A new arrival - Amstrad PPC512

[Icky]

That's the board I'm likely going with. I just can't seem to find any for sale, they are out of stock on Tindie. Where did you get your kit from?

Unfortunately it was Tindie.

There is an Internal CF adapter that fits in place of the modem, however it's as yet untested so I'm not keen on ordering PCB's for something untested.

I have to add, they seem to be a very dense machine.

Yes, it's very squeezed in there.

[rubber_jonnie]

Unfortunately it was Tindie.

Damn

Yes, it's very squeezed in there.

It sure is. Got to take the FDDs out and clean the heads and check if there are belts.

[Icky]

It sure is. Got to take the FDDs out and clean the heads and check if there are belts.

I swapped one for Gotek

[rubber_jonnie]

It sure is. Got to take the FDDs out and clean the heads and check if there are belts.

I swapped one for Gotek

I'm planning on doing the same.

[rubber_jonnie]

I popped her open:

IMG20250313161353.jpg

This is the modem, and its mahooosive. I expect a CF/XT-IDE adapter would fit inside nicely.

[danboid]

I would like a Falcon and an X68K but I can't justify the usual asking prices for what are essentially toys for me.

I found an UltraSPARC for a decent price recently and was quite tempted but decided against it. I do quite like the pre-Intel Sun and SGI stuff for some reason. I suppose its because of the mystery of them, a hangover from having seen photos of them in computer mags in the early 90s and wondering what they were like to use.

I'm in training to build a Raven. It doesn't seem to have any real competition as the best DIY, homebrew retro computer.

An Atari 800 would be cool to own too, mainly because I like the look of them.

[rubber_jonnie]

I would like a Falcon and an X68K but I can't justify the usual asking prices for what are essentially toys for me.

With you there on prices.

I found an UltraSPARC for a decent price recently and was quite tempted but decided against it. I do quite like the pre-Intel Sun and SGI stuff for some reason. I suppose its because of the mystery of them, a hangover from having seen photos of them in computer mags in the early 90s and wondering what they were like to use.

Sun stuff doesn't do it for me, but I do have a couple of SGI Octanes. One is massively specced out and the other fairly basic, but good machines nonetheless, though very pricey at the moment.

I'm in training to build a Raven. It doesn't seem to have any real competition as the best DIY, homebrew retro computer.

An Atari 800 would be cool to own too, mainly because I like the look of them.

I already have a Cosmac Elf II and a OSI 610 expansion board to build for now, plus I think an H4 and an H5.. No more homebrew for me just at the moment, but I would say a Z80 MBC2 is a fun little project and quite inexpensive if you like that sort of thing.

An Atari 800 is really top of my list. They are stupidly pricey, but gorgeous. Since I have a 400, 600XL, 2x800XL, 65XE and XEGS, the 800 would really complete the Atari timeline for me.

My first experience of an 800 was seeing one in a computer shop in Liverpool running M.U.L.E and I was wowed by the graphics and sound. I ended up with a 600XL, followed soon after by an 800XL in exchange because the 600XL was all crashy with the RAM expander on it.

My 65XE I've owned from new and it has U1MB, VBXE and a PokeyMax and I use the SIDE3 cart with it. It's a great combo. One of my 800XLs has the same upgrades and my 600XL is upgraded to 64KB.

[danboid]

I already have a Cosmac Elf II and a OSI 610 expansion board to build for now, plus I think an H4 and an H5.. No more homebrew for me just at the moment, but I would say a Z80 MBC2 is a fun little project and quite inexpensive if you like that sort of thing.

I had to search for the Cosmac Elf II as I'd not come across that before. Thats a bit too retro for me. I suppose I'm only really interested in 79 to early 90's micros, stuff I can plug into a TV or monitor.

The only other homebrew computer that has piqued my interest has been this Atari 800XL remake:

https://github.com/marekl123/atari800xl

However, I tried contacting the developer and he never got back to me to confirm that he had successfully built it and got it working so that put me off attempting it. He did write these blog posts about it tho:

https://ezcontents.org/atari-800xl-pcb-remake

https://ezcontents.org/atari-800xl-pcb- ... leshooting

https://ezcontents.org/atari-800xl-bill-materials-bom

[rubber_jonnie]

I already have a Cosmac Elf II and a OSI 610 expansion board to build for now, plus I think an H4 and an H5.. No more homebrew for me just at the moment, but I would say a Z80 MBC2 is a fun little project and quite inexpensive if you like that sort of thing.

I had to search for the Cosmac Elf II as I'd not come across that before. Thats a bit too retro for me. I suppose I'm only really interested in 79 to early 90's micros, stuff I can plug into a TV or monitor.

The only other homebrew computer that has piqued my interest has been this Atari 800XL remake:

https://github.com/marekl123/atari800xl

However, I tried contacting the developer and he never got back to me to confirm that he had successfully built it and got it working so that put me off attempting it. He did write these blog posts about it tho:

https://ezcontents.org/atari-800xl-pcb-remake

https://ezcontents.org/atari-800xl-pcb- ... leshooting

https://ezcontents.org/atari-800xl-bill-materials-bom

You might like the OSI 600D if that is the era for you then, OSI 600D

I think perhaps the SoC MK14 might be too retro too, though for me it fitted in with my Sinclair history as I had an original (Never worked for me) BITD.

The 800XL remake PCB didn't pull my strings TBH. This is interesting: RM 800XL though it seems to have hit some sort of roadblock.

[rubber_jonnie]

So, I had a root around inside the PPC512 and found some interesting stuff. It seems it has space on the mainboard for more RAM, so theoretically I can take it up to 640KB.

The internal CF/XT-IDE adapter looks like it plugs right into the modem connectors, it seems to be some sort of strange ISA bus connector.I think it'd also be feasible to hack in an XT-IDE card, but I need to think about that first before I do anything about it.

Taking the modem out would leave a massive space for stuff though so there are possibilities. I'm also wondering if I could order some PCBs for the internal CF adapter board. I'm a bit nervous since it says it's never been built, but I suppose it would be worth a try.

Gotek is installed so I need to get some DOS disk images to try now. Drive heads for both FDDs have also been cleaned, but the machine is quite pristine inside, likely due to a lack of a fan.

IMG20250313175851.jpg