🇷🇺 Пентагон 128 2+ (Pentagon) ZX Spectrum Clone: Part 1 (First Look) [TCE #0599]
So, I think this might be a Пентагон derivative from 1993-1994, in this case a clone of the Sinclair (Amstrad-era) Spectrum 128 ... let's have a quick look. Some work is required before I can try powering it on ...
It was possibly built by a Moscow company called Солон (Solon) ... please do let me know if you do actually recognise the board layout/design!
https://w.wiki/DwZU
https://speccy.info/Pentagon
https://speccy.info/Солон
It's mostly Soviet-era parts (some manufactured post-Soviet) but it does have a genuine Zilog Z80, Yamaha YM2149F (a modified AY-3-8910) on a daughterboard and a Texas Instruments TMS27C512 64KByte EPROM.
All the other parts are Soviet-era designs including the КР1818ВГ93 (KR1818VG93) floppy disc controller (FDC), a clone of the Western Digital FD1793. There is an additional 8KByte EPROM (a Soviet-era КС573РФ2 or KS573RF2) that I assume contains the DOS (TR-DOS?).
They must've originally used the "good" capacitors containing previous metals as ALL the decoupling capacitors have been removed 🤯 ... decoupling capacitors really DO make a difference to the stability of a machine so I'll need to replace them before attempting to power it on.
00:00 ... Intro
01:10 ... Interface ports
02:55 ... Motherboard
06:00 ... Close-up of motherboard
09:30 ... Keyboard
15:17 ... Channel thanks & Outro
Some confirmation thanks to @1337Shockwav3this is likely a Pentagon 128 2+ ...
hhttps://users.atw.hu/zxspectrum/index.htmlhhttps://speccy4ever.speccy.org/doc/Pentagon.pdf
--------------------------------
Check out my Patreon for regular blog-type updates between videos - there is a free membership tier and two paid tiers (US$2 and US$5). There is also a one-week trial for the paid tiers so if you don't think it's worth it, then cancel ... no hard feelings ... I appreciate any support, even if it's just subscribing to my YouTube channel!
https://www.patreon.com/TheCluelessEngineer--------------------------------
Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
hhttps://karlcasey.bandcamp.com/ / @whitebataudio