iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 20/09/2026

Ever lie awake at night worrying about viscosity and thermal breakdown?

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 19/09/2026

The package does say, “90 seconds and done”.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 18/09/2026

They really missed a perfect merchandizing opportunity here. These should have been on display next to the reading glasses.

Retail display for an electric razor called “PALM SHAVER”

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 14/09/2026

That makes sense. I was confused at first because the actual CRT doesn’t care about orientation but if he was hoping to just take an existing design and orient it sideways without moving the vents to accommodate, it would have been a disaster.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 14/09/2026

Lots of people had fun with Tim Neu’s vintage typewriter at our VCFMW table. VCF Midwest Cookie Recipe 1 tsp RIFA Extract 1/2 C 99% Isopropyl Alaohol 2 tsp Deoxit 2 C Barn Dust 2 1/2 C Capacitor ooze and 400 mgs of broken circuts

Index card with the following text typed on it by a vintage typewriter:

VCF Midwest Cookie Recipe
1 tsp RIFA Extract
1/2 C 99% Isopropyl Alaohol
2 tsp Deoxit
2 C Barn Dust
2 1/2 C Capacitor ooze
and 400 mgs of broken circuts

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 13/09/2026

My table was quite near yours and I can vouch for that look on people’s faces when your gear pulled some very specific nostalgia triggers for them. Well done!

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 12/09/2026

Presumably, an image could be written to a physical 8” disk with a Greaseweazle, right?

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 12/09/2026

This is the CPT Phoenix JR up and running here at #VCFMW #VintageComputing #RetroComputing

CPT Phoenix JR sitting on an exhibit table at Vintage Computer Festival Midwest

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 12/09/2026

Just talked to a guy here at VCFMW who has an 8100 but no software for it. Do you know if the software you have will run on his machine?

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 11/09/2026

Oh, I’m very sorry. There’s never enough time with them.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 10/09/2026

I’m hoping to meet up with the guy who designed the keyboard next month.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 10/09/2026

I have two binders of documentation for the Phoenix JR that I plan on scanning. It’s just for the Word Processing software, no technical details, sadly.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 10/09/2026

I’ve viewed your CPT page many times since I got this machine in 2019 and I’ve communicated with several of those former CPT employees. The company was headquartered just a few miles from where I live just west of Minneapolis.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 10/09/2026

It’s meant for word processing.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 09/09/2026

Not quite Sweden but there are plenty of Scandinavians here in Minnesota. Heh. I picked it up in Duluth.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 09/09/2026

I got this 7 years ago. It came with 2 disks. The User Utilities which can only be used to copy documents or format new disks. The other was the Word Processing software. I only got it to boot the Word Processing disk once. Finally figured out how to properly read & write the flux image last night.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 09/09/2026

I only know of three of these that still exist. I’m the only one with the software but even though I’ve recovered it, I can’t share it yet because I think it has PHI on it. This unit was in use at some kind of clinic. First I need to figure out how to get rid of those confidential files.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 09/09/2026

I will be bringing this to VCFMW this weekend.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 09/09/2026

For the first time in 7 years, I have booted the CPT Phoenix Jr. A couple hours of experimentation and investigation with a Greaseweazle last night finally allowed me to recover the only known copy of its software! #VintageComputing #RetroComputing

The CPT Phoenix Jr word processing computer booted into its word processing software.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 04/09/2026

Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 29/08/2026

Weird Al played the Minnesota State Fair but didn’t perform The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota. That seems like a strange oversight. Still a fun show, though.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 26/08/2026

For me his top 3 are Annie, Muppet Treasure Island, and Hunt for Red October.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 25/08/2026

Don’t be a party peeper.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 12/08/2026

That movie holds the record for the most times I’ve seen the same film in an actual theater.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 30/07/2026

Even better, the price for this part from the local place was LOWER than any of the online merchants and I could just pick it up right away instead of paying for shipping and then waiting a few days.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 30/07/2026

My 4.5 year old KitchenAid dishwasher quit working. Figured out that the motor in this circulation pump had died. Thankfully a local parts distributor had a replacement in stock. Took less than 10 minutes to replace and it’s working again.

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Reposted by Matthew Sparby

Fuzzweed @fuzzweed.co.uk · 19/07/2026

Looks like I'm the fool. According to the world's largest tech company there *is* a small usb powered device that wirelessly reorganises the molecular structure of gasoline to extract the missing 40% of energy from your fuel that manufacturers have known about but wasn't in their interest to fix.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 18/07/2026

Bucket list item checked off the list. Visited the ancestral homeland.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 15/07/2026

The people in Rochester, Minnesota have been practicing safe hex since 1978.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 09/07/2026

Step 1: GET A FLUX IMAGE OF THOSE FLOPPIES!

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 09/07/2026

I’ve never been the kind of person who names their cars. Except one. I used to have a Pontiac Grand Am. I named it Jean Claude.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 08/07/2026

Ha! I literally have all three of those in my collection. The case I’m looking for has a somewhat unique design for that era in that the top of the case isn’t a metal shell. It is a flat plastic lid. The bottom, back, front and sides are one piece.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 08/07/2026

The 9000 is the 286 that I mentioned earlier. I have the machine but don’t have the keyboard or monitor for it.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 08/07/2026

I have. They even reached out to other former colleagues on my behalf with no luck. The 9000 was a completely different system. I appear to have the only known copy of CPT Phoenix Jr software still in existence. It’s a Z80 based machine. I wish I had the skills to port CP/M to it.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 08/07/2026

The sad thing is that this is a proprietary system and I was only able to get its software to boot once and then the disk went corrupt. I feel like an idiot for not imaging the disk first. I have a utility disk that does boot but can only be used to copy files on data disks.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 08/07/2026

Could have been awesome for that but it was a bespoke word processing device.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 08/07/2026

This was my computer setup back in 1993. I’ve wanted to recreate it but have never been able to find an AT case like this one. I’d appreciate any tips on identifying it. The DFI logo is a red herring. That’s a badge I put on it myself back then.

Old picture of a computer sitting on a desk with a CRT monitor, keyboard, CD-ROM drive, and a Stereo receiver.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 08/07/2026

Oh, CPT. I have been collecting their devices when I come across them as they were a local company here in Minnesota. The rarest machine in my collection is the CPT Phoenix Jr which has a very similar monitor. I also have a CPT 286 machine that might be the match for that monitor you have.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 20/06/2026

You’ll either love it or hate it.

A Knorr beef bouillon package edited to say XOR Beef Boolean.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 12/06/2026

Ugh. I still think about that often and I wasn’t even there. That said, there’s a 30th anniversary coming up in a little over a week. Do you know what it is?

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 08/06/2026

Now I have to wait months to see British TV shows here in the US.

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