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#21
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Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: Designing and building the...
Last post by Benedikt - Yesterday at 18:03Quote from: GUNHED on Yesterday at 17:09A new KCc - great idea - please implement RAM configuration &C3 like it exists on CPC6128 computers. All 'RAM expansions' before were not made by Amstrad, so they lack the &C3 feature. That's fine for games and simple stuff, but not for serious software.Since the KCc, while modeled after the CPC6128, only had 64 KiB on its system board and the remaining 64 KiB in its external floppy disk controller, I am going to use an ATF16V8 with known-working configuration for RAM banking, i.e. copy this aspect of the CPC6128's design.
Quote from: GUNHED on Yesterday at 17:09And for ports: Please use these reliable Centronics connectors. PCB just suxx, because of its instability.As mentioned before, the expansion port will have exactly that 50-pin micro ribbon connector, but I will use a DB25 connector for the printer port.
If the FDC stays on the system board at all, there will only be an IDC pin header for it, because the position where the CPC6128 has its external floppy disk drive connector will already be occupied by the SCART socket.
However, the video logic will need an awful lot of space and has to be on the system board. I might therefore have to kick the FDC off the system board and put it in a KCc-like expansion.
On the bright side, a cartridge port – or a pin header for it – will then probably fit on the system board.
There is one alternative though, namely to switch to SMD logic to squeeze as much functionality as possible on the system board itself.
#22
Quote from: eto on Yesterday at 17:03Yep. I just took a look at the photos of each model, and 6128 + centronics is for sure the hardest one. It would actually need to have the width of rpi pico with nothing on the sides. Maybe it would be possible to squeeze everything on the other side of pcb. Other option is to design own minimal rp2040 board and place everything conveniently, but I think that would be too hard for me at this point.Quote from: gregg on Yesterday at 16:35I just need to design PCB in such a way that it does not interfere with other ports on the back of Amstrad,don't forget that there are at least 3 different CPC versions that you need to consider: 464, 664 and 6128. Not sure if the different PCB versions for the 464.
Especially the 6128 does not have a lot of spare area around the monitor port. And the US/German version with its Centronics port is even slightly worse as the Centronics clamps need some extra space.
One more tempting option would be to make pcb that covers both video port and power socket. They look to be placed in the same distance in all models (or at least in very similar). There would be two plugs on the pcb so it would be plugged into both - video port and power. Then on the other side I would have vga socket and power adapter socket. Power adapter goes to my board, and through it to Amstrad. Two pros are - I don't need separate power adapter for my pcb, and pcb can be much wider. But I think there would be a lot of troubles, like aligning my plugs to sockets in Amstrad.
#23
Quote from: Solo Kazuki on Yesterday at 16:44Is possible to make CPR version of Xyphoes Fantasy and Space Gun?Sadly, these games require 2 sides on floppy disc and 128k RAM. Lot lot of work for these one to work on a cartridge with only 64k RAM.
#24
A new KCc - great idea - please implement RAM configuration &C3 like it exists on CPC6128 computers. All 'RAM expansions' before were not made by Amstrad, so they lack the &C3 feature. That's fine for games and simple stuff, but not for serious software. 
And for ports: Please use these reliable Centronics connectors. PCB just suxx, because of its instability.
And for ports: Please use these reliable Centronics connectors. PCB just suxx, because of its instability.
#25
NC100, NC200, PCW, PDA600 - the rest of the Family! / Re: FUZIX "Unix" for NC100 (an...
Last post by GUNHED - Yesterday at 17:05yes, while wasting RAM
#26
I'd be interested in the best Applications for CPC 
#27
Quote from: gregg on Yesterday at 16:35I just need to design PCB in such a way that it does not interfere with other ports on the back of Amstrad,don't forget that there are at least 3 different CPC versions that you need to consider: 464, 664 and 6128. Not sure if the different PCB versions for the 464.
Especially the 6128 does not have a lot of spare area around the monitor port. And the US/German version with its Centronics port is even slightly worse as the Centronics clamps need some extra space.
#28
Technical support - Hardware related / Re: M4 board - Drive A disc mi...
Last post by GUNHED - Yesterday at 16:59Switch on your B-drives PSU!
#29
Is possible to make CPR version of Xyphoes Fantasy and Space Gun?
#30
Quote from: eto on Yesterday at 16:244) I recently made a CPC2VGA adapter that plugs into the monitor port: https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/hardware-related/cpc2vga/msg235888/#msg235888Awesome. Thanks! 4 sounds like a perfect solution. RPI pico is not so big.
I used a male DIN plug and just made sure, the holes in the PCB are big enough to make it fit ;-) Works fine for my use case with such a small PCB however, for a version with a Raspberry Pico that setup might be too large.
For this project, I would prefer option 3. Especially when the PCB is inside a 3D printed case, it shouldn't matter that the cable is soldered directly and I can decide the optimal length of the cable for my personal set-up. However 1) is also fine as I would expect that I always can solder the cable directly to the footprint of a connector.
If PCB is going to go vertically on the back of Amstrad, then I just need to design PCB in such a way that it does not interfere with other ports on the back of Amstrad, but that should be doable. Overall pcb size will be about RPI pico x 2. Usb cable may just be in some weird place, like on the top. Maybe I can just add separate power port in more convenient place, and use usb only for software update.
If not then maybe I could also go with something like 1+3, I mean female din-6 socket, plus some solder pads to easily solder cable if needed.