So as announced before I bought a sound blaster 2.0 ... Well now I've received it 😀

With drivers disks, sound card (that one is a good candidate to have CMS chips 😁) and manual 😀

PTherapist wrote:

No pictures as it hasn't arrived yet, but I bought online today - an Amstrad CPC 464, with green screen monochrome monitor. All in good working condition.

I never owned an Amstrad CPC back in the day. I've used an emulator in the past, but always been curious to try out the actual hardware.

It comes with 3 games and I already have 2 games in my collection (cassettes that held the C64, Spectrum & Amstrad CPC versions of the game on the same tape). Plus I have loads of CDT/TZX files to try on this thing too, should keep me busy for a while. 😎

Lots of games are still made for this machine. You're in for a treat.

Sweet 8bit computer indeed ! I have one as well as its sibling the 6128 with the 3 inch floppy drive. Really cool machines : great basic, interesting specs, nice assembly ...

Deksor wrote:

So as announced before I bought a sound blaster 2.0 ... Well now I've received it :) […]
Show full quote

So as announced before I bought a sound blaster 2.0 ... Well now I've received it 😀

With drivers disks, sound card (that one is a good candidate to have CMS chips 😁) and manual 😀

Excellent.

Something for my Commodore64 machine's...

An SD2IEC reader, recap capacitor pack for Assy:250407 Rev C, and 4 brand new never opened blank 60min Casette tapes for C64 Games.

A 60min tape, should hold up to 40 turbo games. So I guess that 4 tapes are more than enough for my needs. I did, however, get that crazy idea to buy something original audiotape and record it over with C64 games. Browsing for tapes I found the first "Aqua" album on casette. And I just effing hate Aqua. I hated them back when they were just that local (only fameous in Denmark) out of the place pop band. I hated them when they got international fame, and I effing hate them now. And what better thing, than to delete that tape, with some sweeeet Giana Sisters, Super Cycle and 1942.... 🤣

And for those that do not know who I am talking about.... (be aware... they suck, unless you adore pink)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyhrYis509A

brostenen wrote:

Something for my Commodore64 machine's...

An SD2IEC reader...

Did you get the model that looks like a mini 1541 disk drive? Love those little things.

Slocket370 with 66/100/133 capability.... this should work well for my ABIT BE6-II or ASUS P3B-F slot1 motherboards.

I just purchased one of these from a guy who custom built it in New Zealand.

Very much looking forward to getting it!

8088 and NEC V20 support
8087 co-processor support
4.77MHz, switchable to 9.55MHz with Ctrl-Alt-+
2x64KiB ROM, switchable with DIP switch, writable
832K SRAM
- 640K conventional
- up to 192K UMBs (128K max when using VGA)
- Configured DOS 6.22 uses only 10K conventional!
Highly-compatible TVGA9000i SVGA
HD Floppy controller, with FM support
Bootable CF Card Interface - 64MB CF Card Included! Loaded with DOS and ready to go.
ROM Socket, supporting 8K and 32K ROMs, writable
16C550 Serial Port
PS/2 Keyboard Port
ATX Power Input. Generates own -5V
4 x 8-bit ISA Slots
Front-panel connector for modern cases

Picked up these guys during the past weeks. The interesting is the one in the lower right corner. This is the earlier version of the Prisma EGAMAX 860. This one's called EGART 860. It's from 1988 and I have found absolutely no reference to it on the net.

brostenen wrote:

Something for my Commodore64 machine's... […]
Show full quote

Something for my Commodore64 machine's...

An SD2IEC reader, recap capacitor pack for Assy:250407 Rev C, and 4 brand new never opened blank 60min Casette tapes for C64 Games.

A 60min tape, should hold up to 40 turbo games. So I guess that 4 tapes are more than enough for my needs. I did, however, get that crazy idea to buy something original audiotape and record it over with C64 games. Browsing for tapes I found the first "Aqua" album on casette. And I just effing hate Aqua. I hated them back when they were just that local (only fameous in Denmark) out of the place pop band. I hated them when they got international fame, and I effing hate them now. And what better thing, than to delete that tape, with some sweeeet Giana Sisters, Super Cycle and 1942.... 🤣

And for those that do not know who I am talking about.... (be aware... they suck, unless you adore pink)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyhrYis509A

I know it's within keeping it retro to use actual tapes, but personally I find it much easier to just use one of those "CD Car Cassette Adapters" to load the tape files directly from computer or smart phone to my 8-bit micros' cassette deck. Then you don't have to worry about fast forwarding or rewinding the tape to find the games you want, just select the file and hit play. There is software that accounts for the C64's pause at "Found" too, so you don't have to hold down the space bar.

And oh god that song, absolutely could not escape it back in the day. It's still in the top 20 of best selling singles of all time here in the UK.

liqmat wrote:

brostenen wrote:

Something for my Commodore64 machine's...

An SD2IEC reader...

Did you get the model that looks like a mini 1541 disk drive? Love those little things.

Yup. Or... More or less. I bought one of these here below.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-2018-SD2IEC-SD-C … tIAAOSwScJbGXzo

PTherapist wrote:

brostenen wrote:

Something for my Commodore64 machine's... […]
Show full quote

Something for my Commodore64 machine's...

An SD2IEC reader, recap capacitor pack for Assy:250407 Rev C, and 4 brand new never opened blank 60min Casette tapes for C64 Games.

A 60min tape, should hold up to 40 turbo games. So I guess that 4 tapes are more than enough for my needs. I did, however, get that crazy idea to buy something original audiotape and record it over with C64 games. Browsing for tapes I found the first "Aqua" album on casette. And I just effing hate Aqua. I hated them back when they were just that local (only fameous in Denmark) out of the place pop band. I hated them when they got international fame, and I effing hate them now. And what better thing, than to delete that tape, with some sweeeet Giana Sisters, Super Cycle and 1942.... 🤣

And for those that do not know who I am talking about.... (be aware... they suck, unless you adore pink)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyhrYis509A

I know it's within keeping it retro to use actual tapes, but personally I find it much easier to just use one of those "CD Car Cassette Adapters" to load the tape files directly from computer or smart phone to my 8-bit micros' cassette deck. Then you don't have to worry about fast forwarding or rewinding the tape to find the games you want, just select the file and hit play. There is software that accounts for the C64's pause at "Found" too, so you don't have to hold down the space bar.

And oh god that song, absolutely could not escape it back in the day. It's still in the top 20 of best selling singles of all time here in the UK.

Well... An MP32C64 adaptor is the next that I will get. I like having multiple ways of loading software. The good part about the one that I am looking to buy, is that it uses a smartphone. Just as the datasette deck would stop turning, when the computer told the drive to do. Then an MP32C64 will tell the smartphone to stop playing the MP3 file. It uses the function that are build into the headset thingy, that stops playing music, whenever you answer a call.

And yup.... That song is truly bad. Like really bad. Personally I find classic music like "The planets" by Gustav Holst, or something written by Chopin and Mozart way more interresting. Yet I am a metal head, so I listen mostly to stuff like Black Capricorn or Turisas. Stuff like that.

brostenen wrote:

liqmat wrote:

brostenen wrote:

Something for my Commodore64 machine's...

An SD2IEC reader...

Did you get the model that looks like a mini 1541 disk drive? Love those little things.

Yup. Or... More or less. I bought one of these here below.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-2018-SD2IEC-SD-C … tIAAOSwScJbGXzo

Yeah, I actually meant this one which looks like a mini 1541:

https://www.thefuturewas8bit.com/shop/commodo … ASAAEgJTtPD_BwE

liqmat wrote:

Yeah, I actually meant this one which looks like a mini 1541:

https://www.thefuturewas8bit.com/shop/commodo … ASAAEgJTtPD_BwE

Yup. I knew that you meant that one. 😉 Yet I found the one I bought more interesting. Passthrough to Floppy Drives was what ultimately decided it for me. And yeah... I forgot to mention that I have bought an Epyx Fastloader Reloaded as well, to go with the SD2IEC. 😜

mwdmeyer wrote:

I just purchased one of these from a guy who custom built it in New Zealand. […]
Show full quote

I just purchased one of these from a guy who custom built it in New Zealand.

Very much looking forward to getting it!

...

Nice! Is there a way to disable the integrated VGA in order to use a CGA or monochrome card?

Edit: just found their website and a bigger picture, looks like the onboard VGA can be disabled

Bige4u wrote:

Slocket370 with 66/100/133 capability.... this should work well for my ABIT BE6-II or ASUS P3B-F slot1 motherboards.

I am curious about these ?
What bus speed do they operate at ?
Will it work on a Slot-1 100mhz bus ?
I have some 500mhz computers I would like to max out with 1.4ghz Tualatin CPU with this adapter ?
Will it work ?

Intel486dx33 wrote:

I am curious about these ? What bus speed do they operate at ? Will it work on a Slot-1 100mhz bus ? I have some 500mhz computer […]
Show full quote

Bige4u wrote:

Slocket370 with 66/100/133 capability.... this should work well for my ABIT BE6-II or ASUS P3B-F slot1 motherboards.

I am curious about these ?
What bus speed do they operate at ?
Will it work on a Slot-1 100mhz bus ?
I have some 500mhz computers I would like to max out with 1.4ghz Tualatin CPU with this adapter ?
Will it work ?

The motherboard needs to support it first. So you need a motherboard capable of 133mhz fsb (or 100mhz fsb for the Celeron version) and a bios supporting the Tualatin cpu. Also the motherboard needs to support the lower 1.5v cpu voltage. Since these adapters do not support the Tualatin cpu pinout natively you also need to use a modded Tualatin cpu or modify the cpu or adapter yourself using guides on the net.

So basicly these adapters are for coppermine cpu's in the first place.

After some digging around regarding CPU support on my Asrock K7S41 motherboard, I found out that it will support those low power consuming AMD Geode NX Processors. So I found and bought one that was fairly cheap. I so hope it will work on my board.

MMaximus wrote:

Nice! Is there a way to disable the integrated VGA in order to use a CGA or monochrome card?

Edit: just found their website and a bigger picture, looks like the onboard VGA can be disabled

It wasn't possible to disable VGA and to disable floppy controller you needed to remove the PLC but I believe those issues have now been resolved in the latest revision of the board.

So I am pretty keen to try it out!

mwdmeyer wrote:

I just purchased one of these from a guy who custom built it in New Zealand. […]
Show full quote

I just purchased one of these from a guy who custom built it in New Zealand.

Very much looking forward to getting it!

8088 and NEC V20 support
8087 co-processor support
4.77MHz, switchable to 9.55MHz with Ctrl-Alt-+
2x64KiB ROM, switchable with DIP switch, writable
832K SRAM
- 640K conventional
- up to 192K UMBs (128K max when using VGA)
- Configured DOS 6.22 uses only 10K conventional!
Highly-compatible TVGA9000i SVGA
HD Floppy controller, with FM support
Bootable CF Card Interface - 64MB CF Card Included! Loaded with DOS and ready to go.
ROM Socket, supporting 8K and 32K ROMs, writable
16C550 Serial Port
PS/2 Keyboard Port
ATX Power Input. Generates own -5V
4 x 8-bit ISA Slots
Front-panel connector for modern cases

WOW! This thing looks like lot of fun!!! I want it now!