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Amstrad CPC 664 Repair Keyboard Membrane

June 6th, 2013 1 comment

I ran the repair of the membrane that had a micro interruption, i have used a micro-drop of vinilic glue mixed with the graphite that i have scraped from the pencil ikea, i made a thin film on the microfracture and now it works.

There were other problems, including: graphite consumed in some keys and the keyboard connector (pcb side) don’t work very well.

Amstrad CPC 664

June 6th, 2013 No comments
Amstrad CPC 664

Autopsy:

The horrible holes for the switch and the button are used to halt the CPU and RESET.

from Wikipedia:

The Amstrad CPC (short for Colour Personal Computer) is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the German-speaking parts of Europe.

The series spawned a total of six distinct models: The CPC464, CPC664, and CPC6128 were highly successful competitors in the European home computer market. The later plus models, 464plus and 6128plus, efforts to prolong the system’s lifecycle with hardware updates, were considerably less successful, as was the attempt to repackage the plus hardware into a game console as the GX4000.

The CPC models’ hardware is based on the Zilog Z80A CPU, complemented with either 64 or 128 kB of memory. Their computer-in-a-keyboard design prominently features an integrated storage device, either a compact cassette deck or 3″ floppy disk drive. The main units were only sold bundled with a colour or monochrome monitor that doubles as the main unit’s power supply. Additionally, a wide range of first and third party hardware extensions such as external disk drives, printers, and memory extensions, was available.

The CPC series was pitched against other home computers primarily used to play video games and enjoyed a strong supply of game software. The comparatively low price for a complete computer system with dedicated monitor, its high resolution monochrome text and graphic capabilities and the possibility to run CP/M software also rendered the system attractive for business users, which was reflected by a wide selection of application software.

During its lifetime, the CPC series sold approximately three million units.

source: wikipedia

Repair & Cleaning a rusty Motherboard of a Commodore CBM 8032

June 2nd, 2013 1 comment
CBM 8032: PCB - Before and After

I have received this motherboard of a CBM 8032 to repair from Rossano T.

The motherboard was devastated by rust, many components are short-circuited due to rust that was abundant on the pins side of the chip. Unfortunately the computer was turned on to test it, causing the total breakdown of more components.

I have installed 40 socket because some components are rusty other are dead, however some traces under the chips are eaten by rust and and i had to rebuild.

The repair and cleaning took me a very long time and a lot of patience, it took me about 10+ hours.

Components Replaced:

  • 1 x 4650 (6845P) CRT Controller
  • 3 x 4116 RAM
  • 2 x 2114 Video RAM
  • 5 x 74LS244
  • 3 x 74LS74
  • 1 x 74LS02
  • 1 x 1uf 100v Capacitor

Phases of the repair:

C64 Game: Trance Sector CE +8HD / MArkanoid +4HD 101% …

May 27th, 2013 No comments

Apple IIe & Apple Monitor /// Cleaning and small Repair

May 25th, 2013 No comments

This gallery shows some stages of cleaning the computer Apple IIe and the Apple Monitor ///.

I have also made minor repairs which i describe below:

  • Fixing the keyboard connector on keyboard side (some keys not working)
  • Adjusting the yoke of the CRT tube (the screen is lightly rotated)
  • Replaced the LED of power-on (CR1) of the Apple IIe (LED was off)
  • Removing the RIFA filter capacitor (the capacitor was exploded)

Apple Monitor ///

May 25th, 2013 No comments
Apple Monitor III

Autopsy:

from Wikipedia:

The Apple Monitor /// was a green phosphor CRT-based monochrome monitor manufactured by Apple Computer for the Apple III personal computer, introduced in 1980.

As Apple’s first monitor in their business line of machines, it preceded the Apple Monitor II by several years. The Apple Monitor ///’s main feature was the coating on the CRT to reduce glare. The Apple Monitor /// was also compatible with the Apple II+, Apple IIe, Apple IIc, and even the later models: the Apple IIc+, and the Apple IIgs through its composite video output jack.

source: wikipedia

Apple Disk II Drive (Disk ][)

May 25th, 2013 1 comment
Apple Disk II Drive (Disk ][)

Autopsy:

from Wikipedia:

The Disk II Floppy Disk Subsystem, often spelled as Disk ][, was a 5¼-inch floppy disk drive designed by Steve Wozniak and manufactured by Apple Computer. It was first introduced in 1978 at a retail price of US$495 for pre-order; it was later sold for $595 including the controller card (which can control up to two drives) and cable. The Disk II was designed specifically for use with the Apple II personal computer family to replace the slower cassette tape storage and cannot be used with any Macintosh computer without an Apple IIe Card as doing so will damage the drive and/or controller.

Apple produced at least six variants of the basic 5¼-inch Disk II concept over the course of the Apple II series’ lifetime: The Disk II, the Disk III, the DuoDisk, the Disk IIc, the UniDisk 5.25″ and the Apple 5.25 Drive. While all of these drives look different and they use four different connector types, they’re all electronically extremely similar, can all use the same low-level disk format, and are all interchangeable with the use of simple adapters, consisting of no more than two plugs and some wires between them. Most DuoDisk drives, the Disk IIc, the UniDisk 5.25″ and the AppleDisk 5.25″ even use the same 19-pin D-Sub connector, so they are directly interchangeable. The only 5.25″ drive Apple sold aside from the Disk II family was a 360k MFM unit made to allow Mac IIs and SEs to read PC floppy disks.

This is not the case with Apple’s 3.5″ drives, which use several different disk formats and several different interfaces, electronically quite dissimilar even in models using the same connector, and are not generally interchangeable.

source: wikipedia

Apple IIe (Apple //e)

May 25th, 2013 No comments
Apple IIe

Autopsy:

from Wikipedia:

The Apple IIe (styled as Apple //e) is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. The e in the name stands for enhanced, referring to the fact that several popular features were now built-in that were only available as upgrades and add-ons in earlier models. It also improved upon expandability and added a few new features, which, all combined, made it very attractive to first-time computer shoppers as a general-purpose machine. The Apple IIe has the distinction of being the longest-lived computer in Apple’s history, having been manufactured and sold for nearly 11 years with relatively few changes.

Apple had planned to retire the Apple II series after the introduction of the Apple III in 1980; after that machine turned out to be a disastrous failure, management decided the further continuation of the Apple II was in the company’s best interest. So after three and a half years at a stand-still, came the introduction of a new Apple II model — the Apple IIe (codenamed “Diana” and “Super II”). The Apple IIe was released in January 1983, the successor to the Apple II Plus. Some of the hardware and software features of the Apple III were borrowed in the design of the Apple IIe. The culmination of these changes led to increased sales and greater market share of both home and small business use.

One of the most notable improvements of the Apple IIe is the addition of a full ASCII character set and keyboard. The most important addition is the ability to input and display lower-case letters. Other keyboard improvements include four-way cursor control and standard editing keys (Delete and Tab), two special Apple modifier keys (Open and Solid Apple), and a safe off-to-side relocation of the “Reset” key. The auto-repeat function (any key held down to repeat same character continuously) is now automatic, no longer requiring the “REPT” key (now gone) found on the previous model’s keyboard.

source: wikipedia

SID Duzz’ It v2.1.6 by SHAPE

May 19th, 2013 No comments

SID Duzz it, it’s a SID Music Editor by Geir Tjelta of SHAPE.

Download: SID Duzz It v2.1.6 (956)

source: csdb.dk

Chalkboard’s PowerPad with M.Maestro & L.Lectric PaintBrush (Boxed)

May 18th, 2013 No comments
Chalkboard's PowerPad (Boxed)

Autopsy:

Donated By: Andrea Pierdomenico

from The Personal Computer Museum:

The PowerPad is Chalkboard’s graphics tablet. With its combination of features, reasonable price, friendly support, and wide range of software, it would be an excellent addition to your hardware.

The first thing you notice about the PowerPad is that it’s big: it measures 17 inches by 14 inches, with a drawing surface 12 inches square. It is easier to draw on than the smaller surfaces of other tablets.

The PowerPad uses 14,400 tiny digital switches to read where pressure is applied to the pad. There are 10 x 10 per inch. Unlike the surfaces of other pads, the PowerPad has no problem resolving simultaneous multiple inputs. This ability allows the PowerPad to be used as much more than just a graphics tablet: it becomes a flexible input device.

If you’ve done a little arithmetic, you may be wondering about the PowerPad’s resolution. Ten switches per inch by 12 inches equals 120 points, or pixels – not even as high resolutions as Graphics 7! However, it’s possible to design a program using the Atari’s highest-resolution screen, by “software stretching” of the resolution.

The version of Micro Illustrator ($49.45) for the PowerPad has a special feature called “Scale” that uses ,Software stretching” to let you draw pixel by pixel, even though the tablet’s resolution isn’t as high as Micro Illustrator’s.

Hardware isn’t of much use without software, but the PowerPad doesn’t come with any. However, Chalkboard offers several programs in cartridges requiring 32K of RAM for the Commodore VIC-20.

source: pcmuseum.ca

Regenerator disassembler v1.3 by n0stalgia

May 16th, 2013 No comments

Regenerator is an interactive disassembler for C64 binaries. Regenerator will load any standard C64 .PRG file (or VICE snapshot) and disassemble it for your convenience.

There are a few options you can choose to change the output and a few tools to make the output look better and more useful to programmers. Regenerator runs under M$ windows and need .net 3.5 (or 4.0) runtime.

New in version 1.3:

  • Added REMOVE command to remove part of the data from dissasembly.
  • Added EDIT BLOCKS window to Edit all the DATA, TEXT and REMOVED blocks manually.
  • Added COPY to Clipboard functionality (insert key) with FULL or CODE only modes.
  • Added possibility to add user-defined COMMENTS to the code. This can be done as a FULL line comment or as a SIDE comment!
  • Added USER LABELS – you can now add a label to any address and it will be used in the disasembly. If there should be an automatic label generated for it then it will be overriden. Also added USER LABELS editor which is part of the old Label Prefixes window. You can add/edit and remove user labels within this screen and have a general overview of the user labels.
  • Added high and low partial references to immediate opcodes. This means that code like LDX #$A0 STX smwhr LDX #$BB STX smwhr+1 will be disasembled as LDX #<pBBA0 STX smwhr LDX #>address STX smwhr+1. This includes loads and stores in different order and with different registers. There is also a context menu command that lets you disable this on a currently selected address (if auto creation fails). NOTE: excluded address in STA opcodes will not be generated like this!
  • Fixed the Add BLANK LINE and Remove BLANK LINE so it actually works as it should.

Download: Regenerator disassembler v1.3 (943)

source: csdb.dk

Sega SC-3000H

May 16th, 2013 No comments
Sega SC-3000H

Autopsy:

from Segaretro homepage:

The SC-3000 (Sega Computer 3000) is the first and only computer to be designed and manufactured by Sega. It was first released in July of 1983 in Japan, and serves as the home computer equivalent of the SG-1000 cartridge-based video game console. The SC-3000, often known simply as the “Sega Computer” or even just the “Sega”, is an 8-bit home computer almost identical in nature to the SG-1000, but with a built-in keyboard and support for more hardware expansions.

Unlike later Sega systems, the SC-3000 did not receive a worldwide release, but in markets were it did compete, including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy and Finland, the computer fared well as a low price, entry-level machine for the home. By 1985 the SC-3000 had been displaced by more popular computer standards, but is nevertheless said to have fared better than the SG-1000 console on the global stage, and has a strong group of followers to this day.

The SC-3000 was also Sega’s last home computer to be released to the general public. The company would partner with Amstrad and IBM for the Amstrad Mega PC and TeraDrive respectively in later years, but other endeavours such as the extremely rare Sega AI Computer saw only a small fraction of the success the SC-3000 received, and were built with very different aims.

source: segaretro.org/SC-3000

Amstrad 464 Plus – Merging and Cleaning

May 16th, 2013 No comments

Merging between two  Amstrad 464+ partially functionals to make it one fully functional and in a decent aesthetic state.

Extreme repair of a Sega SC-3000H

May 16th, 2013 No comments

This computer was in very poor condition, almost all the traces and pitches on the Z80 CPU side was interrupted.

I had to remove the old socket and install a new one and rebuild all traces/pitches interrupted.

Irem Kung-Fu Master Arcade Game PCB (no audio) Repaired

May 14th, 2013 No comments

This Arcade Game had a problem on the audio stage (no audio).

The problem was caused by a tantalum capacitor exploded, i don’t have found a schematic of this game then i have replaced the filter capacitor for the 12 volts of the final amplification stage with a new one of 1uF 100v.

Irem Kung-Fu Master Arcade Game: