Teac FD-235F ReCAP (Amiga Floppy Drive)

Defect:

• Don’t read anything – Dead.

Replaced parts:

• 3 x Electrolytic Capacitors of 22uF.
• 1 x Electrolytic Capacitor of 4.7uF.

Gallery of work that was done:

Commodore 16 Repair

Defect:

• Black Screen / No Voltage.

Replaced parts:

• Replaced the Power Switch with a “new” original one.

Texas Instruments TI-99-/4A Empty PCB

This is what remained after the recovery. Some components (all TTL) are not been recovered, others were are already recovered some times ago for spare parts.

Gallery:

Some new games or tools (Cracked / Trained or Unrealeased) for Commodore 64 have been released from your favorites groups.

Titles:

• Rockit +
• Pentagram V1.30
• The Legend of Sinbad +5PDH
• Rockit +1H
• Bacillus Preview 2 +3
• Cross Chase Preview
• Zatacka
• Grillieren! Preview
• Tour de Europe +1T
• Hyper Blitz +H
• Give That Dog A Bone Preview +
• 3D Skramble +2DGH
• Zatacka +F
• Beer Belly Bill – Grillieren Prv. +D
• Zamzara +5HD
• Jumpin Jack +2DGH
• FIST – First International Singalong Tournament
• Adventure of the Bunker [german]
• Partygames
• Alpha 5 [german]
• Trigon +D
• Wizard of Wor
• B.C. Bill +3DGH
• A Change in the Weather – Release 6
• Alpha 5 +1H
• Partygames +
• Shoot Em Up Destruction Set (Edition 2008) +2 [seuck]
• Iridis Alpha +6DH
• Beholder +4
• Beholder
• Cross Chase (Beta version Aug 2017)
• Cross Chase Preview 2
• Escape from New York +3T
• Cross Chase Preview 2 +3
• Rescuing Orc V1.0.2
• Rescuing Orc V1.0.1
• Beholder II
• Beholder II +5
• Rescuing Orc +5D
• Summer Games I & II +D

Download: All Games in One Archive (4223)

source: csdb.dk

Hyperkin Supaboy S – RGB/Svideo HACK

I have decided to make this hack because the native video output of the Hyperkin Supaboy S is really bad, uses the composite video.

The photos with the LCD monitor use the SVIDEO output while the photos with the Sony CRT monitor use the RGB output.

The photos and the schematic describe very well the work that needs to be done, the hack is not complex but you always have to be makes particularly attention to the SMD (CXA 1645M) side welds.

RGB/Svideo Schematics:

Gallery of the work that was done:

12►

Commodore VIC-1210 (VIC-1000 Series) 3K Ram Pack

I must thank to my friend Andrea Pierdomenico (Andry) for this fantastic gift.

Gallery:

Forth, the Language.

Forth is a different language. It’s aged and a little weird.
What’s cool about it? It’s a very low-level and minimal language without any automatic memory management. At the same time, it easily scales to become a very high-level and domain-specific language, much like Lisp. Compared to C64 Basic, Forth is more attractive in almost every way.

It is a lot more fast, memory effective and powerful. Compared to C, specifically cc65, the story is a little different. It’s hard to make a fair comparison. Theoretically Forth code can be very memory efficient, and it’s possible to make Forth code that is leaner than C code. But it is also true that cc65 code is generally much faster than Forth code.

Download: durexForth v1.6.2 (D64/CRT) + Manual (719)

source: csdb.dk

Jean-François DEL NERO (who’s behind the HxC SD Floppy Emulator) recently has released a version of the HxC emulator firmware that is compatible with the STM32 chip used in the Gotek floppy emulators.

This means that the great functionality of the HxC SD emulator is now available on cheaper and more widely available hardware.

The bootloader to convert the Gotek floppy drive in HxC compatible must be purchased on the website HXC 2001 by sending an email to Jean-François DEL NERO. The price of the bootloader is one-off 10 Euro per Gotek that you want to update. Future updates of the software are free and can be made from a USB stick

The HXC Usb (Gotek) firmware supports: + many more….

Release notes Firmware USB HxCFloppyEmulator v3.0.20.1a:

• Low level I2C & LCD IO redesigned and optimized.
• Long names are now scrolling on the LCD during floppy emulation.
• Short name image type identification issue fixed.
• USB “Hot plug” support fixed in autoboot/”file selector” mode.
• Fix the config file access error when the file haven’t the archive flag set.

Download: USB Stick STM32 (Gotek) HxC Firmware v3.0.20.1a (1162)

source: hxc2001.com

Donation: TI-99/4A Cartridges

Thanks to my friend Ciro Barile of the TI-99 Italian User Club for the donation of these TI-99/4A Cartridges.

Titles:

• The Attack.
• Blasto.
• BurgerTime.
• BigFoot.
• Chisholm Trail.
• Hunt the Wumpus.

ZX Spectrum/ZX-81 & Amstrad Homemade Interfaces

Thanks to my friend Andrea Pierdomenico for these unknown/homemade interfaces for ZX-Spectrum(ZX-81) / Amstrad CPC.

Interfaces:

• Unknown ZX-Spectrum JOY Interface.
• Unknown Amstrad CPC ROM (PARADOS / UTOPIA) Interface (Floppy ?)
• ZX PIO Trainer Interface by Federleiste.

Jean-François DEL NERO (who’s behind the HxC SD Floppy Emulator) recently has released a version of the HxC emulator firmware that is compatible with the STM32 chip used in the Gotek floppy emulators.

This means that the great functionality of the HxC SD emulator is now available on cheaper and more widely available hardware.

The bootloader to convert the Gotek floppy drive in HxC compatible must be purchased on the website HXC 2001 by sending an email to Jean-François DEL NERO. The price of the bootloader is one-off 10 Euro per Gotek that you want to update. Future updates of the software are free and can be made from a USB stick

The HXC Usb (Gotek) firmware supports: + many more….

Release notes Firmware USB HxCFloppyEmulator v3.0.19.2a:

• New buttons behaviour and better debouncing filter. Navigation user-experience should be better now.
• Disk Eject function : Press both buttons to eject the disk. Working in indexed, autoboot mode, and normal mode.
• “Eject at power up” option added.
• Support up to 999 Images in autoboot mode (with the File selector) (Use the new CFG file and selector to use this feature)
• LCD : Display refresh improvements.
• New CFG file format : Some new flags and no more slots/disk drive limitation.
• Some critical parts rewritten in assembly. Huge code speed improvement -> Better HD density reliability. ED density to be tested ;).
• Code size reduced.
• Advanced USB mass storage cache implemented to improve read/write reliability.   (Btw : Now when track size can be stored into the SRAM, the emulator will not read forever the data from the stick but use the cached data instead).
• IMG/ST file write support done.
• Huge RAW (*.ADF/*.ST/*.IMG) Write performance enhancement (Write 2 tracks at once !)
• RAW *.IMG files can be used in indexed mode : Name the files DSKA0000.IMG,DSKA0001.IMG,DSKA0002.IMG,…
• HFE write performance enhancement.
• “Autoboot.hfe not found” message added.
• 7 segments display “dots” glitch fixed.
• 128 & 256 bytes sectors support added in raw mode.
• FM support : Write to HFE file fixed.
• FM support : Raw (*.dsk) read/write support.
• New File format support (WIP) : HFEv3. Can now support copy protected images converted from IPF and others similar formats !  Variable bitrate supported (CopyLock & SpeedLock). Weak/Flakey bits support to be added !
• Fix IPF support for these games: Jim Power, Z-Out,Xenon 2,Ghosts’n Goblins,Rainbow Islands,B.A.T II  and probably some others !
• Slot number printed on the second line during slot search with an LCD.
• XCopy write issue fixed.
• Sound buzzer output on the “JB” jumper position. You can connect a piezo or a magnetic buzzer (transistor needed for the magnetic version).  The sound output can be disabled or enabled into the selector settings.  (Note : Please remove these old sound mod using directly the step signal, they are producing reliability problems…)
• Mixed track format/density write support fixed (To be tested!).

Current direct images support:

• *.HFE (RW),*.HFE V3 (RW) (early write support), *.ADF (RW), *.ST (RW), *.IMG (RW).
    Note : HFE files is a multiplatorms floppy image format supporting many systems and disk formats.

Selector software:

• New Bootblock for the Amiga version : The file selector is now “trackloaded” and start faster.
• Speed up the sub-directory change/browsing.
• Can start an image from the slot page with the F7 key.
• The File selector is now available under Windows and Linux ! : You can now edit the list from a PC !. (Compatible with all SD/USB HxC drives !)  To launch it : HXCFEMNG -disk:[SD/USB drive letter:]  See the selector readme file for more details.  This is a new selection solution for all others machines without native file selector available.
• Linux/Windows version : You can now import from txt file / export to txt file / auto populate / check / fix and clear your slots configuration.  Very useful for fast populating and compilations duplication ;)
• Windows version : Fix big size (>8GB) usb stick/sd access issue.
• populateslots option : autoboot.hfe filtered.

Converter / HxC Software:

• WIP : HFEv3 Import/export support added. This format support copy protections (variable bitrate protections and soon weakbits protections).

Download: USB Stick STM32 (Gotek) HxC Firmware v3.0.19.2a (1314)

source: hxc2001.com

Philips Videopac+ G7400 RGB/Composite Hack – Repair – Recap

I have received a gift from my dear friend Andrea Pierdomenico a Videopac+ G7400 console with the BASIC Microsoft module and some cartridges that go into my collection of videopac cartridges.

This console running smoothly but with some problems.

• Power button not working (as usual)
• A capacitor of the power supply section has a broken leg.

The works that have been made:

• Replacing the power switch with a compatible one.
• Full recap of the power supply section.
• RGB/Composite HACK for unparalleled video output.
• RF Module Removal.
• Shifted the 220V Power Cable into the hole of the RF antenna.
• Two video cables (Composite-Audio / RGB-Audio)

Videopac+ G7400 RGB/Composite Hack (components that need to be added):

All the works that have been made are documented in the photos below:

123►

source: g7400 guide rgb mod

Texas Instruments Magic Wand Speak & Learn Fixed

Defect:

• Doesn’t always turn on.The power button doesnt work properly.
• Battery acid leak.

Fix:

• Cleaning the Battery acid leak in the battery compartment.
• Cleaning the strange power-on button with a spray Contact Cleaner R-11.
• Inserted a thicker on the power-on button because the plastic pin that pressing the contact has deteriorated.

Note:

• External power supply 6v (TIP POSITIVE)

Gallery:

Cartridge shell for FinalGROM 99 – TI-99/4A

I have fit in a best way the pcb of the FinalGROM 99 inside a standard cartridge shell of a TI-99/4a game.

As you can see from the photos the final result is good, there are still some minor imperfections but i’m very satisfied.

I have made three cartridges shells, one for me and two for my friends Ciro Barile of  TI-99 Italian User Club, Andrea Pierdomenico.

Some things about the FinalGROM 99:

The FinalGROM 99 supports ROM images, GROM images, and mixed images of up to 1 MB in size that use the write-to-ROM bank switching scheme. The cartridge does not require the Peripheral Expansion Box and runs on both PAL and NTSC consoles, including modified consoles with an F18A. It will also run on v2.2 consoles and enables those to run ROM-only programs.

The cartridge offers some advanced modes that provide RAM and GRAM to programs. It also allows a running program to reload another program from SD card or to dump its state to SD card. All firmware of the FinalGROM 99 can be updated by SD card.

FinalGROM 99 is released as Open Source Hardware under the CERN OHL license and the GNU GPL license. Both hardware design files and firmware sources are available on GitHub.

For more information about this project please visit the project homepage hosted at GitHub.

Gallery of the works that have been made:

12►

Download:

• FinalGROM99 SD CARD Utility/Games Compilation (833)

..from the author homepage:

I have updated the DAILY version now and it now supports the A1000 using a limited version of the DiagROM. I had to remove module-tests and test-screen.  but I guess that is not that important.

 Just use the A1kEVEN.bin and A1kODD.bin files and program to 27C256 proms and replace proms on the A1000 and you are ready to go.

source: diagrom.com