exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

BennehBoy wrote: 10 Feb 2022 16:37 Anyhow I can't see any mods.

SID is 8561 23rd week of 1985
VDC is R9 39th week of 1985
I've got a 64k upgrade for the VDC which sits under the chip.

A 64Kb VDC in the standard 128 is a mod! ;)

That SID is the older C-64 breadbin type.

It kind of shows what state C= were in to have to produce nine revisions of a (more or less) standard video controller chip clone. IIRC any before R5 flat out wouldnt work (or maybe that was the xxx68 version). Even the later '68 has quite fundemental flaws.

I can send you some VDC/CRT killing code if you want to break it? :lol:

mrbombermillzy wrote: 10 Feb 2022 17:27 A 64Kb VDC in the standard 128 is a mod! ;)

Yes I know, this one didn't come with it, I've bought it myself to add in once I've checked that the machine works.

Not sure why I wrote 8561 for the sid when it's a 6581 - all the right digits in completely the wrong order :lol: :lol:

I'll most likely do this rom mod ->

But I'm also considering using larger EEPROMs and an arduino hooked up to the exrom & restore lines to make it switchless & able to use more kernels.

I do sometimes wonder how many mods it takes before you can't consider it the original machine any more.

stephen_usher wrote: 10 Feb 2022 21:31 I do sometimes wonder how many mods it takes before you can't consider it the original machine any more.

As long as they are reversible I'm not really worried, all of the mods I'll be doing are to make the machine more usable and were available back in the day, I'm just doing them in a more modern manner.

Speaking of which, I just bought JiffyDos licenses for the 128 & 1571.

I want to be able to use SpeedDos & DolphinDos whilst in C64 mode so I'll need to hack my hack of Adrian's Digital Basement's rom switcher - mine uses a colour LED to show which ROM is active -> https://github.com/BennehBoy/RGB-C64-Quad-ROM-Switcher

I've got some 27C512's and 27C020's on order from China for this as the 128 uses 16k rom sets vs 8k sets on the 64 - at least if does with the right jumper settings.

Replacement motor controller for the clone 1541 arrived, I'll swap that in later and see if it makes a difference, fingers crossed.

I've replaced the motor controller in the clone 1541, and it's now working :!: :D

Not bad really, got the drive for 15 quid, and the part was a couple of quid.

Obligatory pic with the old chip whipped out and the new waiting to go in (free thumb selfie included):


Scarabaeus successfully loaded from disk:

C128 PSU arrived...

And it's alive!

:dualthumbup:

Great that you got it working.

Although I can't remember the Zombie maze section of Scarabeus having overhead lighting. :lol: