- Welcome to CPCWiki forum.
The ultimate Amstrad CPC community!
Recent posts
#1
Technical Support - General / Re: CPC 464 (not plus) - troub...
Last post by WacKEDmaN - Today at 08:08volume does matter...
the tzxduino just puts out a digital signal, no amplification, so using a phone or laptop will need the volume set right, usually half way is good...
also slowing the baud rate can help alot (but youre not using a txzduino so its not so easy to do!)
the tzxduino just puts out a digital signal, no amplification, so using a phone or laptop will need the volume set right, usually half way is good...
also slowing the baud rate can help alot (but youre not using a txzduino so its not so easy to do!)
#2
Technical support - Hardware related / Re: Need help with transferrin...
Last post by GeoffB17 - Today at 02:56If you need any help, I could prob do something, but I'm in the UK and things are more complicated now. *$**!£$* Brexit.
I've got a PCW, with a 3" A: and a 5.25" B:, which I have used fine as SS, but usually use as DS 360k format.
I'd just use the DU54 prog to create .DSK images. I've got the uIDE system attached, so plenty of space to save the image files. But this does NOT cover any sort of copy protection schemes, so normal format only (I can read CPC formats OK, and DU54 can be TOLD what the format is rather than look for the xDPB data in the first sector.
Though I have to say, one of the reasons I still play with my PCW is that I LIKE playing with the floppy disks. I still have PCs with floppy drives (which helps if I wanted to send .DSK files back to you). I certainly do NOT plan to dump my REAL disks!
Geoff
I've got a PCW, with a 3" A: and a 5.25" B:, which I have used fine as SS, but usually use as DS 360k format.
I'd just use the DU54 prog to create .DSK images. I've got the uIDE system attached, so plenty of space to save the image files. But this does NOT cover any sort of copy protection schemes, so normal format only (I can read CPC formats OK, and DU54 can be TOLD what the format is rather than look for the xDPB data in the first sector.
Though I have to say, one of the reasons I still play with my PCW is that I LIKE playing with the floppy disks. I still have PCs with floppy drives (which helps if I wanted to send .DSK files back to you). I certainly do NOT plan to dump my REAL disks!
Geoff
#3
Programming / Re: Sprites Tiles and other su...
Last post by BSC - Today at 01:24Quote from: roudoudou on 13:24, 04 February 23I don'tQuote from: BSC on 13:13, 04 February 23Great collection of advice! All of this should be in the actual Wiki instead of being scattered all about the forums. Ideally addressable from a kind of wiki hub. Or maybe I missed that that's already there..?if you have time, feel free to gather everything already on forums
#4
Technical support - Hardware related / Re: Need help with transferrin...
Last post by BSC - Today at 01:20Thanks everyone! I was able to start transferring my 3" disks using SymbOS running DiskDumper. Thanks @Prodatron for that! Unfortunately, a lot of disks have read errors ..
Also thanks @sb1903, the actual words to search for did not occur to me until you made it obvious by writing them out for me
But "ribbon" kind of escaped me. The GreaseWeazle would still be my goto-method when converting the 5,25" disks. I'll go on the hunt for a ribbon-cable.
Also thanks @sb1903, the actual words to search for did not occur to me until you made it obvious by writing them out for me
But "ribbon" kind of escaped me. The GreaseWeazle would still be my goto-method when converting the 5,25" disks. I'll go on the hunt for a ribbon-cable. #5
Technical support - Hardware related / Re: Need help with transferrin...
Last post by sb1903 - Yesterday at 22:51@BSC As written on the other forum page about Greaseweazle (here), you simply need a 1:1 34-pin floppy cable without any twists. Often old PC mainboards that still supported 3.5" floppy drives came with such cables, but it should also be easy to source them also via ebay or other electronic shops. Actually, just enter "34 pin ribbon cable" into Google and certainly you will find sources of supply.
When you have the cable, before you connect the drive, please don't forget to open the FD-1 and disconnect the 5V power plug *in* the drive. Otherwise it may burn your Greaseweazle.
When you have the cable, before you connect the drive, please don't forget to open the FD-1 and disconnect the 5V power plug *in* the drive. Otherwise it may burn your Greaseweazle.
#6
Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: USIfAC II:Convert a PC or ...
Last post by ikonsgr - Yesterday at 21:12Quote from: wolfgang on Yesterday at 13:48so the ULIFAC is already the combination of USIFAC II and the new RAM/ROM board?Yes, with some added features like having dual mode with 16XROM board+256k RAM
Quote from: wolfgang on Yesterday at 13:48And its not really much bigger than the USIFAC II as far as I can see on your picture, right?ULIfAC is ~10cmX8.5cm it's actually a little bigger than ram/rom board (8.5cmX7cm)
Quote from: wolfgang on Yesterday at 13:48If correct I order one ULIFAC to be sent to Austria.Yes,i have enough PIC chips,and i expect a big batch of 200chips in a couple of months, so i believe there will be no problem regarding PIC supply
Question, I have two working USIFAC II, do you have sufficient PIC's in stock or would it make sense to send the USIFAC's back to you so you can use their PIC's?
If you want give me msg to arrange it with USIfAC and ULIfAC exchange. #7
Games / Re: The Abbey of Crime - La A...
Last post by iXien - Yesterday at 20:36Quote from: dragon on Yesterday at 03:26Perfect. Any caratule for the box?I needed some time to understand your message
Personally, I think that a standard visual of 'La Abadia Del Crimen' would be perfect with just the information that's a cartridge in the box. The problem with GX4000 boxes and carts is that they are so awful, nobody really wants to create new ones. After that, anyone can do his own visual and box, I suppose
I let you announce that your definitive patched version is now available? If you're ok, as I already prepared a RAR archive containing all the CPR with new PDFs (Es/En) in which I removed the mirror room informations, I can provide it for everyone ?
#8
Technical support - Hardware related / Re: Amstrad CPC 6128 start-ups...
Last post by J2112Z - Yesterday at 20:04Hello. Just a quick update:
As I had nothing to lose by doing this, I gave the PCB a good clean with contact cleaner, removed the 40010 Gate Array, and cleaned the socket with contact cleaner. The pins on the chip were shiny and clean, so no sign of corrosion. Re-inserted the chip, switched on and... no change. (To be honest, I would have been very surprised if there was, but it was worth a shot.)
So, for now, I'll box it all up and wait until I can get hold of a replacement 40010.
Anyway - a big THANKS to everyone for their help. Much appreciated. All the best.
As I had nothing to lose by doing this, I gave the PCB a good clean with contact cleaner, removed the 40010 Gate Array, and cleaned the socket with contact cleaner. The pins on the chip were shiny and clean, so no sign of corrosion. Re-inserted the chip, switched on and... no change. (To be honest, I would have been very surprised if there was, but it was worth a shot.)
So, for now, I'll box it all up and wait until I can get hold of a replacement 40010.
Anyway - a big THANKS to everyone for their help. Much appreciated. All the best.
#9
Programming / Re: Sprites Tiles and other su...
Last post by andycadley - Yesterday at 19:50Quote from: zhulien on Yesterday at 19:27How many hw sprites can we have on 6128 plus? The wiki says 16 per scan line, but we have lots of scan lines... if sprites are also 16x16, then we can fill 256x200 with sprites?There are 16 sprites and you have to reload them by resetting all the pixels, which you can't do while they're on screen as the ASIC will automatically disable them while you're writing to them. So not much chance of covering 256*200 unless they're repeating images.
It's also possible, though difficult, to reuse the same sprite on a single line but again not practical in most cases.
#10
Programming / Re: Sprites Tiles and other su...
Last post by roudoudou - Yesterday at 19:48you can have more than 16 sprites in a row (time consuming, not really usable)
you can multiplex easily sprites positions, see https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=17425 (all red bullets are in reality 3 sprites)
but when you change a sprite position, the position is changed (no sh1t sherlock!) so it wont appear where it was previously, until you change again his position.
if you take a look at Sonic preview from NoRecess, you can see some vertical rows of rings (which are obviously multiplexed)
in the prehistorik 2 game, the tree trunk is made with multiplexing and the leaf too (two trees below two trees)
you can multiplex easily sprites positions, see https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=17425 (all red bullets are in reality 3 sprites)
but when you change a sprite position, the position is changed (no sh1t sherlock!) so it wont appear where it was previously, until you change again his position.
if you take a look at Sonic preview from NoRecess, you can see some vertical rows of rings (which are obviously multiplexed)
in the prehistorik 2 game, the tree trunk is made with multiplexing and the leaf too (two trees below two trees)