Archives of Genesis8 Amstrad Page from 1999 to 2025 about hardware, page 1 / 25






Amstrad CPC CRTC Compendium v1.9 by Longshot (May 2026) and his blog

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Longshot has released version 1.9 of the Amstrad CPC CRTC Compendium (15th May 2026) which is a documentation about the CRTC 6845 (and some others circuits). Note that the CRTC is a generic component used in several computers including the IBM PC.

It is possible to check if an emulator is good with the SHAKER tests by Longshot. SHAKER is a program designed to run on CPC machines produced by AMSTRAD in the 80s-90s. The objective of this program is to carry out extensive tests on the video circuits of this machine. These video circuits are the GATE ARRAY and the CRTC 6845. AMSTRAD produced several series of GATE ARRAY and used CRTC models produced by different manufacturers (HITACHI, MOTOROLA, UMC, AMSTRAD). This has been causing compatibility problems on operations that exceed the functional specifications of these circuits. The identified CRTCs are numbered from 0 to 4.

And last, if you like reading, don't hesitate to go check Longshot's blog.



PicoZ80 by Engineers@work, a replacement of the Z80 processor

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The PicoZ80 by Engineers@work is un replacement of the Z80 using a Raspberry Pico 2. It features a faster CPU, more memory (ROM/RAM banking), virtual devices, networking (WiFi, BT thanks to an ESP32), rapid application loading from SD card and WiFi management.

It is possible to configure the PicoZ80 with a .JSON file to adapt to the host machine, already working for the Sharp MZ-700 (and later for the MZ-80A, MZ-80B, MZ-800 and other Sharp computers). The author want to also to provide a profile for the Amstrad PCW. So I think it isn't impossible to make one later for the Amstrad CPC.

PicoZ80 par Engineers@work



A 128 Kb to 1 Mb Amstrad cartridge for CPC+/GX4000 by Eto

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Eto has just released a new Amstrad GX4000 / Plus cartridge PCB featuring 8 ROM Slots (128 Kb to 1 Mb) on its Github account. You can order the PCB on PCBWay. Pay attention to the DIP switch documentation on the github page as the PCB can be from 128 Kb to 1 Mb.



Making a joystick with 3D print by Manuel3D

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Manuel3D is the author of 3 Amstrad CPC programs, two utilities : New font for Amstrad CPC and Draw a star, and also a game : the hangman.

On his Youtube channel, he was showing a case for an Amstrad CPC 464.

Today he is showing how to make a joystick for Amstrad CPC with the needed components and 3D printing (thanks to Amstrad Power for the tweet.

Et pour voir le résultat, allez voir cette vidéo du joystick fabriqué sur une partie d'Arkanoid.


Youtube video



New firmware 16th Novembre 2025 for the PicoMEM 8bit ISA card by FreddyV

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La FreddyV has released a new firmware for his PicoMEM 8bit ISA card today on Github. This new version brings the following points:

  • Sound Blaster support (compatible with some games)
  • Covox sound card support (a card connected to the printer port, like the digiblaster on Amstrad CPC, which needs a lot of CPU time to send data)
  • a lot of corrections


The Zilog Z80, the nightmare for Intel, a video by Olivier Poncet

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Olivier Poncet is the author of the Amstrad CPC Xcpc emulator for Linux, BSD and Unix. Il a a réalisé une video sur le processeur Zilog z80 qui équipe bien d'autres ordinateurs que l'Amstrad CPC.


Youtube video



After the PicoGUS, the PicoIDE by Ian Scott for PC with an IDE connector

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Ian Scott did create the PicoGUS card emulating the Gravis Ultra Sound sound card (you can buy a PicoGUS in Europe at Serdashop).

He has announced today the future availability of the PicoIDE which features ATAPI optical disc emulation and IDE hard drive emulation. A new card next to the PicoMEM card by Freddy Vetele (the PicoMEM can be bought too at Serdashop).

Even for PC XT (and up), it can be interesting to use SCSI emulation as it exists SCSCI controllers for PC XT : BlueSCSI v2, ZuluSCSI, PiSCSCI.



Expansion card PCW Mini for Amstrad PCW by Habi Soft

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The PCW Mini expansion card by Habi Soft let you add more features on an Amstrad PCW computer :

  • sound and music DK'Sound, TurboSound and DAC
  • two joysticks
  • HDMI output
  • four colour modes

thePCW Mini, an expansion card for the Amstrad PCW




Interview by Felisuco of Mark Eric Jones, the engineer of the Amstrad CPC and PCW (and a bonus)

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Felisuco has made at the start of October 2025 an interview of Mark Eric Jones who is one of the engineer of the Amstrad CPC and PCW. The interview is in spanish but as usual there is a translation possible on Youtube.

And as a bonus, a short video by Felisuco on the best Dandanator possible.


Youtube video



Abatape by Abalore, tape emulation featuring multi loading on Amstrad CPC and more

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Abalore has a project he is working since September 2024 : the Abatape.

It is using an Arduino Nano ATMega328p@16 Mhz, a 700 mAH battery for about 24 hours of use, a SD reader and an OLED screen. It is especially able to detect the two motors making a real taping moving the magnetic band so it can support multi loading. Someone did suggest to add writing support to create new tape files. The Abatape supports of course the Amstrad CPC (.CDT) but several other computers as it is based on a Maxduino firmware :

  • Spectrum : TAP, TZX
  • MSX : CAS, TSX
  • ZX80 : O
  • ZX81 : P
  • Acorn Atom, Electron : UEF (without compression), TSX
  • Dragon 32/64, Tandy CoCo : CAS, TSX
  • SVI Spectravideo : TSX
  • Oric 1/Atmos : no .TAP support unless converted to TSX

Youtube video



Amstrad CPC 464 mechanical keyboard and 464/6128 replica main board

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Vous souhaitez un clavier mécanique pour remplacer celui d'origine sur un Amstrad CPC 464 ? Alors Bread80 a ce qu'il vous faut avec toutes les informations sur la carte disponible sur Github.

In the same CPCWiki's thread, Salvogendut is showing his replica of an Amstrad CPC 464 main board with Bread80's mechanical keyboard. This replica of the Amstrad CPC 464 main board comes from Bob's Bits site on Tindie (out of stock sadly). But this is also in stock this time a replica of the Amstrad CPC 6128 main board. You will find below three photos of Salvogendut's keyboard.

board of the Cherry keyboard for Amstrad CPC 464

replica board of the Amstrad CPC 464

the cherry keyboard inside an Amstrad CPC 464



The last Amstrad PC in 1996 : Integra PC/TV with Windows 95

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The last PC released in 1996 by Amstrad was the Integra PC/TV with a 486 DX2 (80 ou 100 Mhz) or pentium (75 à 133 Mhz) processor, 8 Mb of RAM (up to 128), 540 Mb hard disk (up to 1 Tb), a CD-ROM drive and especially a TV Tuner. Windows 95 was installed on the Integra PC/TV. You can download the brochure and specifications on Amstrad web site (or here locally). You can see below a video of the Amstrad Integra PC/TV by Nostalgia Nerd.


Youtube video



Duke stops making the M4 board, but...

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Duke stops making the M4 wifi board after almost 1500 boards. He explains it on his web site. I want to thank him personnally as I am the happy owner of his board since years, it is still useful to me. Thanks for all these years of making board and supporting it with new firmwares and answering user on CPCWiki.

It could be an end but it is in fact a new start as Duke has released on Github all needed informations so at least for a start two people will make new boards :



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