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#zx81 — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #zx81, aggregated by home.social.

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  1. Excellent little review of Zevious Seven in Retro Magazine World issue 54! 🕹️

    There is also a great feature on the ZX81, a review of ALTAIRIS, and much more.

    Mag available here: retromagazine.net/getrm.php?id

    #RetroMagazineWorld #Homebrew #ZX81 #RetroGaming

  2. Excellent little review of Zevious Seven in Retro Magazine World issue 54! 🕹️

    There is also a great feature on the ZX81, a review of ALTAIRIS, and much more.

    Mag available here: retromagazine.net/getrm.php?id

    #RetroMagazineWorld #Homebrew #ZX81 #RetroGaming

  3. Excellent little review of Zevious Seven in Retro Magazine World issue 54! 🕹️

    There is also a great feature on the ZX81, a review of ALTAIRIS, and much more.

    Mag available here: retromagazine.net/getrm.php?id

    #RetroMagazineWorld #Homebrew #ZX81 #RetroGaming

  4. Excellent little review of Zevious Seven in Retro Magazine World issue 54! 🕹️

    There is also a great feature on the ZX81, a review of ALTAIRIS, and much more.

    Mag available here: retromagazine.net/getrm.php?id

    #RetroMagazineWorld #Homebrew #ZX81 #RetroGaming

  5. Excellent little review of Zevious Seven in Retro Magazine World issue 54! 🕹️

    There is also a great feature on the ZX81, a review of ALTAIRIS, and much more.

    Mag available here: retromagazine.net/getrm.php?id

    #RetroMagazineWorld #Homebrew #ZX81 #RetroGaming

  6. The ZX81

    I was lucky enough to get my hands on a ZX81 in a box recently. There is a huge amount of information online about them so I won’t add much by way of background here – wikipedia provides. Instead, I’ll summarize what I have, what state it is in, and what I’m doing with it.

    Before I get stuck in however, I will list some good resources I’ve been referring to. I’ve not had a ZX81 before, and didn’t know too much about it, beyond the basics.

    And for some general browsing of random ZX81 related projects, I can also recommend the Tynemouth Software ZX81 blog tag.

    My ZX81

    Contents:

    • ZX81 with 1Kb RAM.
    • Power and leads.
    • ZX81 BASIC Programming manual (2nd Edition, 1981).
    • ZX81 Software Catalogue.
    • Box and polys (some cable melting).

    The PCB only has four chips on it: CPU (3.25MHz Z80A), RAM, ROM and a ULA (uncommitted logic array). There are several ULA versions. Mine is simple labelled “8119” which apparently indicates it is an early version, common on these Issue 1 boards.

    I believe there were a number of RAM options. This one has a single wide DIP chip – a Mostek 4118 1Kx8 SRAM. Interestingly there also seems to be an option for a (physically) larger ROM device – mine has four extra pins on the socket compared to the installed Mostek MK36809N 8K mask ROM.

    Coincidentally, in a separate event, I managed to also pick up the Sinclair 16K RAM expansion.

    This has a pile of logic and then 8 HYB 4116 P4 dynamic memory 16Kbit x1 devices. These are the same devices used in the ZX Spectrum lower RAM.

    First Boot

    Happily the ZX81 works. It boots into a prompt, showing the expected inverse K cursor and I can enter the now mandatory BASIC “hello” PRINT/GOTO program and RUN it. It turns out that even the 16K RAM pack works too – I can even use the DIM(3069) check from the “When the computer gets full” chapter (23) in the BASIC User Manual.

    But I do have a problem. This is how the display appears on my TV:

    It turns out that earlier versions (like mine) of the ULA don’t provide a decent “back porch” for the video signal. This is meant to be a “return to zero” marker in the analogue video signal that the TV will use to decide what “black” looks like. Old CRTs were quite happy to cope with a dodgy signal and would still show a decent contrast between black and white. But modern TVs lose track and end up not being able to show any contrast at all as shown above. There are more details here:

    The solution is to introduce some timing electronics to bring back the correct “back porch” and this is typically added to a composite mod board that is published online and easily available as a readymade module.

    The first one, I bought from “MyRetroStore”, but when it came to fitting I decided actually I’d rather have one that would fit inside the existing modulator without having to remove all the existing circuit inside. So instead I went for a smaller version from “One Bright Spark” online. You can see the relative sizes of the two options compared to the existing TV modulator below.

    Fitting is pretty straight forward. There is an IN, OUT, ground and power, which essentially replace the IN and OUT, ground and power, for the TV modulator.

    I was keen that I could install this in a reversible manner, as I didn’t really want to be cutting wires as suggested in the fitting guide. This proved to be quite prophetic…

    I desoldered the two connections to the original modulator from the PCB and fed the red and white wires through the casing (gently, but firmly, pulling out the plastic insulator first).

    Then upon plugging everything back in – absolutely nothing. The TV would not tune into the signal at all. I checked voltages. The PSU was putting out ~14V, but the 5V line was reading ~6V so I wondered if that could have cooked the comp mod? I replaced the regulator just in case but the new one was doing the same, so I parked that for the moment, to come back to and sat back and thought a bit more.

    Eventually I reversed the comp mod and temporarily reconnected the modulator – I was back to a black, barely visible screen. Then it hit me what had changed…

    … what has changed was the video mode! I had plugged the comp modded board back into the RF socket… sigh. Of course the TV couldn’t tune to a composite video signal. Sure enough, redoing the comp mod, and plugging it into the right input for the TV and everything is fine.

    Putting it all back together, I was slightly concerned about the keyboard membrane – it was looking quite precarious. And sure enough, on testing, one of the half-rows of keys isn’t working.

    Unfortunately looking again, I think it is probably cracked a bit too far up the ribbon to be able to fix it. I think this means it will need a new membrane which in the case of the ZX81 effectively means a new keypad – the whole thing is one glued together single sheet.

    So about that regulator – the output of the regulator seems to be sitting at around 6V+, which doesn’t sound right. I replaced it with a new(er) one and it is still reading 6V so now I’m wondering if there is something wrong in the power circuit too.

    Update: This turned out to be my multimeter – the battery was low so its calibration was off. A new battery and the regulators are back to a sensible 5V.

    Conclusion

    This is where I’m going to leave this post for now. In summary this is where I’m at:

    • I have a largely working, comp-modded ZX81 which gives a good picture on a composite video input now.
    • I have a working 16K RAM pack to use with it.
    • I have a working original Sinclair ZX81 PSU.
    • I have the original box to put it all in.

    In terms of work to be done, it just need to do something about the keyboard membrane.

    Whilst researching ZX81s I’ve also found a number of interesting ZX81 related side projects. But one thing I’d really like to do is to hook up the TZXDuino and see if I can load some actual software into it.

    Kevin

    #compositeVideo #zx81
  7. The ZX81

    I was lucky enough to get my hands on a ZX81 in a box recently. There is a huge amount of information online about them so I won’t add much by way of background here – wikipedia provides. Instead, I’ll summarize what I have, what state it is in, and what I’m doing with it.

    Before I get stuck in however, I will list some good resources I’ve been referring to. I’ve not had a ZX81 before, and didn’t know too much about it, beyond the basics.

    And for some general browsing of random ZX81 related projects, I can also recommend the Tynemouth Software ZX81 blog tag.

    My ZX81

    Contents:

    • ZX81 with 1Kb RAM.
    • Power and leads.
    • ZX81 BASIC Programming manual (2nd Edition, 1981).
    • ZX81 Software Catalogue.
    • Box and polys (some cable melting).

    The PCB only has four chips on it: CPU (3.25MHz Z80A), RAM, ROM and a ULA (uncommitted logic array). There are several ULA versions. Mine is simple labelled “8119” which apparently indicates it is an early version, common on these Issue 1 boards.

    I believe there were a number of RAM options. This one has a single wide DIP chip – a Mostek 4118 1Kx8 SRAM. Interestingly there also seems to be an option for a (physically) larger ROM device – mine has four extra pins on the socket compared to the installed Mostek MK36809N 8K mask ROM.

    Coincidentally, in a separate event, I managed to also pick up the Sinclair 16K RAM expansion.

    This has a pile of logic and then 8 HYB 4116 P4 dynamic memory 16Kbit x1 devices. These are the same devices used in the ZX Spectrum lower RAM.

    First Boot

    Happily the ZX81 works. It boots into a prompt, showing the expected inverse K cursor and I can enter the now mandatory BASIC “hello” PRINT/GOTO program and RUN it. It turns out that even the 16K RAM pack works too – I can even use the DIM(3069) check from the “When the computer gets full” chapter (23) in the BASIC User Manual.

    But I do have a problem. This is how the display appears on my TV:

    It turns out that earlier versions (like mine) of the ULA don’t provide a decent “back porch” for the video signal. This is meant to be a “return to zero” marker in the analogue video signal that the TV will use to decide what “black” looks like. Old CRTs were quite happy to cope with a dodgy signal and would still show a decent contrast between black and white. But modern TVs lose track and end up not being able to show any contrast at all as shown above. There are more details here:

    The solution is to introduce some timing electronics to bring back the correct “back porch” and this is typically added to a composite mod board that is published online and easily available as a readymade module.

    The first one, I bought from “MyRetroStore”, but when it came to fitting I decided actually I’d rather have one that would fit inside the existing modulator without having to remove all the existing circuit inside. So instead I went for a smaller version from “One Bright Spark” online. You can see the relative sizes of the two options compared to the existing TV modulator below.

    Fitting is pretty straight forward. There is an IN, OUT, ground and power, which essentially replace the IN and OUT, ground and power, for the TV modulator.

    I was keen that I could install this in a reversible manner, as I didn’t really want to be cutting wires as suggested in the fitting guide. This proved to be quite prophetic…

    I desoldered the two connections to the original modulator from the PCB and fed the red and white wires through the casing (gently, but firmly, pulling out the plastic insulator first).

    Then upon plugging everything back in – absolutely nothing. The TV would not tune into the signal at all. I checked voltages. The PSU was putting out ~14V, but the 5V line was reading ~6V so I wondered if that could have cooked the comp mod? I replaced the regulator just in case but the new one was doing the same, so I parked that for the moment, to come back to and sat back and thought a bit more.

    Eventually I reversed the comp mod and temporarily reconnected the modulator – I was back to a black, barely visible screen. Then it hit me what had changed…

    … what has changed was the video mode! I had plugged the comp modded board back into the RF socket… sigh. Of course the TV couldn’t tune to a composite video signal. Sure enough, redoing the comp mod, and plugging it into the right input for the TV and everything is fine.

    Putting it all back together, I was slightly concerned about the keyboard membrane – it was looking quite precarious. And sure enough, on testing, one of the half-rows of keys isn’t working.

    Unfortunately looking again, I think it is probably cracked a bit too far up the ribbon to be able to fix it. I think this means it will need a new membrane which in the case of the ZX81 effectively means a new keypad – the whole thing is one glued together single sheet.

    So about that regulator – the output of the regulator seems to be sitting at around 6V+, which doesn’t sound right. I replaced it with a new(er) one and it is still reading 6V so now I’m wondering if there is something wrong in the power circuit too.

    Update: This turned out to be my multimeter – the battery was low so its calibration was off. A new battery and the regulators are back to a sensible 5V.

    Conclusion

    This is where I’m going to leave this post for now. In summary this is where I’m at:

    • I have a largely working, comp-modded ZX81 which gives a good picture on a composite video input now.
    • I have a working 16K RAM pack to use with it.
    • I have a working original Sinclair ZX81 PSU.
    • I have the original box to put it all in.

    In terms of work to be done, it just need to do something about the keyboard membrane.

    Whilst researching ZX81s I’ve also found a number of interesting ZX81 related side projects. But one thing I’d really like to do is to hook up the TZXDuino and see if I can load some actual software into it.

    Kevin

    #compositeVideo #zx81
  8. So, it turns out that when you do a composite video mod on a vintage computer, your TV can no longer tune into it. I mean who would have thought that changing the mode of video output would change the mode of video output!?

    I've just spent the last half-hour trying to work out why a video mod for a #ZX81 had apparently killed it, including reversing the mod to see what had changed... doh!

    What's the error code for "User error - replace user" :)

    #MakerFail #RetroComputing

  9. So, it turns out that when you do a composite video mod on a vintage computer, your TV can no longer tune into it. I mean who would have thought that changing the mode of video output would change the mode of video output!?

    I've just spent the last half-hour trying to work out why a video mod for a #ZX81 had apparently killed it, including reversing the mod to see what had changed... doh!

    What's the error code for "User error - replace user" :)

    #MakerFail #RetroComputing

  10. So, it turns out that when you do a composite video mod on a vintage computer, your TV can no longer tune into it. I mean who would have thought that changing the mode of video output would change the mode of video output!?

    I've just spent the last half-hour trying to work out why a video mod for a #ZX81 had apparently killed it, including reversing the mod to see what had changed... doh!

    What's the error code for "User error - replace user" :)

    #MakerFail #RetroComputing

  11. So, it turns out that when you do a composite video mod on a vintage computer, your TV can no longer tune into it. I mean who would have thought that changing the mode of video output would change the mode of video output!?

    I've just spent the last half-hour trying to work out why a video mod for a #ZX81 had apparently killed it, including reversing the mod to see what had changed... doh!

    What's the error code for "User error - replace user" :)

    #MakerFail #RetroComputing

  12. So, it turns out that when you do a composite video mod on a vintage computer, your TV can no longer tune into it. I mean who would have thought that changing the mode of video output would change the mode of video output!?

    I've just spent the last half-hour trying to work out why a video mod for a #ZX81 had apparently killed it, including reversing the mod to see what had changed... doh!

    What's the error code for "User error - replace user" :)

    #MakerFail #RetroComputing

  13. En faisant du rangement, je retombe sur le manuel de l’Acorn ATOM, mon 2e ordinateur après le #ZX81. C’est avec lui que j’ai appris l’assembleur #6502.

    “This manual explains how to connect up the ATOM, and how to program it in BASIC or Assembler”.

    Fun fact: l’entreprise Acorn a évoluée en « Acorn RISC Machines », maintenant connue sous le nom d’ARM, qui équipe probablement votre smartphone.

    #retrocomputing

  14. En faisant du rangement, je retombe sur le manuel de l’Acorn ATOM, mon 2e ordinateur après le #ZX81. C’est avec lui que j’ai appris l’assembleur #6502.

    “This manual explains how to connect up the ATOM, and how to program it in BASIC or Assembler”.

    Fun fact: l’entreprise Acorn a évoluée en « Acorn RISC Machines », maintenant connue sous le nom d’ARM, qui équipe probablement votre smartphone.

    #retrocomputing

  15. En faisant du rangement, je retombe sur le manuel de l’Acorn ATOM, mon 2e ordinateur après le #ZX81. C’est avec lui que j’ai appris l’assembleur #6502.

    “This manual explains how to connect up the ATOM, and how to program it in BASIC or Assembler”.

    Fun fact: l’entreprise Acorn a évoluée en « Acorn RISC Machines », maintenant connue sous le nom d’ARM, qui équipe probablement votre smartphone.

    #retrocomputing

  16. En faisant du rangement, je retombe sur le manuel de l’Acorn ATOM, mon 2e ordinateur après le #ZX81. C’est avec lui que j’ai appris l’assembleur #6502.

    “This manual explains how to connect up the ATOM, and how to program it in BASIC or Assembler”.

    Fun fact: l’entreprise Acorn a évoluée en « Acorn RISC Machines », maintenant connue sous le nom d’ARM, qui équipe probablement votre smartphone.

    #retrocomputing

  17. En faisant du rangement, je retombe sur le manuel de l’Acorn ATOM, mon 2e ordinateur après le #ZX81. C’est avec lui que j’ai appris l’assembleur #6502.

    “This manual explains how to connect up the ATOM, and how to program it in BASIC or Assembler”.

    Fun fact: l’entreprise Acorn a évoluée en « Acorn RISC Machines », maintenant connue sous le nom d’ARM, qui équipe probablement votre smartphone.

    #retrocomputing

  18. In July, I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Timex Sinclair group, talking about #Zevious, #TutTut and other projects. Thanks for having me! #ZX81
    youtu.be/E7xjBM8rvIo?si=6ueWUt

  19. In July, I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Timex Sinclair group, talking about #Zevious, #TutTut and other projects. Thanks for having me! #ZX81
    youtu.be/E7xjBM8rvIo?si=6ueWUt

  20. In July, I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Timex Sinclair group, talking about #Zevious, #TutTut and other projects. Thanks for having me! #ZX81
    youtu.be/E7xjBM8rvIo?si=6ueWUt

  21. In July, I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Timex Sinclair group, talking about #Zevious, #TutTut and other projects. Thanks for having me! #ZX81
    youtu.be/E7xjBM8rvIo?si=6ueWUt

  22. In July, I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Timex Sinclair group, talking about #Zevious, #TutTut and other projects. Thanks for having me! #ZX81
    youtu.be/E7xjBM8rvIo?si=6ueWUt

  23. (pictures to follow)
    So I've been clearing through my parents attic, digging out old stuff.... and I've found a ZX81 😍, BBC Master 🤓 and I *think* I've got an SC/MPuter too! 😲
    Couldn't find the old AtariST, Dragon32 or BBC Model B though. 😟 (I was actually looking for the Beeb)
    Not sure whether to resurrect the two TRS80's (model I and II) they looked a bit worse for wear.
    #retrocomputing #zx81 #bbcmicro

  24. (pictures to follow)
    So I've been clearing through my parents attic, digging out old stuff.... and I've found a ZX81 😍, BBC Master 🤓 and I *think* I've got an SC/MPuter too! 😲
    Couldn't find the old AtariST, Dragon32 or BBC Model B though. 😟 (I was actually looking for the Beeb)
    Not sure whether to resurrect the two TRS80's (model I and II) they looked a bit worse for wear.
    #retrocomputing #zx81 #bbcmicro

  25. (pictures to follow)
    So I've been clearing through my parents attic, digging out old stuff.... and I've found a ZX81 😍, BBC Master 🤓 and I *think* I've got an SC/MPuter too! 😲
    Couldn't find the old AtariST, Dragon32 or BBC Model B though. 😟 (I was actually looking for the Beeb)
    Not sure whether to resurrect the two TRS80's (model I and II) they looked a bit worse for wear.
    #retrocomputing #zx81 #bbcmicro

  26. (pictures to follow)
    So I've been clearing through my parents attic, digging out old stuff.... and I've found a ZX81 😍, BBC Master 🤓 and I *think* I've got an SC/MPuter too! 😲
    Couldn't find the old AtariST, Dragon32 or BBC Model B though. 😟 (I was actually looking for the Beeb)
    Not sure whether to resurrect the two TRS80's (model I and II) they looked a bit worse for wear.
    #retrocomputing #zx81 #bbcmicro

  27. (pictures to follow)
    So I've been clearing through my parents attic, digging out old stuff.... and I've found a ZX81 😍, BBC Master 🤓 and I *think* I've got an SC/MPuter too! 😲
    Couldn't find the old AtariST, Dragon32 or BBC Model B though. 😟 (I was actually looking for the Beeb)
    Not sure whether to resurrect the two TRS80's (model I and II) they looked a bit worse for wear.
    #retrocomputing #zx81 #bbcmicro

  28. I bought recently a #R36S retro console for just 31€ on Aliexpress.

    Highly recommended if you love retro stuff. Works with retroark under linux.

    It comes with thousands of #GB, #GBC, #GBA, #NES, #SNES, #MSX, #Famicom, #Game Gear, #Mega Drive, #MasterSystem, #Atari2600, #NeoGeo, ... even #Playstation 1 and #PSP roms ready to play!

    I added games for #C64, #Amstrad, #BBCMicro, #MSDOS, #AppleII, #Ti 99, ... and of course, #ZX81 and #ZXSpectrum games! 🧐

    #retrogaming

  29. I bought recently a #R36S retro console for just 31€ on Aliexpress.

    Highly recommended if you love retro stuff. Works with retroark under linux.

    It comes with thousands of #GB, #GBC, #GBA, #NES, #SNES, #MSX, #Famicom, #Game Gear, #Mega Drive, #MasterSystem, #Atari2600, #NeoGeo, ... even #Playstation 1 and #PSP roms ready to play!

    I added games for #C64, #Amstrad, #BBCMicro, #MSDOS, #AppleII, #Ti 99, ... and of course, #ZX81 and #ZXSpectrum games! 🧐

    #retrogaming

  30. I bought recently a #R36S retro console for just 31€ on Aliexpress.

    Highly recommended if you love retro stuff. Works with retroark under linux.

    It comes with thousands of #GB, #GBC, #GBA, #NES, #SNES, #MSX, #Famicom, #Game Gear, #Mega Drive, #MasterSystem, #Atari2600, #NeoGeo, ... even #Playstation 1 and #PSP roms ready to play!

    I added games for #C64, #Amstrad, #BBCMicro, #MSDOS, #AppleII, #Ti 99, ... and of course, #ZX81 and #ZXSpectrum games! 🧐

    #retrogaming

  31. I bought recently a #R36S retro console for just 31€ on Aliexpress.

    Highly recommended if you love retro stuff. Works with retroark under linux.

    It comes with thousands of #GB, #GBC, #GBA, #NES, #SNES, #MSX, #Famicom, #Game Gear, #Mega Drive, #MasterSystem, #Atari2600, #NeoGeo, ... even #Playstation 1 and #PSP roms ready to play!

    I added games for #C64, #Amstrad, #BBCMicro, #MSDOS, #AppleII, #Ti 99, ... and of course, #ZX81 and #ZXSpectrum games! 🧐

    #retrogaming

  32. I bought recently a #R36S retro console for just 31€ on Aliexpress.

    Highly recommended if you love retro stuff. Works with retroark under linux.

    It comes with thousands of #GB, #GBC, #GBA, #NES, #SNES, #MSX, #Famicom, #Game Gear, #Mega Drive, #MasterSystem, #Atari2600, #NeoGeo, ... even #Playstation 1 and #PSP roms ready to play!

    I added games for #C64, #Amstrad, #BBCMicro, #MSDOS, #AppleII, #Ti 99, ... and of course, #ZX81 and #ZXSpectrum games! 🧐

    #retrogaming