• Wanted: Smith-Corona Service Manual - Reward Offered

    18 May | 16
    • in Retro • 
    • by FozzTexx

    Update 2016 Jun 8: I was able to get the typewriter open and it is now working and printing A couple of weeks ago I picked up a Smith-Corona Memory Correct 400 Messenger at Goodwill. I debated getting it since I already have enough retro stuff around the house, but every single time I’m at a Goodwill I look at all the typewriters to see if they have some kind of serial or parallel port. This one has an external interface which can be connected to a computer using an external box...

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  • Testing DRAM Using an Arduino

    14 Mar | 16
    • in Arduino • 
    • in Arduino • 
    • in Apple IIgs • 
    • by FozzTexx

    Bad RAM on the IIgs A couple of weekends ago I was in the mood to do some retrogaming and didn’t know what I wanted to play so I asked for some suggestions from Twitter. I played some Castle Wolfenstein, Snake Byte, BC’s Quest for Tires, and Miner 2049er on the Apple IIe and then I wanted to try some games on my Apple IIgs. Unfortunately my IIgs has had intermittent issues for a long time, and it was looking like bad RAM might be the culprit.   The IIgs has an Applied...

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  • Bringing My Dad's 40 Year Old HP 25 Calculator Back to Life

    18 Jan | 16
    • in Retro • 
    • in 3D Printing • 
    • by FozzTexx

    I’ve had my dad’s first calculator sitting in a drawer in my desk for a little while. It’s a Hewlett-Packard 25 calculator with a red LED screen. My dad got it in February of 1976 at Macy’s and paid $207.68 for it. The calculator itself has a manufacture date of March of 1975. Not long after he got the calculator HP introduced the 25C which would save your program even after switching the calculator off which he said he would have preferred, but back then returning...

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  • Testing an 8-Bit Microprocessor on a Breadboard

    05 Oct | 15
    • in Electronics • 
    • in Retro • 
    • by FozzTexx

    One of the retro computer mailing lists I’m on recently had a side project go by about building a single board computer using a Hitachi HD63C09P 8-bit processor which is a descendant of the Motorola 6809. I followed along with interest and there were some small PCBs designed and when it got to the testing phase the project stalled because they couldn’t get the 63C09 to start up. For some reason the crystal wouldn’t start oscillating, or when using a full can oscillator the E...

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  • Adding a Hard Drive to an Original IBM PC Using a Raspberry Pi

    09 Aug | 15
    • in Raspberry Pi • 
    • in IBM PC • 
    • by FozzTexx

    My rev B IBM PC 5150 A couple of months ago I moved my IBM PC into the living room thinking that with a more prominent location I would use it more often. It’s fun to try out ancient software, or use the PC to connect to the occasional surviving BBS. I also like tinkering trying to use the PC to access the modern internet, or at least see if I can. I definitely won't be playing YouTube videos on it, but I can read reddit, or search Google. Because of the nice keyboard and no...

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