|
Site Computer News
Home
2012
<< 2013
>> 2014
December 2013
- My "new" Speculator
is faulty, possibly an SRAM problem, but watch this space . . . .
- Posted a copy of the
MTX Speculator software
program with disassembly (Courtesy of Paul Daniels)
- Posted three more issues (Volume I, 6 to 10) of the
Memotech Owner's Club magazine
(Courtesy of
Jim Wills)
- Andy's site is down at the moment, so I have put all of the
files required to build MEMU-Pi on the
make page
- i.e., the MEMU source package and Andy's DIRT and
TH packages.
- Added Pong, an assembly language
"type-in", including .run
file (Courtesy of Martin Allcorn)
- Martin has also compiled a version of
Agrovator that can run on
an MTX500, whereas, the original didn't
- Whiling away these long winter hours, I have been doing a little
playing with OCR, the results can be seen in :-
- Posted copies of various Memotech related documents (Courtesy of
Jim Wills,
distributed at Memofest 2013)
- Two issues (Volume I, 4 & 5) of the
Memotech Owner's Club magazine
(Issues 1, 2, & 3 are missing)
- A Memotech advert for "low cost" SDX disk drives that
apparently didn't use an SDX controller
- A copy of the US Version of the
DMX80
Printer brochure
- The User Manual for Supa Coder,
BASIC to machine code conversion
- A better quality copy of the June 1984
Creative
Computing review of the MTX512
- A "new" article from PCN, "MTX
Plus", assembler graphic routines by Stephen White
- Better quality copies of the PCN "Take
a Memo" Memo-techniques articles by Keith
Hook
- A better quality copy of the PCN "Mastering
MTX Code" machine code article by Keith Hook
- Copies of a number of tape covers
- Posted a copy of Brunword, a tape based Word Processor (Courtesy of Paul
Daniels)
- Posted a copy of Purchase Ledger, a tape based purchase ledger (Courtesy of Paul
Daniels)
- Hardware News - courtesy of Martin, I now have
my very own Memotech
Speculator !
- Thanks to Jon Bradbury providing a copy of the original,
I have a
limited number of copies of The Source
available
- I have posted a "taster" of
the document to let you know what you are missing (or not, as
the case may be)
- Professionally reprinted and spiral wire bound, ~200 pages of
MTX programming info
- Sold Out! - if there is
enough interest, I may get another print run done -
e-mail me your details if you are interested
- Martin Allcorn's development of his
MAGROM is nearing
completion - the ROM now
contains 38 MTX games
- Martin has generously donated one of the prototype boards to me
to add to my collection -
thanks a lot Martin!
- The EdAsm (Z80
Macro Assembler) macros added to the download file (Courtesy of Paul
Daniels and Diarmid Gibson)
- Added a trend of the
ebay prices for MTX computers between
2011 and 2013
- Added a "NEW" game,
Crystal (Courtesy of Paul Daniels &
Jim Wills)
- Created a new, "fun", page to show the location of known
MTX computers in the UK, with a
few further afield
- Why not let me know where yours is ?
- Finally managed to scan my original FDX Manual :-
November 2013
- Martin has produced a new version of
MAGROM - the ROM now
contains 36 MTX games
- Added disks Club911- 917 from
MTX User Club Germany CP/M library
(Courtesy of
Peter Kretzschmar)
- Added a "NEW" download,
Dennis at the Circus (Courtesy of Paul
Daniels)
- Posted a copy of
Continental
Software Catalogue 1 (Courtesy of Arthur Leigh)
- Posted a copy of a previously unseen (by me anyway) Memotech
MTX
brochure (Courtesy of Arthur Leigh)
- Posted a copy of the MTX
Computer Crib Card, from Phoenix Publishing/Genpat (Courtesy of Paul Daniels)
- Posted a copy of a very early 8-page
MTX500
advert (Courtesy of Paul Daniels)
- Martin has squeezed another 4 games into the MAGROM image,
available for download on the
MAGROM page
- Posted a copy of the MTX
emulator for the Acorn RISC PC, written by Martin Allcorn,
c.1999
- Posted a copy of the TI
Video Display
Processor Programmer's Guide - includes the TMS9918A in the MTX
- Posted copies of the manuals for the
Memotech SDX/FDX CP/M Systems (Courtesy of
Peter Kretzschmar)
- Documented a great new MTX add-on created by Martin Allcorn -
the MAGROM - run games
from ROM
- Updated the statistics from the MTX
Survey, the sample size is slightly larger, but the total is
pretty much unchanged
- Added a copy of the insert to the US
Operators Manual about the
channel selector switch (Courtesy of Jon Bradbury)
- Added another issue of
Memopad
(Issue 19 / Vol. 0010 No.7)
- I am considering extracting and bundling the most useful data
from the memopad magazines -
see the idea here
- Moved my MTX "Technical Notes" off
the main page to a dedicated page
- Added a number of new Technical Notes on
MTX Memory mapping
- Added photographed copies of a number of tape covers (Courtesy of Martin Allcorn)
- Tape Covers
from Dennis Goes Bananas, Dennis and the Chicken
- As a result of a games conversion blitz by Paul ! .
. . . . .
October 2013
- Bill has pointed out, and kindly allowed me to post it, that you
will need his Z80
Assembler to compile the program
- Posted a copy of Bill Brendling's
CP/M PCB CAD software -
it's amazing what you could do with the MTX back then!
- Added disks Club808, 813 & 900-902 from
MTX User Club Germany CP/M library
(Courtesy of
Peter Kretzschmar)
- Found a great source of data on the TMS 9918/9929 from one of
the original designers, available at :
spatula-city.org
- Added another issue of
Memopad
(Issue 18 / Vol. 0010 No.6)
- Added another issue of
Memopad
(Issue 15 / Vol. 0010 No.3) - yes, I actually scanned
another one!
- Reorganised this page to archive the old
news items - while they are probably not very interesting, they
are still available
- A small amount of progress with my Video
Wall hardware - the testing is
documented
here
- Latest update is that the Decoder board seems to
work and the problem is with the Distribution Amplifier
board
- Added disks Club056 to Club059 from
the
MTX User Club Germany CP/M library
(Courtesy of
Peter Kretzschmar)
- More work on my Video
Wall hardware - the
current status of
the system can be found
here
- The next job is to find out why the DDAs are only giving
monochrome outputs.
- Video Wall
DDFS PSU replaced - using a Micro ATX supply - a much cheaper
option!
- I now need to test it with the MTX computer and a
Decoder/Distribution Amplifier
- A rare non-Memotech update!
- David Kimberlin-Wyer has created a much improved copy of the
Psion 3a User Manual, converted to Word, recreated the original
Psion graphics and created a searchable PDF - available on the
Psion 3a docs
page.
- Done a bit of reorganisation, moving quite a lot of the Video
Wall detail off the Options
page to a new Video Wall
section
- Added photographed copies of a number of tape covers (Courtesy of Martin Allcorn)
- Tape Covers
from Astropac, Superbike, Super Minefield, Turbo and Vernon and the Vampires
- Added much improved copy of the
HiSoft Pascal User's Guide
(Courtesy of Paul Daniels)
- Added a Cameron Video Wall advert - from Lighting & Sound International,
December 1987
- I have a few MTX compatible spares (mainly memory) available for
sale - check out Dave's Bargain
Basement :-)
- Hardware News - bought a Pascal ROM board from Peter - one more Memotech item added to
the collection!
- Added a copy of the original Memotech
MTX BASIC Tutor & Operator's
Manual (Courtesy of Bill Brendling)
- Added disks Club051 to Club054 from
the
MTX User Club Germany CP/M library
(Courtesy of
Peter Kretzschmar)
September 2013
August 2013
When doing various repairs and drawing circuit diagrams, I have
needed copies of datasheets for components used on a number of Memotech
PCBs. Whilst most of the datasheets
can easily be found, as many of the devices used on Memotech boards are
now obsolete, some have been quite difficult to locate - for me anyway.
I have created a Datasheets page to make them available here to make it easier for
anyone else who may need them.
July 2013
July was a "bumper" month for discovering "lost" MTX software,
firstly, Diarmid Gibson contacted me through the website and made
available a number of MTX games and utilities, along with tape covers
and documentation - as ever, our resident format conversion expert
(Paul) has started to convert the software to .mtx files.
Then Mike Rudkin had problems with his FDX and asked me to try to
recover some software from some of Jim Wills' legacy 5.25" disks for an
event that Jim has coming up, obviously we'll give Mike as much help as
he needs to fix his FDX - but, in the meantime, every cloud . . . . . .
.
- Added a copy of the Memotech Memory Extensions Fitting &
Testing Manual
(Courtesy of Diarmid Gibson)
- Added a copy of the instructions for Tournament Snooker
to the downloads page
(Courtesy of Diarmid Gibson)
- Added a "NEW" download,
Dennis Goes Bananas (Courtesy of Paul
Daniels & Diarmid Gibson)
- Added a "NEW" download - SciSoft's
Angle (Courtesy of
Mike Rudkin / Jim Wills)
- Added a "NEW" download - SciSoft's
Business Game (Courtesy of
Mike Rudkin / Jim Wills)
- Added a "NEW" download - SciSoft's
Cesil Interpreter (Courtesy of
Mike Rudkin / Jim Wills)
- Added a "NEW" download - SciSoft's
Fractions (Courtesy of
Mike Rudkin / Jim Wills)
- Added a "NEW" download - SciSoft's
Game of Life (Courtesy of
Mike Rudkin / Jim Wills)
- Added a "NEW" download - SciSoft's
Network - Node Ring
Introduction (Courtesy of
Mike Rudkin / Jim Wills)
- Added a "NEW" download - SciSoft's
Number Line (Courtesy of
Mike Rudkin / Jim Wills)
- Added a "NEW" download - SciSoft's
Pendulum (Courtesy of
Mike Rudkin / Jim Wills)
- Added a "NEW" download - SciSoft's
Symmetry (Courtesy of
Mike Rudkin / Jim Wills)
- Added a "NEW" download - SciSoft's
Wood Simulation
(Courtesy of Mike Rudkin / Jim Wills)
- Added copies of a number of the "extravagant" Syntax Soft tape
covers (Courtesy of Diarmid Gibson)
- Added copies of a number of tape covers (Courtesy of Diarmid Gibson)
- Tape Covers
from Escape from Zarcos, Felix in the Factory and
Johnny Reb
- Tape Covers from
Dr Frankie, Downstream Danger, SMG and
Jet Set Willy
- Tape Covers from
Miner Dick, Murder at the Manor, Obloids
and
Qogo-2
- Tape Cover from
The Designer, the User Manual is available on the
Downloads page
- Finally got evidence
that Advanced Programming With the Memotech Mtx, by
Spencer Bateson was never published
- Added a "Tech-tip" on how
to disable the MTX keyboard "auto-repeat" function
- Added a "NEW" download,
The Designer (Courtesy of Paul
Daniels & Diarmid Gibson)
- Added a "NEW" download,
Memocheque (Courtesy of Paul Daniels & Diarmid Gibson)
- Added a "NEW" game, Felix in the
Factory (Courtesy of Paul Daniels & Diarmid Gibson)
- Posted a few MTX music files
from Andy's MEMU package - do you have any more nice MTX tunes to
share?
- Added a
MTX512 review
from "TV Gamer" from January 1985, from The
World of Spectrum
archive
- Posted disk images (.hfe & .imd) for MicroPro
WordStar 3.00 for CP/M
configured for colour FDX
- Posted disk images (.hfe & .imd) for Borland
Turbo Pascal 3.00A for
CP/M configured for colour FDX
- Posted a copy of
Infocom's ZORK-I Adventure Game, runs under CP/M and/or Andy's
MEMU in CP/M Mode
- Created a schematic of the
Memotech
Speculator, with the help of Tony Brewer, the original designer
- Added disks Club026 to Club030 from
the
MTX User Club Germany CP/M library
(Courtesy of
Peter Kretzschmar)
- Added Combat and
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
games (Courtesy of Paul Daniels & Jim Wills)
- Created a page about the
MTX overheating resistor
problem (Photo courtesy of Mark Kinsey)
- Added disks Club022 to Club025 from
the
MTX User Club Germany CP/M library
(Courtesy of
Peter Kretzschmar)
- Added another issue of
Memopad
(Issue 16 / Vol. 0010 No.4) (Courtesy of Paul Daniels)
- Found another
Speculator
Review - from "Popular Computing Weekly", 10-16th October 1985
- Found another
MTX500
Review - from "Popular Computing Weekly", 11-23rd November 1983
- Found another
Memotech
Article , featuring Branton & Boyd - from "Popular Computing
Weekly", 7-13th July 1983
June 2013
 |
|
The Memotech
MTX500 is 30 years old this month |
| |
|
It was officially
released at the Earl's Court Computer Fair |
|
16-19th June 1983 |
| |
|
See the
Articles page for details |
May 2013
- Created a page on
replacing the large electrolytic capacitors in an MTX (Photos
courtesy of David Kimberlin-Wyer)
- Added another issue of
Memopad
(Issue 13 / Vol. 0010 No.1) (Courtesy of Paul Daniels)
- Started to post content from the CP/M library of the
MTX User Club Germany (Courtesy of
Peter Kretzschmar)
- Created a download page for Memotech
ROM images
- Posted Issue 2 of another UK Memotech publication,
MTX World, "discovered" by
Jim Wills
- Added a copy of the SyxtaxSoft User BASIC Manual
to the
Software Downloads page
(Courtesy of
Jim Wills)
- Added a scanned copy of the
HiSoft Pascal User's Guide (Courtesy of
Jim Wills)
- Added a page on diagnosing & fixing a
Video RAM fault
(Photos courtesy of David Kimberlin-Wyer)
- Created a page on reading &
writing individual files to/from Memotech disk images on PC
- Started to document my next FDX upgrade -
replacing a 3.5"
disk with an HxC Floppy Disk Drive Emulator
- Started to document the
upgrade of my FDX disk
drives from 5.25" to 3.5"
- Added a tool to
dump the Posts and Comments from the Facebook Memotech MTX 500
group to file
- I just can't believe the generosity of the people in the
Memotech community !
- In February, Inaki Castillo generously gave me a fantastic
Tektronix logic analyser to
help fix my FDX
- In March, Tony Brewer gave me a pristine 5.25" floppy drive
- again, to help fix my FDX
- And now, in May, Jan Seyfarth has kindly presented me with a
Memotech DMX80 Printer
- - Not to mention the time and effort that
Andy
has given to the community and me in particular!
- - Plus the contributions of Paul to the content of the
website
- As well as lots of input and help from the likes of
Peter,
Claus,
Jim,
Mark and too many others to mention
- Thanks a lot guys - your
contributions are greatly appreciated !!
- - Hopefully,
between us, we can keep the Memotech MTX going for years to
come !
April 2013
-
Completed replacement of the original
power supply in my
FDX with an HEC-200SR-AT, ATX PSU
-
Added tape covers and game play notes for "Attack of the Killer
Tomatoes", "Highway Encounter" and "Soul of a Robot" (a previously
unknown game) as well as the Level 9 Hints sheet for "Snowball"
(Courtesy of Jim Wills)
-
Added some photos of the Memotech
Data Recorder (Courtesy of Dave Hickman)
-
Added another issue of
Memopad
(Issue 12) (Courtesy of Paul Daniels) - the complete first
year's mags are now on-line
-
Created a page listing the Memotech
software that I do not have a
copy of - can you help?
-
Created a schematic of the SDX
FDC-05 Disk Controller, with the help of Tony Brewer, the
original designer
-
Added another issue of
Memopad
(Issue 7) (Courtesy of Paul Daniels)
-
Added another issue of
Memopad
(Issue 11) (Courtesy of Paul Daniels)
-
Added another issue of
Memopad
(Issue 8) (Courtesy of Paul Daniels)
-
Created a new page for Videowall Photos
- I think there were too many to add to the
Photos page
- Hardware News - I have just managed to buy an
SDX disk controller, but it is currently crawling it's way from
Germany
- Update - it has now arrived and looks in great condition, I just
need to get 5VDC to it and see if it works
- More good news, even without the additional power or the disk
drive - the SDX and 80 Column board work fine!
- Added another issue of
Memopad
(Issue 9) (Courtesy of Paul Daniels)
- Another insane price for an MTX512 on ebay uk, this time,
£536.45! - I know we love the MTX,
but that much ???
- (Maybe I should have let the offer below run a little longer)
1st April - for sale, Original,
almost "BNIB", Memotech Tape Head Cleaner
- Offer now closed
Unused, pristine condition
VERY VERY rare!An almost unique
opportunity to purchase this highly sought after item from the
1980'sFIRST OFFER of £475.00
secures - be sure to get there first !!!
This item will only
be available between 00:01 and 23:59 0n 01/04/2013
March 2013
- Created a page to document Dick Janssen's
MTX Keyboard
Replacement Project
- Do you want to know who beat Memotech to the Russian schools
contract? - have a look at this page
- Created a page on fault finding an
MTX with a RAM problem
(Courtesy of Mark Kinsey)
- Created a page on replacing the blown capacitor in my
FDX Power Supply
- Created a page for Bill Brendling's
MEMU-Pi (MEMU on Raspberry Pi), includes MEMU-Pi download
- Added a scanned copy of the Memotech
Customer Newsletter
from March 1984 (Courtesy of Paul Daniels)
- Created a page for Memotech
Owner's Club data, containing some MOC Technical Notes (Courtesy
of Paul Daniels)
- Helping out my slow scanning, Paul has sent me some scanned
issues of Memopad, Issue 6 is
now on-line, more to come
- Added another issue of
Memopad
(Issue 10) (Courtesy of Paul Daniels) - Page 26 is missing,
I will scan mine later
- Added a
MTX500 review
from "Which Micro? & Software Review" from January 1984 Courtesy of
Paul Robinson
February 2013
- Hardware News - I have just been gifted a Tektronix
Logic Analyser, TLA714, by
Inaki Castillo - thank you very much!
- Created a new Tools section on the
site, initially, just to document my learning experience with the
TLA714
- Added a couple of new
photos of the Memotech Speculator, including the internals
(Courtesy of Tony Brewer)
- Created a new page with detailed technical information about the
Memotech Speculator
- Added a copy of the Speculator Tape 1 Instruction leaflet to the
Manuals page (Courtesy
of Tony Brewer)
- Added copies of some of the original artwork used for
Continental software's games, courtesy of the artist,
Nick Mynheer
- Added a scanned article from DME, a
Computer Capacitance
Meter, using the MTX
- Using my new Logic Analyser,
I am making renewed efforts to fix my failed FDX -
read about my progress (or
not!)
- Created a page to catalogue my
small collection of Memotech hardware
- Added a high resolution scan of the original Memotech brochure
to the
Articles page.
- Added a high resolution scan of the original DMX80 printer
brochure to the
Articles page.
- Added a high resolution scan of the combined MTX & FDX brochure
to the Articles page.
- Created a new page for unusual Memotech
add-ons & customisations
- Copying Claus's idea - I'm trying a Facebook "Like" counter on
the Site Map Page - if you like the
site, give it a click!
- Added another two foreign language reviews of the MTX, one
German and one Norwegian, to the
Articles page
- More Hardware News - Bought
another MTX off ebay to
get the 80 Column board that was installed in it
January 2013
See Other "News"
2012
2013 2014
2015
2016
2017
2018 2019
2020 2021
2022
|
