PhilCs blog / the latest things hes broken(fixed)

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Re: PhilCs blog / the latest things hes broken(fixed)

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rubber_jonnie wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 9:28 am Also, if you have 2 drives it's init,D2 but then D2 remains active after that until you actively specify D1again.

As for the switch, maybe it's modded, worth taking a peek, or perhaps it's an ID switch? As for the 3.5mm jack, who knows, take a peek again I guess.
Yes that's what I plan to do today, switch seems like it'll be the write protect mod.
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Re: PhilCs blog / the latest things hes broken(fixed)

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PhilC wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 9:36 am
Yes that's what I plan to do today, switch seems like it'll be the write protect mod.
Ahh, yes, good call. My Seltron drive has built in write protect.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: PhilCs blog / the latest things hes broken(fixed)

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rubber_jonnie wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 9:39 am
PhilC wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 9:36 am
Yes that's what I plan to do today, switch seems like it'll be the write protect mod.
Ahh, yes, good call. My Seltron drive has built in write protect.
The drive has a built in write protect but this is apparently to override it if you want to prevent reads or force writes etc.
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Re: PhilCs blog / the latest things hes broken(fixed)

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So the Apple IIe seems to be pretty happy. Its played almost everything I've thrown at it, except for stuff that needs a 65C02 CPU, so I'll do that upgrade over the next week or so after I've found some eproms and a CPU.

I'll be servicing both floppy drives this evening and will then probably sell one of them as I don't really need more than one to go with the floppy emulator I bought.

The one thing that I noticed about the Apple IIe that surprised me is the poor quality sound available compared to other 8 bit computers of its time. One sound channel compared to 3 and a noise channel on the BBC and so on.
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Re: PhilCs blog / the latest things hes broken(fixed)

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That's the drives cleaned and lubricated, they sound so much quieter now. I checked the belts and they are good in both drives. They look to be a woven rubberised belt and not just rubber like on some drives.

So now that's done it's time to try out some of the old Apple's back catalog.

Wings of Fury anyone?

20210910_185305.jpg
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Re: PhilCs blog / the latest things hes broken(fixed)

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Following on a but from the above post, I've been doing a lot of research related to top 10's 20's etc for old computers and game consoles.

Quite often I find that my opinion in no way reflects that of the reviewer who compiled the top 10's. Quite often I'm left thinking about all the games in my opinion that were left out of the list. I do appreciate that one person's opinion can vary dramatically from the next but sometimes if these top 10s are taken as the defacto ultimate list of games goodness, then I can't help think that the reader (me in this case) is missing out on some great game that would have made number 11, 12 or 13 on the list.

So I make no apologies when I say that over the weeks to come I'm likely to inflict upon you all reviews and ratings of various games, with spelling mistakes, bad grammar and maybe a few bad words that should be replaced with fluffy bunnies for the more sensitive members of the forum.

What would help me in my quest for Phils ultimate game collection of all time would be if some of you guys can come up with some suggestions to review.

I think furst on the list is likely to be the Apple II as its presently plugged into the TV and I'm in the mood to explore some of the old games in the ridiculously large archive of Apple II games I'd forgotten I'd downloaded a few years back.

So guys, what do you suggest?
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Re: PhilCs blog / the latest things hes broken(fixed)

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PhilC wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 9:58 pm Following on a but from the above post, I've been doing a lot of research related to top 10's 20's etc for old computers and game consoles.

Quite often I find that my opinion in no way reflects that of the reviewer who compiled the top 10's. Quite often I'm left thinking about all the games in my opinion that were left out of the list. I do appreciate that one person's opinion can vary dramatically from the next but sometimes if these top 10s are taken as the defacto ultimate list of games goodness, then I can't help think that the reader (me in this case) is missing out on some great game that would have made number 11, 12 or 13 on the list.

So I make no apologies when I say that over the weeks to come I'm likely to inflict upon you all reviews and ratings of various games, with spelling mistakes, bad grammar and maybe a few bad words that should be replaced with fluffy bunnies for the more sensitive members of the forum.

What would help me in my quest for Phils ultimate game collection of all time would be if some of you guys can come up with some suggestions to review.

I think furst on the list is likely to be the Apple II as its presently plugged into the TV and I'm in the mood to explore some of the old games in the ridiculously large archive of Apple II games I'd forgotten I'd downloaded a few years back.

So guys, what do you suggest?
How about Lode Runner for a start, perhaps Oregon Trail ;)

If you want any Atari 8 bit game ideas, then M.U.L.E and Archon for starters, Ballblazer, Rescue on Fractalus, The Eidolon, Koronis Rift, Yoomp....

That'd be a big list.....
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: PhilCs blog / the latest things hes broken(fixed)

Post by rubber_jonnie »

PhilC wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 7:53 pm So I thought I'd take a closer look at that mod on S10, so have given the board a good dust down and am still none the wiser.

It's got another chip connected dead bug style with a whole bunch of resistors that then sends an output to the video out.


20210907_194957.jpg


I'll do a bit more research about that once I've got the machine back together and working.
Chatting about this over on Applefritter, I got this response:

"The only thing that comes to mind is SECAM.

PAL/SECAM are identical in monochrome, but the way the color phase information is represented differs, so the mod could be for that."

Not really a problem as you already fixed it, but interesting nonetheless.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: PhilCs blog / the latest things hes broken(fixed)

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@rubber_jonnie thanks, it's still interesting to find out what it was, even if it's no longer required.
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Re: PhilCs blog / the latest things hes broken(fixed)

Post by rubber_jonnie »

PhilC wrote: Sat Sep 11, 2021 10:02 am @rubber_jonnie thanks, it's still interesting to find out what it was, even if it's no longer required.
Link is here if you're interested: https://www.applefritter.com/content/st ... pple-e-mod
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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