exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

stephen_usher wrote: 10 Feb 2024 21:36 Probably the USB interface died on the MacBook Pro. :(

Hmm, one strange thing is that the ALT key works at boot time. It needs to be held down in order to select the boot mode (Mac or Windows).

Booting to Mac, the keyboard allows input, but the characters are random, as though a character set that is all symbols has been selected.

Oh. Grrr. I've seen this with external Apple keyboards.

Something in macOS gets its knickers in a twist and refuses to see the Apple keyboard as a keyboard if plugged directly into the USB port. If it's plugged into a hub and that hub is plugged into the same USB port on the Mac it's happy. Then randomly it'll reset and you can plug the keyboard into the unit again until another random time.

I do wonder if the same thing has happened to your internal keyboard.

stephen_usher wrote: 11 Feb 2024 11:42 Oh. Grrr. I've seen this with external Apple keyboards.

Something in macOS gets its knickers in a twist and refuses to see the Apple keyboard as a keyboard if plugged directly into the USB port. If it's plugged into a hub and that hub is plugged into the same USB port on the Mac it's happy. Then randomly it'll reset and you can plug the keyboard into the unit again until another random time.

I do wonder if the same thing has happened to your internal keyboard.

And it lives...

Though something certainly had it's knickers in a twist.

I did a PRAM reset (COMMAND+OPTION+P+R at boot) and it lives again. First time I've had to do it on this machine, but I'm back into MacOS and Windows just fine again. I'll do a bit of burn in testing before I resurrect it for workshop duties though, and I'm going probably get another PSU for it.

The PRAM reset seems to solve a lot of issues.

I once had weird artefacts all over the screen after having tried an emulator. Reset and power-off didn't help, but a PRAM reset was successful.

HigashiJun wrote: 12 Feb 2024 01:20 The PRAM reset seems to solve a lot of issues.

I once had weird artefacts all over the screen after having tried an emulator. Reset and power-off didn't help, but a PRAM reset was successful.

Yes, it definitely seems to fix a lot of unusual issues.

It was helpful in that it also made me do a thermal re-paste.

Well, bit of time this morning, so time to clean the desoldering gun. And boy did it need it!!


As I'm in a large run of desoldering (I'm replacing the single wipe sockets on the C128 for double wipe), it had got pretty gunked up and needed a fairly thorough clean and filter replacement.

All shiny now, ready for the next run of sockets on the C128:


I've got the 2 VIC's, the SID and one of the PIAs and a socketed LS to do, so the end is in sight. I have to say it's one of my favourite tools, it makes it so much easier and safer for through hole component replacement.

Well, I did a thing. Well, 2 things...

First off I ordered a Yellowstone card for my Apple IIe from Big Mess o' Wires. I have been considering it for a little while and I think @HigashiJun suggested it (Sorry if I'm remembering it wrong), but it will work very well with my FloppyEmu for both 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 inch disk drives, and will also allow me to use HDD images too. Big upgrade for sure. Yellowstone


Next thing was that I ordered an AltairDuino from Addwaterandstir. AltairDuino

Yes, it is what you expect it might be:


I saw an Altair in the flesh back when I was deciding wether to go to college or join the RAF. The RAF won out, but I have never forgotten that machine, it was a wow moment.

Of course the real thing is somewhat difficult to obtain and looking on eBay, almost impossible to find. I did find a metal top case reproduction, but that was nearly $250 without shipping...

There are full clones available, but they are going to cost upwards of probably $1000-$1500 for a fairly base system, and that is way higher than I'd like to go

So reproduction it is, though in kit form. There will be compromises, but for the price I expect that.

More on these when they arrive, will likely be a couple of weeks as coming from the US.

I always wondered about those old Altairs. I’ll be looking on with interest to see what can be done with one.

Maybe one day I might even buy my own kit.

Those Altairs are early, use a terminal and may have Microsoft BASIC (if you're lucky?). :-)

They make the Kaypro I'm working on look like science fiction fantasy future machines... well, except for the blinkenlights on the Altair. :-)

So, @rubber_jonnie, when are you going to get the teletype terminal to go with it? ;-)

stephen_usher wrote: 24 Feb 2024 11:16 Those Altairs are early, use a terminal and may have Microsoft BASIC (if you're lucky?). :-)

They make the Kaypro I'm working on look like science fiction fantasy future machines... well, except for the blinkenlights on the Altair. :-)

So, @rubber_jonnie, when are you going to get the teletype terminal to go with it? ;-)

This is a replica, so does have a few extras that the originals needed add ons for, and at the time I saw one on a trip to a college to see what was what, it looked very futuristic compared to my ZX81, though at the time I didn't comprehend the limitations of such a machine.

And your Kaypros look like they come from 2000 years in the future compared to the Altair :)

I've no plans to get a teletype as it goes, I think I'll stick with something simpler and smaller!