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Sharm MZ-80B cassettes - games?

S

solidpro

Member
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
47
Location
UK
Hi Everyone

I've lusted over the look of a Sharp MZ-80B for a while now and managed to pick up a RIFA-blown example from what looks like the back of someone's shed. I am in the process of repair but I desperately would like something to play on it. Does anyone know anyone or any reasonably simple way to get copies of a few cassettes?

I do have a tape recorder and so, in theory, I could load an audio file into audacity and playback through a line out to a cassette which would hopefully be loadable in my machine, but I don't even know if doing that is a thing....

I've seen there are some cool looking games for it but primarily for using on emulators...

Any ideas?

Thanks!
 
I spent the day restoring an MZ-80B which came to me unloved and with blown RIFA caps.

  1. I replaced the RIFA caps with solid ones
  2. I then had to focus on the tape deck which needed new belts and those brake rubbers removing and replacing, which I did.
  3. I then spent a few hours trying to get a good WAV to a cassette, which did eventually work and I got the 5510 Basic loading along with the clock and prologue demos.

However.... the graphics aren't being displayed properly when I load the clock or the prologue - everything that should be a solid shape, block or line is shown as an alphabetical character. I can't work out if the BASIC I'm running isn't correct for the MZ-80B (I believe it's from the 80A) or there is something still wrong this this machine - namely the character ROM...?

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks
 
Well done on getting so far!

It could be the character generator (IC44 pin 19) but it could be the data buffer (IC22 pin 11) or the video RAM (IC41 pin 17).

Have you tried to write a 'noddy' BASIC program to POKE all of the characters from 0 to 255 directly into the screen memory?

Dave
 
Hi Dave

It could be the character generator (IC44 pin 19) but it could be the data buffer (IC22 pin 11) or the video RAM (IC41 pin 17).
Click to expand...

Is this something I could test with an Oscilloscope?

Have you tried to write a 'noddy' BASIC program to POKE all of the characters from 0 to 255 directly into the screen memory?
Click to expand...

I haven't tried to do something like that since reading Your Sinclair in 1987 - any tips?

Thanks!
 
Yes, you could checkout the line with an oscilloscope. If you see a 'static' signal it probably means this bit is not being driven correctly (as a first test).

A guess to start with:

Code: 
10 B=?
20 FOR I=0 to 255
30 POKE B+I,I
40 NEXT I
50 GOTO 50

I will have to lookup the value for B (the base address of the screen memory)...

Dave
 
I haven't found the information I have been looking for yet.

You have tried the example in the BASIC manual first haven't you?

1704028849335.png

Dave
 
I'll try that in a bit, however that doesn't show all the characters I appear to be missing, like diagonal lines and blocks with different sections missing (like triangles and different shapes in colour)

Thanks
 
Ah, so what we now need to identify is what your machine is EXACTLY...

You have stated your machine is an MZ-80B. This (at its basic level) is a non-graphics, monochrome system.

You can add graphics RAM to the system to enhance it - but you are not now talking about the standard character generator anymore.

The standard MZ-80B also only had a monochrome monitor - so you had a choice of two (2) colours - ON and BLACK...

Dave
 
Oh, this is news to me. I thought the MZ80B was the 'graphics' version of the A, amongst other things. How would you 'add' graphics?

It's the UK version, so it has 64k. Other than that, it appears to be relatively standard (no cards in the back). Is one or both of these what I'm looking for?

MZ-80GM – Hi-Res Graphics Card​

This card clips beneath the CRT housing and connects to the motherboard using 2 ribbon-style cables with IDC Connectors.

MZ-80GMK – 2nd Hi-Res Graphics Card​

This card is inserted into the MZ-80EU Expansion Unit, and coupled to the MZ-80GM 1st Graphics card using a ribbon-style cable.

Do either of these ever come up for sale? Seems like I'd be waiting for years to spot one. I had a look on yahoo.jp but nothing there.

Thanks
 
Last edited:
The MZ80B + the graphics options. This only gives you hi-res monochrome graphics though (not colour).

I have never seen any of these up for sale separately...

The MZ-700 was the colour graphics machine you may have been thinking about.

I also remember seeing some sort of 'Home-brew' colour add-on modification (for an external colour monitor or TV)?

Dave
 
Hmmmm...

It does have a graphics card bolted under the CRT, which is where the MZ-80GM supposedly goes. I find it hard to believe this card isn't the 'graphic option'. Or GRAPHYC option indeed. Here is mine:

IMG_9963.jpg

IMG_9964.jpg

IMG_9966.jpg

IMG_9965.jpg

Also, this is what my graphics look like:

IMG_9958.jpg
IMG_9957.jpg

It should look more like:

clock2.gif

I'm not really interested in colour - I'm interested in it displaying graphics properly on the green screen... Is this not the card which should allow me to display those graphics?

Thanks
 
Let me take a look again at the technical manuals.

You definitely have a graphics card fitted...

It is looking like it is not switching into graphics mode for these characters but staying in text mode (hence the inverse video where the graphics should be. So the graphics bit (bit 7) looks like it is being set, it is just being ignored!

What program are you running as the clock?

Dave
 
First I use a real cassette to load up "Tape BASIC SB-5510" and then I LOAD the clock program and RUN it - from the applications cassette which came with both the A and B.

I also tried the 'Prologue' programme which demos the specs and the graphics are bad on that too.

There are lots of places to get the 5510 BASIC MZF online but only one source, via the wayback machine of the APPLICATIONS cassette files. I think the graphics are going to be the same on everything though.

I wonder if I should recap the graphics card...
 
Can you try a simple BASIC program please. Two lines...

You can type them in immediate mode at the BASIC prompt...

GRAPH I1,C,O1

Note that the "O1" is the letter "Oh" and not the numeral "zero (0)".

LINE 130,180,220,150,190,60,100,90,130,180

With any luck, you should get a black screen with a square on it.

1704048057875.png

I can see how the graphics data gets into the video stream for the monitor, but the graphics memory needs to be mapped into the memory map and there has to be some 'magic' somewhere so that both video characters and graphics are stored on the screen at the same time. However, I have never played with a graphics card on the MZ series machines before - so we are all learning here...

Dave
 
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