Gee-k.net

My second CPC 464 was bought with the knowledge that the keys on the datacorder were mostly bust. I wanted to find out a way of making some new ones and thought of all different kinds of ways, Including making some out of wood! That would've looked awesome I think, but I have no wood working skills what so ever. So it'd take me forever just to learn woodworking.
This was until I got my 3d printer. Then that was a simple easy option. I took one of the original, still in tact keys and measured it out. I then drew it up in CAD and printed a couple out. The way that I had the printer make them made them come out rather awful looking on one side, so I had to have it print upright in a way that took longer, but once it came out it looked m... Read More!

I've not had as much time as i'd like to play about with making this controller, but I finally managed to squeeze in getting the case made. I made the buttons a bit bigger so that it feels a bit more comfortable and a bit more natural. They're now 10mm instead of 8. I'm not sure why I went with 8mm to begin with. There must've been some reason for it.
After posting in a facebook group asking for thoughts on the original case, I had a comment that I should think about changing the colour of the buttons. Maybe one green and one blue. I agreed that the grey for everything was a bit dull and I ordered some blue fillament for the printer.
When the filament arrived I changed it over from the grey and set about printing my controller... Read More!

I bought my 3d printer recently, as can be seen in a previous post, to make my controller cases.
Over the last couple of days I have been making bits here and there to try out. Then last night I printed all the buttons (a few times), the d-pad and then the back of the case. It's looking okay, but not excellent. I think the buttons need to be larger, the d-pad needs to be a bit better thought out and slightly re-designed. The way the two halves of the case go together will also need to be changed slightly, as currently you could press a button and the case will split. BUT! this is the whole point in prototyping. Test, test and test again until you get it correct!
Anyway, I've att... Read More!

It's been a while since I last posted, yet again. I've been paying a fair bit of attention to the website code itself and not had much in the way of tinkering with the Amstrads and such.
The good news is that the website code is almost done. Although I doubt it'll ever be totally finished as I'll think of more and more things to add into it.
ANYWAY! I few weeks back I made my prototype controller and I then learned how to use some PCB designing software. Once the schematics were made I then designed up some PCB's and ordered them. I only ordered a small amount as they themselves are the next step in prototyping. There are already a couple of changes I'd like to make.
So today the PCB's arrived and I set about adding the... Read More!

Back in the 90's the family computer was an Amstrad cpc 6128 with a monochrome green screen GT65 monitor.
Since I started getting back into Amstrads I've been looking for one of these monitors again and I found a few in all sorts of different locations. Mostly in England and a few in Wales. Also find them in Germany and France, but never any really in Scotland.
That is until last week when one came up for sale in Edinburgh. I felt that the £30 asking price was a little higher than usual (I've seen them being given away or being sold for £10) but I wasn't too fussed as I knew that if I bought one from England, the couriers would probably destroy it on its way to me and the delivery charge would end up being the same overall.... Read More!