iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Loaded up Street Fighter II for PC-Engine and I was like… This is NOT Street Fighter II…🤔

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Now it’s the sons’ turns but they prefer this piece of old junk🤷🏻‍♂️

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Beaten! Wings of GTA😂🤣

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Guess I’m always trigger-happy🤡

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This one held me up for HOURS!😫

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

And here we go!✈️ (My hands sweat too much😅)

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Work done and I can finally start Ace Combat 8😭

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

MiSTer output in Direct Video mode -> RetroTink 4K capture at native resolution at 240x160 -> Scale by 3x to 720x480 -> Output at 1080p -> LMD-940W SCAN set to NATIVE -> Almost utilizing the entire screen😌

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Only two days late from launch. I feel vindicated for canceling Prime👎

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I tried lowering just the tip of the whole roll and hoped it would “wick” the liquid up into the roll. But it never worked. I had to unroll the entire thing onto the bottle and let it soak🫠 Afterwards, I rolled it back up and checked the liquid level - it didn’t suck up much🤔

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I pried the piece out of the paper box and put it in a medicine bottle. Then I dropped some ball bearings and closed it. Then it’s maraca time until everything is pulverized😂 Then I added 3 times the 99% IPA to dissolve it. It worked fine😌

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Saw someone letting a roll of copper wick suck up some Hakko liquid flux earlier today. I bought a roll of wick that came with some solid flux from AliExpress a while ago. So here is my experiment👀

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Zero-effort shittakes give you thousands of likes, hundreds of replies and dozens of retweets overnight on Twitter. I'm so done with that platform🤡

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Not a single piece of professional hardware in sight. All proprietary jank😬

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This is the jig when it’s in action🤪

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This is Sony TGV-3 TV tuner unit. It goes on the side of a GV-S50 portable video recorder. I’ve mapped out the pogo pins of this unit so I can use it standalone and output composite video and audio. Look at this crazy jig I designed for the job🤡

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I have successfully fooled the TV tuner and turned it on😂 Though the video levels are all messed up. I need to look into that😅

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

However the speaker output still doesn’t work and the machine heats up suspiciously on the right side until I plug in a headphone. The cassette holder doesn’t retract with a tape inside. But this is not my concern atm so I’m not spending my time trying to fix those😌

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

And it’s now working much better! The image is not rolling anymore. Ejected holder will reliably retract. This allows me to sniff the LANC bus comfortably at least - what I bought this machine for😌

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I had no tiny SMD electrolytic caps on hand so I had to use all my PLCC caps instead. It’s not optimal, but it should at least make the machine work better than dead & leaked OG caps🫠

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It was a fishy afternoon🐟🐠🎣🐡🍤

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This Sony GV-S50 gets a rolling picture from the tuner pack that needs warming up and only stops rolling when the image is dark. The cassette holder does not retract after ejected. There is also no audio from the speaker. My money was on all these caps🧐

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Scenes with true black were stunning. Zero blooming. No leak or haze.

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The Crissaegrim is a must for every play😌 And the true black really impressed me this time👀

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

A test play on this OLED monitor became another SoTN playthrough among the 20x times😌 But it’s the correct season again for me to play SoTN, so this is just the perfect timing🥳

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Man, OLED really IS something else👀

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

So this my “baby’s first OLED display with some repairs required”😅 Now I just need to figure out a VESA stand for it and use it!🤣

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Swapped on the $2 chip from DigiKey and the standby voltages and the main power rails came back alive!👀 Quickly put the thing back together with my trembly hands, and it just started working!🥳🥳🥳

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

It took me 4 days to (metaphorically) feel around the board to finally find a bad chip. And it was the one the controls the transistor with the burn mark!

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The PSU would click but no standby power was present. The board had a burn mark near a power transistor (Q6001 & D6018), likely a short event. However the transistor and diode both measured fine out of circuit.

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This Sony Trimaster EL PVM-2541A has been fixed!👀 It’s a pretty high stakes repair for me so I really wanted to win on this one😅

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Even more fish hiding deeper🤡

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Well, I guess it’ll be fish tomorrow🤡🐟🐠🎣🐡🍤

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Problematic little bugger🫠

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

RGB lunch cups? What’s next? VGA water bottles?🤡

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

You are goddam right, Costco!👀

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Finally bought another Mac after 15 years👀 No, I have been using Macs all these years with no gap at all🤡

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Power supplies are a dark magic to me🤡 Trying so very much hard to understand bits of it and hopefully fix it🫠

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

So this is 4K120? I don’t feel much difference🤔🫠

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I dunno. Can’t figure out what’s actually broken with this receiver. The HDMI functionality seems totally fine?🤡🤔

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

But the thing seems to be safe. Now hope that I can fix it🤡

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Am *I* running out of VGA ports?👀👀👀

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

C'mon Fedex, no funny business on this one PLZ!!!👀

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Later during snack time: 🤡

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Spent some quality time soldering on the new one and viola! It just worked!🥳

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Began replacing the borked HDMI transmitter chip in my originally $9000 projector🤡 The damn chip kicked and screamed until I literally ripped it off of the board. Yikes! 😬

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Jeff Chen @jeffchen.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

He also blocked me. But at least we can all block this idiot back🤡

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