Autopsy:

from Wikipedia homepage:

The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of “intelligent television”. Over 3 million Intellivision units were sold and a total of 125 games were released for the console.

In 2009, video game website IGN named the Intellivision the No. 14 greatest video game console of all time. It became Mattel’s first video game console, though it was their only console until the release of the HyperScan in 2006.

The Intellivision was developed by Mattel Electronics, a subsidiary of Mattel formed expressly for the development of electronic games. The console was test marketed in Fresno, California, in 1979 with a total of four games available, and was released nationwide in 1980 with a price tag of US$299 and a pack-in game: Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack. Though not the first system to challenge Atari, it was the first to pose a serious threat to Atari’s dominance. A series of advertisements featuring George Plimpton were produced, that demonstrated the superiority of the Intellivision’s graphics and sound to those of the Atari 2600, using side-by-side game comparisons.

Mattel Intellivision SECAM Motherboard:

source: wikipedia

Autopsy:

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This Floppy Drive VIC-1541 (brown label with white case) unlike the known model of VIC-1541 uses a drive mechanism of Newtronics/Mitsumi White and not the usual ALPS brown.

The drive mechanism probably was replaced over the time but i have published the photos anyway.

from Wikipedia homepage:

The Commodore 1541 (also known as the CBM 1541 and VIC-1541) is a floppy disk drive (FDD) which was made by Commodore International for the Commodore 64 (C64), Commodore’s most popular home computer. The best-known FDD for the C64, the 1541 was a single-sided 170 kilobyte drive for 5¼” disks. The 1541 followed the previous Commodore 1540 (meant for the VIC-20).

The disk drive used Group Code Recording (GCR) and contained a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, doubling as a disk controller and on-board disk operating system processor. The number of sectors per track varied from 17 to 21 (an early implementation of Zone Bit Recording). The drive’s built-in disk operating system was CBM DOS 2.6.

source: wikipedia

This gallery shows some stages of the repair of the Sinclair Spectrum 48k.

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Defects found on the Sinclair Spectrum #1:

• Black Screen of Death/Garbage Screen.

Components replaced:

• 8 x 4116 RAM
• 1 x Z80 CPU

• Extra:
  • Composite Video

Defects found on the Sinclair Spectrum #2:

• There are no colors.

Components replaced:

• 5 x Electrolytic Capacitors 22uf / 16v
• 1 x SN94459 (LM 1889) Tv video Modulator IC with Chroma Reference Signal (Color)

Defects found on the Sinclair Spectrum #3:

• Jaundice problems.

Calibration:

• Calibration of Trimmer (VR2)

Defects found on the Sinclair Spectrum #4:

• Black Screen of Death.

Components replaced:

• 1 x RAM TMS4532
• 1 x Transistor ZTX650

• Extra:
  • Composite Video
  • Conversion from Spectrum (Issue 2) To Spectrum +

Defects found on the Sinclair Spectrum #5:

• Garbage Screen and high absorption on the 12v line and 0v (ground) with explosion of the transistors ZTX-650 (651) and ZTX-213

Components replaced:

• 1 x Zener 5v1
• 12 x Electrolytic capacitors
• 3 x 4116 RAM (two of these in total short circuit between pin 8 and 16)
• 8 x OKI 3732 RAM
• 1 x Sinclair ROM
• 1 x 74HCT(LS)32
• 1 x Transistor ZTX-213
• 1 x Transistor ZTX-650

• Extra:
  • Composite Video

• Info:
  • About the explosion of the transistors i have isolated the problem, are the ram (LOW).

    The bad way used some years ago was cut the pin 8 of the all 4116 ram to isolate the bad one, in this case, i didn’t cut the pins of the ram, but i have cut the track of 12v which is part of all the 4116 ram, doing so, the transistor ZTX650(651) doesn’t explode.

    At this point there is a short in one or more RAM between +12 and 0v. I have measured the absorption where i have cut the track and it absorbs too much.

    I just have to unsolder the pin 8 of the 4116 ram and trying to isolate it for find which ram is short-circuited.

• …it was not over:
  • When the repair is finished and i have replaced all OKI 3732 RAM with a new one, another IC has decided to die, a 74HC(LS)32. I have no words.

Defects found on the Sinclair Spectrum #6:

• Faulty / AutoLoad.

Components replaced:

• 1 x TMS 4532 RAM

• Extra:
  • Composite Video

Sinclair Spectrum Faulty / AutoLoad Video:

This is the official demo party results from ZOO 2013 (Top 3 Entries only). See also the CSDB ZOO 2013 section for more informations and download.

C64 Demo:

• The First Ball by Fit
• Senpituinense by Dekadence
• Monday Night by Extend

C64 Music:

• Hortus Zoologicus by Zardax
• Funky as Frank by Slimex

C64 Graphics:

• No more bets? by Tempest
• Exploding Fist by Electric
• Kollo by Duce

C64 Basic Demo:

• Beisikki demo by Fit
• Helsingin vesistoe by Hackers    

C64 Disk Cover:

• Orangii. by Duce
• Stamps back!!! by Junkie
• Everything is Octopusied by Reekol

Mixed Graphics:

• Ninja enters the battle by ilesj
• Smoke King by Extend
• Variable Medusa by rexbeng

Download: ZOO 2013 full Party stuff (1034)

source: noname.c64.org/csdb/

Autopsy:

How you can see from the gallery i had to remove the scotch tape that has been glued on the keys, the scotch tape with the long time has dried and detached, now the keyboard is perfect.

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The Peters WS128 Home Computer is a Russian Clone of a Sinclair Spectrum 128 but with the addition of some features.

• Built-in printer port (centronics).
• The power switch.
• A internal power supply.
• Built-in ROM: Tetris Game, Assembler Monitor, Video Tester, Text Editor.

The Company Peters, then Peters Plus Ltd. is a company of microelectronic and computer founded in the year 1990 in St. Petersburg, known especially for the clone Sprinter.

Download: Spectrumpedia (1381)

Sorry, this entry is only available in Italian.

Gallery:

On the occasion of my birthday i have bought the Weller WS81 solder station that replaces my old station Weller WHS40 who has almost 13 years behind him.

The Weller WHS40 solder station was designed for a hobby use and was no longer suitable for my current use.

Small and Convenient retro-keychain.

This gallery shows some stages of repairing the Commodore PET 2001-8C

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Two months have passed since i have received my Commodore PET 2001-8 Chicklet exchanged for a Sharp MZ-80K, was the day 28/08/2013.

The motherboard was in disastrous conditions, it took two months and a lot of patience to repair it.

Defect:

• Garbled characters at boot.
• Tape Recorder (Datassette) Motor Tired.

Replaced parts and various repairs:

A large number of short circuits visible and not visible (under the ic sockets)

• 2 x 6540 ROM Basic 1.0
• 2 x 74LS00
• 3 x 74LS157
• 1 x 7805
• 2 x Electrolytic Capacitor / Tantalum.
• 1 x Tape Motor
• 16 x 2114 RAM

I want to dwell on the ram, i noticed that the PET 2001-8 Chicklet does not digest very well all ram.

These ram don’t work properly for my PET 2001-8 Chicklet:

• TESLA 2114 (2/8)
• MM2214N
• SY2114-2
• HKE2114L-2

I had to buy several stocks of ram in 2114 to find the right ram that work correctly. The ram that work very well are the ELCAP 2114L-3.

I have to thank Andrea Pierdomenico for the ROM test on his PET 2001-8C and Alessandro Polito. for the exchange.

Autopsy:

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This Commodore PET 2001 also includes the Expansion Memory ExpandaMem made by CompuThink

from Wikipedia homepage:

The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) was a home/personal computer produced in 1977 by Commodore International. A top-seller in the Canadian and United States educational markets, it was Commodore’s first full-featured computer, and formed the basis for their entire 8-bit product line.

In the 1970s Commodore was one of many electronics companies selling calculators designed around Dallas-based Texas Instruments (TI) CPU chips. However, in 1975 TI increased the price of these components to the point where the chip set cost more than an entire TI calculator, and the industry that had built up around it was frozen out of the market.

Commodore responded to this by searching for a chip set they could purchase outright. They quickly found MOS Technology, who were in the process of bringing their 6502 microprocessor design to market, and with whom came Chuck Peddle’s KIM-1 design, a small computer kit based on the 6502. At Commodore, Peddle convinced Jack Tramiel that calculators were a dead-end. In September 1976 Peddle got a demonstration of Jobs and Wozniak’s Apple II prototype, when Jobs was offering to sell it to Commodore, but Commodore considered Jobs’ offer too expensive.

Tramiel demanded that Peddle, Bill Seiler, and John Feagans create a computer in time for the June 1977 Consumer Electronics Show, and gave them six months to do it. Tramiel’s son, Leonard, helped design the PETSCII graphic characters and acted as quality control. The result was the first all-in-one home computer, the PET, the first model of which was the PET 2001. Its 6502 processor controlled the screen, keyboard, cassette tape recorders and any peripherals connected to one of the computer’s several expansion ports. The PET 2001 included either 4 kB (2001-4) or 8 kB (2001-8) of 8-bit RAM, and was essentially a single-board computer with discrete logic driving a small built-in monochrome monitor with 40×25 character graphics, enclosed in a sheet metal case that reflected Commodore’s background as a manufacturer of office equipment. Designed on an appliance computer philosophy similar to the original Macintosh the machine also included a built-in Datassette for data storage located on the front of the case, which left little room for the keyboard.

The data transfer rate to cassette tape was 1500 baud, but the data was recorded to tape twice for safety, giving an effective rate of 750 baud. The computer’s main board carried four expansion ports: extra memory, a second cassette tape recorder interface, a parallel port (mainly used for disk drives and printers) and an IEEE-488 port (mainly used for modems).

The PET 2001 was announced at the Winter CES in January 1977 and the first 100 units were shipped later that year in October. However, the PET was back-ordered for months and to ease deliveries, early in 1978 Commodore decided to cancel the 4 kB version (also because the user would be left with barely 3 kB of RAM).

source: wikipedia

Again available for sale the interface C64SD v2.0 Infinity by Manosoft.

This gallery shows some stages of repairing the Commodore CBM 610.

Defects found on the Commodore CBM 610:

• Random raster lines on the screen.

Components replaced:

• 2 x 74LS245
• 1 x 74S32
• 1 x 74S05
• 1 X 74LS14
• 2 x Capacitor 22uf 10v
• 2 x Capacitor 1uf 50v

I have passed three weeks of suffering for repairing this CBM 610. The finding of the fault is not has been easy, the key component of the failure was the IC 74S05 (U96) followed by the other components.

Autopsy:

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You can use any power supply with 6v / 1.5 amp with the polarity described below:

Polarity is positive + on the outside or barrel and negative - on the inside or tip

from Wikipedia and The National Valve Museum homepage:

The Sinclair TV80, also known as the Flat Screen Pocket TV or FTV1, was a pocket television launched by Sinclair Research in 1984. Unlike Sinclair’s earlier attempts at a portable television, the TV80 used a flat CRT with a side-mounted electron gun instead of a conventional CRT; the picture was made to appear larger than it was by the use of a Fresnel lens.

The set has a 2 in. screen, measures 5= x 3= x 1< in. and weighs 9= oz. A special Polaroid flat battery that provides 15 hours’ operation has been produced to power it — there’s also a mains adaptor. The set itself goes on sale at #79.95, with the 6V Polaroid lithium batteries in packs of three at #9.95 per pack and the adaptor at #7.95, all prices inclusive of VAT, postage and packing. Normal retail and export sales are expected to start during the first half of 1984. Sir Clive Sinclair predicts sales rising to a million or more a year worldwide, and speaks of the set ‘achieving for television what the transistor radio did for wireless, creating a new one-per-person product’.

The set has some interesting technical features. It is for example a multi-standard receiver with automatic switching between most UHF standards worldwide except for France. Most of the circuitry is contained within a single ic that uses innovative digital techniques to monitor the vision and sound signals and adjust the circuitry automatically to suit the transmission standard. The ic was jointly developed by Ferranti and Sinclair Research and is being produced by Ferranti. Manufacture of the flat-screen tube (the gun is mounted to one side and the phosphor is deposited on the rear section of the viewing part) has been subcontracted to Timex in Dundee, using Sinclair designed and owned automatic plant. Assembly of the sets has been subcontracted to Thorn.

Apart from the tube and the ic, the main electronic items consist of the video output transistor, line and field output stages, the tube power supply generator and the tuner. The latter measures just 31 x 23 x 11 mm and uses hybrid microminiature components with advanced surface mounting. It’s output is at 230 MHz, which has been chosen to avoid image frequency problems in the UHF band.

It was a commercial failure, and did not recoup the £4m it cost to develop; only 15,000 units were sold. New Scientist warned that the technology used by the device would be short-lived, in view of the liquid crystal display technology being developed by Casio.

Download: Service Manual Sinclair FTV1 & FTV2 (2280)

Video:

source: wikipedia r-type.org

Finally i have found a small CRT Color TV with Composite input and an External RF Antenna input. This is a very useful in my lab where the free space is always a problem.

Autopsy:

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Tomasz “Tebe” Biela has released an update of the program Graph2Font v3.9.8.7.

This project began many years ago as a simple graphics converter for Atari but over the years the features are significantly increased. The converter runs under Windows.

Download:

• Graph2Font v3.9.8.7 (Full) (1189)
• Graph2Font v3.9.8.7 (Lite) (1228)

source: g2f.atari8.info