I have decided to repair my Coleco Vision Secam version (RGB) purchased some years ago in a full working state, today is died. Below a description of the defect and of components being replaced.
Defect: dirty sprite
I have received this computer in excellent cosmetic condition but unfortunately with some dead keys of the keyboard.
The trick of the repair is cleaning the two little strips and the small conductive button (see the photos)
Autopsy:
from Wikipedia:
MicroBee (Micro Bee) was a series of home computers by Applied Technology, later known as MicroBee Systems.
The original MicroBee computer was designed in Australia by a team including Owen Hill and Matthew Starr. It was based on features available on the DG-Z80 and DG-640 S-100 cards developed by David Griffiths, TCT-PCG S-100 card developed by TCT Micro Design and MW6545 S-100 card developed by Dr John Wilmshurst. It was originally packaged as a two board unit, with the lower “main board” containing the keyboard, Zilog Z80 microprocessor, Synertek 6545 CRT controller, 2 kB of “screen” RAM, 2 kB of character ROM (128 characters) and 2 kB of Programmable Character Graphics (PCG) RAM (128 characters). Each byte in the screen RAM addressed a character in either the character ROM or PCG RAM. A second board, termed the “core board”, contained the memory, and on later models also included a floppy disk controller.
The computer was conceived as a kit, with assembly instructions included in Your Computer magazine, in June 1982. After a successful bid for the New South Wales Department of Education computer tender, the computer was repackaged in a two-tone beige and black case, and sold pre-built. The 16 kB ROM held the MicroWorld BASIC interpreter written by Matthew Starr and DGOS (David Griffiths Operating System) compatible System Monitor. In addition to the 16 kB ROM, there is additional ROM socket for optional programs such as WORDBEE (Word processor) or EDASM (a Z80 Editor/Assembler that was written by Ron Harris).
Original MicroBees ran at a clock speed of 2 MHz, with a video dot clock of 12 MHz, which was sufficient to display 64 × 16 characters (512 × 256 pixels) on a modified television or composite monitor. The original machines were supplied with 16 or 32 kB of static RAM, and stored programs on cassette, using 1200 Baud encoding.
Download: MicroBee PC 85 ROM Eprom Dump (1496)
source: wikipedia
This is the official demo party results from Nordlicht 2013 (Top 3 Entries only). See also the Nordlicht 2013 homepage for more informations.
Mixed:
Mixed Graphics:
Mixed Music:
Mixed Demo:
Productions released outside compos:
Download: Nordlicht 2013 full Party stuff (1037)
Autopsy:
from Wikipedia:
The TC 2048 or Timex Computer 2048 is a computer created by “Timex of Portugal, Lda”, a branch of Timex Corporation. It was highly compatible with the Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer, although differences in the ROM prevented 100% compatibility.
Timex Portugal sold the TC 2048 in Portugal and Poland, where it was very successful. Also, a NTSC version was sold in Chile. This computer forms the basis of an improved Spectrum-compatible machine, the Spectrum SE.
Timex Sinclair was a joint venture between the British company Sinclair Research and Timex Corporation in an effort to gain an entry into the rapidly growing early-1980s home computer market in North America. The choice of partnership was natural as Timex was already the main contractor for manufacture of Sinclair’s ZX81 and ZX Spectrum computers at its Scottish plant in Dundee.
It was Timex of Portugal, though, that took on the R&D and the local manufacturing of the models to be exported to the U.S. Although both Timex of Scotland and Timex of Portugal were full subsidiaries of Timex, internal rivalry, whether unintended or purported, meant there were no contacts nor experiences shared between the two plants. Timex of Portugal also sold the Timex Sinclair models in Portugal and Poland under the Timex Computer brand.
Technical specifications:
Download: Timex Computer 2048 Schematic (1506)
source: wikipedia
New CBS Coleco Vision cartridges for my collection.
List of cartridges:
I have received from a friend a couple of components that can be used as spare parts for the repairs. Thanks Andrea.
Close-up description:
Details:
I have found this RGB mod for the Philips Videopac G7000 console fom the gamesx site and i have decided to build the circuit to see if it works.
This mod is not easy to do, especially if one has no experience in electronics, however the result at the end is spectacular.
RGB DAC Schematics (click to zoom):
Download: Philips VideoPac G7000 Schematics (1880)
source: gamesx.com
The HxC Floppy Drive Emulator is a software and hardware system created by jfdn aka Jeff.
The aim of this project is to replace the floppy disk drive by an electronic device emulating the floppy disk drive (list of supported Computer/Hardware).
There are two differents emulators:
Release notes for the HxCFloppyEmulator software v2.0.15.1:
Download:
source: hxc2001.free.fr lotharek.pl
The HxC Floppy Drive Emulator is a software and hardware system created by jfdn aka Jeff.
The aim of this project is to replace the floppy disk drive by an electronic device emulating the floppy disk drive (list of supported Computer/Hardware).
There are two differents emulators:
HxC Floppy Emulator DOS Disk Image Browser:
The HxC Floppy Emulator DOS Disk Image Browser is a simplified version of the HxC Floppy Emulator software. This version is designed to replace the VFD solution.
Avantages over the VFD solution:
Release notes for the HxCFloppyEmulator software v2.0.15.0:
Download:
source: hxc2001.free.fr lotharek.pl
This gallery shows some stages of cleaning the Commodore CBM 8050 Dual Drive Floppy Disk. Below the defects and replacement parts.
Defect:
Replacement parts:
Test formatting floppy disk:
Autopsy:
from Wikipedia:
The Commodore 8050 and Commodore 8250 were dual unit 5¼” floppy disk drives for Commodore International computers. They used a wide rectangular steel case form similar to that of the Commodore 4040, and used the IEEE-488 interface common to Commodore PET/CBM computers.
The 8050 was a single sided drive, whereas the 8250 could use both sides of a disk simultaneously. Both used a “quad” density format storing approximately 0.5 megabyte per side. The density of media was similar to later PC high density floppy disks, but the 8050 and 8250 could not use PC high density disks reliably. Since “quad” density disks were rare even at the time, users quickly found that typical double density floppy disks had enough magnetic media density to work in these drives.
These drives were not dual mode, so they could not read or write disks formatted by the more common lower capacity Commodore 1541 or Commodore 4040 models. Some variants of these drives existed. The Commodore 8250LP was the 8250 in a lower profile, tan-colored case. The Commodore SFD-1001 was a single drive version of the 8250 in a Commodore 1541 style case (similarly to the Commodore 2031LP), often used by bulletin board systems for their physical similarity to 1541s and high capacity and speed.
source: wikipedia
CBM prg Studio Version 2.7.0 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:
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:
Bugs fixed:
See the help for a complete list of new features and fixed bugs.
Download: CBM prg Studio v2.7.0 (942)
source: ajordison.co.uk
Some new games (Cracked / Trained or Unrealeased) for Commodore 64 have been released from your favorites groups: Alpha Flight, Nostalgia, Dév, The Mad Scientist, Dinasours, Didi, Unreal, The Hidden Farts and Laxity.
Download:
source: csdb.dk
Autopsy:
I have to thank my friend Damiano for sending me the ITS Module with a low serial number, which like the previous one (C64SD v2.0) i really appreciate it.
The ITS module is a interface that enables SD2IEC to play .TAP files version 1 and version 2 to a commodore machine. The ITS module was designed to fit into the pass-through tape connector of C64SD Infinity and to be connected to the C64SD by a four wires cable that allows C64SD to manage it.
SD2IEC firmware has been modified in order to add the commands and the routines needed to control the external ITS module without removing any of the original SD2IEC functionalities
Features:
What Can’t You Do:
The ITS Module can be purchased on the Manosoft site.
ITS Tape Loading video:
source: manosoft.it
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