Monthly Archives: October 2018

Super Zaxxon Replica

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A while back — following the repair of a C64 — I posted about testing the PLA replacement that I had used. In the great video on that topic shared by MindFlareRetro, Eslapion mentions two possible tests for a PLA replacement. One of these I covered in my post back then. The other test involves using a Super Zaxxon game cartridge.

Due to the unique way of bank switching implemented by that module, it seems to be particularly vulnerable to glitches produced by PLA replacements. Less-than-perfect replacements tend to produce crashes or skewed graphics when running that game. Continue reading →

SD2IECplug v2.0

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Last year I created my own rendition of the SD2IEC, dubbed the SD2IEC Pluggable. Version 1.0 left some room for improvement and recently I found the time to take on a new revision. The new version 2.0 is even closer related to the design published by Shadowolf while maintaining the “pluggable” layout with the pass-through tape connector.

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The 32-Bit Tapecart

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A few weeks ago, I built the through-hole version of the Tapecart based on an ATtiny44. The original and probably the most wide spread variant of the Tapecart is much smaller though. It is built from surface mount components and it is based on the much harder to get 32-bit AT SAM D09 controller.

I wanted some of those Tapecarts in my collection so I had “a few” boards made, ordered the components including a matching case and waited for everything to arrive. Soldering the SMD version is not hard, the smallest components have a 0805 footprint. Continue reading →