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

The EXL 100 was done by people who worked at Texas Instruments. It uses a lot of technologies of the TI CC40 (like the basic and the CPU for exemple).

ll the hardware is based on Texas Instruments chips. The TMS 7020 is the CPU, the TMS 7041 manages all I/O, the speech synthesizer (TMS 5220) and the infrared receiver. The keyboard and the joysticks are linked by infrared to the CPU.

Several peripherals were developped for this computer : a dot matrix printer (EXL 80) and a modem (ExelModem). This computer didn’t have a great market success. It was above all used in schools.

Gallery:

source: old-computers.com

Thanks to my friends Charlie and Gerben for this fantastic gift which adds another piece to my Atari Collection that now begins to become respectable.

The Penultimate+ Cartridge is a menu driven RAM/ROM cartridge for your Commodore VIC20 PAL or NTSC.

The Memory Expansion is selectable from 3-35k and include 70+ ROMS including tfw8b exclusive games titles.

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

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Click here to buy the PenUltimate+ Cartridge.

Some retro-Trash things received from a friend. Thanks Gerben.

Below the list.

• Philips Computer Monitor 80 (Amber phosphors).
• Commodore Music Maker.
• Philips MSX Data Recorder
• Easy Bob Model 745 – RS232 Serial Analyzer/Tester.
• Data Switch.
• Taxas Instruments T-83.
• 4-to-1 Parallel Auto Switch.
• Zanussi Ping-O-Tronic (MOD. PP 7)
• Lego USB 4 Ports HUB.
• General Electric IFM Interface Module for C64/Atari.
• Some Serial/Parallel/MSX cables and adapters.
• Joystick.
• External CD-ROM.
• Mouse Pad.
• Some Serial/Parallel/MSX cables and adapters.

I decided to clean and fix my Commodore Amiga 500, it’s him, the one you can see in my old photos.

As you can see the switches and buttons are remained in place while the stickers has been removed many years ago.

The Commodore Amiga 500 has always been kept in a box, in fact it has the original color of the case and the keyboard.

The photos below are before cleaning, after cleaning and vintage photos.

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Pioneer LaserActive CLD-A100 – Repair/Recap & Modules full Recap.

Defects:

• The Game cartridges on the Sega Genesis Module do not work but the games on CD-ROM work correctly.
• The INTF Ass’y Interface has some leakage capacitors and in short circuit.
• The PSU has some leakage capacitors and in short circuit.
• Solder joint jumped out on the three connectors that connect the two horizzonal/vertical motherboards.
• Some cold solder on the power stage.

Works that have been done:

• Cleaning and Full Recap PSU.
• Cleaning and Full Recap Sega Genesis/Sega CD PAC-S10 Module.
• Cleaning and Full Recap Nec PC Engine PAC-N1/N1 Module.
• Cleaning and Recap INTF Ass’y Interface.
• Rebuilding PADs of the two pcb connectors.
• Rebuilding cold solder joint on the power stage.

Pioneer LaserActive CLD-A100 Gallery:

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Sega Genesis/Sega CD PAC-S10 Module Gallery:

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Nec PC Engine PAC-N1/N1 Module Gallery:

The Commodore A601 provide 512k/1Mb of additional memory for the Commodore Amiga 600.

The RAM Expansion Module also provides you a real-time clock with rechargeable battery.

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The Commodore A501+ provide 1Mb of additional Chip Memory for the Commodore Amiga 500+.

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The PHP-1600 Telephone Coupler (Modem) enables your TI Home Computer to communicate via a standard telephone.

With a TI Telephone Coupler (Modem) and the TI RS232 Interface (sold separately), your Home Computer can communicate with similarly equipped computers.

You can send and receive messages and data, transfer programs between Home Computers, and access information from consumer data services you subscribe to.

Description/Specs:

• Data Rate: 300 baud.
• Compatibility: Bell 103.
• Interface: EIA-RS232C.
• Modes: Answer, Originate, Test.
• Duplex: Full, Half.

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The VU-0001 joystick can be used with the VG-5000 Computer series equipped with a VG-5200 interface.

This version of the Atari 410 Cassette Recorder differs from the one inside the “Atari – The Educator” box only for the additional colored box that hold the simple one in white cardboard.

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Commodore CBM 8032 (HP – Early version 1980) – CompuThink Disk Drive Controller – External Dual Disk Drive – Woltron ROM-BUS Adapter.

• COMPU/THINK (CompuThink) Dual Disk Drive Controller with 8k RAM per commodore PET 8032 (It could be a Prototype or a Clone Board with ASSY 001-35 – DD DSK CTL COMP).
• COMPU/THINK External Dual Disk Drive 800k DD/DS.
• WOLTRON ROM (CompuThink C-DOS & TOOLKit) + PET/CBM Expansion BUS Adapter + PIA (Peripheral Interface Adapter) Motorola MC6821.

Unfortunately there is no documentation on the net of this Computhink card that seems to be a prototype or a clone, also there is no documentation or photos of the BUS/ROM Adapter by Woltron.

I spent sleepless nights looking for the starting SYS for the disk management software on the eprom, i have disassembled 24k of code (C-DOS Roms / Basic Roms Patched / Edit Roms Patched) in machine language.

I did it and found it the starting sys ($E790 – SYS 59280), although everything seems to work perfectly after the sys command is printed on the screen (*DOS-40*) and by typing the directory command ($d,1) or the format command ($f,1) the floppy starts to run correctly but the head does not move, while the exit command ($h) work correctly,
i need to say that i replaced the FDC1791 and some floppy disk logic and also one floppy disk drive, but nothing changed.

My suspicion falls on the PROM 82S123 there is no dump on the net, reading this PROM of 32 bytes, only the first 8 Bytes are filled, this is right ? we’ll never know.

All EPROM and PROM have been dumped and you can find them in the archive below.

Gallery:

Download: C-DOS 4.0 - Basic/Edit Roms Patched - PROM 82S123 (941)

The SuperPET is a Commodore PET 8032 with one or two added boards that were designed at the University of Waterloo.

The computer has a built-in RS-232C interface and many programming languages on Floppy Disk. In Europe, this machine was called the MicroMainFrame 9000, or MMF 9000.

Let’s start to assembling the BMB Compuscience Ltd Board and Compu-Think 64K Memory Expansion board in the Commodore MMF 9000 (SuperPET)

I had to shorten the original standoffs installed in the computer because the length was wrong for the two boards BMB Compuscience/Compu-Think 64K. The long standoffs are used for the superPET Combo Board (the last one released).

It was not a simple job, obviously i have looked around for the identical standoffs with thickness, size, pitch and some with a long screw other with a short screw.

Between one phase and another i have also giving a nice clean inside and outside of the computer and of the motherboard.

Unfortunately there are a couple of problems after assembling the two boards of the MMF 9000 (SuperPET).

Defects:

• The keyboard space bar dead.
• Don’t runs any Waterloo program in the 6809 environment, runs only the Bootstrap menu which allows to load the programs from Floppy Disk, the Machine Language monitor and the Setup program both are in the Eprom.
• The protection Dongle (6702) not correctly viewed from the system.

Repair/Fix:

• The keyboard after a good cleaning has started to work well.
• The Dongle after cleaning the contacts now works.

About the programs that don’t runs in the 6809 environment the repair was a bit longer. I have used the only program that worked under the 6809 environment, the Machine Language Monitor.

With this program i have filled the memory with the command Fill (f 9000-9fff aa) and i have changed from time to time the bytes that i was going to write in memory and  i have used the command (d 9000-) to see the results and not all memory locations are written correctly.

With the Bank Switching command (b 0, b 1 …) i have switch the memory bank, there are 16 banks of 4k each for a total of 64k.

I have found 7 x 4116 RAM failed (this card is new, never used), replaced these bad RAMs everything has started to work properly.

So my advice is to try to load the Waterloo software in the 6809 environment to make sure that the 64k memory expansion (only seen in the 6809 environment) is working properly.

Below the photos of all the tests that i have done:

• Test with the CPU 6502 (Standard Commodore 8032/32k) with disk access, some software running in emulation 40 columns with the program: 80240.prg
• Test with the CPU 6809 of the entire Waterloo software package with disk access.

Gallery:

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This is a archive with documents, disk images and rom files usefully to test the computer.

Download: MMF9000/SuperPET Documents,Disk images,ROM Files (1198)

Commodore SuperPET (SP9000/MMF9000) Accessories & Motherboard KIT for Replacement (NOS)

This is a New Old Stock (NOS) Kit from Commodore sold as spare parts for the Commodore SuperPET (SP9000/MMF 9000). We are talk about the early model of the SuperPET the one with two internal motherboards (sandwich) and four external switches.

Motherboards and Accessories have never been used, both they are in a perfect state.

The kit includes:

• Accessories KIT (4 switches with Metal Bracket / Power Supply Cables / 20+20 Pin Male IDC Socket + Flat Cable / Eprom Sockets / 6702 Dongle software copy protection Card)
• Commodore BMB Compuscience Ltd Board (ASSY 324035 – REV C)
• Commodore Compu-Think 64K Expansion Ram Board (ASSY 324042)

In the photos you can also see another Commodore BMB Compuscience Ltd Board with the same ASSY but without some eproms. This motherboard is new and never used like the previous one.

With this KIT i can finally complete my Commodore SuperPET without the two motherboards and accessories to get a SuperPET and not a simple Commodore 8032 with a SuperPET label ;-)

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The Leonardo console is nothing more than a italian clone distributed by “Gig” of the console Emerson Arcadia 2001. 35 games have been published under the GIG Leonardo label.

Arcadia 2001 is a second-generation 8-bit console released by Emerson Radio in 1982 following the release of ColecoVision. It was discontinued only 18 months later, with a total of 35 games having been released. Emerson licensed the Arcadia 2001 to Bandai, which released it in Japan. Over 30 Arcadia 2001 clones exist.

The unrelated Arcadia Corporation, manufacturer of the Atari 2600 Supercharger add-on, was sued by Emerson for trademark infringement. Arcadia Corporation then changed its name to Starpath.

The Arcadia is much smaller than its contemporary competitors and is powered by a standard 12-volt or 9-volt power supply so it can be used in a boat or a vehicle. It also has two outputs (or inputs) headphone jacks on the back of the unit, on the far left and far right sides.

The system came with two Intellivision-style controllers with a 12 button keypad and ‘fire’ buttons on the sides. The direction pads have a removable joystick attachment. Most games came with BoPET overlays that could be applied to the controller’s keypads. The console itself had five buttons: power, start, reset, option, and select.

There are at least three different types of cartridge case styles and artwork, with variations on each. Emerson-family cartridges come in two different lengths (short and long) of black plastic cases.

Technical specifications:

• Main Processor: Signetics 2650 CPU (Some variants run a Signetics 2650A)
• RAM: 1 KB
• ROM: —
• Video display: 128 × 208 / 128 × 104, 8 Colours.
• Video display controller: Signetics 2637 UVI @ 3.58 MHz (NTSC), 3.55 MHz (PAL)
• Sound: Single Channel “Beeper” + Single Channel “Noise”
• Hardware Sprites: 4 independent, single color.
• Controllers: 2 × 2 way.
• Keypads: 2 × 12 button (more buttons on some variants)

Gallery:

source: wikipedia