Mrbombermillzy's box of delights

[rubber_jonnie]

With those DTV there is a resistor mod to sort the colours out.

Speaking to @mrbombermillzy it may have been modded for SVideo, which can affect composite out, but I need to have a closer look.

The other two are fine, however the 3rd board, which appears to be a V1, outputs in NTSC as noted on my display and also the music is noticeably faster.

[rubber_jonnie]

OK, so no1 now gives me access to the BASIC prompt:

IMG20250819114127.jpg

This is the internal SD2IEC.

However it doesn't like my keyboard, so I can't type anything. I got here by waggling the joystick during bootup. Need to see what keyboards I have handing around.

[mrbombermillzy]

However it doesn't like my keyboard, so I can't type anything. I got here by waggling the joystick during bootup. Need to see what keyboards I have handing around.

So even noting what I said in a PM about powering on the keyboard circuit first (else resetting the DTV to compensate), the specific keyboard may still not be AT compliant.

Let me know how you get on finding a working keyboard and if you dont have any luck I will send you a working one with the other bits. :)

[rubber_jonnie]

However it doesn't like my keyboard, so I can't type anything. I got here by waggling the joystick during bootup. Need to see what keyboards I have handing around.

So even noting what I said in a PM about powering on the keyboard circuit first (else resetting the DTV to compensate), the specific keyboard may still not be AT compliant.

Let me know how you get on finding a working keyboard and if you dont have any luck I will send you a working one with the other bits. :)

So, I have been using the reset trick to be sure the KBD is powered. I have been using a decades old PS/2 cabled Cherry ML4100 (I got it something like 30 years ago) and I'm fairly sure it is AT compatible, and the 3 LEDs illuminate at the start then go off.

I also tried 2 USB keyboards, but of those two only one shows LED's at power up, the other, a Dell, shows no sign of life. I may have other keyboards but I need to go looking.

I'm not seeing any clock activity on the PS/2 clock line with or without a keyboard connected, but that may be compatibility related. Power is definitely OK.

[mrbombermillzy]

Hmm...

Does ANY key do anything at the BASIC prompt?

What about letting it boot fully then holding CTRL whilst resetting the DTV? (Let go of the CTRL at the blue screen).

Any keyboard input?

Ive heard that rarely, some keyboards need an AT communication protocol acknowledged and this wont get handled by the DTV, but thats the exception rather than the rule. One of your keyboards should likely work (after the reset).

I think @PhilC had a problem with his keyboards on the DTV too IIRC.

[PhilC]

Yes I did, I couldn't get the keyboards work at all for me on the DTV but then never got round to doing the second one.

[rubber_jonnie]

Hmm...

Does ANY key do anything at the BASIC prompt?

No, nothing at all.

What about letting it boot fully then holding CTRL whilst resetting the DTV? (Let go of the CTRL at the blue screen).

Any keyboard input?

I'll try it and see.

Ive heard that rarely, some keyboards need an AT communication protocol acknowledged and this wont get handled by the DTV, but thats the exception rather than the rule. One of your keyboards should likely work (after the reset).

I think @PhilC had a problem with his keyboards on the DTV too IIRC.

Let me do some more testing.

[rubber_jonnie]

OK, got some good news here. I have 2 working keyboards :)

The trick is to allow it to boot up to this point:

IMG20250819155258.jpg

This is where it starts to type the load command. As soon as it starts typing hold down CTRL as @mrbombermillzy suggested and press reset. It will reset and drop to BASIC.

IMG20250819155417.jpg

In fact you can reset and hold down CTRL at any point in the menu or even hold down CTRL at power on and you get straight into BASIC.


At present the SD2IEC isn't working, however I think that is an SD2IEC issue. The red LED flashes about 8 times then there is a green flash, and I think that means it isn't booting the SD2IEC.

I know mine requires some BIN files on the SD card to boot the device, so I'll check that when I have the chance.

[mrbombermillzy]

OK, got some good news here. I have 2 working keyboards :)

Great news Jon! Well done!

At present the SD2IEC isn't working, however I think that is an SD2IEC issue. The red LED flashes about 8 times then there is a green flash, and I think that means it isn't booting the SD2IEC.

I know mine requires some BIN files on the SD card to boot the device, so I'll check that when I have the chance.

Nice one. Thank you. I hope the SD2IEC isnt faulty.

Once you do what you need to do to test the drive loading with the SD2IEC, I would be extremely greatful if I could get a regular IEC connector on there, so I can use my trusty old 1541 and floppies and other options, should the SD2IEC fail, or be incompatible with something. :)

[PhilC]

I'll have to dig out my DTV and try it again. I wonder if it does indeed have a working keyboard port after all.