Some new additions, some new repairs

While the last few weeks have been busy, they haven’t been that busy on a retro front. I realised I’d ordered the wrong Floppy Disk controllers for the Microbee and the MSX controller, so I had to order replacements. They’ll take quite some time to get here, but that’s OK. Due to some financial commitments

The Collection (As of 27/04/2021)

A quick document of what equipment I have, and what status it’s in, as of today. Monitors 2 x SVideo capable flatscreen monitos. Both support Composite, VGA, Component and SVideo. I use these for a lot of my older 8 Bit systems. They’re generic off brand. ACER-V226HQL. These are capable of syncing right down to

Britvasion Part 2

Now I had my machines up and running, it was time for me to explore a bit more. What lurks beneath the covers? Atari first look. I started with the Atari. I opened it up. There was a rusty RF shield with a hole cut into it and a board sticking through, covered in packing

Britvasion Part 1

Many moons ago I hatched a cunning plan. As Blackadder would say, a plan so cunning, you could stick a tail on it and call it a fox. I had friends from Perth who had moved to the UK. They would be coming back for Easter 2020. They’d be bringing BIG suitcases with them to

Sneak Preview

But first, Fixing keyswitches!

I declare 2021 the “Year of the Peripheral”

With a CPC 464 wending it’s way to me, and (hopefully) in the new year, my BBC Master and Atari 800xl arriving, I find myself in the strange position of having “enough” retro computers for now. No, I don’t have a TRS/80, a CoCo or a Ti 99/4a. I can live without for now. I

The Collection (As of 08/10/2020)

A quick document of what equipment I have, and what status it’s in, as of today. Computers 8 Bit Commodore Vic 20, with a smattering of cartridges. Commodore 64c x 3. 2 working, one needs work. JiffyDOS, Floppy disks, Cartridge emulator, FDD emulator, Printers. Commodore SX64, DEAD. Needs the PSU rebuilt. Commodore 128D, Internal FDD

Retrocomputing News (Repost)

(Originally posted on LinkedIn Feb. 6th, 2020) Well, I continue to collect old computers and consoles. It’s a fun hobby and exercises skills I don’t get to use at work as much any more. The pleasure of starting with a beat up old system and getting it working properly is a real buzz, and lets

Quick retrocomputing update (Repost)

(Originally posted on Dreamwidth Feb. 3rd, 2020) NES are still cranky.Apple ][ has RAM on it’s way. It’s on a slow plane from China. I found a small machine-code memory test I could type in but it’s a pain to have to type it in each time so I plan to swap out banks at