Posts tagged "Modifications"

Whenever a machine is permanently or temporarily modified to work better, including upgrades, the entry goes here.

thumbnail for "Mattel's Little Friend"

Mattel's Little Friend

As I’ve gotten deeper into the world of 8-bit computers, one mass-market, North American computer has resisted my attempts to obtain it. That computer is the Mattel Aquarius, and it is at last within my grasp. Or at least it would be, if it would act a little nicer.

thumbnail for "More Memories of Pictures"

More Memories of Pictures

Back when I did the recap, power supply recap, and trace repairs on the Bad ADB Mac LC, there was something missing. Even after all that work, I was only left with a measly 16 colours at 640x480 resolution. That’s not enough colours at all, but luckily it’s pretty easy to fix.

thumbnail for "Bluer than velvet were her SCSIs"

Bluer than velvet were her SCSIs

If you need a SCSI hard drive for your old computer, there are a lot of great options becoming available for a solid-state substitute. A great one of those options is the BlueSCSI, and I’m not just saying that because I won a free one. It’s because I won a free kit, so I got to put it together myself.

thumbnail for "Go Back to GBS"

Go Back to GBS

There are a lot of people buying fancy upscalers these days. And who can blame them? Old videogames are great, but new monitors are lazy and inept. What, the signal is too slow for you? Clearly all these great old arcade boards, computers, and game consoles are just not a big enough challenge for the input logic in modern LCDs, who prefer to spend their considerable brainpower decoding much higher-frequency syncs. To solve this problem, I’ll spend not very much money.

thumbnail for "Presentcomputer 1000"

Presentcomputer 1000

What if I told you that you can still buy a Z80-based computer from the 80s for only twenty bucks? It has a full keyboard, a pretty solid BASIC interpreter, and there’s even an expansion bus of sorts. And it runs off batteries!

thumbnail for "Revenge of the Famicom composite video mod"

Revenge of the Famicom composite video mod

When we last read about the Famicom composite mod, there were a bunch of changes I wanted to make, but left tragically undone in the name of getting in some Mario time over the holidays. Now I’m going to make a solid effort at producing a more production-ready version of the modification.

thumbnail for "Modding a PlayStation (Eventually)"

Modding a PlayStation (Eventually)

I’m a little late to the whole PlayStation ownership game, but what better way to start than by attempting a modchip install? This one had some twists and turns, but ultimately ends up with me being able to play A-Train in blurry composite video.

thumbnail for "Unleashing the Power of the X68000 ACE"

Unleashing the Power of the X68000 ACE

You might recall that I own a Sharp X68000 ACE, the world-beating, sprite-spitting computer of everyone’s dreams. So far, though, the ownership experience hasn’t been the most fun I’ve ever had. Repairing the battery damage in mine has been challenging, as the damage goes deeper than I first thought, but I have accomplished one thing so far: installing a more reliable power supply.

thumbnail for "Adding composite video to a Famicom"

Adding composite video to a Famicom

Since I’ve been reading I Am Error, I’ve been getting more and more interested in the technical aspects of the Famicom. Turns out all you really need to get me interested in your console is prose explanations of how a pattern table works. Also, I get to drip some molten lead into it so I can use a modern TV! Everyone wins.

thumbnail for "A Game Boy Macro"

A Game Boy Macro

There are a lot of broken Nintendo DS consoles out there. A shattered screen there, a broken flip hinge here: it would be nice if someone could do something to save some of those wounded machines. Someone did do something!

thumbnail for "Dual Goteks in the PC-8801mkIISR at last"

Dual Goteks in the PC-8801mkIISR at last

In my previous entry, I found out that my old IBM PC “DOS” floppy adapter was not sufficient when trying to read from two drives at once. Somehow, they confused the floppy controller enough that nothing could be read from the second drive.

thumbnail for "Guest Project - a Model M refresh"

Guest Project - a Model M refresh

A few years ago, my friend Grant completed a refresh of one of his Model M keyboards (I know, right?) Here’s his writeup on the process.

thumbnail for "Attempting dual Goteks in the PC-8801mkIISR"

Attempting dual Goteks in the PC-8801mkIISR

I got another couple of Gotek floppy emulators from China, and now the SR has dual floppy drives. Unfortunately, I can’t use them both at the same time.

thumbnail for "PC-8801mkIISR opening and Gotek setup"

PC-8801mkIISR opening and Gotek setup

I’ve been wanting to get back to the SR for quite some time. I figured the Gotek adapter PCB and the HxC-flashed Gotek would be a direct drop-in to the new machine, and I was right.

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