MaxDUINO Digital Cassette replacement

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Commodore
Posts: 125
Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2014 1:37 am
Location: UK

MaxDUINO Digital Cassette replacement

Post by Commodore »

Has anybody had any luck using a MaxDuino based digital cassette replacement? I have one which can cater for Dragon 32, BBC, Sinclair (if you can find one that works!), and Amstrad. My only interest in that lot is Dragon 32 and Sinclair. For BBC I have an MMC solution.

Anyway, I have a ton of games on my SD card, it's all hooked up correctly, CLOADM, S, and NOTHING. If I switch the scaly green beast off, I can then hear the sound of data transferring like when a Specrtum loads, so why does the Dragon not hear it?

I then thought perhaps a problem with the Dragon itself, so, I got my laptop, opened up the archive, found Chuckie Egg in the Dragon Archive, connected up, and was playing Chuckie Egg a few minutes later!
sorchard
Posts: 530
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2014 9:43 pm
Location: Norwich UK

Re: MaxDUINO Digital Cassette replacement

Post by sorchard »

Never tried one myself so can't offer any insight.

Is it possible to try the known working Chuckie Egg file from the archive in the MaxDuino? Does the file need to be converted to a special format? Does the MaxDuino work with any other machine?
Stew
Commodore
Posts: 125
Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2014 1:37 am
Location: UK

Re: MaxDUINO Digital Cassette replacement

Post by Commodore »

Hi Sorchard, thank you for your reply. Your last point in particular was quite apt as that is the one that I tried.
I had a load of .TZX files for the Spectrum and tried that. I deliberately chose some difficult programs Alien 8, Pentagram, and WEC Le Mans, they all loaded fine. I was able to play the first two, WEC le Mans did crash when I selected at the menu screen, but it is a 128K program, so that's probably why. I have no doubt that this works really well with the old ZX, so that is value for money right there.

The MaxDUINO requires .CAS files for the Dragon 32. I tried copying one from the archive, but that didn't seem to work very well.

I'd like to get this working if possible, I may have to contact the seller again about this, but I doubt his area of expertise is Dragon 32, they are a bit niche.

I may have to consider an MMC solution for this machine, but does that involve a load of weird Dragony Disk commands to be learnt?
Also, if I did, is there a handy collection of the whole back catalogue ready to be put on an SD card, like we have for the BBC?
Commodore
Posts: 125
Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2014 1:37 am
Location: UK

Re: MaxDUINO Digital Cassette replacement

Post by Commodore »

Mystery solved! After a bit of toing and froing between me and the vendor, we finally sorted this out.

It turns out the Dragon wasn't getting the correct volume. I had to open the case up and find a volume pot inside first. This was already set to maximum, it turned out, and tweaking that did not help at all.

The next thing to try was an Amplifier switch, which was located right at the bottom of the board in the right hand corner, when looking at it with the main switches facing upwards. It's clearly labeleld on the board anyway. The switch looked like it was ON, when I opened it up, I switched it to OFF/Bypass, and tried loading a game again. BINGO! I was up and running! I loaded several games.

This is a great, inexpensive item, it cost me £21 and an old SD card that I had lying around. Powered by a micro USB cable plugged into my old Amazon Fire charger. I love the fact that I can use it on the Dragon and the Spectrum, but also on my BBC Micro, if I so wished, and on Amstrad and MSX, if I had them. The seller wa svery friendly and helpful too.

If you want the convenience of SD storage, but not the outlay of a disk type MMC system, then this could be a good option for you.
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