ABUG Canada West February 22 2020 Meetup #18

[klintworth]

Definitely time to get together after a two month break! First up was my Beeb musical welcome for Ed (a tradition!) which was a non event - I'd forgotten to plug in the Hybrid Music 5000!! It did happen belatedly, but this appeared to be the theme of the day (forgetting very basic things). Must be a sign of our advancing age!

First up was another ABUG CanWest tradition - the gift exchange! Thank you, Ed, for burning me two 1770 DFS ROMs, as well as 3D printing two battery covers for my Valiant Turtle.

Gifts from Ed!

My first task was finishing my Master battery installation. The original (!) Duracell backup batteries had finally given up the ghost after however many years!! I was able to reuse the original diode/resistor wiring, so simply soldered it to a three cell battery holder. After a few days testing it was ready to be fully installed.

Successful Master battery replacement

Next up was playing the current High Score Challenge game, Blitzkrieg. I really wanted to beat Ed's high score (but failed!); however I did achieve a personal best score, so I have one more week to catch Ed!

I was very fortunate to receive an external Data Centre from Richard Toohey in New Zealand. What an amazing piece of kit! I've been using it to read disk images, so today I found a pile of disks to transfer into .ssd images. Had a bit of trouble copying files from disk to RAM, but this is all good learning for me.

My last task for the day was testing my new Calsystems Microtec control box which was a recent acquisition from eBay. I'd tested the disks a while back, but it seemed that the two main disks (Control and Sensors) were not working. Today I connected up the control box to the user port, then tried the disks again. Bingo! They worked!! Seems that it required the user port connection before they loaded. I then tried using the Data Centre to image them, but it looks like they're copy protected. I'll have to work out a way to copy them. Still I was pleased that the control box was operational - I tested it by lighting up a bulb. I tried using the Contact program (MESU) but I don't think it's compatible.

Calsystems Microtec Control System

Success! The bulb is lit!

Disclaimer! The following is non-Acorn related! Last ABUG Ed had kindly gifted me a Commodore 128, so I was keen to show him my Pi1541 disk solution. We loaded the Little Computer People game - it took forever to complete loading!! Really makes me appreciate the Beeb's disk loading speed!!

The C128 with a Pi1541

All too quickly it was time to wrap up. As it was sunny outside and the earlier rain had gone, we took a selfie outside along with the Voltmace joysticks I renovated by contact spray on the pots - working well now! Looking forward to our next ABUG adventures!

À bientôt, mes amis!

[richardtoohey]

Glad to hear it's getting some use!

But no picture?

[klintworth]

Glad to hear it's getting some use!

But no picture?

Here it belatedly is!!

[richardtoohey]

Thank you, it's looking good!

Ah, yes, Music 500, another thing I have ... and have (yet!) to learn about ...

[billcarr2005]

... I then tried using the Data Centre to image them, but it looks like they're copy protected. I'll have to work out a way to copy them.

UPURS would've had no problem , but if you'd like to post any part of the SSDs that were created, it might be possible to figure out where the protection is?
Or failing that, the results of *VERIFY or similar might shed some light

[klintworth]

UPURS would've had no problem , but if you'd like to post any part of the SSDs that were created, it might be possible to figure out where the protection is?
Or failing that, the results of *VERIFY or similar might shed some light

Thanks Bill! I'll look into UPURS and sort out the cables - it'll be a while as we fly to the UK next week, so it'll have to wait for our return!

[KarateEd]

Hi Folks,

Ed checking in a bit later than usual. I've had a very busy time just getting ready to have my grandson move in with me so it's the first opportunity when my body hasn't felt like it's in a grinder to actually get my post out on the ABUG meeting.

First off, Paul very graciously gave me a book - The Nostalgia Nerd's RETRO TECH which is great fun! Thanks Paul.

So, I bought an A3000 from someone in the US. That's not the usual route but thought I'd take a chance. Anyway, the saga begins and may last a while (not on this post but in the restoration of it).
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This machine looks nice but, as usual it's had it's problems with a battery. The damage doesn't seem too bad but the future holds the real answer.

This almost looks right, what seems to be missing?

Ok, the keyboard, that's better.....it's a nice enough looking machine, fairly clean for the most part.

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Well, I was pretty satisfied with how fairly clean the machine is but it's operation is another story.
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This is the battery area where there was some leakage. It's been cleaned with vinegar and clean water but there are details that show the sockets are a bit of a mess.

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Here we're trying to find the condition of the tracks, especially under the sockets.

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We've determined that in order to do this properly, I'll remove the sockets and replace them with new ones.

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One of the pins in the socket is depressed. This may or may not affect the operation of the machine....don't really know.

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I'd already found out how to change the voltage to 120V for NA use so took a picture of my Beeb plug to ensure it got wired correctly.

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I know it's hard to see but the power light is on if you look very closely, so that good, we've got power going through the board.

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This is very strange on this one.

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This picture shows the light on on the diskette drive. The power hasn't been turned on yet on the A3000. When we turned the power on, the light went off. Something is definitely going on here. We checked for power to the diskette cable and it seemed right so what's going on? TBD down the road I suppose.

[KarateEd]

So, to continue the saga.....
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One of my tasks was to build a couple of off board battery holders using the resistor and diode for the CR2032. I built 2, one for the A3000 and another for the ummmm (I'm only the messenger) Amiga 500 (as he ducks for cover)

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Paul is really focussed.....

This is Paul getting his own personal high score for Blitzkrieg......well done Paul.
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Beebs having fun

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This is how you multitask on Beebs, just run 2, multitasks, yes?

We had a great time at this ABUG and though my A3000 is going to need much more care, I'm pleased with what we did find out about it. It's a start.

Thanks Paul for the kind hospitality, the book gift and just general good fun at ABUGing. Paul is off to the UK soon so we'll be late on our next meeting but it'll be in a newly finished room in my home. Hopefully I can fit it so it's better than ever.

Until next time folks,

[Kazzie]

A wonderful sequence of photos, and narration too. Thank you for sharing it with us!

(I'm gonna have to get hold of an A3xxx of my own one of these days, for some fixer-upper fun!)