Notices by Ian Scott :apple_inc: 🐙 (polpo@bitbang.social), page 3

I’m back to trying to bring my ThinkPad 701C (the one with the “butterfly” keyboard) back to life. The only thing that is still vexing me is the display backlight inverter board. I just replaced the blown fuse on it, and when I went to power it on, the magic smoke came out of *something* on it. All the parts on the inverter are available, so I might just do a full rebuild.

Replacement capacitors came in today! And the backlight now works! (And so does the original hard drive which apparently has Windows 95 installed)

Found the smoke producer - a shorted tantalum cap!

NetZero, Netscape, RealPlayer, ICQ… lots of gems on this one

OMG the documents list! This was definitely last used by a little kid. Casa Bonita (Colorado people will know this), I love my cute puppy, Me and my cat… this is adorable

@thomasfuchs @Recta_Pete @fozztexx I used https://tinysubversions.com/twitter-archive/make-your-own/ to create https://polpo.org/tweets/ - it's great; I search through it quite often to find some old thing I did 1+ years ago.

@DosFox @thomasfuchs these two little guys are just trying their best to be graphics, it’s not their fault they’re shoved in with a bunch of letters and numbers

@thomasfuchs I have a Walkman II. Does this mean I need to put it on eBay because prices are about to go up?

Using an Xbox driving wheel to play Test Drive III on a real oldschool DOS machine! This is using the #PicoGUS 2.0 prototype board and firmware, to be released soon!

And then playing Wing Commander with a DualShock 4 controller. I have to admit that modern controllers are so much better than oldschool ones! Being able to use them on a real DOS PC is pretty cool.

#PicoGUS 2.0 is officially released! It's an ISA card that can emulate Gravis Ultrasound, Adlib, CMS, Tandy 3-voice, MPU-401 w/ Intelligent Mode, and gameport joysticks!
This new version is 100% factory assembled and ready to just plug and play.
And it's open hardware: all design files are available under CERN OHL v2 Permissive license, so if you want to make (or improve) your own you can!
Available at my Tindie Store: https://www.tindie.com/products/polpo/picogus-sound-card-emulator-for-isa-retro-pcs/

Happy Macstoween!

I usually just carve a goofy face into pumpkins but this year I decided to branch out a bit into other kinds of faces :apple_inc:

Aaaaahhhh! Look what DHL just dropped off. I’m afraid to plug it in. The first PicoGUS 2.0 prototype:

- Ok, fine, I'll just put that one chip on myself, it's an SOIC-8 and easy to solder. I continue on with an assembly order without that part and then...
- I get notification that the volume thumbwheel I am using has been discontinued, and they're $3+ each if I buy them myself and put them on.
- Augh. Ok. I guess I'll buy those and solder them myself as well.
- I decide this is the last batch I make of this type... they require a lot of labor on my side to assemble and now it needs even more.

Here's an update on #PicoGUS:
- I sold out of the 20 "Femto" PicoGUSes I made for VCFMW in the middle of the first day. Lots of people asked if I had them after! Yay!
- Due to the interest, I decide to make another batch. I promptly ordered more parts at JLCPCB to make another batch. The PSRAM chips have to ship from Mouser.
- Almost two weeks later, I got a notice saying the parts order was held up due to an "export audit" and a day later it was canceled completely with a vague explanation.

So the PSRAM story hasn't resolved itself yet but I'm also making a prototype of the next version of PicoGUS:
- Pro: Will be 99% assembled by JLCPCB with the exception of the dang PSRAM chip
- Pro: Has a USB-A port so you can use USB joysticks, mice, etc. from DOS
- Pro: Will be even cheaper and you don't need to buy a Pico along with it
- Con: no possibility of WiFi. I'm thinking of another version that uses a Pico or maybe an ESP module for WiFi. TBD...
Anyway here's what it looks like:

I got the cool ultrasonic cleaner

Stopped at the ewaste to drop off some old broken LCD TVs and grabbed this cute Compaq 486 that was on the pile. It’s not an SGI like @BigBadBiologist found but still pretty cool!

A Canon Cat went for only $26 on shopgoodwill. I’ve used the one at @mediaarchaeologylab and wanted one of my own but I completely forgot to bid on this. I hope it went to a good home! 🐈