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I have fixed 3 x Commodore Amiga 4000 Motherboards and 2 x Commodore Amiga CPU Cards for a dear friend. Below the description and photo of each repair.

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Commodore Amiga 4000 Motherboard #1:

• I have done an accurate cleaning of the leaked battery acid even in the holes between pcb layers.
• Replaced some SMD electrolytic capacitors with a high ESR value.

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Commodore Amiga 4000 Motherboard #2:

• I have done an accurate cleaning of the leaked battery acid even in the holes between pcb layers.
• Replaced all SMD electrolytic capacitors with a high ESR value.

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Commodore Amiga 4000 Motherboard #3:

• I have done an accurate cleaning of the leaked battery acid even in the holes between pcb layers. I have also made a “bridge” because a track of the pcb was completely corroded.
• Replaced all SMD electrolytic capacitors with a high ESR value.

Still a couple of months with the battery acid and this Amiga was to throw in the trash.

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Commodore A3640:

• Replaced all SMD electrolytic capacitors with a high ESR value and a first acid leak.

Fixed the problem of the 3 capacitors installed with the wrong polarity. The silkscreen on the pcb are wrong. Thanks Commodore.

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Commodore A4CPU EC030:

• Replaced all SMD electrolytic capacitors with a high ESR value.

Gallery:

The Dick Smith Wizzard (Creativision) Cassette Storage Module is a mass storage expansion for the Dick Smith Wizzard.

Using the Dick Smith Wizzard Basic allow you to load and save program which you enter in the computer. By recording a program on a tape, you can save it as permanent record. Later you can load the program from cassette tape into the computer’s memory if you want to use that program again.

Cassette Storage Module – Tape Loading:

source: madrigaldesign.it

Atari 800XL Upgrading.

Installation and preparing:

• VBXE v2.1 Interface Installation.
• Simple Stereo + U-Switch Installation.
• Formatting and partitioning CF Card (Sandisk ULTRA 2Gb) for the SIDE 2 Cartridge/SDX.

Software update:

• Update the Ultimate 1MB (First batch 2011) Flash AM29040BL.
• Update Ultimate 1MB (First batch 2011) Xilinx XC95144XL JTAG Firmware (v1 to v2)

Upgrade/Fix:

• Fixed some wrong connections of the old installation from the Ultimate 1MB to the Atari 800XL PCB.
• Removed the RF Modulator and installation of a Female DIN (8 pin + GND) for the RGB output + RGB CTRL + SYNC + AUDIO (Stereo)
• I have also made a cable from a male DIN (8 pin) to Scart, fully shielded of a four meters lengths.

All these interfaces can be purchased on the lotharek website.

Some photos of the installation:

12►

I must thank Andrea Pierdomenico for The original Black CD Caddy for Commodore CDTV.

I thank Andrea Pierdomenico for the donation.

Electronic components donated:

• 1 x ST 27256 Eprom
• 1 x ST 27128 Eprom
• 2 x TMS 2516 Eprom
• 3 x ST/AMD 27512 Eprom
• 4 x HY/Intel/TI 2732 Eprom
• 5 x FlashROM Winbond 29C020
• 15 x TI32-GERMES Eprom (2516 Compatible)
• 18 x TI32-SYN Eprom (2532* Compatible)

* Not Confirmed.

YMT-Player is a player that allow you to play Project-Ymer YMT files (Windows) on the Atari ST. The program is made by Peter Jørgensen aka. fedepede.

What is Project-Ymer YMT files ?

YMT files are like the YM/AY files. Music files where you sampled data from the sound chip register (YM2149/AY8910) in a certain interval, instead of having a dedicate player. Up to now (to my knowledge), there have only been YM/AY player that could play tune/score files, that was sampled at 50HZ, but the YMT player can play files up to 300hz (there are some 50hz+ tunes/scores include in the examples)

The advantaged of AY/YM/YMT format, is that to replay these tunes/scores cost very little CPU power, so if you need a lot power for a eg. a 3D demo, when it could be a wise choice to use it, because it leaves most of the CPU power for 3D calculations and the graphic etc, and the disadvantaged is that it use a lot of memory, and also that it is nearly impossible to make a routine that can capture and use the SID sound and Samples etc. It is also why those files need to be hand made, that is the reason why YMT-Player only support pure YM2149 sound.

The zip archive contains the Floppy/HD version and Sources.

Changelog:

Ymt-Play Ver 1.01 Release Date 16.Jan.2015

• Reactivate the clear screen function when the program start.. I deactivate it ,  so I could tested the program, but I forgot to turned on it again.

Download: YMT-Player v1.01 + Sources (1239)

The Program in action on Youtube.

source: fedepede04.dk

TMS 9900 CPU Key Ring.

CBM prg Studio Version 3.2.1 is released. There are a lot of new features in this version. I’d really appreciate it if you report any bugs you find or have any suggestions/comments.

CBM prg Studio allows you to type a BASIC or Machine Code program in using a nice Windows environment and convert it to a ‘.prg’ file which you can run on an emulator, or even a real C64 / VIC20 or PET if you’re feeling brave and have the right kit.

CBM prg Studio is the result of merging C64PrgGen and VIC20PrgGen. Adding new features and fixing bugs in two apps which were 95% similar was a bit of a nightmare so merging them made sense.

It was also a good opportunity for a face lift and to add some new features, such as:

• Programs are project based, meaning all related source files, sprite files etc. are kept in one place and multiple source files can be linked more easily.
• Tabbed MDI.
• Syntax highlighting.

What CBM prg Studio isn’t is a front-end for tok64, cbmcnvrt, bastext or any other tokeniser / detokeniser / assembler. It’s all been written completely from scratch.

New features:

• Screen designer speed up.
• Speed up of switching/adding/opening files and projects.

Bug Fixed:

• Assembler:
  • Duplicate labels not detected in projects.
  • SYS call always created at start of file.
  • Build order not correct.
  • Assembly dump showing both parts of the code within conditional assembly statements.
  • Code reformatting issues.
  • Negative numbers in BYTE and WORD sequences not assembled properly.
  • Numbers in strings in BYTE sequences not assembled properly.
  • Numbers in TEXT sequences not assembled properly.
  • Arithmetic in WORD sequences not assembled properly.

• General:
  • Sprite Designer grid glitches.
  • Exception thrown when generating .prg with the output window closed.
  • Code indent/outdent/comment/uncomment would add extra carriage return.
  • Code comment/uncomment would add extra REM statements.
  • Problem adding existing files to a project.

Download: CBM prg Studio v3.2.1 (1143)

source: ajordison.co.uk

I have repaired nine motherboards of the Home Computer Texas Instruments TI-99/4A for a dear friend. Below the description of each repair.

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Repair (1 of 9)

Defect:

• Blue Screen with tiny Vertical lines and deafening sound … and then garbage screen.

Replaced parts:

• 1 x 1501392-27 ROM (U611)
• 2 x 4116 RAM (U102 / U105)
• 1 x 74LS245 OCTAL BUS TRANSCEIVER (U614)
• 1 x 74LS03 QUAD 2-INPUT NAND GATE (U506)

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Repair (2 of 9)

Defect:

• Blue Screen with tiny Vertical lines and deafening sound.

Replaced parts:

• 1 x CD3227A ROM (U611)
• 1 x CD3226A ROM (U610)

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Repair (3 of 9)

Defect:

• Garbage Screen.

Replaced parts:

• 4 x 4116 RAM (U105 / U106 / U108 / U109)

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Repair (4 of 9)

Defect:

• Blue Screen with tiny Vertical lines and deafening sound.

Replaced parts:

• 1 x MCM 6810P RAM 128×8 (U609)

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Repair (5 of 9)

Defect:

• Blue Screen with tiny Vertical lines and deafening sound.

Replaced parts:

• 1 x MCM 6810P RAM 128×8 (U608)
• 1 x 1501392-27 ROM (U611)
• 1 x 74LS138 1-OF-8 DECODER/DEMULTIPLEXER (U504)

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Repair (6 of 9)

Defect:

• Blue Screen with tiny Vertical lines and deafening sound.

Replaced parts:

• 1 x CD3226A ROM (U610)
• 1 x 74LS138 1-OF-8 DECODER/DEMULTIPLEXER (U504)

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Repair (7 of 9)

Defect:

• Blue Screen with tiny Vertical lines and deafening sound.

Replaced parts:

• 1 x TMS 9900-NL CPU (U600)

What happened to the other two motherboards ?

• The eighth motherboard was used for spare parts.
• The ninth motherboard has all components burned (Power Supply problem?)

Some new games or tools (Cracked / Trained or Unrealeased) for Commodore 64 have been released from your favorites groups.

Titles:

• Linnan Valtaus +
• Old Sam +2
• Cherry Picker +
• Shootin’ Putin (lightgun & joystick)
• Shootin’ Putin (lightgun & joystick) +
• Tree Some +1D
• The Search for King Solomon’s Mines 101%
• Colorout +
• Melting Trail +H
• Sonic the Hedgehog Preview
• Brick Buster 2015 +3D
• Penultimate Fantasy V1.1
• Tai Chi Tortoise +47D [crazy hack]
• Blazing Castles +4D
• The Birds +4ED
• Brick Buster! [paddle/joystick]
• Gem Quest Preview +4
• Vee Kloros +
• Bowman +3D &Editor
• Tutti Frutti 64
• Go-Kart Simulator +37D [crazy hack]
• Tutti Frutti 64 +5
• Battle Khaos II
• Ninja Commando +44D [crazy hack]
• Bunker +5ED
• Brilliant Maze +5HD
• Quo Vadis +4DG &Editor &Map
• Supercart 60-in-1 [easyflash]

Download: All Games in One Archive (3366)

source: csdb.dk

The Creativision console was given to me on loan from a friend, Andrea Pierdomenico for testing the MultiROM v1.0 cartridge made by Treviso RC (Francesco Brolli)

I and Andrea we realized that the power supply was lost (tragedy). The original power supply of the CreatiVision uses 16v in AC 350ma and 9v in AC 1amp.

Here comes Ciro (Ninetyniner Iuc) that months ago gave me a transformer extirpated from a unknown motherboard and with a bit of fortune there are all voltages.

At this point, given the poor quality of the output video via antenna that comes with the Creativision i have decided to make the easy Composite Video/Audio mod and acting on the Trimmer (color gain) native on the PCB of Creativision i have reached a good quality of the image.

I must thank Andrea Pierdomenico, Ninetyniner Iuc and Francesco Brolli (Treviso RC) for the MultiROM Cartridge v1.0.

Gallery:

Gallery:

The Video Technology CreatiVision was a hybrid computer and home video game console introduced by VTech in 1981. The hybrid unit was similar in concept to computers such as the APF Imagination Machine, the older VideoBrain Family Computer, and to a lesser extent the Intellivision game console and Coleco Adam computer, all of which anticipated the trend of video game consoles becoming more like low-end computers.

The CreatiVision was distributed in many European countries, in South Africa, in Israel under the Educat 2002 name, as well as in Australia under the Dick Smith Wizzard name. Other names for the system (all officially produced by VTech themselves) include the FunVision Computer Video Games System, Hanimex Rameses and VZ 2000. All CreatiVision and similar clones were designed for use with PAL standard television sets, except the Japanese CreatiVision (distributed by Cheryco) which was NTSC and is nowadays much sought after by collectors.

The CreatiVision console sported an 8-bit Rockwell 6502 CPU at a speed of 2 MHz, 1KB of RAM and 16KB of Video RAM, and had a graphics resolution of 256 × 192 with 16 colors and 32 sprites. The console had 2 integrated joystick/membrane keypad controllers (much like the ColecoVision) which, when set in a special compartment on top of the console, could be used as a computer keyboard. The CreatiVision had interfaces for a cassette player, an extra rubber keyboard, floppy disk drive, parallel I/O interface, modem (likely unreleased), Centronics printer and one memory expansion module for use with the Basic language cartridge.

The CreatiVision was discontinued in late 1985/early 1986. A computer was produced by VTech in 1984-1986, based on CreatiVision hardware and compatible with most of the games: Laser 2001, which sold in Europe and Australia. It was also available in Finland through Salora, with the name of Manager. The Manager had a specific keyboard with Finnish layout and character set.

source: wikipedia

Repair Atari Falcon with a dead Keyboard.

Defect:

• Dead Keyboard.

Repairing:

The defect was caused by a broken track in the third layer of the pcb, thus not visible. Missing the voltage of +5v from the component (L83) towards the pin four of the keyboard connector (J18) (circuit diagram).
I have made a small bridge for fix the problem permanently.

Cleaning Commodore CDTV Keyboard:

Gallery:

The Commodore CDTV Keyboard it’s nothing more than a Amiga 3000 keyboard, black with a different connector.

Recovery electronic components from a motherboard that was given to me.

Components recovered:

• 2 x INS 8250N (UART)
• 2 x 2764 (EPROM)
• 2 x 2732 (EPROM)
• 2 x HM 6264P-15 (STATIC RAM)
• 16 x TMS 4256-15 (RAM)
• 16 x MB 8264A-15 (RAM)