

If you register for the Wiki (It's a seperate registration to the Forum one), then you can edit the Wiki as you like. The rules should be obvious: Add anything that's of benefit to the CPC community in a useful and serious format and respect other peoples work. The Wiki should be a place for facts, not opinions. Opinions can be expressed in the forum.

Bryce.

[Devilmarkus]

Welcome to our forum. I hope you like it

I had a look at your blog, but didn't understand a word

For Bryce
Whoooops...
Once again...

[AMSDOS]

From Down Under Oz - "Guday!" 

[Kris]

Welcome here !!

[TechnoPenguin]

Okay, there's now a reasonably good plugin for translations so an english version can be found here: http://miljoonalaatikko.com/en/
The translation is automatic so expect some errors, we'll correct them if we have time. We'll also try to make the pages even more "international", so stay tuned.

The first part of the powerbox article is up, any ideas for the name, Powerbox sounds kinda lame? :F

I'm still seraching for the right color gray spray paint to make it look "period correct" (My new favorite phrase) 

[Bryce]

Cool, now I read it Interesting Mod. And I just love the auto translation which decides not to translate "rakentelijaystävällisestä" but I don't really blame it. That word is just way too long and complicated to be real

How about CP²SU (CPCPSU) as the name?

Bryce.

[arnoldemu]

@TechnoPenguin:
Your drive compatibility page is a good start.
Please add info about modifying drives (if you have this information and the time to do it), so others can modify them if needed.

When I have time I will add information about my drives (some I have modified to work on CPC).

[Gryzor]

Welcome mate! And thanks for your contributions to the wiki. Bryce summed the 'rules' pretty well, so you're off to a very nice start

A couple of things:

-You got your CPC in 1995, way past its commercial expiration date. I like that. I've always wondered what it would be like if you gave children older, simpler machines to play with. I'm planning to get my child (when I have one) to play lots of Pong or 2600 games first...
-The CPC never had a "nice, clean" picture. In fact, clean=/nice; nothing beats CRT monitors for older machines. Scanlines, interpolation, slight blur - all these actually add to the graphical quality. That said, of course, when you can't afford the space for a proper monitor you have to go LCD... Even though, when I was studying in Cardiff and living in a <10sqm room (including bathroom) and got my first CPC in 'modern' times I always had the CRT *next* to the huge 19" PC CRT
-If you bring your CPC to any serious hardware/paint shop they can duplicate the color through spectrography...
-again, welcome

[MacDeath]

That said, of course, when you can't afford the space for a proper monitor you have to go LCD... Even though, when I was studying in Cardiff and living in a <10sqm room (including bathroom) and got my first CPC in 'modern' times I always had the CRT *next* to the huge 19" PC CRT

This is also a good solution to heat your room in the cruel biting frost of northern winter...

[Gryzor]

My American roommate had provided for that: she lived near Mexico in the States so she'd make delicious, real mexican food that had us keep the windows open for some cool air...