Leaded Solder
Posts
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Sony's Triple Seven
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.
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A SPARC makes a little fire
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.
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CoCo1 composite video
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.
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Assembling the PC-6001
When you’ve got a computer as underpowered as 1981’s NEC PC-6001, you need to squeeze every ounce of performance you can out of it. BASIC just didn’t cut it. For many enthusiasts, the only game in town was machine language. It’s well past time for me to apply my Z80 assembly knowledge to the little white wedge.
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PaPICOm
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.
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Lord of the Sord
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.
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The VTech Socratic Method
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.
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Let's say scram to SCART
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.
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Let's Make A Space Shooter With Nintendo Family BASIC
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.
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BlueSCSI Goes Outside
While the BlueSCSI is great inside an old Mac, what if they were also great outside of one? The external DB25 form factor of the BlueSCSI v1 intrigued me, so I built one – the hard way.
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Junior Senior, Can't Defeat
Everyone gets everything they want. I wanted the cheapest Atari 2600 Jr on eBay, and for my sins, they sold me one. Brought it to my front door like parcel delivery. It was a real choice console, and when it was over, I still wanted a couple more.
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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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