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Old 24th Dec 2018, 11:44 am   #3
SiriusHardware
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 11,484
Default Re: NASCOM Nostalgia Surprise!

If you are reading old EPROMs I would not only read and save backups but 'refresh' (over-programme) the original ones as well.

We are starting to get to the point now where the data in some of this retro stuff was programmed 25-30 or more years ago so there is a real danger of the onset of bit-rot (data fade). If you take the opportunity to refresh each EPROM as you read it, that will reset the data-fade clock back to zero and they should be good for another 30+ years or so.

Part of me wishes I had owned a Nascom (1 or 2) but, having been involved in some discussion threads about them they seem prone to developing truly weird faults, especially in the video section, which can often only be 'cured' by swapping in different alternative combinations of the same chips (even though the machine previously worked with the chip set it had in it).
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