New Stuff For Old Stuff :: Blog

T his is the process that I've gone through quite a few times now with Vic and C64 keyboards, as well as Plus/4 and C16. The results are amazing; the keys feel as-new and make contact every time with a light tap. The computer being worked on here is another Vic from my deep stash. Most of my computers were collected for peanuts at car boot sales in the 90s, although one of these Vics (I don't know which one - possibly this one) is my original one.  This involves a complete disassembly, requiring a key-puller to remove the caps, and the correct screwdriver to separate the PCB from the mounting bracket. It's also necessary to desolder the two wires from the bottom of the mechanical shift-lock switch.  Cleaning the keycaps is a time-consuming job. I soak and scrub all faces of the caps. The legend on the top  is moulded in, so giving those a hard rub with a mild abrasive can only improve them. But this doesn't apply to the graphics printed on the front of the keys. Treat t...

T his parcel from Rod at Future Was 8-bit has landed at the perfect time.  The Vicky Twenty board is a clone of the Vic20, tape loading should work, but since breathing life into my Vicky, I haven't tried it yet. Andy at Hewco makes consistently excellent Vic20 games - Vic Nibbler, Pumpkid, Escape 2020, Cheesy Trials and more... Hewco games have their own folder on my SD2IEC card. I will add this, I won't be loading from tape every time, but doing it occasionally is fun. Tape loading is something I guess we're all grateful that we don't *have* to do any more, but the nostalgia is strong when you occasionally do it because you want to. (Muscle memory automatically typed ,8 after the quotes though...)  I'm using a black datasette here (with adaptor) because of half a dozen datasettes, this is the one that works the best. (I guess I should learn how to service the others.) Perfect! Fitting a playable game into the unexpanded Vic's 3.5k is an admirable achievemen...

S ince early on I'd felt that pink was the right colour for my Vicky Twenty (so named and gender-reassigned by Rob, designer of the board ). I've been undecided about the case. One option was to design a perspex enclosure, with transparent top / opaque pink keyboard bezel. Another is to spray an original case. I went for the latter to remain in keeping with the classic breadbin design, and used the most blotchily-yellowed of the cases I have. Badges, stickers and feet removed, case scrubbed. The paint is Plastikote satin cameo pink . The can doesn't mention primer so after a test on the inside, here goes: Several thin coats later, here we are reassembling her. Internal SD2IEC fitted and slot cut in the case. I'd love to tell my teenage self that I'd be fitting a storage device into a Vic that stores gigabytes on a thin card around an inch square. No-one needs to see more pictures of keys being scrubbed. In this case I stripped the keyboard to clean the pcb conta...

S ince completing the board I've spent a few days scratching my head over why it hasn't been starting up.  Long story short, I had assumed that the W65C02S (available new today) was a drop-in replacement for the original 6502. It isn't*  With a borrowed 6502 in place, it's working well, and the picture is great.  *  (NB  The Byte Attic has designed an adaptor board . I'm in two minds because it doesn't look very discreet.)

M y Vicky Twenty is very nearly complete.  As things stand, the board and every single component is new*. The processor and VIAs are newly-manufactured (W65C02 and W65C22).  Obviously the Vic1 chip isn't manufactured today, but there is 'new old' stock about. I have been able to buy a Vic 1, date code 1987 (which seems very late). It obviously hasn't been in a computer before, passes the acetone test and works. The same goes for two of the ROMs - character and BASIC. But I haven't been able to buy a new-old Kernal ROM (901486-07). I am able to borrow one - all of the boards I have, have this particular ROM socketed. I don't know whether all of this indicates that the Kernal has proved less reliable than the other two. I recently bought a TL866 for another project. Of all the retro-computing hardware things I've had to learn to do, making ROMs has been one of the simplest. So far, everything has been very easy and worked first time.  I'm not sure that it...

 T his part of the board is looking very industrial: Although this board is simpler in some respects than the sixtyclone,  check out the number of components packed into this area: I had been worried about soldering those particular components neatly with many of them being stood to attention, but I'm pleased with how it's looking. Note the missing video socket. I did order the 5-pin socket, but have since decided to fit an 8-pin one (3 pins obviously won't go through the pcb and will have to be removed/bent) because I eventually plan to make the s-video mod and it'll be nice to use the same lead that I use with C64's - I'll should be able to make the extra s-video connections onto the back of the socket.

W ith the successful sixtyclone under my belt, I was delighted that Rob Taylor decided to work his magic with the Vic-20 . The Vic is very close to my heart; not my first computer but the one I spent years with. My board arrived on 25 Feb and it's absolutely beautiful. At first I thought this project would involve more 'pulls' than the sixtyclone, because there are fewer modern replacements for the key components. However, I was delighted to find that not only is a 6502 manufactured today, but the same goes for the 6522s. So that's three out of the four most important chips available as freshly-manufactured parts . Real chips too - not modern boards with header pins to fit the original footprint.  Here's my 65C02 in its engagement ring box!  It's the same chip that I have in my Mini Pet. It's an improvement on the 6502, adding a few new instructions, so I'm really chuffed about that. The fourth of the 'big four' chips is the VIC itself. Once ag...