PCW 8256 display problem

[MovieDirector@]

I think that's what it is. On CPC Wiki I found some discussions about PCW9256 - there is power on the odd pins, i.e. on the + 5V part, on the GND part, but for me all the odd ones are connected together and to GND. Additionally, there is a separate power plug. Thanks for this remark about the changed power supply, because out of laziness I could not check where the voltage is going

I will ask right away: where can I find any floppy disk images, because a cursory search shows that PVC was probably not very popular computers.

[SanderoCaro]

Make the signal tape as shown in the picture, although I have never tested it, theoretically it should work.

The power cable is converted from 12V to 5V and after measuring (just to be sure) the voltage, connect only the 5V cable and the ground to Gotek in the right place because Gotek does not need 12V.

The power cable should have voltages on the extreme wires and ground on the middle 2 with a 4-pin connector from what I remember.
But to be sure, it's worth checking it with a meter before you connect and burn Gotek

[Iwa]

I will take care of the power supply, and I will report on the operation of the cable tomorrow

One more question: is it normal that station 3 "spins the engine without a floppy disk, and its activity LED is on (though somehow so dim), or the station is rather released?

[HelloThereAll]

I have never had PCW in my paws, but from what I read and saw on YT, the only ROM it has about 200 bytes in the printer driver, with a procedure to load and run a zero path from the station. There are no letters in the ROM, so it can not display anything, the engine is spinning because it is waiting for the floppy disk to be inserted and when the sensor detects that the disk is spinning, it will start to read it and display a loading progress bar at the bottom of the screen.

[Oldgirls]

I have not started my PCW for a long time, but it seems to me that the LED should be slightly lit after turning on without a floppy disk.
I currently have it in a different location, I can check it more closely in a few days.

[Miwod]

So you can assume that the station is working. Gotek's testing tomorrow. If someone is looking for paintings, I recommend you look here.

[Doggeboy0A]

There is some substitute for software here, but at least system disks are there.

[Computeoguy]

But this problem concerns 9xxx series PVC and we are talking about the 8xxx series, it is a completely different computer, but I do not know for sure what the issue of drives looks like there because I have not practiced it yet ... but the drives from CPC and PVC 8xxx should be similar.

[SummerFLower]

Series 9 from 8, in addition to the appearance, keyboard layout, gray monitor instead of green and another printer - the only difference is that 9ki only had 720K stations, although still 3 ", and in 8ki the 1st station was the same as in CPC, i.e. 40 tracks and 1 head, and 180K per side. The PCW10 already had 3.5 "stations and other printers. Besides, it's the same computers 100% compatibility. There was a version with 256 and 512K in each series.

Only the PcW16 was a completely different computer. A different graph for a different OS. Only fancy versions of OS gave him CPM and LocoScript, and a lot, though not complete compatibility of uses, but not games, because a different graphics mode and too fast processor.

[Smallbug]

I used to think about inserting 2 3.5 "drives from a laptop into PCW8xxx, two drives would fit into one 3" drive slot.
It is possible that it will be a bit tight in width, but I was more overcome with the implementation of an appropriate adapter for flat 26pin ribbons.
Maybe there are some ready, but then I did not find.