After doing a bit of testing, it turns out the only thing wrong with the Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer 2 that I got was the keyboard itself. I was able to get some schematics and I tested the PIA with a logic probe and manually jumpered the keyboard connector and I was able to type. This was both good and bad. It meant I didn't have to hunt down a long extinct PIA, but it meant I was going to have to repair a membrane keyboard. I took apart the keyboard to see how it was constructed...

If you've messed around in the Commodore 64 world for even a short time, you've probably discovered that it's theoretically possible to hook up a Commodore 1541 5.25" floppy disk drive to a PC. Most of the information you come across though either talks about a specialized circuit board, or using a computer with a parallel port. While I do have plenty of older computers that have the nifty parallel port that can be used as GPIO, I was more interested in interfacing the drive...

This has been sitting in my closet for some time. Several years ago a friend of mine built a low power silent computer with an Epia M10000 board to use as his email server. It ran great for several years, but suddenly crapped out when he was away. When he returned he brought it over and I showed him that it was toast because of the counterfeit capacitors that had all swollen and burst. What was amazing was even though the computer was several years old he was able to go over to Fry's and...

I always enjoy shopping at the dollar store, you never know what kind of neat things you're going to find. Today I found this 12V to USB adapter! For a buck I had to get it and see if it would really work. It has two USB ports but they aren't wired up identically. The 'A' port can provide up to 1 amp while the 'B' port is only 0.5 amps. Not iPhone compatible Unfortunately neither port works with an iPhone. The iPhone doesn't see the 'B' port at all and...

Not too long ago I was given an Atari 2600 and a lot of games. It didn't work. Checked the power supply but it was fine. Vitaliy discovered that if it was switched on, then the power cord removed and re-inserted it would work! It still had life in it and wants to play some games! What was strange was that as soon as you turn it off and try to turn it back on it wouldn't come up. The only way to make it work was by jamming in the power cord with the 2600 switched on. Thought maybe...