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:

• A USB version which allows to connect the floppy disk drive interface of the computer to a PC via a USB cable.
• A SDCARD version which allows to emulate floppy disks which images are stored in a SDCARD.

Download:

• HxC Floppy Emulator Firmware v1.8.2.24 (1273)

Firmware SD HxCFloppyEmulator v1.8.2.24:

• Write Support completely redesigned / reworked :
  • Low level track format support added!
  • The host computer/machine can now do low level format of the disk images !
  • By this way the floppy disk image can be formatted with the right disk layout from the machine.
  • All the tracks parameters used by the machine (sector size, interleave/skew, gap, format value, index mark…)
  • will be written to the virtual disk tracks !
  • By this way the user have just to copy some blank HFE images to the SDCard, and format them with the host machine
  • as with a real floppy disk to make them usable.
  • Some blank disk images with various density will available for download on the HxC2001 website.
  • SD/DD/HD sector write support : all sector sizes are now supported ! : 128B, 256B, 512B, 1024B, 2048B, 4096B, 8192B…

  Read more…

Autopsy:

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I have removed the main filter capacitor of 0,47μF 250v (RIFA), avoiding that can explode.

from Wikipedia:

The Apple Monitor // was a CRT-based green monochrome 12-inch monitor manufactured by Apple Computer for the Apple II personal computer family. Apple didn’t manufacture the monitor until halfway through the lifespan of the II series.

The business-line Apple /// had its own Apple Monitor /// long before. Many home users of Apple II computers used their televisions as computer monitors before the Monitor // was released. It featured an inner vertical-swiveling frame. This allowed users to adjust the viewing angle up or down to suit their taste without the addition of a tilt-and-swivel device.

The Monitor // was widely adjustable for the time, as it included adjustments for the size and location of the image on the screen. These adjustments had a very small influence on the picture, however, much to the disliking of some users. The Monitor // was designed for the Apple II+, but was used widely throughout the Apple II product line, most recognizably on the Apple IIe.

Download:

• Apple Monitor II User\'s Manual (1713)
• Apple Monitor II Circuit Diagram (622)

source: wikipedia

A new version of the firmware for the interface C64SD Infinity + ITS Module by Manosoft is released.

Changelog:

• Added support for the long filenames and the ones containing special characters.

Download: C64SD Firmware v0.10.3.8 (1651)

source: manosoft.it

A new version of the firmware for the interface 1541 Ultimate II is released. This version runs only on the 1541 Ultimate II cartridge (new fpga).

Version 2.6h includes some new features and fixes:

• Timing fixed for C64C
• Newer version of built-in MOD player.
• Bug fixes regarding USB stick removal.
• Enhancements under the hood for networking support. Network support will be enabled later, is not part of this version!

Release notes:

• Version 2.6h contains some small fixes on top of 2.6d.  This build is a DUAL DRIVE version with NO SID emulation.

Download: 1541 Ultimate II Firmware v2.6h (1574)

source: 1541ultimate.net

Autopsy:

The INDESIT T12 it’s a 12 inches B/W screen with 6 programs preselection and classic potentiometers tuning search for each program. It can be powered even with a 12volt source with a special socket on the rear side. (see photo)

It doesn’t weight much because it has not transformer in it but a special power supply converter. Was first 6 programs B/W television from INDESIT, earlyer model was with Rotary tuners. INDESIT was originary from Orbassano Near TORINO In Italy and indeed the telly here shown comes from there. It was a very big industry conglomerate present in all European lands even In Norvay.

INDESIT has a very heavy controversed history which is made of high loss of work places for people, financial disasters, loss of market, closing of production location and finally a complete destruction of one of the bigger Italian industry on European level. It was then brand name aquired by Merloni Elettrodomestici known as Ariston.

Video transmission made with a UHF Transmitter CH 36.

source: obsoletetellyemuseum.blogspot.it

I have upgraded my Personal Computer IBM 5160 by adding an 8-bit ISA Sound Card (adlib) and Video Card Vga 8/16 bit ISA from Octek.

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Below some videos of the tests done:

Read more…

Autopsy:

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from Wikipedia:

The IBM Personal Computer XT, often shortened to the IBM XT, PC XT, or simply XT, was IBM’s successor to the original IBM PC, factory equipped with a hard drive. It was released as IBM Machine Type number 5160 on March 8, 1983, and essentially the same as the original PC, with only incremental improvements. A new 16-bit bus architecture would follow in the AT. The XT was mainly intended as an enhanced machine for business use, though later floppy-only models would effectively replace the original model 5150 PC. A corresponding 3270 PC featuring 3270 terminal emulation was released later in October 1983. XT stands for X-tended Technology.

The XT originally came with 128 kB of RAM, a 360 kB double-sided 5.25 in (133 mm) full-height floppy disk drive, a 10 MB Seagate ST-412 hard drive with Xebec 1210 MFM controller, an Asynchronous Adapter (serial card with 8250 UART) and a 130 watt power supply. The motherboard had eight 8-bit ISA expansion slots, and an Intel 8088 microprocessor running at 4.77 MHz (with a socket for an 8087 math coprocessor); the operating system usually sold with it was PC DOS 2.0 and above. The eight expansion slots were an increase over the five in the IBM PC, although three were taken up by the floppy drive and hard drive adapters, and the Async card. (An IBM PC also typically had a floppy disk controller in one of its five slots; both the PC and XT also usually required a display adapter in another slot.) The basic specification was soon upgraded to have 256 kB of RAM as standard.

Slot 8 on the XT motherboard was wired slightly different than the other slots, making it incompatible with some cards and had additional signal CARD SLCTD (pin B8). This was done for cards designed to allow the XT to be connected to IBM mainframes (3270-PC). The modified slot is found only on the 5160 and 5155 Portable PC; it is not in the 5150, IBM AT, or any clone PCs. During this period, it was commonplace for ISA cards to include a jumper allowing them to work in Slot 8. Video cards initially comprised the MDA and CGA, with EGA and PGC becoming available in 1984.

source: wikipedia

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:

• A USB version which allows to connect the floppy disk drive interface of the computer to a PC via a USB cable.
• A SDCARD version which allows to emulate floppy disks which images are stored in a SDCARD.

Release notes for the HxCFloppyEmulator software v2.0.16.0:

• FAT12 Loader/generator : Files size, disk size & disk free size displayed, lots of sanity checks added.
• TRS80 Writer : Bad free() removed.
• General : Software passed with valgrind : Some memory leaks and possible issues corrected.

Download:

• HxCFloppyEmulator v2.0.16.0 (1124)

source: hxc2001.free.fr lotharek.pl

Autopsy:

I have purchased this item at a very low price (15 Euros) because he was curious.

I don’t have found any information on internet about it. The production date should be around 1989/90 in Germany. The processor used is a Motorola 68008, the same also used on Sinclair QL.

It was released a new firmware for the C64SD Infinity + ITS Module by Manosoft which fixes some minor compatibility issues present in the previous release with some C64 Filebrowser.

Download: C64SD Firmware v0.10.3.7 (1563)

source: manosoft.it

This is the official demo party results from BFP (Baroque Floppy People) Top 3 Entries only. See also the BFP homepage for more informations.

C64 Demo:

• 1. Wonderland XII by Censor Design
• 2. Scrollwars by Fairlight, Offence, Prosonix
• 3. 20 Years Is Nothing by Hack n’ Trade

C64 Music:

• 1. Da Cheese Cut by Scarzix
• 2. Alice in Wonderland by Magnar Harestad
• 3. Frozen Yoghurt by Qdor

C64 Graphics:

• 1. The West Is Not Too Wild by Yazoo
• 2. Fearless by Sphinx
• 3. Skål by AcidT*rroreast

Download: BFP (Baroque Floppy People) full Party stuff (1191)

source: noname.c64.org/csdb BFP Homepage

Some new games (Cracked / Trained or Unrealeased) for Commodore 64 have been released from your favorites groups: Metalvotze, Genesis Project, S.E.U.C.K. Trainers United, Really Proud Lamers, Dinasours and Laxity.

Download:

• Sheepoid DX +7HFD [pal/ntsc] (1160)
• Mysterix +1ED [english+onefiled] (1183)
• Pimmelsafari (1157)
• Return of the Jedi (1119)
• Fast Food Preview (1071)
• Ultimate Cops +2 (1135)
• Scramble 1k +3 (1115)
• Berzerk + (1161)
• Moondog +1 (1170)
• All Games in One Archive (2881)

source: csdb.dk

This is the official demo party results from the Atari Głuchołazy 2013. See also the Atari Głuchołazy 2013 homepage for more informations.

Graphics Compo:

• 1. Fred by Piesiu
• 2. Glazy2013 by Rocky
• 3. Pszczelak by Rocky
• 4. Wampirek by Rocky
• 5. Ogrodnik by Nosty

Music Compo:

• 1. Chip Spring Tune by LiSU
• 2. Far Away by stRing

Code Compo:

• 1. Wielbłądy 2 by Lamers
• 2. Lashes of flashes by TDC

Download:

• Glucholazy 2013 full Party stuff (1761)

source: atari.org.pl/party13/

Autopsy:

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The gallery of the Apple /// Monitor can be viewed by clicking here

from Wikipedia:

The Apple II series (trademarked with square brackets as “Apple ][") is a set of 8-bit home computers, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) and introduced in 1977 with the original Apple II. In terms of ease of use, features and expandability the Apple II was a major technological advancement over its predecessor, the Apple I, a limited-production bare circuit board computer for electronics hobbyists that pioneered many features that made the Apple II a commercial success. Introduced at the West Coast Computer Faire on April 16, 1977, the Apple II was among the first successful personal computers; it launched the Apple company into a successful business (and allowed several related companies to start). Throughout the years, a number of models were sold, with the most popular model remaining relatively little changed into the 1990s. It was first sold on June 10, 1977. By the end of production in 1993, somewhere between five and six million Apple II series computers (including about 1.25 million Apple IIGS models) had been produced.

The Apple II Plus, introduced in June 1979,included the Applesoft BASIC programming language in ROM. This Microsoft-authored dialect of BASIC, which was previously available as an upgrade, supported floating-point arithmetic, and became the standard BASIC dialect on the Apple II series (though it ran at a noticeably slower speed than Steve Wozniak's Integer BASIC).

Except for improved graphics and disk-booting support in the ROM, and the removal of the 2k 6502 assembler/disassembler to make room for the floating point BASIC, the II+ was otherwise identical to the original II. RAM prices fell during 1980–81 and all II+ machines came from the factory with a full 48k of memory already installed. The language card in Slot 0 added another 16k, but it had to be bank switched since the remaining CPU address space was occupied by the ROMs and I/O area. For this reason, the extra RAM in the language card was bank-switched over the machine’s built-in ROM, allowing code loaded into the additional memory to be used as if it actually were ROM. Users could thus load Integer BASIC into the language card from disk and switch between the Integer and Applesoft dialects of BASIC with DOS 3.3′s INT and FP commands just as if they had the BASIC ROM expansion card. The language card was also required to use the UCSD Pascal and FORTRAN 77 compilers, which were released by Apple at about the same time. These ran under the UCSD p-System operating system, which had its own disk format and emitted code for a “virtual machine” rather than the actual 6502 processor. The UCSD P-system had a curious approach to memory management, which became even more curious on the Apple III.

A TEMPEST-approved version of the Apple II Plus was created in 1980 by the Georgia Tech Research Institute for U.S. Army FORSCOM, and used as a component in the earliest versions of the Microfix system. Fielded in 1982, the Microfix system was the first tactical system using video disk (Laserdisk) map technology providing zoom and scroll over map imagery coupled with a point database of intelligence data such as order of battle, airfields, roadways, and bridges.

After the success of the first Apple II in the United States, Apple expanded its market to include Europe, Australia and the Far East in 1978, with the Apple II Europlus (Europe, Australia) and the Apple II J-Plus (Japan). In these models, Apple made the necessary hardware, software and firmware changes in order to comply to standards outside of the U.S. The power supply was modified to accept the local voltage, and in the European and Australian model the video output signal was changed from color NTSC to monochrome PAL – an extra video card was needed for color PAL graphics, since the simple tricks Wozniak had used to generate a pseudo-NTSC signal with minimal hardware did not carry over to the more complex PAL system. In the Japanese version of the international Apple, the keyboard layout was changed to allow for Katakana writing (full Kanji support was clearly beyond the capabilities of the machine), but in most other countries the international Apple was sold with an unmodified American keyboard; thus the German model still lacked the umlauts, for example. For the most part, the Apple II Europlus and J-Plus were identical to the Apple II Plus. Production of the Europlus ended in 1983.

source: wikipedia