Stuff and Things.

Blogs & guides and tales of woo by forum members.
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 12111
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Stuff and Things.

Post by rubber_jonnie »

HigashiJun wrote: Fri Dec 13, 2024 12:00 pm Have a good rest and enjoy your retro-free time.
I am, thank you.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
stephen_usher
Site sponsor
Site sponsor
Posts: 6486
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 7:19 pm
Location: Oxford, UK.
Contact:

Re: Stuff and Things.

Post by stephen_usher »

rubber_jonnie wrote: Fri Dec 13, 2024 11:13 am Well, it's been a bit of a rubbish week. I've had either a cold/flu/RSV and being diabetic it's knocked me for 6, and I've been off work since Monday afternoon.

When you feel so ill you can't even be bothered to replace a socketed chip in something, it's not good.

Starting to feel better and fingers crossed by this time next week I'll be back to normal as I have to drive to France next weekend.
Oh. Get well soon. Didn't know that you were diabetic. :-(
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 12111
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Stuff and Things.

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: Fri Dec 13, 2024 1:07 pm
Oh. Get well soon. Didn't know that you were diabetic. :-(
Thanks. Yeah, I was diagnosed about 13 years ago. I was having issues and my wife suggested I test my blood sugar so I got a tester from the local pharmacy and was about 4 times over the upper limit for 'normal' people.

I went to the doc and said 'I'm diabetic, this is why' and he went 'Yep, you are'. It's type 2 so easier to manage with just tablets, but it changes flu, colds etc into something far more serious.

Catching the Flu (I think I have a cold or RSV, it definitely isn't covid) can be fatal, hence why I get my flu vaccine promptly every year.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 12111
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Stuff and Things.

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Final 10000uF cap arrived for the Intellivision today, last one for the PSU re-cap, and it looks a lot better now the PSU is all good.

Always shocks me how much smaller modern caps are compared to the old ones :)
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
alexh
Site sponsor
Site sponsor
Posts: 931
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2017 4:51 pm
Location: Oxfordshire

Re: Stuff and Things.

Post by alexh »

Thinking about buying anything new? I've been watching Atari 8-bits just recently. I have no nostalgia for Atari 8-bits as I never saw one or played one back in the day but I like the XE, it's like a baby Atari ST. But I don't think I can justify eBay prices for one having no nostalgia for it.

I have a working PS4 pro 2TB I could let you have. Boxed, I could let it go for the same price I could get cash from CEX. (£99?)
Principal ASIC Engineer - SystemVerilog, VHDL
Thalion Webshrine - http://thalion.atari.org
STf,STfm,STe,MegaST,MegaSTe,Falcon060
A500+,A600,A4000/060,CD32,CDTV
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 12111
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Stuff and Things.

Post by rubber_jonnie »

alexh wrote: Tue Jan 14, 2025 3:31 pm Thinking about buying anything new? I've been watching Atari 8-bits just recently. I have no nostalgia for Atari 8-bits as I never saw one or played one back in the day but I like the XE, it's like a baby Atari ST. But I don't think I can justify eBay prices for one having no nostalgia for it.

I have a working PS4 pro 2TB I could let you have. Boxed, I could let it go for the same price I could get cash from CEX. (£99?)
TBH I have a 65XE I've owned from new, 2x 800XLs and a 600XL. The 65XE and one 800XL have Ultimate 1MB and VBXE installed, plus a SIDE3 cart, so I'm good for 8 bit Atari's :)

I had a 600XL and then 800XL when I was younger and therefore have more affinity for the Atari's than Commodore. They are very good machines.

I have 3 PS4's, 1 dead for spares, 1 to repair and 1 working, so I don't think I need another :)

I am getting an Amiga 500 from somebody off the forum though :)
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 12111
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Stuff and Things.

Post by rubber_jonnie »

@alexh

Wow, just looking at Atari 8 bit stuff on eBay and prices are super high at the moment, I'm a bit stunned!!!
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 12111
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Stuff and Things.

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Decided that the variac needed a slightly better outlet socket so installed this:

IMG20250116120458.jpg
IMG20250116120458.jpg (243.4 KiB) Viewed 69 times
IMG20250116120513.jpg
IMG20250116120513.jpg (253.23 KiB) Viewed 69 times

The original grey one was a bit crap tbh and plugs wouldn't fit all the way in.

I want to make a few other improvements but this'll do for a start.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 12111
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Stuff and Things.

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Hmm, got this here cap from a mains to 4x USB adapter that is playing up.

IMG20250120132334.jpg
IMG20250120132334.jpg (189.9 KiB) Viewed 40 times

Trying to figure it out, I can't quite tell if the top where it is dinged (It was like this when I opened it up) is split, but it still seems to read the correct capacitance when I test it out of circuit.

However, if I power the adapter on and put a load in the socket, it's behaving like a SMPSU (It is at it's heart) and pulsing on and off. Will swap the cap out in case it is split and dried out and if no change I will see if I can see anything else wonky.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 12111
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Stuff and Things.

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Turns out the fault was the negative leg of the bulk capacitor, it had a dry joint. Now re-soldered and working just fine :)

I did a re-cap while I was in there with higher spec caps of the same capacitance, and I think I'll use a bit of hot glue to hold that bulk cap in place.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
Post Reply

Return to “MEMBER BLOGS”