Tatung Einstein..

[jonb]

Morning all

Not to count any chickens before hatching, but I might have a line on a Tatung Einstien setup (twin drive TC01 with Tatung monitor and printer) and I want to see if anyone knows about it. I've read the usual sources but there doesn't seem to be much in depth technical info. I know the basics - Z80, 3" drives, XTAL MOS, MSX-a-like graphics chip (a real shame, I don't get on with it at all). What I'm really after is this sort of thing:

What connectivity does it have?
Can it be connected to a VGA monitor (I expect not directly)?
Does it support RGB output or is it composite only?
Does anyone make a card reader for it like the AtoMMC?
What software is available?

I know about B&H computers and have had a chat with the owner. He doesn't have any TC01s but quite a few 256s. What does the 256 keyboard feel like, is it mechanical and clicky like the TC01's? How do you supply power to it, can you use a HDD power supply (+12v / +5v / 0v)? Is it worth getting one of these if I have a TC01? The price is OK, but I'm not sure the extra stuff (memory, MSX2 graphics chip, anything else?) is worth going for.

All advice, comments, etc gratefully accepted!

Cheers

JonB

[danielj]

Does anyone make a card reader for it like the AtoMMC?

You mean like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA3agKxpm8k

You'll want to talk to SirMorris, the SD aficionado.

d

[Garrettimus]

Congrats, the Einstein is a nice machine. I got both the 256 and the TC-01.

Mine work with RGB, but I've got a LG monitor that handles 15 Khz RGB. Check the video I did:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPiOKt5lVbc

[Zarchos]

Hi.

You must get in touch with the person who maintains :
http://www.tatungeinstein.co.uk/index.html

He's fond of of the Einsteins, and a very nice fellow.
His uncle worked at the U.K. factory where these machines were built.

I met him on a trip to the U.K to collect 2 machines, along with Acorns.
I don't use them, it's more like a curiosity for my retro museum.

He's got and know almost everything about the Einsteins and again, he's a really nice and helpful chap.

He regularly sells Einstein computers, books, software on ebay.

Hope this helps.
Xavier.

PS : Tell him I say hello, I'm sure he'll remember me.

[jonb]

@garrettimus: great picture, I guess that is the monitor. What connector are you using? I have an old LCD monitor that might go down that low, and would love to have a picture as good as yours. Where do you get the software from? Your demo seems to feature a menu disk... How do you power your 256, by the way? And, yes, I sent a PM to Charlie as I believe he is working on something that tatung guys are going to find irresistible...

@Zarchos, yes; I'll be sure to speak to him if I can.

Gosh, I do hope this deal goes through, I've been after a Tattie for yonks!

[Garrettimus]

Thanks!

Here's all the relevant info on the LG monitors (in Portuguese, I'm from Brazil - use Google Translate):

http://victortrucco.com/Diversos/Monito ... M1921A.asp

Concerning the 256, I had a friend make me a special cable for using a PC power supply since I don't have its original monitor.

[Zarchos]

On ebay uk a month ago you could buy the spectrum hardware emulator for a whopping (hope that's correct English) 650 GBP ... I hope you didn't miss that

[fatbob_gb]

I have a TC01 and a 256.

The 256 is generally more plasticky than the well built TC01. Since there was practically no 256 specific software written there is no great gain from getting it, although I bought one a few years ago from B&H and it was immaculate in its box you could tell that it had only been opened briefly.

http://www.tatungeinstein.co.uk/ have PDFs of the very comprehensive manuals for both the TC01 and the 256, these should give you all the information that yuou need

[jgharston]

BBC BASIC (Z80) for the Einstein available here.

One day I'll have to find some space to set my Einstein up.

[jonb]

Lawks!

That's a lot of ports of BBC Basic, thanks!

I still don't have an Einstien though. Feels like I'm the only one who doesn't round here. Huh, I'm off to play with my Memotech 512.

When / if the Tattie turns up you'll be the first to know.

Cheers

JonB

[jonb]

Well, eventually I have arranged to get my hands on it. Sort of - it's being taken to a relative of mine in Swindon then I have to somehow get it down here. Interesting thing is it seems to have an awful lot of books, magazines, technical information and other stuff with it (along with the machine, printer and monitor, all boxed). There is quite a heap of stuff there, and it'll all need to be sorted through.

This'll be great fun... when I get it in my hands I'll be posting on the "Today I received..." thread!

[sir_beaker]

I've recently obtained one which TC fixed and refurbished and finally hooked up the HxC yesterday to it. It's a great "little" machine

[jonb]

It sure looks enormous. Is my desk big enough? It must be the deepest 80's micro ever (front to back) - even bigger in that dimension than the PET.

Edit: A little googling gives some interesting dimensions (H x W x D, all in mm):

Code: Select all

Tatung Einstein    : 115 x 435 x 515
Commodore Pet 2001 : 355 x 419 x 469
Sharp MZ-80K       : 270 x 410 x 470
Sharp MZ80B        : 270 x 450 x 520

..so the Sharp takes it, for now...

[agerweb]

Very nice machines particularly the 256, here are mine; I also have another Einstein with two floppies drives. As they run BBC Basic they have to be good.

[agerweb]

On the subject of hooking up to screens - The 256 is rather involved unless you have the proprietary screen, however if your prepared to pay the the guy at retro computer shack will make up leads for you, it includes a power supply and all the gubbins to take the sound and video output to a scart lead; then it works fine with an LCD TV.

As far as the Einstein is concerned I'm lazy and just use an old TV.

[Zarchos]

I've recently obtained one which TC fixed and refurbished and finally hooked up the HxC yesterday to it. It's a great "little" machine

Is it easy to connect the HxC and to transfer images from the Net ?
The reason why I haven't used the Einstein much is that I don't have much to feed it with ... so next question : where did you find the games, for example ?
Ebay or the Net ?

[RobC]

Is it easy to connect the HxC and to transfer images from the Net ?
The reason why I haven't used the Einstein much is that I don't have much to feed it with ... so next question : where did you find the games, for example ?
Ebay or the Net ?

I removed the second 3" drive from mine and fitted a 3.5" drive in its place. I use Omniflop to transfer disk images to 3.5" disks.

You can get some disk images from http://www.tatungeinstein.co.uk/

[iainjh]

Hi Rob, if you don't mind could you please share a pic of how you fitted a 3.5" in the 2nd bay?

I've lined up a regular 3.5" drive on mine and think I'd have to cut the case plastics ( which I don't want to do), however a slimline 3.5" might just fit by virtue of being higher up the opening's 'slope'. Tried suspending my drive on nylon ties but would like to fit it properly!

Hoping it fits..

Cheers!

[agerweb]

My only old TV finally gave up the ghost last week - fortunately I had bought a Gadmei TV Box for a fiver off ebay a couple of weeks ago to hook up a Spectrum+ and Oric 1 to a 17" CRT. It actualy tunes up better for an Einstein than the other two.

Anybody else used this to hook up the RF output to VGA?

[RobC]

Hi Rob, if you don't mind could you please share a pic of how you fitted a 3.5" in the 2nd bay?

I've lined up a regular 3.5" drive on mine and think I'd have to cut the case plastics ( which I don't want to do), however a slimline 3.5" might just fit by virtue of being higher up the opening's 'slope'. Tried suspending my drive on nylon ties but would like to fit it properly!

Hoping it fits..

Cheers!

It's packed away at the moment but I did have to modify the plastic fascia and made a bracket out of aluminium (or something similar).

Wasn't the prettiest but works well.

[iainjh]

thanks Rob

seems I have a choice, either use a slimline drive and engineer a support, like wot you have, or fit a normal drive, take out the original plastic and fill in the gap with something black ( I'll do that first, will try a floppy disk sleeve)

add that to the list of suiff to do

cheers!

[BCCweirdo]

Hi,

does anyone knows the correct value of the Tatung TC-01 joystick potentiometers?

I'd like to build a joystick myself, but the pots value to be used seems to be nowhere to be found.

Thanks in advance.

[RobC]

Hi,

does anyone knows the correct value of the Tatung TC-01 joystick potentiometers?

I'd like to build a joystick myself, but the pots value to be used seems to be nowhere to be found.

Thanks in advance.

I've had a dig around the various manuals I've got but haven't found anything.

However, there's some info in Einstein Monthly Volume 1 Issue 3:
http://www.tatungeinstein.co.uk/front/e ... onthly.htm

There's a bit about A/D conversion that says the pot track has to be at least 47K and there's a bit on wiring up an Atari joystick interface.

[BCCweirdo]

Hi,

does anyone knows the correct value of the Tatung TC-01 joystick potentiometers?

I'd like to build a joystick myself, but the pots value to be used seems to be nowhere to be found.

Thanks in advance.

I've had a dig around the various manuals I've got but haven't found anything.

However, there's some info in Einstein Monthly Volume 1 Issue 3:
http://www.tatungeinstein.co.uk/front/e ... onthly.htm

There's a bit about A/D conversion that says the pot track has to be at least 47K and there's a bit on wiring up an Atari joystick interface.

Great resource !

Thanks for finding those articles

[YuT666]

I removed the second 3" drive from mine and fitted a 3.5" drive in its place. I use Omniflop to transfer disk images to 3.5" disks.

Are there any infos about the second bay 3.5 drive modification? I can't find any pics of a 3.5" mod.

A note from old-computers ...

A 3.5" drive requires modifications to the case and it will only format 720K floppies. You need an updated DOS system first to enable you to access more than the standard DOS

[Commie_User]

I really love how the Web has saved these obscure machines from total oblivion. The world of new computing rescues the old.

If Jeremy Corbyn wants socialism to have a good shot, he should run a retro forum!

[vanpeebles]

The 256 looks like a lovely machine. Shame there doesn't seem to be much about to make use of all the extras.

[jonb]

Some chap is selling those new old stock (with new bands fitted in the drives). A bit pricey, I nearly bought one, but decided there's no point as the advanced features are virtually unused. No software for them. Besides, the original Tattie has the nice keyboard, and was the defacto Speccy programmer's dev environment of choice. Allegedly!

[vanpeebles]

How much out of interest?

[jonb]

Dunno.. perhaps I should have said "was"?

It was something like £250 though.