Gee-k.net

Connecting a 3.5" floppy drive to an Amstrad 464 without modifying the drive or DDI-1


Created on: 16-12-2020  By Gee
Quite some time ago I bought a DDI-1 interface to use with my amstrad 464's. Just the interface with the ribbon cable, no FD-1 floppy drive. Why did I buy that by itself? well I wanted to clone it and/or make it work with a regular 3.5" PC floppy drive. So far, I have it partially working! But it took until I eventually bought an FD-1 to make sure the DDI-1 interface was in fact working.

The birds nest of wires
So you should be able to see from the pictures above that this device has been made entirely on a prototype board. The wires look like they're going everywhere and connected to everything. Hopefully they aren't!
I started making this board by noting down the pinout on the regular PC floppy drive ... Read More!


First delves into Assembly


Created on: 04-07-2020  By Gee
A good while ago I wrote my first BASIC program for the Amstrad CPC series. It's the first I wrote since I was a child copying from the CPC 6128 manual anyway. Back then I was too young to even know I was coding never mind know that the language was BASIC. After writing that and trying to condense the code down a bit, which I managed partially (It could still be better), I decided that I would try remake it in assembly language.
Why assembly? no real reason other than to learn another coding language. Also, if I can learn assembly then I should then be able to make more complex programs and possibly even games in the future. I thin... Read More!


Buy Amstrad CPC Controllers


Created on: 05-03-2020  By Gee
Just a quick post here as, in Jan Beta's latest video, he has advertised the controllers (£25+p&p) that I designed and made for the Amstrad CPC.
If you're looking for one of these, Send me a message via twitter or use the contact page and i'll get back to you.
These controllers take a while to make so I'll let you know if there's a delay to making them or not.... Read More!


Amstrad GX4000


Created on: 29-11-2019  By Gee
Ever heard of the Amstrad GX4000? you probably have by now if you're on this website, but back in the 90's you, like me, probably had no idea it even existed.
I found out about it in the last couple of years and never really thought much about it. There are only a few games released for it and most are pretty poor. The console itself is actually a 464plus with bits removed basically (tape deck and keyboard). In fact i think you might be able to add these back onto the board and make the gx4000 into a 464plus computer. That could be interesting! anyway, as per usual, I digress.
As I am am an avid amstrad enthusiast, I have some alerts se... Read More!


Making BASIC more complicated


Created on: 18-10-2019  By Gee
My previous post was about me learning how to make a program in BASIC, and it worked!
There was a little bit of complicated math (for my brain), but it wasn't exactly an awe inspiring program. So I decided I would make it a bit better. Make it so that you can use it over and over just by using the arrow keys to select your day, month, year and it would automatically update the day of the week on the fly.
So that's exactly what I've done. So technically I've actually made my 1st ever real Amstrad program. wooo!
Anyway, back to the point.
I started by making my layout, placing the "Day Month Year" labels where I wanted them and then then placing the arrows above and below them. Then I put some placeholder date text... Read More!


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