• Those boards don't work ... unless you've got POWER!

    13 Jun | 14
    • in TRS-80 • 
    • by FozzTexx

    A few months ago I purchased a a TRS-80 Model 1 off of eBay. The seller had listed it with a $400 Buy It Now and $40 shipping. It had been up for a long time, and I figured why not and made him an offer of $60 expecting to be ignored or rejected. A few hours later though I got an email saying the seller had accepted my offer. A TRS-80 with monitor for only $100 shipped! But it didn’t have a power supply. I was hoping I could figure out a workaround. My cobbled power cable I made...

    81 comments  |  read more
  • I'd buy that for a dollar!

    01 Jun | 14
    • in Electronics • 
    • in TRS-80 • 
    • by FozzTexx

    Tons of parts I decided to go hit the garage sales again today, hoping for another good retro computer score. While I didn't find any computers or old game consoles, I did find a little drawer unit filled full of electronics components! The asking price was only one dollar, so I quickly snatched it up without even bothering to examine what the parts were. I was very anxious to go through everything and see what I kind of a score I had made!  I had to lay it down on its back in the...

    6 comments  |  read more
  • Printing posters without graphics

    13 May | 14
    • in Retro • 
    • by FozzTexx

    Enough computers for a classroom! After a post to G+ of a picture of three of my Apple IIs all setup together, a discussion started about what could be printed on a dot matrix printer that would make kids go “Wow!” The only idea was banners and several people remembered some very large posters that they had seen in computer labs when they were younger. The posters had been made of pure text, and were too large for a single sheet so they were printed in long strips and then taped...

    read more
  • Recovering long lost Mac files with an Apple II

    08 May | 14
    • in Retro • 
    • by FozzTexx

      A few months into my graphics class in high school, a couple of brand new Mac SE computers showed up, along with a LaserWriter printer. I had a great time discovering what they could do, and I felt right at home since the Apple IIgs I had been using at home for the previous year had a very Mac-like OS. Most of the files I created I made sure to keep on a couple of floppy disks. Since it was a graphics class, the things I created were generally drawings, although there were a few...

    read more
  • Milling the PCB

    16 Mar | 14
    • in Electronics • 
    • in Commodore 128 • 
    • by FozzTexx

    This is part 3 in a series. Check out Part 1: Creating a circuit and Part 2: Using KiCAD . My CNC setup Some time ago I bought a small CNC with the intended purpose of using it to make PCBs. While I have used the CNC for lots of things, I have never tried to make a PCB. The amount of work involved in trying to figure out all the different software programs needed, as well as how they work, has made me constantly put it off. Most of the time I’ve found a way to work around making a...

    7 comments  |  read more