Another Egyptian Enterprise 64

[stephen_usher]

Yeah. Other than it's extremely slow speed, the BASIC is very advanced, though verbose. There's no "CLS", merely, "CLEAR SCREEN", for example.

[rubber_jonnie]

Yeah. Other than it's extremely slow speed, the BASIC is very advanced, though verbose. There's no "CLS", merely, "CLEAR SCREEN", for example.

I know, who writes a basic with no CLS!!!

Interestingly since changing the ROM for a new one it's been running flawlessly.

[rubber_jonnie]

Still going strong, so looking like the ROM was the issue all along, but I'll leave it going see whats what.

Aircon is off now so we'll see what happens when it gets warmer

[rubber_jonnie]

Just back from the gym and the Enterprise was still running like a champ

And that's without air conditioning too.

Looks like the ROM was indeed the issue, so I'll be able to start thinking of other upgrades now.

[stephen_usher]

Yay!

The machines do seem rather robust, don't they?

I've just ordered some PCBs to act as joystick port adapters. I'll just need to cut down some edge connectors and solder the 6x2 long ones on one end and right-angled DB9 male sockets on the other and plug them in. Do a 3D printable case as well.

I'll have plenty of PCBs left over so I can send a couple to you and another couple to @PhilC

[rubber_jonnie]

Yay!

The machines do seem rather robust, don't they?

Considering what it's been through, I'd have to agree.

I've just ordered some PCBs to act as joystick port adapters. I'll just need to cut down some edge connectors and solder the 6x2 long ones on one end and right-angled DB9 male sockets on the other and plug them in. Do a 3D printable case as well.

I'll have plenty of PCBs left over so I can send a couple to you and another couple to @PhilC

That would be very generous, but please let me know if you would like any money towards it as I know how these things can get expensive.

[stephen_usher]

That would be very generous, but please let me know if you would like any money towards it as I know how these things can get expensive.

Erm, these PCBs work out at $5 for 10 plus shipping 'cos they're small.

In total it's about £3 per PCB. I'll have 10 and I'll only need 2.

[rubber_jonnie]

Cool let me know when you have them

[rubber_jonnie]

So, being the kind of person I am, I decided to give the Enterprise 64 another burn in test this morning. Just to be sure...

So I set it off about 08:45 and then we had brerakfast and I went off to mow the lawn and do some other gardening.

Came back about 13:30 and it's still running smoothly, no issues, so I'm very happy with it now. No air conditioning either

With that I've temporarily reassembled it because I wanted to test the keyboard with everything screwed together and it's actually not too bad, at least for the type it is.

Next up I need to figure out the 2 broken keys, but my RTV moulding silicone has gone off, so I need to figure out something else.

Or order something else...

Off to hunt for something that will do the job.

[rubber_jonnie]

Trying to sign up for Enterpriseforever.com and it's a sign of the times that they have disabled auto registration. You now have to email them and they will add you manually.

I have some mould making rubber compound coming today and i'm going to have a go at making a mould for the Enterprise keys later when it arrives, and it should be somewhat better than the RTV silicone I had to chuck away as it is more rigid, but still flexible and considerably easier to mix since it's a 1:1 ratio rather than the 100:2 ratio of the stuff I ended up chucking.

What I'm seeing with this machine is that if they had handled the launch better it could have been a very successful machine in the UK, trouble is in 1985 we also got the Atari ST which didn't help it's chances.