Enterprise Forever
:UK => Other topics => Topic started by: GrahamC on 2021.April.13. 22:05:34
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Hello, I'm Graham, I just joined the board as I bought an Enterprise 64 a while back on eBay and was interested to talk to other people who had one.
I didn't have one when growing up in the UK. I had a Spectrum, 48K then 128K, then a Sam Coupe (wish I'd kept this, they are super rare nowadays) and then went on to Amigas and PCs.
But I'd always thought it looked interesting in the magazines, and when I had the chance I had to add one to my collection.
I have a few questions:
Is the only difference between the 64 and the 128 the amount of onboard RAM? Is it possible to upgrade a 64 to the same as a 128?
Is there an Android app to play back the tapes through an audio lead? Or a program to convert them to WAV files that I could play back? It seems like the Enterprise TAP format is not compatible with the Spectrum one.
Anyway, nice to meet you all.
-- Graham.
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Welcome in the team, I'm Judge
Easily convert to 128 KB. Up to more RAM can be included (512 KB, 1 MB)
The ROM on the motherboard needs to be converted to 64 KB and EXOS 2.4 needs to be written in. There is also an English version.
EXOS 2.4 ROM (https://enterpriseforever.com/hardver/hajdani-konfigom/msg59565/#msg59565)
EP PhoneTape (https://enterpriseforever.com/hardver/hajdani-konfigom/msg60950/#msg60950)
Sorry for the Google Translate. I hope you understand what I wrote.
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Is the only difference between the 64 and the 128 the amount of onboard RAM? Is it possible to upgrade a 64 to the same as a 128?
The EP64, especially if you got it from the recent eBay sales in Egypt or Russia, is likely to come with EXOS 2.0 and BASIC 2.0.
EP128s, especially those that were shipped to our friends in Hungary, came with the updated EXOS 2.1 and BASIC 2.1.
If you're not a collector that is trying to keep your Enterprise unopened and in pristine condition, it is highly recommended that you open it up and swap your EXOS 2.0 32KB-ROM for an EXOS 2.4 64KB-EPROM, which has BASIC 2.1 built into it.
That will require soldering one new wire between the EPROM and the Enterprise's motherboard.
While you've got the computer opened up, you can upgrade the Enterprise's RAM, if you wish, although that will need some more soldering, using the existing EXP1 and EXP2 expansion connections that are on your EP64's motherboard.
Since most of the Enterprise's library of software requires a 128K system, that would seem like a good idea. :-)
You can see some photos of my EPROM and RAM installation in the long-running memory expansion thread here (https://enterpriseforever.com/interface-57/exp1-and-exp2-pinouts/msg80582/#msg80582).
I think that I might be the only person with a 512KB memory expansion board available for sale at the moment, and I am in the process of protoyping a new 1MB memory expansion board.
If you don't want to solder things onto your Enterprise motherboard, then you may want to take a look at the Symbiface3 external expansion.
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By the way...., SymbiFace3 (http://www.tmtlogic.com/) is a multi-computer(CPC,MSX,PCW,P2000,SC3000,Enterprise), all-in-one interface that can be connected by means of an adapter.
(https://enterpriseforever.com/hardware/symbiface3-is-near-your-enterprise/?action=dlattach;attach=24767;image)
You can read about the Enterprise SF3(SymbiFace3) development here (https://enterpriseforever.com/hardware/symbiface3-is-near-your-enterprise/).
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I converted a 64KB machine to 512KB.
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The 512KB memory expander was made by elmer.
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One more thing that has not been mentoined previously:
The 64K onboard memory is shared with the video chip, which has priority. So running programs from video memory are significantly slower. All other RAM (including the 64K internal expansion of EP128) runs at normal speed. Like the Amiga Chip and Fast RAMs.