Getting ready to setup the new Raspberry Pi 500+ as my retro computer emulation station.

I’m enjoying reading @christopherdrum.bsky.social deep dive into vintage productivity software at stonetools.ghost.io

I think I finally figured out why the floppy was not working. I have two dead oscillators. The 24MHz crystal is dead, and it feeds the 82077AA floppy controller. I also discovered the 14.1818MHz crystal is dead too. I can’t find that exact frequency, so I hope a 14.31818MHz replacement will do.

I tempted fate and bought a Bondi Blue iMac G3 from eBay. The plastic needed to be snapped back into position and some clips were broken. Amazingly, the fragile inner bezel looks to be in good shape from the outside. Sadly, it doesn’t start, so I’ll have to open it up and see what going on.

Game changer… youtu.be/ogHqmjn6sY4...

When every PC had a lock, but you never really understood why.

Oh no. This CD duplicator just showed up locally at a good price. I have no reason to be want one… yet…

Ever wonder how hit CBS Show 'Whiz Kids' turns the stars into star hackers? Issue 1 of K-Power Magazine has the secret!

I stopped by infinitemac.org for the first time in awhile, and I continue to be blown away by its features and finesse. It’s zero effort emulation with an unlimited software library. Truly a technical work of art.

I’m thrilled to have an official Apple CD mounting kit for my Quadra 650. We’ll see if it partners nicely with this SCSI Panasonic x2 CD-ROM.

Troublesome upgrade to Kubuntu 25.04. Started with a troublesome mirror site causing the install to fail. Once the install process was repaired, got a black screen on my 2012 MBP. Ends up being a kernel conflict with Apple’s EFI implementation. Installing a different kernel version got it running. 😓

I think I’ve taken care of business and added audio to my RGB to HDMI. github.com/hoglet67/RGB...

I have finally acquired the monitor that accompanied my first computer, an Osborne One (making up for the Osborne’s ridiculously small built-in screen). It arrived in decent condition, except for the H-Width potentiometer adjustment, which was snapped off inside the case.

Louder for the people in the back: Color matched Mac "Platinum" PLA 3D printer filament, $21.99/spool, now available. No more waiting, high prices, expensive shipping or "chalky" filament. It's here, now. And this is what it looks like! Look at that color match! polarfilament.com/pr...

Excited to have this new-old-stock 9-inch CRT in pristine condition! Never been used with serial number 100835 from March 1982.

Hit a nice round number of 1,000 followers. I love this vintage/retro/classic computer hobby and all the folks that make it a community.

Watching a pro play early electronic music through an AM transistor radio on a PDP-8.

Though it may look peaceful now, a great battle was fought here today removing this corroded PS/2 connector.

The long-suffering Wang EXEC 386 ( 3131) is working with an XTIDE and Sergey Kiselev’s floppy BIOS, but the onboard floppy and IDE are still a mess. The system BIOS reports a checksum error, so that could be an issue, but the only copy of the BIOS I can find online is the one I uploaded.

Well, I’ll be… the battery was not keeping the CMOS settings when powered down. Sniffed out something odd with transistor Q1 (2N3904), and sure enough, it was the problem. May be the first time I removed the right component on the first try! 😎

Impressive commitment to create an enviable ‘90s cable TV simulator. youtu.be/CDW1wokbRiQ...

Once again, I really need to double check everything before ordering replacement ICs. Size does matter!

Peak sound in DOS gaming achieved! Thanks to @polpo.org awesome PicoGUS paired with the slick WavetablePi, I can enjoy Adlib, Tandy, SoundBlaster, CMS, GravisUltraSound, and Roland MT-32 audio from one amazing card.

For the past four months I have been restoring an IBM PS/1 2168. With the Checkmate monitor, I think I am done. Let's FDOOM.EXE and DUKE3D.EXE, here I come!

Got a case for my Retro Chip Tester Pro. Had to replace the tall cap on the power board. Used an SMD cap, but had to remove its plastic base so even it would fit.

These little Eyoyo monitors are pretty sweet for conveniently testing stuff on the bench.

Yep, but I was too cheap to spring for the Logitech version, and I went with the lower cost model that came bundled with GEM’s desktop publishing software.

I bought this USB flash drive sometime around 2005. It cost some money, offering a whopping 2GB of capacity. But this has been my goto USB drive ever since. It works every time, when new and larger drives have let me down. I’m convinced the old drives were made better.

It’s driving me crazy that my Gotek is not recognizing a drive change unless I reboot the computer. The Gotek display shows the change, but the computer doesn’t see it. It’s like it’s cached by the system (running DOS 6.22) Any ideas? I’ve loaded the latest firmware.

Does anyone have an active link for info and drivers for the Orpheus I sound card?

I also used to worry I wouldn’t have enough vintage floppy containers.

I used to worry I wouldn’t be able to get my hands on a cleaning disk, then I finally collected them all in one place.

How exactly do they pre-measure the cleaning capacity for just three cleanings?

An unopened AOL disk, I must be lucky. 😜

I became a network admin in the early 90s, so I just caught the tail end of Novell’s dominance throughout the 80s.

Battery carnage repair underway. A multitude of bodges in my future. (The dark areas are where the traces are completely gone.) It’s almost the same on the back of the board.

It has taken longer than I’d like to admit to get this lovely little 386 going. But, aside from the hard drive, it’s good to go… and will soon be off my bench.

It’s a bit dirty, and doesn’t work yet, but I’m about to discover peak 286 goodness.

Hi @nanoraptor.danamania.com - I built your minitower C64 concept to exhibit at VCF SoCal this weekend (crediting you for the concept and design of course). It's not fully assembled in this photo. I hope you like it!

I think I’ve discovered why I got a good deal on this PS/2 Model 30 286… the case is locked.

True wood grain

Saw my first boxed copy of CheckIt 2.1. Glad to know some people actually bought the software.

Flipping switches are cool.

Got a nice NVMe / Ubuntu upgrade coming to my Raspberry Pi 5.

Glorious 16K of core memory in a functioning PDP-8.

Loaning some of my computers to a new technology museum feels good, but also like I’m sending my kids to boarding school.

Explain your username. Retro is self explanatory, though I go along with the idea that “retro” is something new that harkens back to something old. Viātor is Latin for traveler or messenger.

Made my way through an excellent long read described as a history of Window 2, but really it’s the tale of the rise of the GUI and does a great job of explaining the ill-fated consequences for OS/2. www.ninakalinina.com/notes/win2/

Here is an updated photo of my display shelves with less severe lighting.

Finally remembered to change the copyright on my website to Creative Commons with Attribution. I like the idea of getting back to the dreamy ‘00s when blogs were free and easy. retroviator.com