Two Go Mad in Stroud! MFS +​⁠

[@channelzero2252]

Mark fixes stuff. So Neil must break it. "Oh no! It's as if the kettle committed suicide rather than work for me." 😆

[@MarkFixesStuff]

I use that line all the time in real life. Heavy man!

[@willrobinson7599]

Great unboxing video Mark. Always enjoy seeing u and Neil working together , look forward to the next part

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Glad you enjoyed it Will!!!

[@LxRv]

Great seeing you together, feels like I've not seen Mark on RMC for aaaages (I'm probably wrong).

[@kellerkind6169]

You're not wrong. I've been asking for Mark to appear on a RMC episode a couple of months ago myself on Neils channels comments

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Thanks for your support. Just to let you know, the reason I’ve not been on much is just due to calendar conflicts with us both being so busy. Plus we hate each other. Obviously.

[@kellerkind6169]

@@MarkFixesStuff You two have got a Bromance going on :-)

[@MarkFixesStuff]

@@kellerkind6169 it’s like a marriage. And we’re getting divorced

[@zorko8920]

It was a great surprise seeing the two of you on camera together again. 🎉 Hope to see more collaborations in the future!

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Thanks Zorko! We do have some more RMCMFS nonsense planned soon.

[@Colin_Ames]

A fun video. 14:23 “Thwarted by a printer” made me laugh, I can relate!

[@MarkFixesStuff]

The eternal battle!

[@TheTurnipKing]

Thwarting people is basically the unwritten, unofficial job of any printer. When the robot uprising comes, it will be led by printers.

[@Colin_Ames]

@@TheTurnipKing 🤣

[@piero_75]

My dad had one of these in the 80s. But I hijacked it from his office aged 12 and set it up in my bedroom where it sat mostly unused but looking very cool indeed next to my CPC for at least a year. He eventually took it back when he realised it was gone and its eventual fate is lost to time, although I did keep many of the 3" disks with his clients' files on (and still have them for posterity).

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Is this the bit where we find out your dad was working for a shadowy government organisation, and you are never heard of again after putting this in the comments?

[@keiiko]

You two really enjoyed this video 😂 i like it too

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Loads of fun to make and even fun to edit.

[@Theseanparker]

Loved the video and seeing you lark about 👏👏👏👏

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Thanks!! It was a lot of fun😂

[@mrjsv4935]

Heh, always worth trying the Onslow's way to turn TV on in Keeping Up Appearances :D

[@MarkFixesStuff]

We both had a shock at the boot fail timing bro haha 😝

[@frankowalker4662]

I have the PCW 8256, the single drive 256K version. in the 2000's I upgraded it to 512K and put in a second drive. Last year the monitor blew up and I couldn't fix it, so I took the main board out and mounted it in a storage box with an ATX PSU and composite output with a Gotek and a floppy. I also modified the keyboard with a joystick port and a modified SEGA joypad. It was a fun project.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Doing the work of the gods sir! What did you use the joypad for?

[@kakabixlis]

I loved this mates !always good to watch you Mark :D :D hope you are well !!

[@mickm6309]

Really enjoyed this video, only been a subscriber for a short time after seeing you so much on RMC, you 2 guys work really well together.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Thank you Mick. I think the word “work” might be doing a bit of heavy lifting here but it’s a lot of LOLs filming with Neil.

[@johnknight9150]

I have the same yellow and black screwdriver! I got it as part of a set from the Australian equivalent of a pound shop.

[@TheGeoffers08]

Excellent video as usual chap. I have one of these with the gotek solution in it. Worth a do. That solid green screen is definatelt because it's waiting to boot from disc.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Really looking forward to getting this going now!

[@TheGeoffers08]

@@MarkFixesStuff there are some stonking titles for it. The version of Head Over Heals is excellent. I look forward to the next instalment.

[@telemedic5142]

This pcw DOES need a disk to boot. The belts do melt, and don’t forget when taking the board off, that the write protect pins like to escape! Good luck!

[@MarkFixesStuff]

They really do like to head for the hills don’t they! The belts are sooooo much fun to remove slowly and arduously. Hooray. Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to comment!

[@P5ychoFox]

Great, The Cave needs some PCWs. Great computers with around 200 games available for them.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Where do I find these gaming treasures???

[@geezerdiamond]

When we got PCWs at school, they didn’t come with plugs fitted (those were the days!), so one of the kids wrapped the bare ends around a lamp plug’s pins, and shoved it in the socket 😂

[@MarkFixesStuff]

It’s the old school way!!

[@jkmac625]

I had a later version of this word processor around 1990, an Amstrad PCW9512. It took the same 3inch CF-2 disks but the monitor was a white screen rather than green. It came with 2 software disks the main word processing software and I think the other disk allowed it to load some version of BASIC. I also remember the daisy wheel printer was very noisy. When I was in college they also had some PCW9512s but they'd modified theirs to a 3.5inch floppy drive.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Ohh. I like the old white screens. I plan to fix these drives but then replace one with a FlashFloppy unit

[@this-is-dave]

I used a PCW8256 at school before they went to Microsoft Windows 3.0. We used Locoscript and also a couple of games like snake. I was a CP/M based system that boot straight from the floppy disc and it was a bulletproof machine. The printer is a positive bonus with it was also powered by the PCW. This was back in 1989/1992 era.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Ohhh! Great Info!!! Id love to play snake. 🐍

[@namcos]

I remember these, or a variant, from high school. I used them in my GSCE Business Studies class. I did find one disk that had a bunch of games on them - just arcade ports like Pacman. I don't remember much about the operation apart from when it loads there's horizontal black bars that appear from the top to the bottom and something about pressing the space bar to access the disk(?).

[@TheMalMeninga]

Had a good chuckle at the VHS-C stuff, well done mate

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Data protection done right!!

[@RobeenaShepherd]

I do like it when you guest star on Neil's channel!

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Wait… this is my channel!!! I’M SUPER IMPORTANT DAMIT!!! 😂

[@talideon]

That Night Moves C64 box in the background! 😁

[@Endzs768]

great videos guys

[@SophieFeet]

Love the RMC fixes stuff crossovers. Don't know much about PCWs but i do have a few reel to reel tape recorders.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Well I’m able to beat you then, because I don’t know much about either!!!

[@massdrivermusic]

OMG! Printer cable! Packing material!! ...but anyway, that Judy Garland tape would be fine, unless it's been stored close to a magnetic source, like a speaker or a CRT monitor.

[@mattsword41]

Great to see the PCW get some YT love :)

[@MarkFixesStuff]

I didn’t think I’d be that interested in this machine but it’s really starting to appeal to me. Especially after learning that the system has some games available. As much as I love word processing it’s not a favourite hobby of mine!

[@mattsword41]

@@MarkFixesStuff but there are spreadsheets too Mark... SPREADSHEETS! What more could you want ;) (Even DTP with Fleetstreet Editor - a stalwart for my homework back in the day ;))

[@MarkFixesStuff]

@@mattsword41 gawd. That program name hasn’t aged well!!

[@frazzleface753]

Ah, Julie Garland....Judy's second cousin twice removed from Margate! Neil has some taste for sure.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

I have no idea why I said Julie. Neil really likes it. That and Fronk Sonata.

[@frankowalker4662]

You don't get anything on screen until a valid boot disc is inserted into drive A.

[@roskelld]

Was it called Start of day Disk? My memories of the machine from school was that you always booted with one disk and then put in the word processor or spreadsheet disk after it loaded into some sort of prompt.

[@frankowalker4662]

@@roskelld Yes there was a Start Of Day Disc, but you can also boot with Locoscript or a custom boot disc. I made one that booted straight into BASIC so I could write and play games.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

What were some of the games? I need to think of the next video!

[@frankowalker4662]

@@MarkFixesStuff I wrote my own games in BASIC. Simple single screen collect em up's while avoiding stuff usin the joypad to move. I started writing a Pac-Man game but gave up as it ran too slow. LOL.

[@frankowalker4662]

@@MarkFixesStuff I've heard there was a Batman game released, but I've never seen it.

[@giulianomarco]

I hope you had lashings of ginger beer! 😁👍

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Neil solved the Mystery of the Missing Scone Knife after this video.

[@smayds]

MFS at the Cave is always RMC Gone Wild in my head.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

RMC with no inhibitions.

[@TygonBC]

I just realised that if you squint, the keyboard resembles that of the Speccy +3. I wonder if they shared common keys, if not part of the case itself.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

See Ben Rattigan’s comment above ☝️ I said they look like CPC keys. The +3 and CPC were both also Amstrad of course.

[@BenRattigan]

Yeah my dad in his love of the latest tech had one of these when he went back to Uni. Keyboard looks suspiciously like a cut down 6128.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

It’s really true.

[@fl0wfr]

OMG this video is so funny 🤣

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Thank you!!!!! 🙏

[@magicknight8412]

An engineer’s tap I believe is the term!

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Professional Slap is the preferred term here. But that would make Neil a professional slapper… ummmm 🤨

[@MarkTheMorose]

Techmoan's your man for the reel to reel tapes.

[@GeirSandstad]

How many pints did you guys have before filming this? This was hilarious towards the end. 😂

[@MarkFixesStuff]

True story, I don’t actually drink anymore! Imagine if we had!!!

[@GeirSandstad]

@@MarkFixesStuff I'm trying hard not to... 😂

[@MarkFixesStuff]

“Messy”, Geir. The word is “messy”…

[@GeirSandstad]

@@MarkFixesStuff Ohhh....I know what it was. It must have been the fumes from Neils latest restoration project. That arcade cabinet should have been disinfected. 😋

[@MarkFixesStuff]

@@GeirSandstad that paint was intoxicating actually!

[@WahidKhan-r5m]

Brilliant!! Though acting abilities of both celebs is a bit rough round the edges !! Lol😂

[@BastetFurry]

Don't have a PCW, but it is a CP/M machine, i suspect it will do nothing without a disk to boot from.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

I suspect you suspect correct.

[@creativesamurai8372]

Fixed it! lol

[@MarkFixesStuff]

The RMC effect

[@alien8r33d]

Surely it's only a massive magnet when powered up.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

I’m fairly sure they have stored magnetic potential when off? At least for a bit? To be honest I’m not an expert on monitors and it was a throwaway comment but now I’m curious and you might well be spot on!!

[@firstsurname9893]

​@@MarkFixesStuffThere's no strong permanent magnets in a CRT, certainly none powerful enough to affect a magnetic tape from outside the case. If you're interested in reading up on CRTs I recommend "MIT Radiation Laboratory Series - Cathode Ray Tube Displays".

[@AntonyTCurtis]

Brown fuse == 13A ? Surely it should be the pink/red ones which are 5A ? My memory is fuzzy since I haven't been in the UK in a while. Pretty sure that they had a blank white screen until they boot and run code.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

I find it difficult to discern the colours from each other unless they are all together

[@JenniferinIllinois]

So much innuendo. 😁

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Not from me!

[@garyhart6421]

You used them at school ? I used them on one of the IT courses I went on --- circa 1994-95.

[@Simon-ui6db]

Hope you change that plug to a current compliant one ( no insulation on the live and neutral pins). Green screen is normal until its either got a locoscript boot or cpm/plus disc in the top drive (drive A) . Had one as a kid when my step dad upgraded the works pc to a 486DX

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Funny you should say that. I was thinking of a short video about old plugs, checking them and what is a compliance fail. Might not be sexy but it’s important. I’ve just bought a box of tough plugs.

[@jj_and_the_jaysjays6316]

EMI tape guide 1-60 in the original recordings of SGT Pepper

[@oldhedders]

Blank green screen is normal for a PCW. It won't do anything without a disk to boot.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Thank you!!! Drive repair is the way to go next I think!

[@Jimfowler82]

I love your humour mark. 😅

[@MarkFixesStuff]

I love that you love it Jim!!!

[@properjob2311]

you need a CPM/locoscript/game bootable disk in drive A. do not get anything but a green screen on turn on. 512K was misleading - most of that was just available for a RAM disk and not program space. this has a good high resolution screen i think. 90 columns wide.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Thank you. I’m really looking forward to trying it out properly :)

[@microknigh7]

We've got a mint one of these in the loft (well it was mint when it went in there). It was the wife's from when she used to do freelance secretarial work before we got married LOL

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Mint??? I didn’t know they came in flavours!!??

[@microknigh7]

@@MarkFixesStuff

[@SMlFFY85]

Looks like a lot of Techmoan content in that box.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

I love Techmoan

[@JohnSmith-bh4zx]

Hi Mark, whatever happened to the fire damaged Amiga 600 that you used the Ultrasonic cleaner on?

[@MarkFixesStuff]

The computer itself works. I made some errors with the new 3d printed case so I need to find a way to fix my mess up 😧

[@MarkFixesStuff]

It’s still in the list though

[@davidretrogamesplayedbadly3533]

I was hoping for a box of fraggles ☹️

[@MarkFixesStuff]

I was hoping for Frazzles!

[@BenRattigan]

Mr Handsome ❤

[@MarkFixesStuff]

My new maleslot name.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Mail slot. Oops

[@mattsword41]

8256 has 1 drive and 8512 has 2 - the bottom is double density vs the top single density. The 8256 has a 1 single density drive As others have said, solid green screen normal until it picks up a boot disc Dont plug/unplug the printer with the machine on as it can fry the motherboard

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Bloody hell! So much brilliant info! Thank you so much!

[@chriscrossan8034]

Haircut 100!

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Thanks Chris! I hope you have a Fantastic Day!

[@preferredimage]

Good plan. Open at Neil's just in case there's any incriminating grumble films in there.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Mustn’t grumble. Apparently.

[@Simon-ui6db]

And never hit SHIFT EXTRA and EXIT at the same time unless you want to warm boot it (the equivalent of CTRL-ALT-DEL in dos)

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Ohhh pro tip!! Thank you again!

[@rosstee]

I’m a respectable married man, but I ❤ Mark just a little bit.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

… respectable? You ended up in the wrong part of town, friend… Thanks Rosstee!!

[@BenRattigan]

Can this be a new thing, blindfolded test of guess my computer from its smell?

[@MarkFixesStuff]

It’s a tuna? A haddock…. ??? A night out in city centre? No… it’s a PCW

[@pascalharris1]

If those reel to reels play then I’ll eat my socks. Even if the tape isn’t too brittle or stuck together, the print through will be something horrible.

[@darrenhunter2324]

The PCW as mutch as I remeber needed to be booted off a floopy or you just get a green screen.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Yeah. I looked it up after the video and you are right. It bodes well for the machine working ages the drives are fixed.

[@TheStimpleton]

it doesnt boot like a new computer, it has to boot from a amstrad boot disk, i think its a locoscript disk, check on you tube

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Thank you! I’ll get a boot disk!

[@a1exh]

How do I get back those 22:10 of my life? :)

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Ummm… don’t watch it again?

[@minibigs5259]

lol

[@frankowalker4662]

Oooh, Reel to reel tapes. EDIT : I can transfer them to MP3 if you want. (I'm in the U.K.)

[@rimmersbryggeri]

I prefer DCC. ;).

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Might be a future video there then? I think maybe I’ll deal with the PCW first Franko. Thank you!

[@frankowalker4662]

@@MarkFixesStuff Yeah, could be fun.

[@microknigh7]

It's probs a reel to reel tape case

[@microknigh7]

Haha the answer came with the next item LOL

[@MarkFixesStuff]

@@microknigh7 darn it haha!😛

[@woodand]

where's mark's pony tail ?

[@iangough3062]

Marks ponytail has gone on holiday with the gummies.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

@@iangough3062 the gummies are roadying for Judas Priest right now actually. My pony tail is the support act.

[@Legend813a]

How about a live duo fix it stream drinking game. Stream, fix stuff, attempt solutions, if solutions fail - take a shot goto 10

[@MarkFixesStuff]

30 If $drinks>15 gosub 100 100* Print “You Died of Dysentery.”