Recent posts

#1

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Technical support - Hardware related / EME-157 drive hooked up to PC/...

Last post by fgasking - Today at 13:02

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone had experience of hooking up a EME-157 drive (taken from a broken 6128 Plus) to a PC or Kyroflux device and if they could advise on the power connection?

I'm aware that there are voltage issues, and that you have to use a flipped version of the power cable - but I understand that the EME-157 is 5V only.  I have purchased this cable that comes with a modified power cable: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/135035278228 - but have a feeling the power connector isn't going to work due to the voltage differences. I'm sure that I read somewhere that just using a standard 3.5" drive connector from a PC on the EME-157 would work fine, but I can't find reference to it now (maybe I dreamt it!) and thought I'd check in here first, before potentially blowing the thing up!

Not able to test just yet anyway, as the drive belt has deteriorated and have just ordered a replacement in. I'm hoping to get the drive working, so that I can preserve 3" disks from time to time (commercial or unreleased for Games That Weren't).

Any recommendations/suggestions would be really welcome, and apologies for my lack of confidence in this area!

#2

Games / Re: The Key, a A "full" point ...

Last post by SerErris - Today at 12:52

And if you never have seen the puzzle, it is ... https://www.paketesoft.com/es/the-key-eng-version

You need to find the key in the puzzle ...

#3

Technical support - Hardware related / Re: CTM 644 Vertical Hold Issu...

Last post by Devlin - Today at 12:38

Hello,

Firstly, just wanted to say thank you for such a great forum - I've been a long time lurker and read so many helpful posts on here that have helped get my 464's and 6128 fully functioning. I was never a CPC user back in the day, but I have a growing collection of retro computers!

I have a CTM 644 that wasn't working, but having replaced the HOT it seems to be back to life again. However, the vertical hold adjuster on the rear seems to need tweaking every time I power on the machine connected to it, else I have a rolling image or an image that is out of sync, split with part of the black border. If I leave the screen on for a bit, occasionally it'll start rolling very slowly too. The adjustment seems to be very sensitive, very small adjustments required, is that normal? Before I go desoldering and hunting for a suitable replacement 20k POT as I don't have anything to hand, I wondered if it's there's a common issue I might be missing? It's got the Z70215 PCB. Other than that, it shows a good, clear picture when it's not rolling!

Thank you!

the pot's internals might be dirty - give it a good blast of contact cleaner and give it a spin the full range a few times while the monitor is off and see if that helps?

I've found a lot of issues with the CPC and accessories misbehaving *so often* being down to purely things being dirty.

#4

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: I found it. My DIY hardwar...

Last post by Devlin - Today at 11:54

I'll definitely draw it out. There will be reverse engineering 2. I remember there was a lot of emotion back then because I didn't know how CPC worked inside. Each test involved the fear of damage. 

I always have the fear of damage when working with the innards of my CPCs - I had to test my CPC adapter for my greaseweazle (i'd been putting it off for ages) and I was scared of blowing up the disk drive every second of operation - I know what i'm doing now, so there's less fear, but it's *always* there.

#5

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: I found it. My DIY hardwar...

Last post by McArti0 - Today at 11:41

I vaguely remember that it was probably an LS132.  LS122. I will check.

#6

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: I found it. My DIY hardwar...

Last post by McArti0 - Today at 11:24

I'll definitely draw it out. There will be reverse engineering 2. I remember there was a lot of emotion back then because I didn't know how CPC worked inside. Each test involved the fear of damage. 

#7

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: I found it. My DIY hardwar...

Last post by Devlin - Today at 10:57

Is the right button working as well?

of course yes! Display window is simple to show

this is really quite impressive!
would it be possible to draw up a circuit diagram so folks could try to figure out what the mystery chip is? I'm pretty sure a few people would love to construct their own (me included)

#8

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Games / Re: Renegade Reloaded

Last post by Geco - Today at 08:27

Can you insert jump-kick movements as in the Spectrum version?

Jump-kick was originally in the CPC version

#9

Games / Re: WIP Transversion

Last post by ervin - Today at 03:57

Wow that's a big difference!
What were the main optimisations that led to the speed-up?

#10

Games / Re: Adapting loading screens t...

Last post by lmimmfn - Today at 01:44

I'll try to make one this week. U.S. Gold have way worse loading screens. This one is not that bad.

It's nor the worst, but it is absolutely awful considering what the CPC is capable of 😀