General Stuff(tm)

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stephen_usher
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Re: General Stuff(tm)

Post by stephen_usher »

Got down to my Dad's house in Cornwall this evening and found the broadband dead.

After about 45 minutes on the phone the BT it seems that there's a general BT Openreach outage in the area. Oh well, having to use my phone as a 4G relay.
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: General Stuff(tm)

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: Thu Apr 18, 2024 9:19 pm Got down to my Dad's house in Cornwall this evening and found the broadband dead.

After about 45 minutes on the phone the BT it seems that there's a general BT Openreach outage in the area. Oh well, having to use my phone as a 4G relay.
That's bloody annoying.
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: General Stuff(tm)

Post by stephen_usher »

Yeah. Thankfully it's back again this morning.
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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stephen_usher
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Posts: 7454
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 7:19 pm
Location: Oxford, UK.
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Re: General Stuff(tm)

Post by stephen_usher »

Back home again. I may get time for some retro stuff this weekend but I'm really tired after leaving Cornwall at 7:30am.
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: General Stuff(tm)

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2024 2:46 pm Back home again. I may get time for some retro stuff this weekend but I'm really tired after leaving Cornwall at 7:30am.
Seems like it's been a busy few days, a rest is always good.
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: General Stuff(tm)

Post by stephen_usher »

I finally got time this afternoon to build, as much as I can with the parts I have in stock, a relocator/decoder board for @jakesdad77. He first asked for it at the end of January but life has got in the way.

IMG_3680.jpeg
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The 10K resistors I have are a bit large for this board so I had to bodge them a bit. Otherwise it's just the two CPU sockets and the pins for the motherboard CPU and the one pin for the ROM socket which will need to be installed.
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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stephen_usher
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Re: General Stuff(tm)

Post by stephen_usher »

Brought the Apricot FP back from storage ready for next month's potables exhibition in Cambridge. It still works.

You had to have strong arms if you used a portable in the 1980s. :-)

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IMG_3681.jpeg
IMG_3681.jpeg (199.51 KiB) Viewed 10121 times
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IMG_3685.jpeg (258.98 KiB) Viewed 10121 times
IMG_3684.jpeg
IMG_3684.jpeg (207.06 KiB) Viewed 10121 times

I'm a bit concerned about the FP's display though. Given the ambient lighting in the museum's main hall, even with the LED light overhead I'm not sure the screen will be viewable.
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: General Stuff(tm)

Post by rubber_jonnie »

I know what you mean about the weight of these old portables, I have an Amstrad Alt-386 and it's a dead weight.
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: General Stuff(tm)

Post by stephen_usher »

The difference in LCD technology in only 5 years...

IMG_3686.jpg
IMG_3686.jpg (327.52 KiB) Viewed 10080 times
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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agranlund
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Re: General Stuff(tm)

Post by agranlund »

stephen_usher wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2024 7:51 pm The difference in LCD technology in only 5 years...
Is that left machine running Gem for PC? :)
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