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The new version of the RGB PCB has arrived, along with the updated design for the composite output for Space Zap and I have assembled one and connected it up to my Amiga monitor.

It now has potentiometers to allow the signal levels for Sync and Video to be adjusted to work nicely with your monitor. The original one, once patched to work properly, was way too bright on my screen, but this one now allows it to be adjusted for correct shades.

I still need to do a little more testing and finalise an updated Space Zap image (for the one person so far with a Space Zap version of the board and a monochrome monitor)

From the next batch all PCBs supplied will have the new 2.4 version included.

An attempt was made to put the Astrocade interface into a Space Zap cabinet sporting a monochrome monitor. It didn’t work so I began investigating exactly what the problem was.

It seems I misread the MiSTer IO schematic, and put a GND where a vertical sync should be, so it was not actually passing the sync to the output. I also made a change from the original colour gun used as it meant that it would then be possible to save one IC on the main PCB when using this configuration.

So, lesson learnt. I have now re-created the RGB board so composite output should work correctly with the available signals. I also added a couple of potentiometers to control the levels (since it is way too bright on my Amiga monitor via CVBS)

So, I will get some of these ordered so that I can test it and make sure it works as it should.

Since it originally appeared in 2003 this website has been edited by a few pieces of software and hosted on many different types of hardware.

It was originally created using Frontpage 2000 and hosted on the webspace I got from my ISP (Do you remember when you used to get that with your dial up access?).

Once I was kicked off of that for exceeding the allowed bandwidth, it has been hosted on a variety of different operating systems and hardware.

A D-link DNS-320 followed by a D-Link 340L running NGINX

An Atom T11 mini PC running Windows 8 and IIS

Then in 2023 I re-created the website using WordPress. This was then hosted on a Mini-ITX based machine with an AMD A10 4 core / 4 thread running windows 10 and WampServer.

With the impending demise of windows 10 as a supported OS and because Windows 11 would not install on the AMD without hacks, I located a Mini-ITX motherboard and CPU bundle on ebay with a 10th generation I5 CPU. So I have now put that in the server case instead and installed Windows 11. So it’s now a 6 core / 12 thread machine, but still manages to use less power than the previous setup.

n.b. I have a few other machines that will keep Windows 10 for many years to come, but they are not on the web so don’t need the same level of protection (Virtual Pinball, Mame cab and wall mounted Jukebox)

I fondly remember playing games like Confidential Mission on my Dreamcast in the games room, displayed on a 26″ Hantarex screen that came out of a video conference room.

However, with the switch of TVs and monitors to LCD / OLED etc, these old guns no longer work.

After doing some browsing across several web sites and comparing the infra red based guns, I decided to build a Gun4IR as it did not seem to require many parts and would fit into one of the plastic gun cases sitting around from the old gun arcade machines that no longer work.

Temporarily assembled using blu-tac, but lets me get it setup using the diagnostics on my PC.

Not the most exciting test, but proves that it actually does something!

I’ve now started setting it up with Mame to do more testing, and apart from the fact that it registers as being gun#2 it seems to work as expected.

I need to try it with some of the other emulators next, as we have a Jurassic Park cabinet that it would go with nicely. I know it has a hole in the back, I need to work out what to put there instead – the gun4ir instructions show a possibility of an RGB LED, so may see exactly what that shows when enabled.

From now on all of the power used to host this site is supplied by the sun.

This is down to a combination solar panel / battery system installed by UPS Solar which seems to be performing well at the moment, certainly better than the info I gleaned from several websites as to how much energy I could expect to generate at this time of year.

We also switched to Octopus Energy recently, and so far that seems to have been worthwhile as well. The web based information panel is much better than our previous suppliers and they keep us informed of energy saving incentives from time to time.

Should you decide that you would like to switch to Octopus energy as well, then please do so via my link, that way once you start making payments, we both receive £50 worth of credit!

One of the reasons I wanted to build a Retro Chip Tester (RCT) was because there are several adapters available that let you extend the capability of it.

The one I had an immediate use for was the 2708 programming adapter.

I ordered some PCBs for this, put it together and it has now been tested and programs these old chips without too much fuss.

I also added a Wi-Fi adapter to the SD Card, so instead of unplugging the card every time I needed to read / write an eprom, I can simply open a file share from my desktop and access it that way.