iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Frog and Toad Bot @frogandtoadbot.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

reminder that dvi is way too tolerant of a signal. this is monstosity of an fpga video card works just fine. it's reusing disconnected c/d pins from the FPGA for DVI and 0WS.

unreal running on the woodhead devicenet-made-video card fpga board

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Reposted by Ian Hanschen

“Now I can save tomorrow for something that I really want to do.” “What is that?” asked Frog. “Tomorrow,” said Toad, “I can just take life easy.”

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I feel like the outside world is getting worse and worse while my hobbies become more rewarding and engrossing. But I’m not sure this is actually true, because news of the outside world is represented in a way that maximizes engagement. I think I need to get off my butt and travel.

Should have splurged for plating

Not even enig played ISA HSMC card edge already showing wear

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The VGA core is parameterized. I wanted to check the throughput it has over a 16-bit bus interface, using 32-bit wide BRAM.

X-vesa output for linear 320x200x8. 5920kb/sec writes for 32 bit (back to back 16)

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Ian Hanschen @furan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I run my IDE in dork mode. It's been that way forever.

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According to Roberto Brosan, the board was altered by a model maker before he took the photograph. Still not sure how, and only Roberto was credited for this cover. I've emailed the art director to find out more. This is fun.

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Ian Hanschen @furan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I emailed the artist credited with this 1988 magazine cover. Can you guess if the recoloring was done using software?

PC Magazine 1988 "VGA: Don't Settle For Less" cover. Chips for the featured Sigma VGA/H ISA board are colorized, with software, paint, vinyl stickers, or something else.

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Reposted by Ian Hanschen

Ian Scott @polpo.org · 26/09/2026

"The PicoIDE will never work on the B&W G3" - Ian Scott, September 25, 2026 "The PicoIDE works fine on the B&W G3 with an OpenFirmware workaround" - Ian Scott, September 26, 2026

A Blue & White Apple Power Macintosh G3 in the classic Bondi Blue color, opened up with its guts out. Two PicoIDEs are plugged into it, one into the HDD interface, and the other one meant for the optical/ZIP drives.

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Reposted by Ian Hanschen

Frog and Toad Bot @frogandtoadbot.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

“Yes,” said Frog, reaching for a cookie, “we need will power.” “What is will power?” asked Toad. “Will power is trying hard not to do something you really want to do,” said Frog.

Frog stands with two cookies, one in each hand.

From "Cookies"
In *Frog and Toad Together*

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Ian Hanschen @furan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

knew it would be worthwhile - chuck wrote about video card development at video seven

I could swear someone described this circuit to me two days ago, but it's about pulling the bus high on 0ws/iochrdy before going high-z

Ian Hanschen @furan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Chuck Mauro’s Silicon Valley memoir looks like an interesting, if entirely watermarked, read.

A book with a faint diagonal watermark across every page reminding you that it is the copyright of the author. Likely accidentally left in the self publish process.

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Ian Hanschen @furan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This reverse-engineered FPGA PC/104 board is my favorite target for the Graphics Gremlin SVGA+ core builds because it’s supposed to be a DeviceNet interface and it’s doing DVI through pins on the C/D connector that don’t touch the PC’s bus.

SST Woodhead DeviceNet card repurposed, drive by a DVI output (HDMI connector) and Noritake VFD for POST display.

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Ian Hanschen @furan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

naming a snack company "lesser evil" leaves you with a whole lot of wiggle room.

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Ian Hanschen @furan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

calling it treedfx because I must've left something out

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Ian Hanschen @furan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

stock Doom max details: ET4000 in 8-bit ISA mode: 19.21 FPS Graphics Gremlin SVGA+: 19.48 FPS It's a good core.

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Ian Hanschen @furan.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

A list of 16-bit ISA VGA cards that work in 8-bit ISA mode (taped over the 16-bit finger to test): Everex Viewpoint EV628 AVGA1 (no 0ws) ATI mach8 (no 0ws) Diamond SpeedSTAR VGA Tseng ET4000 (SW3=off, SUPPORTS 0WS) I'm now using the Tseng ET4000 in 8-bit mode as a baseline for performance.

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Jason Moore @moorejh.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Enjoying an incredible thunderstorm. Takes me all the way back to Illinois rainy-day reading.

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Reposted by Ian Hanschen

Thanks to @furan.bsky.social for the wonderful PicoGraph solution to get HDMI video out of my IBM PS/2 Model 30 PC using a PicoMEM card in the ISA slot retroprojects.org/display-vide... #retrocomputing #picograph #picomem #ibm

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Reposted by Ian Hanschen

Dave Gilbert @wadjeteyegames.com · 19/09/2026

If there’s a better picture to hang over the commode, I can’t think of one.

Picture of kryten from red dwarf, with the caption “smug mode activated”

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Graphics Gremlin SVGA+ core and PicoGraph got a mention on This Week in Retro. Thanks!

The Graphics Gremlin SVGA+ core is working on the Graphics Gremlin HDMI with every system I've tried it in. There are probably a lot more bugs out there, but I'm focused on the following: - ZWS not asserting (this is halving write performance in some cases) - ken's labyrinth freeze - kukoo2 glitches

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Sometimes, Toad is a lot.

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sometimes the only remaining evidence of a good idea is the giant spec it drowned in