Recent posts

#1

Games / Re: Ghosts'n Goblins for Amstr...

Last post by HAL6128 - Today at 17:15

Again, beautiful gfx.

#2

General Discussion - Introductions / Re: Why did you choose the CPC...

Last post by ZorrO - Today at 17:09

Nothing else was sooo pretty and soo cheep with small drive, good keyboard and monitor like 6128, and I read in magazine about 80 columns and good Basic. Years later I seen how slowly was drive and Basic in other 8bit, I had no idea about it during buy, but that makes me feel it was even better choice than I though before. I had no idea about slower sprites either, but I don't care about it at all. All Polish magazines says CPC is good but no soft for it in Poland, but I was soo naive I beleved Basic seems so easy I can write anything I will be need. I had no idea even CPC Basic is too slow for few things, and I was to lazy to larn Assembler, but for my lucky wasn't so bad with soft like they say. CPC 6128 was soo elegant, not like other toys, and big floppy was soo lousy, choice was easy.

#3

General Discussion - Introductions / Re: Why did you choose the CPC...

Last post by McArti0 - Today at 16:40

Disc, LPT, EXPANSION PORT, 80x25 text, Z80. Real microcontroler for Addin hardware.

#4

Technical support - Hardware related / Re: Original CPC Multiface II ...

Last post by Rabs - Today at 15:35

I've already reflowed the cable on the MF2 side and removed and re-crimped the cable.  No difference.  It looks like some of the cables in the ribbon are broken somewhere.  I think the only way to sort is to replace the cable.

Do you have any parts to build the cable - the ribbon, 50 way connector on the CPC side and the solder crimp connector on the MF2 side?

Thanks,

Mark.

Will message you with what I have spare.

#5

General Discussion - Introductions / Re: Why did you choose the CPC...

Last post by lmimmfn - Today at 15:12

Main reasons for me/family was:
1. It came with a colour monitor(thankfully my dad hated anything monochrome including black and white movies lol - always said he spent long enough looking at a B/W tv he didn't want to go back to that) so no more hogging the tv as i used to do with the Binatone Pong "console" i had
2. I loved the vibrancy of the colours vs the C64
3. My young brain loved the colours of the 464 keyboard vs the boring beige C64 breadbin(i love the look of the breadbin now )
4. Games
5. Only realised this after getting the CPC, programming in basic was brilliant on it.

#6

Games / Re: Ghosts'n Goblins for Amstr...

Last post by norecess464 - Today at 14:47

I love the graphics in the background !

#7

General Discussion - Introductions / Why did you choose the CPC?

Last post by Herman - Today at 14:33

Something that has always interested me: Why did you choose the CPC?
I ask because in the 1980s, two camps of home computer enthusiasts had formed in my circle of friends. To put it simply:

One side (a slight majority) wanted video games above all else and chose a C64, whose weak BASIC and fuzzy TV picture therefore didn't deter them, while the large number of video games attracted them.

The other side (a strong minority), on the other hand, wanted to program above all and therefore chose the CPC because its BASIC was among the best and its monitor showed a razor-sharp image (especially the green one), ideal for texting and long sessions, while the number of video games was of secondary importance to them.

#8

Technical support - Hardware related / Re: CPC 6128 - white screen, b...

Last post by McArti0 - Today at 13:29

the clock glitched
a few cycles earlier. So the clock was unstable

I tried this. My tests show that the clock is only wrong when touching the contacts with a bare hand and rubbing the wires against each other when the clock is active. there is no interference from the wires as the antenna MW radio.

#9

Technical support - Hardware related / Re: CPC 6128 - white screen, b...

Last post by McArti0 - Today at 12:28

it can't be said with certainty that the CPU acted correctly from that point onwards
and the entire system was in an unknown state there after.

This diagram is not mine. It is borrowed from Bread80. 

https://bread80.com/2021/06/03/understanding-the-amstrad-cpc-video-ram-and-gate-array-subsystem/
Fig.5

I understand what you are talking about, but for now it is not important to us because even if I have disturbed the program code, for now we want GA to stop with READY Lo and RAMRD Hi or Lo. And that's exactly what's happening. even the address is correct. You can statically check whether 373 is open and output responds to input and 373 save state. The next test will be to catch 373 in latch. i.e. the first RAM reading, READY Lo, RAMRD Lo without steps, using an external OR gate made on the 74LS02. the reading should be 00h.

#10

Technical support - Hardware related / Re: CPC 6128 - white screen, b...

Last post by Bryce - Today at 11:54

@Bryce.
Notice that the clock inverter gets a heavy zero at the input - it has no chance of ticking even once. The freeze is sure and strong.On the address lines there is &B100 or &B101. I use rectifier diodes so they have a 60ns propagation time, they may not stop at the first LDIR address.

Hi McArti0,
      you may have misunderstood what I meant (or I explained it badly?).
Yes, the clock will definitely stop as planned with your setup, that's certain. My query was whether it runs properly before that point
and it seems you've just answered that question yourself with the screenshot. If you take a look at the diagram, the clock glitched
a few cycles earlier. So the clock was unstable and it can't be said with certainty that the CPU acted correctly from that point onwards
and the entire system was in an unknown state there after.

Bryce.