DIY

DIY Hardware Projects

Do-it-yourself (DIY) projects...

Communication - RS232 / PC Connection

• AMSSIO RS232 interface
• RS232 and RS485 interface of the CPC Booster+
• CPCI RS232 Interface
• Z80 STI RS232 interface
• Z80-SIO dual ports RS232 interface for CPC (French)

Floppy Drives

• ABBA switch (swap drive A: and B:)
• Adding 3.5" drive to CPC464
• Connecting a 3.5" drive to a CPC6128/664 (with photos)
• Connecting a Disc Interface to CPC464+
• CPC 6128+ to 2nd Disc Drive Lead
• Modify PC floppy drives to work on a CPC
• Modify a DDI-1 for use with 3.5" Drives
• Side Select Switch (force AMSDOS to use Side B)
• Drive Compatibility
• Floppy pinning and signal description, adapter cables
• How to connect a 3" CPC drive to a PC
• Side Select Switch - Alternative Method

Cassette deck

• DIY 464 External Audio Socket
• Adding Audio in mod for your 464 (YouTube Video)
• 3d Printed Cassette keys for your 464
• 3d Printed Audio in port for your 464

HID

• AMX Compatible PS/2 and USB Mouse Adapter
• Atari-ST mouse adapter
• Attaching an AT keyboard to the CPC

Joysticks

• Joystick Autofire Circuit
• Joystick Y-cables
• Joystick Splitter Circuit
• PSX controller mod for Amstrad CPC

Mass Storage

• DIY Tape/CD Socket for CPC464
• DIY Tape Socket for CPC6128+
• How To Build An Internal HxC SDCard Drive
• HxC Disc Emulator using PC as Storage Medium
• HxC Disc Emulator using SDCard
• IDE8255 for IDE hard discs
• SD Card Disc Drive Emulator
• SYMBiFACE II for IDE hard discs
• X-MASS (TotO)
• UIDE Universal IDE adapter cards for Z-80 computers
• ULIfAC (ikonsgr)

Power Supply

• Power Supply for CPC and CPC plus
• Powering a CPC 6128 from a Sinclar Spectrum +3 PSU

Printer

• 8bit Printer Ports
• Simple RS232 for Printer usage
• DB-25 Printer Port Adapter
• DMP 2000 - re-inking the ribbon

Real Time Clocks

• ACU Realtime Clock (without year counter)
• CPCI Real Time Clock (note: incomplete instructions / schematics due to low-resolution scans)

ROM / RAM Expansions

• AcidInside - Internal ACID Socket (Bryce)
• ACU Romboard (ACU)
• CPC4MB - 4 MB memory expansion (Yarek)
• DIY Plus Cartridge (Bryce)
• Dual OS for CPC6128 using a 32K EPROM (Bryce)
• FlashGordon (MegaFlash clone with different Flash chip)
• Inicron RAM-Box (Inicron)
• Inicron ROM-RAM-Box (Inicron)
• LowerROM Board (Bryce)
• Man In The Middle Cartridge (Bryce)
• MegaROM (Bryce)
• MegaFlash (Bryce)
• Multi-Cartridge (Bryce)
• Multi-Cartridge - up to 1MB / 8 ROMs (eto)
• Old School 512K RAM Expansion (Revaldinho) - 512K RAM expansion built with an SRAM and 74 Series standard logic
• Practical Electronics ROMBoard Project (Simon Dean)
• Ramcard 128 (RAM7)
• Upgrading a Dk'tronics RAM Expansion (Bryce)
• X-MEM (TotO)
• X-ROM (Timatic Systems)
• Y-MEM (TotO)
• 128k on GX-4000 (User:Rewk)
• CPC 6320 - internal 320K for CPC 6128 - 320 or 512K internal RAM, requires soldering - (eto)
• ULIfAC (512kB Ram/32XROM Board/256K Ram+16X Rom board (ikonsgr)
• CPC iRAM - internal DIY Plug'n Play RAM expansion (eto)

Sound

• Digiblaster Sound Card (8 bit DAC on printer port)
• FuturePlayer - MP3 Player (connected to printer port)
• LambdaSpeak FS and III (Expansion for Speech, PCM-Samples, MP3-Player, RTC, serial interface and more)
• PlayCity (TotO)
• SP0256 Speech Synthesizer for Printer Port

TV / Monitors

• Converting an MP1 into an MP2

• PCAI Video Modulator
• RGB to S-Video Converter
• TV SCART cables
• CPC2VGA - Connecting the CPC to a compatible VGA monitor
• modern LCD monitor and LCD TV Solution (RGB)
• Getting a CPC to work with an old LCD or plasma TV

Others

• 6 MHz CPC
• Ambug Robot
• Expanding from CPC 464 to CPC 6128 Spec
• Converting a 464+ into a 6128+
• PCAI Analogue to Digital Converter
• Schneiderware (a series of DIY projects that were released in CPC Schneider International magazine)
• Reset Button
• UK/DE Expansion Converter
• Khany's BankSwapper

Hardware Repair

• Fixing the power switch - if your CPC does not power on and the LED is dark
• Changing the drive belt
• Help, I changed the drive-belt and now my disk drive is suddenly read-only?
• Changing cassette deck belts
• How to remove/replace an IC
• Keyboard Membrane Repair/Replacement Guide
• A Guide To Repairing Digital Joysticks
• Finding and Replacing the Floppy Write Pin
• Repair and service a disk drive in an Amstrad CPC 6128 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKZCbHqEX_k

How to's / Tutorials

• A Guide to running software on a real CPC!
• Transfering Alkatraz protected tapes and most games!
• Willem Programmer - how to program eproms using the Willem eprom programmer.