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2014
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December 2015
- Paul has released Version 0.3 of his
Assembler
environment for developing for MTX under Windows
- Stocks of MAGROM
are now almost exhausted - I have one left that won't go on eBay
- There has been limited interest from the MTX community in
CFX, they will now go on eBay
- Progress on
MTX-Pi has been a
bit slow, trivial connector problems, but it should be finished soon
- Posted some information about the Video Wall that Memotech
installed in Oman in 1992
- Martin has generously donated an assembled
6502 Co-Processor board
for MTXPlus+
- On the subject of MTXPlus+,
following a
bit
of a drastic step, some improvement made to system stability
November 2015
- Paul Daniels is working on an
Assembler
environment for developing for MTX under Windows, why not
download it, give it a go, and feedback any comments to Paul on
Memorum?
- At long last, I have been able to make time to revisit
MTXPlus+, no real
progress, but fixed a "keyboard" fault
- It is taking me longer than I expected to tidy up a few of the
ad-hoc hardware mods and code edits that I put in place when I first
started trying to cure the issues with running the VDP above MHz -
I'm getting there though.
- Yet another distraction . . . .
MTX-Pi is making
progress
- The Source (an MTX
Assembly Language Helper) is still not available as a free download,
read its current status here.
October 2015
- The CFX Operator's Manual
has been updated to Version 1.1 to align with Firmware Build 144
- A Firmware update
(Build 144) for CFX is available from the
CFX page
- Paul Daniels hosted
Memofest 2015 at his home in Cheshire on the 17th October
- Claus released a new MSX
game conversion at
Memofest 2015 - O'Mac Farmer - available on the
Downloads page
- A very brief CFX Operator's Manual is now available from the
CFX page
- A Firmware update
(Build 132) for CFX is available from the
CFX page
- Another month passes - not much to report, well, apart from the
fact that I have picked up another
Video Wall system ! Yes, I know, the last thing that I need is
another unfinished project but it was too good an opportunity to
miss. This one included one of the "fabled"
MTX 2000 computers, it is
very much like the Reflex Controller in my
other Video Wall equipment, but includes a 3.5" disk drive and
requires the Video Wall software to be loaded from disk (which I
don't have). This system was installed in a flight case, making it
portable - or rather, luggable!
- A quick look at the Frame Store boards in the DDFS indicates
that this is a High Resolution model - the boards have 64kbit RAMs,
rather then the 16kbit RAMs installed in my other DDFS. The system
is set-up for a 4x4 Video Wall.
- CFX should be available
to buy in a couple of weeks, there are a couple of devices with
other users for testing and the plan is to demo it at
Memofest 2015,
after which, it will become generally available - if there is any
interest of course.
- After an extended break - I am now back on to MTXPlus+, more
news on that soon(ish!).
September 2015
- OK - so I lied! Apologies, I have not been as active on the MTX
front as I would have liked, and I am just about to go on holiday
(25th September) for a week. I will make a determined effort to get
back to normal after that.
- In the meantime though, the first batch of
CFXs have been produced,
there still needs to be a little more testing, but they should be
generally available when I get back from holiday.
- Modeled on the
Memotech MTX
Computer Crib Card, Paul Daniels has produced a
"Developers Edition"
with lots of useful info for
developers, including the RST10 call, VDP and sound
registers etc. Currently at Version 0.1, Paul
would welcome your comments over on
Memorum.
- By popular request (OK, there was 1), I have created a "Developer's
Corner", a place to store tricks & tips for programming the MTX
range. Please share your neat tricks (send
me an e-mail) and I will post them here. Don't all rush at once
- I only have a few gig free in my mailbox :-)
August 2015
- Memofest 2015 is
being hosted by Paul Daniels at his home in South Cheshire,
currently scheduled for 17th/18th of October. Details are sketchy at
the moment, but if you would like to attend and/or have any
suggestions for activities during the event,
check out this thread on Memorum (The Memotech Forum).
- Apologies, things have been very quiet here over the last few
months - things should be getting back on track soon though and
normal service will be resumed shortly :-)
- One exciting new development to report though - Martin Allcorn
has designed a low cost, Compact Flash based, "disk drive" for the
MTX - more details soon - see the
CFX Project page for more info.
- The MTX eBay sales page had
become far too large, I have now reduced the list of items displayed
on the page to the last year or so, other items have been archived
by year, available via links from the "current" page.
July 2015
June 2015
- Posted a couple of "new" documents to the
Design Guides
page in the Technical
Library
- Philips Semiconductor HCT User's Guide
- Fairchild Semiconductor AN319, Comparison of MM74HC to
74LS, 74S and 74ALS Logic
- Motorola Semiconductor, AN851, Motorola MC6845 CRTC
Simplifies Video Display Controllers
May 2015
- The MTXPlus+
video issue has still not been resolved, so the system is still
limited to operation at 8MHz
- On a more positive note though, Martin has made great
leaps forward with the ROM code, to such an extent that MTXPlus+ can
now run CP/M
(ported from Andy Key's REMEMORizer code)
- Posted photos of an MTX
Video board being reused with a TI-99/4A - sold on ebay UK this
month
- Added some details and photos of
repair/replacement of a key switch from Mike Rudkin's MTX
keyboard
April 2015
- A very quiet month Memotech wise - normal service will be
resumed shortly :-)
- Paul Daniels has just completed Version 0.2 of his
MTX Gamebase - available
for download - thanks Paul !
March 2015
- Posted the latest version of Bill Brendling's
Node documentation - Revision
29/03/2015
- Refreshed the Memotech and CP/M indexes for the
search page
- Received another "bumper bundle" of
MTX tapes from Martin, the
total in my collection is now up to 86.
- Posted a scan of the Tape Cover from
Cee5
- Posted a scan of the Tape Cover from
Crystal
- Posted a scan of the Tape Cover from
Obliteration Zone
- Posted a scan of the Tape Cover from
Quazzia
- Posted a scan of the Tape Cover from
Tapeworm
- Posted a scan of the Tape Cover from
The Wall
- Posted a scan of the Tape Cover from
Doodlebugs (the "budget" Syntax Soft version)
- Posted a scan of the Tape Cover from
Frantic Freddie (the "budget" Syntax Soft version)
- Posted a scan of the Tape Cover from
Hawkwars (the "budget" Syntax Soft version)
- Posted a scan of the Tape Cover from
Iceburg (the "budget" Syntax Soft version)
- Not much time for general website things this month -
optimisation of MTXPlus+
still has priority
- Thanks to Martin Allcorn, I have another 20 or so
MTX tapes to add to the
collection, the total is now up to 50.
- Claus has just released
another converted game, from the Sord M5 called
Power-Pac - thanks Claus!
February 2015
- Updated my Tapes page to
indicate the tapes that I currently have (38).
- Until recently, I did not have any interest in collecting
original MTX software on tape, but I have decided that my Memotech
collection would be incomplete without copies of the original
software tapes. I already have a number of tapes and have decided to
try and gather a complete set. If you have any MTX tapes that you
would like to donate to the collection, please get in touch.
This page lists the titles
that I do not have a copy of, if you do consider donating any tapes,
please get in touch first, just in case that I have managed to
obtain a copy since I last updated the page.
January 2015
- MTXPlus+
design optimisation is taking up most of my time at the moment,
including trying to find (with help) a hardware solution to allow
the VDP on the
video board to be written to at any CPU speed and optimising the
buffer arrangement on the
CPU board.
Perhaps the most noteworthy development though, is Martin's code to
integrate the CF with the MTX ROM. You can see an example of the
work to date on the
I/O board page.
- Uploaded some "new" Tape Covers
(Courtesy of Sean Mason)
- 3D- Tachyon Fighter, The Zoo, MTX Basic Business
- Successfully tested the parallel printer interface on my MTXPlus+
I/O
board using a DMX80!
- Posted a copy of
IBMDISC, Read/Write MSDOS format floppies with SDX & CP/M
(Courtesy of Bill Brendling)
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MTXPlus+ Lives ! With the
I/O board
completed, the GAL and keyboard ICs installed, an original MTX
keyboard connected and
the ROM loaded with a copy of the original MTX OS,
ASSEM and BASIC ROMs, my MTXPlus+
is working!
The system can accept and run BASIC programs - more
testing is required, but, despite the poor screen shot, things are looking good so far.
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- More testing of the MTXPlus+
I/O board
: with the 82C55 PPI installed and a Compact Flash card reader
hooked up to the IDE interface, running a copy of Martin's test ROM,
the system can read data from the CF card.
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