Recent posts

#1

Technical support - Hardware related / Re: Why are 3" floppies so exp...

Last post by rexbeng - Today at 15:05

I am happily waiting for when 3'' floppies replace the USD as the world's reserved currency. I think I have a few dozens but not sure where they are stored... 

#2

Technical support - Hardware related / Re: Why are 3" floppies so exp...

Last post by ZorrO - Today at 14:58

How much more do they have to become more expensive to make it worth making your own?

#3

Technical support - Hardware related / Re: Missing Right Half of Char...

Last post by Bryce - Today at 14:33

Hi dr_slump,
        could you check the resistors R146 to R153 (scattered around the chips at the bottom of the board) and see if any of them are physically broken or reading open circuit? If they are all ok, I'd suspect that the multiplexers could be the problem.

Bryce.

#4

Technical support - Hardware related / Re: Why are 3" floppies so exp...

Last post by norecess464 - Today at 14:31

Imagine you have just gotten a brand new box of 3" floppy disks.

Would you really trust them to store "important" data?

IMO These days, relying on 3" floppy disks seems far too risky (and the same goes for any type of floppy disk, actually).

#5

Technical support - Hardware related / Re: Missing Right Half of Char...

Last post by eto - Today at 13:48

It could be a symptom of the first fault, faulty RAM, or a faulty GA. My money says it's on the first of those options. I'd recommend solving that issue and see if that fixes it.

For the byte repeat it could be the multiplexer or the track to the multiplexer. It probably can't be the signal itself as as the CRTC, which uses the same signal, works. 

What makes me doubt that it's a normal IC are the tests with the different colours. It looks more like a bit shift as the first byte is repeated but instead of PEN 2 and PEN 3 the output is in PEN 1 for the second byte. Afaik the only bit shift is done in the GateArray in the video register.

But yeah, before swapping that I would also try the multiplexer first. 

#6

Games / Re: Converted GX4000 .cpr - Th...

Last post by Xyphoe - Today at 13:11

I'd like to request (whenever / if possible) -

A.M.C. Astro Marine Corps
(although it's split into 2 parts, so I guess that's why it hasn't been done yet and makes it awkward - but it's one of my and many others fav Amstrad games)

Simulador Profesional De Tenis
(I came across this recently, and honestly I think it's the best tennis game on the Amstrad. Would time in nicely with Wimbledon on at present!)

Jax The Dog
(Recent homebrew game, my little boy likes playing this game)


Thanks!

Hi @Xyphoe , nice to see you here. Look above, AMC has been patched some weeks ago

OH yes, I did hear about that.

Sorry, I meant to say - the original CPC colours (no offence to Cyrille, but I prefer the look there) and if possible the UK / English language version? I can make do though for a while, I'll completely understand if there's no rush to do this version. Thank you for your reply

#7

Technical support - Hardware related / Re: Why are 3" floppies so exp...

Last post by eto - Today at 12:43

A year or two ago Roland Perry mentioned on Facebook  that he expects that large quantities of 3" disks must be hidden in storage of companies that used the PCW. While I think that most of that was disposed 20 years ago he might not be totally wrong with it - at least for the UK. The PCW sold in the 8 millions and most of those PCWs needed a lot of 3" disks, probably more than the average "games collector" needed on a CPC 6128. I wouldn't be surprised if there could be a few thousand 3" disk waiting for us to be discovered.

#8

Games / Re: Alien Escape

Last post by GUNHED - Today at 12:41

*** ALIEN ESCAPE ***
ABOARD THE NOSTROMO

You are Ellen Ripley, sole survivor
of the Nostromo crew. The alien
xenomorph has killed everyone else.

Your mission: Reach the escape pod
and get off this ship before the
creature finds you.

The ship's self-destruct may be
your only option, but first you
need to gather essential items.

Can you find Jones the cat and
escape together?

Commands: TAKE, DROP, OPEN, USE,
EXAMINE, ACTIVATE, LAUNCH
Movement: N,E,S,W,U,D or GO NORTH
Other: INVENTORY, HEALTH, SCORE
System: SAVE, LOAD, QUIT

Explore the lower levels!
Good luck, Ripley. You need it.

https://devil-system.de/alienescape/  ( CPC version & HTML version )

Looks awesome! Thanks for your post and video!!! 

Your avatar is even part of the title screen 

#9

Technical support - Hardware related / Re: Missing Right Half of Char...

Last post by GUNHED - Today at 12:39

Can be an error in the ROM. Can you create a checksum of your BASIC ROM and then the FIRMWARE ROM?

#10

Technical support - Hardware related / Re: Why are 3" floppies so exp...

Last post by GUNHED - Today at 12:37

I recently purchased a CPC6128 with an internal disk drive on Ebay. But I don't have any disks to try on it. Just by looking around on Ebay I see that these floppies are damn expensive. 170 Euros for a box of 10? 17 Euro for a single disk? 

Sometimes they get sold on ebay.de for 5 Euros or less per piece.

Reasons for being expansive:
- Fewer 3" discs were produced compared to 3,5" or 5.25" discs
- They are more stable and have better quality
- Production stopped quite a long time ago

On the other hand, lots of users switch to floppy emulators, then they often sell their disc and then you can get them cheap.