– Retrodrömmar
ScummVM is a neat little application that allows you to run classic point-and-click adventure games on a variety of platforms, including Dreamcast. That means, you can run your old favorites such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Leisure Suit Larry, on your Dreamcast! To do so, you need to create a Discjuggler CDI-file (see, guide for burning cdi-files for Dreamcast). In this post I…
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I rarely like to to major modifications to original old hardware, with a few exceptions. A couple of such exceptions were a paint job of a Game & Watch Donkey Kong in horrible condition, and a VGA-mod of an original Gameboy. In this post, I will to some modifications to a Super Nintendo (SNES), which I bought from a local seller. As seen below, the…
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The original Xbox, launched by Microsoft in 2001, is still a popular console to run homebrew games and emulators on. However, as with any old hardware, the console’s weaknesses are starting to show. One of those weaknesses is the optical drive, a common source of error on old video game consoles. One common errors are that the DVD-tray is stuck, and won’t eject. Another common…
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This information is based on http://theinstructionlimit.com/installing-ms-dos-6-22-on-a-486-without-a-floppy-drive-using-a-cf-to-ide-adapter and is more of a note to self. Anyway, as a retrocomputer enthusiast I often find myself in the following situation: I have a compact flash to IDE adapter with a suitable CF-card. However, I do not have a floppy drive on the retrocomputer that I want to install MS DOS to. Furthermore, I also need to install Ontrack…
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I have a tendency to buy broken Gameboys on Swedish eBay for around $20-$25, and then fix them. They usually suffer from two faults that are easy to repair: corrosion on the battery connectors, and vertical lines on screen. However, in some cases, the screens are beyond repair (if they have dead horizontal lines, or damaged flexible PCBs). Then, a VGA mod may come in…
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I bought a Compaq Contura 420C laptop for a fairly good price at Swedish eBay. The downside? Both hinges were broken. It seems like this is a common problem on these old laptops. In this post I will show how I repaired them. It is by no means a pretty fix, since I lack the tools to weld metal pieces together. But it works. I…
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I picked up one of those chinese portable gaming/video/music/camera handhelds super cheap at Swedish eBay, just out of curiosity. These units come under a variety of name such as “X6” etc and can be bought on Amazon, Wish, Ali Express etc. They are a slightly more advanced variant than the small “Gameboys” bundled with a number of NES games. In this post I will write…
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In this post, I will make a full disassembly of a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), including cleaning the 72-pin cartridge connector. If you experience “pink” screen or having problems running games, this is the first measure to get your NES in working order again. The unit I am working on is an ex-rental. This unit has never been opened before, and is in excellent condition,…
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As described in another post, I’m using a Compaq Presario CDS 520 as a MS DOS gaming machine. I bought it in almost perfect condition from Swedish eBay, except for a broken “right arrow” key on the keyboard. In this post I will describe how to fix that. First, separate the top and bottom of the keyboard by removing the three marked screws below. As…
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In this post I will write some hopefully useful observations from working with the Compaq Presario CDS 520, with the goal of turning it into a MS DOS gaming machine, similar to my Presario 433 I owned as a child. According to the wisdom of the Internet, Compaq stands for “Compability” and “Quality”. Compability refers to IBM PC compability. (This post is updated on a…
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