New blog post - the second part of the 4016 repair. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/11/cbm-... The board is working with a PET ROM/RAM and video RAM replacement, let's get back to as many original chips as possible. After all, they can't all be bad, can they......

New blog post - the second part of the 4016 repair. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/11/cbm-... The board is working with a PET ROM/RAM and video RAM replacement, let's get back to as many original chips as possible. After all, they can't all be bad, can they......

If you haven't a PET, you can get your retro themed Halloween experience in online emulation here: masswerk.at/pet/?prg=3d+... (If you haven't a keyboard with a numpad, you can always use the onscreen keyboard for convenient maze navigation and monster dodging.)

What better way to spend Halloween than playing 3D Monster Maze on the green screen CRT of a PET in the dark. I fixed this one last week, it was quite a horror show when it arrived. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/10/cbm-... Get my PET 3DMM remake from itch.io tynemouth.itch.io/pet-3d-monst...

Hmm, an AVR microcontroller at 24MHz runs 24 million single cycle instructions in a second. Yet a PIC microcontroller at 64MHz runs only 16 million of their "single cycle" instructions, as 1 "cycle" is 4 clock cycles. Well that was a waste of time and money, thank you @microchip-makes.bsky.social

I can list these as kits on Tindie if anyone is interested? www.tindie.com/stores/tynem...

I've just been checking back on some old repairs and I found this 8032 repair from 2017. That was a similar date to the 4016 in this weeks post. It had sockets on all main chips apart from the 6545, might explain why that had been desoldered on the 4016. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/10/cbm-...

New blog post - CBM 4016 Repair - blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/10/cbm-... Since Halloween is approaching, this is a bit of a horror show special. Those of a nervous dispositions should look away now.

New blog post - CBM 4016 Repair - blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/10/cbm-... Since Halloween is approaching, this is a bit of a horror show special. Those of a nervous dispositions should look away now.

Just a quick public service announcement. If you try to buy something from my Tindie store or TFW8b (or anyone's online store for that matter) and it's not working, please let them know. These days it's often a question of "is the store still working or is it just that no one is buying anything?"

And here is a blog post on the matter of the PET keyboard test program (includes #mos6502 code): www.masswerk.at/nowgobang/20...

New blog post - The Minstrel ROM Cart for the Minstrel Expansion Bus. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/10/mins... Replace the ROM on a Minstrel 2, 3, ZX81 or TS1000 with an 8K or 16K ROM image.

More info on the Minstrel Input Monitor here: blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/05/mins... Shipping worldwide from here: www.tindie.com/products/tyn...

New blog post - The Minstrel ROM Cart for the Minstrel Expansion Bus. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/10/mins... Replace the ROM on a Minstrel 2, 3, ZX81 or TS1000 with an 8K or 16K ROM image.

New blog post - Changing SD2IEC Device IDs blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/10/chan... Several techniques you can use to change the device ID of your SD2IEC from ID #8 to ID #9, and several reasons why you shouldn't do it.

New blog post - Changing SD2IEC Device IDs blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/10/chan... Several techniques you can use to change the device ID of your SD2IEC from ID #8 to ID #9, and several reasons why you shouldn't do it.

New blog post. Something a little different, a look at the wonderful 74HC74 (and 74LS74, 74HCT74 etc.) and some of the many and varied things you can do with it. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/10/the-... It all started when I had this brilliant idea.......

Another Minstrel 4th is born.

New blog post. Something a little different, a look at the wonderful 74HC74 (and 74LS74, 74HCT74 etc.) and some of the many and varied things you can do with it. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/10/the-... It all started when I had this brilliant idea.......

TFW8b's Hybrid SD2IEC & FASTLOAD Combo Cartridge is now available in a bunch of colours. 😎 www.tfw8b.com/product/sd2i... #Commodore64 #C64 #RetroComputing #RetroGaming #8bit

Your daily reminder that AI is dangerous nonsense and should not be trusted with even the simplest of tasks. I wish everyone would hurry up and release that, and stop wasting ridiculous amounts of money and energy on something that will never be fit for purpose.

New blog post in which I give myself a lot of work combining Z80 code from several sources to build the enhanced Forth ROM for the Minstrel 4th. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/09/revi... An even more extra work by choosing to do it using an archaic assembler that I happen to like.

New blog post in which I give myself a lot of work combining Z80 code from several sources to build the enhanced Forth ROM for the Minstrel 4th. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/09/revi... An even more extra work by choosing to do it using an archaic assembler that I happen to like.

Anyone know how to decode Texas Instruments date codes? The one of the left is the standard old school 5th week 1980, but the ones on the right I don't understand. You might think 24 was a year, but I have seen all sorts of numbers there, so I don't think it is. 2022 4th month? or 2nd month 2024?

New blog post - What can you do to fix "?device not present error" on the Commodore PET, including an 8032 repair. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/09/sd2p... Warning: also includes awful screenshots and an analogy involving a Ford Cortina.

Yo! Quick catch up.. Blah blah.. I got brroken again. Still mostly broken, but hopefully on the mend. Anywho, that's why I've not been posting and TFW8b.com 'ing as much as usual. #TOPTIP don't get old! And if you do, don't do all the things I did to knacker yourself on the way 😉

New blog post - What can you do to fix "?device not present error" on the Commodore PET, including an 8032 repair. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/09/sd2p... Warning: also includes awful screenshots and an analogy involving a Ford Cortina.

New blog post - a look at how things have changed since I first used microcontrollers in the early 1990s, and some of the new features they have managed to cram into the latest versions. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/09/new-...

New blog post - a look at how things have changed since I first used microcontrollers in the early 1990s, and some of the new features they have managed to cram into the latest versions. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/09/new-...

New blog post - making some new clip leads for my logic analysers. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/09/logi... Time for a new set which are the right colour, have nice silicone cables and clips that work on ICs.

New blog post - making some new clip leads for my logic analysers. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/09/logi... Time for a new set which are the right colour, have nice silicone cables and clips that work on ICs.

Get your divMMCs while you can folks. Sings: Give me one good reason to keep making them, I'll give you ten good reasons to stop. too many broken Spectrums in the world, too many M1s that just don't work, too many broken Spectrums in the world, too many good divs they want to return

Get your divMMCs while you can folks. Sings: Give me one good reason to keep making them, I'll give you ten good reasons to stop. too many broken Spectrums in the world, too many M1s that just don't work, too many broken Spectrums in the world, too many good divs they want to return

The next blog post is probably going to be called "When to give up on a project because it's just not possible" but as I write it, I keep thinking of new ways it might work, so it still could be called "Wow, look at my fantastic new product". Place your bets now, I don't know which way it will go.

Really wish I had this back in the day. With this and Bandits I'd have been a very happy boy. Picked up this turbo tape copy some years ago.

IT LIVES!

New blog post - A new SD2IEC and Fastload Combo - Pink Windmill Edition - from The Future Was 8 bit. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/08/new-... Combined SD2IEC and Fastload cartridge in one neat, pink, package.

So yeah, I've been busy doing One Million things.. Including a thing with MicroSD just so everybody can tell me they hate them just as much as I do.. but needs must etc :D www.tfw8b.com/product/sd2i... #FullSizedSDCardFTW #UnlessTheyDontFitObvs

New blog post - A new SD2IEC and Fastload Combo - Pink Windmill Edition - from The Future Was 8 bit. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/08/new-... Combined SD2IEC and Fastload cartridge in one neat, pink, package.

Thank you Patreon for breaking the post editor, I now can't insert preformatted blog previews like I used to, the images aren't working. I will have to go through and re-add 50 images into a 3,500 word post. All to further push selling individual posts - something I have no interest in ever doing.

NEW VIDEO: One Hour Of Video 20 Games Reviewed using the new Penultimate +3 cart from @futurewas8bit.bsky.social . Is a Vic a good gaming machine? Let's find out! youtu.be/YEvGv353twU

This is an old blog post from 2022 blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2022/04/amig... I was talking to someone about this yesterday and realised I had taken it offline with the rest of the USB keyboard posts. Now the USB keyboards controller are available again, I have updated it and put it back live.

New blog post - a minimal implementation of the compute and display (or slow) mode display for ZX81 or Minstrel 3 hardware. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/08/mini... I got this down to about 200 bytes of Z80, so let's go through all of them and see what they do.

New blog post - a minimal implementation of the compute and display (or slow) mode display for ZX81 or Minstrel 3 hardware. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/08/mini... I got this down to about 200 bytes of Z80, so let's go through all of them and see what they do.

This is an old blog post from 2022 blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2022/04/amig... I was talking to someone about this yesterday and realised I had taken it offline with the rest of the USB keyboard posts. Now the USB keyboards controller are available again, I have updated it and put it back live.

Nope, sorry, never heard of it.

Rod has made another video, playing another 60 random VIC20 games for 60 seconds each, on real hardware, in real time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSMq... Find out how this is achieved in this blog post: blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/08/play...

I misquoted him only the other day. "Artificial Intelligence is a contradiction in terms."

New blog post - Playing 60 VIC20 games in one hour. blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2025/08/play... How we setup @futurewas8bit.bsky.social to create a series of videos playing one game a minute from the Penultimate +3 DCR. Even with a few repeats, that was only about a quarter of the games on there.