Writing

~/blog/2025-02-25-powering-up-a-commo...
2025-03-12
#retrocomputing #commodore #vic-20 #commodore-vic-20 #home-computers #restoration
The Commodore VIC-20, before clean up.
Bill Shatner using his Captain Kirk charm to sell the VIC-20.
The VIC-20 does a cameo appearance in John Wick.

Powering up a Commodore VIC-20

The 1980s was a pretty amazing time to experience the early days of personal computing. Apple, Commodore, Atari, Sinclair, Amstrad, Texas Instruments, Radio Shack, MSX, and many more platforms were vying for a place in people’s homes.

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~/blog/2024-01-26-yaduino-cyberdeck.m...
2024-01-26
#hardware #open-source #iot #avr #microcontroller #electronics
If one is going to build a cyberdeck, you might as well make it look like a cyberdeck.

Yaduino Cyberdeck

This is based on my “Yaduino” Arduino Uno clone, my first MCU system design project using the good old Atmega328P. Thought I’d do something fun and turn one of the boards into some sort of “cyberdeck” complete with net access courtesy of an ESP-8266. Wrote some quick and dirty code to manage menus and launch actions across three screens. Also has some nice text effects for good “cyber” measures.

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~/blog/2023-12-24-reflections-on-rest...
2023-12-24
#retrocomputing #restoration #Amiga 500+ #vintage computers #Commodore
This Amiga 500+ is resilient.
The corroded PCB track under the battery that needed tinning.
In contrast, this particular board’s (an Amiga 1500 (2000), Rev 6) damage is caused by a Varta battery, which resulted in corroding the CPU and its socket since the battery’s innards crept into its area.

Reflections on restoring a Commodore Amiga 500 Plus

As a hobby, I do occasional restorations of vintage computers and other electronics. Restoring vintage computers is my escape—like a mental jog that keeps burnout at bay. It’s also a fantastic way to “time travel” and appreciate some brilliant engineering feats from the past.

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~/blog/2022-09-01-yaduino-mcu-board.m...
2022-09-01
#hardware #open-source #iot #avr #microcontroller #electronics
Now that's a good looking PCB, if I do say so myself.
Brownouts resolved with a 100uF bypass cap across the ESP-01 module supply pins.
An assembled Yaduino board, complete with a 1602A display and ESP-01 module plugged in. Note the red bodge wire to connect VCC on the charge management IC.
A couple of assembled Yaduinos complete with custom 3D printed enclosures. One of them sports an OLED display instead of a 1602A.

The Yaduino - An ATmega328P playground

So this is my first stab at designing a microcontroller board. I call it Yaduino - Yet Another Arduino (the missing r is deliberate!) :)

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