Posts tagged "Power Supplies"

Power supplies are an essential part of any working computer. If you don’t have power, you don’t have much.

thumbnail for "Amped Up For Artdink (Travelling to Tokio, Part 1)"

Amped Up For Artdink (Travelling to Tokio, Part 1)

Despite not being able to understand more than preschool-level written Japanese, I decided to get in on the “importing games from Japan” craze. Of course, I jumped in at the deep end and decided to pick up an Artdink-made city simulator with lots of cultural and regional in-jokes. Also, the city is in space. Did I mention that my PC-9821Ap2 can’t run it?

thumbnail for "I don't know you from Adam"

I don't know you from Adam

No self-respecting Coleco owner’s collection is complete without the machine that was their ultimate undoing: the Coleco Adam. Adam’s a game console. Adam’s a computer. Adam’s a bizarre hash of over-engineering and under-manufacturing. It’s all of those things, and more, which would make it perfect for this blog even if I wasn’t knee-deep in ColecoVision construction.

thumbnail for "The Case of the Dead Mini5SX"

The Case of the Dead Mini5SX

In order to get a copy of Tetris for the NEC mini5 series of word processors, I had to buy it along with a whole word processor set from the previous owner. This LCD-based mini5SX is sleek, attractive, surprisingly heavy, and broken. Very, very broken. Let’s see if we can fix up this grey beast, and dump its ROMs.

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Sanyo Triple Five

Even though I seem to have terrible luck with x86-based computers, that doesn’t mean I have to take it lying down. I can go out there and cause even worse things to happen to me. Like, for instance, buying a broken super-budget PC-incompatible from 1982.

thumbnail for "Call In The PROs When You Need Power (X68000 PRO Part 2)"

Call In The PROs When You Need Power (X68000 PRO Part 2)

Now that I had a reasonably clean X68000 PRO to work from, I set about restoring power. Rather than doing things the cheap way and strapping up my Meanwell four-voltage test supply, I decided to go whole hog and lay out a brand-new power supply PCB.

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Sharp invites you to enter the Turbo Zone

Before the X68000, Sharp had a Z80-based 8-bit personal computer that tried valiantly to compete with the PC-88 and MSX. Actually, they had a couple, but the one that I’m most interested in is the Sharp X1. It combines flash VCR-esque styling, sturdy construction, decent graphics capabilities, and AY-3-8910 sound. What more could you want? Well, you could put the word “turbo” on the front.

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 "Fixing the Bad ADB Mac LC's power supply"

Fixing the Bad ADB Mac LC's power supply

Now that I know that the computer wasn’t horribly killed by my recap job and repair of all those broken traces in the ADB input system, let’s take a brief moment to recap that original Astec power supply from the “bad” LC. And fix the video!

thumbnail for "Recapping a Macintosh LC TDK power supply"

Recapping a Macintosh LC TDK power supply

While I was working on the bad ADB Mac LC, I tested it by using the “good” power supply from my childhood Mac LC. How good was that “good” power supply, though? Well, it smelled a little fishy.

thumbnail for "Tandy 1000SX power supply is back from the dead"

Tandy 1000SX power supply is back from the dead

When we last encountered the Tandy 1000SX, it decided to bravely blow itself up rather than face us in battle. With a lot of elbow grease and a little bit of solder-slinging, this testament to 80s shopping-mall computing will live again.

thumbnail for "Tandy 1000SX power supply has an oops"

Tandy 1000SX power supply has an oops

I picked up a Tandy 1000SX recently. My plan is to use it for experimenting with Tandy graphics and sound, and maybe even port a few hobbyist games to the platform. As per usual with my pick-ups, this one needs a little bit of work before it can be usable.

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