youxia Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 So I got one of these last week, in order to feed my newly acquired hardware addiction and because it's probably the closest I will ever get to something resembling TRS-80. I don't usually get into these obscure machines since I can't do electronics, but this one has been shown working, from reputable seller, who also let himself to be persuaded to let it go for a reasonable price (~150 USD). One shift is missing, but apart from that it's looking brand new, must've been cleaned or retrobrit or sumthink. It turns on and displays text via composite on my CRT, which I must say is a bit "weird" looking - a bit as if it had oddly coloured (greeney) artifacting - not 100% sure if that's how it should be, seeing as there is no comparable CRT footage I could find. Now, I bought it under the impression that tape loading is possible, but I don't really know how to go about it yet. I need a cable for the tape deck - I asked a guy selling one of these computers on ebay, who has games shown working, and he recommended this adapter. If anybody has some hands-on experience with one of these machines and could share it, it'd be most appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 I have one, but one key is missing, and it doesn't work. Opened it up and the Z80 wasn't even seated in the socket. Never have gotten around to finding what's wrong with it otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 (edited) The EACA Colour Genie should have green text on black background, but it sounds like the black also goes towards the greenish side? I can't recall that happening on the few units I've tried. Regarding the tape, it uses the three middle pins 3 for EAR, 4 for MIC, 2 for ground. There were two standards, of which TRS-80 used one and e.g. BBC Micro used the other. I think IBM PC also used either of those two. From what I've figured out, it is quite fiddly to get to load. Very picky about volume and a good recording, perhaps more so than others despite it has a VU meter to read. I got short demo programs to load, but had trouble with longer games, at least from tape. I can't recall if I tried loading WAVs from a MP3 player or similar. As a matter of fact I have a Swedish manual with a bunch of technical information. I don't know if you have any use of it. http://cbm.sfks.se/files/manual-colour-genie.pdf Edited July 4, 2022 by carlsson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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