Electronics > Beginners
Bad caps on my Commodore 64? Should I replace them?
rsjsouza:
--- Quote from: Peabody on August 05, 2019, 05:44:35 pm ---And it seems a lot of the development work involves giving the C64 new hardware capabilities it never had, and I don't quite see the point of that.
--- End quote ---
The point is the same as with any other hobby with no financial gains: to have fun and learn things along the way. :-+
furyanwolf:
--- Quote from: james_s on August 04, 2019, 04:58:56 pm ---You can't visually tell anything about the condition of electrolytic capacitors unless they are *really* bad. Personally I would just leave them all alone if the machine works, but if it's getting flaky you could look at replacing the electrolytics. You can get a component tester for under $10 that can measure ESR though.
--- End quote ---
Yea I've decided it looks decent enough to give it a chance once my new power supply arrives tomorrow, and hopefully it will all work. I might replace the electrolytics at some other time.
--- Quote from: Ian.M on August 04, 2019, 05:38:45 pm ---
--- Quote from: furyanwolf on August 04, 2019, 04:49:28 pm ---As for BASIC @Ian.M, I'm honestly going into it with no expectations, most of my experience is in C# and Java, wildly different and modern languages as it is, so I'm expecting BASIC to be a bit of an experience either way. But it's interesting to know that there are better options out there, might just look into acquiring more vintage computers down the line ;D
--- End quote ---
BBC BASIC (originally on the BBC computer and Acorn Atom and later the Archimedes) was particularly well structured and nice to use. SuperBasic on the Sinclair QL was well structured, had better string handling than BBC BASIC, and was also user extensible.
You don't need to use retro hardware to get the classic BASIC experience, which is a good thing as vintage hardware, especially storage peripherals, is getting rare and unreliable.
BBC Basic has a fair bit of cross-platform support nowadays and can be run natively under RiscOS on ARM SBCs like the Raspberry PI. SuperBASIC is far less widely ported but can be run under a QL emulator on most platforms.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: james_s on August 04, 2019, 08:08:09 pm ---Heck you can run BASIC on a $13 FPGA board. Check out Grant Searle's 'multicomp'.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the info :-+ I do know that I could've run BASIC without any old hardware, I just wanted to get into vintage computers partly for the experience/romanticism of it. Being able to actually code on it was a bonus. ;D
--- Quote from: Peabody on August 05, 2019, 04:29:47 am ---furyanwolf, you must be a glutton for punishment. Do you have an analog monitor for the C64? What about floppy drives? How about a modem, or some way to transfer files to and from Windows? And then there is 6502 Assembler, which is actually quite nifty. Well, it should be fun putting everything together, but having done that, there may not be much to do with it even if it works.
--- End quote ---
Fair points, I might in fact get more accessories for it assuming it works and I enjoy my time with it. Speaking of which, I did get it with a handful of games and a datasette 1531, so I'm hoping there will be some interesting entertainment to come.
--- Quote from: james_s on August 05, 2019, 06:27:57 am ---Oh there's tons of stuff to do with a C64. There is still an active development community along with decades of existing software. It was a revolutionary machine at the time which was enormously popular.
--- End quote ---
I've also heard about this, I think I heard The 8-Bit Guy mention it, insanely cool that people are still making software for the C64 these days.
Peabody:
I can send you this program, but can't get it on a Datasette for you:
MLMON64 is a machine language monitor program for the C64.
It can be used to perform low-level operations on the
contents of the computer's memory, assemble and disassemble
code, and issue disk commands. All numerical values are
entered and displayed in hexadecimal.
The program is generally similar to, but better than, the
Monitor program found in the Plus/4. But this program can
be installed starting at any location from page 08 to page
C8, and fits exactly into 8 pages (2K) of RAM, plus a few
bytes of zero-page memory.
Included here are:
1. MLMON64.PRG - The executable. Load and Run.
2. MON64HLP.ASC and .PET - Manual for the program in ASCII
and PETSCII.
3. This ReadMe file.
plazma:
Check the PSU. It's known to give over voltage to the 5V pin. Depending on the PSU model it may be easily modified with a SMPS module.
There is a lot of DIY electronics project for Commodore 64. Here are some of what I have made:
SRAM PCB for later models
--- End quote ---
Switchless JiffyDOS (Kernal selector without external switches)
--- End quote ---
http://pasilassila.blogspot.com/2014/06/switchless-jiffydos-for-c64.html?m=1
Under voltage, over voltage, over current protector which fits inside the DIN connector
--- End quote ---
--- End quote ---
etc.
Sent from my GM1903 using Tapatalk
Kahenraz:
I bought model UA6013L Auto Range Capacitor Capacitance Tester off of eBay for my own sanity check when replacing capacitors. Works great.
https://www.ebay.com/itm//263536242432
However, I've only ever tried this with electrolytic capacitors. This video suggests that this is the wrong tool for ceramic capacitors:
I agree with what's already been said. Ceramic capacitors are pretty darn robust. They're basically a bunch of thin metal sheets suspended in epoxy. No moving parts and no electrolytic to dry out:
See here for more information:
https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1271
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version