I host an almost regular text and graphic adventure stream over on Twitch, where we stream from a range of home computers - 8 bit machines such as the ZX Spectrum and the C64 through to 16 bit machines such as the Atari ST (my preferred platform for Infocom games),...| Kian Ryan
Similar to less popular handheld of the era, the Gameboy, the Psion used a proprietary cartridge format for distributing commercial software. Psion sold blank cartridges, flashing hardware and duplicators to software houses, as well as releasing a number of titles under their own license. There’s a wide range of commercial...| Kian Ryan
Shortly after the write-up for the Psion Series 5, I picked up a Psion 3a from a fellow collector through a retro group. The plan was to do a write-up comparing the two platforms. Despite that you can see the DNA carry from the 3 to the 5, they’re distinct...| Kian Ryan
I get asked for recommendations for practice soldering kits. Last Christmas I was surprised to find under my tree a soldering kit from my parents. Really surprised. I’m not sure if it they thought “oh, he’ll enjoy making that” or “he needs more practice”. I’m taking it as the former...| Kian Ryan
A couple of years ago, I was in an incident that reduced the strength in my left shoulder. I’ve been waiting for an operation to restore the function to that shoulder, but we were warned the post-operative recovery period would be several months. So I started looking for keyboard options...| Kian Ryan
TLDR; you can convert Series 5 Word documents to Text, HTML5 or Markdown using this online service. No guarantees are made, and for transparency you can view the code here. In 2021, I wrote about my workflow for getting draft documents out of my Psion and in to my blog....| Kian Ryan
Carting your precious RC2014 isn’t always practical. EtchedPixels has developed a RC2014 emulator that allows you to run a RC2014 ROM in a local linux environment. This is perfect for application development, before or in conjunction with testing on real hardware. I’m using it to test my assembly builds, in...| Kian Ryan
Happy New Year. We’re going to start the new year by going down to the metal. The RC2014 Classic II and Pro ROM images both contain copies of the Small Computer Monitor. SCM is a machine code monitor and assembler for Z80 systems. We’re going to switch a RC2014 Classic...| Kian Ryan
TLDR; I’ve released the first version of my rogue-like game - “In The Dark” for CP/M, DOS and modern systems. You can download the binaries for each system and source code from GitHub. I hope you enjoy it. “In The Dark” is a rogue-like game that sees you playing as...| Kian Ryan
Back in t’day (drops 20p in t’swear jar), before the advent of the Internet as we know it in its current form, computers talked to each other using BBS software and terminal programs. You dialled the remote machine, the modem on the other side would pick up and a conversation...| Kian Ryan
I’d like you to meet “Bowie”, our newest RC2014, with a focus on “Sound and Vision”. Bowie is RC2014 Pro with a number of additional cards: RC2014-YM2149 - YM2149F/AY-3-8190 Sound card (Spectrum/Amstrad/Atari ST) Quazar’s SID Interface - SID Soundchip Interface (Commodore 64) Shiela Dixon’s 8x8 LED Matrix Display - 8x8...| Kian Ryan
Creating the PiRS232 and playing with the Pi over serial has been leading towards an idea - I wanted to create a small, battery powered device, a sidecar that I could carry with my Psion and use as portable Linux terminal. I also managed to turn it into an Internet...| Kian Ryan
Sponsored Post: - PCBWay (pronounced PCBWaaaaaaaayyyyyy), reached out and asked if I had any 3d printing projects they could help with. I said no, but I did have an electronics project I needed PCBs for. They kindly sponsored the first iteration of PCBs for this project. As suggested by Rich...| Kian Ryan
I’ve been using the RC2014 as a a CP/M development machine, especially while developing a cross-platform Rogue-like game. I love it. And whilst it’s a hell of a lot more portable than carrying a Osborne 1 or a Amstrad CPC 6128, it’s not something I can keep in the laptop...| Kian Ryan
Like a lot of kids in the late 80s, I found a GameBoy under my Christmas tree. It came with one pack in game - Tetris. I played during the days, my Dad played in the evenings. Tetris was not my first gaming love. Games on the Spectrum probably took...| Kian Ryan
I’ve been a member of the bird site since 2007. I have sent 39 thousand tweets, to a tiny audience of under 1000 followers and folow-ees (it’s a word now). My first tweet was sent from a dressing gown, on a Saturday, after opening an account, trying to stitch Twitter,...| Kian Ryan
The Dark Room is the property of John Robertson. This is a fan project, and a good excuse to build some hardware. John Robertson has in no way endorsed this project, or been approached for rights use. All rights to the Dark Room remain with John Robertson. Now that bit...| Kian Ryan
I really like my Psion. Nice keyboard, black and white, works great in sunlight. Runs for forever off a few double AA batteries. I also really like The Raspberry Pi Zero. A little full-fat Linux machine, smaller than a credit card that can run quite happily on battery power. I...| Kian Ryan
We are just back from Electromagnetic Field 2022 held at Eastnor, UK. Whilst trying to avoid sounding like a Youtube mid-roll ad, Electromagnetic Field is a camping festival for people who like to tinker, whatever their form of tinkering. In practical terms, during the day there’s talks and workshops: electronics,...| Kian Ryan
Back in the early days of the awfulness somewhere in early 2020, we put the pennies down for a Prusa Mini and waited. Why the Mini? Space. Back in our previous house we really didn’t have a lot of space, and the Mini was a nice size that could live...| Kian Ryan
Back in the early part of last year, my first frustrated attempts at connecting my Psions to the RC2014 Z80 kit computer ultimately led to building the Sidecar, a small, battery powered Linux computer designed for serial use. The early experiments used a Pi Zero as a go-between between the...| Kian Ryan
