BlueSCSI Goes Outside | Leaded Solder
Building an external-SCSI variant of the BlueSCSI v1 hard drive emulator for old Macs, and debugging the SD transfer utility for copying StuffIt files to the Mac from the SD card.| Leaded Solder
Sony doesn’t like to talk about their SMC-777 very much, but this unloved middle child represents an entire parallel universe of Japanese 8-bit computing. Today, we’ll take an extremely battered example and get it working again.| Leaded Solder
Even after so many years of delving into Japanese 80s computers, there’s still some undiscovered frontiers waiting for me. Early on in my studies, I had heard stories about the Sord M5 and its Western VDP. Through the help of a good friend, I was able to get ahold of one, and then the first of many clone projects began.| Leaded Solder
We’ve had a lot of fun with VTech’s computers in the past on this blog. Usually, they’re relatively spartan computers with limited functionality, but they did make something very interesting in the late 80s. The Socrates is their hybrid video game console/computer design from 1988, and today we’ll start tearing into it.| Leaded Solder
Back when I was putting together the Minigun supergun, my project progress was halted for months by lack of a cable. Of course, that Mega Drive 2 SCART cable did eventually arrive – the fourth one I ordered – but in the meantime, I got frustrated. And when I get frustrated, I tend to build PCBs.| Leaded Solder
I picked up a complete Nintendo Family BASIC package for my freshly composite-modded Famicom. Let’s see if I can remember enough BASIC to take advantage of this package and build a horizontally-scrolling space shooter game. Oh, and fix the cartridge first, of course.| Leaded Solder
Building an external-SCSI variant of the BlueSCSI v1 hard drive emulator for old Macs, and debugging the SD transfer utility for copying StuffIt files to the Mac from the SD card.| Leaded Solder
Old computer repair, history and programming.| Leaded Solder
Posts tagged pc9821| Leaded Solder
Posts tagged commodore64| Leaded Solder
A power supply arrived from Ray Carlsen, and it works great. I spent the time while I was waiting by soldering a really bad video cable. I only managed to melt one DIN plug in the process!| Leaded Solder
The X68000 is a powerful, but proprietary and very delicate series of machines that do not tolerate neglect.| Leaded Solder
Posts tagged sharp-x1-turbo| Leaded Solder
Fixing an uncommon NEC PC-TV151 computer monitor that won’t turn on.| Leaded Solder
After a respin of the PC88 colour video board, the PC8801mkII now has excellent digital colour video out.| Leaded Solder
Way back in May of 2018, I was unable to get the SparcStation 1+ to stop returning “Illegal Instruction” errors for any attempt at booting. This made absolutely no sense to anyone I asked about it, and they suggested replacing the PROM battery, because at least then we’d have fewer known-broken parts in the computer. I ignored this advice, and just stuck the computer in a corner with the other broken machines for awhile so it could think about what it did.| Leaded Solder
When I got the CoCo, one of the big problems was the super-smeary, snowy video on the RF-out. Even though composite video is generated internally by the video circuitry of the computer, Tandy didn’t end up breaking it out to an actual port. Lots of other 8-bit machines of the era are in the same boat. Luckily, adding a composite video port to the CoCo is very straightforward! So straightforward, in fact, that I did it twice.| Leaded Solder
A PC-6001 ROM cartridge is made that displays Claude Monet’s “Meules” impressionist painting on the screen. Z80 assembly language and the memory map of the 6847 video controller are discussed.| Leaded Solder
One of the hot new trends in the 8-bit computer community is the development of “Pico carts.” By using a Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller instead of a ROM, you can make a cool software-defined cartridge that can do basically anything. For instance, it can load a ROM. I decided to make a prototype one for my beloved NEC PC-6001 series of home computer.| Leaded Solder
While the PC9821 has horsepower and 90s clone styling for days, the real reason I spent all this effort and money was to get personal with the PC8801 platform. This humble little NEC home computer platform launched an indie game development revolution - well, or at least it did after this one was made. In fact, this 8801mkII, having been released immediately before the gaming-friendly 8801mkIISR, is only really useful to someone super weird who wants to learn about its guts on the cheap. I do...| Leaded Solder
If all goes well, I will soon be the owner of an NEC PC-8801mkII “Model 30.” The platform is famous in Japan, as later models of the PC88 featured a ton of independent games, including many from developers who would go on to create games that were popular worldwide (Thexder, Snatcher and Ys all got their start on this platform). It also has a lot of trash, but neither of these things are interesting to me right now. I’d be happier just getting the computer to work (not least, because as...| Leaded Solder
Analysis and repair of a Sharp X1turbo 8-bit home computer that will not power on| Leaded Solder
Coding and construction of an Arduino-based PS/2 keyboard adapter for the Sharp X1turbo 8-bit home computer| Leaded Solder
Construction of a VGA video adapter for the Sharp X1turbo 8-bit home computer| Leaded Solder
Analysis and repair of an NEC PC-6601SR “Mr.PC” 8-bit home computer from the 1980s| Leaded Solder
Modifying a PC-6001 cassette tape image to work from a ROM cartridge.| Leaded Solder
Equipping a Tandy 1000SX with a Gotek floppy emulator so I can easily play old DOS games on it.| Leaded Solder
Repair of a Sharp MZ-700 power supply and cassette tapes. Use of an RGB video cable.| Leaded Solder
Repair of an NEC MultiSync 3D CRT with green interference on the screen.| Leaded Solder
Repairing multiple failures on the motherboard of a Tandy 1000SX personal computer.| Leaded Solder
I’ve been using the monochrome video cable on my PC88 ever since I built it. Colour video was a little more complicated, so I ended up designing a bunch of adapters to try and get it to work. I’m happy to announce that one of those adapters has finally worked!| Leaded Solder
