Amstrad Mega PC / Amstrad Mega PC Plus

Found these new 486 slc cpus on ebay cheap, might be what you are looking for:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TX486SLC-...001?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4a8faeb379

Do you have a copy of counterpoint? would love to see what the mega pc originally came with.

Also would like to see how Calmira runs.

BTW I cant seem to see pictures on this page

http://retrojunkie.net/blog/category/amstrad-mega-pc/

Im using firefox.

 

Someone contacted me on another forum, asking if I could swap a 386 cpu with exactly that 486 SLC CPU. I imagine they were planning the same thing

 

It's got some sort of controller, I can't work out what it is though. Either some old standard or proprietary design. Possibly used in IBM machines back in the day. I haven't done too much research into it, but from what I can tell I'd need to hack together a cable to wire in the 44-pin drive, or somehow wire in a 40-pin IDE drive. Even better though I could just use an ISA card... but that would be cheating right?

 

If only lived in essex
and had £100 to spare, lots of slags in essex...
also this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amstrad-3...pt=UK_VintageComputing_RL&hash=item4165c049ca

 

Ah my Picasa images all broken when I upgraded to Google Plus (Unlimited photo storage for 2048x2048 or smaller!)
I'll have to go back through them and re-add them over time. However anything in there is all present in the photo gallery - that's the one thing that works well at the moment.

As for Counterpoint you can track it down here in the Wayback machine with lots of details about what it is and so forth
Calmira should be the way to go though as far as looking at something that looks familiar is concerned.

That CPU is tempting, but at the risk of breaking a (somewhat) working 386SX for a 486SLC at the same speed - I just can't justify it... yet :victorious:

I don't see why the CPU switcharoo wouldn't work as long as they are both the same voltage - Does anyone know which voltage these things use? Is there a way to measure it off the chip itself perhaps? That would be a much more surefire way.

Hussies! Ha ha ha! Also dammit, I want a Mega PC with documentation... and some hussies!

What did you tell them? Did you give them the big lecture on 3.3V vs 5V, exploding silicon chips and the like?

 

I didn't even look into it.

I just replied with "I can do the soldering no problem, but are you certain its pin/voltage compatible?"

He said yes and would be in touch, but thats the last I heard

 

Damn you must have fun soldering all those things. Can't wait to try my luck with that type of soldering. It sure looks like a blast once you get the hang of it (of course!)

 

Actually, I just checked my PM's on the other site and its actually limboy777 from this thread...

Small world lol

 

Hahaha what are the chances!
Oh I see you sell quite a few region chips and whatnot too. Might have to pick some up sometime soon!
What do you have on offer? Dreamcast, Saturn? Mega CD maybe? nthego:

 

Pretty much what ever you want.

If I dont have them, I can get them.

 

That's the kind of can-do attitude I like to hear That's a pretty epic order thread you have going over there!

 

Hi Guys

Not had a chance to check in for a while.

Bad_Ad84, I sent the PM whilst I was waiting for the Megapc to be delivered. I forgot all about it as my PM inbox got full and Im a member of many forums I lose track. Since I sent that PM I bought (from various sources) another megapc, 2 amiga 1200's, 2 cdtvs, pc engine, jap megadrive, megadrive 1, megadrive 2, modded xbox etc so had no time. Apologies for not following up.

Which epic thread is being referred to here?

Retrojunkie - thanks for the link to counterpoint. Looks good but I think it Calmira for me too. Got a bit peeved today as was outbid on the last minute on 16mb ram for my mega pc.

Re the cpu's i read somewhere (cant remember now) that the desktop cpus were 5volt and laptop ones 3.3volt. There was a way to tell which chips were which by the numbering on the bottom so I think the chips in America were the right ones.

Next Im after an everdrive cart (got all the roms just need a cart).

Ive decided to do a straight swap the NICAD battery for a NIMH battery on one of the megapc's. If I install a cr2032 apparently I need to use a diode....

 

Hi Guys

Not had a chance to check in for a while.

Bad_Ad84, I sent the PM whilst I was waiting for the Megapc to be delivered (was about to order the chips but saw there was plenty so didnt go ahead). I forgot all about it as my PM inbox got full and Im a member of many forums I lose track. Since I sent that PM I bought (from various sources) another megapc, 2 amiga 1200's, 2 cdtvs, pc engine, jap megadrive, megadrive 1, megadrive 2, modded xbox etc so had no time. Apologies for not following up.

Im trying to get hold of a cheap 386 (they have shot up in value due to everyone wanting DOS gaming rigs). I will contact you in regards trying this out as I was happy with the quote and the pictures of your work looked good. At least I know/remember who I was speaking to! Looking at the picture of retrojunkies 486 SLC TI CPU it looks like the ones for sale are in the same numbering so worth the risk on a non mega pc board.

Which epic thread is being referred to here?



Retrojunkie - thanks for the link to counterpoint. Looks good but I think it Calmira for me too. Got a bit peeved today as was outbid on the last few seconds on 16mb ram for my mega pc.

Re the cpu's i read somewhere (cant remember now) that the desktop cpus were 5volt and laptop ones 3.3volt. There was a way to tell which chips were which by the numbering on the bottom so I think the chips in America were the right ones.

Also if your IDE controller is dead, could you switch it of and use an ISA IDE/HDD board?

Next Im after an everdrive cart (got all the roms just need a cart).

Ive decided to do a straight swap the NICAD battery for a NIMH battery on one of the megapc's. If I install a cr2032 apparently I need to use a diode....

 

This thread! Huuuuuugeeeeeeeeee!

Wow! You sure have been busy! Rapid expansion much? nthego: Yep I think Calmira is the way to go and EverDrive is a great product! I'll need to pick up a Mega EverDrive though - darned upgrades! They sure are a nice piece of work though, very well made!

Let us know how the battery swap goes and we will see pictures of all that new gear won't we? :biggrin-new:

Oh yes, ISA IDE is definitely an option if the HD controller is dead, but then we lose our one slot for ethernet!

 

Repeated the above by accident

 

Ill post some pics up soon but Im looking to do a blog so its easier to categorise everything. (Ive started selling some of the duplicates/faulty items as I cant move in my study room and its peeing my wife off!)

I forgot to say, I got an Ethernet card today but havent had a chance to try it out (came boxed with driver). Ive just got it to test as I think the other options for the spare ISA dont convince me;

ISA Sound - will probably conflict with the adlib
ISA Graphics - will it cause an issue with the VGA out for megadrive or could I connect two monitors at the same time??(might try this). Also most games of this era did not specify video ram so no real advantage
ISA Ethernet - got this but just for testing and to use the spare bit of expansion but Internet will be so slow that its not worth it

Also ordered a 504mb HDD (which means I dont have to use drive overlay as this is around the limit for these computers). Might even put in a second HDD as slave (it will have to be a CF card or DOM so fits in the space behind the floppy.hdd- have got a 512mb CF card which I bought on another forum).

Im going to try and get the cyrix cache software onto floppy so that I can use another hard drive.....

 

Im desperately looking for one of these bad boys

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/televisions...-ps2-built-in-parties-like-its-2000-50001894/

If anyone sees one, please let me know and dont bloody bid on it.

Will look amazing with my CDTV setup and has 10 million connectors for my consoles/computers!

 

Ahhhh I am blessed in the way that I can enjoy the luxury of single living. Last night I fell asleep in what has become a cave of Sega consoles and accessories. It's dark like a cave too because of the way everything is stacked blocking any natural or artificial light.

I am most curious about what an ISA graphics card would do as well... Damn I still need to test the VRAM. I just can't find the time to get to my other pad and my to do list is growing by the day!

I'll be honest with you all here, this is the only forum I belong to. This site came up way too much when I was trawling through Google looking for info on rare or impossible to find Sega consoles and accessories. Figured I should contribute my findings as well.

 

ISA graphics shouldnt be a problem. The Mega Drive card doesnt show up as a video card - it just takes power from the ISA slot and outputs RGB. Its all self contained.

RetroJunkie - thats only the Dreamcast thread, there is a Saturn one too.

 

Dropped off my monitor and one the mega pc's (the one i took the battery out of) to a retired tv repair guy a few days ago. He was really old but confident...

His diagnosis on the monitor switch that wont stay in was that he will try to repair. Worst case is that he will make it so its always on (fine with me as the monitor is powered by the mega pc).

I have opted for a NIMH replacement on this one as ive seen a few people say that the motherboard expect this type of battery and using something else may cause an explosion!.

Got my ISA network card. Wont install it at the moment as no time and trying to get my new seagate 54pmb hdd to load dos

http://s1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj587/limboy777/Amstrad Mega PC/Netowrk Card/

One of my problems is getting the cyrix cache software from the old hdd onto the new one. I got a lot of help from another chap on another forum. This is how the cache shows in autoexec.bat and in windows file manager:

http://s1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj587/limboy777/Amstrad Mega PC/486 Cache/

Im worried i may have damaged one of the tracks on one of the mega pc's (i took another battery of). Hoping our resident expert solderer (if thats a word) and resident mega pc motherboard repair guy can help - I scraped a bit of the motherboard near the negative battery connection:

Also c7 and c8 on the motherboard look corroded, there was some white stuff that I removed ....:

http://s1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj587/limboy777/Amstrad Mega PC/Damaged tracks/