AMSTAIR or AMSTrad Antic Internal Ripper v1.1 by Raft McMillan from the TRSi group is a hardware tool made with components from the Amstrad CPC era that allows the display of Amstrad CPC signals. It allow to hack a game in real time, trace code/ports, diagnostic faulty Amstrad CPC (the gerber plan is available to make it), more precisely it allows :

• Display CPC control lines via LEDs
• Slow down your Amstrad at chosen speed
• Freeze mode with step by step functionality : Step on each Clock, DMA access, CPU instruction, port read, port write, Memory access
• Select the IO port you want to scan
• Show address lines in binary and data lines in hexadecimal
• Output the selected data to SOUND (Really?!)
• Digiblaster compatible mode
• DMA read or write in each cpu modes : fast, slow, paused
• DMA can r/w Memory and IO ports
• Selection of DMA address and data via switchs
• Selection of Port or Memory address to intercept via switchs
• Force DMA for dead z80
• CPC or external power supply
• Reset Amstrad

Freedos v1.4 is available and there is a version for 8086 with a FAT32 feature! So it should be usable on an Amstrad PC.

mTCP v2023-01-10 by Michael B. Brutman is a set of TCP/IP applications for personal computers running PC-DOS, MS-DOS, FreeDOS, and other flavors of DOS. mTCP needs a 8088 processor (or +), 96 to 256 Kb of system memory depending on the application, ms-dos v2.1 (or +) and a network card (Ethernet adapter, or a device emulating Ethernet) that has a packet driver.

The source code of NetDrive is available on mTCP's web page. It's a Ms-Dos driver to access a disk image (floppy or hard disk) which on another computer on the local network under windows (10 and 11), Linux (x86 or ARM) and MacOS.

If you go on the mTCP web page, you must know that it's a 41 years old PC Jr which is running mTCP own http server.

Modification of this news, contrary as to I wrote first, as Prodatron stated on CPCWiki, SymbOS doesn't need C3 memory mode support to work. But C3 memory support on the PicoCPC card is still an excellent thing.

A second video of the PicoCPC card by Rodrik Studio and FreddyV is presenting some news since the first one, one very interesting feature being that the PicoCPC is the first ever Plug and Play card on Amstrad CPC !

I let you discover this video by Luis Pazos which is showing which USB keys he is using on his Amstrad CPC with an external Gotek.

Posted on the Amstrad IBM PC compatibles Facebook group par Stéphane LeMochi, here is an 1994 U.K. advertisement for Amstrad computers : PenPad 600 (1993), PCW 10 (1993), Notepad NC100 (1992) and Notepad NC200 (1993), PC série 7486 (1992 or 1993) and 9486. The 9486 PC serie was using Intel processors 486 SX and DX was released in 1994 as stated on the new Amstrad web site (product page), with two documents : first and second PDF with technical informations. I was surprised that the Notepad NC200 was more than three times the price of the Notepad NC100 !

Seen on the Amstrad IBM PC compatibles Facebook group, Mark RAWSON did post photos of the Amstrad RP4 diagnostic board for Amstrad PC 1512 and 1640. The manual should be available later. Thanks to him for sharing these informations.

If you have an Amstrad GX4000 or a CPC 464+ maybe 6128+ ? You don't have enough cartridges and you want to have more games on this format ? Then this video of DarkSteph is for you, you will discover how to program an EPROM for Amstrad GX4000 or CPC+.

The 29th and 30th October 2024, big floods have taken place in the province of Valencia in Spain.

Human losses are to be deplored, nothing will be able to bring them back, enormous damage, lost memories...

However, for the computers that we like, it is possible to do something. I will therefore let you see the restoration of an Amstrad CPC 464 that was found under mud. It looks like archaeology when it comes to removing the layer of mud that is still partly wet !

Eto announced yesterday his iRAM/640, an internal 512 Kb RAM expansion for Amtrad CPC 6128 which needs no soldering at all : remove the Z80, insert the expansion in the CPU socket ! Of you course if you use a DIY kit, you will have to solder the components.

Legacy software that supports the DK'Tronics memory standard will be able to access up to 576K of RAM (the maximum suppored by DK'Tronics). More recent software, like e.g. SymbOS, with support for the enhanced Yarek/RAM7 standard will see the full 640K.

You can read the genesis of the iRAM/640 expansion in this CPCWiki's thread.

My personal point of view, it's a very useful RAM expansion, thanks Eto for your work.

Abalore annonced three days ago the v6 ROM for his Amstream card which you can download on CPCWiki.

Amstream is a MX4 card to directly download Amstrad CPC(+) programs from internet. This new ROM version can now also run Locomotive Basic programs. The ROM still prints a v5 version even if it's v6.

HxC Floppy Emulator Manager v4.2 is available.

It features :

• CLR key added to move back to root folder while navigating
• C key added to clear current slot (that was removed since version V3.0 and +)
• ROM version can be launched with |HXC,0 or |HXC,1 to force physical drive 0 or 1
• upgraded from SDCC 4.3 to SDCC 4.4

It remains compatible with the 64KB RAM-based machines, and the ROM version is directly available into the AUTOBOOT.HFE file.

Newsflash, Rodrik Studio is presenting the PicoCPC which was made with the help of FreddyV (PicoMEM's author) who announced it on Twitter.

The PicoCPC features :

• ROM, so can change a 464/664 in a 6128
• RAM, all mode except the mode C3 (important for at least CP/M+ and Fuzix) at the moment)
• keyboard remapping to EN/FR/ES
• Floppy disk Controleur (only work with 464 and 464+
• MEA8000 emulation used in the Technimusique vocal synthetizer (french product)
• Reset bouton

This PicoCPC is using the Raspberry Pico 2, so it could be possible to get more features in the future, like we can see what can be done with the Pico 1 used in the PicoMEM card with a PC XT. The sound of a Gravis Ultra Sound on an Amstrad CPC o.O ?

The FD-1 drive is a second disk drive for Amstrad CPC 664 and6128 or first disk drive for Amstrad CPC 464 when you connect it to the DDI-1 drive controller.

Amstrad Retro Geek is showing a Gotek integrated inside a 3D print FD-1dans un FD-1 avec impression 3D réalisée par Benemerit (Madrid).

The Amstrad CPC 464 in the video has a DK'Tronics 64 Kb RAM extension and its ROM has been replace by one of the 6128 : basic v1.1 instead of v1.0.

The ESP32AY by Alexander Sitnikov is a hardware AY musical player (Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, MSX, Pentagon, ZX Spectrum). It reads many different formats (more informations on Github).