Hiya mates!

  • Hello everyone!


    After I learned from UnderTaker_2 that his section was created I thought is was the perfect opportunity to greet you all!
    Some of you might recognize me from VOGONS/AmiBay so you know I really like DOS stuff. :thumbup:
    I really like this new forum even though I have to use translation, especially the presentation threads for software and hardware - I find it very useful to be reminded about stuff and learn new ones!


    ATM apart from a hardware project that is currently in summer hiatus :flamme I am messing with a system I dreamed of owning for many many years:


    [Blockierte Grafik: http://i.imgur.com/JSdMdeTl.png]


    I started improving it (because everything can be made better) mainly with help from Tiido (because after all it's megadrive hardware and it's his area of expertise :) )
    For now the system has been converted to proper 60hz NTSC region, PSG volume balance has been fixed and currently messing with the monitor in order to potentially improve it's 15khz mode - IF it is possible to improve that is, after all we are talking about an Amstrad system so it has just the absolute minimum components to work... :Face
    This is the monitor chassis with replaced caps/ICs and removed parts so I can check each individual resistor/diode/transistor on it - almost done!


    [Blockierte Grafik: http://i.imgur.com/Vvkqcrvl.png]


    I plan to document these mods in case someone wants to do them in the future.


    Sooo keep up the great work! I hope I can make some worthy contributions to the forum. :Bier
    Laters!

  • Better introduce yourself late then never, welcome :)


    The combi Amstrad, a great way to save space, rather to have set up two systems.

    "Ein Klavier hat kein Vergaser!"
    - H.J. Preil

  • ^ yes indeed
    but it's not a particularly great machine... infact it's very limited! you only have 1 free isa slot and if you decide to populate it there is another isa slot on the other side of the riser card but the drives caddy is on the ways you can only have the 8bit part available - but without external connections:


    [Blockierte Grafik: http://i.imgur.com/pzVJx7Xl.jpg]


    then there is the "issue" of the onboard adlib card - the megadrive card is 3in1: megadrive + adlib + joyport
    sure you can install a soundcard that has it's own opl2/3 and it will work but unless you physically disable one of them you have 2 devices on the bus sharing the same resources.
    I have some ideas about a special soundcard just for this system, more on that at a future post :Clap


    This machine you either have for collection as-is or you must be prepared to do some mods to make it really useful - I went with this : non-destructive mods. Sure I might solder that extra 8bit slot or replace some resistors and the crystal on the megadrive card but these do not alter the machine's look. :mrburnsgs7

  • Welcome Keropi!


    I got the wonderful PC-MIDI-Card from you some time ago :) It's still working like a charm!

    IBM 5150, 512kb, 20 MB HDD, HGC&OAK VGA, IBM 5151

    Compaq Deskpro XE466, 20 MB Ram, SCSI, ESS 1868, ArGUS

    Ryzen 9 3900X, Asus Crosshair VIII, 32 GB RAM DDR4-3600, RTX 2080 Super, Samsung 980Pro 1TB, 970Evo 500GB

  • ^ hiya!


    always great to hear people enjoy the pcmidi cards - that was the goal a troublefree experience! Thanks for your support!
    also remember if it ever stops working for whatever reason you can send it for repairs :smiley_emoticons_frankenstein_lol , so far after 3 years we only had 3 failures: 2x dead MCUs and 1x died because the PSU killed the system. All repaired and still going , unless something really catastrophic happens repairs like that will always be free :)

  • Hi keropi!


    I've known you from Vogons for years, nice to have you here.


    Incidentally, RetroManCave on YouTube did a few videos on the Mega PC in the last few weeks. Yours seems like it didn't suffer from a lot of battery damage.

  • Thank you all for the warm welcome, appreciate it !!! :Bier


    Today was a good day because after help from Tiido and facebook group "The CRT Collective" (actually the ideas aligned at some point) we found a way to improve the monitor geometry so now it is usable in 15khz mode. It's not perfect but it can never be without some serious re-engineering - most important thing is that now it's not noticeable during gameplay :Banana


    From this (check right side compressed linearity)


    [Blockierte Grafik: http://i.imgur.com/edYUJtGl.png]


    we went to this (ignore centering etc, I have not yet adjust the monitor for this new state)


    [Blockierte Grafik: http://i.imgur.com/at52yvQl.png]


    improving right side after this point starts to affect the middle of the screen. So it's a working compromise.
    I also noticed the same issue on the monitor Retromancave had so this seems to be the same for all megapc monitors.


    I will document all mods and improvements in a separate thread soon enough :)

  • Hi @keropi;


    be welcome - and just for the fun of it:


    :shake :Banana shake it baby !! :D


    greetings duncan

    "..seid ihr in etwa Anarchisten" "Nein, SOWEIT entwickelt sind wir noch nicht" (R.A.Wilson)


    JEDE Zentralisierung ist Machtmissbrauch!!


    ...ich kann IMMER Iomega ATAPI ZIPs brauchen - schaut doch mal nach bitte ;)

  • Are u that guy from greece who is selling these Midi-cars (with daughterboard connection)?
    I think the name should also be sort of "Leonidas"?

  • Are u that guy from greece who is selling these Midi-cars (with daughterboard connection)?
    I think the name should also be sort of "Leonidas"?


    the one and same :super

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