Before Ed's arrival I disassembled my Iyonix to check on it's floppy status (which was AWOL!) Turned out the drive was disconnected from the board, so that was an easy fix!
Once Ed had set up his Master it was coffee time, as well as time for a quick High Score Challenge game of Battletank. Once I saw Ed's tactics I was able to follow suit and soon vastly improved my personal score. This is continuing with tradition as Ed usually coaches me on gameplay. Battletank definitely benefits from joystick use. Thanks for the gameplay tips, Ed!!
Next up was sorting out a display issue that's been driving me nuts for the last few weeks. Shortly after switch on, the display gradually turned lighter and lighter. As I'd tried different machines with different monitors we narrowed down the culprit to the GBS 8200 video board. Ed suggested checking the RGB cable for a short, but that proved sound. That just left the board. So we tried Ed's 8200 board and the display was rock steady, no gradual brightening. I was going to swap out the faulty 8200 board with the one fitted internally into my Master Compact when Ed noticed that the VGA out was fitted to the opposite side of the 8200 board. (I think this means that 8200 board is powered by the monitor.) Ed suggested trying that arrangement with the faulty board, & Lo and Behold - it functioned perfectly!! Not only that, it worked perfectly with my Master (which had been experiencing screen jitter with the faulty VGA socket). I am now so happy that the display issue is solved, and we've learnt more about using that RGB - VGA 8200 converter board.
One thing I did discover using both my Beebs is that their DFS chips seem to be on the blink. Ed is going to burn me a couple more DFS chips, as he also needs some for his Beeb DFS upgrades. And so all good things must come to an end as we ran out of time - already looking forward to our next meet up!
Yes, it's a great games machine, but my first love is anything Acorn!! 