The age of Aquarius

Any 8bit repairs, images, cool things, upgrades etc.
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: The age of Aquarius

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HigashiJun wrote: Sat Jan 08, 2022 12:37 pm
rubber_jonnie wrote: Sat Jan 08, 2022 12:26 pm

I'm buying a Toshiba HX-10, just need to wait until February for the funds as Christmas was a bit expensive :dizzy:
This one ?

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/au ... 1019469247
Yep that's the machine I'm after. Talking to one of the guys on the forum as he has one for sale.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
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Re: The age of Aquarius

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So I'd forgotten just how solid the Aquarius was. The case plastic is quite heavy duty, and there is a metal plate in the base which adds to the weight and doubles as a heatsink for the 7805:

IMG_20220108_122124.jpg
IMG_20220108_122124.jpg (195.41 KiB) Viewed 1561 times

And the top case has more metal too to support the keyboard:

IMG_20220108_122137.jpg
IMG_20220108_122137.jpg (188.76 KiB) Viewed 1561 times

As for the mainboard, it was pretty grubby, so I gave it a clean. The underside had a lot of flux on the connectors and switch, plus the spring contacts that touch the metal base plate for RF shielding:

IMG_20220108_115816.jpg
IMG_20220108_115816.jpg (387.98 KiB) Viewed 1561 times

As for RF shielding, it is quite a bit more sensible than some contemporary machines, and overall it is a weighty little machine with a nice solid feel to it. PCB isn't the greatest, but neither is it the worst.


I'll hopefully start troubleshooting soon, but there is quite a lack of documentation, though that's never stopped me before!
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: The age of Aquarius

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A bit more digging and I found this:

Screenshot 2022-01-08 at 13.17.57.png
Screenshot 2022-01-08 at 13.17.57.png (1.67 MiB) Viewed 1555 times

Looking at the memory map, the colour information is stored in the 2nd 1K block above screen RAM, and just before user RAM.

It has 4k of RAM across 2 chips, so I need to work out which of the 2 6116's is the potential bad chip.

Looking at the schematic, and the way the character ROM is only connected to U3, and the fact that colour information is held in the first 2k block, and U3 is also labelled as VD RAM, I am taking that as a sign that that is the chip I need to replace!

I have 2 replacements on the way, but the post round here at the moment is frankly abysmal. We seem to only be getting post 3 days a week and since I am waiting on parts to actually fix things, it's rather frustrating!
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: The age of Aquarius

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Well, U3 is now socketed, and I get no display on power up with it out, so I think I have the correct IC, I just need to wait for the parts.

If they take a while, I may consider socketing U4 as well and swapping the RAM over, see if it makes a difference.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: The age of Aquarius

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rubber_jonnie wrote: Sat Jan 08, 2022 3:44 pm If they take a while, I may consider socketing U4 as well and swapping the RAM over, see if it makes a difference.
You know you want to ;)
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/ All my hardware guides - mods - games - STOS
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viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1585 Have you done the Mandatory Fixes ?
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Re: The age of Aquarius

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exxos wrote: Sat Jan 08, 2022 4:10 pm
rubber_jonnie wrote: Sat Jan 08, 2022 3:44 pm If they take a while, I may consider socketing U4 as well and swapping the RAM over, see if it makes a difference.
You know you want to ;)
I might tomorow!
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: The age of Aquarius

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exxos wrote: Sat Jan 08, 2022 4:10 pm
rubber_jonnie wrote: Sat Jan 08, 2022 3:44 pm If they take a while, I may consider socketing U4 as well and swapping the RAM over, see if it makes a difference.
You know you want to ;)
Swapped them over, it seems like U4 is dead, as it doesn't work in place of U3. Could be both are bad.

U3 is a 6116 and U4 is a 4016, and the schematic says both should be 6116, which is what I have coming.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: The age of Aquarius

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rubber_jonnie wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 11:30 am Swapped them over, it seems like U4 is dead, as it doesn't work in place of U3. Could be both are bad.

U3 is a 6116 and U4 is a 4016, and the schematic says both should be 6116, which is what I have coming.
Oh wow 6116 RAM used to be on most of the z80 systems I used to work on.
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/ All my hardware guides - mods - games - STOS
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/store2/ - All my hardware mods for sale - Please help support by making a purchase.
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1585 Have you done the Mandatory Fixes ?
Just because a lot of people agree on something, doesn't make it a fact. ~exxos ~
People should find solutions to problems, not find problems with solutions.
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Re: The age of Aquarius

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exxos wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 11:38 am
rubber_jonnie wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 11:30 am Swapped them over, it seems like U4 is dead, as it doesn't work in place of U3. Could be both are bad.

U3 is a 6116 and U4 is a 4016, and the schematic says both should be 6116, which is what I have coming.
Oh wow 6116 RAM used to be on most of the z80 systems I used to work on.
The Aquarius is Z80 based, so that fits in nicely 😁
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: The age of Aquarius

Post by rubber_jonnie »

6116 and 4016 datasheets acquired, all pins match which is good, so I'll get the 'scope out and see if I can see what's going on on the address/data lines since the 4016 should be able to replace the 6116 (Both are 200ns), but it doesn't work.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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