Laser 128EX: Proving this machine is better than an Apple IIc

Рет қаралды 66,385

Күн бұрын

Let's check out what this machine can actually do. I wanted to test out some of the things about the Laser that make it as good as a real Apple, and what makes it better. (And perhaps where it is worse too.)
Part 1: • Laser 128EX: An Apple ...
Part 2: This part!
Part 3: • Laser 128EX: A ROM upg...
0:00 Intro
0:47 Trying out some games and programs
2:31 Testing the color/mono switch
3:15 What does the 40/80 col switch actually do?
5:56 Apple Mouse compatibility
7:44 Testing the accelerated CPU speed
13:15 Does the Apple 5.25" drive work?
15:44 Does the Apple 3.5" drive work?
20:40 Does the FloppyEmu work? (SmartPort Hard Drives)
21:46 Testing various expansion cards
33:37 Making disks with ADT Pro with the Laser 128
36:56 Running CP/M on the Laser 128
-- Video Links
Laser 128EX Roms:
archive.org/download/laser-12...
Attack of the PETSCII Robots (Apple II version)
www.the8bitguy.com/product/pet...
Apple II/Macintosh 3.5 drive compatibility: (incomplete when it comes to Laser 128)
wiki.apple2.org/index.php?titl...
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: 318

@Jody_VE5SAR 3 жыл бұрын

Every time RIck Astley dancing came up on the little screen, I was totally mesmerized and can't recall what you were talking about... lol

@BertGrink 3 жыл бұрын

Adrian, your videos are never too long.

@fnjesusfreak 3 жыл бұрын

@SiD3WiNDR 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, googled the error, it was mentioned on groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.apple2/c/KKUuO_vMs7U : "I still get "CAN'T FIND Z80 SOFTCARD" (or, in the hack, "CAN'T FIND STUPID CARD.""

@PixelPipes 3 жыл бұрын

lmao "CAN'T FIND STUPID CARD" That made my day

@Rudofaux 3 жыл бұрын

Finally some common language.

@BilisNegra 3 жыл бұрын

@@Rudofaux Yeah, could have gone on: "have you even plugged the goddamn thing"? But back then you didn't want to waste resources with lots of text, right?

@Rudofaux 3 жыл бұрын

@@BilisNegra sounds about right.

@tarstarkusz 3 жыл бұрын

Guru meditation is funnier. And, really, "Cant find stupid card" is way better than "Error number 32856"

@Darxide23 3 жыл бұрын

Best error message I've ever seen since "printer is on fire"

@benjammin1001 Жыл бұрын

I used to work for this company back in the mid-80's -- specifically on these machines. Wow -- talk about a flashback to younger days.

@oldmand3383 3 жыл бұрын

I had The Lazer 128 simular to the one featured on this video but it wasn't the EX, thank you for doing a vid on this computer it was totally underrated and it brought back some good ole memories from my youth

@scottlarson1548 3 жыл бұрын

If I remember the Apple joystick right (or at least the paddles), it uses a software loop to determine how long it takes a bit to flip. This was how Woz was able to avoid using an expensive A/D converter. He used software to count how long it took an R/C circuit to discharge and flip a bit. So a higher speed CPU would screw this all up.

@SpearM3064 3 жыл бұрын

Not quite... the only thing you got wrong is you read a memory location to _discharge_ the capacitor and count how long it takes to _charge_ (not the other way around). You're also right in that the faster CPU speed would screw up most paddle games unless you modified the game, or unless VTech had the foresight to modify the built-in PREAD function to take CPU speed into account.

@scottlarson1548 3 жыл бұрын

@@SpearM3064 Well... I like my solution better! 😃

@0LoneTech 2 жыл бұрын

The PC game port used the same technique.

@greenaum Жыл бұрын

@@0LoneTech And the Atari 2600 reading it's paddles.

@colinkraus7139 11 ай бұрын

Your description and links to videos are on point... wow!😊

@joey7200 3 жыл бұрын

I remember back in elementary school in the mid 80's. The classroom I was in had 3 Apple IIGS's. The teacher got a copy of Jeopardy! for the Apple II. When it was running it was discovered that it was running too fast. We couldn't type the answere fast enough before the timer ran out. So two of those IIGS's the speed was slowed down to make that game playable. Great videos keep up the good work.

@coyote_den 3 жыл бұрын

The expansion port on the Laser 128 is *mostly* Apple II compatible, but is really meant to be used with the expansion box. They put the slot 5 enable on an unused pin, and the expansion box routes it to the right place for 5. Without the box, only slot 7 will be properly enabled, as you discovered.

@colinstu 3 жыл бұрын

31:38 "CAN'T FIND STUPID CARD." lol, I was not prepared.

@johnsonlam 3 жыл бұрын

Apple II have so many new cards that making testing combination of cards crazy! And it's where the fun is.

@gusantunez6224 3 жыл бұрын

Can’t wait for part 3!

@ast3663 2 ай бұрын

so much fun and much to learn with Adrian..👌🤟

@JoeCdaYT 3 жыл бұрын

I love the fact that you keep some of the retro tech going there Adrian. Never saw the Laser series computers but most of the others you have on your channel. I did a quick search on ROMs for the laser and found one that is a latter version that someone copied off of a 128ex/2. I did download it unless you have already found it. Good luck on getting it to do more things.

@gecryan2996 3 жыл бұрын

Please do a 24hr live stream event! All digital basement All day… would be epic

@halluc1nate 3 жыл бұрын

Probably someone said it already but, gotta love that Retrotink. Great to see you leveraging it here!

@ericomont 3 жыл бұрын

Ahhhh lovely artifact colors!

@clintvieira 3 жыл бұрын

I'm envious. I always wanted a CPM card but never had one. :) You're making me want to dig my Laser 128EX out of storage. I still run some of my old Apple 2 games in emulation, but hearing those disk drive noises is making me feel nostalgic.

@jandjrandr 7 ай бұрын

The Apple I/II and Laser clones were a series of computers I missed in my childhood to the point I didn't even know they existed until I watched your channel. Lots of great history here how they tried to clone the Apple II line and did a decent job of it too I might add. I did know about Apple, but only starting with the Apple Mac Classic and up.

@kaitlyn__L 3 жыл бұрын

Whoa, nice screen capturing! In some ways I like the aesthetic of seeing your screen and your fingers together, but it’s certainly much easier to show the things like the colour fringing and stuff, and the graphics are really crisp.

@nickwallette6201 3 жыл бұрын

I keep a jar of plastic slurry for things like this (broken lid.) Just a glass jar with a screw-on top. Fill it with some acetone, drop in some generic beige plastic parts (broken CD tray, keycaps, etc.) After a couple days, it’ll be soup. It will off-gas the acetone and at some point turn solid. No worries. Reconstitute and carry on. I have been trying to fix the front of a 3.5” floppy drive that needed some TLC. Trying to put the flap back in the two retaining slots requires bending the flap, which has resulted in it snapping three times now. Apply plastic weld with Q-tip, smoosh parts back together, hold for a minute, set it aside for a day. Use an Xacto knife to trim off the splooge, sand with progressive grits, looks almost good as new! (Minus texture.)

@LonSeidman 3 жыл бұрын

I always knew the Lasers were out there back in the day but I had no idea they were so affordable vs. the actual Apple II.. That plus all of the added hardware functionality made this a killer deal. My Dad also got me a //c in 1985 and spent at least double that!

@John-uc6gb Жыл бұрын

Cool video. I have two. They work great. Thank you

@michaelmichalski4588 9 ай бұрын

Fyi: a good way to repair plastic like that is to pin it in place. First glue it with something like epoxy or crazy glue. Then get some thin graphite fiber rod from the hobby shop. Drill one or more small holes though the part across the break such that the graphite rod fits snugly then glue it in place. (Generally you need a drill press, doing it by hand usually ends up with a mess) Graphite rod is crazy strong and and makes a great reinforcement. A similar repair can be dobe on the little doors that use little nibs of plastic as higes when the little nibs break or wear off. Drill a hole though,cpress a piece of appropriately sized graphite rod in place and your good to go.

@deansundquist9601 3 жыл бұрын

@4:52 “So if you’re working on a laser 128…” 😂 hrm, have a feeling this won’t be the case for many of us. Thx for sharing as always!

@jamesdavis5096 2 жыл бұрын

I had this machine when I was a kid and it was so much fun to read the Apple magazines and to type in the programs that were in there some were really boring and irrelevant and somewhere really awesome. And one of the Apple magazines there was a voice synthesizer and I typed that program in and it actually ran really good

@DarthEd77 3 жыл бұрын

Dazzle Draw! I’d forgotten all about that program!

@thepirategamerboy12 3 жыл бұрын

I also have that Applied Engineering Z-80 Plus card. There is a version of CP/M made specifically for the card called CP/AM that you should be able to find online.

@TheJeremyHolloway 3 жыл бұрын

I might be mistaken but I believe the founder of Applied Engineering is discussing the old days in one of the main Apple II groups on Facebook. If not, it's the founder of another 3rd Party company that made Z-80 cards for the Apple II that was founded by a former Apple employee with Woz's financial assistance.

@retroattic4647 2 жыл бұрын

I can say that when we got our IIGS in 1986 we couldn't get a 3.5" drive... They weren't available yet. Instead we got a Unidisk 3.5" which wouldn't play some games and was a little slower. I mowed lawns all summer just to buy a $385 3.5" drive to play Bard Tale.

@warpedmetalhead 3 жыл бұрын

You have the absolute best intro. I always find myself doing a little dance with the music. Keep up the good work!

@parrottm76262 3 жыл бұрын

Wow, I'm fascinated by the Laser 128EX. So far, it looks like a perfect piece of hardware for early Apple II fans.

@jamesdavis5096 2 жыл бұрын

This is the computer I had when I was a kid and we spent hours reading magazines and typing in programs. All the Apple magazines of the day had basic programs in there

@evknucklehead 3 жыл бұрын

I've seen a CP/M card in a IIc. It had to connect so that it piggybacked off the IIc's CPU socket, and sat right behind the keyboard's PCB. This particular IIc was also configured with the Dvorak keyboard layout. We also had a few of the Laser 128's in our middle school. Not sure if they were the EX version, though. They did have the expansion unit which gave a cage for the slot 5 and 7 cards. The school had a mix of Platinum IIe's and Laser 128's all networked together so they could share one hard drive, which was connected to a IIgs that was configured as the server. Talking about the UniDisk 3.5 reminds me that they did make a Superdrive card for the IIe and IIgs that let you use a high density drive on them. Haven't seen one in person, but did see them in an Apple catalog sometime around the end of the IIe's life span.

@marccaselle8108 Жыл бұрын

I love the floppy disk noises.

@CommodoreFan64 3 жыл бұрын

This is indeed a very interesting machine, and I'm not sure I would have rather had this over my Apple IIe back in the day.

@samuelcolvin4994 9 ай бұрын

I guess a programmer knew anyone who saw the message "CAN'T FIND STUPID CARD" was already having a bad day and needed some cheering up.

@CallousCoder 3 жыл бұрын

Great videos and what a lovely machine! Perhaps the only good Laser computer.

@haraldhimmel5687 3 жыл бұрын

Such a fascinating machine and amazing degree of compatibility. The 40/80 column implementation seems to be a direct result of the clean room reverse engineering. Neat stuff. The "turbo" modes are pretty mindblowing as well, going up to 300% performance no less.

@evknucklehead 3 жыл бұрын

360%, if you want to get picky. :)

@ultrametric9317 3 жыл бұрын

That was really fun!!

@LunarJim69 3 жыл бұрын

Thats a really neat looking computer!

@afkbehr 3 жыл бұрын

i’d love to see what motherboard and chips are inside this //c clone. great video!

@mapesdhs597 2 жыл бұрын

28:00 - That's the most OG Zaphod Beeblebrox thing you've ever said. :D

@RobinDale50 3 жыл бұрын

The story behind the 5 1/4" drive being driven almost entirely through software that Woz wrote is essentially correct, but there is a lot of interesting stuff to the story. It's worth looking up the whole story, but briefly, the reason it's mostly driven through software is because when Apple went to Shugart back in the day for disk drives, their drives had a controller chip and was a total package, but was very expensive. Something like 2-3x the cost of a bare drive. Apple balked, so Shugart gave them some bare drives to test, thinking Apple would get frustrated without the controller chips and come back to Shugart and pay the price for the full package. That gambit failed, as Apple had Woz, who simply (for him) read through the schematics and wrote routines to drive the drive through software, and I'm talking from the bare metal. He had to create an encoding scheme of the bits, and as there was no track 0 sensor due to not having those controller chips, he simply sent 40 "minus 1 track" commands upon start up, which is why it does that "Grrrrr-dt-dt-dt-dt-dt" upon power up. Shugart was shocked when Apple came back and put in a large order for the bare drives. Never doubt The Woz. Wiki has an account of some of this at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_II but it's worth looking up Woz's recollections too.

@CommodoreGreg 3 жыл бұрын

The "booti" card is da bomb. I recently got one, you will LOVE it! I stopped using my FloppyEMU. It is the affordable solution most of us are looking for. It takes standard USB flash drives with standard windows FAT32 filesystem and allows you to attach any prodos ordered (.po) disk image to the Apple II. Just make/edit .po disk images on a PC using CiderPress, chuck them on the USB, and attach via the booti's configuration menu. You can even attach multiple images at the same time! 32MB .po for booting GS/OS 6.0.2? No problem! $60? No brainer!

@thedungeondelver 3 жыл бұрын

The 3.whatever mhz. clock speed of the later Apple II machines (and clone!) always made me a little envious as a C64 user. Yes we had a greater software library but subLogic's flight simulators, etc., all seemed to run so smooth compared to my 64!

@TheJeremyHolloway 3 жыл бұрын

Check out the videos on KZfaq of Flight Simulator II and Karateka running on an Atari 8-bit computer with a 65816 upgrade to see how fast those games can play...

@lemonherb1 3 жыл бұрын

I believe you are right about Total Replay slowing the system down for games, as it normally does this on IIGS computers.

@michelleshaw337 Жыл бұрын

The only carp with these machines was always the quality of the keyboard build. They were notorious for having larger keys (space, shift, return esp.) breaking off in ways that weren't easily fixed. The //c keyboard was much more robust.

@GarthBeagle 3 жыл бұрын

Yes IIRC Total Replay will run at full system speed in it's menu but will lower the speed down in games so they work correctly. This was done to support an Apple IIgs that's set to it's fast system speed so you don't have to keep going into Control Panel to switch it back and forth.

@adriansdigitalbasement 3 жыл бұрын

Ah nice. I wonder if the Laser and IIgs use the same memory location to slow down the system?

@stevesether 3 жыл бұрын

@@adriansdigitalbasement The technical reference manual mentions that address $C074 is used to control the speed. It uses bit 7 and 6. 00 and 01 are 1mhz, 10 is 2.3, and 11 is 3.6 mhz. I'd also make a guess that the crash issues you experienced are related to some sort of timing issue between the CPU and the rest of the system. The CPU actually slows down when it accesses various parts of the system to maintain compatibility. I found the technical reference manual here:www.apple.asimov.net/documentation/hardware/machines/Laser%20128%20Series%20Technical%20Reference%20Manual.pdf

@falkon215 3 жыл бұрын

Still have my Laser 128ex,also have the expansion slot box unit,with 3.5 disk and adaptor card

@opp31337 3 жыл бұрын

i miss my laser 128, had one as a kid, wish i could find one close to me.

@rager1969 3 жыл бұрын

Awesome video, especially that you're willing to risk sacrificing working hardware to test compatibility.

@YarisTex 3 жыл бұрын

It could be due to the way some games were coded an exception is generated, like for instance a divide by zero error. Could also happen due to hardware, memory not keeping up, but then dazzledraw should lock up too.

@alextrusty2585 3 жыл бұрын

Cool machine.

@stanburton6224 3 жыл бұрын

If the CPU is a WD65C02. The reason some programs may lock up or reboot may be because some programs may be using the undocumented op-codes in the MOS 6502 that are unsupported on the WD65C02..

@Mr_Meowingtons 3 жыл бұрын

lol well that's BS!

@brentboswell1294 3 жыл бұрын

The Apple //c and Enhanced //e both used a 65C02

@brentboswell1294 3 жыл бұрын

As I recall, the 65C02 had 10 extra instructions over the 6502...maybe WD/Rockwell (the two companies that made the 65C02) just documented some hidden instructions? The //c and the Enhanced //e also reintroduced the mini assembler that was in the original Apple ][ ROM's, and didn't make the cut in the ][+/ original //e ROM's. You can tell an Enhanced //e in two ways: the boot screen shows "Apple //e" (instead of "Apple ][") on the boot screen, and if you enter the system monitor, and type "!" at the * prompt, you get the ! prompt (and are in the mini assembler). You can enter assembly language directly in that prompt, but it's a little lame in that it doesn't take mnemonics (unlike a nice software assembler!)

@Meower68 27 күн бұрын

Gotta wonder how well the AppleWorks spreadsheet works at 3+ MHz. I recall building some sheets which took a while to run on a stock Apple //e (decades ago, of course). The higher speed would've been really nice. WRT copying floppies, might wanna try running the Laser at a higher clock rate. The Apple //e had difficulty running terminal programs. It worked just fine when everything fit on the screen but, when the screen had to scroll, it was not uncommon to lose the first couple characters because scrolling the screen ate several milliseconds and the Apple Serial Card had 1 byte of buffering, meaning multiple characters were sent before the terminal program could check the port. I discovered this while trying to use an Apple //e as a terminal connected to an Osborne O1 (52 column screen, physically painful keyboard). I could run at 300 baud (but who wants to do that) without issue but 1200 baud lost characters when the screen scrolled. I have no experience with a //c so I can't speak to how well those worked. The fact that you could copy floppies at 115,200 on the //c means they likely had more hardware buffering on the serial ports.

@pelgervampireduck 3 жыл бұрын

the other computer was jealous and the cover fell out of spite and anger because you were paying too much attention to the laser hahaha, it was like "that's not even a real apple!!" hahahaha.

@wofwof007 3 жыл бұрын

I was thinking the same thing. It felt bad when he started playing with the 128. But when he opened up the real Apple II and took a card out of it to put in the 128? "That sir, is taking it too far!" LOL

@christianharper1061 3 жыл бұрын

There was an Applied Engineering Z-80 1 Megabyte card I had for the Apple IIc that was mounted internally. Lots of bank switched memory and when using assembly language.

@leadbutthead 3 жыл бұрын

the laser line essentially have a UDC built in. Any drive that works with UDC will work on the laser.

@darkwinter6028 3 жыл бұрын

If the lid from the ][e is ABS plastic, you can weld that back together with a drop of acetone.

@18000rpm 3 жыл бұрын

High speed mode will be awesome for Shadowkeep!

@jbevren 3 жыл бұрын

On the slot 5 vs slot7 issue, the expansion connector is prewired as you say to be physically slot 7. Two connections not normally used for slot 7 on an apple2 contain the select pins for slot5 and are routed to the secondary slot in the expansion box. I used my original laser 128 as a high school student in the 1990s with an AE Phasor in the side slot, and it always appeared as 7. Also, the cp/m card may give you a hard time on this machine due to DMA timing needs since the card relies on the apple/laser computer's ram to operate, especially if you're not running at 1mhz. I never tried it with a softcard style cp/m card. However, an applicard style cp/m card should work at any speed, as I use mine with a IIgs at full speed and my IIe with a transwarp at 3.6mhz. :) Last, try finding an AE cp/m disk, as it might take advantage of some hidden things on the AE card.

@dominikbehr2863 4 ай бұрын

We had Laser128 with CP/M and Turbo Pascal in my high school computer lab.

@dancrews4874 3 жыл бұрын

Adrian- to fix that, try Jet Glue. I've used it on C-64's and it works great. My daughter is a dancer, and she uses it on her shoes. I broke a tab off my breadbin and decided to try it, and it works!!

@adriansdigitalbasement 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the tip

@dionelr 3 жыл бұрын

I had this machine when I was young, but I don't remember having any software issues with the faster speeds. I do remember having trouble running a few games we bought. We had this disk called "Vegas games" but one of the games (I believe it was the 2nd game on the menu) would crash no matter what we did.

@misteragony 3 жыл бұрын

That speed issue reminds of the days with my first PC, a 80286 machine. It had a turbo switch, to switch between I believe 4.77 MHz and 16MHz. The 4.77MHz mode was for speed compatibility with older Intel systems. I remember the game digdug was unplayable in 16Mhz mode because it ran too fast. Putting the machine in 4.77MHz mode made the game run just fine.

@adriansdigitalbasement 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah those initial games didn't even think that we would have faster PCs one day :-)

@TheJeremyHolloway 3 жыл бұрын

I'd be surprised if those early games haven't been patched by enthusiasts in recent years...

@SmellsLikeEMinor 3 жыл бұрын

Dang, Adrian. I want one soooooo badly.

@johanlaurasia 3 жыл бұрын

Alot of games, to prevent tearing, frame lock using a vertical sync function (not sure that 6502 has it, but the 6809 does), and in those cases, regardless of speed of the processor, the game will always run at the same speed (although faster speeds will make it run a bit smoother).

@adriansdigitalbasement 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah the Apple natively doesn't have any kind of vertical interrupt available for that. I think the mouse hardware does but it's definitely not stock on any Apple II. :-(

@Starchface 3 жыл бұрын

The 6809 was such a superior processor to the 6502! I enjoyed programming assembly language on my Color Computer 3 a lot, not that I really did anything useful.

@sprybug 3 жыл бұрын

@@Starchface The CoCo 3 was my first home computer. Loved that thing. I did so much with it.

@TheJeremyHolloway 3 жыл бұрын

@@Starchface It definitely was but Motorola wouldn't license it as loosely as the MOS 6502 had been so it never reached the same level of success. Look at the Atari Lynx released in 1989. It has a 6502 because Motorola wouldn't grant a similar license to Epyx/Atari Corp offering customization of the 6809 - and the 68000 too for that matter - as was available for the 6502 from the start.

@TheJasonbking 3 жыл бұрын

I had a separate metal assembly that plugged into the expansion port that'd fit two Apple IIe form factor cards, so the port might have some stuff to support that. Sadly, all that was thrown away years ago...

@DDT2005 3 жыл бұрын

40:46 Part three? I am going to pause on this series until all parts are released.

@frogz 3 жыл бұрын

thank you for that cpm error! made my day! cant find the stupid card! ...the feeling when when your pc cant use a smartcard OR a stupid card...

@bloeckmoep 3 жыл бұрын

@23:06 IF it really is ABS, use Nitro, put one drop of Nitro on the crack of either piece, wait 15 to 20 seconds. It will soften up the surface and let you glue it together without introducing foreign chemical substances. Works perfectly on lego and derivates.

@jonathangraham5179 3 жыл бұрын

Actually the Laser 128 EX has a COMPLETELY different but compatible disk controller in slot 7. It's known as a UDC (Universal Disc Controller). VTech sold it as an add in card for the //e.

@scharkalvin 3 жыл бұрын

Even if the Laser didn't have the IWM chip for the disk drive, it still might work with the 6502 running at warp speed! Try cpm after adding the additional ram. The B version must have been sysgened for more memory.

@marco_foco 3 жыл бұрын

The joystick doesn't work with the faster clocks because the "A/D" conversion is done by using an oscillator (I believe it's a 556) where the variable resistance changes the timing: the internal routines measure the time in cycles, and for this reason the measures for the joystick will be completely off.

@knghtbrd 2 жыл бұрын

The IIc has a timer-the mouse card. Nobody used it to detect the speed of the system though. Likewise the IIgs has timer hardware that can be used. Older machines … it might be possible using some trickery, but nobody did that either.

@ITGuyinaction 3 жыл бұрын

🤘😁🤘 Lucky you having such beautiful machine. I wanted to buy it but in Europe it's quite challening to get it. Sometimes it's available on ebay in USA but importing it would cost a fortune... :(

@williamsquires3070 3 жыл бұрын

Yes, the address is $C030. Through an address decoder and some glue logic, it triggers the “T” input of a toggle flip-flop, where one of the outputs is connected to the speaker through a current-limiting resistor. The other end of the speaker wire is grounded. A similar thing happens if you read $C010, but that toggles the tape (cassette) output instead. Or maybe it’s $C020, I forget. It stands to reason that most, if not all, games for the Apple ][ series work only at the 1 MHz speed; they would probably be unplayable at the higher speeds, especially at the higher difficulty settings. And some might not work at all due to copy protection, or just because the routines for the Disk ][ drives wouldn’t work at the higher speed. It’d be interesting to find out which programs will ir will jot work at the higher speeds.

@theannoyedmrfloyd3998 3 жыл бұрын

On my Atari 8-bit with SDriveMax, I can use it with a 1050 disk drive and copy files and disks back and forth.

@Dukefazon 3 жыл бұрын

23:00 - if the ABS plastic welding is not an option, maybe you could try CA glue+baking soda. Look it up, it gives a lot of structural strenght and you can use it on surfaces that are not visible.

@adriansdigitalbasement 3 жыл бұрын

So I was looking at bit more at the tab -- sadly that specific broken part is what clamps onto the lower section of the case, so it needs to fit perfectly over this ridge in the lower section. Meaning when I glue it, it cannot have any glue "oozing" from the crack, even on the underside. I think the ABS welding is going to be my only option.... I would normally try to reinforce it with some extra ABS but unless I do it on the OUTSIDE it won't be possible. What a pain!!

@Dukefazon 3 жыл бұрын

@@adriansdigitalbasement Ohh, I see, that's bad news. Good luck on fixing it! By the way, did you find the CA glue+baking soda trick? It might be useful in the future. Cheers!

@danstone_0001 3 жыл бұрын

Sheer awesomeness

@Gadgetman1989 3 жыл бұрын

Language Arts=Electronic Arts before selling out? Idk lol great video Adrian

@dhpbear2 3 жыл бұрын

3:09 - The width is wrong too (note that the left robot's wheels are out-of-round)

@rarbiart 3 жыл бұрын

was there a Laser with an integrated CP/M-card? i remember such an "all in one" model which was at least announced in magazines. (myself i have never seen that machine)

@seanwieland9763 2 жыл бұрын

I had an Apple //e and that same 3.5” external disk drive, and they worked together. 🤷‍♂️

@snowdog03 2 жыл бұрын

Same here.

@DankNoodles420 3 жыл бұрын

That's why you gotta put stuff back together even if it's not screwed down and put stuff away until you need it again.. What a shame that nice computer case got broke because of that .

@MattEnwright 3 жыл бұрын

Superglue and baking soda maybe? That is a nice clean break, just not sure about the plastic compatibility.

@clays32 3 жыл бұрын

CANT FIND STUPID CARD. When that popped up in his screen that was hilarious! 😂

@JessicaFEREM 3 жыл бұрын

Mind giving me the model of the red Acer laptop at 33:37? I believe I used to own one of these and I might get another one to relive my old laptop days. I used to really love it, but I think that it was thrown out because of a software fault (not by me, but by my parents) I remember using a binder clip on the hinge to make it last longer because the hinge had snapped and I wanted to keep using it.

@johnsonlam 3 жыл бұрын

In //c, the switch won't affect programs. As you mention Laser build the ROM by themselves not copy Apple's, there may be slightly different.

@Darxide23 3 жыл бұрын

23:00 I can't speak to it myself, but I've heard other people mention plastic revitalizers/rejuvinators/conditioners that help with old, brittle plastic like this to help restore some of their elasticity to that they don't just snap apart like that. The comments I've seen say that it works in a lot of cases. What exactly the product is that you use, I can't say for sure, but Google will likely point you in the right direction.

@Mclaneinc 3 жыл бұрын

Around the 9.00 mark I thought you were doing a dance party! Joke aside, when you used Dazzler Draw in the highest speed I notice it wasn't doing the flood fills correctly, it was not filling some area's. Anyway, another fun video even though I'm not a huge Apple fan..Paul..

@sittingstill3578 3 жыл бұрын

Use a colon to refer to a time stamp like this 9:00.

@Mclaneinc 3 жыл бұрын

@@sittingstill3578 Whilst I agree I should have used a colon I find your reply a bit confrontational..I don't think the mistake needed that tone..Relax...

@sittingstill3578 3 жыл бұрын

@@Mclaneinc I was just trying to help. I enjoy finding time stamps in comments so I can see what others have enjoyed. As a result I try to clarify how this works for folks for the enjoyment of everyone. Thanks for sharing the reference!

@brianlanning836 3 жыл бұрын

If I remember correctly, 19200 baud required a 16550 uart on DOS machines. Many computers at the time had a slower uart that maxed out around 9600. Initially this wasn't a big deal because 2400 baud modems were the norm. But later, I had to upgrade the serial board on my computer in order to get a faster uart and get my 14.4 external modem working. So my guess is that the laser 128 has a cheaper uart chip in it. And if you step the baud rate down even more it will start working.

@greenaum Жыл бұрын

Yeah I did the same, early Internet! The 16550's difference, was that it had a 16-byte data buffer where the 8250 (?) didn't. Software could set the 16550 so that it would only interrupt the processor, asking it to please empty the buffer so it could read more data, every 16 bytes (or any other number of bytes, it was selectable). Where the 8250 would interrupt the CPU every time it received or sent a byte, and needed attention to deal with that. So the 16550 interrupted the CPU a lot less often. Back then being interrupted, say, 14400 times a second, was actually quite a load on a PC's CPU, it could get in the way of software and make things unstable. It could also end up in missed bytes if it didn't get to empty the UART before new data came in. That would require re-transmission of a packet (if you were using TCP/IP for the Internet), which would slow down your already pathetic download speeds. I dunno how the Apple does it, but it could cause similar problems, as you say.

@DavidWonn 3 жыл бұрын

Does Control-Closed Apple-Reset and Control-Both Apples-Reset behave on the Laser like it does on the ][e or //c?

@williamorangeofjuice7804 3 жыл бұрын

Acer Aod250 netbook. nice

@Charlesb88 3 жыл бұрын

Just a minor clarification but on the IBM PC and compatibles, games written for AT and later PC and compatibles check the CPU and adjust their speed but not games written for the IBM 5150 or XT (or compatibles wit the same CPU) as they just assumed the clock speed was 4.77 MHz as that was the only CPU speed option at the time on those machines. That is why latter PC compatible machines include the misnamed Turbo button, which contrary to its name does not speed up the machine when pushed but rather slows it down to 4.77 MHz so older games assuming the speed will run at the correct speed. I’m sure the namer of the turbo button might argue that Turbo mode is on default on those machines so pushing the button deactivates the mode thus the button is not misnamed but I’d argue it’s still confusing in that case regardless.

@kaitlyn__L 3 жыл бұрын

Even more confusing, while most turbo buttons slowed it down when pushed in, a minority of them were the other way around, slow until you push it in. In which case they’re more in line with the name and thus in some ways less confusing, but since the operation is opposite on most machines as you say, that makes it more confusing overall because people don’t expect pushing it in to make it faster.

@patrickelliott2169 3 жыл бұрын

Could be a soft boot issue too. I think there where cases where certain memory addresses would get "corrupted" if you did certain things, and you literally had to either a) shut down, and restart the machine, or use a program to "set" those addresses back to the correct values for the expanded memory to work right again. Also - PC games could only adjust within certain limits. Really old games literally "couldn't" tell how to react to a processor that was far too fast for it. Basically, anything made for the original PCs, or a 286, if you ran it on something like a Pentium, *would* run into problems with speed, and there where actually utilities that used system interrupts to attempt to insert clock cycles (often badly), to "adjust" the speed such old games ran at. So, PC games *did* have the same problem, but later games where smarter.

@jimghee6021 3 жыл бұрын

I had totally forgotten about this machine I sold them back in the day.

@Renville80 3 жыл бұрын

On the Hacker game, the logon is Australia. I remember playing that on the C64…

@MrCodyswanson 3 жыл бұрын

I had a Laser 128 as my first machine, my father worked for a company that sold them. Every school in my area used them as well since they were significantly cheaper than the Apple IIe and IIc. The laser 128 is a IIe clone (rom wise) in a IIc style case. The one advantage the IIc has is it's keyboard is significantly better.

@MrCodyswanson 3 жыл бұрын

Regarding the side card slot, I had an external expansion chassis that plugged into the slot so your cards would be covered and protected. You can find them on ebay from time to time.

@TheJeremyHolloway 3 жыл бұрын

@@MrCodyswanson Did VTech actually sell the expansion chassis or was that 3rd Party hardware? I was just thinking about that. TI sold an expansion chassis for the TI-99 4A in its latter days. Atari designed the 1090 for the XL line for the very same reason but never released it.

@MrCodyswanson 3 жыл бұрын

@@TheJeremyHolloway the one I have is metal and branded vtech.