Picked up a mouse for the //c. Didn’t expect it to come in its original box in like-new condition
I rekajiggered the cables on my Commodore monitor so that my Apple //c video is in monochrome green phosphor. Takes me right back to having one as a kid, though the official monitor that goes with it has a much clearer picture 🤫
Honestly a bit shocked that Executor still works more or less perfectly on Windows 10 when run as administrator
Finally had a spare moment to figure out l the source of the strange plasticy odor coming from the VIC 20. Turns out it was from the penultimate cartridge. Not sure what to make of that
Couldn’t resist trying to run GEOS on the //c. Unfortunately I don’t have a mouse or joystick right now, so there’s not much interactivity. Something to revisit in the future
Got the Apple //c booting to a floppyemu! Unfortunately it cannot boot from most external drives natively, so I had to unplug the 5 ¼ inch internal floppy drive and run a cable out the back of the machine to the floppyemu. It works though!
I’m starting on an Apple //c adventure. I’ve got 2 now. The 1st unit I got turned out to not work. It boots to a screen full of colors, and that’s it. The 2nd unit works, and through it I was able to determine the 1st unit is booting into self test, and then crashing
Got a little desk from IKEA to put my retro set up on. I forgot how difficult positioning a large CRT on a tiny desk is, what a nostalgic experience. I quite like the end result, feels very cozy
A friend sent me his RetroTink 2x to try out. A bit disappointed in the image quality, it’s very smudgy. However, this is the first time I’ve played C64 games with no lag on a modern TV. I think something like this is in my future for after my Commodore monitor gives up the ghost.
Never would have imagined that there’s a vi clone for the C64, let alone that it would be so feature complete
It absolutely blows my mind I can browse the modern web on a PPC-based Mac from 2005. TenFourFox is really an amazing project
My long weekend project: getting music onto this 2nd gen iPod. Surprisingly difficult since I had to both find a software update package, and a version of iTunes that still works on OS X 10.4/PPC
I forgot how much I love the keyboard on the PowerBook G4. I’m sure it’s in part that I have had this particular machine a long time, but it still feels super pleasant to type on, and I don’t make many mistakes
Hmm, the Vic 20 is putting off a mysterious foul odor when in use. I should probably find the source of that before I use it more…
Ordered some desolder braid. The power switch in my flat C64 is broken and needs to be replaced. This will be the first repair I’ve done with a soldering iron since my breadbin C64, hopefully it doesn’t end in disaster 😳
I thought this game – Rescuing Orc – didn’t work with the SD2IEC, but it just does not like the fastloader it comes with. I don’t even remember what this game is about, but I remember being fairly excited when I downloaded it…
This is probably silly, but I recently picked up a C64 to use as my “daily driver.” Parts for the C128 are pricey, and it doesn’t have nearly as much documentation as the C64, so I want to reduce the number of hours I put on it.
There was just one fault with the C64 I got, it was missing the 4 key cap. I found a very cheap replacement, but it does not match. I kind of like how silly it looks, it gives the whole system character.
Since it’s easier to find parts and whatnot, I think that I might attempt to do more to restore this system. It would probably be good to learn how to recap a motherboard, and I do like the idea of retrobrighting the key caps. They are extremely yellow
There is just something so pleasant about the VIC-20. The primitive graphics and sound make using it feel very intimate in a way that modern technology can’t match.
Got the WiModem working with the VIC-20. This is probably the oldest computer I’ve gotten online with to date. At least VICTERM emulates a 40 column display!
Cheese and Onion is both technically impressive for a VIC-20 game, and a lot of fun. Really enjoying the penultimate+ cartridge so far
Put some replacement feet on the VIC-20. It feels like this project is now complete! Can’t wait for my Penultimate+ cartride to arrive 😃
This is probably more window dressing than anything else, but I added heat sinks to the VIC-20’s hotter running chips. Still, 🤞🏽 it helps prolong the life of its expensive and hard to source components
I also discovered the source of the video not working when I first plugged in this (the original) main board: one of the potentiometers for adjusting the video signal is broken. If you turn the machine upside-down, it causes it to lose contact with the main board and throws everything out of wack. A shake fixes it, but I’ll have to figure out a long term fix there
