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#1

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: CPC four times faster...

Last post by GUNHED - Today at 15:30

what RAM do you have 150ns?, mux LS153? what CRTC, what 8255.
Take a photo of the mainboard that RUN.

and check the temperature of all chips, especially 765

Say something about the components or take a photo. And confirm that gotek does not work.

As told, just the crystal got exchanged (in my case I added a 2nd one at 24 MHz and a switch to be able to switch crystals - Switching shall happen ONLY when the CPC is OFF!).
Anything else remains the same. No heat, no problems - it's a CPC not a stupid PC thanks god! 
Well, yes, I put a Z80B instead of the Z80A. RAM works fine anyway.

The critical component it the GA. Seems that other 6 MHz CPCs had problems with some GAs.

#2

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: CPC four times faster...

Last post by eto - Today at 15:27

also to be able to put 50% more data on an disc.

but that then also requires AMSDOS to use more sectors per track, right? What settings do you use then, that it can write a full track?

#3

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: CPC four times faster...

Last post by McArti0 - Today at 15:10

what RAM do you have 150ns?, mux LS153? what CRTC, what 8255.
Take a photo of the mainboard that RUN.

and check the temperature of all chips, especially 765

Say something about the components or take a photo. And confirm that gotek does not work.

#4

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: Amstrad CPC WiFi

Last post by GUNHED - Today at 15:08

Can it be the case that you need a stronger network signal - means: moving M4 and WiFi closer together?

Give it a try! 

#5

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: CPC four times faster...

Last post by GUNHED - Today at 15:05

I wonder how much 50% more Sectors per track is compared to 9 

Well, the FDC765 supports different sector sizes. According to the maxium number of bytes per track it may be befeficial to use 0.5, 1.0 or even 2 KB sectors. 

#6

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: CPC four times faster...

Last post by McArti0 - Today at 15:03

I wonder how much 50% more Sectors per track is compared to 9 

#7

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: CPC four times faster...

Last post by GUNHED - Today at 14:59

and also to be able to put 50% more data on an disc.

Ho wdo you exchange data with this CPC? Are other expansions compatible and can be used, like the M4 or Symbiface?

My preferred way to exchange data back the day was to use the Inicron RAM expansion (accu buffered) and the RDOS ROM to have the 444 KB RAM disc C. Today I would probably use a serial connection of SD card.

I tested quite some hardware expansions: Some work, few not.
(And for very few expansions you probably need to adjust software a bit.)

#8

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: CPC four times faster...

Last post by GUNHED - Today at 14:56

And the CPC still runs like a charm.

Have you ever tried to speed up the motor that spins a floppy disk? Is this controlled by the device software?

No, and I wouldn't know how to do this actually. In case of the 6 MHz CPC the FDC just writes/reads with 50% more speed. So up to nearly 300 KB can be put on one disc side. And for 80 track (ds) formats up to roughly 1,2 MB can be stored on disc. 
Not all the discs work that way error free, but most of them. Just tested a 3" disc from 1997 which still contains the same data error-free since 27 years. (Written with the 6 MHz CPC). 

[don't you feel an emotional attachment to the Speccy games because of the simliarity with CPC mode 1 games?]

#9

General Discussion - Introductions / Re: C64 Vs Speccy: Which one d...

Last post by Shaun M. Neary - Today at 14:49

The 64 is winning here because people are more technical, but I suspect the ZX Spectrum would win among regular CPC users.

Because seriously, guys, don't you feel an emotional attachment to the Speccy games because of the simliarity with CPC mode 1 games? But running at their original faster speed! (and with color clash).

I mean, I know it's not possible that everyone has its CPC broken due do disk drive belt at 12 and then "recovers" it thanks to a Speccy emulator when he's 17 because somehow the CPC emulator arrived many months later to me, but... Don't you feel anything when you run the original Saboteur 1 and 2 and Matchday 2?

God no! Mode 1 when done right is really nice, don't get me wrong.

But lazy Speccy ports made me utterly detest that machine (and I have a +3 here!)
The original Spectrum rubber keyed abortion has nothing lovable for me personally, having to buy an expansion just to use a joystick, and the worst external tape interface. How many times have I seen rtape load error?

Then the Amstrad versions from the +2 onwards had their own issues. Constantly chopping and changing the ULA's and causing all sorts of compatibility problems.
And don't get me started on the utter shitshow that the +2b was from a hardware perspective. @CraigsBar will vouch for me on this one.

Sorry, but the Spectrum was bargain basement, and with that, you got bargain basement quality.

#10

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: Amstrad CPC WiFi

Last post by Xyphoe - Today at 14:11

Hi @Duke I love the M4Wifi, haven't been able to use it for a while due to ... well raising a little boy, but he's old enough now that I can start tinkering around again. (And he's now playing with the Amstrad too!)

Since I last used it, I changed our network to a Mesh Wifi, with Tenda nodes.

Now the M4 won't connect, giving "No AP found."

I've done the firmware update this morning to v2.0.7 which was successful (shows "M4 Board v2.0.7" on booting in), and I've re-done the |netset command as I used it exactly before that worked (I actually took a video of me doing it years ago) and as per the guide with the correct Wifi password - but still get the "No AP found" error.

Any idea what I can do?

Thanks!