Site Computer News

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Latest News - December 2023

• Continuing to post the audio files uploaded by Nassim Bakir
  • Educational software: Cesil, Electronics, First Letters, Maths-1, Physics-1, Words n Pictures
  • Educational software: Angle Estimator, Chromatography
  • Games: Alice in Wonderland, Arcazion, Astropac, Astromilon, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
  • Tunes: Can Can

November 2023

• Another batch of MFX boards are under construction (thanks Martin!). Most are allocated to outstanding orders but there will be a few extras available to purchase, let me know if you are interested.
• Nassim Bakir has kindly uploaded 20 audio (.wav) files of Memotech games to my Google Drive. These have now been added to the Downloads page where they are available to Memotech owners who don't have the luxury of having a more modern method of loading software. (Thanks Nassim!)
  • Angle Ball, Boulder Dash, Crystal, Felix in the factory, Firehouse Freddy, Football Manager, Jet Bikes
  • Jet Set Willy, Manic Miner, Maxima, Miner Dick, Munch Mania, Pac Manor Rescue, Reveal, Slither
  • Soul of a Robot, TNT Tim, Life The Universe and Everything , Vortex
  • Brunword Word Processor, MTX Demonstration Tape
• Nassim has now uploaded the rest of his tape library, he has spent considerable time obtaining and cleaning up these .wav files and all of them are believed to be working. If you have any problems loading particular files, please let me know. Nassim believes that he has found copies of ALL of the published software for the MTX. I am slowly working my way through and adding them to the website.
  • 3D Tachyon Fighter, 3D Turbo, Adventure Quest, Agrovator

October 2023

• Posted .img format archives of the CP/M versions of Turbo Pascal V2 and V3
• Memofest 2023 took place on Saturday 28th October, hosted by Bill Brendling - see this forum post
  • You can read about the day's activities here
• Martin has written a small program to patch MFX CP/M to cater for QWERTZ (German layout) keyboards. It can be downloaded from the MFX Firmware/Software support page.
• Posted photos of the French language keyboard and piggy-back ROM
• The MFX User's Guide now contains hyperlinks in the Table of Contents for ease of use

September 2023

• Nothing to report

August 2023

• Nothing to report

July 2023

• Nothing to report

June 2023

• Nothing to report

May 2023

• Nothing to report

April 2023

• Nothing to report

March 2023

• The replacement MTX PSU design produced by Mark Kinsey used a Vigortronix: VTX-126-050-2075 transformer which has now been discontinued. A similarly rated (230V 50VA 7.5V+7.5V ) transformer would be suitable, one possible option has been added to the web page. (As used by Steve Gardiner)
• When playing with the MFX web server, I thought that it would be a good idea if the program was able to display a default file name, e.g., index.htm, when a client connected. Bill has modified the program accordingly - thanks Bill!
• I have received a copy of Spelli-copter (kindly donated by Wendy Mclaughlin via Facebook). I will post a copy as time allows.
• Peter Axelsen has kindly dumped the character ROM from the MTX (not FDX!) 80 column board, a copy is now available for download from the ROMs page.

February 2023

• Posted updated SD card image file for MFX
• Well, Openreach finally connected me on the 15th - only some 145 days after the order was placed!
• Found some interesting information about Francis Wallinger, so created a new WATN entry for him
• Some progress on the 6th - the fiber is now live outside my study, final connection due on the 15th - fingers crossed!
• Openreach have still not connected me, the latest "promise" is for the 15th of the month, but let's see . . . . .
• Kurt Klemm got in touch and has offered scans of some of the missing User Group (Genpat and MOC) magazines. I will post them as I receive them - thanks a lot Kurt!
• Kurt also sent me a copy of the letter issued by MOC in August 1989 announcing that the MOC would close in December of that year and pointed me to the editorial in the June 1988 MOC mag which advised that Genpat had just closed down..

January 2023

• Nothing to report

December 2022

• Nothing to report

 November 2022

• Not a lot to report website wise, there are a few updates outstanding, but I have just moved house and BT/Openreach's incompetence have left me with no internet access and no indication of when it might be resolved!
• Other priorities associated with the house move have meant that Memotech activities, including MFX, have taken a back seat, but I hope to get back to normal soon - please bear with me in the meantime.
• Posted the ROM image from a single disk, non-CPM FDX, courtesy of Martin
  • Martin is now the proud owner of a single drive FDX that previously belonged to Jim
• After a gap of two years, a mini-Memofest (aka "Memofix") was hosted by Martin on the 5th November
• In advance of the event, Claus released his latest game conversion, Fruit Panic, a platform game originally for MSX

October 2022

• Bill has released a modified version of Hextrain that supports both SD and SD/HC cards when used with MFX's latest firmware, the updated Hextrain build and MFX firmware are available from the MFX Firmware page.

September 2022

• I have started to ship the first MFX boards, though not as quickly as I would have liked. Things are quite hectic at the moment and MTX activities are a little lower down my priority list than normal. If you have previously expressed an interest in getting one, I will get to you soon(ish).
• Thanks to ongoing work by Bill and Martin, support for SDHC cards has been added to MFX. At this point, SDHC cards are supported in the same way that SD cards are, i.e., storing data in RAW format, without any support for higher level formatting such as FAT32. The immediate advantage is that SDHC cards are more readily available and cheaper than legacy SD cards, making it easier for users to source additional SD cards for backups etc. Existing MFX users can download the updated ROM firmware and re-flash the ROM themselves or contact me for an upgraded ROM.
  • Note: Andy's Hextrain program uses customized code to access the hidden HT data area and is incompatible with SDHC cards. Bill is working on modifying the HT program to correctly handle the SDHC card format. An updated HT program will be available for download in due course. In the meantime, HT can only be run from SD card.

August 2022

• There was a minor problem with the initial batch of MFX PCBs. Modified PCBs have now been received and I have started assembling them for the first orders. Samples of the 3D printed end plates are on order, once they have arrived, the first completed MFX boards should ship by mid August.
• Bill Brendling has released an updated version of his Z80 assembler written in Python to reflect changes to Martin's home brew Z80 assembler for RISCOS. (Martin uses his assembler to compile the firmware for our MTX add-ons. As well as its other functions, Bill's tool allows people without RISCOS machines to compile Martin's code.)
• Posted a copy of the "HRX Graphics System - HRG Utility Software Manual ", kindly uploaded by Simon Goodwin who received it directly from Memotech after the PCW Computer Show in 1984.
• The first MFX boards are now ready to ship - if you have previously expressed an interest, I will be in touch with you shortly.

 July 2022

• Bill Brendling has released a library of C functions for SDDC to support programmers wanting to code for the MTX in C. The library is available here. As well as the function library, Bill has created a development environment (using Code::Blocks) that allows you to automatically build a MTX .run file and invoke MEMU to execute it. It's really neat - try it out! (An updated version, dated 23/07/22 is now available.)
• Testing of the MFX is continuing, PCBs have been fabricated, and apart from a couple of minor issues, appear to be working as designed. Assuming that we don't find any "show stoppers", I am likely to make it available for order in a couple of weeks or so, say around the end of the month. I am starting to put together some documentation that will describe how to use it that should hopefully answer any questions that you might have. I will post the documentation in the MFX project tree on the website when it's done.
• It's done! To whet your appetite for MFX, a  draft of the MFX Operator's Guide is now available.

June 2022

• More details revealed on the development process for MFX
• Bill Brendling has kindly shared his experience and some photos of how (not) to open a MTX PSU
• Added a new game, "Diamond Dash", developed for MSX and ported to MTX by Under4mhz
• Added a new game, "Mazenstein-3D", developed for MSX and ported to MTX by Under4mhz
• Bill Brendling has made some updates to the ReSource Manual

May 2022

• Work is continuing on development of the proposed MFX
• The MFX overview page has had a minor update; the "mystery enhancement" can now be revealed.
• A recent glut of MTX sales on eBay, likely stimulated by the "lockdown blues" suffered by retro computer enthusiasts, has led to renewed interest in CFX and MAGROM. I still have a number of PCBs and most components in stock, if you are interested in buying one or both of these devices, please get in touch.
• Added a screenshot of the additional MAGROM games available with Version 2 of the MAGROM ROM. Existing MAGROM users with MTX512 or better machines can install this ROM on their existing MAGROM board. Users can either download the ROM themselves, or get one from me for a small charge to cover the cost of the ROM and P&P.

April 2022

• Work has started on the design of a new SD card based expansion for the MTX, the Multi-Function eXpansion card, (MFX). If this exercise does lead to a new product, it is likely quite a few months away from being available, but we'll see . . . . In the meantime, please don't ask about availability and/or price - at this point, I really have no idea, but just wanted to give folks a little advance notification that there may be some good news on the horizon!

March 2022

• Things have been pretty quiet here for a while - real life getting in the way again . . .  however, some news . . .
• Thanks to a generous donation from Paul Smith, I am now the proud owner of a NewWord ROM board and a HiSoft Pascal ROM board (V1.4) - thanks a lot Paul!

February 2022

• Nothing to report

January 2022

• Nothing to report

December 2021

• Nothing to report

November 2021

• Due to popular demand (OK, Martin asked), I have made access to the pages on disassembling Memotech hardware more obvious and linked to them from the Repairs index page
• Added some info to my MTX PSU page to document the internal fuse fitted to some MTX PSUs supplied to Europe. The presence of this fuse makes no sense to me - if you can explain it, please let me know.

October 2021

• Nothing to report

September 2021

• Martin has provided a Bug fix for the CFX-II ROM

August 2021

• Nothing to report

July 2021

• Nothing to report

June 2021

• Added another game disassembly from Martin - Goldmine
• Bill Brendling has ported Z-Machine (an interpreter for Infocom text adventures) to the MTX. Bill's description of the process and links to download it are available here.

May 2021

• Posted a copy of Martin's upgraded version of his Z80 assembler for RISCOS
• Martin has also started to share some disassembled code from MTX games that he has worked on. I have created a new page for them here. They should be instructive for novice, or even experienced, Z80/MTX programmers. If anyone else has similar stuff to share, please let me know and I will add it to the page.
• Added Martin's latest program disassembly (Toado)
• Added Martin's source and listing files for Text Mode Invaders, released at Memofest 2014
• Added a new game, "Minesweeper", developed for MSX and ported to MTX by Under4mhz
• Added a new game, "Vexed", developed for MSX and ported to MTX by Under4mhz
• Added a new game, "Klondike Solitaire", developed for MSX and ported to MTX by Under4mhz

April 2021

• Updated MTX Sales page to reflect recent increases in eBay prices for MTX
• Updated MTX Survey page and associated statistics
• Added some information about the workings of the piggy-back language ROMs to the keyboard page, based on Martin's disassembly of a couple of the ROMs
• Added high res scans of the Chess, Draughts and Toado posters scanned by Mikael Anker Madsen and uploaded to archive.org by Claus. Available here on my Nick Mynheer artwork page

March 2021

•  Nothing to report

February 2021

• Another item for the collection! Jonas O'Brien in Norway recently advertised a Norbit Elektronikk Toolbox '85 on eBay but decided to donate it to me instead. The similar looking Toolbox '84 was advertised for use with MTX. The '85 has a slightly different lead and I/O sockets, but otherwise looks identical. Jonas also sent me an unmarked unit with the same lead and sockets as the '84 model for the MTX. Sadly, I don't have any documentation for it, but it's a great find!
• Now that the much improved ReSource is available, I will make the original version of The Source available on request to anyone that can provide other Memotech documentation that is not already on the site - contact me if this applies to you.

January 2021

• Expanding on Martin's original, Bill Brendling has contributed updates to ReSource
• Another update to ReSource, this time by Martin, adding the details of his Diagnostic ROM board
• Posted a review of the MTX500 from What Micro? of March 1984 (Courtesy of Rob Green)

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