Stéphane from France (MTX500)

[stansteph54]

Hello, I'm Stéphane from France, I'm collecting vintage computers and I'm now very very happy having acquired a "french" MTX500 with AZERTY keyboard.

This is to me a very nice piece in my collection.

I did some cleaning this morning and this evening I tried to power it on and it seems booting succesfully.

I'm very glad,
Now I'm looking how to find and upload some games to it, as I'm sure it already waited for this for a toooo long time.

Thanks for your welcoming here,

Kind regards
Stéphane

[Dave]

Hi Stephane

Welcome to the Forum and congratulations on finding your MTX!

I saw your post on Facebook, many people do use .wav or .mp3 audio files to load programs/games, but these days, solid state devices are much quicker and more reliable. There are a number of options available, with a range of costs, should you want to go that way.

regards
Dave

[stansteph54]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your very quick reply, much appreciated.

I'm right now trying playing the .wav files on my PC with a double stereo 3,5mm mini jack cable that I plugged into "MIC" but nothing happend

I'm using LOAD "" command on the MTX.

Thanks again

Stéphane

[Dave]

You're always better with a mono lead if you can find one, stereo plugs are unlikely to work.

You need to use the "Ear" connections to load tapes

Also see this post http://mtxworld.dk/memorum/viewtopic.ph ... =ear#p2810

regards
Dave

[Martin A]

Welcome.

I won't say anything about games or storage systems, since I had a hand in designing a lot of them, my opinion might not be too impartial

It's probably worth doing a "PRINT PEEK 64122" to confirm the amount of memory fitted. The MTX500 motherboard should print a zero and the MTX512 a one. There have been cases where the motherboard memory doesn't match the label on the case.

[gunrock]

Hello Stephane! Wonderful to see an actual example of a French keyboard, they seem pretty rare. Your keyboard layout also seems to differ from Stéphane Scmitt's Belgian machine.

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Welcome to the community. I also recommend the MFX networking/solid state storage/80-column and VGA output solution, if you wish to escape cassettes.

[stansteph54]

You're always better with a mono lead if you can find one, stereo plugs are unlikely to work.

You need to use the "Ear" connections to load tapes

Thank you Dave, a bit surprising to use the ear plug as an input! that’s why I tried the mic at first

Anyway, this isn’t working neither, I need to find the right cable.

Feel free to let me know what may be another good and relatively cheap solution (sd card? cf card?)

thanks again

[stansteph54]

Welcome.

I won't say anything about games or storage systems, since I had a hand in designing a lot of them, my opinion might not be too impartial

It's probably worth doing a "PRINT PEEK 64122" to confirm the amount of memory fitted. The MTX500 motherboard should print a zero and the MTX512 a one. There have been cases where the motherboard memory doesn't match the label on the case.

Hi Martin,
Thanks a lot for your nice welcoming and feedback.
Feel free to share what you wanted to me especially the best updated solution to load games to this beauty

I did check the motherboard version as you requested and the result is : « Params » so ???

3A7EDA2F-50C0-4961-A379-952B9175EA6C.jpeg (5.72 MiB) Viewed 90892 times

[stansteph54]

Hello Stephane! Wonderful to see an actual example of a French keyboard, they seem pretty rare. Your keyboard layout also seems to differ from Stéphane Scmitt's Belgian machine.


Welcome to the community. I also recommend the MFX networking/solid state storage/80-column and VGA output solution, if you wish to escape cassettes.

Hi @gunrock,

and first, thanks a lot for your nice and warm welcoming as well as for your answers.

you’re right, it seems my french Keyboard has 3 keys with the typical french “à”, “é” and “è” character that the belgian hasn’t !

by the way, I’m adding some pictures after a first cleaning

thanks also for your recommendation, I’d be interested in some links to evaluate prices of these modern helping options.

Kind regards

610E7286-B058-473F-AD4C-CFF8CAEB8A8F.jpeg (2.37 MiB) Viewed 90889 times

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8360EC01-389A-4D52-BBB6-968634A11352.jpeg (2.48 MiB) Viewed 90889 times

[Dave]

I did check the motherboard version as you requested and the result is : « Params » so ???

3A7EDA2F-50C0-4961-A379-952B9175EA6C.jpeg

put 64122 in brackets, i.e., PRINT PEEK (64122)