Leaded Solder
Posts
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Building my own mechanical keyboard for the CoCo 1
Yep, it finally happened. The backwoods repair that I did to my Tandy TRS-80 Colour Computer’s keyboard membrane failed. Turns out that garden-grade self-adhesive copper tape and some electric paint is not a lasting replacement. Let’s do something that will last a little longer.
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Ascending Mount FujiNet
In case you haven’t heard of it, FujiNet is an ambitious open-source community project. Its intent is to be the only peripheral you will ever need to get for your old computer. That’s a lofty goal if ever I’ve heard one. I’ve been in and out of the project over the last few years, but I hadn’t actually gotten (or finished) any FujiNet hardware. Let’s revive my troubled CoCo1 with a cartridge that does it all.
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A PC-6001mkII keyboard replacement
My NEC PC-6001mkII has a very spotty keyboard. The captive-dome switches inside are too corroded or dirty to work properly, a common affliction of the model. Luckily, honet, a hobbyist in Japan, has produced a replacement PCB for the PC-6001mkII keyboard named P6KBPCB. I finally got my hands on one, and I’m going to install it.
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Do I have a Bad Adam?
What do you do when you get a diagnostics cartridge that doesn’t work? Make your own, to make sure your computer isn’t too sick to be diagnosed. And then you can diagnose the diagnostics. Why, how do you spend your Friday nights?
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A Backup Papicom
When you love a computer, sometimes you have to buy a second one of that computer, especially if it’s cheap. My justification? I wanted a good sacrificial test platform on which to do a bunch of internal PC-6001 mods, and I didn’t want to worry about frying my beloved first PC-6001. So, of course what I did was: pick up one that’s in better condition than my “good” one.
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You're telling me there's 64 Nintendos in there?
Once, I had a Nintendo 64, and now I have another. The new one is from a different country, and sometimes there’s a period of adjustment. Adjustment, and maintenance. Also, I build a bootleg cartridge.
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Oya, I've heard of mega-ROMs
Konami made some of the best games for the MSX computer platform. Unfortunately, the market being what it is, those cartridges have become expensive collectibles rather than cheap games, which takes all the fun out of it. Before we can build a bootleg cart, we need to understand Konami’s unique mapper.
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Turbo Typin'
Times are tough for the Sharp X1turbo community. While keyboards used to be thriving in the used market, nowadays whole families of hungry junk hoarders can go years without a single ping on their Yahoo! Auctions watch lists. We gotta do what we can to save the keyboards that we have.
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Giving my PC-6001 a LIFT
Most software for the NEC PC-6001 was sold on tape cassettes. Tapes are great, but they require a lot of patience. I do strongly prefer the modern conveniences of floppy disk and ROM cartridge. What do you mean those aren’t “modern?”
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The Origin of the Species
NEC moved into personal computing relatively quickly. After the hobbyist and industrial success of the TK-80, they produced a handful of “better TK-80s,” which didn’t do as well as the original. Ultimately, they developed a whole new system: the 1979 NEC PC-8001. And boy, did they ever nail it.
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Tandy 1000SX is cleared for flight
Now that the Tandy 1000SX finally works, it’s time to set it up for something useful. By which I mean playing Sopwith off of a Gotek floppy drive emulator.
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Outfitting my BlueSCSI disk image
The BlueSCSI hard drive emulator works well in my Macs. But what use is a hard drive if it’s not stuffed full of programs? In this article, I’ll detail my process for putting software on an old Mac using a new Mac. Don’t worry, I will play a videogame at the end. For a couple of minutes.
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MZasters of the Universe
This poor Japanese Z80 computer is literally screaming out for someone to come and fix it. With the some troubleshooting and a little luck, I got it back on the open seas and pumping out its fantastic chunky colour graphics once again.
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Pretty Eight Machine
I got a really good deal on a Fujitsu FM-8, the big, brown predecessor of the FM-7. Of course, it’s missing a few parts. Follow along with me as I get acquainted with an earlier version of Fujitsu’s dual-processor wonder computer.
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Flat Panels Aren't MultiSync 3D
While I adore my NEC PC-TV151, there is one monitor that NEC shipped to our shores that may be the ultimate CRT. This one was cheap, and this one is also very, very sick. Can I cure it so that I can enjoy CGA the way it was meant to be?
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