ZX Interface 1 and Microdrive Issues!

[@svofski]

it was nice seeing good closeups on the microdrive mechanics

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

I'm very happy with this macro lens :)

[@TRONMAGNUM2099]

Excellent work. I've never done anything with a microdrive. Interesting to see how you got it working tip-top again. It's great to see how you leave no stone unturned when doing a refurbish job.

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Many thanks!

[@Xoferif]

Wow, a genuine Maplin-branded vice! That's a collector's item now. Anyway, well done on another splendid repair. 😄

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Old faithful

[@PaulYoung99s]

Really interesting informative and well presented video. You seem to do those awkward fiddly soldering jobs with ease and check everything very thoroughly. Very pleased with the repairs and refurbishments you have done on my devices. Good to remind people that the tell tale plastic burn mark, shows a history of failure (which was there before the original vla replacement and why it was required) Its obvious, but I'd also advise people to be very careful adding interfaces to your spectrum, especially if you don't know their history. I broke this one when plugging in new interfaces, even though I thought I was being very careful, and after 40 years plus of Spectrum experience too! Just one sometimes invisible slip can break something. My advice is, when buying anything, get it refurbished first before using it. Re later ROM - doesn't have much of a practical difference, but I think it reduces Microdrive not present issues. In my personal experience, I have only found one program that needs to know which ROM version you are using and will only work when set up for the correct one.

[@JohnSmith-bh4zx]

Excellent Video. In the early days of E Bay I bought a Interface 1 & 2 Microdrives from a seller, but was extremely busy at work so did not test them until some time later & surprise surprise they did not work! I shouldn't been so naive and thought all sellers were honest. I will get around to trying to fix them one day.

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Luckily there is a very good service guide! The crux of it is replacing the rubber rollers, not so easy to come by new ones

[@RudysRetroIntel]

Yay! Excellent work! Thanks for sharing

[@daveboulton3897]

Great to share the repair journey with you. Thanks again for the brilliant content.

[@gertsy2000]

Luv your videos. So clear and concise with your narration, and very patient approach. Well done. Great to see your face on the videos too.

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Thanks that's very kind

[@meh3247]

Nice fix - also, I am going to call you Eddie Mercury from now on.

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Is this moustache related? 🤣

[@meh3247]

@@HappyLittleDiodes Indeed it is Sire! DAYYYYOOOOO!

[@bunkashaaa1]

Another satisfying repair video! good job!

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Thanks!

[@preferredimage]

19:00 I had to do a microdrive ULA replacement on a QL drive.... fiddly! if you desolder the head, you can leave it in place IIRC and get to the rest of the board.

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

I did think I could desolder it if necessary but thankfully it wasn't

[@_RETROFIX_]

I love your videos! They are calm and pleasant to follow. On the past months I´ve repaired some microdrives and interface 1, and changing ulas and roms is painfull. Unfornately in one of them, the play head was dead. Is there anything to do to repair a microdrive with a dead playhead?

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

That's a good question and I'm afraid I have no idea other than forcefully removing it and trying to mount a new one somehow

[@1337Shockwav3]

Found the serial feature of the IF1 way more interesting than the gimmicky Microdrives ... still replaced the innards with an AY + Joystick + RS232 expansion on prototype-board once the ULA in my IF1 broke. The vLA-series of replacement chips is amazing tho.

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

I've always wanted to try and hook two machines up via IF1s to get a two player networked game running

[@1337Shockwav3]

@@HappyLittleDiodes That sounds cool as well. Always liked that serial loading was considerably faster than tape as I mostly use russian clones with Betadisk interfaces and only got a divIDE way late.

[@mogwaay]

Great video, nice repair

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@preferredimage]

11:00 solder blob in the middle of the top row. not a great sign.

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Good spot!!

[@jonwheal]

Brilliant video as usual! I know it doesn't feature in this video, but can you tell me the model of your small handheld oscilloscope? I think I remember you said it was fairly cheap and, though not very fast, good enough for working on retro computers. Do you remember where you got it and are you still happy with it? Thanks!

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Oh sorry I didn't reply to your email. I thought I'd wait until I next used it and I'd check the model number for you! I did look on Amazon and the one I bought wasn't on there anymore, let me do some digging and I'll reply to you

[@jonwheal]

No worries, I thought my email had probably gone into spam! Thanks, that would be great. Looking for something to poke around in a ZX81 with... :-)

[@djksfhakhaks]

This system brings back alot of very frustrating memories for me! It was my first computer as a kid. All aI had was the conputer, the manual and the memory expansion. No kond of storage so when the system went off so did anything I put on it. I suspect that you haven't had mich luck with SMD devices is likely because of equipment. The cheap stuff from china doesnt do well. Its an investment but well worth it in the long run.

[@moonandwanderer]

🤟🏼

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

✊

[@kensmith5694]

Isn't there enough room to put a socket in there? If there is, I would do that to be nice to the next guy to work on it.

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

Unfortunately not!

[@andygozzo72]

personally i wouldnt say its necessary to replace the regulator in these, they dont go bad with age, although any part can randomly fail.....and i'd say a very bad idea to use a switching regulator, its rather close to the head and it'd likely pick up the switching frequency ! i dont know if you've heard or seen it, but i've read not every microdrive will work with every interface 1, due to tolerance variations

[@HappyLittleDiodes]

I did get it into a state once or twice where it got stuck spinning, and according to ByteDelight you can replace the 7805 to resolve this. But to be honest my main line of thinking was "why not" if it gives it a bit more chance to last a bit longer. I didn't know that about the tolerances! That would be a frustrating revelation if you were struggling to get one working

[@andygozzo72]

@@HappyLittleDiodes i still dont and will never hold with replacing regulators just because theyre old in the hope of preventing failure, it wont necessarily , if replacing parts purely because of age, to try and prevent failure why not replace everything? it then becomes ridiculous! these ones you cured by replacing , did you test the regulators before or after, and if so what was the results? such as was voltage output within tolerance? had it gone 'noisy'/unstable/poor regulation with current load? i have had that with a 7905 in an oric, although voltage was always within tolerance....but they run very hot, so may have been damaged by it... do they run hot in them, as they're not heatsinked ? if theyre not running excessively hot i wouldnt think theyd be damaged/degraded by hours run at that low temperature,, if they do get pretty hot, maybe need a small heatsink adding if enough space.... i have a working microdrive and interface 1 (has a burn mark and looks like ULA has been replaced 😉) and havent opened up the drive as didnt need to, dont want to risk bending the top plate unless i really have to