My Amstrads
11The Amstrad CPC464 (with green screen and no disk drive) was my family's machine growing up.
Great machine. Many hours of programming, gaming and word processing for school assignments. Got teased at school because it had coloured keys.
We then moved to an Amstrad PC1640 with colour EGA screen (many more great hours) and then finally a generic 486 machine.
I've got:
- CPC464
- CPC664
- CPC6128 (my least favourite)
- 464plus
- 6128plus
- NC100
- NC200
- PC1640
- PPC512
- PPC640
If we ignore the CPC472 and the Schneider machines, then I guess the only thing missing is the GX4000 (oh, and the NC150) ... not really that interested as there's only 30-something games available on cartridge.
I think the 464/464plus is the better machine as you get the built-in Datasette and a better laid out keyboard (in the CPC's case) ... upgrade the firmware on the CPC464 to BASIC 1.1 and add Zaxon's DDI5 interface and you've got a better machine than the CPC6128.
The 464plus uses the same motherboard as the 6128plus and it seems relatively easy to upgrade it to support both a disk drive and 128KB of RAM.
To upgrade the RAM you need a pair of KM41464AP-12s (64K x 4bit DRAM), and to add the disk interface you need a Zilog Z0765A08PSC floppy disk controller (FDC), or similar, and a SED9420CAC ... plus some other logic & passive components (see links below).
My plan for the next few Amstrad-related videos:
[1] Refurbish the CPC464 - clean the keyboard, upgrade the firmware, replace the Datasette belts
[2] Upgrade the 464plus to 128KB of RAM and add the disk interface
[3] Get the CPC664 working
[4] Finish refurbishing the NC100 and NC200 machines
Upgrade the 464plus to 6128plus level:
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/464Plus_Conversion
Upgrade CPC464 to BASIC 1.1:
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Expanding_from_CPC_464_to_CPC_6128_Spec
Piotr "Zaxon" Bugaj's DDI5 interface:
https://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/36061
I'm currently (July 2022) selling a set of replacement belts for the CPC464 Datasette (main belt, counter belt, FF idler tyre):
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/265564931826