Boss Dr. Synth DS-330 arrived today. I am not sure what should I think about it. My first quick test (RoA: Star Trail, of course) wasn't very successful because some sounds are just missing (scream in Blutzinnen/Blood Peaks, heartbeat in final dungeon, drums in Dragon theme...). There is no problem with them on Yamaha MU15 so I am dissapointed a little bit. More tests will follow.

Got a box of Z80 clones made in GDR. Just a little memento of the Eastern Bloc.

Woow! That's really nice!

Miphee wrote on 2021-03-01, 10:13:

Got a box of Z80 clones made in GDR. Just a little memento of the Eastern Bloc.

Those are some nicely packaged CPU's, congrats !!

Thanks guys, I like the old-style shiny (ESD?) packaging too.

I just received almost brand new Asus P5LD2-VM. Take a look at the pictures, the condition is briliant!
I got this for $ 12.90 incl ship (the whole set - motherboard + Pentium D 925 + 4 x 1 GB DDR800).
The motherboard has a single disadvantage over the real "premium S775" - it supports only 667 memory 🙁

Received what can be described as "fan homebrew masterpiece", the unofficial port of "Ghosts 'n Goblins" for MSX V9990. A never produced game cartridge for a never produced MSX machine, and its beautiful....

It does need the illusive videochip V9990 from Yamaha, and it supports almost every sound option for the MSX including SFG-01/05 (incidentally it has the same YM2151 from the arcade version). Plus there is an SCC onboard the cartridge.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5voHhbTVmw) .

That cartridge is very interesting - watching the video right now.

Bought another "batch" my favorite cpus...

CMB75 wrote on 2021-03-01, 07:42:

Yesterdays haul. I picked up an A500, prob. Rev6a., which is in an OK-ish condition...

I was mistaken. I opened it up today and it’s a Rev 8A.1. One of those wannabe A500+ with only 512kb onboard but coming with Kick 1.3.

I think fellow member Brostenen has one of these, too.

CMB75 wrote on 2021-03-01, 17:08:

CMB75 wrote on 2021-03-01, 07:42:

Yesterdays haul. I picked up an A500, prob. Rev6a., which is in an OK-ish condition...

I was mistaken. I opened it up today and it’s a Rev 8A.1. One of those wannabe A500+ with only 512kb onboard but coming with Kick 1.3.

I think fellow member Brostenen has one of these, too.

In my humble opinion that is the best 500+, just because it didn't had the varta problem. To spec it up to the 500+ "standard" you need only to populate the missing components.
https://www.nightfallcrew.com/?s=rev+8a

Xicor wrote on 2021-03-01, 17:37:

CMB75 wrote on 2021-03-01, 17:08:

CMB75 wrote on 2021-03-01, 07:42:

Yesterdays haul. I picked up an A500, prob. Rev6a., which is in an OK-ish condition...

I was mistaken. I opened it up today and it’s a Rev 8A.1. One of those wannabe A500+ with only 512kb onboard but coming with Kick 1.3.

I think fellow member Brostenen has one of these, too.

In my humble opinion that is the best 500+, just because it didn't had the varta problem. To spec it up to the 500+ "standard" you need only to populate the missing components.
https://www.nightfallcrew.com/?s=rev+8a

Thanks for the hint. I’ll follow that guide 👍🏻

CMB75 wrote on 2021-03-01, 17:08:

CMB75 wrote on 2021-03-01, 07:42:

Yesterdays haul. I picked up an A500, prob. Rev6a., which is in an OK-ish condition...

I was mistaken. I opened it up today and it’s a Rev 8A.1. One of those wannabe A500+ with only 512kb onboard but coming with Kick 1.3.

I think fellow member Brostenen has one of these, too.

Indeed I have one of those, and it is my Amiga500 Turbo Edition...
To me, it is not the best 500 there is. If you are just playing the old 500-games and use floppy or Gotek, then it is Rev 6.a
If you want the big stuff like in mine, then it is the 8a.1 because you can use it for WHD Loader stuff.
It all comes down to how you will be using the Amiga.

EDIT:
By the way. I have a Rev 6a board as well. It is inside my Amiga500 in PC case...

Well...
I recieved the complete parts kit for Commodore64 SixtyClone Rev. 250466 and began to solder. Then I ran out of solder tin and had to order 200 gram of solder tin. Of course it is lead based solder. It is that 40/60 mix (or 60/40 because I can not remember the name correct)

SixtyClone, progress so far....

The solder was shipped at 7pm local time (19.00) and it should arrive for pickup in the local shop within 3 days or so. I am really looking forward to finish my SixtyClone 250466 machine. Black board with gold and black newly produced black Model-C case. (one of those made from modern plastic on original Commodore molds)

H3nrik V! wrote on 2021-03-01, 09:11:

Didn't actually buy this per se - as the cost was "If you ever get it to work, invite me to a gaming night". A friend texted me yesterday as he was cleaning out his garage and asked if this was something for me.

Apparently it worked 10 years ago, when it was last powered up. I don't have anything to connect it to (or maybe the old TV has an analogue tuner) and I'm also reluctant as I've heard the Powersupply should pose a great risk of frying the computer - or is it just a matter of opening and recapping?

First you need to check voltages on that PSU. Just keep in mind that it can blow at ANY time. Most of the times it releases a massive spike in voltage, in few situations it just dies. Anyway. If no picture, and voltages are fine, then it can be anything from dead VIC-II, over dead PLA to dead memory chips.

Getting it to work is most of the fun right? 😁

Finally received got electronic components for Deskpro XL's PSU repair. UC3844, UC3843 and optisolators, waiting for TL431 to arrive.

Cheers,

pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-03-02, 00:35:

Finally received got electronic components for Deskpro XL's PSU repair. UC3844, UC3843 and optisolators, waiting for TL431 to arrive.

Cheers,

I need to repair the power supply in my Presario 850 but PSU repair intimidates me...

brostenen wrote on 2021-03-01, 20:24:

H3nrik V! wrote on 2021-03-01, 09:11:

Didn't actually buy this per se - as the cost was "If you ever get it to work, invite me to a gaming night". A friend texted me yesterday as he was cleaning out his garage and asked if this was something for me.

Apparently it worked 10 years ago, when it was last powered up. I don't have anything to connect it to (or maybe the old TV has an analogue tuner) and I'm also reluctant as I've heard the Powersupply should pose a great risk of frying the computer - or is it just a matter of opening and recapping?

First you need to check voltages on that PSU. Just keep in mind that it can blow at ANY time. Most of the times it releases a massive spike in voltage, in few situations it just dies. Anyway. If no picture, and voltages are fine, then it can be anything from dead VIC-II, over dead PLA to dead memory chips.

Getting it to work is most of the fun right? 😁

Yeah, the fun is the process 😉 well, as I'm an electronics engineer, and the C64 being relatively simple, some debugging should be doable.
But then again - will a recap of the power supply help anything, or is it just a transformer? And where would be the right place to find and ask for information? Is there a subforum here on vogons, that suits?

H3nrik V! wrote on 2021-03-02, 05:24:

Yeah, the fun is the process 😉 well, as I'm an electronics engineer, and the C64 being relatively simple, some debugging should be doable.
But then again - will a recap of the power supply help anything, or is it just a transformer? And where would be the right place to find and ask for information? Is there a subforum here on vogons, that suits?

If it's like most C64 power supplies it'll probably be filled with epoxy inside, so no chance of a simple repair job. It's easier & safer just to buy a modern C64 power supply replacement.

PTherapist wrote on 2021-03-02, 05:48:

H3nrik V! wrote on 2021-03-02, 05:24:

Yeah, the fun is the process 😉 well, as I'm an electronics engineer, and the C64 being relatively simple, some debugging should be doable.
But then again - will a recap of the power supply help anything, or is it just a transformer? And where would be the right place to find and ask for information? Is there a subforum here on vogons, that suits?

If it's like most C64 power supplies it'll probably be filled with epoxy inside, so no chance of a simple repair job. It's easier & safer just to buy a modern C64 power supply replacement.

Oh, yeah, that would make sense. At least it's simple 😀

H3nrik V! wrote on 2021-03-02, 05:24:

brostenen wrote on 2021-03-01, 20:24:

H3nrik V! wrote on 2021-03-01, 09:11:

Didn't actually buy this per se - as the cost was "If you ever get it to work, invite me to a gaming night". A friend texted me yesterday as he was cleaning out his garage and asked if this was something for me.

Apparently it worked 10 years ago, when it was last powered up. I don't have anything to connect it to (or maybe the old TV has an analogue tuner) and I'm also reluctant as I've heard the Powersupply should pose a great risk of frying the computer - or is it just a matter of opening and recapping?

First you need to check voltages on that PSU. Just keep in mind that it can blow at ANY time. Most of the times it releases a massive spike in voltage, in few situations it just dies. Anyway. If no picture, and voltages are fine, then it can be anything from dead VIC-II, over dead PLA to dead memory chips.

Getting it to work is most of the fun right? 😁

Yeah, the fun is the process 😉 well, as I'm an electronics engineer, and the C64 being relatively simple, some debugging should be doable.
But then again - will a recap of the power supply help anything, or is it just a transformer? And where would be the right place to find and ask for information? Is there a subforum here on vogons, that suits?

That is a nice job you have. Were you educated down in Sønderborg? I have a number of half finished educations from back in the 1990's, and I were a student down there at "skolepraktik". Back then it was called "Datamekaniker". Today it is just "Datafagtekniker". However, we were screwed over by the boss at skolepraktik, as he did not give us any jos that were related to the education. He sure was inventfull and had us all clean old 8088/8086 bank computers, that he then could sell for a profit. We were told by him, that all education related practice and chores, were something that we had to do strictly in our spare time. Well... It does not take much brainpower to figure out, that nobody passed any tests and examinations in class.

Anyway....
The PSU you have, are one of those wedge ones. It is a standard old school linear AC and DC power supply. Yup. 9v AC and 5v DC as far as I remember. The voltage regulator is the bad news regarding all Commodore64 PSU's. It is only rated at exactly what the machine is supposed to be supplied with. And taken that it is from 1984'ish, then it has degraded and will short out at some point. The good news about your PSU, is that most of the DC part is not enclosed in Epoxy. The square white ones have all parts inside a big lump of epoxy.

As you can see, then it is a relatively simple device. Nothing strange or anything, other than a regulator that are not rated high enough. When it goes, then it goes. And then it will send a major surge of power straight into the 5v DC line. The chips inside the machine do not have any protection. You know. Commodore cheap'ed out on so many things, and engineers like Bill Herd have said so many times, that they designed all machines for a max of 3 or 5 years use. He never ever thought or believed that we would still play with 8bit machines in 2021.

I will be sending you a PM, regarding places that you can ask for help at. Vogons do not have any sub forum for these old 8bit platforms, or even 16bit such as Amiga or AtariST.