(Italian) Jurassic News numero #58
Sorry, this entry is only available in Italian.
Sorry, this entry is only available in Italian.
Ikari has released a new firmware for the SD2Snes Flash Cartridge (Super Nintendo/Famicom). The upgrade instructions can be found here.
Here’s what’s new since preview 4:
Game fixes:
MSU1 enhancements:
Miscellaneous:
Critical & Minor bugs:
Download: SD2Snes Firmware v0.1.7a (913)
source: sd2snes.de
DirMaster is a Windows-based GUI application designed to help Commodore enthusiasts explore and manage their disk image collections.
DirMaster supports common (and uncommon) emulator disk image formats (such as .d64, .d81, .d2m, etc), almost every native Commodore archival format (such as .arc, .sda, .lnx, etc), and many native graphic formats (such as koala, doodle, amica, etc).
DirMaster was designed to give users a perfect blend of familiar appearance (e.g. natural looking disk image contents using the PETSCII character set) and modern GUI functionality (e.g. drag and drop, opening multiple disk images at once). The first version of DirMaster was released in 2006.
Some of the new stuff in v3.1.0:
Download: DirMaster v2.2 from Style (1108)
source: style64.org/dirmaster
2 x Commodore Amiga 600 Full Recap and Repair.
Commodore Amiga 600 #1:
Gallery:
Commodore Amiga 600 #2:
Gallery:
TRS-80 Model 1 L2 – Video Snow Shovel Hardware Fix
Video snow, the black streaks against white characters, is most apparent with large, rapidly changing areas of white graphics. The root of the problem is that the TRS-80 display is memory mapped by the CPU.
The solution is to give the video circuitry higher priority than the cpu.
Note:
On my TRS-80 Model 1 where i use the Quinnterface & FreHD i had to use the version that also includes the 74LS125 which seemed optional but in this case it does not appear to be optional, we have to do it, otherwise doesn’t work.
Thanks to Ian Mavric for the support.
Gallery of the hardware mod:
Download: 80 Microcomputing Magazine 1982 (826)
One of the most famous limitations of the TRS-80 Model I was its inability to display lower case characters.
Although the lower case characters were present in the character set, the Model I lacked the extra memory chip needed to store the bit corresponding to lower case.
The significance of this limitation has been exaggerated over time (it is worth noting that at that same time the Apple II also lacked lower case), but it created a real problem for word processors. Many lower case upgrades for the Model I were created to address the omission, ranging from simple to more complex.
The TRS-80 video display uses a dedicated block of 1024 bytes of memory located in memory space at 3C00 Hex. When received from the factory, there are only 7 memory chips installed in this block of memory, providing 128 possible characters for screen display. The stock TRS-80 uses 64 of these combinations for graphics and a second 64 for the upper-case subset of the ASCII character set. Bits 0-5 control the character selection, and the highest bit (bit 7) is used to determine if the character is alpha-numeric or graphic. Bit 6 is missing!
To add lower-case display, bit 6 must be implemented. This may be accomplished by switching the memory chip for bit 7 to bit 6, thereby enabling lower-case letters and eliminating graphics, or by addition of an 8th memory chip. We prefer adding the extra chip. In either case, if you plan to use Level II BASIC, you must include a switch to disable bit 6, or BASIC will place a lot of funny characters on the screen!
Gallery of the hardware mod:
Download: Lowercase characters Hardware mod (1053)
source: trs-80.org
TRS-80 Interfaces in KIT from Ian Mavric and J. Andrew Quinn.
I begin to assemble the kit:
The complete kit consists:
Gallery:
This is a Sinclair Microvision MTV1B. It’s the second attempt of Clive Sinclair’s to make a small portable television.
Released in 1978, it was the smallest television in the world with a CRT tube. A teeny-tiny 2″ D5-100w CRT made by Telefunken. Powered by 4 x AA or via External Powersupply at 6v DC (Negative at the center of the power connector).
Gallery:
The ABC 80 (Advanced BASIC Computer 80) was a home computer engineered by the Swedish corporation Dataindustrier AB (DIAB) and manufactured by Luxor in Motala, Sweden in the late 1970s (first model August 1978) and early 1980s. It was based on the Zilog Z80 running at 3 MHz and had 16 KB RAM, expandable to 32 KB, and 16 KB ROM containing a fast semi-compiling BASIC interpreter.
ABC 80 normally used a dedicated (included) tape recorder for program and data storage, but could also be expanded to handle disk drives (and many other peripherals). Some sound effects could be produced by a Texas Instruments SN76477 sound chip which was connected to an 8-bit output port, but there was no way to control the chip’s features in any detail, so sound was limited to 96 fixed sounds. The monitor was a black and white TV set modified for the purpose (an obvious choice since Luxor also made TVs). The computer had excellent I/O response times, something that was discovered when trying to upgrade to personal computers. The solution was to use a microcontroller that communicated with a PC. The main unit had a reset button as well.
ABC 80 was also manufactured on license as BRG ABC80 by Budapesti Rádiótechnikai Gyár in Hungary. It used the same keyboard, but the case was metal instead of plastic.
The ABC 80 was a huge hit in Sweden, and grasped a majority share of the rising personal computer market thanks to its office software in Swedish. Although the ABC 80 fans would defend the ABC 80 by referring to its good BASIC and usable extension bus, it couldn’t defend the home market against the gaming computers with color graphics and better sound that arrived in the early 80s like the Commodore 64, even though a new cheaper version was released that could use an ordinary TV instead of the dedicated video-monitor.
Luxor held on to its office market for a couple of years longer with the ABC 800 series, which had a more extensive BASIC, more memory and a 512×240 ‘high-resolution’ graphics mode, but otherwise similar performance. In 1985 Luxor also tried to compete in the office market against the IBM PC with its ill-fated ABC 1600 and ABC 9000 series UNIX computers, but failed.
Gallery:
… and the boxes
Software:
source: wikipedia
Defects:
Repairing:
* For this repair i have used only tantalum capacitors, although i usually prefer to use electrolytic capacitors, i used to keep the same aesthetic.
Gallery of the repairing:
Download:
Commodore Amiga 2000 – Black Screen of death
The Battery Acid has corroded some pcb tracks (not visible to the naked eye) connected to the pin of the resistor packs RP900 and to MC68000 and probably other IC.
Gallery before cleaning and repair:
Commodore Amiga 2000 – All that glitters is not gold.
After some work it seems to work but still suffers of some problems.
Present problems:
Resolved issues:
I need to assess whether or not continuing with the repair…
Big gallery of the repairing:
Welcome back, Commodore Amiga 2000.
I do it very shortly, i don’t like writing a lot because i don’t have time to do and i don’t like it.
We are left with the Amiga 2000 that sometime works and sometime not.
Defect/Boot Errorr code was: gray / yellow / green / rainbow / out of sync / purple / white.
When this not happen, the boot works perfectly and i can see theusual “hand”
I have also replaced the socket of the MC68000 CPU and i have discovered another interruption between the pitche and track and also a lot of corrosion and recovered some connectors of an old Amiga 2000 REV 4 motherboard to give an decent aesthetic look to the repaired motherboard.
Now the Commodore Amiga 2000 works perfectly.
Before and after Gallery:
The Commodore PET 4000 series features Basic 4.0 as a standard feature, along with more memory and a lower price that made them attractive to schools.
Elementary, Middle, and High Schools all over Canada and the United States were filled with these impressive lumbering beasts. Introducing children far and wide to the wonders of BASIC programming. Another lesson taught was the importance of patience, since many schools provided only a tape datasette for loading and saving work.
Like the other models of PET, the 4000 series includes dual datasette ports, though only one is exposed to the outside of the casing. A standard IEEE-488 interface in the back allows the PET to connect to the numerous (and heavy) disk drives and printers being produced by Commodore and other manufacturers.
The PET also has a fully programmable bi-directional parallel interface called the “User” port, which allows the PET to connect and control almost any device one could dream up! The greatest feature, however, is the friendly READY prompt, and the well-laid out keyboard with graphic characters only a keypress away! Pictured here is the PET 4016.
Interestingly, although Commodore provided 8, 16, and 32k versions of their PET 2001 and 3001 series, they had a hard time getting people to purchase higher memory versions as an upgrade. It seemed that people were soldering in their own memory chips onto PET 2001 and 3001 8k and 16k models to upgrade them to 32k. To help prevent this, Commodore sold many PET 4008 and PET 4016 models with the empty memory sockets punched out and destroyed! This encouraged those who wanted more memory to upgrade to the 4032 instead of doing it themselves.
Gallery:
source: zimmers.net
C4CPC is a cartridge replacement for the Amstrad Plus range and the GX4000.
Using a micro-SD card storing cartridge images it also allows direct loading of the cartridge from a PC (Windows/Linux/OSX) through USB.
Features:
Gallery:
Download: C4CPC GX4000 microSD Games & Demos (1280)
source: cpcwiki.eu
Defect:
Replaced parts:
Gallery of the repairing:
A big disappointing this Commodore SX-64 USA purchased for spare parts to fix aesthetically one of my SX-64 PAL.
Why disappointing? because from the photo’s looked in a very bad shape, rust stains, various diseases and not working.
Conversely after removed the shit from the external case, replaced the booring PLA (906114), general cleaning + keyboard / Floppy Drive test and replaced one keyboard lock, the SX-64 is fully working and aesthetically in good condition.
Now i have for myself four SX-64 where the fourth is NTSC/USA, but honestly i was not looking for the USA version.
I am really unlucky :D
Gallery of the cleaning and repairing:
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