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I have repaired last year these computers for a dear friend.

Commodore 128 #1

Defect:

• Black Screen.
• Missing CAS on PIN 1-4 of the 74LS32 (U9)
• Missing CHROMA video.

Fix:

• To fix the problem of lack CAS on 74LS32 i had to make a bridge from the PIN 41 of the PLA 8721 because a pcb track under the socket was interrupted.
• Broken solder joints on the RF Modulator.

Commodore 128 #2

Defect:

• Black Screen but sometimes it works.

Replaced parts:

• Replaced the socket of the 8721 PLA.
• Replaced 8721 PLA (U11).

Note:

The main problem was the PLA. In the C128 mode sometimes works and sometimes not. Works always C64 mode.

SpartaDOS X (or SpartaDOS 4.0) is a disk operating system for the Atari 8-bit family of computers, that closely resembles MS-DOS. It was developed and sold by ICD, Inc. in 1987-93.

Ten years later SpartaDOS X considered abandonware has been picked up by its enthusiasts, and developed further. These unofficial revisions, incorporating many of the utilities written since 1992, cleaning many identified problems and including numerous improvements, are:

• v4.31 (2005)
• v4.39RC (2006)
• v4.40 (a leaked-out beta, 2006)
• v4.41 (Feb. 2008)
• v4.42 (Dec. 2008)
• v4.43 (Apr.2011)
• v4.44 (Jun.2011)
• v4.45 (Nov.2011)
• v4.46 (Jan.2013)
• v4.47 (Feb 2015)

The new SpartaDOS X 4.47 runs on the following hardware platforms:

• intSDX128 and intSDX128 “flash”
• IDE Plus 2.0 interface (*)
• Maxflash 1Mb
• Maxflash 8Mb (*)
• Maxflash MyIDE+Flash
• MyIDE II
• SIC! Cartridge 256k (*)
• SIC! Cartridge 128k
• SIDE HDD cartridge (*)
• SIDE2 HDD cartridge (*)
• Turbo Freezer 2005 (*) (**)
• Ultimate1MB (*)
• Incognito board (*) (***)
• Altirra and Atari800 emulators

(*) – includes MAN on-line help
(**) – use with Freezer ROM only
(***) – compatible with Ultimate1MB images

Dowload:

• SpartaDOS X 4.47 with Toolkit (1337)

source: sdx.atari8.info wikipedia

I have recovered this Terminal from the United States because it was in good condition and partially working.

The cleaning took more time of the repair. The repair was very simply. I have replaced for precaution all tantalum capacitors and i have also replaced the two micro switches that are completely rusted.

The main defect was caused by one of these two micro switches which was in short circuit always in one position. I have also made a calibration of the geometry of the screen that appeared incorrect and a focus adjustment.

Below i post all pictures of the cleaning, components replaced, various console test that i have made via terminal and two videos.

A brief introduction of the ADM-5 terminal:

The Lear Siegler ADM-5 was introduced in January, 1981 at a price of $995 and is based on the proven Lear Siegler ADM-3 design.

This new version includes:

• Numeric keypad.
• Reverse video.
• Reduced intensity video.
• Limited editing capabilities.
• Estension port.
• Lowercase display.

Lear Siegler (LSI) ADM-5 the final reult:

Replacing tantalum capacitors and mini switches:

Cleaning main pcb:

Radio Shack DT-1 (pcb) vs Lear Siegler ADM-5 (pcb):

Testing:

Video:

source:  BB ASCII Demo

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

Titles:

• Assembloids Basic +2
• Maniac Mansion Demo Disk
• Demoni 101% +4DGHF
• Charlie and the Jugs +4HD
• Scramble
• Scramble +3 V2
• Scramble +3 V1
• Xain +
• Populous Preview
• Xain
• The Eidolon +6D
• Baffle 101% +2HF [pal/ntsc]
• Scramble +5H
• Scramble V1.1
• Rocket Smash EX [64kb cartridge]
• Rocket Smash EX +3DH
• Q10 Tankbuster +24D [crazy hack]
• Bumble-Bee HS
• Zombi Terror
• C64hess – Chess Puzzles +D
• Ski Jumping &ED

Download: All Games in One Archive (3154)

source: csdb.dk

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I have repaired a Commodore Amiga 2500 (A2000 Motherboard) with Black Screen for a dear friend.

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Defect:

• Black Screen.

Diagnosis:

• The Battery Acid has corroded a track (not visible to the naked eye) connected to the PIN 10 of the resistor packs RP900 and then the same track is connected to the CPU.

Repair:

• I have made a small bridge between the two points on the solder side of the pcb  and the problem was fixed in 5 minutes.

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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.

Click to view original size

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.

Click to view original size

Commodore A4CPU EC030:

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

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 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 (1225)

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 (1133)

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 (3322)

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:

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.