The age of Aquarius

Any 8bit repairs, images, cool things, upgrades etc.
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: The age of Aquarius

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 3:22 pm :dualthumbup: :yay:
Can't wait to get the USB module finished now, it'll be great to have file access via USB :)

Composite is definitely on the cards, though the picture is actually OK. And the Z key.....
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...
utri007
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Re: The age of Aquarius

Post by utri007 »

rubber_jonnie wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 10:29 am Managed to get a bit of time over the weekend for one of the Aquarius projects, the Micro Expander.

It's a small cartridge that plugs into the ROM port and adds a few tricks to the little machine, details here: http://www.bhabbott.net.nz/micro_expander.html

IMG_20220117_095832.jpg
That looks nice. I would be interested to have one. Could you sell one? What would be very nice, is two Atari compatible game ports.


I have looked composite mod for Aquarius quite some time.
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: The age of Aquarius

Post by rubber_jonnie »

This isn't my hardware, I've just built one, so I'm afraid I'm not selling any, but you may be able to find the PCBs on ebay as I did, I got PCBs for mini and micro expanders the mainboard and some other bits.

Alternatively, you could order the PCBs via PCBway or similar as the gerbers are on the site I linked to.

The mini expander has 2 9 pin joystick ports, so adding a cable to the micro expander might be possible.
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...
utri007
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Re: The age of Aquarius

Post by utri007 »

rubber_jonnie wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:20 pm
The mini expander has 2 9 pin joystick ports, so adding a cable to the micro expander might be possible.
I have understand, that Aquarius joystick ports are NOT Atari compatible?? They would need rewiring to be able to use "normal" joysticks??
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: The age of Aquarius

Post by rubber_jonnie »

utri007 wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 7:42 pm
rubber_jonnie wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:20 pm
The mini expander has 2 9 pin joystick ports, so adding a cable to the micro expander might be possible.
I have understand, that Aquarius joystick ports are NOT Atari compatible?? They would need rewiring to be able to use "normal" joysticks??
Honestly, I don't know, but I would expect some re-wiring would be necessary.
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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rubber_jonnie
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Re: The age of Aquarius

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Nice little haul arrived at lunch time 😁

IMG_20220119_125858__01.jpg
IMG_20220119_125858__01.jpg (257.16 KiB) Viewed 2497 times

Remaining parts for the Micro expander arrived, so I'll be able to get that finished and give myself USB stick access to files and an additional sound chip in the shape of an AY-3-8910, plus all the other good stuff that the adapter brings.

Got a line on an RGB to composite adapter as well, thou going out using RGB is an option too.

Then of course there is the ArduiTape for my cassette based machines.
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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stephen_usher
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Re: The age of Aquarius

Post by stephen_usher »

Much hardware pawn. :-)
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: The age of Aquarius

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 1:48 pm Much hardware pawn. :-)
Did you mean porn? :lol:
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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stephen_usher
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Re: The age of Aquarius

Post by stephen_usher »

I was being family friendly. :-)
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
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Re: The age of Aquarius

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 2:23 pm I was being family friendly. :-)
:lol:
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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