iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 29/04/2026

eBay used to (still does maybe?) push this rather annoyingly on sellers. It does end up quite amusing when it goes into a long-winded hallucinated and detailed ad copy about how 8 inch floppy disks are perfect for 'retro gaming' or 'storing photos'.

030

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 28/04/2026

I was surprised that I couldn't find any text reviews mentioning this feature, but looking at some video reviews, it still uses the haptics motor for chimes and deeper customization will be coming 'some time after launch'!

010

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 24/04/2026

Somehow I have never heard of doorbell CRTs before, but I am now in love with the concept. Screw Ring doorbells, this is what I need now.

010

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 13/04/2026

It's definitely not black and white though, and I hate having to second-guess projects I see - 'is this person actually passionate about this subject or did they just throw $200 at Claude over the weekend without any deeper understanding' and similar thoughts suck, especially in the retrotech space

000

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 13/04/2026

Code is fairly often seen as a 'means to an end' more than 'meaningful expression', and consumers of AI-generated code are divorced from the way in which the code was produced more than other forms of art, so people don't really even seem to care as long as the program works most of the time.

100

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 13/04/2026

I think there is something 'human' when it comes to taking ownership of code - being able to understand and mentally model what you've coded, and having a greater understanding of the context/needs of the program and why certain approaches were taken over the 'most probable' LLM-derived ones.

100

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 12/04/2026

Interesting, the capacitors on the circuit board for the railroad bell are labeled with 'NASA' - but I can't find much information about what that actually means (space/military-grade?)

000

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 09/04/2026

The last few times I was there I actually do remember them saying something like this, I think they have a list of silly things to say at some locations

000

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 09/04/2026

Can't say I've seen CRTs advertised in units of square inches before, I guess the diagonal (or diameter/radius for circular CRTs) wasn't quite an impressive-sounding number yet

110

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 07/04/2026

...do protogens have irises and pupils..? Eh, who cares about the rules when you've got a screen for a face!

060

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 07/04/2026

Working on some ANSI art drawing software for CGA/MDA, thought it would be appropriate to give the computer I've nicknamed 'Protogen' a #protogen face!

Image of a Compaq Portable with a green monochrome CRT displaying an ANSI art rendition of a protogen face looking directly at the viewer.

511529

Reposted by The BombSquad

Frixuu @frixuu.fyi · 04/04/2026

You've been permanently banned in CMake by Valve Anti-Cheat.

111622

Reposted by The BombSquad

Lliy @bokieiey.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

i fucking hate windows dev

732558

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 04/04/2026

I wonder if the XT version just uses more memory in comparison to the PC-compatible version.

000

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 02/04/2026

So many mods add fancy new ways to mine things but nothing will ever beat the nostalgia of setting up a max size quarry!

010

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 01/04/2026

Burger derg The derg with the burger

010

Reposted by The BombSquad

Rai ‼️ @retroriley.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

This fish finder is actually a full Z80 computer with ram and rom and a crt character generator

0133

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 30/03/2026

Noodle dragon but with phone cables instead of noodles

010

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 29/03/2026

Ran the benchmark on a Compaq Portable and a DTK XT clone, both 8088s running MS-DOS 3.22 with GW Basic. Compaq Portable came in around 290s, XT clone came in at 293s, 174s with 8mhz turbo

030

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 28/03/2026

I love how silly the floppy disk would look out of the context of being included with the hardware. "Ah yes, my copy of Software."

020

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 22/03/2026

'Best viewed in Netscape Navigator' type message

020

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 22/03/2026

I had no clue PLA filament was available in standardized colors like this! Definitely a bit on the pricey side but this seems useful! Thanks!

000

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 22/03/2026

Ooh a Twiggy Macintosh, I've always wanted to see one in person! The keyboard on it also looks a bit different from the final one!

010

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 22/03/2026

Oh yeah these switches are definitely quite difficult to print - the SE one seems especially difficult because of how thin the button is. Have you tried printing using a more flexible material like PETG?

100

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 21/03/2026

Still looks quite salvageable for something that also looks like it was half buried underground for a while! Surprised there's not more rust/corrosion on it

000

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 21/03/2026

Finally 3D printed a programmer's key for my Macintosh Plus.. I'm a real programmer now, supposedly! A third shade of beige for my mismatched Plus - platinum keyboard, beige chassis, and now a bone white PLA switch... #MARCHintosh

Image of a Macintosh Plus with a 3D printed 'programmer's key' inserted into the side. The Macintosh Plus is beige, the keyboard is a more modern platinum color, and the switch is somewhere in-between the two colors.

282

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 20/03/2026

There's a fox trapped inside my Macintosh Plus!

Image of the Macintosh Plus logic board, showing a FOX-branded crystal oscillator.

1171

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 20/03/2026

FreeCAD to the rescue! Now my 800k drive eject mechanism is half 3D printed parts... but hey, no more paperclip ejection! #MARCHintosh #retrocomputing

Image of one of the eject gears for the Macintosh Plus floppy drive being modeled in FreeCAD

Image of the eject mechanism for the Macintosh Plus floppy drive

031

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 18/03/2026

Has anyone made 3D models of *all* of the gears in the Macintosh floppy disk eject mechanism? I have a 3D printed replacement for the one that *usually* breaks, but not the one that I've removed here... which is the one that broke in another 800k drive I have! #retrocomputing

120

Reposted by The BombSquad

nivs @nivrig.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

04825

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 17/03/2026

The issue it was encountering wasn't actually a fatal one (but it could become one given enough time) - the arm of the drive was getting stuck on the sticky rubber bumper, producing a rather worrisome noise as it attempts to unstick itself. It would often take 5 minutes or so to get it to boot.

010

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 17/03/2026

It lives! This is my first time successfully performing hard drive surgery.

Image of a Compaq Portable with the top of the case off, having run 'chkdsk' and reporting the size of the hard drive (20mb).

130

Reposted by The BombSquad

Retro Theory @retrotheory.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Sometimes my Macs just wont Appletalk to each other. SE/30 gets quite cross with its older sibling. #MARCHintosh

1143

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 16/03/2026

Printed a replacement with TPU - flexible filament. Wow, I forgot that printing TPU is like trying to print wet, angry spaghetti. It took 1 minute to print the part and 30 minutes trying to get the printer to cooperate!

Image of a replacement part for a rubber stopper on a hard drive

100

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 13/03/2026

35 years ago we were basically bolting car batteries to laptops, and now we could probably fit a microcontroller inside one of these AA batteries with more computational power than one of those Macintosh Portables!

030

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 13/03/2026

Eternally surprised by how far miniaturization has come... I guess we can fit USB-C ports, charging circuitry, a status LED, and a lithium ion battery inside a AA battery now. And it's charged by this absolute hydra of a USB-C cable... all with a cute fennec mascot??

Four AA batteries connected to a single USB cable that splits off into 4 USB-C connectors, next to its packaging with a cute large-eared fennec on it wearing green and white clothes.

130

Reposted by The BombSquad

Twilight @twilightpb.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Billboard character textures are now live in browser monkey ball. You can find the template download and upload your own in the multiplayer settings. Huge thank you to @bombsquad.dev for this awesome PR!

8491153

Reposted by The BombSquad

Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 08/03/2026

This is some serious 80s productivity right here. #Marchintosh

Apple Macintosh Plus with a Radius Full Page Monitor.

3587

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 09/03/2026

I had no clue there was an external monitor for the Plus, that looks incredible. Is it through SCSI or something? I also found out Apple still maintains a hardware specs page for the Plus on their website! support.apple.com/en-us/112183 It's not AirPort ready!

support.apple.com

Macintosh Plus: Technical Specifications - Apple Support

110

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 06/03/2026

...but this isn't even 'verification', since all it requires the user to do is specify their own age. All this is going to end up doing is spawning a massive group of people suspiciously born on January 1st, just like with Steam's age 'verification'.

010

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 05/03/2026

The Hardcard 20 was made with high quality precision-engineered parts and topped off with 'rubber bumper that turns to goo after 20 years and also turns blue for some reason'

The Hardcard 20 opened up, showing a rubber bumper that is disintegrating, turning sticky and blue for some resaon

120

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 05/03/2026

I have nearly a 0% success rate at finding vintage computers or floppy disks or anything of the sort at thrift stores, but weirdly a 100% success rate at finding things like sealed and filled Coca Cola bottles from 50 years ago. Wish my luck was a bit better

010

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 04/03/2026

Replace 'the web' with 'the cloud' and replace the boxed software with logos, and it could work as a magazine cover today...

010

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 04/03/2026

It really screwed up my Tool Of Unlimited Innovation too.

020

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 04/03/2026

20 minutes and multiple lacerations later, I've found that the strongest glue of all time is actually hiding underneath the lid of the Hardcard 20. No wonder so many people break the lids trying to get them off. Bonus dragon

130

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 28/02/2026

The Hardcard 20 when the Harder Card 40 walks in #retrocomputing

Two card-based hard drives, the Hardcard Plus 20, and a TR41 hard drive from a PC-98.

021

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 27/02/2026

"I'm doing 2.8 million calculations per second, and they're *all wrong*!"

000

The BombSquad @bombsquad.dev · 26/02/2026

I have that specific monitor, they probably 'massacred' it by merely touching it too hard. The plastic in those monitors is so awful. I'm scared to take mine apart because I'm pretty sure it'd just crumble.

010