I just received this board in the mail today and it was a really nice and well made device. It took me about two hours to solder, but I also have very little soldering experience (I am a breadboard man myself) so if you have experience soldering, I imagine you could probably finish in under 45 minutes. The seller was really nice and was great at communicating with me and if I need to in the future, I would definitely do business with him again. All around great product and great experience. My only complaint is that I would like it if there was a soldering guide and a bit more documentation on how it operates. I was able to figure it all out from the schematics and gerber files, but a bit more in-depth tutorial would be nice. (If there is one and I missed it, please let me know and I will edit my review, if that is possible, this is my first time using this site).

David | Oct. 2, 2020

True-retro Video and Audio

For TMS9918A Video Card Kit for RC2014

The TMS9918A video kit (and SN76489 audio kit) are indispensable if you retro gaming is your thing :)

Gerald | March 17, 2020

Great Video Card for RC2014

For TMS9918A Video Card Kit for RC2014

I ordered this video card to put my RC2014 Pro rig properly in the era of the 8-bit microcomputer. I had a PI Zero (non-W) acting as a serial terminal, for both USB keyboard input and the HDMI output, to ease initial connectivity. Whilst there where plenty of VT100 terminals around 'back in the day' most home computers used a parallel-like scanned keyboard and output video as composite, sometimes composite video via on on-board or add-on VHF/UHF modulator or (in Europe) SCART.

The TMS9918A Video Card Kit for the RC2014 goes along way to achieving that retro 8-bit vibe and opens up the possibility to use legacy software, such as ColecoVision, MSX computer and even some Sinclair Spectrum (and variants) games.

This video card, along with the Yamaha chipped sound card for RC2014, makes for a much more compelling retro experience.

Jerry | April 23, 2019

Wonderful addition(replacement) for RC2418!

For z80ctrl Card Kit for RC2014

Really love the simplicity and cost of the z80ctrl board. I bought the RC2014 Pro kit (actually 2, since I had problems with the first kit due to my errors in building,) and still had problems getting the kit to work. My troubleshooting skills were either not good enough or the error was so subtle that I could not find it.

Bring in the x80ctrl kit and I was able to replace the Clock, ROM, CF, and serial I/O cards. The ONLY problem I ran into initially was trying to flash the monitor program to the ATMEGA1284P-PU. I kept getting getting errors. However I do have a TL866 EEPROM programmer, and was able to flash the compiled HEX file to the chip.

Once that was done, it was great to see the CP/M prompt! Brings back many fond memories learning to code and work with computers. Great job, and great kit!

Wynn | Jan. 30, 2019

A great product!

For z80ctrl Card Kit for RC2014

I am using this card in conjunction with an RC2014 Pro backplane, a 64K memory card and a CPU 2 card. The kit was really easy to assemble and worked the first time I tried it. I was able to create some disk images by copying the original disk images and renaming them under Ubuntu Linux, and then doing an ERA *.* on those disks under CP/M. I then used R.COM to move files from my Linux box to the CP/M disks I just prepared. The whole process was fairly simple, but did require shuffling the Micro SD card between my Linux box and the Z80ctrl. One improvement would be to include a working XMODEM.COM so the Micro SD card did not need to be removed.

Tindie

Kamprath Hacks

Overall Rating:

Review Breakdown

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Great Little Board

True-retro Video and Audio

Great Video Card for RC2014

Wonderful addition(replacement) for RC2418!

A great product!