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A Grand Day Out

Blogs & guides and tales of woo by forum members.
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: A Grand Day Out

Post by rubber_jonnie »

So, I bit the bullet and pulled the MZ700 apart again to clean the keyboard, which seems to have been very successful since the cursor keys now work and the space bar, which was intermittent is also working nicely.

It's a PCB not dissimilar to the ST, so it was just a question of cleaning the contacts with some IPA. In terms of the keys themselves, they have rubbery carbon based bridges, so they got a clean with IPA too.

Nice simple KBD TBH, not a lot to go wrong. Just lots of tiny screws like the ST!

As for the cassette, I made a jumper out of half an 18 pin socket:

IMG20240212165502-edit-20240212170638.jpg
IMG20240212165502-edit-20240212170638.jpg (61.22 KiB) Viewed 1050 times

And here it is fitted:

IMG20240212165837.jpg
IMG20240212165837.jpg (257.43 KiB) Viewed 1050 times

All buzzes out fine when fitted, and my favourite test game is loading just fine :)

IMG20240212170735.jpg
IMG20240212170735.jpg (140.8 KiB) Viewed 1050 times

Much happier with a removable solution :)
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: A Grand Day Out

Post by rubber_jonnie »

OK, so the PSU has just arrived for the C128 :)

IMG20240214130943.jpg
IMG20240214130943.jpg (238.47 KiB) Viewed 1018 times

So I should hopefully be able to get on with the C128 very soon :)
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: A Grand Day Out

Post by stephen_usher »

:dualthumbup:
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: A Grand Day Out

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2024 1:27 pm :dualthumbup:
Very much looking forward to feeding it some electrons.
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: A Grand Day Out

Post by stephen_usher »

rubber_jonnie wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2024 2:22 pm
stephen_usher wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2024 1:27 pm :dualthumbup:
Very much looking forward to feeding it some electrons.
With working ULAs?

From little Acorns mighty Commodores grow. ;-)
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: A Grand Day Out

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2024 2:59 pm
With working ULAs?
I believe so, yes.
stephen_usher wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2024 2:59 pm From little Acorns mighty Commodores grow. ;-)
Indeed they do :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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rubber_jonnie
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Re: A Grand Day Out

Post by rubber_jonnie »

And the electrons flowed:

IMG20240214164854.jpg
IMG20240214164854.jpg (188.9 KiB) Viewed 999 times

So it's booting to 128 mode and the PSU works.

:dualthumbup:
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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PhilC
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Re: A Grand Day Out

Post by PhilC »

Nice to see you’ve got it running @rubber_jonnie, what are your plans so far for it?
If it ain't broke, test it to Destruction.
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: A Grand Day Out

Post by rubber_jonnie »

PhilC wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2024 5:11 pm Nice to see you’ve got it running @rubber_jonnie, what are your plans so far for it?
First off a cleanup, then I'll fit some heatsinks and run through the diag tests see what's what.

Not thought any further than that.
BTW what is the empty socket for at top left?>

I think you said but I can't remember!!!
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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PhilC
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Re: A Grand Day Out

Post by PhilC »

@rubber_jonnie thats for a function rom and is empty as standard.
If it ain't broke, test it to Destruction.
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