Binary Dinosaurs

@binarydinosaurs

Collecting, repairing and preserving vintage machines since 1998. W: F: M: @binarydinosaurs.oldbytes.space "The king of old weird stuff" - Fuzzweed.co.uk, Nov '25

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Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· 29d

More Apple /// japes. As predicted the 5V rail was weak. There are 4 caps on that rail but I only had spares for 2. Now I'm up to 4.6v which makes things a bit more stable and I can write disks using ADTPro, an amazing bit of software. Also look at the thick case and understand why it got hot!

Apple /// PSU showing the 2 caps I replaced with slightly higher equivalents from Rubycon. This makes the machine a bit more stable at 4.6V.

ADTPro showing a directory listing of some disk images that are on my iMac. The two machines are linked over serial at 115200 baud, amazingly enough, and bringing a disk image down to be written on the Apple /// takes around 3 minutes. Awesome.

Look at the thickness of that case! Only a quarter of the motherboard is visible, the rest is under the thick case and has nowhere to vent heat to which is why a lot of these machines failed. Steve Jobs would't allow a fan to be installed so the machine would be silent. Oops.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· Jul 12

Huh. Passes all the diagnostics though. Maybe it’s just my utilities disk is too warm and is being uncooperative.

Video test of the Apple /// which shows a picture of Churchill (not the dog) with the words ‘if you can read this, and the test patterns above are clear, press space bar. Otherwise, press return.

*presses space bar*

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· Jul 12

First power up of the Apple /// in *counts fingers* 8 years. Took a few goes to let the caps reform but it’s now running and lasting for upwards of 3 minutes before failing. I suspect I might have to pick it up and drop it onto the bench to reset the chips. 😁

An Apple /// with Monitor /// (yes, they really did that) running the SOS Utilities. Nice to see it running again after so long! Now where did I put the demo disk.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· Jul 9

It’s an amazing machine, particularly the video board. I kind of wish I’d filmed the dance I did when I finally got it to boot 😁 Downside is I have a failed RAM board I need to work on and I have no idea how I’m going to do that. I need to redesign my riser board. This is it last year on show.

Monster CPT8520 along with a CST Thor, Sinclair QL with Schön keyboard, Apple Lisa and Commodore P500 on show at RetroFest 2025 in Swindon UK.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· Jul 8

Haha it was that one (1) tube of sockets that caused the box to be that big 😆 As usual with digikey stuff I will have trouble recycling the box because it’s A Really Good Box.

Two bags of fresh components in anti-static bags. The reason for the box being as big as it is was the long tube of sockets which I hope are at least two orders smashed together.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· Jul 8

UPS rocks up with my digikey order, which comes in the size of box you used to get a dozen 12” records in. I don’t remember ordering that much stuff!

A large square box on the floor containing lots of packets and digikey’s famous packing which is all recyclable. Not sure about the packets but I hope they are.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· Jun 22

Oh I do that quite a lot. Here's my table at the recent RetroFest briefly taken over by one of my 8" drives and a Greaseweazle used for imaging another exhibitor's disks.

A Tandon TM848-2 double sided 8" floppy drive imaging some DEC RX02 disks onto a laptop using a Greaseweazle flux reader.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· Jun 21

Loading software like it’s 1999, it’s the future! Finding both a working cd writer AND blank CD-Rs was entertaining and hot.

An external SCSI CDrom drive containing a boot disk to reload my new toy. I had to find a working cd writer and actual blank CDs like some sort of peasant.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· Jun 7

Solar orbit complete! Level up 🍻

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· Jun 4

Of course, restart the game and it’s fine.

The CP/M game Ladder running on the Camputers Lynx 128. It’s not Donkey Kong. Honest.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· Jun 4

#lynxJapes With RetroFest 2026 done and dusted I’m having one last go on the Lynx 128 before I put it away. This corruption in the CP/M game Ladder makes me ponder if I’ve had VRAM issues all along. I didn’t test the 8x 4164 that make it up. Apologies for shaky camera 😁

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 31

As well as all the excellent exhibits I'm pleased to report the Lynx CUB and the Commodore 1084S were VERY well behaved. And I got to hold ZORK on an original 8" floppy, see a Powertran Cortex, some Russian PDP clones and dump some 8" floppies with my Greaseweazle setup. Recommended 😁

Photo of my table, Camputers Lynx 128 plus original Camputers Cub monitor, Commodore 128D with 1084S monitor, H||H Tiger with no screen because when I took this picture I didn't directly know anyone who had one. That changed during the day!

Elektronika PDP-11 clones from the USSR. The one on the right runs RT11!

Classic Adventure ZORK 1, but on an 8" floppy disk. I had no idea this was originally a thing!

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 30

All set up ready for the hoardes! Come say hello if you’re here.

My table at RetroFest 26 containing a Camputers Lynx 128k, commodore 128D and the almost mythical H||H Tiger.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 28

WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF 😆 WordStar 3 on the C128D, using FASTCPM as a base OS which is really just CP/M 3 optimised for the 128. I can start packing the car now.

WordStar running on the C128D, with a nice white-text-on-blue-background thing going on. I’ve typed ‘RETROFEST 2026’ in big letters because why not.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 28

It’s taken some fighting, words to make the vicar blush, reading, testing and IPA (which I’ve now run out of) but this COULD BE the dbc128 file copier transferring a .d71 disk image to a real floppy. I mean, it’s doing SOMETHING instead of giving me errors so it’s a start 😄

Dbc128 file copier progressing an image write to disk very progressively.

The tower of power! C128D with its internal drive 8, an SD2IEC on the back as drive 9 plus an external 1571 as drive 10.

Wonder how much this lot would’ve been back in the day. I can find out of course, just look at ads in the back of PCN or PCW.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 27

Chatting to the very excellent @tynemouthsoftware.co.uk and he inspired me to make a couple of changes to my C64-flavoured SD2IEC. Witness the SD2frankenstIEC(n). Needs more work on the name I think. It can’t work at the mo because both it and the internal 1571 are device 8. That’s for tomorrow.

Pic of a formerly C64-only SD2IEC Frankenstein’d into working with the C128. I’ve cunningly desoldered the cassette plug which is only used for 5v, and added flying wires to allow it to still work for 5v.

Now I just need to change its device number from 8 to 9.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 27

I’ve held onto a NOS ‘C128 business cable’ for YEARS in the hope I’ll be able to use it one day for 80col mode. The magenta is weird though, so I’ll make a new CP/M disk along with the others. Of course, the crate already had an 80 col cable in it 😆 Software 80col must’ve been clunky?

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 27

People who donate things, I salute you. One person in particular is known as Spooky Simon and he gave me the crate of C128 stuff I dug through two hours ago on a ‘fun things’ search. C128 (not browned!) + PSU 1571 drive 1541-II drive 1541 compatible C2N modem Carts Loads of disks GEOS! Oh yes.

An external 1571 sat atop the internal 1571 of the C128D, next to a long box of floppies. I wondered why they were so chonky next to 1541-II drives and found out yesterday - not only are they double sided, but there’s also a WD1770 floppy controller in there too for MS-DOS compatibility.

Yep, these things can read/write DOS disks.

The GEOS boot disk. This is perhaps what windows should’ve been, and formed the basis of the Gem desktop on Atari STs.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 26

Time to put the #lynxJapes to bed, it’s not going to get any more fixed now, and if the Cub fails I have 2 different backup plans. Next up: this beauty. It worked when I got it last year so it should be good. Not so sure about the 1080S screen for it, but I have 5 monitors this will plug into.

A new-looking Commodore 128D ready to get set up for the weekend. Fingers crossed it still works!

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 25

#lynxJapes Today's discovery was that the Lynx 128 in CP/M mode uses the Lear-Siegler ADM-3a escape sequences. This suddenly made setting up CP/M favourites Catchum (aka 'not-pacman'), Ladder and Wordstar easy. One of my disks also has a game called 'PM' which is more Pacman than Catchum isn't.

Title screen for Catchum, the game that definitely isn't Pacman. Definitely. It's not quick, and strangely the 'level of difficulty' button does nothing.

Catchum, aka Not Pacman, maze and gameplay. You are a not-pacman style character which alternates from 'C' to 'c' when moving and not-eating-dots. The not-ghosts are 'A' characters that become 'm' characters when not-eaten during a not-power pill frenzy.

PM, on another disk, is also not-Pacman but your character changes shape to resemble the direction it's pointing in - <>^V. Stylish, eh?

Ladder, in action. You are the 'g' and you have to collect all the blinking characters and avoid the rampaging 'o' characters that definitely aren't oil drums. Total game mashup but actually plays quite well.

If a machine is running CP/M then for exhibition purposes it HAS to run Wordstar. And here we go, wordstar having just opened the supplied 'EXAMPLE.TXT' file. As per usual I couldn't remember how to get back to the menu to exit.

Fun fact - the linux text editor 'nano' uses a lot of Wordstar key sequences.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 25

It’s coming! Saturday has sold out, few remaining tickets for Sunday so book now and come see my Camputers Lynx 128k in cooler climes than it’s dealt with this weekend 😎

A screenshot of the Lynx 128 in CP/M mode, big text saying RETROFEST 2026
May 30/31 @STEAM IN Swindon UK

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 24

#lynxJapes Yes, it’s the slowest Zork1 ever! I found a diskdef for lynx CP/M so with cpmtools I’ve been able to make a disk containing the same ZORK binary I used for the Epson QX10. Somehow I don’t think Catchum and Ladder are going to work unless I find out what terminal is emulated.

Screenshot of the opening words of ZORK.

West of house
You are standing in an open field west of a White House, with a door.
There is a small mailbox here.

I’ve typed WOO! But obvs that isn’t a recognised command.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 23

#lynxJapes Well here we are again 🤬 The Microvitec Cub suffered frame collapse again while I was testing RS232 now that I’ve made up a proper cable. There’s only 4 components that usually cause this, and I replaced 3 of them last month. R235 and D201 are 2 of them. Let’s see if they’re well.

PCB of the Microvitec Cub back on the bench for remedial work after frame collapse for the second time. The tall blue cap almost in the centre forms part of the power supply for the TDA1170S vertical timing chip, and it’s usually the first thing you replace.

D201 and R235 are passive components in the power circuit for the TDA1170S vertical timing chip, and R235 is looking a little toasted. It’s a 10ohm fusible resistor - if it goes pop so does your picture.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 22

#lynxJapes Encouraging news for followers of the Lynx-locking-up saga - found a CMOS Z80 so stuck it in and…

Screenshot of a much happier Lynx 128 showing a CP/M directory and the line
‘I’ve been stable for the last hour, yay!’

Previously it would lock up after 10-15 mins.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 21

#lynxJapes Serial is go! I can send keypresses from my Mac to the Lynx 128. I suspect even at 2400 baud (default) I’ll struggle to get CP/M games down though, so I need to sort hardware handshaking. How you set the configs though… 🧐 Manual says use the EXT SERIAL command, but 🤷🏻‍♂️

Screenshot of the Lynx showing the ‘file’ I’d sent down to it, literally just the text ‘hello from macos’ followed by a CTRL-Z to close the file. This was sent from minicom running on the workshop Mac.

The cursor is blue because I’d somehow activated colour mode. Usually this is [ESC]Q.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 20

#lynxJapes Is YOUR Lynx 128 running a bit toasty in the power department? Get the big guns out. 😁

A pair of chonky 12v fans thieved from an HPE storage unit PSU. They can’t half shift some air so will be handy to lower the temp (and hopefully therefore increase reliability) of the notoriously hot Lynx PSU.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 18

#lynxJapes Original PSU may be all well and good, but when it’s capable of burning your fingers that’s not so much fun. Meanwell T60B to the rescue? You don’t need -5v unless you’re using serial, so +5/+12 from this one also seems to work ok for now. More extended testing later.

A Camputers Lynx 128 in bits being fed electrons by another Meanwell PSU, but hopefully a more stable one than the RQ50B seems to be.

Screenshot of the Lynx in composite (and therefore monochrome) video mode showing a CP/M disk directory and the words ‘Will a meanwell T60B suffice?’

Time will tell.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 16

#lynxJapes Today’s lesson, and indeed last week’s too, would seem to be ‘if your original PSU is melting the plastic of its case, don’t rely on a Meanwell switcher to power your classic Lynx.’ Here’s the 128k working nicely off the PSU from my 96k machine. 🙄 Why didn’t I try that first, etc.

Overview of a 128K Lynx sans case working off floppy disk and being powered by the PSU from a 96K Lynx which skulks under the monitor. .

That the 96K machine is perfectly happy with the Meanwell to the left of the 128K in the pic is probably down to load more than anything else. For whatever reason the 128k just doesn’t like it.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 10

#lynxJapes Sigh, 3 weeks to showtime and I get issues with booting the 128K from disk, or even loading the DOS ROM. Time to get down and dirty, and one thing I spot is that up in the &5500 region of code my machine is 6 bytes adrift address wise from ROM dumps. I'll dump my own ROMs later...

A topless Camputers Lynx 128K with a test clip on the Z80 CPU and an awful lot of probes heading to my HP1660a logic analyser so I can hopefully spot the exact point it goes off the rails when loading external ROMs with the XROM command. To the right is an oscilloscope which is what I was using first to watch what the lines for external ROM access were doing.

Binary Dinosaurs@binarydinosaurs· May 4

#lynxJapes To sanity check my disk setup I grabbed the 96k Lynx off the shelf and it works flawlessly using the same PSU so clearly the issues with the 128k are within the machine. Shame there’s no capacitors of note to blame. This is what the Union Jack demo should do.