Laser 128EX: A ROM upgrade, glorious RGB output, 1meg of RAM and a teardown

Рет қаралды 52,819

Күн бұрын

In the final installment of the Laser 128EX series, we cover lots of things including testing a newer ROM, getting beautiful RGB output from the machine and giving the machine a RAM upgrade.
Part 1: • Laser 128EX: An Apple ...
Part 2: • Laser 128EX: Proving t...
Part 3: This part!
0:00 Intro
0:52 Testing out the 128EX/2 Rom V6.2
7:30 Port Configuration menu and other keyboard shortcuts
8:35 How to get RGB video from the Laser 128
14:22 Apple II RGB on a CGA monitor
15:31 Using the RGB2HDMI with the Laser 128 to get the right colors
24:06 The STD/ALT switch on the back of the machine
25:10 The Function keys and other special keys on the Laser 128
26:58 Tear down of the Laser 128
31:08 Analysis of the internals of the Laser 128
36:48 Installing RAM into the RAM card
37:16 The floppy drive belt size
37:33 Testing out the 1meg RAM drive with Apple II Desktop
42:04 Conclusion and outro
Laser 128 Floppy Drive belt dimensions 2.3mmx288mm
-- Video Links
Apple II Desktop:
www.a2desktop.com/
Attack of the PETSCII Robots (Apple II version)
www.the8bitguy.com/product/pet...
Laser 128 Technical Manual:
www.apple.asimov.net/document...
RGB2HDMI Fork with Laser 128 support: (will be mainline eventually)
github.com/IanSB/RGBtoHDMI/re...
Support the channel on Patreon:
/ adriansdigitalbasement
Adrian's Digital Basement ][ (Second Channel)
/ @adriansdigitalbasement2
Article on the history of the Laser 128:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_128
-- Tools
Deoxit D5:
amzn.to/2VvOKy1
store.caig.com/s.nl/it.A/id.16...
O-Ring Pick Set: (I use these to lift chips off boards)
amzn.to/3a9x54J
Elenco Electronics LP-560 Logic Probe:
amzn.to/2VrT5lW
Hakko FR301 Desoldering Iron:
amzn.to/2ye6xC0
Rigol DS1054Z Four Channel Oscilloscope:
www.rigolna.com/products/digi...
Head Worn Magnifying Goggles / Dual Lens Flip-In Head Magnifier:
amzn.to/3adRbuy
TL866II Plus Chip Tester and EPROM programmer: (The MiniPro)
amzn.to/2wG4tlP
www.aliexpress.com/item/33000...
TS100 Soldering Iron:
amzn.to/2K36dJ5
www.ebay.com/itm/TS100-65W-MI...
EEVBlog 121GW Multimeter:
www.eevblog.com/product/121gw/
DSLogic Basic Logic Analyzer:
amzn.to/2RDSDQw
www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Logic-DS...
Magnetic Screw Holder:
amzn.to/3b8LOhG
www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-...
Universal ZIP sockets: (clones, used on my ZIF-64 test machine)
www.ebay.com/itm/14-16-18-20-...
RetroTink 2X Upconverter: (to hook up something like a C64 to HDMI)
www.retrotink.com/
Plato (Clone) Side Cutters: (order five)
www.ebay.com/itm/1-2-5-10PCS-...
Heat Sinks:
www.aliexpress.com/item/32537...
Little squeezy bottles: (available elsewhere too)
amzn.to/3b8LOOI
--- Links
My GitHub repository:
github.com/misterblack1?tab=r...
Commodore Computer Club / Vancouver, WA - Portland, OR - PDX Commodore Users Group
www.commodorecomputerclub.com/
--- Instructional videos
My video on damage-free chip removal:
• How to remove chips wi...
--- Music
Intro music and other tracks by:
Nathan Divino
@itsnathandivino

Пікірлер: 232

@The8BitGuy 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for showing off Petscii Robots! I also agree with you that the Laser 128 was a better Apple than Apple themselves made. And I didn't even know about the RGB over a CGA monitor until you showed that off, which makes me even more impressed! And all for half the price of an official Apple product!

@mikeuk666 3 жыл бұрын

Keep up the great work too

@UwUSanime 3 жыл бұрын

Wait did you time travel?? 1 week ago???

@nyccollin 3 жыл бұрын

Nathan alexander maybe he released it a week ago for Patreon supporters?

@UwUSanime 3 жыл бұрын

Good point didn't think of it just being unlisted.

@bradsmith8977 3 жыл бұрын

Hey I saw new kind of VCR with USB support built into it so you can link it up to your laptop or desktop!!!!!!!!!

@execation 3 жыл бұрын

Nope - you're wrong. I loved this series. Now onto the next project!

@DeathMetalDerf 3 жыл бұрын

I absolutely agree, especially this episode when we got to see some one-to-one, direct comparison between the graphics of the two systems. So similar, yet different in subtle ways.

@darkstatehk 3 жыл бұрын

One of those rare moments where Adrian *DOESN'T* throw away an RF shield.

@joshuareynolds6958 3 жыл бұрын

Haha, without a doubt

@stefanegger 3 жыл бұрын

He also breaks the Apple IIe cover, what to expect

@DarronBirgenheier Жыл бұрын

"Hams hate him for this one simple trick!"

@Zarcondeegrissom 6 ай бұрын

@@DarronBirgenheier yeah, and he kind of has a point, with all the tempered glass cases around, another 4MHz buzzer won't matter that much today, lol.

@BilisNegra 3 жыл бұрын

No, I'm not tired of watching new episodes about the Laser 128 at all! But if you upload them on the second channel it will be perfectly OK, I'm subscribed to both anyway. Actually, it can help the ][ channel to grow, there'll be quite a few people who are eager to watch even more about this machine!

@stevenjlovelace Жыл бұрын

Loved learning more about artifact color and CGA signals. Those old graphics standards are way more interesting to me than the latest RTX graphics card.

@Informed104 3 жыл бұрын

Loved this Laser128EX series. Back in the early 80s, the dealer that sold me my Sekon Apple II plus clone from Taiwan, began to sell Laser 128s when the law caught up with him over selling Sekons. Haha! Please do more Apple II series. Anything Apple II. Mac, not so much. Especially on the SD pseudo drives available. I'd love to find a kit to build one. Love the channel, Adrian! Digital Electronics still mystify me, and you do a great job helping me understand some things. THANK YOU.

@riz94107 Жыл бұрын

Commenting on an old video! I just want to express gratitude for stuff like pointing out the size of the belt in case owners need to find replacements. Also, shout out to the Rocky Horror T-Shirt!

@frankowalker4662 3 жыл бұрын

What an interesting series. Thanks Adrian.

@JoeCdaYT 3 жыл бұрын

Adrian I love seeing this beast of a unit. As I have been looking over the schematics in the service manual I found out why your switching between port 5 and 7 did not work. There appears to be an external expansion module that plugs into the side port that breaks out the two ports and external power is needed to be added to it for it to function correctly for some cards. Hope this helps.

@stevesether 3 жыл бұрын

I have a few of these machines that I'm going to restore, so I'm also very curious about all the details of upgrades.I found the EX 6.0 ROM on Archive.org, along with several other versions as well. Roms are at: archive.org/details/Laser128ROMs

@mikekinasz 3 жыл бұрын

Great series. You have me excited about my Laser 128 again!

@antoniomeloni8174 3 жыл бұрын

Very interesting series of videos on the laser. Adrian, you made always a great work 🙂

@jmr5125 3 жыл бұрын

34:37 -- I strongly suspect that the video shadow memory explains why many games do not work properly at high speeds. While the chipset recognizes *some* non-standard mechanisms for accessing video RAM (and redirects appropriately) it doesn't catch *all* the methods that inventive programmers come up with to extract just a tiny bit of extra performance from the game. When such a game comes along, the video routines may work at high speed or maybe not. 39:44 The removal of the Apple symbol from the default character map is almost certainly a "don't sue us" feature rather than a nice usability enhancement.

@Manawyrm 3 жыл бұрын

Awesome, I was eagerly awaiting the teardown! Very cool shirt at the end 😃👍

@John-uc6gb Жыл бұрын

Great video. I have the Laser 128 and the 128EX. Love them both. Thank you

@parrottm76262 3 жыл бұрын

Super impressed with the Laser. I really want one now, even more that years ago.

@tenmillionvolts 3 жыл бұрын

I never get tired of seeing Apple II videos. The more the merrier. 10 points for the Rocky Horror shirt by the way. Richard O'Brien grew up near me in New Zealand

@hernancoronel 3 жыл бұрын

Awesome! New video from Adrian, thank you!

@voneschenbachmusic 3 жыл бұрын

I loved this series and part 3 especially - what an interesting clone of the Apple! Seems like it was a comparatively capable machine for the era!

@JoeSteele 3 жыл бұрын

Great work on this! Love hearing the comparison to the various Apple ][ series. Really makes me want to dig out my old Apple ][+ and see if it still boot up.

@dionelr 3 жыл бұрын

Wow. Thank you for this blast from the past. Having a Laser 128EX when I was a kid is 100% the reason I got into tech. All those days of playing Lemonade Stand, Number Munchers, and Oregon Trail came back to me.

@retropuffer2986 3 жыл бұрын

I love seeing 80s columns and hundreds of K of memory on Apple IIs. Business and productivity software thrived on these machines.

@billchatfield3064 3 жыл бұрын

I am not tired of watching Laser 128 videos. :-) I'd be happy to see more.

@AceStrife 3 жыл бұрын

42:46 I would gladly watch any number of videos about anything at any length. Mostly because I missed out on this growing up (W3.1 my first PC), but also because of the love and enthusiasm shown for everything being presented. Makes the viewer feel more involved in the whole thing and lifts the experience even higher.

@SteveMorton 3 жыл бұрын

Great series Adrian

@mikeuk666 3 жыл бұрын

Loving the videos Adrian

@GummyGruffi 3 жыл бұрын

So many RF shields... It's like FCC's wet dream.

@JohnGotts 3 жыл бұрын

It's nice when your baby monitor isn't disabled by your neighbor's computer. Some people actually live in apartment buildings, and a computer could be installed on the same shared wall. The FCC knows who it has allocated frequencies to. We still use RF shields in 2021. Without them services you rely on would not work, and some of those could mean your life or somebody else's is in jeopardy. You'd be surprised how important radio is, and how bad interference can be.

@vicroc4 Күн бұрын

@@JohnGotts Yes. It's the main reason people get so upset at Adrian when he discards the RF shields. Those are there for a reason, they're not just useless things that can be tossed away. A lot of very important electronics - things like pacemakers and insulin pumps, among others - may not necessarily be RFI hardened, and the emissions from a computer could well interfere with their proper operation.

@jamesdavis5096 2 жыл бұрын

This is really cool I’ve had a Laser 128 and I program the speech synthesizer out of an apple magazine this might be a really big series of videos for you to keep doing laser 128

@digi2577 3 жыл бұрын

Another great video! :) As for the RTC chips - some months ago I acquired two Apple IIGS’s, ROM3. Well, the second one is just the motherboard. Anyway, on both of them the RTC chips had faults. The RTC chip there is 343-0042-B which is very hard to find but I managed to acquire several pieces. And the problems were fixed. My point is that these chips seem to go bad often, probably because they work even when the computer is off.

@GalileoAV 3 жыл бұрын

What a fascinating machine. While I love the classics it's always nice to see some of the less common hardware of the era. :)

@woodch Жыл бұрын

8:10 - This was totally a feature. I forget when I discovered it, but fun fact-- it ALWAYS works. Even in programs that try to prevent you from breaking into Monitor by messing with the reset vectors. You can break into monitor at the exact memory location that is executing and begin disassembling code at will. Made it SO easy to figure out copy protection. :)

@delmonti 3 жыл бұрын

Great vid & very interesting especially as here in the UK the Apple 8 bits were never popular, but they do remind me of the BBC B/Master computers.

@jonathangraham5179 Жыл бұрын

Just to point out the RAM on an Apple is rated closer to three or four times the clock speed. This is because the 6502 accesses memory only during half of the clock cycle. Meaning that even on a 1Mhz 6502 system you tend to need something like 500ns RAM. However Woz's video circuit takes advantage of the fact that memory is never accessed during the other phase of the 6502 clock. It uses this window to read the video frame buffer (and the rest of memory which effectively refreshes the DRAM). Because of this you can see the RAM in the Apple II Plus to be around 300ns.

@gmirwin 3 жыл бұрын

Well, I enjoyed the three part series. Maybe someone else might have gotten sick of seeing the Laser 128, but I didn't.

@thepirategamerboy12 3 жыл бұрын

Btw, couldn't you technically use a Mockingboard sound card in the expansion slot?

@circuithijacker 3 жыл бұрын

OMG Where did the other screw go! Great series!

@ironhead2008 3 жыл бұрын

Those shortcut keys may not be a big deal if you were already familiar with the the Apple 2 line, but if you were coming over from another platform where the pause and break keys did what they said on the label, I can imagine them making things easier. Same thing for the function keys.

@ultrametric9317 3 жыл бұрын

Ah me using NVRAM in the clock to store computer configuration - terrible idea!! My Sun E420R server recently died from that, when the clock expired. Finding a new clock chip and programming it from the Sun bootstrap program (a marvel - FORTH) was an adventure.

@opp31337 3 жыл бұрын

i miss my laser 128, had one when i was a kid.

@ast3663 3 ай бұрын

that old Apple II desktop on it is great

@JohnGotts 3 жыл бұрын

Great monitor! I have the same one.

@obd6HsN 3 жыл бұрын

"Cprrection" - I love it :D

@xXTheoLinuxXx 3 жыл бұрын

Perhaps he toggled it to Dvorak :P

@VenomStryker 3 жыл бұрын

I always look forward to your videos and was sad to hear that you may be cutting out your Wednesday videos. But the second channel is making up for it. :-)

@MyDailyUpload 3 жыл бұрын

Very interesting. I was an Apple ][ user in the 70s/80s and until I studied engineering in college. I needed an IBM compatible machine for that so I bought a Laser Compact XT. It was also a VTech computer that was identical to the Laser 128 except it was an MS-DOS 8088 IBM compatible computer. David Murray has shown one on his channel. For some reason (probably FCC emissions) it did not have the side expansion port so I added it myself, along with a second UART so I could have a second serial port. These were designed into the board, but the hardware was not populated. Now I wish I had a Laser 128 too as it seems to be a cool little machine.

@Retrocatone 3 жыл бұрын

Very impressive and capable machine, even better than apple ones! Decent built quality for the price tag back in the day too

@rigues 3 жыл бұрын

Adrian, you got me wanting a Laser 128. I had a Brazilian Apple IIe clone as a kid (TK 3000 //e), but never got much use out of it besides BASIC programming. I had only 2 games (Bandits and a chess program), no other software, and knew no other Apple II users around my area. It was 1988 already, I was 10, and MSX machines had taken over the Brazilian market. I'm an MSX collector now, but that limited Apple II will always have a little spot on my heart.

@TheJeremyHolloway 3 жыл бұрын

That's a very nice looking clone case of the Apple IIe Enhanced. Although I'd be preferential to the TK2000's case since it's a copy of the Atari 1200XL's case. Not practical but damn sexy.

@AngeloTelesforo 3 жыл бұрын

I got my tk3000 in 84 or 85 and there were a bunch of other users! I maxed mine out to everything you can think of: zip chip, mouse, 3½ drives, mocking board… I think it only lacked a real-time clock and an HD. But then, in 94, I moved on to macs. Now I’m on the mission of getting back that kind of tk3000 (I’ve bought only the cpu up to now) and to have my 1st II GS. I wish we could find retro computers as easily here as it seems to be the case in the US.

@AngeloTelesforo 3 жыл бұрын

@@TheJeremyHolloway The side loaded expansion card reminded me of the TK2000 (which sucked, in my opinion).

@rigues 3 жыл бұрын

@@AngeloTelesforo Oh, I do believe there where lots of users, hardware and software. The Apple II clone market in Brazil was quite lively, with many companies (Microdigital, Elppa, Unitron, CCE, etc). But as I said, I was "late to the game" (88) and living in a small town where most of the other boys of my age were MSX Users.

@twocvbloke 3 жыл бұрын

Rather fun that they developed more options for this than Apple could be bothered to (or just didn't feel was necessary because they dictated what the customer wanted), for less money, one of them situations where you would wonder why you'd pay more for less... :)

@CandyGramForMongo_ 3 жыл бұрын

RHPS? That’s funny! Well done, sir.

@retrobitstv 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Adrian, I really enjoyed this series! My family had one of these back in the day, but I don't think any of us knew about the built-in configuration utility. I only had eyes for the C64 at the time and I'm sure I never cracked open the Laser's manual; to me it was only ever a machine to do homework on with AppleWorks. The whereabouts of that machine are unknown, but I imagine it was either given away, sold at a yard sale, or thrown out. Would have loved to have it back now, of course. Alas! Anyway, learned a lot of things I didn't know in the day 👍

@jonathangraham5179 Жыл бұрын

The problem with Fat City probably has nothing to do with the ROM. The Laser ROM has some features that let you slightly alter the machine's boot configuration. However, once the machine boots a program will rarely interact with the ROM code. Also, while I agree that the Laser 128EX was an amazing machine feature-wise. It is, when you tear it down nowhere near as well engineered as the //c+. I have yet to disassemble a Laser that didn't have several bodge wires or other changes to the manufacturing process (I had three units at one point and each one used a different keyboard). The key switches used in the //c and //c+ leave the keys of the Laser 128 in the dust too.

@xXTheoLinuxXx 3 жыл бұрын

A sidenote, every Dutch guy from the 70's and 80's know the Laser brand, not because it was for some time a Dutch brand, but in the 90's they had commercials at the Dutch television and they hired Katja Schuurmans (an actress and MTV Europe host) If you google her (the old commercials are online) you get it why even guys who had nothing with computers still know that brand ;) None the less I love this serie.

@craigskippernz 3 жыл бұрын

Suggest you put a sticker over the window of the eprom.

@evknucklehead 3 жыл бұрын

I think these are eeproms, which aren't vulnerable to stray UV light like the eproms are. If it was a regular eprom, the original from the Laser 128 would most likely have a sticker on it from the factory. I'm pretty sure the one Adrian put the EX/2 ROM onto was an eeprom too, as I don't recall Adrian ever mentioning having an eprom programmer, just his eeprom programmers.

@valentine_puppy 3 жыл бұрын

I'd really like to see some more game testing.

@robintst 3 жыл бұрын

This has been fun seeing this machine inside and out, great work! I'm genuinely impressed by the kind of quality workmanship that went into the design of it. Early proof that beating Apple at their own game really isn't all that hard, hehe. :-)

@fleedar 3 жыл бұрын

SGU spotted! 👍🏻👌🏻

@LuxorVan 3 жыл бұрын

Look up reneeharke there is a 6.0 version for the laser 128ex listed for download, they also have the 4.2 and 4.3. Just click on hardware rom dumps!

@00Klingon 3 жыл бұрын

Would you be able to elaborate more on the Apple IIgs RGB port at some point? I would really like to have a modern RGB display option for it but it would seem options are very limited to the original RGB display or some very old (these days) VGA monitor that can handle 15hz signals (via an adapter). Would VGAtoHDMI a Raspberry Pi help with this situation at all?

@TimSedlmeyer 3 жыл бұрын

A dump of the version 6.0 ROM can be found at reneeharke.com/roms.html

@afkbehr 3 жыл бұрын

best Saturday ever!

@kittyztigerz 3 жыл бұрын

havent see u replace battery backup bios i love seeing this thing is build like amazing technology epon cant read that battery backup cause it set itself back in default setting it far I remember someone talking about it if cga still colors affect u havent adjustment switch under door could do little different im not 100% sure n one of tech friends own it he always play game on it whiles he at work waiting for customers show up

@junker15 3 жыл бұрын

My LASER 128EX has ROM version 6.0. The only major thing is that the SmartPort hard drive support is missing. (They dropped it from 4.2, so 4.5 doesn't have it either.) So your Floppy Emu will need to be in 3.5" disk mode or 5.25" disk mode to boot from it.

@ianpun5650 3 жыл бұрын

This was probably one of the last production 8 bit computers of the late 80's. The limitations posed a technological deadend. 128K to 1M of memory had to be bank switched into the 64K (16bit) memory address space - and the only use was probably as a RAMDISK. Little programs could support that size (and have external storage that big) Limited floppy drive size as hard drives were very expensive (my 40Mb SCSI HD for my $2000CAN Mac plus was $1500CAN in 1988). The only technology from this computer that could make it connect with present day modern devices is the RS232 interface. You can communicate with it with a RS232 USB adapter. Your present day Apple Macbook evolved from these dinosaurs and showing the history is important. BTW my Macbook Pro 2010 is still completely functional in 2021 but my 1982 Apple IIe would have been laughably unusable in 1993.

@ChristopherGaul 3 жыл бұрын

Great series. Question though. You have the gear to dump and burn EPROM's, why not just edit the 6.2 ROM to default to slow mode at boot?

@chloedevereaux1801 3 жыл бұрын

mouse course and fine alters the interpolation... course would draw a jagged circle, fine would make it smoother. its a dpi / resolution scaler basically :D

@williamsquires3070 3 жыл бұрын

(@25:03) - Darn it, that phone looks like it’ll almost fit in that 3-1/2” floppy drive! 😝

@whelmy 3 жыл бұрын

did you test the RGB with the later 6.2 rom? perhaps one of the changes in the later roms was to map the colors closer to what they should be.

@JohnSweevo 3 жыл бұрын

its 6dot2 , remember ^^

@davefiddes 3 жыл бұрын

The colours are mapped in the CGA monitor. It's not something that is within the capabilities of the Laser (or PC) hardware to change.

@deansundquist9601 3 жыл бұрын

If it don’t play fat city at fast speed there’s no reason to use the other ROM. Haha I love it! So deep

@bobpurdon69 3 жыл бұрын

I remember using BBC's with composite on TV/CRT monitors in 80 character modes. No idea how I didn't go blind doing that - definitely couldn't do it today!

@Zeem4 3 жыл бұрын

Same here - back in the day I used my Acorn Electron with a 12" Panasonic black & white TV - which I still have somewhere.

@evknucklehead 3 жыл бұрын

My understanding is that the majority of the BBC Micros used PAL video outputs, which don't exhibit the color artifacting that NTSC does. To be honest, I'm not sure if any NTSC BBC Micros were even made.

@Zeem4 3 жыл бұрын

@@evknucklehead Some were, but they didn't sell very well. Most were repatriated and converted back to PAL and 240V for sale in the UK.

@rdmguy12 3 жыл бұрын

Oh man, I wonder if an RGB2HDMI could be used for the Compaq Portable internal header or a Compact Mac video

@Match451 3 жыл бұрын

It would be cool if you were able to find a way to install a realtime clock into that thing.

@evknucklehead 3 жыл бұрын

There were some clock chips that were designed to be installed between certain other chips and their sockets to add an RTC to systems that didn't have them built in, but they needed special software to work with them and may not have been compatible with the functions on that EX/2 ROM.

@Alexis_du_60 3 жыл бұрын

@@evknucklehead Yup, I belive on some Tandy 1000s they had an optional "SmartWatch" chip (which in reality was a Dallas RTC chip with a weird package thing..) which sat between the BIOS ROM chip and the mobo, perhaps it may be possible to do the same thing with the Laser128, though you'd need to mod the ROM to support the new RTC, and probably, the ROM chip would stick out of the bottom of the machine.

@xhrisbaddaker 3 жыл бұрын

Adrian likes Skeptics Guide too!

@scharkalvin 3 жыл бұрын

With the 8 bit guy now designing his own computer based on the C64, and seeing your videos on the Laser 128EX, I sorta wondered about designing a retro computer that might be a combination of the Laser, Apple ][ C, and the Apple ][ GS. IOW, using the 65816 processor and related circuitry from the ][GS in a compact computer with all of the common interfaces built in.

@BertGrink 3 жыл бұрын

Given that I have been lusting for an Apple IIGS, I would be totally onboard supporting such a project - at least financially; I doubt I could contribute much technically ;) Just out of curiosity, I was perusing ebay recently, looking for that special Ensoniq sound chip used in the IIGS, and there are still a number of them out there, and at reasonable prices, even. That IC - or rather a lack thereof - would probably be the biggest hurdle a project such as you describe would face, since all other special chips that may reside inside a IIGS could probably be recreated using FPGA or CPLD technology.

@scharkalvin 3 жыл бұрын

@@BertGrink I only saw one of them on EBAY, at about $50 plus shipping. There were also some PCI Ensonic audio cards (slightly different chip) for about $10, but I don't know if they would be compatible assuming one could remove the chip and engineer an interface to it for the Apple II bus.

@TheJeremyHolloway 3 жыл бұрын

@@BertGrink Didn't Nintendo use that same Ensoniq sound chip in the SNES?

@BertGrink 3 жыл бұрын

@@TheJeremyHolloway I wouldn't know; I've never had the slightest interest in games consoles.

@coyote_den 3 жыл бұрын

The RGB output is just taking the 4-bit pattern that would normally be shifted out at 14MHz, and mapping bits 3210 to IGBR. That is never going to match NTSC artifact color, but at least you can use all the RGBI colors in low res or double hi res.

@winstonsmith478 3 жыл бұрын

What reason would there be on an EX for those extra options if they weren't retained between boots since the speed setting at least can be easily set with a hotkey combination? It doesn't make sense to also put that capability in a menu that takes more keystrokes to do the same thing. I suspect the same battery backed up circuitry that retains the day/date/time setting also retains the menu settings.

@Yeet. 2 жыл бұрын

I recently got a laser 128 and mine doesn't have the switch to switch between the keyboard layout also mine has rom 4.5. My ram board was also populated half way.

@gklinger 3 жыл бұрын

You could change the bit in the code to default to slow mode and burn the EPROM again. Better yet would be to engineer a clock chip add-on.

@ChrisDreher 3 жыл бұрын

I had a similar thought: how hard would it be to add a real-time clock to this computer?

@TheJeremyHolloway 3 жыл бұрын

What's that provision for a chip/socket on the motherboard for? MIDI controller? Or something else? And now I'm wondering if there are modern 2MB/4MB/8MB RAM expansion cards for the Laser128 like there are for the normal Apple II line. That and a homebrew expansion chassis for multiple expansion card support...

@MK-of7qw 2 жыл бұрын

VTech made a nice little machine here. Would it be possible to actually somehow shoehorn real time clock chip on there to keep it's clock and settings for that newer rom?

@ITGuyinaction 3 жыл бұрын

🤘😁🤘

@Zarcondeegrissom 6 ай бұрын

30 min in and all of a sudden, that don't look like the one I had with the same looking external vent patron. the one I had got the +5v -5v +12v and -12v from the power brick directly, it didn't have an internal V-reg like that. I know cuz I ended up replacing the brick with an XT PSU wired up to the din-type plug for the thing. also, I oddly remember the 8088 being near the memory expansion, yet after 30+ years I can't recall exactly where it was in the thing (oh, 4MHz 65C02 CPU, that ain't the same at all, I'm really sure the one I had came with an 8MHz 8088 that got swapped out with a 12MHz one). was fun times playing starflight on the thing, then while I was in the service there was a flood at my dads that ended all that stuff, just wasn't worth fixing any of it. the thing I miss most of all, was the Xerox 6060 case I wanted to turn into a sleeper PC, cuz I liked the style and color scheme of that case. EDIT: after some google pic digging, guess the one I had was the "Laser Compact XT" not the 128EX, so that answers the confusion there. same external look, just IBM PC vs whatever a 65c02 is. And yes, the "Laser Compact XT" maxes out at 640k not 1M of ram, I'm sitting here saying how did you mod the thing to do 1M, lol.

@ChrisDreher 3 жыл бұрын

Is the internal RAM expansion card compatible with the Apple IIc? The 3rd revision of the IIc has a RAM expansion connector under the keyboard that looks similar to the Laser 128 EX's.

@AngeloTelesforo 3 жыл бұрын

Being Brazilian I only had access to apple clones back then, as Brazilian law banned “foreign computers”. Nevertheless, our _clones_ were exactly that: shameless copies! I had a //e clone, the only upgrade they did was some optional characters replacements to allow our diacritics (â, á, ã, à and so on). As I can see the laser was a clone with many enhancements, as it had to compete with the original, which ours didn’t.

@Jpetersson 3 жыл бұрын

Any chance you could make a little video on your little Divoom Tivoo? Maybe on your second channel? What do you use it for? I´m considering buying one but I´m not sure...it´s cool but do I need it? :-D I did buy a Google Nest Hub 2 couple of weeks ago, an upgrade from my Nest Home mini and I really like it, I know you have one as well although it´s probably the v1.

@WilliamHostman 3 жыл бұрын

to enter a formula in AW SS... Formulas by grabbing cells start with a + or a - and then either a cell reference or a fixed number, and then the rest of the math, using just 6 of the 7 typical operators: +-/*^(. If calculation is automatic, it calculates immediately after entry. Function names start with @ ... and put the cell refs inside attached parenthesis. oa-z hides/shows formulae; it looked like you accidentally hit oa-z thinking it was undo.

@DanRamosDR Жыл бұрын

Is there anywhere to find the pinouts for the Laser 128 cable? The wiki for the RGBtoHDMI shows all the Apple system points for the cable and SAYS Laser 128 is supported but then never shows an entry for how to make the cable. Alternatively, can someone sell me one?

@frustro4323 3 жыл бұрын

I had a Franklin Ace 1000 as a kid and the same systems at school. I don't remember how I found the MLM but if I held Shift+7 for the & char down long enough eventually (now I know it was a buffer overflow at probably 255 entries) the system would start to beep then I would release both but immediately press 7 again until it beeped again it would crash and get me into the MLM. My teacher at Westminster Elementary Computer Math and Science School in California (1984....86?) went ballistic and had me suspended for "damaging " school property.

@adriansdigitalbasement 3 жыл бұрын

Haha. That is so wild you got in trouble for such a thing!

@chadhartsees 3 жыл бұрын

I wonder if the 3mhz mode made the beefy shield so necessary.

@Renville80 3 жыл бұрын

The ‘artifact color’ method seems to be pretty similar to how multicolor mode was achieved on the C64…

@anttimaki8188 3 жыл бұрын

"make a right cable to hook it up!", Yup, did that up to SCART, then i just gave up and bought the remade stuff.

@stevesether 3 жыл бұрын

I'm curious about the battery backed clock. Is this something that was only on the ex/2, or was this an expansion card? If it's on the ex/2, how easy would it be to mod the ex to add this feature?

@Walczyk 3 жыл бұрын

it's just unpopulated on the board

@stevesether 3 жыл бұрын

@@Walczyk Curious. I don't see any references to a RTC on the schematics. I also don't see anything unpopulated on my Laser 128 motherboard, and there's certainly no battery. Where is the RTC + battery supposed to be?

@stevesether 3 жыл бұрын

Answering my own question, only the ex/2 has a RTC in it. The manual says "The date and time option will only appear on the EX/2, which has a built in clock"

@TheJeremyHolloway 3 жыл бұрын

@@Walczyk Is that what that empty provision is for that is nearly dead center on the motherboard? It's certainly not for a Blitter chip. :)

@Walczyk 3 жыл бұрын

@@stevesether afaik there was a dallas clock chip, but im not sure to be honest. can't find any pics of the ex/2 board

@Honeypot-x9s 2 жыл бұрын

I have an applecolor monitor in my storage room in my barn.. not sure if it’s a 100 or something else also not sure if it even works or not.

@johnsonlam 3 жыл бұрын

Too bad now become harder to find, see one or two on eBay but shipping cost really scare me.

@bufordmaddogtannen 3 жыл бұрын

Unshielded cables FTW... 🙄 By the way, is that black blob on the left a battery?

@bradsmith8977 3 жыл бұрын

Hey I saw new kind of VCR with USB support built into it so you can link it up to your laptop or desktop!!!!!!!!!

@tdullemond 3 жыл бұрын

You can find ROM version 4.5 on: www.retrostic.com/roms/mame/laser-128ex-60495

@TheNews1990 3 жыл бұрын

The newer ROM had a default speed selector that the original ROM did not have. Maybe it could help you change the speed without losing your speed settings.

@evknucklehead 3 жыл бұрын

Pretty sure Adrian went over this in the video. The EX/2 ROM has functions for circuitry that is only on that model, not the EX that Adrian has. Even if you change the settings in the speed selector, without a battery-backed place to store the changed values, they get lost when the computer is turned off.