source: ebay.de wikipedia

source: ebay.fr zimmers.net

Hanimex 2650/Arcadia 2001/GIG Leonardo (loose) Repair & Composite Video Output.

I start to say that this motherboard was not in repair but in one box of  spare parts. I have only the motherboard of this console, no external case, joystick, power supply … totally useless.

Past and present defects:

• Some time ago the two EMF coils are exploded (see the photo) maybe the capacitor was in short circuit after the two coils
• Also a capacitors near the coils is disappeared.
• Black and White video output.

Repair and Video Composite modding:

• I have bypassed the two coils for the 12v DC.
• Removed the RF modulator.
• I have cutted 3 resistors for the video composite output, you can get a better image (contrast and color) (see photo)
• Replaced a 4066 because are missing two outputs of the R-G-B signal and that’s why the image was in black and white.
• Added a temporary push button for the RESET.
• The console without the RF modulator can be powered at 9v DC and not 12v DC, thus avoiding boiling the poor 7805.

Gallery of the repair:

12►

Download:

• Hanimex 2650/Arcadia 2001/Leonardo Games (934)
• Hanimex 2650/Arcadia 2001/Leonardo Schematic (1674)
• Emerson Arcadia 2001 Service Manual (997)
• WinArcadia Emulator (795)

source: ebay.de wikipedia

This Video Composite MOD needs some work unlike other similar consoles, you need to remove a resistor and insert a trimmer, otherwise the Video Composite output signal is really bad.

Works that need to be done:

• Remove the RF Modulator (remove it completely)
• Remove the 4.7k Resitor (see photo)
• Solder a 22k Trimmer between the resistor hole (hole side to pin 8 of the TEA 1002/PE1X) and the ground, the third pin of the trimmer is the Video Composite output. (see photo)
• Solder a wire for the Audio output. (see photo)
• Use the same hole of the RF cable for the new video and audio cable.

Before closing everything i recommend to adjust the trimmer for the best Video output.

Gallery of the Video Composite MOD:

The 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System (Acetronic MPU-1000) is a home video game console released by European company Audiosonic in 1978.

It is part of a group of software-compatible consoles which include the Interton VC-4000 and the Voltmace Database. The 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System included its power pack inside the console instead of an exterior power pack.

Specifications:

• CPU: 8-bit Signetics 2650AI at 4.43 MHz
• Audiovisual co-processor (video chipset, I/O Processor): Signetics 2636N at 3.58 MHz, addressing 32Kb of memory in 8Kb banks. This chipset was less powerful than the later model Signetics 2637N used in the Arcadia 2001.
• Data Memory: 43 bytes.

Graphics:

• Sprites: 4 single colour sprites (1 can be 8 colours)
• 1 Score line displaying 4 BCD digits.
• Background consisting of a series of alternating lines.

Misc:

• The early games cartridges used a 2 KByte ROM, later ones, such as Activision branded ones, up to 8 KBytes
• Very basic arcade machine sound.

User programming:

An expensive (£49 in the UK in 1977) Hobby Module was available which gave 6.5 kb of user-programmable memory and had a 5 pin DIN socket to allow software to be saved to a cassette tape player.
This converted the unit into a halfway house between a home computer and an ordinary gaming console.

The user had to be familiar with programming in Signetics 2650 assembly language and the unconventional ways and register architecture of the Signetics 2650 processor. For example, on many other processors an opcode 0 indicates “no operation” whereas on the 2650 it instructs the processor to Branch To Address In Immediate Register B.

This was a source of many software debugging hassles for budding home programmers.

Gallery:

source: wikipedia

Gotek HXC Alpha Firmware with OLED Display.

You can download here the Alpha Firmware Update.

Gallery:

source: hxc2001.com

Commodore Amiga A570 Restoration.

I have received two retro things in very bad conditions.

• 1 x Floppy Drive CD-1411
• 1 x Commodore Amiga CDROM A570

… but for now we are talking about the Commodore A570.

The Commodore A570 have serious problems that i list below:

• Outside case is very dirty, yellowed and broken in several parts.
• The Caddy Guide Tracks has been destroyed.
• Damaged screws thread.
• The metal plate under the CDROM is bent on one side.
• Many rusty parts.
• Main PCB with traces of water/limestone and rust.

Works that have been made:

• Fixed the CDROM CADDY holder, it was not easy because all the metal guides are bent, now it works.
• Main PCB cleaning on both sides with the Kontakt PCC and toothbrush.
• Cleaned and grease the two rails of the laser head.
• Cleaned the head lens of the CDROM.
• Fixed the bent metal plate under the CDROM.
• Cleaning outer casing.
• Fixed with the glue the two pins for closing the case with the screws.

Work still to be done:

• The bottom part of the A570 CDROM is very rusty, i need to sand down gently and at least give a hand of anti rust.

Aesthetically is very bad but at least works.

Gallery of the restoration:

123►

Video:

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Repair (1 of 3)

Defect:

• Black Screen and deafening sound in background.

Replaced parts:

• 1 x TMS9900NL CPU (U600)

Personal note that is good for all repairs:

Repairs are done with experience and skill, if there is skill does not mean that there is also the experience.

Repairing any electronic things by desoldering everything to find the bad components is not an index of experience but only ability.

Gallery of the repair:

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Repair (2 of 3)

Defect:

• Garbage Screen.

Replaced parts:

• 1 x TMS4116-15 RAM

Gallery of the repair:

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Repair (3 of 3)

Defect:

• Man lacks his legs and miss a piece of rope in the pitfall game demo.

Replaced parts:

• 1 x TMS9929TML VDC (Video Display Controller)

Gallery of the repair:

Restored the original Amiga A1200 keyboard connector.

I don’t say anything about the fucking work done before.

Gallery:

Commodore Amiga 500 Power Supply Repair.

Defect:

• All voltages are unstable.

Repair:

• Replaced a Zener Diode 5.6V (ZD2). The Diode was corroded and broken, the cause was not the acid of the capacitors.
• Replaced a Electrolytic Capacitor 1uF 50v (C9) which under voltage don’t work correctly, thanks to the freeze spray i have find it.

All the other electrolytic capacitors have been removed one by one and tested, they are good.

Gallery of the repair:

Commodore VIC-20 Repair.

Defect:

• Black Screen.

Replaced parts:

• Replaced MOS VIA 6522 (UAB1)
• Replaced BASIC ROMS 901486-01 (UE11)

Gallery of the repair:

Commodore 64C (ASSY 250469) Repair

Defect:

• Black Screen.

Replaced parts:

• 2 x NEC D41464D RAM (U10/U11)

Note:

• The two broken RAMs reached 70 degrees.

Gallery of the repair:

What is DiagROM?

DiagROM is a diagnostic tool for the amiga computers.

And it is to be used on defective machines, trying to help no-boot situations etc.

You simply replace the Kickstart roms in the Amiga with the DiagROM. and when poweron. your Amiga will start a diagnostic software. It will try to dump info on the serialport (and actual menus etc aswell) while also trying on the screen.

Changelog:

• RTC Test improved with OKI Chipset support (but RTC test still is kind of buggy)
• Remade the autoconfig handling for much better ZorroIII support etc.
• Possability to turn on/off cache in manual memortedit (this WILL crach your machine on 68000/68010)
• Added an experimental “no chipmem” screen to try to figure out biterrors with rasterbars. (dark bar=dead bit, light bar=working bit)
• Added support for Amiga 1000 with a limited version of DiagROM.
• Parallel and serialporttests using SysTest compatible loopback adapters.
• Diskdrivetests.
• And.. some internal changes and stuff I actually forgotten.

Updatehistory:

• 2017-10-01:
  • Long time since last time:
  • Added tests for Parallel and serialporttesting using SysTest compatible loopbackadapters
• 2017-07-30:
  • Added possability to run on A1000 as bootstraprom. I have removed moduletesting and gfx test-screemn to save space.
  • Some additional bugfixes.
• 2017-07-06:
  • Fixed a bug, when setting DTR high I accidentally put Dikdrive motor on!
  • when no chipmem is foundand no fastmem, instead of just flashing a green screen, it now checks memaddr $400 and shows in stripes biterrors. bright color=bit working, dark=bit error. evbery 15 frame it flashes and steps +4 bytes of memaddr to check
• 2017-06-17:
  • Oh! yes long time. Now DiagROM is opensource avaible at https://github.com/ChuckyGang/DiagROM
  • Totally rewritten Autoconfig, now handles Z2 and Z3 and should be working. if you get stuck in a loop (autoconfig not working) it
  • will halt after 32 “boards”. Also in ManualEdit mode, I have inlcuded a function to turn on/off cache. to debug cacheissues on CPU Cards.
  • BE CAREFUL! this WILL crash if you run it on a 68000/010
  • Also fixed bug of garbage in menus.

Download: DiagoROM v1.0 Stable (1036)

source: diagrom.com

Jean-François DEL NERO (who’s behind the HxC SD Floppy Emulator) recently has released a version of the HxC emulator firmware that is compatible with the STM32 chip used in the Gotek floppy emulators.

This means that the great functionality of the HxC SD emulator is now available on cheaper and more widely available hardware.

The bootloader to convert the Gotek floppy drive in HxC compatible must be purchased on the website HXC 2001 by sending an email to Jean-François DEL NERO. The price of the bootloader is one-off 10 Euro per Gotek that you want to update. Future updates of the software are free and can be made from a USB stick

The HXC Usb (Gotek) firmware supports: + many more….

Release notes Firmware USB HxCFloppyEmulator v3.0.33.4a:

• CPC DSK / RAW DSK : If not a CPC DSK file, open it as a RAW image.
• RAW Image : *.DSK and *.OUT files support added.
• System tick optimization.
• OLED screen support : Characters generator code speed optimization.
• Config-Less Mode :
• More CPC DSK format variant support.(again !)
• More CPC DSK format variant support.
• Amstrad CPC EDSK & DSK : Fix some DSK identification issues.
• Amstrad CPC EDSK & DSK : Fix file type detection with CPC File selector v2.5
• Amstrad CPC EDSK & DSK : Write Support working !
• Amstrad CPC EDSK & DSK support : Fix issues with non-standard sector size images (Midline Process…).
• Amstrad CPC DSK direct support added (Old and new format) : Read only for the moment.  Write support and simple copy protection support incoming ;).
• New setting menu item : auto selection setting. You can now set the desired timeout for the auto selection function or disable it.
• Normal mode : Fix random “Bad file” and IMG read issue at power up/USB stick change.
• Some optimizations.
• Write pipeline issue fixed.
• Fix : IMG/IMA/DSK and ST files are now visible in normal/direct browsing mode.
• Rotary support added. Connections points : Clock -> J7 pin 2,Direction -> J7 pin 1.

This is only a little part of the changelog. The original one is very long and you can read it here.

Download: USB Stick STM32 (Gotek) HxC Firmware v3.0.33.4a (850)

source: hxc2001.com