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circuit
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Joined: 10/01/2016
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 276

Posted: 06:13pm 10 Jul 2025

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Upon seeing the cover of the August edition of Practical Electronics magazine, I was rather excited to see a new embodiment of MMBasic design in what is named the "Explore-40". This took me back to the days of the Explore 64 and so forth. Wow! What is this Explore-40? Straight into the article, I can only say that I am indeed rather puzzled and bewildered by this design. It is basically an MX170 with a microbridge stuck on a picomite-sized board. What the...? The kit costs £21! What on earth is the point of this? What am I missing? Apparently it allows MMBasic to be used on the Pico backpack from 2023 - and that allows the use of a microSD card, stereo audio and a 3.5" LCD panel! Eh, it seems that I have been working miracles with my £1.50 PicoMite loaded up with the 6.00.02 firmware. (yes, I have just downloaded 6.00.03; thanks, Geoff).

Am I missing something here? Anybody with any thoughts?

Volhout
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Joined: 05/03/2018
Location: Netherlands
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Posted: 07:25pm 10 Jul 2025

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Battery operation…..

Volhout

PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS

JohnS
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Joined: 18/11/2011
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 4038

Posted: 08:12pm 10 Jul 2025

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Maybe an article published quite a while ago in Silicon Chip?

John

al18
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Joined: 06/07/2019
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Posted: 10:35pm 10 Jul 2025

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I went to the Practical Electronics magazine website, and the last issue published was December, 2024.
No 2025 issues?

Chopperp

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Joined: 03/01/2018
Location: Australia
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Posted: 11:06pm 10 Jul 2025

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John was correct. The Explore-40 was published by SC in October 2024
Brian

ChopperP

phil99

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Joined: 11/02/2018
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Posted: 11:11pm 10 Jul 2025

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Quote Maybe an article published quite a while ago in Silicon Chip?

Silicon Chip, October 2024 and is a repackaged Explore 28 from September 2019.

The main use of the Explore 28 is embedded controllers that just "do their thing" for decades as the MX170 is pretty much bullet proof and as Volhout said perfect for battery operation.

circuit
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Joined: 10/01/2016
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 276

Posted: 01:06pm 11 Jul 2025

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al18 said I went to the Practical Electronics magazine website, and the last issue published was December, 2024.
No 2025 issues?

I am a subscriber and I can assure you that I have the full set for this year; eight issues so far.

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