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Old 29th Mar 2022, 10:52 pm   #21
locknut
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

Could just have been an oxidised contact inside the edge connector, you only have to lose an address line to stuff things up completely.

At least that shows some promise for the rest of it.
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Old 29th Mar 2022, 11:15 pm   #22
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

I guess. I did meter out the Spectrum lines to Ram turbo lines (all of them), first thing and at the point of testing got around zero ohms on every connection.

I may initially refit the joystick chip bundle in a 28-pin socket - that might make it too high to allow the lid to go on, but if it acts up again I want to be able to remove that part easily.
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Old 30th Mar 2022, 12:04 am   #23
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

I swear by Electrolube spray from RS. For edge connectors, sprayed onto cotton cloth & wiped. Fantastic for scratchy volume pots too
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Old 30th Mar 2022, 12:10 am   #24
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

We actually have that stuff at work. Great as emergency aftershave as well. (...Kidding, just in case anyone does try to splash it on).
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Old 30th Mar 2022, 5:40 pm   #25
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

Reinstalled the chip bundle today but unfortunately did not follow my own cautious advice and didn't put it in a socket. Now if I power up the computer with the interface attached, but no cartridge installed - it just comes up with a frozen screen, flashing colours etc.

What I did do was to lift the large chip a millimetre or so off the PCB before soldering the four corner pins, so that the wide parts of the legs were not resting on the top side pads. That will make it a lot easier to desolder again, but I will do that at work where my best desoldering iron is. All the tracks are very delicate and the pads undersized so it's a very delicate job each time.

This time I will put it in a socket and if a few ins-and-outs definitely prove that the bundle stops the computer every time, I will have to call time on the original chip bundle and maybe consider building just one type of joystick interface into the unit.

As has been pointed out, Kempston seem to have been first out of the gate but theirs was a single joystick interface originally, and this is a two stick unit. Was there a later two stick Kempston, maybe, with the first stick at the same IN address as on the original one-stick unit?
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Old 30th Mar 2022, 8:16 pm   #26
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

That's a shame.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SiriusHardware View Post
Kempston seem to have been first out of the gate but theirs was a single joystick interface originally, and this is a two stick unit. Was there a later two stick Kempston, maybe, with the first stick at the same IN address as on the original one-stick unit?
Good point, the Kempston standard was only for one stick on port 31.

They did produce something later, similar to the RAM Turbo, but with three joystick ports - but one was switchable for Kempston or cursor keys, and the other two were for Sinclair 1 & 2. I guess you could make the logic up for the Sinclair 1 & 2 ports, mapped to the top row of keys, but it's getting a bit more involved.
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Old 30th Mar 2022, 8:26 pm   #27
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

Unless I can find someone who wants to play monochrome Way Of The Exploding Fist with me the likelihood of my needing the second port to work will be rather small, but it will still be sitting there, looking at me reproachfully, if I don't make it work somehow.

At the moment I still don't know if there is a thing going on with the stick chip bundle or a thing going on with the PCB which keeps coming and going. At one point early last evening I definitely did have the same problem with no stick chip bundle fitted, and either one of the cartridges fitted instead. Then, the cartridges both suddenly decided to work after I had been around the PCB metering things.

When I have the chip bundle in a socket I will be able to make progress, of sorts.

Last edited by SiriusHardware; 30th Mar 2022 at 8:53 pm.
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Old 31st Mar 2022, 8:54 am   #28
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

You don't have another working speccy you could test the interface with?

Some Z80 CPU's are known to have a weak or completely failed M1 line issue, which causes problems with some interfaces. It affected the Multiface and Plus-D's back in the day. It also affects the modern SD card interfaces like DivMMC's etc.
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Old 31st Mar 2022, 11:08 am   #29
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

If that was the issue it would have to be a recent development as the same interface and Spectrum were working fine together when last used. The only other Spectrum I have is a Grey +2 which is probably overdue a checkup - but in any case I have just received another second hand RAM Turbo (with cartridge slot), so we'll see how that goes when I try it tonight.

It's funny how one thing leads to another - someone over on the VCFED forum was having trouble loading a recently repaired Spectrum from 'Tape' (Actually from a computer playing the file into the EAR socket) and I said I'd try duplicating his procedure, which did work for me. But then it opened a whole new can of worms when I found my joystick / cartridge interface wasn't working any more.
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Old 31st Mar 2022, 5:38 pm   #30
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

The replacement RAM Turbo joystick / cartridge interface works, as does a second joystick-only unit which was bundled with it. The latter unit doesn't have the cartridge connector fitted (just empty holes where it would be) but of course my original failed unit does have one and so I should just be able to move the connector from that, along with the enclosure (which is in better condition) onto the second unit for a total of two fully working units.

Both of the newcomers have the later issue board Mark found, with both chips properly provided for on the main PCB and - luxury - reset switches. This will make it possible for me to socket the ones on the backup unit and use it to test the ICs from the original failed unit - I don't want to throw away that exotic custom chip if it is actually OK.
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Old 31st Mar 2022, 10:58 pm   #31
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

I've just remembered how much I love / hate Atic Atac, but it is one of the few arcade / action games that I can actually sometimes beat so I just keep on playing and playing. (So this replacement RAM Turbo interface has now been thoroughly tested).

I notice there have been several remakes of Atic Atac for various platforms over the years including a 3D-isometric one, the notion of which doesn't appeal to me at all.

Knight Lore / Alien 8, much the same game as each other really, were a brilliant concept but the slowdown when there are moving objects in the room in the Spectrum version can often get you killed. Both games are very unforgiving, one false step or bungled jump and you are toast.

At least in Atic Atac you can generally stay alive as long as you keep moving and guzzle a bit of food every now and again.
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Old 1st Apr 2022, 5:24 am   #32
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

I don’t remember Atic Atac but just check a few images and it looks similar to a favourite from that era called Gauntlet. I never had a spectrum myself as they were mostly just game machines, but my brother had one that I upgraded from 16k to 48k by adding 4164s. I don’t remember if it was the spectrum we played Gauntlet on or some other machine.
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Old 1st Apr 2022, 8:13 am   #33
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

I would say that what distinguishes 'Gauntlet' from other games is its support for more than one player co-operating as a team (four players in the Arcade original). It's really the only proper way to play that game. I think there was a reasonable port of Gauntlet on the Spectrum. I am more familiar with the Atari ST version which I still have.

ATIC ATAC is more your 'Escape From The Haunted House' kind of game, an early tongue-in-cheek example of the 'Survival Horror' genre I suppose, so in this case the player is of course very much on their own.

A three-stick Kempston joystick interface was mentioned earlier - although this would have been intended to provide both Kempston (single stick) and Interface 2 (twin stick) interfaces in one box, I wonder if any game ever used all three sticks together? Probably not, as the number of people who would have had such an interface would have been a tiny portion of all users.

The way forward there would have been for Kempston to commission a 3-player adapted version of something like 'Gauntlet' and give it away with every 3-stick interface sold. People would have bought the interface just to play the game.
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Old 1st Apr 2022, 1:44 pm   #34
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

I remember playing Knight Lore and Attic Attack with a friend on his Spectrum while I was a student, I was amazed at how good the graphics were. I spent a long time working out how they did it but at the time didn't have a computer of my own that would be able to display the graphics (still rocking the PET, and that was back at home in Essex!) It's quite incredible what they did with a machine with limited resources compared to what was deemed possible only a year or so previously.
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Old 1st Apr 2022, 3:09 pm   #35
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

If you happen to have an Xbox One, apparently a whole collection of Rare (Formerly Ultimate - Play the Game) classic game titles was released for that platform as 'Rare Replay'. The games are not much altered from their original format so they are essentially the games that you remember. Atic Atac and Jetpac are definitely included.

Quite a few years before that there were some lovingly recreated full colour / enhanced graphics PC versions of some Rare games released by fans - Knight Lore was definitely one of them but I think the current Windows at the time was XP and it may not run on later versions, or might require to be run in compatibility mode. I still have an installable version archived somewhere. Linux fans could always try to run it under Wine, I suppose.
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Old 1st Apr 2022, 3:42 pm   #36
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SiriusHardware View Post
If you happen to have an Xbox One, apparently a whole collection of Rare (Formerly Ultimate - Play the Game) classic game titles was released for that platform as 'Rare Replay'. The games are not much altered from their original format so they are essentially the games that you remember. Atic Atac and Jetpac are definitely included.

Quite a few years before that there were some lovingly recreated full colour / enhanced graphics PC versions of some Rare games released by fans - Knight Lore was definitely one of them but I think the current Windows at the time was XP and it may not run on later versions, or might require to be run in compatibility mode. I still have an installable version archived somewhere. Linux fans could always try to run it under Wine, I suppose.
There is a spectrum emulator for Linux and most of the games are ... available for download ... I did buy a DVD of thousands a decade or so ago but goodness knows what happened to that! I've got RetroArch which can be set up to play spectrum games, its just doing it. Sometimes however I have found revisiting treasured memories is not always as you remember them to be, so maybe this will sit on the lower end of the ever expanding to-do list I have for a little longer!
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Old 1st Apr 2022, 5:11 pm   #37
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

Never really got to the bottom of Atic Atac, I think I spent more time going round in circles than anything else
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Old 1st Apr 2022, 6:41 pm   #38
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

Quote:
most of the games are ... available
The vast majority of historic software titles and relevant other materials like books are available on the excellent World Of Spectrum website which sought permission from the rights holders. Ultimate / Rare were one of the few who declined permission for their titles to be hosted there. If they were still earning money from them with the likes of 'Rare Replay' then I suppose I can understand that.

Getting back to joysticks, those of you who do or did play games, what was your preferred stick or type of stick? I couldn't really get away with the classic 'Fighter Pilot' type with a square base and suckers, I had to pick them up and hold the base in my hand which I found uncomfortable.

In the end my sidearm of choice was the designed-to be-handheld Konix Speedking or one of its clones, (attached, a found image of one). I took these apart and tweaked the microswitch actuators until it only took a few degrees of movement in any direction to activate the relevant axis. You'll gather from this that I was / I am as fussy about the way a joystick feels as others here might be about Morse keys - in fact you probably could send decent Morse on one of my sticks.
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Old 1st Apr 2022, 7:35 pm   #39
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

I love that stick, still got mine. I used too visit Konix when they first started in Cardiff Splott Workshops next to a company called Britannia Software I also wrote some software for them later to provide Serial and Centronics drivers for one of their products.

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Old 1st Apr 2022, 8:30 pm   #40
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Default Re: "RAM Turbo" Spectrum Joystick + Cart interface - failed.

Looks like the ultimate swiss-army Spectrum interface, I see a joystick interface, reset switch, you've mentioned serial and parallel - what's going on with the RF and audio connectors, are they just pass-throughs to carry the signals through to corresponding sockets on the rear face?
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