08-07-2026, 06:39 PM
Whoah! A lot going on there.
OK just some quick thoughts off the top of my head:
1) That's not a 9V battery holder. It's for the battery backed up SRAM and uses a special type of battery. (I have one Core board like that somewhere in my stash). It's apparently a camera battery and supplied 4.5V.
2) Neither unit has a DRAM / Floppydrive "Core" board so Gotek is out for now. Not the end of the world. You can either get a new Core board or just stick to tape input. (This is how I ran my machines before I flipped one of my SRAM Core boards out for a DRAM Core board.) I have found playing back audio files from an old smartphone takes a bit of effort to get the volume dialled in but otherwise works fine.
3) The switch on the monitor has probably failed. A lot from that era have. (Commodore monitors of that era are particularly notorious for it)
4) Just really be careful if you decide to work in the monitor. Even if off, the tubes can reaccumulate a charge and they are not fun if you accidentally short them. I used to service CRTs for a living and they still scare me.
5) That's a GREAT bundle of documentation there!
6) I'd love to know what all the mods to the second core board are for. I'm guessing something to do with all the RAM in there.
Cheers!
John
OK just some quick thoughts off the top of my head:
1) That's not a 9V battery holder. It's for the battery backed up SRAM and uses a special type of battery. (I have one Core board like that somewhere in my stash). It's apparently a camera battery and supplied 4.5V.
2) Neither unit has a DRAM / Floppydrive "Core" board so Gotek is out for now. Not the end of the world. You can either get a new Core board or just stick to tape input. (This is how I ran my machines before I flipped one of my SRAM Core boards out for a DRAM Core board.) I have found playing back audio files from an old smartphone takes a bit of effort to get the volume dialled in but otherwise works fine.
3) The switch on the monitor has probably failed. A lot from that era have. (Commodore monitors of that era are particularly notorious for it)
4) Just really be careful if you decide to work in the monitor. Even if off, the tubes can reaccumulate a charge and they are not fun if you accidentally short them. I used to service CRTs for a living and they still scare me.
5) That's a GREAT bundle of documentation there!
6) I'd love to know what all the mods to the second core board are for. I'm guessing something to do with all the RAM in there.
Cheers!
John
John "CheshireNoir" Parker
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One Dark Little Kitten
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One Dark Little Kitten