DDI 5 for the Amstrad CPC by Zaxon 

In 1986, I started a traineeship with IBM in Brisbane as a Business Equipment Technician. I trained on both mechanical and electric typewriters, printers, photocopiers, fax machines etc. About this time the PS/2 was released, and the penetration into the local market with IBM PS/2s was huge. We were selling thousands of them. So I moved from old school to computer repairs. When I finished my traineeship, the IBM service centre I worked for relocated and I was made redundant. So I got a job working at another computer place who were the service agents for Amstrad (amongst others). I remember the first time I was given one of these things to work on and I thought it was a joke. They were such a heap of crap. They just felt like a really cheap toy (after working on Big Blues). Now, years later, I really wish I had kept one of the many that we just binned. I'd love one now :)

The CPC 464 was my fist computer that I used to develop programs. To this day it's my favorite of the small 8 bit computers. And ALL-IN-ONE computer that just works

Can't believe I missed this upload from you. This is a really neat idea!

I'm very impressed. A multi tasking OS for an 8bit computer that old. Amazing! Cool video!

Seeing a GUI OS working on that machine is amazing, shame you haven't got a mouse for it. Kind of amazes me when the OS was developed 2000 - 2017!

Nice info, and presentation. Very interesting! I used to code in Z-80 Assembly on the TRS-80 Model 1 and 3. I am shocked they got a GUI OS working on it. Well done!

Symbos has blown my mind!! Amazing!

Ferrari makes monitors? Excellent. ;-) Always fancied a CPC for the collection, it's a nice looking machine.

Thanks for the video! Certainly seems a good device for the money. I personally have an X-Mem and X-Mass to achieve what you did with the DDI-5. Well, X-Mass is an actual hard drive that can be utilized by SymbOS. The CPC has quite a plethora of modern peripherals like WiFi, USB and sound cards.

Definitely an interesting channel, gonna be trying to follow this more

Great add-on. Great video!

Just bought one thanks for your video shows me how to use it thanks :) will do some demos on it once i get used to it :)

Wow, Symbos looks amazing! Do you think the mouSTer would work with it?

12:38 still laughing at this

I have one, too. Indeed not cheap. Even if you are in the EU like me and don't have to bother with import fees and such. But worth every Cent! It opens up the world of 128K games on a simple 464 and at least in Germany it is cheaper to buy a 464 plus DDI5 instead of a CPC 6128.

Thanks for bringing out the CPC again. A very underrated machine. There is a heap of good stuff for the CPC, but keeping it short, here are two (128k required) gems. 'Pinball Dreams' and the very excellent demo, '3D meets the aging bits'. I'd love to know what you think of those two.

Also have the DDI5, works like a charm. My biggest worry is that I will accidentally hit it and damage the CPC's main board to which it is connected.

could load and run CP/M from disk image and have a play with that library now you have the ram and drive?

btw...just checking.... UCIFAC II has a pause button. If it is on (you can't really tell) the system doesn't work.

Hola , tengo la ddi-5 y quiero conectar una FD1 de amstrad..... como tengo que configurar el cable IDE? Un saludo

I've wanted to play around with SymbOS eversense I head about it several years ago, but sadly we never got the CPC range here in the US, and importing one here makes my headspin at the prices, and voltage converters need to make it work.

I have one of these but the most frustrating things is the screen. Almost unusable at that angle and size. I wish i was techy enough to reroute it to another device. If any one has advice then i would love to hear it. Thanks for the review.

I've got one of those DDI-5 devices for my CPC 464 too, it's a great little device. If you're going to load lots of games onto there though, my recommendation would be to use it in HXC mode so you can select .dsk images/games and load them into slots with the keyboard via the HXC Selector program in Slot 0. It saves having to use the buttons on the DDI-5 as much, as over time it will start to work it's way loose and lead to bad connection problems. Also a note about the RAM expansion, due to the way it's mapped it isn't 100% compatible with all CPC 6128 games, some of them will just crash if you try to run them on a 464 with RAM expansion.

Very impressive. Shame the DDI and FD1 died though.

The UCIFAC II didn't work? That's strange! I serviced 4 CPCs and I "installed" 3 UCIFAC II and a ULIFAC(512k mem expansion) and they all work just fine! They have same small issues with older 464s but it can be addressed as easily as pressing the reset button on the card during the first boot up.

Great video. I have one too. Have you tried the infamous Batman demo? (As opposed to the Batman game). It's a good example of how compatible this expansion is.

Hi, the link for your DDI5 label dosent work, any chance of a new link please, cheers

I think you have used 3 or 4 different LCD monitors with the CPC. Are you using a converter or do they have SCART inputs?

Hi there does the colour of the ddi5 match the cpc perfectly?

Gryzor requires 128k? Are you sure? I have a 464 that a friend of mine literally found in a skip with trash, along with a huge collection of cassetes. So I took it for my collection. It has Gryzor, I've played it for a few minutes.... Does that mean that my 464 has been modded to 128K?

but...can it run Crysis? 😃😄😉

Try some Demo scene demos. There are some that need 128kb, not sure if there are any that need 512kb.

99gpb is a joke

14:33: _"I quite like it, um, I did- in saying that, I wouldn't have bought it if i did; I actually put a lot of research before i handed over cash."_ Hey Mr Lurch, is that how Australian teachers speak? ;-P Because you've mutilated your own sentence damn near to the point of incomprehensibility. Oh sure, I eventually got that you _meant_ to say you wouldn't have bought it if you *DIDN'T,* and that you put a lot of research *IN* beforehand, but I had to do a triple-take to even parse that.

Can you Write from cpc 464 one BASIC program to the DDI, as if were an SAVE operation?. Thanks a lot!