RF Generation Message Board

It was scrolling horizontally, I got it to stop by adjusting the horizontal hold.  It is still displaying garbage on the screen when you start it up.  The inside of the cabinet is pretty clean, I was glad to see that.  There were a few small pieces of glass which I expect are from the former top.  I have found lots of resources on the net with info on repairing these machines and even sources for remanufactured parts (I can get the top and the lithos that go under it for about $150 + shipping).  My first order of business will be to get the thing working, so I guess I'll have to dig out my soldering gun and oscilloscope.  Once it's working I can get to making it pretty.  Should be a fun project!

Cool I think I've got the same switch, there's a slide switch and a push button.  I read one put's the machine into a sound test mode where each move of the joystick or button has a sound associated with it, is that part of the test your talking about?  I did notice with the slide switch in one position there is no pop (or snap, crackle for that matter) from the speaker on power up.  Any clue what that switch does?  The screen I'm getting is random, each time a power it up I get a different bunch of garbage and pressing the button does not clear it.  I did find there are a few broken pins on one of the daughter cards but I'm not sure that is causing this problem.

By the early 1980s it was used in a host of home computer designs including the MSX, Radio-Shack TRS-80, Sinclair ZX80* & ZX81* and ZX Spectrum. It was also featured in the Osborne 1, the Kaypro, and a great number of fairly anonymous business-oriented CP/M machines that dominated the market of the time in the way that Windows based machines do today. In the mid-1980s the Z80 was used in Tatung's Einstein and the Amstrad CPC and PCW home/office computer ranges as well as forming the CPU basis for the MSX computer standard. The Z80 was also used in the Norwegian Tiki 100 computers, which were the computers of choice for Norwegian schools during the late 1980s.

Such was the popularity of the Z80 and CP/M that the Commodore 128 featured a Z80 processor alongside its MOS Technology 8502 processor for compatibility. Other 6502 based computers already on the market such as the BBC Micro, Apple II and the 6510 based Commodore 64 can make use of the Z80 with an external unit or a plug-in card or cartridge.

The Multitech Microprofessor I, introduced in 1981, is a simple and inexpensive training system for the Z80 microprocessor. As of early 2005, it is still on market.

Notable later uses of the processor include several Texas Instruments (TI) graphing calculators (like the TI-85, TI-84 and TI-83), and Sega's Master System and Game Gear video game consoles. Both the SNK Neo-Geo and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis consoles use it as an audio coprocessor. Nintendo's Game Boy and Game Boy Color handheld game systems used a Z80 clone manufactured by Sharp Corporation, which had a slightly different instruction set. The Sharp Z80 in the Game Boy Color is notable for its ability to selectively double its clock speed when running Game Boy Color software. The Zilog Z80 has also become a popular embedded microprocessor and microcontroller core, where it remains in widespread use today. Many classic coin-op arcade games used the Z80 as a main CPU or sound coprocessor.

(* The Sinclair ZX80 and -81 were equipped with the Z80 clone NEC uPD780C.)

Thanks, I should be able to get it restored, all I need is the time.  There are tons of sites with info and parts for it on the internet.  I have started to disassemble it so I can setup the guts on my workbench.  I figure it will be easier to work on out of the cabinet.