Retro computer hack/fix/play thing.

[AndyC]

Hi Folks,

As some of you know I am interested in retro computing, 70's, 80's stuff.

I would like to try and fix one or two of my more truculent machines and wonder if anyone else who likes this kind of stuff and has their own bits to fix fancies meeting up at the space to play on or fix these old machines.

Ideas for format and day welcome.


Cheers,

Andy.

[Phil Parry]

Sounds interesting, might be some motivation for me to make progress on
the junk I've got lying around!

Cheers
Phil

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[Ant Godber]

Very much into retro computing especially mobile retro stuff.

At the moment I have an old Amiga that is in need of repair (which escapes my enthusiasm)

Would love to still come a long if that's ok?

Cheers

Ant

[Spencer Owen]

I don't know if any of you have read my blog (gets copied on to planet.nottinghack.org.uk), but I'm currently working on a project for a Retro Challenge

http://retrochallenge.net/

The rules are pretty lax, but anything with a retro computing vibe seems to qualify, whether it's hardware, software, emulators, cataloguing, restoring.  I chose to build myself a Z80 based computer and learn to program it in assembler language for my entry.

This is normally run twice a year (summer and winter), so I'm wondering if a few of us could get together for a team entry for the winter challenge.  I'm sure with a selection of skills we could put together something awesome!

Spencer

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[gmjhowe]

I am totally up for having a Retro computing evening or day.

If there is enough interest perhaps even have a regular evening/day?

I know of at least 5 more members not talking here that would be up for it.

Maybe we can finally get my PET working again?

Jake

On Tuesday, 22 July 2014 13:27:45 UTC+1, Spencer Owen wrote:

I don't know if any of you have read my blog (gets copied on to planet.nottinghack.org.uk), but I'm currently working on a project for a Retro Challenge

http://retrochallenge.net/

The rules are pretty lax, but anything with a retro computing vibe seems to qualify, whether it's hardware, software, emulators, cataloguing, restoring.  I chose to build myself a Z80 based computer and learn to program it in assembler language for my entry.

This is normally run twice a year (summer and winter), so I'm wondering if a few of us could get together for a team entry for the winter challenge.  I'm sure with a selection of skills we could put together something awesome!

Spencer

On 22 July 2014 13:17, Ant Godber <a...@godber.me.uk> wrote:

Very much into retro computing especially mobile retro stuff.

At the moment I have an old Amiga that is in need of repair (which escapes my enthusiasm)

Would love to still come a long if that's ok?

Cheers

Ant

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[Kai Pays]

Sorry, meant to post in this thread but haven't seemed to have time!
I would also be up for a retro hack-fix-play day, I mostly specialise in Amiga but I'm happy to play with anything retro, or at least give it a try with varying degrees of success and failure!
The only thing I seem to lack these days is time, but I'd definitely try and commit to something like this for learning and skill sharing alike :-)

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[AndyC]

Thanks for the support folks.

Let's try for Thursday 7th Aug for a kick-off and perhaps once a month after that.


Cheers,

Andy.

[Phil Parry]

Sounds good. Not sure yet what I'll be bringing along, possibly an Apple II. 

Cheers

Phil

--

[gmjhowe]

Hey Andy,

I will be at the hackspace during the day doing a photoshoot anyway, so count me in for being around in the evening as well.

Jake

On Wednesday, 30 July 2014 14:27:52 UTC+1, Phil Parry wrote:

Sounds good. Not sure yet what I'll be bringing along, possibly an Apple II. 

Cheers

Phil

On 28 Jul 2014, at 20:11, AndyC <an...@randomorbit.co.uk> wrote:

Thanks for the support folks.

Let's try for Thursday 7th Aug for a kick-off and perhaps once a month after that.


Cheers,

Andy.



On Saturday, July 19, 2014 4:37:46 PM UTC+1, AndyC wrote:

Hi Folks,

As some of you know I am interested in retro computing, 70's, 80's stuff.

I would like to try and fix one or two of my more truculent machines and wonder if anyone else who likes this kind of stuff and has their own bits to fix fancies meeting up at the space to play on or fix these old machines.

Ideas for format and day welcome.


Cheers,

Andy.

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[Dominic Morrow]

Photoshoot? Do you have a model? Can they model some TShirts?

Sent from my iPhone

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[Phil Parry]

I can't make it tonight I'm afraid, something unforeseen has come up.
Thursdays are usually OK for me so I'll most likely be at the next one.

Hope it goes well!
Phil

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[gmjhowe]

So, we had a great evening at the Retro Computer evening.

Andy brought an old Wren which he tinkered with, myself and Kai geeked out playing Alien Breed on his Amiga 1200, Tristan was trying to make an RGB cable for his Jaguar. Not sure if he succeeded.

Andy, are you planning to carry on running this as a regular event? I think once a month would be great, as not everyone made it to the first one I reckon we could easily keep the event going.

However I don't really want to take on running another group at the space (I totally will if no one else does, because retro computing rocks).

We talked about maybe alternating between Hacking one month, and Playing/Slow and Tell the following.

What do people think?

Jake

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[Spencer Owen]

I really wanted to come along to this, but the timing was really unfortunate from my point of view.

If it happens again then I'll certainly do my best to make it along.  It'll be great to show off my winning entry in the Retro Challenge ;-) and also play a few classic ZX Spectrum games (loaded from ROM, so no faffing with dodgy cassettes!).

Spencer

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[Ant Godber]

Same as Spencer on this, really wanted to be there for the last, but sadly work got in the way.

Count me in on tinkering or just getting our old toys out :-)

Ant 

[Jake Howe]

What days work best for you guys? Is another Thursday still good?

If so, should we decide on a specific Thursday every month?

Jake

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[Spencer Owen]

Thursday is probably the best day for me.

Spencer

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[Kai Pays]

Thursdays are usually Ok for me too.

[Jake Howe]

So, we have a choice between every first Thursday, or every third Thursday? To avoid conflicts with Ukulele and Arduino (which run on the same evening now).

I would prefer avoiding the first Thursday as I run the photo group on the monday, which would make for a busy week.

If we go third Thursday we can either have another meet up this thursday, or wait until the third thursday in sept, which is the 18th.

Jake

[Phil Parry]

Every third Thursday sounds good to me.

This week would be OK for me, easiest for me is a hack/tinker night as I
can just grab some random junk that may or may not work. Show and tell
means gathering together a working machine and software and takes a bit
of organisation, something that isn't my strong suit.

Sounds like the last/first meet was a success, Wren (the luggable CP/M
thing, right?), Amiga and Jag is a great mix of machines.

Cheers
Phil

On 2014-08-18 12:51, Jake Howe wrote:
> So, we have a choice between every first Thursday, or every third
> Thursday? To avoid conflicts with Ukulele and Arduino (which run on
> the same evening now).
>
> I would prefer avoiding the first Thursday as I run the photo group on
> the monday, which would make for a busy week.
> If we go third Thursday we can either have another meet up this
> thursday, or wait until the third thursday in sept, which is the 18th.
>
> Jake
>
> On 18 Aug 2014, at 11:24, Kai Pays <rave...@gmail.com

> <mailto:rave...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>> Thursdays are usually Ok for me too.
>>
>> On 18 Aug 2014 11:22, "Spencer Owen" <spe...@sowen.com

>> <mailto:spe...@sowen.com>> wrote:
>>
>> Thursday is probably the best day for me.
>>
>> Spencer
>>
>> On 18 Aug 2014 10:48, "Jake Howe" <ho...@dr.com

>> <mailto:ho...@dr.com>> wrote:
>>
>> What days work best for you guys? Is another Thursday still
>> good?
>>
>> If so, should we decide on a specific Thursday every month?
>>
>> Jake
>>
>> On 18 Aug 2014, at 04:01, Ant Godber <a...@godber.me.uk

[Spencer Owen]

Count me in for this Thursday.  I'll bring along a ZX Spectrum with a few classic games on ROM and also my RC2014, Z80 based computer for a bit of a show & tell :-)

Spencer

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[Phil Parry]

I've been following your blog, looking forward to seeing your homebrew Z80!

On 2014-08-18 22:45, Spencer Owen wrote:
> Count me in for this Thursday. I'll bring along a ZX Spectrum with a
> few classic games on ROM and also my RC2014, Z80 based computer for a
> bit of a show & tell :-)
>
> Spencer
>
>
> On 18 August 2014 21:23, Phil Parry <skipf...@gmail.com

> <mailto:skipf...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Every third Thursday sounds good to me.
>
> This week would be OK for me, easiest for me is a hack/tinker
> night as I can just grab some random junk that may or may not
> work. Show and tell means gathering together a working machine
> and software and takes a bit of organisation, something that isn't
> my strong suit.
>
> Sounds like the last/first meet was a success, Wren (the luggable
> CP/M thing, right?), Amiga and Jag is a great mix of machines.
>
> Cheers
> Phil
>
>
> On 2014-08-18 12:51, Jake Howe wrote:
>
> So, we have a choice between every first Thursday, or every
> third Thursday? To avoid conflicts with Ukulele and Arduino
> (which run on the same evening now).
>
> I would prefer avoiding the first Thursday as I run the photo
> group on the monday, which would make for a busy week.
> If we go third Thursday we can either have another meet up
> this thursday, or wait until the third thursday in sept, which
> is the 18th.
>
> Jake
>
> On 18 Aug 2014, at 11:24, Kai Pays <rave...@gmail.com

> <mailto:rave...@gmail.com> <mailto:rave...@gmail.com

> <mailto:rave...@gmail.com>>> wrote:
>
> Thursdays are usually Ok for me too.
>
> On 18 Aug 2014 11:22, "Spencer Owen" <spe...@sowen.com

> <mailto:spe...@sowen.com> <mailto:spe...@sowen.com

> <mailto:spe...@sowen.com>>> wrote:
>
> Thursday is probably the best day for me.
>
> Spencer
>
> On 18 Aug 2014 10:48, "Jake Howe" <ho...@dr.com
> <mailto:ho...@dr.com>

> <mailto:ho...@dr.com <mailto:ho...@dr.com>>> wrote:
>
> What days work best for you guys? Is another
> Thursday still
> good?
>
> If so, should we decide on a specific Thursday
> every month?
>
> Jake
>
> On 18 Aug 2014, at 04:01, Ant Godber
> <a...@godber.me.uk <mailto:a...@godber.me.uk>

> <mailto:a...@godber.me.uk

[AndyC]

Sorry folks,

I can't make it this week but I'll try for next month.

Have a good time and sample some retro goodness for me.

Andy

[Spencer Owen]

Is it worth giving this a go at running every 1st and 3rd Thursday?  That way, those that have to miss one night don't have to wait almost 2 months between meetings?

The next couple of 1st and 3rd Thursdays currently look clear in my calendar.

Spencer

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[Spencer Owen]

Well, I enjoyed the Retro Computer Night last night.  It was good to show off my RC2014 Z80 computer, and also get the old ZX Spectrum out for some games - Mouse certainly seemed to be reliving his childhood Chuckie Egg and Manic Miner days!

Phil had a couple of Apple ][ computers there, which seemed to surprise him by booting up despite not being touched for many years.  There seemed to be less luck with loading DOS from an iPhone though, but I'm sure when that's sorted the disc drives will live again too!

There was another chap there, and I must apologise for forgetting his name (Names aren't my strong point!), with a Spectrum which was the first time he had plugged it in.  Sadly, the Speccy didn't last the night before it suffered from hardware failure.  I've had a look at the symptoms for you though, and it looks like one of these three things; 5v regulator, lower memory or ULA chip

Flashing Coloured Blocks

One of the most common serious Spectrum faults. 

The outputs of the voltage regulator circuitry are taken to the edge connector and an oscillator in the circuit is extremely sensitive to any extra load. This extra load is usually generated when a joystick or other peripheral is added or removed with the computer turned on.

The other culprit is one or more of the lower 16K memory chips shorting. These 4116 chips can still be found and faulty ones replaced if you are good at de-soldering, but finding the faulty memory can be very hit and miss unless you have a good record on the lottery or football pools. Sometimes you might be lucky and it will be obvious as a particular chip getting hot much more quickly than the rest.

Higher Memory Faults

These problems often go un-noticed until a certain memory address is accessed which results in a system crash or “Out of Memory” message.

To check that the entire memory is operational enter the following line:

PRINT PEEK 23732 + 256 * PEEK 23733 and then [ENTER]

The result should be 65535 for a 48K spectrum or 32767 for a 16K model. Any shortfall (lower number) indicates a memory fault.

Permanent Black Raster and White Border

The cause of this is a usually faulty ULA chip – these are sometimes available in the shop. On some models the chips are not soldered onto the boards and replacement is very easy. Carefully lever the chip out of its socket cradle with a flat screwdriver blade (or chip puller if you’re posh), levering evenly at each end to avoid bending the pins. Push the replacement evenly into the socket ensuring that it is the right way around (the notch on the ULA chip goes towards the back of the board).

Personally, though, I think it became sentient, realised you was about to unlock secret hidden treasures in Manic Miner and took it's own life to protect the secrets :-)

I'm looking forward to getting together again in a couple of weeks.

Spencer

[Jake Howe]

Sounds like you had an excellent evening of it! I look forward to the next one as well.

I am hoping to have my Amiga running by then, I have also been playing around with RetroPie and the idea of a portable Raspberry Pi based Amiga emulator.

Because if anything, the future is being able to sit on the train playing a modern made Amiga.

Jake

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[Phil Parry]

It was an enjoyable night! Once I'd got home I tried loading DOS via my
PC's audio output and ADTPro, and it (mostly) worked - I got it to
format a boot disk but it seemed a bit flaky. The goal is to have at
least one working reliable Apple out of the three I've got, so with some
swapping of bits I might have that done for next time.

I hope Patrick gets his Spectrum fixed, now you mention those faults, I
vaguely remember a -5v DC-DC converter that supplies the 4116's being a
common problem, might be worth checking.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you do next with your homebrew Z80!

Cheers
Phil

On 2014-08-22 11:05, Spencer Owen wrote:
> Well, I enjoyed the Retro Computer Night last night. It was good to
> show off my RC2014 Z80 computer, and also get the old ZX Spectrum out
> for some games - Mouse certainly seemed to be reliving his childhood
> Chuckie Egg and Manic Miner days!
>
> Phil had a couple of Apple ][ computers there, which seemed to
> surprise him by booting up despite not being touched for many years.
> There seemed to be less luck with loading DOS from an iPhone though,
> but I'm sure when that's sorted the disc drives will live again too!
>
> There was another chap there, and I must apologise for forgetting his
> name (Names aren't my strong point!), with a Spectrum which was the
> first time he had plugged it in. Sadly, the Speccy didn't last the
> night before it suffered from hardware failure. I've had a look at
> the symptoms for you though, and it looks like one of these three
> things; 5v regulator, lower memory or ULA chip
>

> *Flashing Coloured Blocks*

>
> One of the most common serious Spectrum faults.
>
> The outputs of the voltage regulator circuitry are taken to
> the edge connector and an oscillator in the circuit is
> extremely sensitive to any extra load. This extra load is
> usually generated when a joystick or other peripheral is added
> or removed with the computer turned on.
>
> The other culprit is one or more of the lower 16K memory chips
> shorting. These 4116 chips can still be found and faulty ones
> replaced if you are good at de-soldering, but finding the
> faulty memory can be very hit and miss unless you have a good
> record on the lottery or football pools. Sometimes you might
> be lucky and it will be obvious as a particular chip getting
> hot much more quickly than the rest.
>

> *Higher Memory Faults*

>
> These problems often go un-noticed until a certain memory
> address is accessed which results in a system crash or “Out of
> Memory” message.
>
> To check that the entire memory is operational enter the
> following line:
>
> PRINT PEEK 23732 + 256 * PEEK 23733 and then [ENTER]
>
> The result should be 65535 for a 48K spectrum or 32767 for a
> 16K model. Any shortfall (lower number) indicates a memory fault.
>

> *Permanent Black Raster and White Border*
>
> The cause of this is a usually faulty ULA chip*–* these are

> sometimes available in the shop. On some models the chips are
> not soldered onto the boards and replacement is very easy.
> Carefully lever the chip out of its socket cradle with a flat
> screwdriver blade (or chip puller if you’re posh), levering
> evenly at each end to avoid bending the pins. Push the
> replacement evenly into the socket ensuring that it is the
> right way around (the notch on the ULA chip goes towards the
> back of the board).
>
>
> Personally, though, I think it became sentient, realised you was about
> to unlock secret hidden treasures in Manic Miner and took it's own
> life to protect the secrets :-)
>
> I'm looking forward to getting together again in a couple of weeks.
>
> Spencer
>
>
> On 19 August 2014 22:16, Spencer Owen <spe...@sowen.com

> <mailto:spe...@sowen.com>> wrote:
>
> Is it worth giving this a go at running every 1st and 3rd
> Thursday? That way, those that have to miss one night don't have
> to wait almost 2 months between meetings?
>
> The next couple of 1st and 3rd Thursdays currently look clear in
> my calendar.
>
> Spencer
>
>
> On 19 August 2014 19:41, AndyC <an...@randomorbit.co.uk

[Tristan Hession]

Hi.
I did succeed, of a fashion,to get the jaguar av cable working on the first retro night,but totally missed out on the second ...
Has a date been set for the next one.

Tristan.

[Limone Porco]

I was the happiest 16yo-in-the-body-of-a-26yo when I found a commodore 128 with his box, the manual, cables, adapter, the tape reader and a couple of cassette. I took it home for around 10£ (12,50€).

I'd be extremely interested just to be your assistant and learn a bit more :D

[Ant Godber]

Thursdays are good for me, but with EMF I cant really get my wife to stamp my pass until the 14th :-)

[Jake Howe]

Hey Everyone,

So those of you that were at EMF would have seen the Retro Gaming tent, which was awesome. I didn’t get in it anywhere near enough with being caught up with organising the event/helping out.

It has left me needing to get my Retro Computing fix. I was trying to encourage someone else to take over running this event, however I am not sure that will be the case.

So I am going to suggest the following.

We continue to run it twice a month, on the 2nd and 3rd Thursdays of the month.

We put it up on our website and calendar as per other events.

We make it a semi-closed event, that is if non-members come along and people are around we let them in, but if one evening non of us make it down then people are expecting that.

Does that sound good?

In other news, I thought we could start work on a project together, I met Paul Evans, from The National Museum of Computing at EMF Camp, and I maybe promised them the commodore PET we have at the hackspace.

We just have to fix it first. So I thought maybe we could dedicate some time to trying to fix it up properly at these evenings?

It would be cool to have a computer donated/onloan from Nottingham Hackspace at the museum, plus it would be a great advertisement for our little Retro group.

Jake

On 28 Aug 2014, at 13:39, Ant Godber <a...@godber.me.uk> wrote:

Thursdays are good for me, but with EMF I cant really get my wife to stamp my pass until the 14th :-)

[gmjhowe]

I assume everyone is on holiday? Or recovering from EMF camp?

I have now fixed/confirmed that I will be around on Thursday 18th Sept (third thursday).

So the Retro Computing evening will be on for sure. Lets start at 7pm, aiming to finish at 9pm. Non members are welcome to attend this date, but I will be asking for you to leave at 9pm when I need to leave.

I figure people might be more likely to come along if the event is on for sure.

I want to work on getting my PET fixed. However even if I don't I plan to be photographing it for use on some posters/flyers/blog posts.

Also going to bring my Psion handheld computer for people to play with. I have been playing with RetroPie which is a Raspberry Pi retro gaming emulator, so I will have that with me too.

Jake

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[Spencer Owen]

I'll be there on the 18th. If all goes well, I should have some updates working in the RC2014 and maybe even a UK101 emulator to play with.

Spencer

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[Phil Parry]

I'll aim to be there but might be after 7pm.

I called in last Thursday on the off chance, I made use of the time to
myself to set up a laptop for downloading disk images to my Apple ][ -
no more fiddling with my iPhone in future!

I'll probably bring an Apple in again but if there's going to be a PET
and/or UK101 theme I might be distracted...

Cheers
Phil

On 2014-09-07 11:29, Spencer Owen wrote:
>
> I'll be there on the 18th. If all goes well, I should have some
> updates working in the RC2014 and maybe even a UK101 emulator to play
> with.
>
> Spencer
>

> On 7 Sep 2014 11:18, "gmjhowe" <ho...@dr.com <mailto:ho...@dr.com>> wrote:
>
> I assume everyone is on holiday? Or recovering from EMF camp?
>

> I have now fixed/confirmed that I will be around on *Thursday 18th
> Sept* (third thursday).

> So the Retro Computing evening will be on for sure. Lets start at

> *7pm*, aiming to finish at *9pm*. Non members are welcome to

> <mailto:a...@godber.me.uk>> wrote:
>
>> Thursdays are good for me, but with EMF I cant really get my
>> wife to stamp my pass until the 14th :-)
>>
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[Jake Howe]

I have to say I am totally biased towards the macintosh stuff. Except for my soft spot for the Amigas.

Once the pet is working again I have a fully working 1984 macintosh which just needs software and a keyboard/mouse.

Jake

Gmjhowe

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[Spencer Owen]

I was planning on turning up last Thursday, but had been struck down by the lurgy :(

I wouldn't get too excited about the UK101... it's only an emulator running on a TI Stellaris board, but I can't get the LCD screen working at the moment.

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[Simon Osborne]

Hi Guys,

I'm planning on joining the hackspace and the talk of a retro evening interests me. I recently bought a PC Engine that I intend on modding for RGB output. I have all the bits I need but I'm starting to think I may be a little out of my depth here. Doesn't help that my soldering iron doesn't seem to be working too well. So thought I'd pop along to the open night to find out about the space, enquire about joining then I'd love to pop down to the retro evening. It would be great to meet others with an interest in keeping these old machines running (as well as the odd game or two!).

Simon

[Kai Pays]

Hi Simon,

Joining the space is a great thing to do!

And the retro nights are quite fun :)

I have a turbo-grafx, which is very similar to the pc-engine, just the US version (as you probably know)

Now, I'm never one to discourage hacking of any form, however! There is a guy on amibay who has figured out the pinout for the expansion port on the back, this port carries pure RGB signals and stereo audio, You could have a go at making the cable yourself, but you would need an RGB amp to amplify the signals from there, however again! He is doing pre made cables for £25 including postage!

I have decided to go this route as I would like to leave the machine stock where possible.

There is also a crazy prolific Russian hacker that makes flash cartridges for the pc-engine/turb-grafx called Krikkz, this allows you to put your ROM collection on a micro SD card and play them on the real hardware.

I'll leave these links here for you, and look forward to you joining the Hackspace. :)

http://krikzz.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=57

http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?62536-PCEngine-external-RGB-SCART-No-internal-modification-required-Order-thread

Thanks,

Kai.

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Regards, Kai Pays ॐ

[Kai Pays]

I should mention about joining!

Sorry got carriwed away with retro goodies :)

The best thing to do is to come along to the open nights we have on a Wednesday from 6PM onwards, get a feel for the space and its inhabitants, and have a look round.

There will be someone there to give a tour, and to sign up to the HMS (our management system) to get the ball rolling on membership.

Hope to see you soon. :)

[Simon Osborne]

Hi Kai, Thanks for the info. I did look at the expansion connector cable but decided against it as I wouldn't be able to use it if I got a CD unit. I managed to get the PC Engine cheap and I've got all the parts to do the rgb mod.

Would be great to join the space even to have people around if I get stuck with anything or can tell me if I'm doing things wrong. Only so much you can learn from watching youtube :D

Simon

[gmjhowe]

I am also happy for you to attend the evening meeting on the 18th as guest, we can give you a quick tour then and I can take your details for membership.

The retro computing evenings are kind of semi-open in that you will only get in if some of us are around for it!

Not that I am trying to convince you not to be a member.

Otherwise I will see you on the 18th.

Jake

[Simon Osborne]

Thanks Jake. I'll probably go to the open evening on Wednesday then pop along on the 18th

Cheers

Simon

[AndyC]

What Ho!

I'm on for Thursday. Not sure what to bring along yet. I'll see how I get on with the various projects I have on the go at the moment.


See y'all there.

Andy.

[Jake Howe]

Excellent Andy.

I am not 100% sure what to bring either, I need to invest in an accelerator card for my Amiga.

Good news is Kai put me onto a link where I can buy disks for my 1984 Macintosh, so my next aim is to buy a keyboard and mouse for it.

I just keep reminding myself that most of this vintage computing stuff is a tiny percentage of what it would have cost in the day!

Jake

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[Spencer Owen]

I just did a blog post about hooking up a ZX Printer to my RC2014 (Z80 based home built computer) http://www.sowen.com/859/rc2014-with-zx-printer-interface/

I'm not sure if there's any interest in seeing this on Thursday - after all, there's only so many times you can feign excitement at seeing a black line show up on a printer - but I can bring it along if you want.

Otherwise, it'll be a Spectrum, the UK101 clone (now with working screen, but SD card not working) and maybe a few other odds and sods.

Spencer

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[Jake Howe]

Hello All,

So, I am at the Hackspace already for Retro computing, just having a bite to eat before people turn up at 7pm.

Anyone planning to come later, thats fine too.

I have brought my Psion portable computer with me for people to have a play with.

I look forward to having a go with all your things.

See you all in a short while.

Regards,

Jake Howe

—

Graphic Designer

Photographer

gmjhowe
07970 394113

m...@gmjhowe.com
www.gmjhowe.com

[Jake Howe]

Well, we had a great turn out for this, we decided that we would keep the event as something that happens every Third Thursday.

Which means our next event will take place on Thursday 16th October.

But if people felt inspired to do something on the second thursday they could do.

I have added us to the Nottinghack website, and made us this nice little flyer/poster that I will put up around the space.

I have decided that we will basically say ‘New members are welcome, but let us know if you are planning to come along’

That way if non of us are going to make a meeting we can let them know.

Regards,

Jake Howe

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Graphic Designer

Photographer

gmjhowe

m...@gmjhowe.com
www.gmjhowe.com

[see attached file: Untitled-1.jpg]

[Spencer Owen]

I thought the alternative night was 1st Thursday? I was planning on coming along on 2nd October as well as 16th.

Spencer

[Jake Howe]

Yes, correct the 1st Thursday.

Which I didn't want to commit to due to the photo group being on the 1st Monday.

Jake

Gmjhowe

[Phil Parry]

I'll be at Goose Fair tonight instead, but I should be ok for the 16th. 

Cheers

Phil

[Spencer Owen]

I'll be along tonight, although if there's not much of a turn out, I'll probably be soldering in the electronics area.

(The PCB has arrived that I designed to boot the RC2014 from SD card - I still need to build it, write the assembly code yet, but it should make things a bit easier for me in the future)

[Tristan Hession]

Is there a retro night on this Thursday? I seem to remember a email newsletter mentioning the date,but the thread has been quiet.

Assuming Ive got the right date, has anyone else got plans to go along? I'm hoping to drag along my pdp11, more as a curiosity as it doesn't currently do a great deal,but wasn't sure if I'd be ' billy no mates '.

Tristan

[Phil Parry]

I was planning on attending tomorrow and bringing my 11/23, but
something else has come up so it's unlikely I'll be there. I'm sure you
won't be on your own if you go!

Cheers
Phil

[Jake Howe]

Yeah, tomorrow will be the Retro Computer evening.

The Third Thursday is the main one we should all aim to attend.

However remember that its not a fully open event, so if there are any guests they will have asked on here before hand.

(basically means we don’t have to worry about being responsible for guests)

Regards,

Jake Howe

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gmjhowe

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[Spencer Owen]

" (basically means we don’t have to worry about being responsible for guests)"

As long as we can be irresponsible, I'll pop along for a bit.

Spencer

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[Jake Howe]

Just remember, don’t lick your pinky and stick it in the cathode of the ray tube!

Regards,

Jake Howe

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Photographer

gmjhowe

m...@gmjhowe.com
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[Spencer Owen]

I know the major Retro Computer Night is 3th Thursday of the month, but as my revised SpectROM PCB arrived today, I will be coming along with my ZX Spectrum. It'll be a good opportunity to test the exciting new feature out :-)

Spencer

[Tristan Hession]

By my shakey maths next Thursday is the third of the month. Anyone got any plans or thoughts on a 'theme'?

[Spencer Owen]

Yup, Thursday looks close about right to me!

In preparation for the Spectrum Geek Out on 6th December ( http://matt.west.co.tt/spectrum/geek-out/) I'm going to be bringing in about 5 or 6 Spectrums to see how many work and what needs to be done to bring some of the others back to life.

Spencer

On 15 Nov 2014 07:34, "Tristan Hession" <tristan...@gmail.com> wrote:

By my shakey maths next Thursday is the third of the month. Anyone got any plans or thoughts on a 'theme'?

[Andrew Armstrong]

I'll be coming to this, I have intended to for a while but I've had clashing shifts. Main thing is I want to discuss The National Museum Of Computing and how we might be be able to hack some of their stuff to work :-) (also if anyone want to be a volunteer to work there we're on a membership drive)

Andrew

[Tristan Hession]

Speccy theme night sounds cool, as does a NMoC discussion, so looking forward to it.Do we have any analogue tuner TV's to setup a couple of spectrums?
Tris.

[Jake Howe]

Sweet, glad to see plans are forming already!

I will try and make it along, not sure I have anything Spectrum to show off though.

So just gonna enjoy playing with all your guys things.

Regards,

Jake Howe

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gmjhowe

m...@gmjhowe.com
www.gmjhowe.com

On 16 Nov 2014, at 19:13, Tristan Hession <tristan...@gmail.com> wrote:

Speccy theme night sounds cool, as does a NMoC discussion, so looking forward to it.Do we have any analogue tuner TV's to setup a couple of spectrums?
Tris.

[Spencer Owen]

I'm running a bit late this evening, so probably won't be there until about 7:30 - 8:00

I will be bringing 2 TVs with me.

Spencer

[Andrew Armstrong]

Same here, running late, I'll pop in when I've eaten dinner in an hour or so.

Andrew

[Tristan Hession]

Any thoughts from anyone on what we might do next week (18th??)
Does anyone think it might be worth trying a Retro Gaming night?
Tris.

[AndyC]

Thanks to everyone who turned up last Thursday, a small but enthusiastic band.

We had a Sinclair QL, an Amiga 1200 and a very tidy Psion laptop.

There was a suggestion made of a themed night but I think we're best off not restricting things until we get more mass. I do think a bit of a "show and tell" could work though along side the usual mixture.

What are peoples thoughts?


Cheers,

Andy.

[AndyC]

It's that time again, the Third Thursday, and this month I'm going to celebrate Apple's recently announced ridiculous profits in an ironic way by bringing  a bag of Apple Newtons, Apple's ill fated but IMHO rather splendid PDA.

Be there or be somewhere else.


Andy.

[Alex Wells]

Hey chief, bit OT and might sound like an odd question, but you're not Yeti by any chance, are you?

[AndyC]

Nope, I'm am many things but not Yeti.

[Alex Wells]

Ah, a case of mistaken identity then; never mind!

[Spencer Owen]

I was really hoping to make it along tonight, but, sadly, it looks like I'm going to have to miss another one :-(

Things are looking good for next month though, so I'll make sure I come along then.

Spencer

On 19 February 2015 at 17:33, Alex Wells <alexande...@gmail.com> wrote:

Ah, a case of mistaken identity then; never mind!

[Callum Longshaw]

I have no experience here! but any one attempted the N64 portable thingy? see the image

http://24.media.tumblr.com/57c03f7842cc9ba6e278af8c8f6ce503/tumblr_n1vc9nBfvn1r9xkszo1_500.jpg

[AndyC]

Thanks to everyone that turned up last night. I think the count ran to five Apple Newtons of various models. We had an original Message pad, an eMate and a 2100 represented.

Next month we're going for a 6502 night. There are many possibilities here from Apple ][, C64, Vic20, Atari 8 bit stuff. There has even been mention of a UK-101 or two in attendance.
Of course, if you've got a machine with any other processor, that's OK too.

The date by my reckoning will be the 19th or March from around 7:30 ish.

See you there...

Andy.

[Tristan Hession]

It looks like a fantastic project. I wish I had the skills and patience to do something like that. I've heard of similar portable console projects on various websites, but I'm not aware of anyone in the Space having done one - I could be wrong though.

[AndyC]

This Thursday (the 21st) is retro computer night again.

We had a think last month and unanimously decided that this month would be 6502 night.

So dust off your Oric-1 or UK101, BBC or C64 and gather by the light of the CRT and tell tales of 16k being a lot and an 800k floppy disk being more than enough for anyone.

Kick off around 7:30ish.


Cheers,

Andy.

[AndyC]

Doh!,
That date will be the 19th, not the 21st. Sorry.

[Graham S]

Hi guys, I'm the old fella who showed pictures of a UK101 at the last meet. Well, I can't get it to run, it just freezes.
The eproms had bitrot but I've obtained new copies. The problem is a strange memory corruption whilst running.
I'll bring it along on the 19th, but it would be really useful if there was another UK101 there.

[paul spacebee]

https://plus.google.com/photos/112937715374272727714/albums/6126137572501392289/6126137576591863090?pid=6126137576591863090&oid=112937715374272727714

[Spencer Owen]

I'm going to be running a bit late this evening, and haven't had time yo sort much out, but hopefully my emulated UK101 will still be working :-)

See y'all later

Spencer

On 18 Mar 2015 18:55, "paul spacebee" <kosmo...@gmail.com> wrote:

https://plus.google.com/photos/112937715374272727714/albums/6126137572501392289/6126137576591863090?pid=6126137576591863090&oid=112937715374272727714

[Spencer Owen]

Tonights Retro Computer Night was fun, and good to see so many 6502 based machines there.  (Photo attached for those that missed it).

As mentioned, the book "10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10" is available on Amazon, and also as a 50MB PDF under a Creative Commons licence from here http://10print.org/ 

Catch y'all at the next RCN

Spencer

[AndyC]

Thanks to everyone who came along on Thursday. There was a good variety of machines. IIRC we had an Acorn Electron, Apple II, Superboard 2, UK-101, Rockwell Aim65, a Commodore 64 and a Sinclair QL.

The theme was machines based on the 6502 processor. (The QL was allowed an honorary entry :-) )

Next month we are going to try and get enough Atari STs together to play midimaze but of course, all retro machine are welcome.

Make a note in your diary, Apple Newton, Handspring Visor, Microwriter Agenda etc. to be there on the third Thursday in April.


Cheers,

[Tristan Hession]

I've tested my two Atari St(e)'s and believe both are working and I've managed to get hold of a pair of MIDI cables and  MIDI Maze - hopefully over the weekend I can prove it all works together, assuming I can magic up another Atari Mouse

Does anyone know the status of the STe in the Hackspace - as in does it work?  If it does we can have at least third Atari working on the night, assuming we can get hold of another MIDI cable or two...

Tristan.

[Pat McDonald]

It's not an STe, but an ST520. AFAIK nobody has touched it, should be good to go, original thread here;-

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/nottinghack/Z65ufRez0to

EDIT: It has a "Do not Hack but free to use for Retro Group" notice on it.

[Tristan Hession]

Thank you Pat, I'll try and take a look before Thursday to be sure.
Is anyone else planning on bringing an ST of any description or even a random Atari?

[Spencer Owen]

I don't have an Atari ST to bring along, buy I'll bring my Atari Portfolio instead :-)

Spencer

On 11 Apr 2015 09:01, "Tristan Hession" <tristan...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thank you Pat, I'll try and take a look before Thursday to be sure.
Is anyone else planning on bringing an ST of any description or even a random Atari?

[AndyC]

I will be coming down. Hopefully with a suitable Atari.

Fingers crossed.


Andy.

[Angel LaHash]

Ive got vic20, c64 c64c (wedge shape) and c128d (another wedge) also msx yamaha
Damaged i got c64 and some msx phillips i thing, did have a A600 but the disc drive rusted nt sure if i still have that

[AndyC]

Hi Angel,

The monthly theme idea is very loose and not mandatory. Any retro machines are always welcome. :-)

[AndyC]

Things are looking good for tomorrow (Thursday) night. I think we can muster 4 or 5 STs of various types.

It should be a good night.

Get thinking of ideas for next month's theme :-)


Andy.

[Phil Parry]

Have fun everyone, don't think I can make it tonight but I'll try!

Phil

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[AndyC]

Thanks to everyone who came to the retro computer gathering last Thursday. We played a few rounds of MIDImaze for retro-goodness.

I'll start a new thread for next month as this one is too huge.


Cheers,

Andy