You Make Robots Blog

Keeping Retro Computers Alive!

Addons

This has been a long time in the making but I released an adapter to allow people to use other joysticks or joypads on the MZ700 without modification of the Game code. That is important because there is only one other product on the market similar to this and it requires you to modify the game code to use that adapter. Mine is plug and play. Anyway, I recorded a video showing it in action and you can buy it from the shop CLICK HERE ..

We’re releasing a new product called the Child of Frankenstein .. The name follows on from the the ZX-Frankenstein device we made for the ZX Spectrum. The Child of Frankenstein designed for the Sinclair ZX81 is a combination of a 16K ram pack and a Maxduino SD solution. First look at the Child of Frankenstein although I believe Chris Hawkins is going to test it out on Sunday.

We developed an Arduino Board Tester. We quality test Arduino boards before sale, and the old test rig was a bit boring so we developed something with a little bit more fun. We figured clients might want this too so we sell them through the store. Watch the video below. If you want to purchase one click >HERE< if you want to download the software click >HERE<

Below is a short video showing how to set up an LCD displaying using an IC2 serial module to an Arduino. Mentioned in the video is a sketch for using the LCD panel which is displayed below this text and a sketch to find the address of the IC2 adapter you can find by click here.

#include <Wire.h>
#include <LiquidCrystal_I2C.h>

#define I2C_ADDR 0x3F

LiquidCrystal_I2C lcd(I2C_ADDR, 2, 1, 0, 4, 5, 6, 7);

int led = 13;

void setup () {
  lcd.begin(16, 2);//16 columns 2 rows for 1602A

  lcd.setBacklightPin(3, POSITIVE);
  //lcd.setBacklight(HIGH); // NOTE: You can turn the backlight off by setting it to LOW instead of HIGH
  lcd.setBacklight(LOW);
  lcd.clear(); // clean screen and sets cursor to (0,0)
  // initialize the digital pin as an output.
  // will not blink without it
  pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
  lcd.setCursor(0, 0);
  lcd.print("YouMakeRobots");
  digitalWrite(led, HIGH); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
  lcd.setBacklight(LOW);   //turn off backlight
  delay(1000);             // wait for a second
  digitalWrite(led, LOW);  // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW
  lcd.setBacklight(HIGH);  //turn on backlight
  delay(1000);    
}

You can find all the components needed by clicking here.