DIY Hardware Projects
Do-it-yourself (DIY) projects...
Communication - RS232 / PC Connection
- AMSSIO RS232 interface
- RS232 and RS485 interface of the CPC Booster+
- CPCI RS232 Interface
- Z80 STI RS232 interface
- Z80-SIO dual ports RS232 interface for CPC (French)
Floppy Drives
- ABBA switch (swap drive A: and B:)
- Adding 3.5" drive to CPC464
- Connecting a 3.5" drive to a CPC6128/664 (with photos)
- Connecting a Disc Interface to CPC464+
- CPC 6128+ to 2nd Disc Drive Lead
- Modify PC floppy drives to work on a CPC
- Modify a DDI-1 for use with 3.5" Drives
- Side Select Switch (force AMSDOS to use Side B)
- Drive Compatibility
- Floppy pinning and signal description, adapter cables
- How to connect a 3" CPC drive to a PC
- Side Select Switch - Alternative Method
Cassette deck
- DIY 464 External Audio Socket
- Adding Audio in mod for your 464 (YouTube Video)
- 3d Printed Cassette keys for your 464
- 3d Printed Audio in port for your 464
HID
- AMX Compatible PS/2 and USB Mouse Adapter
- Atari-ST mouse adapter
- Attaching an AT keyboard to the CPC
Joysticks
- Joystick Autofire Circuit
- Joystick Y-cables
- Joystick Splitter Circuit
- PSX controller mod for Amstrad CPC
Mass Storage
- DIY Tape/CD Socket for CPC464
- DIY Tape Socket for CPC6128+
- How To Build An Internal HxC SDCard Drive
- HxC Disc Emulator using PC as Storage Medium
- HxC Disc Emulator using SDCard
- IDE8255 for IDE hard discs
- SD Card Disc Drive Emulator
- SYMBiFACE II for IDE hard discs
- X-MASS (TotO)
- UIDE Universal IDE adapter cards for Z-80 computers
- ULIfAC (ikonsgr)
Power Supply
Printer
- 8bit Printer Ports
- Simple RS232 for Printer usage
- DB-25 Printer Port Adapter
- DMP 2000 - re-inking the ribbon
Real Time Clocks
- ACU Realtime Clock (without year counter)
- CPCI Real Time Clock (note: incomplete instructions / schematics due to low-resolution scans)
ROM / RAM Expansions
- AcidInside - Internal ACID Socket (Bryce)
- ACU Romboard (ACU)
- CPC4MB - 4 MB memory expansion (Yarek)
- DIY Plus Cartridge (Bryce)
- Dual OS for CPC6128 using a 32K EPROM (Bryce)
- FlashGordon (MegaFlash clone with different Flash chip)
- Inicron RAM-Box (Inicron)
- Inicron ROM-RAM-Box (Inicron)
- LowerROM Board (Bryce)
- Man In The Middle Cartridge (Bryce)
- MegaROM (Bryce)
- MegaFlash (Bryce)
- Multi-Cartridge (Bryce)
- Multi-Cartridge - up to 1MB / 8 ROMs (eto)
- Old School 512K RAM Expansion (Revaldinho) - 512K RAM expansion built with an SRAM and 74 Series standard logic
- Practical Electronics ROMBoard Project (Simon Dean)
- Ramcard 128 (RAM7)
- Upgrading a Dk'tronics RAM Expansion (Bryce)
- X-MEM (TotO)
- X-ROM (Timatic Systems)
- Y-MEM (TotO)
- 128k on GX-4000 (User:Rewk)
- CPC 6320 - internal 320K for CPC 6128 - 320 or 512K internal RAM, requires soldering - (eto)
- ULIfAC (512kB Ram/32XROM Board/256K Ram+16X Rom board (ikonsgr)
- CPC iRAM - internal DIY Plug'n Play RAM expansion (eto)
Sound
- Digiblaster Sound Card (8 bit DAC on printer port)
- FuturePlayer - MP3 Player (connected to printer port)
- LambdaSpeak FS and III (Expansion for Speech, PCM-Samples, MP3-Player, RTC, serial interface and more)
- PlayCity (TotO)
- SP0256 Speech Synthesizer for Printer Port
TV / Monitors
- PCAI Video Modulator
- RGB to S-Video Converter
- TV SCART cables
- CPC2VGA - Connecting the CPC to a compatible VGA monitor
- modern LCD monitor and LCD TV Solution (RGB)
- Getting a CPC to work with an old LCD or plasma TV
Others
- 6 MHz CPC
- Ambug Robot
- Expanding from CPC 464 to CPC 6128 Spec
- Converting a 464+ into a 6128+
- PCAI Analogue to Digital Converter
- Schneiderware (a series of DIY projects that were released in CPC Schneider International magazine)
- Reset Button
- UK/DE Expansion Converter
- Khany's BankSwapper
Hardware Repair
- Fixing the power switch - if your CPC does not power on and the LED is dark
- Changing the drive belt
- Help, I changed the drive-belt and now my disk drive is suddenly read-only?
- Changing cassette deck belts
- How to remove/replace an IC
- Keyboard Membrane Repair/Replacement Guide
- A Guide To Repairing Digital Joysticks
- Finding and Replacing the Floppy Write Pin
- Repair and service a disk drive in an Amstrad CPC 6128 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKZCbHqEX_k
How to's / Tutorials
- A Guide to running software on a real CPC!
- Transfering Alkatraz protected tapes and most games!
- Willem Programmer - how to program eproms using the Willem eprom programmer.