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Tag: Dick Smith Wizzard

  • Power Supply Build for the CreatiVision

    AKA the Dick Smith Wizzard So I recently built a replacement PSU for my CreatiVision. I have a working PSU, but it’s always best to have a spare on hand. The original needs 9V 1A and 16V 250mA. Thanks to some help from another collector (Hi Tim!) and some basic research, I was able to […]

  • Total Joystick Madness

    Total Joystick Madness

    I have been busy 🙂 Now I have all the different computers working, it was time to get interfaces for them so they can fulfil their prime purpose. To wit: Video Games! Texas Instruments TI 99/4A I have a PCB design ready to go for this, but in the meantime, I decided to make a […]

  • Another Productive Break

    So, having a week off, I decided to move on a few projects. While not completely successful, I did make some good breakthroughs. Leading up to the break, I started a repair on a huge old CRT TV, It’s not working… yet but I think I just need to check some things on the inside […]

  • The Archimedes is back on the bench

    The Archimedes is back on the bench

    Now I have an oscilloscope, I thought it was time to break out the Archimedes. So far it has resisted my attempts to diagnose exactly what is wrong with it but I will persevere. Symptoms are the same whether I use a Gotek or a real drive.When you try and access the drive you get […]

  • Mac Woes, Creativision wins.

    Macintosh SE/30 On Friday, another peripheral finally arrived, so I had hoped today’s post was going to be all about my experiences upgrading my Macintosh SE/30 into its final form. While I got a lot of upgrade done, unfortunately I hit a setback that will mean this system is out of action until I get […]

  • Working on various systems with varying success

    Another “this and that” post. Atari 800 I finally got a replacement screen for my SDrive MAX, which has allowed me to actually use it reliably. It’s been great! It looks like, while the compatibility of the memory upgrade isn’t perfect, it’s good enough for many things. This has, however, allowed me to run the […]

  • Unbreaking things

    So having thoroughly broken both my Atari 800xl and my CreatiVision, I decided to spend some of my long weekend fixing them. Atari 800xl I started working on the Atari 800 first. This was actually several days work in the evenings as it got out of hand, as the Atari forums people got involved with […]

  • Why Reversible Mods are Good Mods

    Recently I modded my Creativision to add composite video and audio. While I thought I had succeeded, after a while I noticed glitching and visual artefacts. By making my mod easily reversible, I was able to unsolder the added leads, reconnect the disconnected power lead to the RF Modulator, and it worked fine. I will […]

  • Creativision Works

    So I have been working a lot on my Creativision, AKA the “Dick Smith Wizzard” (Or as my kids so rudely like to call it, Dad’s ‘Dick Wizzard’. Mutter mutter. Kids of today.) Considering this project started out a very long time ago as an attempt to resolve a longstanding MAME Testers bug, which has […]

  • Apples and Unicorns: A sudden rush of RetroComputing (Repost)

    (Originally posted on LinkedIn Jun. 24, 2020) Retrocomputing is a funny hobby. When you’re dealing with computers that are 20+ years old, most things tend to plod along at a stately pace. Maybe a new upgrade here. Maybe a new purchase there… And then there are periods like that since my last post, where over […]