iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

How big is big enough? Managed to make a 1gb Torch Triplex disk image. Not sure I can go much bigger with the filesystem limitations of the day... 😆

A screenshot of the Torch Triple X emulator. A terminal window is open and the command 'df -t' has been issued. The results indicate that /dev/disk0b has 512,000 blocks and so has around 256 megabytes available. This is the root partition. At /dev/disk0d there are 1559540 blocks available which is around 760 megabytes.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Must be getting old. The only person who I have heard of in the Strictly lineup this year is Delta Goodrem. Not that I follow it. It's just the first sign that winter is coming (and the 'C' word).

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

FFS Google. I only asked 'who said that they were standing on the shoulders of giants?'. Apparently you think that Isaac Newton, who famously lived in the 1700's and died in 1727, sent a letter to his buddy in 1975. JFC.

A screenshot from Google and their 'amazing' AI overview that states that Isaac Newton used the phrase 'If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.' in a 1975 letter to his friend, Robert Hooke.

Isaac Newton died in 1727. Robert Hooke died in 1703.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

And for my next trick (or descent into insanity), a text based web browser on the Torch Triple X emulator. Ta-daa! It's barely more than a 'get html' function at the moment but I'm learning lots. And it's something to do as I wait for my new man cave (shed) to be installed..

A picture of a laptop screen showing a small window running the Torch Triple X emulator. The text in the terminal window is a text from a simple html page stored on the Linux laptop. The text of the html is shown in the window to the left of the emulator. Some of the source code for the very bare bones of a browser is visible to the right and underneath the emulator window.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

It's Monday. The summer is almost over. You know what you need. A superficial description of of an ancient Unix PC emulator, and how I've fiddled with it after standing on the shoulders of the most excellent person who actually originally wrote it. crashedfiesta.blogspot.com/2026/08/when...

crashedfiesta.blogspot.com

When is a Torch not a Torch? When it's an emulator....

The old hardware of the Torch Triple X is proving to be a little bit bothersome (it's a right old pain the rear) and I've made little progre...

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

So, Mrs Crashed's phone just emitted the national alert tones with a warning about the high risk of fire, given the current weather. My Motorola Edge 50 Pro was silent, clearly content to let me burn..... 😬😄

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Been a bit quiet as we're on the move from Crashed Towers to Crashed Twouptwodown and discovering that 18 years in one location is a great way to accumulate enough pointless crap (i.e. non-retro computing related) to fill a small stadium. Warm, dry storage has been procured for the important stuff.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Got the network running properly on the Linux version of the Torch emulator. More a configuration issue than a code issue. But telehack.com works great. 😁

A picture of the Torch Triple X emulator connected to telehack.com and running zork.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I have survived another orbit of the local star. To celebrate here's a list of stuff I've done to the Torch emulator: -vi now works(ish) -serial no. retained after first key disk boot -aspect ratio corrected -floppy .img support -improved terminal (tsh) -boot sequence colours corrected cont..

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Reposted by Crashed

Larry the Cat @number10cat.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

"My message to the people of the UK is that I'll train the new guy but you're going to have to stick with one of them eventually."

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

More fiddling with the Torch Emulator. Now it's just like the real thing! Well, booting up looks right now anyway. 😁 #torchtriplex #stillnotfixedtherealone

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

What's that you say? The Torch Triple X emulator? Running on Windows? Why, yes. Yes it is. 😁 #torchtriplex #notfixedtherealoneyet

A picture of a screen showing a notepad++ and a bash type terminal running on Windows 11. The front window is smaller and is running the Torch Triple X emulator with the OpenTop desktop environment running.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

A great evening writing a wrapper for the very basic Unix terminal on the Torch emulator. Added some history functionality (previous commands etc) and managed to get su working via a tiny script (called tsu), and cd works properly too. It behaves a lot more like bash but isn't actually... 😁

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

I got a PS4 on day 1. I asked the man in the Sony Centre when I pre-ordered if they were doing a midnight launch. "Good god, no." came the unguarded reply. 😂 Anyway, I skipped PS5 for reasons. But I won't be doing PS6 with no disc drive. Licensing is not owning. See Sony/StudioCanal for details.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Don't normally follow the world cup. But let's just check in on England. Ah. Situation normal. Maybe 2030.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Happy Father's Day! To celebrate, why not read about my adventures in trying to fix a most unreliable vintage computer? It has PCBs in it... crashedfiesta.blogspot.com/2026/06/clin...

crashedfiesta.blogspot.com

Clinging on like a Limpet (Board) - Torch Triple X Part 14

The Torch Triple X was working. Then it wasn't. Then it was. Then it wasn't again. I've been having some issues with the Torch. This has be...

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Am I the only one who finds this lack of attention to detail annoying? Or am I (as Mrs Crashed says) just a grumpy old man? #grammar

An extract from the BBC website that shows they don't know that the spelling of 'program' for computers is different to a 'programme' of events.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Checkup on the Cifer to make sure he's still working before I pop him into storage for a little while. I hope the Retro Overlords will forgive my use of hot glue to stick the front panel in. I spent hours 3D printing it but got the lugs in the wrong place and I was desperate. Don't judge me.

A picture of the Cider Cub CP/M machine on a desk. The screen is displaying the CP/M Plus peripheral device manager.

A closeup of the Gotek panel I 3d printed in the Cifer. A line of hot glue is visible at the top. Don't judge me. It's only temporary...

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

So. Good news and bad news. Good news - new limpet works and I managed to boot all the way in. Wa-hoo! 😁🥳 Bad news - my motherboard requires a startlingly big concave bend in it to work.... 😬 By chance I found if I wedged something under the right side it would boot. A weird mechanical bug....

The Torch Triple X showing a finished boot. Yay! The kernel window is shown in the middle and three icons are one the left hand side of the screen.

A picture of the recreated limpet board with its LED lit showing data being transferred.

A picture of the Torch Triple X terminal showing a directory listing of code files for uemacs.

A terrifying picture showing the Torch motherboard with a screwdriver underneath on the right side (protected from the board by a plastic sheets).

The end of the motherboard is wedged down on the right side by a large, heavy HP laptop, leaving the left side of the board dangling.

In this configuration, the Torch boots successfully, every time. Eek.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

First signs of life... ...but showing exactly the same symptoms as with the original Limpet. Bugger.

A picture of the Torch Triple X boot screen. The screen is showing dark blue with pale blue text. The first line reads "CARETAKER 1.3" and the next four lines describe an error preventing the Torch from booting.

A picture of the Torch Triple X having got a bit further in the boot process. A picture of a floppy drive and disk is in the bottom left hand corner which is the machine's way of asking for the key disk. This only happened because 8 forgot to plug the bloody SCSI cable into the OMTI controller ...

A picture of the disk utility that ran successfully on the disk image in the SD card of the BlueSCSI. It shows the portion start addresses for the four partitions on the drive.

A picture of the Torch Triple X motherboard removed from its case. The limpet board is visible on the left as a pale green circuit board.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Torch Triplex Limpet board looks great. And I found the second error. I missed a whole track that should link all the write enable lines on the DRAM. Oops. Bodge wire installed but it still doesn't work. 🙁

A picture of the recreated limpet board with all chips and other components installed.

A picture of the limpet board installed in the Torch Triple X.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

I didn't spend far longer than necessary making sure the caps all face the same way. (Maybe I did.) 🙂

A picture of the reproduction Torch Limpet board with the DRAM capacitors installed. Every capacitor is facing the same way and soldered to the same angle and height.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

I might've caught the coding bug for vintage computers... After several hours I have managed to get 'vi' working on the Torch Triple X emulator. The stack is too small for when vi starts (something funky happens) so by making it bigger, vi then works. Nice. Next stop, proper floppy support.

A screenshot of the Torch Triple X emulator. It shows a text file called 'workingvi.txt' opened in a vi window. The file has 17 lines and 473 characters.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Managed to hand one of these to @binarydinosaurs.co.uk as the only other person I know in the country with a Torch Triple X. 😁 One of the four left is about to start receiving capacitors and sockets.... 🙂 ...and I found the first error. Oops. Capacitor C45 has both legs against ground. Darnit.

A picture of a green circuit board labelled 'LIMPET BOARD'. It is a bare PCB reproduction of a Torch Triple X Limpet memory expansion board.

A closeup picture of a circuit board. A yellow capacitor in the centre of the picture. A cut is visible in the trace between the bottom pad of the capacitor and a thick track. This cut removes the short between ground and +5v lines.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Had a great time at RetroFest 2026. 😁 #retrofest2026

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Away from Crashed Towers for a few days so I can't connect to my pi-hole. The internet is a completely unusable pile of smelly brown stuff these days, isn't it?

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

It's official. My Torch Triple X is no more. There is some fault with the limpet board which I can't track down. All RAM is OK. All tracks are OK (or repaired). I suspect a failure of one of the PAL chips which did get quite warm. Ultimate unobtanium. Without it, the Torch won't boot. Arse. 😢

A picture of the Torch Triple X now non-functional due to a poorly limpet board. The top cover is not on and the mouse has been despondently placed inside.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Oh. My. Gosh. The Torch is playing with me now. I had about six hours of flawless operation. Then I started compiling uemacs code. Two minutes later, kernel panic with memory management error. And I'm back to where it was before. At startup, a single flash from the limpet and then nothing. Gahh!

media.tenor.com

a close up of stitch from lilo and stitch making a face

Alt: a close up of stitch from lilo and stitch making a face

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Annnd were back in the room. I have spent hours going over this bloody computer. Beeped out every trace on mobo and limpet. Nothing missing. Then I moved the black plastic down a bit on the new long pins to keep them more together. Booted first time. 🙄 That bloody connector... 🤬 But, yay! 😁

A picture of the Torch Triple X display having just booted. A kernel info window is showing in the middle of the screen with some icons to the left.

A picture of the Torch Triple X in 'hardware maintenance mode'. The centre section of the machine is lifted like the bonnet of a car and wedged open with a TV remote. My home made DRAM tester is on the right side of the keyboard.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

F*CK. F*CK. F*CK. F*CK. F*CK. Torch is dead. After battling intermittent RAM issues for months I think the Limpet board has died. My last resort is to de-socket the motherboard RAM and see if it's actually the sockets causing issues there. #bugger

A picture of the defunct Torch Triple X. The limpet board is propped on the open case with the keyboard in front. My tears decorate the carpet. 😢

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Couldn't work out why I couldn't mount the disk image on the Gotek once I'd formatted it. I am an idiot. Should've remembered that 'format' is low-level and I still needed to 'mkfs'. Doh! But now I can copy files and create disk images til the cows come home. Moo.

A picture of the Torch Triple X terminal window. It shows the commands formatting a floppy disk image and the creating a filesystem. Then there's a command to copy all the files from the directory with the uemacs source code to the Gotek for closet analysis on my Linux system.

Didn't get a picture but about six seconds after I took this, the system had a stream of fault traps followed by a 'double kernel panic', the screen went green, then white, then blank. I had a double panic myself and then turned it off and on again and it's been ok since.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Uemacs porting efforts to the Torch are on hold due to a persistent RAM fault. I am removing the sockets I installed on the limpet and putting the chips directly on the board as they're a liability (the sockets). Things like this don't help though...

A picture of a DRAM chip from the Torch limpet board. Pin 2 is folded up which presumably happened when I was reseating the chips last time. This is why I'm ditching the sockets...

A picture showing the side of the Torch motherboard with the limpet board mounted to it. There are long gold pins connecting the limpet board at the top to the motherboard at the bottom. These pins replaced the original repair which consisted of several turned pin sockets. The issue with the limpet is NOT this connector.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Darnit. I'm 99% certain the Torch issue is the limpet connector. The question is, do I persevere with the constant kernel panics and crashes or do I install a fixed arrangement that is permanent? 🤔 It would make maintenance a pain in the arse. But, if I'm right, it would solve the RAM issue.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Compiling code on the Torch could be said to be 'torch-ure'. 😁 (I know you're out there, I can hear you breathing.)

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Found the cause of the memory issue In the Torch (more or less). I'd used multiple turned pin sockets stacked to create a connector to the limpet. But with the motherboard and limpet removed it was obvious I'd used one too many. With it removed, the Torch boots far more reliably...not 100% though.

A picture of a 20 pin turned pin ic socket on a desk.

A picture of the Torch Triple X with its centre section raised up like the bonnet of a car. It is held up by a white TV remote. The limpet board is on the bottom portion of the case to the left with a lit red LED showing the memory being accessed.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

I struggled with vi on the Torch. There's only one thing to do. Compile uemacs on the Torch. In the process of modifying the code to K&R formats I've started to like vi, rendering this task pointless. But now I've started I need to to see if uemacs will work. Why do I do these things to myself?

A picture of an attempt to compile uemacs on the Torch Triple X. The file named fileio.c has generated a number of errors.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

You wait ages for one blog on an ancient obscure UK Unix workstation from the 1980s and then two turn up at once (sort of). Parts 12 and 13 of my escapades with the Torch Triple X: crashedfiesta.blogspot.com/2026/03/putt... crashedfiesta.blogspot.com/2026/03/gett...

crashedfiesta.blogspot.com

Putting the SCART before the (composite) horse. Torch Triple X - Part 12

(Reposted) One of the major issues of vintage/retro computing as a hobby is that a lot of our beloved equipment is just wearing out. When th...

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Ah. Well that was bad. While trying to power up the original HD in the Cifer there was a loud crack, a flash, and the familiar smell of magic smoke... Bugger. Also, Brown Alert. 😬

A picture of my properly dead Cifer computer. There are circuit boards on the desk and the Cifer is on its side. The offending hard disk that I think drew too much current to startup sits at the back of the desk looking smug.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Trying to get this ancient SASI drive to read but not sure BlueSCSIv2 supports it in initiator mode. Rodime RO200 series (10Mb I think) with Xebec 1410 card. This is from the Cifer 1887 and may have a very early Unix on it. My other HD from it died. 😢 Anyone got any tips? #bluescsi

A picture of a Xebec 1410 controller card resting on top of a monster Rodime MFM hard disk.

A picture of a Rodime MFM hard disk. It's very gold with a black front. Surprisingly for a drive this age it still spins up and the light on the front declares "drive ready".

My 2nd (or 3rd?) blue SCSI. A blue circuit board with a black 50 way SCSI style connector on one side and a small green raspberry pi Pico about half way down. Brilliant piece of kit.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Hmm. The retro gods have a sense of humour. I tested the Cifer ps and voltages were all ok. So I put the first main board in and, guess what... It now works again. 🤨🥳 Just need to re-flash the Gotek and get the other boards back in.

A picture of the Cifer on its side but switched on. The screen is displaying the correct bottom options and random text that was typed in to verify the keyboard still works.

A picture of the Cifer computer on its side but switched on. The screen is displaying random characters that have been typed to verify the keyboard.

A corrected picture of the Cifer on its side but switched on. The screen is displaying the correct bottom options and random text that was typed in to verify the keyboard still works.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

The Retro gods giveth, and the Retro gods taketh away. The Cifer is dead. I suspect the power supply. The Gotek wouldn't turn on, the screen stayed resolutely dark, and the power supply was making unexpected noises (no magic smoke though). Sad face. 😔

A picture of the back of the Cifer computer. The top cover has been removed showing the back of the dead hard disk and the CRT.

A picture of the back of the Cifer power supply. The case is black with a large yellow warning triangle showing dangerous voltages inside. The supply provides 1.1 amps (RMS) at 230v.a.c.

A picture of the low voltage side of the power supply. There are eight terminals for various voltages, ground and two not connected.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Another Torch Triple X success. Yay! My heath-robinson SCART lead now works properly. The picture quality is TERRIBLE but that's likely down to me using two CD4011s to combine HSync and VSync. But it's proper colour! Once I get some more time (2027 maybe?) I'll try and improve it.. #torchtriplex

A picture of the Torch Triple X OpenTop desktop system in colour. The kernel window is open and displaying the kernel version as 2.11 with 1 megabyte of memory available.

A picture of a small green circuit board. It has two integrated circuits and three cables emerging from the back. These are video in from the Torch, SCART out to the TV and USB power in which drives the chips on the circuit board.

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Crashed @crashedfiesta.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Oh. That was easy. I took the unix file from the original Torch XXX system (which is a later version) and copied it to the OpenTop image. Reboot. Run 'mknod' as per the pic and the Gotek is just there, ready to mount... Crikey. #torchtriplex

A picture of the OpenTop windowing system. A terminal window is open showing a series of commands that created a new node for the attached Gotek drive and then mounted the Gotek successfully.

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