Hello everyone!

Lotte · 24-08-2024, 06:56 PM

Hello there,

I'm currently working out what to do with my dads old Bee that was our household computer until I was about 11. From the looks of it its a Premium Series 64k.
Last time I powered it on (about 2010) the old blue smoke from the power supply/floppy case happened and I've just kind of been lugging it around ever since. Because I'm getting nostalgic, I'm looking to either repair it, or find another way to play the old games we played growing up huddled around the amber screen. I'm more mechanical than electronics minded, so a lot of this stuff is very explain it to me like I'm five, so apologies in advance if I ask a lot of questions!

Cheers all!
Lotte

***ChickenMan*** · 25-08-2024, 01:10 AM

Welcome to the forum Smile

The power supply failure is normally from failing capacitors/Rifas and can be easily replaced. But if your not inclined or able to do that, then you can play all the Microbee games via a good emulator like ubee512. Its in our repository in the Public/Utilities folder. Heaps of games and educational programs are in our Microbee/Software folder. You will need to apply for Repository access, a link to it is https://microbeetechnology.com.au/MTFR_A...Access.htm

***MbeeTech*** · 28-08-2024, 09:29 AM

Hello Lotte.
Welcome to the forum.
If you would like your Microbee repaired you can always bring / send it in to Microbee Technology.
We would be more than happy to get it up & running for you.

Lotte · (This post was last modified: 31-08-2024, 01:46 PM by Lotte.)

(25-08-2024, 01:10 AM)ChickenMan Wrote: Welcome to the forum

The power supply failure is normally from failing capacitors/Rifas and can be easily replaced. But if your not inclined or able to do that, then you can play all the Microbee games via a good emulator like ubee512. Its in our repository in the Public/Utilities folder. Heaps of games and educational programs are in our Microbee/Software folder. You will need to apply for Repository access, a link to it is https://microbeetechnology.com.au/MTFR_A...Access.htm

Oooo thanks mate! An emulator might tide me over until I get the Bee repaired. I chucked the .exe through virustotal and got what I think is a false positive? Any thoughts on this? https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/9b5c...b9547f6b3f

(28-08-2024, 09:29 AM)MbeeTech Wrote: Hello Lotte.
Welcome to the forum.
If you would like your Microbee repaired you can always bring / send it in to Microbee Technology.
We would be more than happy to get it up & running for you.

This is something that I'd definitely be interested in. I don't have my games disk anymore (or it's somewhere in the house and not with all the other disks for the Bee for some reason), is there an easy way to get games onto 3.5 floppies (of which I have many spares), or running the Bee of SD cards or something like that?

***ChickenMan*** · 31-08-2024, 10:29 PM

The disk images in the repository can be written back to disk using ubeedisk tool, have a read of its docs. You need a PC with an internal 3.5" floppy drive, usb external drives will NOT work. Also, dont use High Density 3.5" floppies, only double density floppies for both single or double sided disks. A Gotek with Flashfloppy firmware is a good alternative to physical floppy drives.

The ubee512 EXE file from our repository is definitely virus free.

***MbeeTech*** · 02-09-2024, 10:22 AM

(31-08-2024, 01:45 PM)Lotte Wrote: This is something that I'd definitely be interested in. I don't have my games disk anymore (or it's somewhere in the house and not with all the other disks for the Bee for some reason), is there an easy way to get games onto 3.5 floppies (of which I have many spares), or running the Bee of SD cards or something like that?

If you are interested in getting your Microbee repaired and end up sending it in, we can write out some games disks for you if you include some of those
spare floppy disks you have (provided they are Double Sided, Double Density, not High Density).

There is another option for you if you wanted to use SDcards for storage, and that is to upgrade your computer to a Premium Plus.
This involves replacing the top board in the computer and some mods to the baseboard, which is all done for you as part
of the upgrade service. We have 2 of these upgrades left at present. If you would like more details on that, please get in touch.

The other option is to use a Gotek disk drive emulator which uses a USB stick to store disk image files.