iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 28/05/2026

Today, I learned that Keith Robinson of Intellivision fame is apparently also the Keith Robinson of Normy's Beach Babe-O-Rama. Busy guy! easyreadernews.com/robinson-vid... #retrogaming

Keith Robinson, showing an Intellivision box

What appears to be the European release of Normy's Beach Babe-O-Rama for the Sega Mega Drive.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 21/05/2026

I love the paper collage art style on the FM Towns freeware discs as well.

A bunch of box fish that are probably made out of cardboard swim above a rock, with a pair of weird looking sea urchin dudes looking at them. It says "Free Software Collection 10 for FM Towns" by Fujitsu, 2MB RAM required

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 07/05/2026

My SuperStation One showed up! Looking forward to seeing what all this MiSTer hype is about. #retrogaming

A blue PlayStation-looking thing is on a box advertising the thing.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 07/03/2026

I just got mine working finally. No keyboard or mouse, but I'll get there. It's a very neat machine with lots of secrets yet to uncover.

The title screen for the FM TOWNS version of A-Train III.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 01/03/2026

I opened the flap, if that counts. I also wonder how often it gets used.

My weird looking thumb is pushing up the door on the jacks

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 01/03/2026

They still have them! This was from a few weeks ago.

A Japanese pay phone with ISDN jacks in the lower right.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 30/01/2026

Oh yeah I'll need to know more about _this_.

A list of contributors to Chic magazine. The only one listed is G. Gordon Liddy of Watergate fame.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 22/01/2026

This is pretty neat. Someone on AliExpress is selling a Soggy-1000, my open-source #Sega SG-1000 clone, with the 3D-printed case that keegs made. They even went ahead and modified an NES-clone controller to work with the SMS pinout. Hope they liked building it! #retrogaming #kicad #retrocomputing

An AliExpress listing for an SG-1000/SC-3000 Retro Game Console for $304.99

The system includes the board in a 3D-printed black case, a modified NES-like controller, and a USB A power cable.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 30/11/2025

Fixing Commodore 64s is some kind of fun, but not a normal kind of fun like fixing broken Japanese computers. #commodore64 #retrocomputing

A Commodore 64 main board attached to a 1702 that won't show colour for some reason, but basic is booting

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 30/09/2025

This has to be the first one of these remotes I've seen where all the streaming services are actually available in Canada. Too bad I found it in a park in pieces. #elitter

The rubber membrane from a TV remote offering Apple TV+, Netflix, Crave, and Prime Video. The background is just grass and leaves from a public park.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 18/09/2025

That is a lot of bad MK4332s! At least it's a nice round number. #apple3 #apple2 #retrocomputing

An Apple III 12v memory board. Eight sockets are filled with gold MK4332 DRAMs and another eight are empty because they have all failed a memory test. For some reason my legs are at the bottom of the shot.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 01/09/2025

Who can make it officially Sharptember?

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 07/06/2025

The infinite redness of outer space looks weird on this SMC-777. #retrocomputing #smc777

The title screen for the space shooter Striz B.H., except it's bright red and all the colours are wrong.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 18/05/2025

I don't know if this modern stuff is going to take off. What even is an "nvidia?" #xbox

An Xbox motherboard with some freshly desoldered holes, ready for some kind of exterior debug device to be installed

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 04/05/2025

Some bodging and poking later, and I have finally gotten the Gotek to boot a disk image on the Sony SMC-777. Now to figure out how to bodge up the other disk images floating around, and to devise a mounting kit and faceplate. #retrocomputing #smc777 #cpm

The sign-on banner for Sony SMC-70 CP/M version 2.2, containing the files SETUP.COM, STAT.COM, ED.COM, DIAG.COM, BACKUP.COM, DDT.COM, ASM.COM, SAMPLE.TXT, SUBMIT.COM, LOAD.COM, DUMP.COM, XSUB.COM, PIP.COM, and DUMP.ASM

My battered Sony SMC-777 home computer, missing a floppy drive and also a few pieces of trim.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 03/05/2025

I guess I did an okay job for my first time airbrushing a plastic model body. There's a bit of orange peel and a bit of runs and a bit of too little paint, but it should set up a decent base coat for the colour coat to come. Now just to decide on colour. #ミニ四駆 #mini4wd #tamiya

A Mini 4WD car body has been painted with an off white base coat. You can tell it's not a perfect mirror finish and there's spots where the dark grey primer is poking through on the complex surfaces such as the fake vents.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 27/04/2025

Trying to install Debian on my CHRP-based Genesi ODW #PowerPC workstation. I've had... varying success. Only one dead hardware component so far... #retrocomputing #linux #modulefun #chrp

A bunch of garbage has filled the screen.

The Debian installer's language options. The monitor is trying to automatically adjust.

The boot has stalled at "returning from prom_init"

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 16/04/2025

New blog post on the side blog! I finally got my Tandy Turbo Beetle RC car to spin its wheels for the first time since probably the early 90s. It's got a modern speed controller now and is just a steering servo away from ruining my backyard. plasmadash.com/2025/04/16/t... #rccar #tandy #retrotoys

A red Tandy Turbo Beetle toy car, missing the fake engine in the back. It has the wrong tires in it and the body shell is kind of loosely mocked up.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 12/04/2025

The "external" variant of my FM-7 floppy card prototype has been lashed together (in a hurry.) This will be a lot easier to put on the scope than the internal card, especially since I don't have the right connector for it. #fm7 #retrocomputing #fm8 #fujitsu #kicad

A Fujitsu FM-New7 with a red floppy card connected to it through a 50 pin ribbon cable.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 29/03/2025

I'm finally finishing up my article on the VTech Socrates, which means running through the shot list and taking a picture of all the things I forgot. Here's the charmingly floppy-disk shaped cartridge that games come on. #retrogaming #vtech

A grey plastic cartridge in the shape of a charmingly realistic 3.5" floppy disk. You can see the PCB edge poking out of the bottom. The label reads "Socrates educational video system, awareness, age 7 and up: around the world, an adventure in world geography. Copyright 1989 video technology."

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 23/03/2025

The new supergun board is working just fine now. Embarrassingly, it was bad soldering on my part. Now I can enjoy Magical Drop 2 on my desk... if there was still room on my desk for a joystick with an entire Neo-Geo board sitting on it. #kicad #retrogaming #neogeo

Two... sword... people facing off. I forgot what their names are but they're in this game

The starting board for Magical Drop 2. Some demon is smug at my inadequate dropping and/or bouncing.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 21/03/2025

The new supergun board is working, but not terribly well. I've made at least one bonehead error so far, so hopefully I find another and magically fix this.

The title screen to Magical Drop 2 is on an NEC MultiSync 3D computer monitor. It's all very blue, for some reason.

The old board (top; green) and my remix of the board (bottom; red) featuring a "VGA" HD15 port. This makes it slightly easier to connect to a computer monitor setup.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 15/03/2025

Bunch of leaky 68K Mac motherboards getting ready for the dip. I've removed the leaky caps, cleaned the pads, and now it's time for a deep clean in the ultrasonic. I do these in batches because filling and draining the ultrasonic is such a pain. #retrocomputing #marchintosh #68kmac

Four small Mac main logic boards sitting in a basket waiting for the ultrasonic cleaner to be ready. It looks kind of like a fry basket so it's making me hungry.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 22/02/2025

For a compact power supply made in 1984, I'm surprised that all these caps had great ESR. Very good work, Fujitsu and Shindengen. #retrocomputing #fm7

The secondary side of a Fujitsu FM-7 power supply

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 15/02/2025

I hate whatever this brown potting compound is. It takes a ton of physical labour to get off, and it corrodes components around it. #retrocomputing #smc777

Brown silastic goop around the base of some capacitors has corroded this innocent wire link.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 11/02/2025

This UV flashlight did not work as well as I wanted to find cap leakage. It does, however, find flux from the original factory assembly. #retrocomputing

A glowing green streak shows the flow of flux off the board.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 27/01/2025

This is good info for me, I just ended up with two of another Votrax unit by accident. I think it's a 200?

My stupid arm is holding up a Votrax personal speech system in front of an 8" TRS-80 floppy drive and my assorted storage room squalour.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 24/01/2025

I sort of accidentally fixed this NEC PC-8201A slab top computer. Check out these cool little chip-lets. #retrocomputing

A white PC-8201A slab top computer shows the "leadedsolder.com" url over and over. My feet are in the picture because I forgot how to crop

Hitachi HM6117s are jabbed onto a DIP format ceramic PCB for adapting them into the ram socket of this machine.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 15/01/2025

I love flash EEPROMs off of AliExpress. Unlike UV EPROMs, which are easy to wipe en masse, the flash ones often arrive with their previous flash still on 'em. Always dump them, just in case it's lostware, but usually something like this font ROM. Thanks @bsittler.bsky.social for looking into it.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 05/01/2025

I'm always learning things. For instance, here's a whole new kind of clock battery in this Magic Link. #magiccap #retrocomputing

A receptacle for an oddly short battery with a pull tab and a red extraction preventer

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 01/01/2025

I haven't been posting much lately, but I've been working on this grody Atari 2600 Jr. I've done plastic repair, cleaning, and solder joint reflow. Now I can play Combat! #retrogaming #atari

A snowy battlefield of Combat. Two tanks, more alike than different, are locked in eternal warfare.

The motherboard is covered in dirt and bug residue.

The motherboard has been washed, showing a UM6532, UM6507 CPU, and UM6526 TIA.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 22/12/2024

The less sexy part of hardware design is: making sure things fit at all. Paper is cheaper than PCBs!

A paper imitation of a floppy drive card sticks out the top of an FM-7. Based on the light we can see that the 34-pin floppy connector on top will clear.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 21/12/2024

Finally got around to building this PCB so I can actually use my Atari 7800. It's only been, like, two years. #retrogaming #atari #sega

An "Atari 7800 Mega Adapter" PCB connected to a Sega Genesis controller extension cable

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 13/12/2024

One of the cool things about using a Pico as a video scaler device is that you can test your wiring by using the logic analyzer firmware. Of course I screwed up the wiring. #retrocomputing #pc6001

A Thinkpad showing PulseView is sitting on top of a PC-6001mk2 that is showing its startup screen on a TV behind it.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 10/12/2024

Lawson's beat you to it, unfortunately

A Lawson's can of Mayonnaise Drink. This is a real product.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 09/12/2024

A little bit less retro than usual: playing Outrun 2006 on my ¥1 salvage PlayStation2 with a BlueRetro wireless controller adapter. Gets warm, but seems to work well - especially with external USB power. #retrogaming #ps2

A PlayStation 2 is on my test bench. The tv displays the title screen for Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast. A neon green Xbox controller is illuminated, showing it is connected to the PS2. A blue dongle hangs out of the PlayStation 2 alongside a FMCB memory card. The rest of the desk has nasty useless clutter

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 22/11/2024

Continuing with this week's trend of recalcitrant old-computer tips... If you're using Basilisk II to emulate a 68K Mac, and the "Unix" shared folder doesn't show up on your System 7.5.0/7.0 install, it's because you're missing the "File System Manager" extension. Find that and install it.

A screenshot of the "Get Info" window for File System Manager v1.2. It is in German.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 21/11/2024

I assumed that setting it to "0 disks" was so that it wouldn't try to boot off a disk in the drive, or spin forever waiting for one, as the 66SR likes to do. Then I noticed that in mkII mode, it was asking me different questions on startup. "How many files" means Disk BASIC is loaded. But how?

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 21/11/2024

The Hydlide manual does seem to explicitly mention setting the switch on the back of 66/SR machines (the ones with built in floppy drives) to "0 disks." Makes sense, but I don't think such a thing exists for mk2. Maybe it maps some room in memory for a disk cache, even when not loading Disk BASIC?

Point 1 says that on PC-6601/PC-6601SR, set the number of drives to zero.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 21/11/2024

If you are having trouble reliably loading tape images in the PC6001VX emulator, try changing "number of drives" to zero. I'm not sure yet why this prevents the CMT load from becoming corrupt, but disabling disk drives seems to help load Hydlide & other games with binary loaders. #pc6001 #pc6001vx

The preferences dialogue box in PC6001VX, offering the option to set "Num of Drives" to 0.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 17/11/2024

Soon it will be Weird Cartridge Wednesday, & I can show off my new copy of Turpin for the NEC PC-6001. I'll dump the game and make a copy of the shell. Wait, Weird Cartridge Wednesday isn't a thing? Who have I been sending my pictures to every week? #retrocomputing #pc6001 #konami #retrogaming

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 13/11/2024

Hello new readers! This is the bsky account for the Leaded Solder blog at www.leadedsolder.com, which since 2017 I have been writing regular articles on repairing old computers and game consoles. Also: modern clones of the ColecoVision and the Sega SG-1000, with the VTech CreatiVision ongoing!

A poorly Photoshopped cover of a children's book: "The Elves and the Internet Weirdo." Two elves are beating on a smoking Coleco Adam home computer with hammers.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 13/11/2024

Is there anything cooler than pirated MSX games on a Taiwanese Sega SG-1000 clone? If there is, I don't know what it is. Getting ready to dump the contents of the "Open-1" clone soon. #retrocomputing #retrogaming #msx #sega #sg1000

A Track-And-Field looking game where two potatolike athletes are preparing to race the 500 meter sprint. The world record is 03 minutes 31 seconds.

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 09/11/2024

The world's worst menu system is here. But at least I can finally use SC++L strings on an embedded system. Next up: audio playback?

My "Tapestry" tape emulator board showing a menu of options 1 to 6

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 06/11/2024

This Sanyo MBC-555 manual is already worth the yen I spent on it. Just look at these two dudes enjoying life. #retrocomputing #sanyo

Two ghostlike characters wearing bandit masks are hanging out. One has a hat reading "MBC," and is sitting in a lawn chair smoking. He looks very happy. The other bandit is staring off into the distance with a look of pride in what he has accomplished today. The vibe is good

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 30/10/2024

I'm not sure why the local electronics recycler had a Taiwanese Sega SG-1000 clone but now it can hang out with my SG-1000 clone. #retrogaming #sega

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 27/10/2024

The CoCo mechanical keyboard just needs a couple of screws and a little bit of finishing work, but it does work! My poor #Tetris scores are all my own fault. #retrocomputing #coco #trs80 #kicad

The coco with a red keyboard PCB and AliExpress key caps put into it

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leaded solder @leadedsolder.com · 22/10/2024

Bodged the CoCo keyboard PCB together just enough to get into #FujiNet. All the switches are crooked since I tried to freehand solder plate-mount switches into a PCB, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work! #retrocomputing

A red keyboard PCB with a mismatched jumble of keyboard keys stuck in it. Some are crooked. Some are too tall.

The "choose a disk image" interface for FujiNet looking at the IRATA software archives

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