#Amiga #Commodore PCMCIA CF Card Transfer Kit

Spent time today working on getting my PCMCIA CF Transfer Kit working on the Amiga 1200. Last week I installed the software, formatted the CF card, plugged it in, and NOTHING. I beat my head against it all week and finally this weekend I determined the PCMCIA slot wasn't working at all. I took the Amiga apart and used a flashlight to look inside. Two of the pins were completely bent out of the way. Using a small screwdriver I was able to gently push them back into position. After that it recognized the card, but the formatting was wrong. I had to use a special partition manager to format it for FAT16. Finally, it works. It's been fun working on and learning the Amiga, but it does make me appreciate my Commodore 64 a bit more.

#Commodore #Amiga Accelerator and Floppy

I installed an accelerator in my Amiga 1200 today. It runs for about 30 seconds and then the system locks up or it reboots. I can make it crash by hitting the CF card with a data requests, so I'm pretty sure my PSU isn't supplying enough juice for the Amiga with an expansion card. I'm on the hunt for a stronger PSU.

Meanwhile, I tried using the floppy drive for the first time and it didn't work. After some basic troubleshooting, I found out the eject button is broken. If I manually pull it out when I insert a disk, it engages the floppy and it works like a charm. I will have to dissect the floppy drive when I have time and see if it's just a broken spring. You never know what you're going to run into working on 15+ year old computers!

Here's a pic of the accelerator card:

#Commodore #Amiga New 4gb CF Card

Installed a new 4gb CF card into the Amiga today. WHDLOAD was preinstalled and seemed to work well. Of course, most games won't run on an unexpanded 1200 so I will need to wait until I get an accelerator. I did successfully play Arkanoid and Marble Madness. The new CF card also fixed the issue with the hard drive light not working.

#c64 Denio's Flea Market - Commodore Memories

This past weekend I took my family to Denio's Farmer's Market and Auction. Truthfully, it's more like a large flea market with vendors set up in rows. I hadn't been there in probably 20+ years. My parents would take my family there maybe once or twice a month. We always looked forward to it. We would go fairly early in the morning and then grab lunch on the way back. At the flea market, I would take my allowance and hunt down Commodore 64 games. Several vendors would always have them stocked. Some original games and of course, some vendors would have copied or pirated games available. I remember getting a boxed and shrink wrapped B-1 Nuclear Bomber from Avalon Hill. I also recall getting the boxed version of Elite.

#c64 Downhill Racing on Skate Or Die

Played a bit of Skate Or Die on the Commodore 64 today. This game takes forever to load. I remember owning the original as a kid and walking away from the computer for awhile while it loaded. A lot of fun, though. Here I'm playing the downhill racing competition.

#c64 Spy Hunter

Here's a pic of my son playing Spy Hunter on the 64. I played this a lot as a kid.

#c64 New beta version of ChatteRRbox

Downloaded the latest beta version of ChatteRRbox for the 64 and it feels a lot more solid and stable than the previous version. Not a single crash in 40 minutes.

In case you haven't heard, this is a fun "chat room" application that utilizes the RR-NET network adapter to connect to the CommodoreServer.com chat rooms. A fun way to stay connected to Commodore friends.