Meet the Amstrad 6128 | Trash to Treasure Pt1

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● This Series
Part 1: • Meet the Amstrad 6128 ...
Part 2: • Restoring an Amstrad 6...
Part 3: • Celebrating the Amstra...
● Cave Links
Twitter: / rmcretro
Instagram: / rmcretro
Discord: / discord
● Description
The Amstrad 6128 is the computer I always wanted. Well at least until the Amiga 500 came along, but as a tape wielding 464 owner it seemed like the ultimate computer. Today I finally take steps to fulfil that dream.
● Music
Ultrasyd - Lost in a Fractal Dimension
Blue Macaw - Quincas Moreira
Wild Pogo - Francis Preve
This is how we fall - Mark Fixes Stuff ( / markfixesstuff )
Nostalgic Pull - Asher Fulero
Timelapsed Tides - Asher Fulero

[@TheRetroCollective]

Thanks for watching. Yes it is me, a bit huskier than normal after being under the weather but determined to get this weeks episode out for you so do excuse the slightly different voice, but I hope you enjoyed the episode. Here's hoping we don't run into any nasty surprises in episode two. What are your memories of the CPC range? Neil - RMC

[@Dev_olution]

Thought you sounded a bit different, RetroManFluCave :) Thanks for another great video

[@sethrd999]

I was wondering why you sounded a little different this time around, I remember Barbarian ( Palace ) on the 464 having the best music over all the 8bit systems which was impressive vrs's the C64 and the sid.

[@kjamison5951]

I thought you had asked Mariella Frostrup in to cover your show! That’s a husky voice!

[@preferredimage]

Thought you'd maybe changed mics! get well soon.

[@herbiehusker1889]

I couldn't tell you were sick, I thought you just had a guest on. Sounds like a totally different person.

[@grantwagner6781]

"if there are girthier 8 bit micros, I'd like to meet them." This immediately made me think of the Texas Instruments 99/4a. While not very wide initially at 38cm, it had the expansion port on the side, and required all peripherals to supply a pass through connector. Chaining several options was amusing to say the least.

[@domramsey]

Love it! The 464 was my second computer after a Vic 20. I always thought the CPC range was something of an oddity for Amstrad. They were well designed, solidly built and outperformed most of their competitors. Very out of character for Amstrad!

[@chrisgreenuk]

Watching this really brought back some happy memories. My CPC 464 wasn’t my first computer (had a ZX81 and Speccy before that), but it was the one that clicked with me and got me into computing properly. It was the first machine I learned to code properly on, and is the reason I later became the tech journalist and a massive technology geek I am today. I later upgraded to a 464 Plus (which due to it running the 6128 plus firmware) which proved to be a fantastic machine as it had the 6128’s excellent keyboard, could address a 64K external ram pack like it was the 6128’s internal memory, had two joystick ports as standard, had Centronics connectors instead of edge connectors for printer and the expansion bus, as well as having the ASIC chip. If only it had come a few years earlier. Anyway, can’t wait for part 2, and in the interim this video has already motivated me to try and buy a decent condition 6128 of my own from eBay (given the lack of decent CPC emulators). And, as controversial as I know it is, the CPC kicks the crap out of the Speccy any day of the week 😀

[@curiousottman]

Fascinating. As a Canadian who grew up in the 80s I have never seen this machine and I appreciate the review of the internals with demo of graphics and sounds. RMC never disappoints.

[@infinitecanadian]

jaydee jaydee Another Canadian here. I don't think we even had many of these here in the 1980s. The British sure gave the American computer companies a run for their money in the U.K., though.

[@Ingens_Scherz]

I had a 6128 in 1986. It was great after the Spectrum! Then, I got a RF converter (a big black box that sat under the monitor) and I had a TV in my room for when I got bored with playing games, or had some homework to do ;) Happy days :D Thanks for this!

[@LUNATIC75]

Ah now we're talking! I've just completed the hard work on restoring my own 30 year old 464. Despite having spent 22+ years in the loft, it worked with no problems, though required being taken apart and getting a damn good clean. I've left my old MP2 modulator untouched and went down the scart/dc power supply route, and was very impressed with the results. All it needs now is some heatsinks, some "goop" to lubricate the noisy tape deck, some belts and a bit more elbow grease to clean the tape deck window and some springs for the keyboard. But like most old 464 users, what I really want is a 6128 to use on more regular basis. It's just finding one that doesn't cost silly money. The 8 and 16Bit market on ebay does seem a bit mental these days. Anyway, your channel (along with one or two others) is responsible for introducing me to this slippery slope of hardware restoration. Thank you.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Great video RMC and thanks for using my music! I was so engrossed in the actual process that I didn't hear it on the first watch!

[@DieFischbude]

Nice! Can't wait to see this beauty fully restored! As for "modern solutions" I use the power supply of an active USB hub (5V / 2A) with my 6128, which works a charm. I swapped the 3" floppy for an FDE solution and thus don't need 12V. To connect it to my CRT TV I use a custom RGB cable. The important thing is the switching current to let your TV know, to switch from composite to RGB. The CPC doesn't have a pin for that on th RGB out and you have to feed your 5V C through the RGB cable. Works a charm ;)

[@kjamison5951]

I bought my 6128 brand new for £379.99 - I asked for discount for cash in the shop. My sister carried the computer box and I carried the colour monitor. It lasted me all the way through University before people talked about talking computers to uni. I still own it, it probably needs the capacitors replaced but about 12 years ago I switched it on and it wasn’t reading disks - I only needed to swap out the perishes drive belt. That baby was still working great! Definitely my best computer before I discovered Macs. I also had the TV tuner, and I cobbled together a ROM socket box from a magazine project and was able to run all sorts of great programs. I always wanted a hard drive for it but they were so expensive back then and now they are like hen’s teeth! I also had a 3.5” Drive that plugged in at the back and I could read and write to PC formatted 720k floppies. It also allowed me to archive huge amounts of graphics which I created to save space on the rather expensive 3” diskettes. And I bought an Amstrad DMP2000 dot matrix printer.

[@drwarner]

I had one of these!! I completed my GCSE computer studies exam on it, programming a car chooser program using data laboriously typed in from the back of a What Car! magazine at the time - took me flippin' ages. The examiner didn't have an Amstrad on which to test it, so passed me anyway!! Looking forward to you resurrecting it in part 2

[@drjenschn]

Always loved the CPC... The Z80 is faster than a stock 8088, despite the 1 wait state on a 4 clock "macrocycle" -- The DJNZ makes all the difference. The 6128 was the stuff of dreams when I was a kid, but I had only a CPC 664, so I had to make my own tweaks to run at 60Hz screen refresh and run Turbo Pascal with a few KB of memory left to use. Many fond memories: my first computer, my first BASIC (Locomotive Basic is awesome since it's extendible), my first assembly language and machine code, my first Turbo Pascal, my first 3" (yes, 3!) and 5.25" floppies, etc.

[@eightzerofour9957]

OMG this was my first computer, this is so nostaligic for me, you just made my day =)

[@PL-VA]

My childhood memories in one video ..... thanks for making this.

[@darksondap94]

When it comes to the image, you can build a DIN to SCART cable very easily or simply buy one. All of the schematics are available online and the image quality is actually superb! To solve the power problem you can use a 5v/2A wall wart with NORMAL polarity just for testing purposes, or go full out with another 12V/1A wart with REVERSED polarity to operate the floppy as well

[@RetroRecipes]

Get well soon mate! Nice ep. I'll have to refurb my PCW 8512 soon! 😊

[@errorgorilla]

I got my CPC 464 for Christmas 1984. Although I'd later get handed down my uncle's Commodore 64C and would move on to an A1200 my first love was the CPC. It was the poor relation in the UK, and games were often ports from inferior systems, like R-Type being hastily ported from the Speccy, or the disaster that was Outrun, but when it was given care it looked spectacular. I think that's why I loved it so much: it was the underdog. There's something about the colours of an Amstrad game which to my eyes looks better than the somewhat murky colours of the Commodore 64, especially on games like Sorcery, Operation Wolf, Gauntlet and Rainbow Islands. If I could choose two memories, it would be of seeing that little triangle of orange on the top corner of a Mastertronic game telling you it was for the Amstrad, and the vertical flash of lettering on a new edition of Amstrad Action in the newsagents - oh and destroying my eyes and getting early-onset RSI from keying in pages of machine code.

[@rachelwilson8214]

I was always re-soldering the power input connector on my 464, it would get looser and looser every time you plugged or unplugged it (and my parents made me dismantle the computer everyday). When I saw the wood louses in your video, the memories came back of my repair experiences - I remember once I found loads of live ants in there, and kept it a secret - my abusive parents would have found some reason to blame me for their very existence, and take the computer (again) for some random length of time! Knowing this, I kept my mouth shut, and did my soldering (illicitly - i wasnt supposed to have anything useful in my room!) and quickly put the machine back together (complete with some of the ants). It had worked every day thus far, no reason it wouldn't continue to do so... I was, of course, correct. I bet that CPC464 would still work today, if I hadn't left and never gone back as soon as I was old enough!

[@bazza5699]

brilliant video as usual Neil.. hope you get well soon. Brought back some memories of my 6128.. although I think I only had one for about 6 months before getting an ST.. I remember at the time coveting my friends CPC664.. how I now wish I had one of those extremely short lived machines.

[@WiggysanWiggysan]

It was your previous Trash videos that earned my subscription to your fine channel. I started adjusting my volume at first thinking "Who is this?" LOL Excellent production as always, & another playlist (when I finished) that I will no doubt re-watch. Top work RMC.

[@mUbase]

Superb video. Thanks RMC. Never saw or used one of these BITD but knew of them.. I love the incidental music, and the bit near the end where the Acorn and the Speccy all gather around umming and aahing.. cute. :)

[@_.OX._]

Got one of these a while back as just the unit itself, swapped the 3" drive for a gotek and adapted a PSU from a cheap external HDD PSU with molex connector (can be bought from Ebay for around £4), the video cables are easy to find on Ebay (Retro Computer Shack) or make your own.

[@rkornilo]

One thing I have noticed from the 8-bit micros I have seen designed in the UK is they tend to pack their components more densely on the main board. I wonder if that's more than a coincidence. Love your show.

[@KarlAdamsAudio]

Brings back great memories - I had a CPC464 & DDI1 - the 6128 was the upgrade I could never justify...

[@missionpassed4584]

hey you had the same as me lol i had the 464 then the 6128 with the disks and colour monitor back in the 80s, so much faster loading still gutted i got rid all my Amstrad related stuff for basicaly nothing after getting a snes a flame still flickers in my heart for my first love...

[@RobNicholson1234]

As a games programmer in the 80s, the CPC was the computer I owned at home. It might have been cheap but it was a good bit of kit. I worked out the 3D math for the Amiga and ST versions of Elite on the 6128 in basic before converting to 68000 machine code

[@TheRetroCollective]

Hi Rob, I'd love to have a chat with you about your experiences some time if you're interested?

[@electronash]

Great vid, as always. ;) Loved our 6128 in the 80s. A very much underrated machine, mainly due to many very lazy ports of games from the Speccy, but some nice exclusives, too. I personally think the CPC had some of the best versions of games, too. Like Dynamite Dan, Gauntlet, and Cauldron, with their bright colour palette, and YM tunes. We had the colour monitor with ours, and also had another monitor years later, which had an "MP-3" tuner unit, and used as the TV in our spare room or caravan. lol One of my fondest memories of the 6128 was my Dad using it with a modem to dial in to a travel agent's server, and booking my first holiday abroad (to Mallorca). We still had to pay for the tickets at the Stanstead checking desk, of course, but it meant skipping the middle man, and hence the commission. :p

[@electronash]

We also had a Star LC-10, then LC-24 printer, with colour ribbon. I bet loads of people remember those? :p They were actually really nicely built printers. You could get away with using one nowadays, as long as you are prepared to wait, are mainly printing text, and wear earplugs. lol

[@jeffreyjoshuarollin9554]

I definitely had a Star 24-dot matrix printer. Not sure if it was an LC-24 though, the model number doesn't ring a bell.

[@Edman_79]

I honestly wouldn't think that the narrator was you if I didn't know what I clicked :D This sounds more like something from 1970's BBC :D (don't take me wrong, this is absolutely cool) Never mind that, this is my most popular kind of video - trash to treasure. Well done as always! Get well and glory to the cave :D

[@TheRetroCollective]

Glory be to the Cave brother. The original cut was half narrated before I fell ill, it was like a different person appeared halfway through to narrate it so I re-recorded the whole thing a few days later when I was on the mend

[@Fixmix78]

I was really confused. The voice is much higher!

[@hindel6141]

Oh man you are blue balling me with these part videos! =( So excited!

[@linuxretrogamer]

Nice, wish I could afford one (and had the space). IMHO the CPC needs three tweeks for perfection - an HxC floppy emulator, an mp3 player for cassette, and a 256k Silicon Disk.

[@g.h.c855]

Another trip down memory lane, loved my 464. 👍

[@dizzym9554]

Definitely looking forward to part two! As an american I've never used a CPC but I've been looking at getting one to experience it for the first time. The graphics in particular always looked interesting to me compared to other 8-bits, it's got a really neat chunky colorful style. Certainly won't be finding one for $28 over here though :/

[@NacZR]

I ruddy love my 6128. I have my original and a spare which I know I still have but can’t find. Oddly enough I also can’t find either of the two colour monitors I have. How you lose two big things like that amazes me. Mine doesn’t have the heat sink yours does.

[@wrestletube1]

Its great that this AMSTRAD came with a headphone jack like a Megadrive 1 that means there is probably a whacky monitor jack to rgb tv scart cable used to get the best picture and better sound both through the TV.

[@wrestletube1]

Going on this topic the monitor hole does look the same as the Megadrive 1 RGB output female doesn't it? Get one of them see what happens if you run it off the headphones and the monitor jack of the AMSTRAD or if you have a Megadrive 1 nick it's cable to try it out. lol

[@MrButtonpresser]

Great videos, heaps of info, clear explanations and well voiced.

[@RetroKrazy]

I am glad to say I still own my original CPC6128, with colour monitor and dot-matrix printer!

[@SergiuszRoszczyk]

Going to be another great series ❤️. I don’t know what it is but I always liked this industrial look and keyboard colors of CPC machines.

[@ollieb9875]

I remember playing gauntlet on mine with my friend Paul. And we also had a BASIC book full of games you could program in.

[@GadgetUK164]

Lovely =D Look forward to part 2!

[@HarryMudd]

Looking forward to the next episodes.. I love the Amstrad, had a CPC464 with a Green VDU as a kid myself..

[@zxkim8136]

Nice one Neil ......looking forward to PT 2 🦁🦁🦁🦁Kim🦁🦁🦁🦁

[@MrKrimstah]

Love your trash to treasure series

[@xwolpertinger]

A loaner Schneider CPC6128 (boy, do these centronic connectors make it look professional) was the first computer I ever used and a while back I got my hands on the very same one again. Unfortunately I stopped just shy of replacing the ROM with Parados for easier 3.5" floppy handling. Also be sure to give SymbOS a spin, if only for the novelty of it.

[@Lemonidas75]

I'm definitely looking forward to part 2 .. This was my 2nd computer ... My parents got it sometime in spring of 1985, when I was 11 years old... and I still have it in my collection to this day, complete with its Green monitor - had a colour monitor as well, that we got a few months after we got the computer, but gave it to a cousin decades ago when we got a Amiga 500. The most common issue with the 6128 is that its disk drive needs its drive belt replaced, which I'm willing to bet is the most likely problem you'll encounter with the drive in this one in the next video. With the years it tends to stiffen and snap. Great video as always, and thank you very much :)

[@PandH24]

I have just restore a cpc 464 with a colour monitor and sold it today was a great machine to work on had a little play on chuckie egg not as easy out remember it lol

[@TheRetroCollective]

That's a game I played a huge amount of on my CPC. It gets very tough when the bird is out of the cage!

[@PandH24]

RetroManCave I didn't get passed level 3 😂

[@RetroBoxRoom]

As good as always. I'm looking forward to next episodes. The CPC6128 is the last retro computer I'd like to get my hands on. I've never actually seen a CPC play a game in person.

[@fortnitegod2647]

A good informative episode can't wait for pt2 ......Kim ......🙋🙋🙋🙋

[@R_T_Ralph]

I love a trash to treasure video. Good luck with this one, lord sugar is watching you.

[@EsotericArctos]

It's a wider micro, but it comes with the built in disk drive a lot of others did not have. 🙂

[@rimmersbryggeri]

Nice video. Your really good at this format.

[@Murrlin27]

Something really satisfying about a nice cleanup

[@MrDuncl]

Anyone else here remember Ambit, a very Techy electronics supplier. After wondering what happened to them it turns out the guys including who set it up, including Roland Perry, then went on to design the Amstrad computers. Alan Sugar started the project by doing what he did best; coming up with the concept of including a monitor to save kids hogging the family TV, and putting the PSU in the monitor to save cost. As a result the CPC might have been the first computer where the case design was finished before the CPU was selected.

[@krisvantuerenhout537]

Lovely video once more. Keep up the nice work. Perhaps add an episode of the cpc 6128plus to this series ? 👍

[@richardbmw320]

Excellent video, really looking forward to part 2. I don’t know how you regularly seem to find these bargains in classifieds, but I wish I did

[@VictoriaJKLamburn]

Get well soon Neil! Another great watch :)

[@Dr.D00p]

It's one of the great unsolved mysteries of the 1980's...just why did the French take to the Amstrad machines so much. ..and the gentle way you tickle those circuit boards with a brush & alcohol wash, Ooo la la! :)

[@TheRetroCollective]

C'est vrai mon hérisson, c'est vrai

[@cjmillsnun]

The French took to the Amstrad because Sinclair, Acorn and Commodore largely ignored the French market. Alan Sugar didn't.

[@immortalxgr]

Amstrad was actually huge in specific countries outside the UK. This was largely due to Amstrad buying shares of the most successful local dealers and pushing their products, in those countries, aggressively. In Greece, for example, they had a 51% share of the local dealer and they organized big events which boosted their sales beyond imagination (they even outnumbered the local IBM dealer in sales!). Anyway, the 6128 specifically is a hugely underrated machine, which if its home-country had loved as much as other countries did, we would now be talking about it being the king of 8-bit micros (and that comes from a Spectrum owner :) )

[@dlfrsilver]

ahem..... We french never liked the Spectrum, Acorn was locked to the UK, and the Commodore C64.... just no. It was way too expensive for what it could bring out. with a monitor, it was out of reach for most families, overcomplicated, and with very dated graphics. Amstrad took the market because the Amstrad was and still is tank built, very stable, offering the best basic system of all the 8 bits, flexible, and a great palette to make superb graphics + a YM2149 wired in stereo. all this for an unbeatable price.

[@MxArgent]

I've always wanted to take a CPC for a spin. I've got a PPC640, one of Amstrad's few machines to be sold in the U.S., and it feels very nice for a budget portable. (People say the 640 has an awful screen, but it's really not that bad - imagine a larger DMG game boy screen. You want a bad screen, get a Data General One.)

[@terminusaquo1980]

Looks like a Sinclair Spectrum +3, which I own, and is not surprising considering Sinclair was bought out by Amstrad.

[@clangerbasher]

I have a PCW 8256 which was lovely to use, shame it doesn't work. Back in the day I found 3in disks to be solid performers.

[@zaprodk]

The connector for the floppy cable is never meant to be opened again. They are single-use items. This model is for soldering to the board. If you remove the cable it will probably not pierce a new cable 100% since it's already been expanded.

[@TheRetroCollective]

Even more reason not to touch it then!

[@St0rmTheGates]

Great video, very informative. I love this old hardware.

[@aitchpea6011]

Cool video, and I like the new narrator, lol. Did *anyone* other than Amstrad ever use 3inch disks? I remember owning a PCW1512 word processor (well, it was a real computer, running CP/M, but it defaulted to word processing) and found disks for it quite hard to get at the time.

[@zedmanatutube]

cant wait for part 2, thanks for all the great content

[@cjmillsnun]

OOOh you're doing an Amstrad :)... I had a 464 after the Electron.

[@abritabroadinthephilippines]

Man I remember wanting this while playing on my CPC464 learning Basic haha but never getting one. I did however get the I think 6128+ ? the white one with the Burnin Rubber cartridge. :) "PC" version but I also had the console version later on.

[@gavinc74]

Nice.....Looking forward to part 2

[@TheRetroCollective]

Thanks Gavin!

[@davidself5235]

This was my 1st home computer.

[@mapesdhs597]

I have quite a few 464s (first one I rescued when I saw it in someone's front porch, along with a monitor and everything else, they were about to throw it away - close call!), but it took a long time to finally obtain a 6128, even though it was back when vintage 80s home micro tech hadn't yet rocketed up in value on the used market (won it on ebay in Jan/2012). Bizarrely though, not long after I managed to get three more units all from different sources. They didn't come with manuals, but I obtained two manuals separately as well. 2012 was a good year for winning 80s stuff on ebay. Oh and to one and all, May the 4th be with you! 8) (in the traditional, original trilogy sense of course, not the modern RJ SJW garbage)

[@LAGUNAMAN1972]

hello my amstrad stepup mortar dose not tune on mine iv put a new belt in so that all good but the the motor dose not run can you help on this please. keep up all the good videos you are doing .

[@wrestletube1]

Your Gotec would work on your CPC as long as you have 3D printed mounts to bed it like any other system its for I think.

[@dipi71]

The CPC464 was my first computer with an actual keyboard (after just DIY/game-gonsole stuff), and it was the computer I learned BASIC, Logo, Z80 Assembler and FORTH on as a teenager. A buddy of mine got a CPC 6128 a few years later for school, and I always admired its modern, sleek look (compared to my 464) and the flat keyboard. The only thing I like better on the 464 is its nice array of arrow keys with the ingenious COPY key right at the center. Aah, editing with the COPY cursor: no mouse needed. (-; Cheers!

[@osgrov]

Ahh, this is one of the nicer 80s machines I never got my hands on. It's going to be fun to see this unravel! Living in Sweden, the experience I have with Amstrads is more or less reading about them in UK magazines. They were pretty much non-existant up here, sadly. If you could touch on how best to connect a CPC to a modern screen, that'd be great. Is there an HDMI option with some clever adapter, or S-Video maybe?

[@JamesChurchill]

If you have the right kind of LCD monitor (supports 15khz; see 15khz.wikidot.com) you can wire up a simple cable. Or you can use a gbs8200 off ebay to give you a 50hz vga output that works on practically anything. Neither supports some of the more clever demo effects, but for everything else they work great.

[@osgrov]

James Churchill - thank you! :)

[@SimoWill75]

FYI, the floppy connector is known as IDC for Insulation Displacement Connector

[@TheRetroCollective]

Thank you, now I have a name for my enemy

[@SimoWill75]

They're actually pretty easy to make if you do break an old one.

[@gerhardprins1412]

AMAZING! another Trash to Treasure

[@josephnealeUKscratchcards]

great video as always

[@RdandTrk1]

Yes! A new Trash to Treasure!

[@fred-9929]

As I watch this video (2021-05-21), you have 128k subscribers! How neat ;o)

[@neuro-chip80schanel48]

In England are there any market in the street with second hand thinks, like Portobello road? Thanks. Great video!

[@D3fend3r2010]

Great video, took me back to fond memories & some frustrations of my first computer... the trusty 6128. Yes, I wanted a spectrum or C64 like the cool kids, but my Dad knew best.. and was sold on the Amstrad by the 'nice' sale rep at Dixons :-) Favourite game was F.A. Cup Football (or rather... my most played game) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHjIlpVmet6srNE Aside from that, I did like the classics of - Chuckie Egg, Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy, Dizzy etc. Looking forward to Part 2 Great work! Cheers

[@infinitecanadian]

I see you're using a screwdriver to lift the connectors off; good idea, because the wires can come out of the connectors if you pull on them.

[@carcharo1]

For future add ons check out the M4 board made by Duke on the CPC wiki forum - www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/M4_Board. Gives the CPC virtual rom board, SD storage and even WiFi! Have couple for both my CPC and CPC+ machines.

[@DerMartexus]

Nice video! :) And I just thought about buyin a "Schneider CPC" on Ebay. :)

[@MarkTheMorose]

Do woodlice like woodgrain? Let's ask LGR.

[@RDJ134]

Great video as always, i love to watch these video's :)

[@TheRetroCollective]

RDJ 134 great to hear. I have some good candidates for future T2T's as you'll see in next weeks donations video, but I just had to do the 6128 first owing to my personal history with the CPC

[@RDJ134]

Always looking forwar to your video's, my first real computer whas a Commodore 64 that my father bought for me. Best feeling in the world to have a own machine and start to find out how it worked in a pre internet era that whas a real adventure of books, magazines and a lot of trial and error.

[@matthehat]

I've got both the 464 and 6128. They're fantastic machines. The 3" disks seem to have held up better over time than the 3.5 floppies I have from the same time period. These machines work well with the Gotek floppy emulators running HxC provided you bodge together the right cable. Have you got the CP/M disks that came with the machine? It's a pretty capable CP/M machine if you're into that sort of thing.

[@TheRetroCollective]

Matthew Harrison (matthehat) I don't have the CP/M disk. Is it available as an image some place it would be fun to check out.

[@KuraIthys]

mmh. Could be a random quirk of their construction... Or simply the lower data density. The less data is physically on a particular medium, the less effect any damage the disk might have is going to have on the data integrity. Of course late era 3.5 inch disks are notably worse than earlier ones, so some of it could just be manufacturing differences...

[@matthehat]

The images are available on CPCWiki. The disks that came with the system had both CP/M 2.2 and CP/M Plus on them. Not sure why, as CP/M Plus is backwards compatible and allows access to more RAM. There's a decent implementation of Logo on those disks too. You just type |CPM at the BASIC prompt to boot into it and off you go www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/System_Disk

[@VazDraeStudios]

did they write the wrong spelling of "disk" on the machine? As I thought the "disc" spelling was for compact discs, where disk was for diskettes like floppy disks... or was this something else?

[@DamienGuard]

Replace the drive belt on the 3" drive before firing it up. Chances it it has either dried out and will fly into hundreds of little pieces when you turn the machine on (it will spin up the drive on boot) or even worse sometimes these drive belts turn into goop which will fly everywhere and take hours to clean the sticky black gunk off the mechanism!

[@TheRetroCollective]

It's on the list... good idea to check it before trying to power it up or at least disconnect the drive

[@DamienGuard]

I had these scenarios happen on a Spectrum +3 (same drive) and a CPC 6128 :( Look forward to rest of vids.

[@michaelsworkshop9031]

Love the new host -- he sounds way more manly and nasal than that old guy (whoever he was). Long live RMC Deep Throat!

[@philrod1]

RMC is clearly raking in the Patreon funding if he can afford Chris Barry to do the voice over ;-)

[@UVOS-z4q]

Thank you

[@bennysh]

♥♥♥ my first childhood computer ♥♥♥ spent long nights hacking basic programs and games on it #nostalgia

[@matthewhill5090]

It'd be insteresting to see how this compares up against the SInclair +3 'equivalent'. I might be biased (guess which machine I owned, compared to a mate, who had this, the 6128), but I always thought the power and monitor connectivity being instrinsictly linked a little wierd to say the least. Maybe even a little 'botched'. I'm not saying the +3 was perfect, it having its own collection of completely-non-standard connectors (did standards even exist in the late '80s?).

[@MrDuncl]

The Unique Selling Point of the 464 was that it came with everything you needed rather than having to repurpose the family TV and Cassette Recorder. Colour TVs weren't cheap back then hence the accessory that allowed you to use the Amstrad Colour Monitor as a TV.

[@c7261]

I love these videos. Nice job! Although, I always wince when I hear "let's open her up" >_

[@10p6]

Nice video but would be better in one part :-) Oh and please do a restoration of the 6128 Plus too if you will :-)

[@prehistoricBanana]

The problem I have with anything amstrad is that I start singing "amstrad amstrad jenny from the block"

[@TheDeeplyCynical]

13:33. does that mean i can claim back PPI if i own an Amstrad? :D Good video as usual.

[@TheRetroCollective]

Yes but 40% of all claims go to me :D

[@jochenblacha7241]

Wait. All it needs is a +5V and +12V power source (which were originally provided through the monitor)? Well, if I'd be you I would have taken a standard PC power supply (SFF, ATX or an "AT" PSU salvaged from some old 2|3|486), made a few cables and ran with it. I'm actually using a modded ATX power supply to power the one or another vintage systems where I don't trust the original power brick anymore (even added a 9V output which is derived from 12V).

[@MarkTheMorose]

Steve Benway did a video a couple of years ago, I think, where he bodged together a power supply for a CPC.

[@pelgervampireduck]

I've never seen one of these. I find it curious and a "bad thing" when manufacturers go with weird propietary formats instead of "normal" floppy disks. it makes the computer less "future proof". we can get parts for "normal" floppy drives, or replacement units. we can get floppy disks for them, and we can preserve the software and copy it easily, or keep an older computer running or restore it because we can get the software on the internet and write it easily on any normal PC with a floppy drive. that's not the case with "weird formats", if you don't get a disk from that era, or if it breaks, it's over, you can't just pop another disk in your PC and write a new copy.

[@JamesChurchill]

3.5 eventually became the standard because of the PC, but at the time the CPC came out, this wasn't the case. But electrically they're basically identical - a CPC can have an external 3.5 drive, and you can put the 3 inch drive in a PC if you want!

[@EdgyNumber1]

Would be interesting to see if you could overclock it....

[@gravious]

you ok buddy? you sound a bit blocked up, a cold on the way? great vid, was a speccy owner myself, but the amstrad is an interesting beast :)

[@gravious]

lol, i wrote the comment before reading your sticky :D Get well soon!

[@TheRetroCollective]

Cheers Gavious, normal voice will resume soon!

[@Kawa-oneechan]

Look at the size of that lad, that absolute unit.

[@TheRetroCollective]

Nandos every day