Old computer repair, history and programming.
The BBC Bridge Companion has RF video output from the factory, but that’s not good enough for its cutting-edge pastel graphics. In order to get things looking their best, I spent a really long time making a composite video mod for the system rather than finishing off my Tetris clone.
In this phase of the BBC Bridge Companion series, we’ll talk about a few simple tasks. Buying a system. Buying another system. Fixing both systems. And developing a cartridge PCB for them from scratch. Doesn’t everyone spend their weekends this way?
Ever done dumb stunts for your friends on a dare? I was hanging out with a bunch of fellow old-computer ne’er-do-wells when the topic of the BBC Bridge Companion came up. It was a useless thing to own, they said, although many of the assembled group had already owned one at some time or another. If you don’t know how to play bridge, then why even bother? Well, I know how to play Tetris, and I know…
When Suruga-ya gave me a really good deal – with free shipping to Canada – on a CRT monitor, I had to take it. Only once it arrived did I realize this monitor was a lot weirder than I thought it was, and now I have to find a way to actually make use of the thing.
During the tumultuous era where Apple cast the Apple II aside in favour of the Macintosh, they also threw out a really special little computer: the Apple IIgs. It combined the Apple II’s anything-goes accessibility with 16-bit performance and FrogDesign’s good looks. I’d never had one before, but have started to get interested in them recently. Let’s see what it takes to get this slightly battered…
There’s a lot of NEC computers on this blog, but tons of Japanese companies made great machines. Fujitsu, for instance, built a whole spectrum of computers. You’ve seen three of their 6809 machines in previous articles. Today, we’ll figure out how to get this sad 486-based FM Towns II to boot. Ideally, it should stay booted, too.
When I was visiting my buddy, he pointed out that he had a 24” LCD monitor in the garage that he was throwing out. Sometimes it wouldn’t turn on, he explained. I don’t remember what he said after that, but the monitor ended up in the back of my crappy van full of cool junk, and now it’s here. Ready to be used for… monitoring?
Although we usually deal with old computers around these parts, today’s project comes to us from the futuristic year of 2021. What makes it interesting? You can’t buy it at your local store. Or any store, really. Today, we’re going to be getting a salvaged Loongson 3A5000-based motherboard up and running, and figuring out how good Linux is on a domestic Chinese CPU.
Leako – my ColecoVision clone – has reached a point where it has to become a thing that is actually buildable by other, more normal, people. On top of that, we’ve got chip and part shortages out the wazoo, and a smattering of bugs and reliability issues to knock down. Will revision number seven be the charm?
This Model 1 TRS-80 has been through a lot before it was rescued out of an e-waste dumpster by my friend. With some patient work, I should be able to turn it back into a computer. But how bad will this Frankenstein’s monster of a trash 80 become in the process?