Longshot has released a new version of Amazing Demo and the Amstrad CPC CRTC Compendium which is a documentation about the CRTC 6845 (and some others circuits). Note that the CRTC is a generic component used in several computers including the IBM PC.

He made this demo compatible with all CRTC. The choice of Amazing Demo isnt harmless. A benchmark program : SHAKER (V1.8) comes with the compendium and shows several things stated in the document. Dont hesitate if you have a idea to add something in this document. A english version is being translated at the moment.

NoRecess wrote about this (in english)

After sending a SMS on his Amstrad CPC (with a lot of humor), Kiragregis is back for something else.

This time it's a fois-ci c'est un RS-232 project (using 12 volts whereas a TTL is using 5 volts, like the Usifac) for only 15 euros of electronic components. You can see his RS232 project being showed in video (french inside).

Electronic plans are available in the next message following the video on CPCWiki.

Beware, with this RS232 expansion, dont forget to connect the serial cable with the Amstrad CPC switched OFF !

On CPCWiki some time ago I discovered the Amstrad Noob blog with a Youtube channel, but I didnt take time to write about it. It's now done, I recommend to read this blog. The last article is about the RGB2HDMI (youtube video) that I saw already being used by Retro Theory.

Retronano is making miniatures computers in 3D with a Raspberry PI inside, for example an Amiga 3000, Macintosh 2, etc...

This time the target is a miniature (20% of the real size) Amstrad CPC 6128 with a Raspberry PI zero (knowing that the zero 2 is out since not very long and much more powerful). The SD card goes into the not for real disk drive of this miniature 6128, it's a nice idea.

Click on the link above for more informations including price :

• 40€ for the model alone without electronics
• 99€ for the model with Pi zero, sdcard with cpc emu, hdmi adapter and micro usb hub (only 4 in strock)

He takes orders by message, payement by paypal, delivery 6€ for France and 12€ for europe.

It's very nice but I have already 3 raspberry PI at home with installed Amstrad CPC emulator and in fact I am using my good old Amstrad CPC 6128+ instead or plain 6128. So I dont feel the urge to buy oe for myself.

You are the happy owner of an Amstrad MegaPC Amstrad and you wish to offer it to me for Christmas ? So don't hesitate to buy first the MegaCard to upgrade your computer and offer it the following features :

• ALS100 sound controller chip providing SB/SBPRO/SB16 compatibility
• real Yamaha OPL3 FM chip
• Realtek 8019AS network controller providing a 10mbps ethernet connection and boot rom support for XT-IDE BIOS
• scandoubler that makes possible for the onboard MegaDrive to output a standard VGA signal
• an optional exclusive Serdaco MIDI daughterboard - the X3GS with a 16MB Roland-licensed GS soundbank (same core features as X2GS)
• ISA header and MIDI I/O + routing configuration for an upcoming PCMIDI MPU upgrade db

For more informations on this card and photos, go read the thread on Vogons.

You can see a video of RMC - The Cave which shows the MegaCard on Youtube.

You can also check the Amstrad PC group on Facebook where it has been showed several times already.

Michael Wessel has released for the CPCRetroDev 2021 contest a game in basic 1.0 : The Wrath of the MCPC.

He just released a new version with joystick support and compatible with LambdaSpeak vocal synthesis which you get with his sound cards : LambdaSpeak 1.95, LambdaSpeak III and LambdaSpeak FutureSoft Edition (LS-FS). You can see a video of the vocal synthesis on Youtube.

After the Plus2CPC by Abalore (see on CPCWiki), here is the Play2CPC which is a mix between the Plus2CPC by Abalore (adding a cartridge for all CPC even CPC+ on expansion port) and the PlayCity. The Play2CPC adds three AY channels and one noise generator (6 channels and 2 noise generators for the PlayCity) and the possibility to modify the content of the pseudo cartridge. For more informations, I invite you to read CPCWiki (link above).

Retro Theory is showing a photo of an internal card for Amstrad PPC 640 which is replacing the internal modem to add :

• LAN ethernet
• XT-IDE with SD card
• adlib sound
• 512 Kb de RAM (8 Kb granularity)
• ISA slot

Seen on the Amstrad PC Facebook group, Somhi has created a adaptator to use a PS/2 keyboard on an Amstrad PC XT (1512/1640/2086/3086). Check his other github depot which has additionnal informations including an external alimenation for Amstrad PC 1512 (and another link following the first).

Thanks to the Super PC/Turbo XT BIOS 3.1 Retro Theory now has 736 Kb of RAM under msdos, super fast booting compared to the stock BIOS/ROS. Mem check is skipped, parity checking had to be altered, and CGA 80Col is hardcoded for now.

He had to modify the source code for testing the Nec V30 processor which is on the PPC 512. This stock new BIOS works well on an Amstrad PC 1640.

The additionnal RAM comes of course from an ISA board.

I am guilty of not viewing these videos by CabryDYI (french inside), but reading the title, they should interest you if you need to repare or service an Amstrad GX4000. Happy viewing.

A new batch of the V990 CPC Powergraph card is available (card by Tecnobytes), 30 will be available with already 16 taken. This card is connected on a MX4 slot to be used on an Amstrad CPC.

This is not the V9990 Powergraph Light Rev 2 with built-in adapter by Tecnobytes, which is a MSX cartridge for MSX or Amstrad CPC which you can connect with the Amsdap (MX4 with a cartridge slot), see Prodatron's video in 2018.

Several programs are being written for SymbOS using this graphic card, including FlappyBird.

Beware this graphic card needs an analog 15 kHz signals through discrete RGB connectors (VGA, DVI-A, and/or SCART), check the 15khz wiki.

Noel Llopis has written an Amstrad CPC diagnostic ROM which is now version 1.2 and whose sources are available on Github.

Changes since v1.1 are :

• fixing model detection
• changing the RAM detection algorithm to be able to tell bad RAM from no RAM
• Vendor and refresh frequency display
• Detection of Plus ROMs (English, Spanish, and French)

Trebmint is the programmer of the Quigs language to write cross platform programs for SymbOS (Amstrad CPC, MSX et Elan Enterprise). He wrote a demo using the G9K framework for the graphic card V9990. Here are two videos showing it :

• G9k CPC test in SymbOS on real hardware running in SymbOS as a multitasking application
• G9k (v9990) multitasking demo in SymbOS running multiple apps at the same time

A new version of Mod Master XT beta 27 by FreddyV is available on Vogons. It lets you hear a lot of music modules formats on any PC under msdos even a PC XT (CGA), for example an Amstrad PC 1512/1640 or a PPC 512/640...