It was a dark and rainy day in Vancouver when Ed brought his Acorn sunshine along with his boxes of gear. (Unfortunately Peter from Coquitlam couldn't join us as he was in the UK, and Robert from Abbotsford was sick.)
Three Beebs and a Master in one box!
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!
Happy Iyonix with an operational floppy
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!!
Ed showing his Battletank prowess!
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.
VGA out on the GBS8200 board inside my Master Compact
So happy that my Master has a steady display now
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!
Gift time - an Amiga mag(!) for Ed and a game CD for Paul
New acquisitions - no time for testing them today!
Selfie time! Looks like I have something sticking out of my ear!!
ABUG Canada West Nov 16 2019
- klintworth
- Posts: 809
- Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:03 pm
- Location: Vancouver, Canada
- Contact:
ABUG Canada West Nov 16 2019
Last edited by klintworth on Sun Nov 17, 2019 7:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
BBC B Issue 4 & 7, BBC B (USA), BBC Master, Electron, BBC Master Compact, Olivetti PC128S, Castle A7000+, A3020, Valiant Turtle, Trekker Robot
- klintworth
- Posts: 809
- Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:03 pm
- Location: Vancouver, Canada
- Contact:
Re: ABUG Canada West Nov 16 2019
Just discovered that two of my other monitors DO need power to the GBS8200, otherwise they display the error message "Out of Range"! Looks like it depends on the monitor as to whether the 8200 video board needs power.
BBC B Issue 4 & 7, BBC B (USA), BBC Master, Electron, BBC Master Compact, Olivetti PC128S, Castle A7000+, A3020, Valiant Turtle, Trekker Robot
Re: ABUG Canada West Nov 16 2019
First i want to thank Paul for the gift of the magazine, coffee (must have coffee) and a great lunch.
Now, I don't want anyone to think I'm a traitor or anything like that, I'm not. I've bought an Amiga 500 (hence the Amiga mag gift). The reason? I had an uncle that had one and he used to rave about it. He was a very smart man so I thought I should check it out. It's not Acorn but it's pretty good. Also, please remember my roots are in Commodore......read PET here.
Anyway, my loyalties are with the Beeb and other Acorn PCs...they are definitely my uber favourites.
So, on with the show.....
. .
What to do first, what to do first? Ah, why not set up and have a play at Tank Battle?.....right!!!!
. .
So even though I had done one of these before, I'd done it so long ago I had to use documentation again to figure it out. I must be able to read because.....
. .
Just documenting the hardware install....
. ,
The picture was a tad blurry.....maybe too much coffee?
. .
Proof that she's working.
.
So my intent for the day was to get 3 Beebs working with both the 1770 upgrade and the SPI cards from Mark. The first 1770 worked fine but the next 2 did not and as yet, I'm not sure why. I think there may be some support chips missing. One of the Beebs looks to be a Model A to B upgrade. More to come when i figure them out. All the SPIs worked out.
. . . .
All in all, we had a great time, solved several things and people should know that ABUG Canada West is alive and well and will hopefully go on for a long time, once a month.....
Signing off until next month where I'm sure we'll have more exciting ABUG Canada West escapades......
Now, I don't want anyone to think I'm a traitor or anything like that, I'm not. I've bought an Amiga 500 (hence the Amiga mag gift). The reason? I had an uncle that had one and he used to rave about it. He was a very smart man so I thought I should check it out. It's not Acorn but it's pretty good. Also, please remember my roots are in Commodore......read PET here.
Anyway, my loyalties are with the Beeb and other Acorn PCs...they are definitely my uber favourites.
So, on with the show.....
. .
What to do first, what to do first? Ah, why not set up and have a play at Tank Battle?.....right!!!!
. .
So even though I had done one of these before, I'd done it so long ago I had to use documentation again to figure it out. I must be able to read because.....
. .
Just documenting the hardware install....
. ,
The picture was a tad blurry.....maybe too much coffee?
. .
Proof that she's working.
.
So my intent for the day was to get 3 Beebs working with both the 1770 upgrade and the SPI cards from Mark. The first 1770 worked fine but the next 2 did not and as yet, I'm not sure why. I think there may be some support chips missing. One of the Beebs looks to be a Model A to B upgrade. More to come when i figure them out. All the SPIs worked out.
. . . .
All in all, we had a great time, solved several things and people should know that ABUG Canada West is alive and well and will hopefully go on for a long time, once a month.....
Signing off until next month where I'm sure we'll have more exciting ABUG Canada West escapades......
Ed......
3 working Beebs, 1 RetroClinic Master, 1 normal Master, 1 A3010, 1 Pi2 RISC OS, 2 broken Beeb Motherboards, 1 Omnibus A7000+ server, 1 A7000+ Desktop, 1 PET, 1 C64, 1 C128, 1 Amiga 500 and 1 Roamer.
3 working Beebs, 1 RetroClinic Master, 1 normal Master, 1 A3010, 1 Pi2 RISC OS, 2 broken Beeb Motherboards, 1 Omnibus A7000+ server, 1 A7000+ Desktop, 1 PET, 1 C64, 1 C128, 1 Amiga 500 and 1 Roamer.
- klintworth
- Posts: 809
- Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:03 pm
- Location: Vancouver, Canada
- Contact:
Re: ABUG Canada West Nov 16 2019
Full disclaimer - I used to have a second hand Amiga 500 back in the day! Yes, it's a great games machine, but my first love is anything Acorn!!
BBC B Issue 4 & 7, BBC B (USA), BBC Master, Electron, BBC Master Compact, Olivetti PC128S, Castle A7000+, A3020, Valiant Turtle, Trekker Robot