I received as a gift… we start badly,i have recover, we are not there, i purchased, much better, yet another computer from Radio Shack that was missing in my collection.

The computer equipped with several manuals and Floppy Disk was given to me by a dude (thanks Scott) from the United States, he had written “near mint” and is this phrase that attracted me.

The Computer is a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 4 (GATE ARRAY) therefore of last production with cathode ray tube with green phosphors.

The seller was not joking saying that it was “near mint” and working, the computer is kept very well it almost seems like it has never been used, it can be observed from the cathode tube, from the pcb of the monitor and from the flyback transformer, keyboard, External and internal Case and from the power supply, the usual ASTEC, which has never warmed up, perfect.

The warranty sticker was also intact.

Since there was nothing to clean/repair i have made some hardware enhancements and little replacements.

What i have done:

• Replacement of the 3 filter capacitors (RIFA) which i usually remove and i don’t replace.
• Converted the ASTEC power supply from 115V to 230v because this version of the power supply allows it because has a 115v/230v switching.
• Replaces the 115v power plug with a schuko.
• Various labels to identify the computer has been converted to 220v.
• Installed 64k RAM to update the Model 4 to 128k (blue wire mod as well)
• Dual ROM to BOOT from FreHD or from Floppy Drive. I have used the Jim Brain ROM-el 2364 which uses a Flash ROM (AT49F001AN) but with a standard Mask ROM 2364 pinout.
• Installed a switch for Dual ROM hidden in the ventilation slots without drilling the case.

All test are made with the FreHD interface by Ian Mavric.

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Download: TRS-80 M4 GA Dual Boot ROM (610)

The Atari XE Video Game System (Atari XEGS) is a home video game console released by Atari Corporation in 1987.

Based on Atari’s 8-bit 65XE computer, the XEGS is compatible with the existing Atari 8-bit computer software library. Additionally, it is able to operate as either a stand-alone console or as a full computer with the addition of its specially designed keyboard.

In computer mode, it may utilize the majority of peripherals released for Atari’s 8-bit computer line. Atari packaged the XEGS as a basic set consisting of only the console and joystick, and as a deluxe set consisting of the console, keyboard, joystick and light gun.

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source: wikipedia

This is a very old article from 2016 that i never published on my blog.

Summarizes the purchase, shipping, cleaning and simple repair of a Commodore 4064 with a very low serial number.

Since i had not talked about the repair, i begin to tell that only the VIC-II 6569 Video Chip in Ceramic format was broken.

In the photos there is also a comparison between the Commodore 4064 (PAL) and the Commodore Educator 64 (NTSC)

Below the old article.

The title of this post is: I want it at all costs.

But what? a computer! which model? an old one that I missed to complete a part of my collection.

This computer is really unusable, as are all of them, but this one beats them all.

It’s a Commodore 64 in a PET case produced in 1982, with a green phosphor monitor, stripped of the sound chip (SID 6581) and colour RAM (2114), with a modified kernel that doesn’t use any colour, and a keyboard with different 1..8 keycaps (no colour code on the front).

What’s left? An useless computer with no sound and no green-scale colours; it just uses black and green, while the Commodore Educator 64 has sound and can show colours in shades of green.

After getting the Educator 64 I wanted to complete the pair with a Commodore 4064, and I started to look for it.

I saw a few 4064s that sold for bizarre prices – I can’t say that they were high, because if you want something you are willing to buy it whatever the price, but anyway…

Here begins my adventure :-D

At one time a 4064 pops up in a well known auction site – take note that I don’t use artificial intelligence search engines to look for items, I don’t give a shit… if I find something when I look for it, that’s fine, otherwise it’s not a big deal.

That one was located in Germany, the price was low (at least for me – someone considered it very high), but was the seller willing ship? No he wasn’t.

I wrote to him, no reply, I sent the same message translated in German (thanks google), he responded in German telling me that the item was too big and he didn’t know how to deal with it.

I wrote him again in google German, telling him that I could send him some shipping and packaging instructions – I have them ready in many languages. His reply: I don’t ship.

I was sad and discouraged, because even if the unit wasn’t working, it was in an excellent aesthetic condition and with no missing parts.

I asked for help to my friend Andrea, who asked Ciro, who told me that I could ask his German contact Ralf Schmitz if he could lend me a hand.

Meanwhile the auction was getting near the end… still at a low price.

I wrote to Ralf – a very kind person – and he explained to me that he lives 530Km far from the place where the computer was located. Things got complicated.

I asked Ralf to contact the seller, who maybe preferred to talk with a compatriot :-D

The seller didn’t reply, the auction was ending, what should I have done? I love to risk, and while in chat with Ralf I told him the maximum amount to bid.

I won the item at the right price, in the right moment.

Then what? The seller didn’t have many feedbacks but Ralf suggested to pay right away with Paypal which offers buyer’s protection without the risk of losing the money.

I sent the money to Ralf with Paypal, and he paid the seller.

Ralf wrote him. No reply. The Easter weekend went by, still no reply.

And then one day… the guy replied! Ralf could contact him by phone and they chatted for more than one hour. The man seemed good; old but fair.

The seller told Ralf that he didn’t want to ship because he didn’t know how to properly package, he didn’t have packaging material and he didn’t want to look for it… then he told that he should have to buy some tape, and petrol for the post office, and so on…

I talked with Ralf, and one of the ideas we ditched was to ask someone to go to the seller’s place to help him to pack the 4064 and have it sent to Ralf with some kind of hitch-hiking.

I was suffering.

New solution: simplify the shipping.

I explained Ralf how to separate the monitor from the base: it’s a matter of unscrewing 5 screws, detaching a connector from the motherboard, and cutting two wires (I didn’t even think about explaining how to unsolder them).

The seller was was fine with the idea.

Ralf had to send a huge package containing the packaging material – boxes, foam and bubblewrap – and written instructions from me and Ralf.

The seller shipped the packages with DHL, which in Italy delivers using SDA (one of the cheapest and lower quality couriers). Panic.

The seller is old so he shipped one box at a time: the monitor first, that arrived in 5 days, then the base, that took much longer and made my anxiety skyrocket – Ralf told me that DHL had a few problems in Germany but the package should have crossed the border.

While he was writing to me, the second package arrived at destination.

The computer is now complete and in excellent condition, and with a slightly low serial number :-D

My thanks to Ralf Schmitz because without him this wouldn’t have been possible, and to Andrea for putting up with my anxiety during the last 20 days.

And my thanks to Giacomo Vernoni for translating this report, otherwise I would have written just a paragraph of text – and that would have been a pity :-D

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Grundy Newbrain – Expansion Interface & Disk Controller Module – Disk Drives – Monitor.

This single block of 14 kg i think is a single piece and it was assembled and customized by J.G.M. Oude Nijhuis.

This single block contains the following things:

• Grundy Expansion Interface Module.
• Grundy Disk Controller Module.
• Disk Drives (2)
• Power supply with 3 independent outputs.
• Power Strip.
• Parallel Interface for Printer.
• Outputs and inputs for the Grundy Newbrain BUS, Power and Monitor.

The Monitor should be placed above the two Disk Drives and the size is perfect like the color of the case very similar to the rest, it adapts perfectly.

The external case with the two Floppy Drives and space for the Disk Controller Module should be the one sold by Tradecom International B.V.

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This is the Battery Pack for the Newbrain, very comfortable and very light :-D useful for taking the computer to the beach during the summer holidays.

Obviously the Battery Expansion Unit after many years of inactivity has presented some problems of the 20 x 1.2V 600mA NiCd batteries.

The batteries besides being completely exhausted i had leaked acid. (see photo)

Fortunately, there are no major damages with the leakage of acid and it was enough to clean well, unsolder the 20 batteries and replace them with new ones of 1000mA.

Last update: I noticed a malfunction of the Battery Expansion Unit, when i set the switch to OFF the “discharge” LED remained on.

Looking at the schematic, the switch suspend the charge and the use of batteries, the problem was caused by a pcb pad (see photo) that at first sight seemed to be connected together with another, immediately close, but in truth it was not so, it was enough isolate the connection and now everything works correctly.

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Some retro-things received from my friend Gerben.

• 2 x Commodore 64 Manual
• 1 x Commodore 64 Programmer’s Reference Guide
• 1 x Sony HITBIT MSX-Basic Manual
• 1 x Sony HITBIT MSX-Disk Basic Manual
• 1 x Sony HITBIT Manual
• 1 x Jack Nicklaus Accolade game for Macintosh
• 1 x Commodore 64 Tune-up Book
• 1 x Getting More from your Commodore 64 Book
• 1 x Commodore VIC-1541 Manual
• 2 x Commodore Mouse 1351 Manual
• 3 x Spare Manuals of Coleco Vision Cartridge (Mouse Trap / Turbo / Time Pilot)
• 1 x 16k Memory Module for ATARI 800 (Boxed)
• 1 x Radio Shack TRS-80 Ribbon Daisy Wheel Printer II (Boxed)
• 1 x Donkey Kong Junior Coleco Vision Cartridge (Boxed)
• 1 x Narco Police C64 & C64GS Game Cartridge
• 1 x Simons’ Basic C64 Cartridge
• 1 x Power Cartridge for Commodore 64
• 1 x 16K Expansion Memory for Commodore VIC-20 (RED CASE)
• 1 x Homemade Joystick Interface for ZX-80/81
• 1 x Commodore 64 RS-232 Interface
• 1 x Multi Cartridge for VIC-20
• 1 x Protek Joystick Interface
• 1 x Philips MSX Mouse
• 1 x S.C.N. Modem for Commodore 64
• 1 x Modem House Spectrum VTX 711 for ZX Sepctrum (Boxed)
• 1 x Intel 8087
• 9 x IBM 2164-20 (RAM)
• 1 x Sony HITBIT HB-75P (MSX)
• 1 x Philips 8245 (MSX2)
• 1 x Frankenstein ZX-81 (Homemade wood case for ZX-81 with a ACORN Electron Keyboard) + Expansion Memory Inside. The worst thing i’ve ever seen.

Some RS-232 Gender Changer, Null Modem, RS-232 Tester and unknown cables.

The Frankenstein ZX-81 it works! the keyboard not but is not a problem of the keyboard but of the missing connections of the matrix, maybe an unfinished project ?

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Robotron 2084 (TI-99/4a) – Cartridge by Fabrizio Corpetti [FACELE.EU]

I thank Fabrizio Corpetti [FACELE.EU] for giving me the assembled version of the PCB of Robotron 2084 cartridge for TI-99/4a through Ciro Barile [TI99IUC.IT].

As Ciro writes, this cartridge has never been released by AtariSoft, the only thing can you found on the net is the ROM DUMP.

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The TONEL PC is basically a ZX-81 clone. Made in Hong-Kong (by Lambda Electronics LTD? DEF?), it was designed as a cheap computer for initiation and was licenced to many companies throughout the world. This explains why the same computer can be found under many different brands and names (DEF 3000, Power 3000, Basic 2000, Basic 3000, PC 2000, PC 8300, Marathon 32K, IQ 8300, Futura 8300, Your Computer, etc.). But on all mainboards is written a generic “PC 8300″, which explains why 8300 or 3000 are often used in licenced names.

The system is thus a cloned ZX-81 with a modified ROM (to avoid legal problems), a better keyboard, more RAM (2 KB), sound features, a composite video output and even a joystick connector (Atari compatible). These represent in fact all the upgrades ZX-81 users usually wanted to add first to their system, but all bundled for a cheaper price.

With its modified ROM, the Tonel PC was only ZX-81 compatible with Basic programs. But soon, a ZX-81 ROM was available to turn your system into a real Sinclair ZX-81 machine, being able to run all software including machine code.

Different addons were available : 16 KB and 32 KB RAM upgrades, color (and high resolution graphics ?) expansion, joysticks, printers… The expansion bus is supposed to be compatible with the ZX-81 one (to be confirmed).

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Tonel PC (Lambda 8300) Loading Game (GIF)

Download:

• Some Tools/Emu/Games for Tonel PC (Lambda 8300) (576)
• Different ROMs for Lambda 8300 (Tonel PC) (564)

source: old-computers.com

The new version of the PenUltimate+ cartridge even if apparently it seems identical to the previous version, is not, because the new version has some modifications and a software update made to support the DeadTest+ Diagnostic software.

All cartridges produced since December 2018 supports the DeadTest+ diagnostic software.

The DeadTest+ Diagnostic software can be lauched via the menu or by holding Reset button down for 10seconds at power on.

Compared to the first version this new one brings even more ROMs (70+) and a brand new user interface.

Some tfw8b games have been included (The Future Was 8Bit) including Cheese & Onion, RodMan, Pentagorat (Easier edition) and many others.

And of course, it’s still the best ram pack you’ll ever stuff into your VIC20. 3-35k expansion ram can be selected direct from the menu.

Many thanks to Dave Curran of Tynemouth Software and tfw8b (The Future Was 8Bit)

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My name is “jaundice” and my last name is “lucky”.  :-)

Why “lucky”? because the battery used in this Amiga was not VARTA but GP, these batteries resist slightly to aging and release less acid.

The only defect of this Amiga 500 Plus was the Floppy Drive which did not read any Floppy Disk, the motor running slower than normal, it was enough replace a 4.7uF electrolytic capacitor to make it work again.

I thank my friend Igor for the donation.

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Everything seems to work perfectly including Hard Disk and Floppy Drive.

I must thank my friend Ralf Schmitz for this gift.

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This Monitor was usually sold in combination with the ZX Spectrum 128 (models with RGB output) or Sinclair QL but it works with any RGB source.

I have already an identical model in my collection but is rebranded PRISM QL14 and without protection glass.

My friend Gerben wanted to give me this model in good condition with the protection glass intact. Thanks Gerben for the excellent packaging, as you can see the glass has not broken :D

The operation test was performed with a Ultimate-64 with a RGB cable. I have also performed a video image calibration and i share the trimmer positions on the motherboard.

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source: worldofspectrum.org

…in the photo:

• Atari CX50 – Keyboard controllers (Boxed and in Mint Condition)
• Joystick Cheetah – The Bug (Boxed)
• ROM/Eprom cartridges for Commodore 64.
• Commodore 1571 without Floppy Drive (Mobo/PSU working)

SNK Neo Geo Mini (40th Anniversary) JAP Version.

The Neo Geo Mini is an all-in-one system designed like a mini arcade cabinet with 40 classic games on board.

The 3.5-inch 4:3 screen isn’t going to deliver amazing viewing angles or contrast, but it looks fine head-on and, critically, it displays everything in a crisp, native resolution, which is essential for the art of these games.

There’s a pleasingly substantial power button on the back as well as three USB-C ports — two for controllers, one for power. The back panel also houses a Mini HDMI port and a headphone jack.

The selection of games is not going to be for everyone, but then neither is SNK’s history in general.

Twenty-five of the 40 games are 2D fighters, including all 10 King of Fighters titles that ran on Neo Geo arcade hardware, three Samurai Shodown games, the first Art of Fighting, and four Fatal Fury games, including the eternal classic Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

Elsewhere, you’ll find side-scrolling shooters like Metal Slug 1 through 3, along with shmups like Blazing Star and Twinkle Star Sprites.

I took unpretentious photos, if you are interested in photos with a excellent quality of the neogeo mini just search on the net, also you can see i have not yet attached the stickers that are supplied as standard.

Now you can also insult me because I bought an object like that, saying the usual and banal phrase: but it’s a raspberry! you know that i couldn’t care less.

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source: theverge.com

Many thanks to my friend Ciro of TI-99 Italian User Club for this fantastic gift.

The CMK-49 (Computer Musical Keyboard) of SIEL is a 49-key musical keyboard which connected to the C64 allows to you use like a piano musical keyboard.

This means that the CMK-49 doesn’t produce any sounds, it only communicate using the software (driver) provided with the C64. The sound is played by the SID.

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Download: Siel CMK-49 Software (D64/TAP) & Manual (681)