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Re: New Memotech user

Posted: 19 Jan 2024 17:18
by vanpeebles
noooooooooo!

Re: New Memotech user

Posted: 19 Jan 2024 17:43
by Dave
Yes ! :D

If you bought it as a "MTX512", I would complain to the seller that it was not as advertised, you might get a bit of a refund

You might also like to note that you can clearly see by the marks, i.e., grooves in the solder on the "fingers" on the internal edge connector, that an expansion card (the RAM board) has previously been fitted and removed

regards
Dave

Re: New Memotech user

Posted: 19 Jan 2024 23:37
by gunrock
All the more reason to get an MFX!

Re: New Memotech user

Posted: 20 Jan 2024 10:31
by stephen_usher
I did warn you that as it had the old keyboard that it was probably a 32K machine that had a RAM board.

Easy to fix though. Replace the PAL, swap the memory and change a jumper and it's a true 512.

Re: New Memotech user

Posted: 20 Jan 2024 10:40
by Martin A
Welcome to the MTX world, where the label on the front of the system isn't always quite accurare!

As has been pointed out, there's clear marks on the internal edge connector that there was another board in the system originally. Logically that would have been memory.

The good news in the mean time, is 90% of the non CPM, ie games, software was written for 32k.

gunrock wrote: 19 Jan 2024 23:37 All the more reason to get an MFX!
Shh you, remember I'm the one that assmebles those, you're trying to make more work for me!

Re: New Memotech user

Posted: 20 Jan 2024 10:55
by vanpeebles
Martin A wrote: 20 Jan 2024 10:40 Shh you, remember I'm the one that assmebles those, you're trying to make more work for me!
Can I have one please? :)

Re: New Memotech user

Posted: 20 Jan 2024 11:53
by 1024MAK
Well, technically it does have more than 32K.
It has a total of 384K bits of RAM... But only 48K bytes of RAM. 16K bytes of which is video RAM outside of the Z80 address space.

Mark

Re: New Memotech user

Posted: 20 Jan 2024 14:35
by Martin A
vanpeebles wrote: 20 Jan 2024 10:55
Martin A wrote: 20 Jan 2024 10:40 Shh you, remember I'm the one that assmebles those, you're trying to make more work for me!
Can I have one please? :)
Dave is the one to talk to, I just do the assembly :)

Re: New Memotech user

Posted: 20 Jan 2024 18:36
by gunrock
stephen_usher wrote: 20 Jan 2024 10:31 I did warn you that as it had the old keyboard that it was probably a 32K machine that had a RAM board.
It's 4000-04 which also means it's a relatively early system. I wasn't aware that the keyboard font was an indication it was an earlier machine? I have seen them of 512s2's.

Re: New Memotech user

Posted: 21 Jan 2024 01:59
by stephen_usher
gunrock wrote: 20 Jan 2024 18:36
stephen_usher wrote: 20 Jan 2024 10:31 I did warn you that as it had the old keyboard that it was probably a 32K machine that had a RAM board.
It's 4000-04 which also means it's a relatively early system. I wasn't aware that the keyboard font was an indication it was an earlier machine? I have seen them of 512s2's.
Until I had my two systems side-by-side I didn't even know that there were two keyboard types. The "earlier" one with "Return" has slightly taller and conical key caps. I know my MTX500, which was bought in December 1984, has "RET" on the return key and ZX Spectrum style rubber feet rather than the round feet on the earlier "MTX512" which had 32K RAM.

It's possible that Memotech had two keyboard suppliers, I don't know.