Tatung Computer Forum

Hi,
I have owned a TC-01 for years, having bought it at a computer fair in Essex and then put it in the loft. I finally got it down this week, first thing checked was the PSU, I disconnected it and saw it had no Rifa capacitors fitted so I powered it on and found the output voltages were all OK. I plugged it into the motherboard and was greeted with a working Alpha lock key, and error beeps when entering commands blind. I had several sticky keys, I found gentle heat from a hairdryer freed these up (plus a very small amount of plastic-safe silicone lubrication - Halfords bike lube). I set the monitor jumpers from YUV to RGB and connected a monitor from a BBC micro, but nothing was displayed. I plugged in a B&W TV with an aerial input and tuned it in, then got a good display in the TV only (albeit too wide for the screen). Also I have one floppy which booted into Xtal DOS 1.11 fine. Next job is to compare the TC-01 RGB output with my BBC micro RGB output (which displays fine). And fix a dead key (N).

Regards,
John

John,

Great to hear you have resurrected another Einstein.

I use a BBC->SCART cable with my Einstein and it works fine, so I think the pinout should be compatible. Having said that I have it plugged into an OSSC to generate an HDMI signal for my monitor. According to this page http://www.breakintoprogram.co.uk/hardw ... g-einstein the Beeb uses TTL levels for RGB which might explain why you are struggling to get your monitor to work with the Einstein. Looks like the old Cub monitors can be adjusted relatively easily to accept the Einstein's signal - hopefully your monitor is similar?

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers,

Ian.

Thanks Ian,
Yes the video signal levels are very likely the issue. I tried using the TTL input on my Acorn 28-ADF32 monitor, which uses the BBC and Tantung DIN pinout, but it also has a 1V p-p SCART input. I'll try a different monitor such as a Cub set to analogue RGB.

Regards,
John

Hi,
I set one of my Cub monitors to RGB analogue and connected it to the TC01. When powering the monitor on I could see the Tantung welcome screen, but as soon as the monitor had warmed up the brightness level was far too high and I just got an all white(ish) screen. My Cubs don't have VR134 (brightness) control fitted, so I'll give up on using the Cub and try some other monitors, but these need custom leads I don't have so I will have to park this for now (I have planned to make a 6-pin DIN to RGB phono adapter at some point for testing Cubs so will try this route first).

Regards,
John

Great work