Amstrad CPC 464 | New DDI-4 Disk Interface w/ Gotek Drive

[@srh76able]

Fantastic work as always Jan! I'm inspired to buy a CPC464 as that was my first machine back in 1986. Emulators are great for nostalgia but nothing beats using original hardware. Also, your accent brings back memories too as my dad is originally from Germany (I'm in Australia) and thinking back to times when relatives would visit, or when I visited them brings great comfort.

[@wutangpaul]

Love your CPC464 videos, Jan. Inspiring. Currently restoring my old CPC 464 (cleanup, replacement keyboard thus far). I'm actually afraid to start trying to refurbish the tape deck. This looks like a great solution.

[@maniacsatwork]

I purchased a Gotek for my 6128 Plus and have connected it externally. I'm also an Amstrad beginner so your video has been very helpful.

[@Colin_Ames]

As always, an interesting video. I don’t own any of the computers that you feature on your channel, but enjoy watching and learning.

[@RamonHernandez]

I have never found a good video/tutorial on how to use those kinds of wire crimpers. Eventually I sort of fudged my way through using them. Turns out I was doing it wrong this whole time. So glad I saw this video!

[@MC-1173]

Great video Jan. I don't have a CPC, but I like to learn about these other machines. Great tip on the crimper. I have been struggling with the balance technique for a while. I'm going to try the partial crimp method next time. So simple and it never occurred to me. Oh and you can easily fix your power cable you made. You will see a small tab in the middle, holding the pin 21:45. Just lift slightly and pull 5v cable out. Then just slide it into the Pin 1 position you pointed out.

[@psteier]

Schneider/Amstrad was one of the most underrated computers of it's time... Love those machines.

[@danielson9579]

I had an amstrad cpc 464 but most of the games where spectrum ports I always wanted to see what the amstrad could really do I heard that the 128k version of chase HQ is good

[@brostenen]

Yes.... I have never owned one. For what I can see, they are like build so well. There are just two small points that I want to stress. One is the software catalog. So much more for the C64. The other point are the sound. I think the C64 delivers a better sound quality. Yet all the way through, Amstrad's seem to be a better produced machine. If only the SID was a direct drop in replacement that are directly software compatible. One can only dream.

[@Donkeyshot75]

Gönn dir ne Kiste Sprite

[@arnolda.lampel6087]

and they still are underrated by many. Main reason was that many games were converted very poorly and often really sucked on the CPC while they were awesome on other machines. And of course it was very easy to blame the CPC hardware like missing hardware scrolling for that, which unfortunately is not totally wrong. But there have been more and more games over the past years which demonstrate that the CPC is way more capable than you would expect :-) I'm so glad I kept my 1st computer and still have it today: Amstrad CPC 6128 :-)

[@minombredepila1580]

Loved the green floppy leaning against the speaker and thinking about the big magnet inside :-)

[@rawberg_se]

Wow, that Pinball dreams port looks amazing!

[@nikicamalezic5388]

I was lurking for such gadget for years for my CPC 464, and I finally bought it recently. Great stuff and it makes this retro machine usable even today. It works fine, but I had two unexplained "accidents" with it. First when I plug it in my CPC and my Gotek in, it killed my Gotek. Gotek just frozed up, and I disconnected the power from it but my Gotek was still on ! WTF ?? Gotek got power through ribbon cable ? After that I connect my second Gotek and I prayed, and it worked without problem :) This also happen once again, when unplugging/plugin DDI but Gotek worked fine after the second incident. But the most strangest thing happened when my first Gotek resurrected and came back to life again few days later, and it still working. IT was for sure DEAD - No reaction on external power , OLED not truning on, no signal on LED, and no reaction on re flashing attempt via FTDI. Totaly brain dead ! Does ANYONE have explanation for this since I have none ?? P.S. DDI4 and both Goteks are still working fine, but I just ordered to spare Goteks just in case :)

[@BocaRetroGames]

Jan Beta's Morning Show . Tks for the morning entertainment once again, Jan.

[@arnolda.lampel6087]

As many already noticed, yes - those add on cartridges by ZAXON have one unfortunate flaw: They don't really stick very well and wobble around. You can easily cause contact interruption and thus resetting/crashing the CPC. But there is an easy fix, just use a rubber band, cable tie or something and attach it to the vent grid on both sides of the cartridge.

[@lactobacillusprime]

This is cool! There's a ton of great games on disk for the CPC.

[@robbyxp1]

That DDI thing looks a bit wobbly Jan, you may want to take a leaf out of the ZX81 16k Ram pack and use some blu tac!

[@holleholl3057]

I got myself a Schneider CPC 464 recently - you hardly see any for sale, was about 30 Euros. Works like a charm even both the datacorder AND the tape counter. Choices to expand your CPC are definitely limited and expensive though. The DDI seems to be rather the only item to be considered and has really some nice features built in...

[@andrewirvine8759]

Thanks. That was very helpful. How about using one of those car stereo adaptor tapes that let you play music through an MP3 player or portable CD player? You wouldn't have to cut a hole in the side of your computer and could still use the tape deck. There's even a hole where the tape deck opens up to feed the cable through from the tape.

[@danielgadze3920]

Thanks for another great video Jan Beta 👍👍👍 Just wondering where did u buy the crimping tool and the clik-mate terminals kit with the housing connectors?? I wish to add these to my computer shop, eBay Sells the crimping tool but the terminals+housings are not there. Your kit looks way more professional !! Can u help me? Cheers

[@somosdeamstrad]

I got it more than one year ago... No problems with it. If you have 464, it is a must need!

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

I grew up with a CPC464. Wish this had existed in the mid-90s.

[@zxkim8136]

thats a nice bit of kit and i want one mate. nice vid Jan@@@Kim@@@

[@KolliRail]

Another great video! I think nearly all you have told was correct. Just one little error: there is no sd card based DDI interface from Zaxon., only USB stick type named DDI-5. That's actually what I have. Works the exact same way. There is no rotary encoder of course, so you need to use the autoboot feature of the flash floppy firmware and the boot up menu program for selecting disk images. In fact the hardest part was to find the correct version of the autoboot software to put on the USB stick.

[@brostenen]

Bad customer service??!!! Jan Beta: Hold my beer!!!! And starts to turn on the camera to make a review.

[@bugbloke1975]

This is literally *ALL* the things I want to do with my CPC464 right here!! :?D

[@Retrobution]

Do you know if this will work with the .tap files? I just really want to have the .tap ones work for those sweet loading screens!

[@CollinBaillie]

Does the edge connector supply 5v? Maybe that pass-through could be used for power for the drive?

[@LUNATIC75]

I have Zaxon's DDI-3. Less pretty looking than this DDI-4 unit, but equally deviod of instructions! The 464 will always be my 8bit sweetheart.

[@soviet9922]

The zaxxon ddi-4 worked great in my case

[@PaulinesPastimes]

I was trying to tell you about the bent tab on the power connector but you just couldn't hear me :-) It's easy for us watching at home! I must stop procrastinating and buy a Gotek. Cheers.

[@al.d9592]

Yes, 10 pins are 1 inch. Thinking about if I should regret selling my cpcs and fd-1. I kept some disks tho. Let me know if you want one

[@kjamison5951]

I still own my 6128. I need to upgrade it because I’d love to move all of the disks I had to the Gotek type of storage.

[@averyvaliant]

Pinball dreams on an Amstrad? What witchcraft is this!? :P That's amazing, it plays so smoothly.

[@theannoyedmrfloyd3998]

If I hadn't seen this video and I was trying to load a program the way you did and kept getting Memory Full errors, I would have lost my temper not knowing I was supposed to run it from disk instead. How's anyone supposed to know that???

[@ToTheGAMES]

Good morning Jan :)

[@JanBeta]

Morning. :)

[@alhartman66]

Great video! Thanks!

[@1973Washu]

Amstrad was a bit of a sideshow in Australia, I think one radio shop in my town tried to sell them and there was very little software. C64s were the popular computer.

[@JanBeta]

The Schneider variety of the CPC was quite successful here in Germany but the C64 was by far the most widespread computer back in the day, too. :)

[@psteier]

Schneider CPC464 was my first "love"... All my friends got a C64, but I decided for a Schneider CPC + Colour Monitor + Printer. This was awesome, got so many good memories about it. Sadly I've aive up the machine for an A2000 (my first Amiga). But now I own a total of four Schneider/Amstrad computers again... :)

[@tomf3150]

It was a great success in France.

[@geofftottenperthcoys9944]

Yeah I was lucky I worked in Adelaide in the late 80's early 90's at a Amstrad computer shop. Then when I moved 500km away my friend had the 464 so used it even more, writing basic programs for my homebrew 2nd ed AD&D game.

[@srh76able]

@@geofftottenperthcoys9944 I'm in Melbourne and in the late '80's Amstrad software was virtually non-existent here. I was extremely excited to find on a family trip to Adelaide around '89/90 there were stores that still stocked Amstrad games. A while ago I even came across an old receipt for "The In Crowd" set of games!

[@DJlegionuk]

Than Jan, I just brought my first Gotek for a Amiga 500 I am restoring.

[@BrainSlugs83]

Confirming the color coding of the USB cable with the volt meter is a smart move IMO. -- 99% of them are the correct -- But when you get that one random off-kilter cable, it can really throw a wrench in the gears. -- (I have one with the wrong coding, it confused the fuck out of me until I realized that it was the cable and not my circuit that was wrong...)

[@steinfluencer]

You definitely need a "Abisolierzange" :D

[@JanBeta]

I have a simple one, but I've been eyeing a fancier Knipex one for a while now. Maybe someday. ;)

[@alexcochrane1966]

**.bin files = run, **.bas = load/run

[@danielson9579]

I've never seen 128k games run it would be nice to see a side by side comparison with a 64k and a 128k version of the same game side by side running 🙂

[@yellowbelly9005]

I have the Zaxon DDi3 and have had no issues, i also removed the tape deck and put it inside my CPC with the lcd display in the tape deck window. its on my YT channel, ive had my DDi3 for a few years with no issues at all so the capacitor issue may of been a 1 off error, ive seen threads where Poitr has replaced DDi's foc for people so cant really say his Customer service is that bad remember hes a 1 man band as such. but agree some sort of Manual would be nice.

[@JamesChurchill]

He has a long and storied history of providing broken hardware and then blaming the customer when they ask for help. It's got nothing to do with being a one person operation, other people seem to manage to design and sell hardware by themselves without being a dick about it. Doesn't mean you can't have a good experience, just means you should buy stuff from him with your eyes open.

[@timlocke3159]

@@JamesChurchill Yes, I bought a DDI-3 for my 464 Plus and then found out it will only emulate one drive on the 464 Plus. I wanted emulation of two drives for CP/M. I guess the only solution is to buy a 6128 Plus but then I lose the tape drive.

[@stephenwhite506]

Please show how you power a cpc without the monitor.

[@blackcountryme]

You can buy a power supply for them

[@SMlFFY85]

Hard to think Pinball Dreams is by the same studio as the Battlefield series of games.

[@arnolda.lampel6087]

You could do even better, get the entire "Just-CPC2" Mainboard from ZAXON. It has all those features integrated plus more. Practically you are upgrading your 464 to a 6128 while still keeping the cassette and the 464 appearance :-) With the JustCPC2 Board you can connect any standard original Amstrad/Schneider FDD or Gotek or a Drive Simulator by ZAXON :-)

[@jacktheripper6716]

jan there is a version ddi-5 with a built-in floppy emu with flashfloppy firm on it :) same price also

[@JanBeta]

Yes, I saw that! It was more expensive when I got this so I went for the cheaper option. :)

[@ojbeez5260]

The RETROPAD by riscman are really good for CPC.

[@philippeleblond5337]

Sympa ça, j'ai envie de restaurer mon amstrad cpc 464.

[@eto6197]

run"boulder will do the trick. You can't load binary files from basic in the way you tried, you have to run them. And even Basic program could be protected, so they can only be run, but not loaded.

[@sgkonfetti]

With the memory expansion you are able to use CP/M. ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP/M ) ( www.cpm.z80.de/ )

[@JanBeta]

Uh, didn't know that. Cool! :D

[@davidsmall264]

Where can i buy one from?

[@JanBeta]

www.sellmyretro.com/user/profile/zaxon (Seems to be out of stock currently, but Zaxon usually relists things when he's ready building them.)

[@DavidAmmerlaan]

No sata? Cmon .. ;) nice review. Loading bin files already? ;)

[@JamesPotts]

2.54mm = 0.1 inches Also, the 3.5mm phono jack is actually a 1/8 inch jack.

[@catriona_drummond]

This is Europe. We don't care about Imperial measurements.

[@JamesPotts]

@@catriona_drummond He did ask.

[@galier2]

Sure with the jack? 3.5 is closer to 1/7 (3.629 mm) than to 1/8 (3.175 mm)

[@galier2]

I checked. It's only the big one that is derived from the inch. The 6.35 mm plugs are 1/4 inch. The 3.5 mm is 3.5 mm (0.14 in)

[@JamesPotts]

@@galier2 Really? Huh, interesting.

[@Ramdileo_sys]

@Jan Beta .. at minute 0:06.... i was like .. AAAHH the Blue Screen Of Death!!!

[@CCfiftyeight]

Sounds much rarer than a C1551

[@JaySmith-cd1ln]

Cheers! 😎

[@fnjesusfreak]

1"=exactly 2.54 cm, yeah.

[@larsenmats]

omg. he tried to play games and talk at the same time. Pinball dreams looks really impressive for an 8bit! Holy moly they did a good job

[@timlocke3159]

It also helped that the Amstrad CPC has more than 16 colours and they are nice colours. The C64 palette is so drab.

[@acidsyndicate355]

big scratch on the gamepad... :-/ needs some tuning ... :-)

[@gee-k5854]

Hi, not a scratch. I 3d print them, so the line that looks like a scratch is actually just the way that the 3d printer has "drawn" it. I do agree that it could look nicer there. thanks for the feedback.

[@skonkfactory]

I think you're using that crimp tool upside down.

[@jonh404]

Hahaha that was painful watching him try to "load" a binary file 😂😂, I'm shouting at the video "IT'S RUN"

[@JanBeta]

Sorry! Can’t hide the C64 influence... 😅

[@jonh404]

I'm a die hard Amstradian, I only recently discovered what the 8,1 means on the C64 load instruction. 😂

[@erlichbachman3330]

Ask Rick about his flaps

[@soviet9922]

that joystick is the ugly es thing i seen in my life apart from my wife

[@Adam-McG]

Boring.

[@dlfrsilver]

why ?