Finally back from the Chicago trip! Lots of driving to and from NC, but it was well worth it. I also spent several vacation days after the show to take in the sights, sounds, and smells of downtown proper. Always a fun time, hehe. Many Chicago Dogs were consumed without remorse from my room on the 21st floor. Big shoutout to all of you I got to meet at 2021-09-21 14:11:44 +0000 UTC View Post
Greetings. So! Here's a video that exists.
It's been a weird weekend, man. Not long after I returned from the funeral mentioned in the last post, I jumped on this project – if only because it provided an easy and obvious distraction. Really wasn't sure if I'd have the time to edit this footage down before the upcoming VCFMW trip on Wednesday, but well, here we are. It turned into an...
2021-09-07 05:20:44 +0000 UTC View Post
Greetings! I've put together another LGR retrospective video thing, this time focused on Broderbund's Print Shop Deluxe for Windows 3.1 – mostly, heh. It's less about detailed facts and product history and more about my own experiences with it growing up with a PC in the 90s. Hopefully it strikes a nostalgic chord with folks. And if nothing else, Cool Crab.™
So! Quick ann...
2021-09-02 18:50:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Fresh LGR episode! This one isn't as "WHOA" of a product as the things seen in the last two videos I've posted, but I find it quite exciting regardless. Here we've got a Creative Sound Blaster Discovery CD New Edition bundle from 1995 -- new old stock!
It's one of those things that I always drooled over as a kid but could only dream of owning. And since I never did get to upg...
2021-08-26 20:54:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Time for another episode of Oddware! And this one you might've seen online before, if you frequent the same retro subcommunities or follow the same social media accounts I do.
This is the CKS-05V from 1997, a 5-inch amber monochrome VGA CRT monitor that fits into three PC drive bays! And it's an absolute delight to use, with both retro and modern software. Surprisingly sharp image and...
2021-08-17 22:09:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Greetings, folks! Here's a project I've had going in the background pretty much all year at this point. And finally, after importing all the right parts and peripherals I needed about a month ago, I was able to start assembling a video. So here it is!
We're taking a look at the Sony Vaio PCV-MX2 — a multimedia PC sold in Japan in the year 2000. And it's a beautiful silver hi-fi beas...
2021-08-10 02:35:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Well then, seems it's been a while since I did one of these. The last Sims pack I covered was back in 2020 – 8 months ago now! Can you believe there have been seven additional content packs since then that I haven't covered? Yeeeeaaah. And I don't plan on covering them either.
I've had practically zero interest in reviewing all the crap EA's been pushing out since November....
2021-07-29 21:33:32 +0000 UTC View Post
THRIFTS.
I didn't have quite as much footage as I wanted to for this one, so I ended up taking a bit of a detour last weekend and dropped by a local event. And well, why not roll it up into a Thrifts episode, I thought!
Hope y'all enjoy 👍
2021-07-19 18:40:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Well now, this doesn't happen every day! Most of the time when I make an off-hand comment in a video wishing that a ridiculous piece of software existed, well. That's that, it's nothing more than a silly wish for a ridiculous piece of software, haha.
Not today though. Because TOOM. IT EXISTS! Now you can play the entirety of Doom v1.9 vertically. On vintage hardware!
Wh...
2021-07-13 15:11:40 +0000 UTC View Post
https://youtu.be/DfosmOqPO4I
Once again a whole bunch of awesomeness showed up in the LGR mailbox. Let's open it all up and check things out!
This is another one of those weeks where I've had multiple larger projects on the table and every one of them still needs more time, haha. So if all goes well in the coming weeks you can expect fresh LGR videos ...
An obscure DOS game retrospective? Dang, it's been a while.
Let's take a look at Iron Assault from 1995 by Graffiti, the same Milan-based developers as the Screamer series of games! Compared to contemporary mech games like Mechwarrior 2 and Earthsiege, it's not particularly impressive.
But it's got some neat features that make it worth looking at, I th...
2021-06-27 19:37:11 +0000 UTC View Post
https://youtu.be/mpayqVGmKyo
Now this right here has been near the top of my "want to review" list for YEARS, ever since seeing it make an appearance in an episode of Computer Chronicles from 1991. And thanks to a very generous donation from an LGR viewer recently, here we are with one in fantastic shape -- and sourced from Computer Reset, ...
https://youtu.be/9yT9KPQqBtE
Here's the first draft of a new LGR build video! This time it's a 1997-era system running the AMD K6-166 Socket 7 processor. And of course, it's paired with a 3dfx Voodoo card, a wavetable-equipped sound card, and the venerable Windows 95. Lovely.
This one's somewhat of a follow-up to the 486 SBC build
2021-06-09 23:24:16 +0000 UTC
View Post
UTGOYTE, LET'S GOOOOO
https://youtu.be/XRF06DpQE0c
Not much more to say really. It's one of my all-time favorite games and an absolute classic. Hard to believe it's 22 years old now, jeez.
Videos like this are often a real treat to put together and this was no exception.
I hope you enjoy!
FISH TANK.
https://youtu.be/0c7EN2Dolis
Haha, yeah it's this thing. If you saw the most recent donations unboxing video then you knew this was coming soon! This video is a simpler episode while I work on more involved projects, but I still think it's a whole lotta fun regardless.
This is the Lian Li PC-6010 aluminum ATX tower case from 2003, but with the optional $99 side panel that holds water...
Greetings all! Hope you've had a good week or two. I've been working round the clock on the latest episode since the moment the last video went up here on Patreon, ha.
Annoying to not have a video out last week, but I really think this one was worth the extra time. It's a good ol' LGR Retrospective thing all about the Cybiko from the year 2000! These were goofy PDA-like mobile devices for tweens and teens, and the experience really is something.
https://youtu.be/kyI6KDU96zA
Well this is a rare treat! Thanks to this generous loan from an LGR patron, we've all got the opportunity to enjoy a new old stock IBM ThinkPad from 1997.
Apparently it's spent a lonely life in the back corner of an office storage area, just waiting for someone to take it home and give it some love. And after over ...
https://youtu.be/18W_LBNg2_8
Greetings, and it's time for another early 3D accelerator thing on LGR!
This episode is all about the Creative Labs 3D Blaster VLB from late 1995, one of the earlier attempts at a 3D graphics acceleration standard for PCs. And specifically, it was meant for 486 DOS PCs! Yep, while everyone else was off catering to the Pentiums and their fancy PCI slots, Creative went off in another ...
More LGR Oddware! Because the retro oddness genuinely never ends.
https://youtu.be/Mf39mEPUuJA
This one's all about the DSP Solutions Digispeech Plus, a Sound Blaster-compatible sound device for DOS and Windows PCs that connects via the parallel port. Yeah! It doesn't just do simple OPL2/3 stuff, nor is it a Covox Speech Thing/DSS clone. This thing simply plugs in, runs a TSR, and lets you select Sound Blaster ...
Greetings folks! Time for the first mail call video of the year, and this one's a big one. Longest one yet actually, wow.
https://youtu.be/UBXZjA_hi6Q
It's also one of those weeks where nothing else I've been working on has come together, so that's... fun. A bigger project is taking longer than anticipated so I've kept whittling away at a few different projects. Which means there's nothing to show for any of it...
https://youtu.be/7FgKWSirUuQ
Greetings, folks! I've got quite the special piece of vintage computing equipment to cover this time, one of those projects that's been on the table for the better part of a year now.
This LGR thing is all about the IBM Model 7532 Industrial Computer, first introduced in May of 1985. It started at $6,149 back then and only went up from there, easily surpassing $10,000 for a decent c...
https://youtu.be/IHwRzrywobA
Dang, it's been a while!
Finally got together enough footage for a nice, full episode of Thrifts. I've been visiting stores here and there this whole time, but nowhere near as often as I used to. And even then, it's been pretty slim pickins whenever I did go out.
Whatever though, here we are with a bunch of thrifty thrift store stuff I've run across over the past how...
https://youtu.be/U0vm-BOKzlI
Time for a long-postponed LGR thing!
This one's all about Fujitsu's Fin Fin, a (sort of) voice-controlled virtual pet for Windows PCs from 1996. Specifically this is the US Deluxe Edition from 1997, which came packed with a plastic bird whistle and its own little microphone inside the package for $59.99. Fujitsu even made an optional Smartsensor add-on, which was apparently a repurp...
https://youtu.be/d60V9yAPE_s
Greetings! I've got kind of a simpler LGR thing this time just for a bit of fun: saving and loading data on reel to reel tapes!
This uses a DOS program called KCS, the line in and out of a sound card, and any just about any tape recorder. Of course, the idea here was to use one of the reel to reel variety, and specifically make use of its 15 inches per second speed. Because we can.<...
https://youtu.be/e1pehz1hNtk
Greetings folks! Didn't quite get this one finished in time to go up on Friday, but here it is for your viewing pleasure today. I suppose it'll end up being March's first public video instead. And what a video topic it is, ahh the early 2000s and all its novel approaches to optical media labeling.
This episode of Oddware is all about Yamaha's largely forgotten DiscT@2 drives, a ser...
https://youtu.be/pycArRS0w6k
Aw yeah, its time for a classic LGR computer game retrospective. This one's all about Need For Speed II from 1997, along with the Special Edition presented in all its 3dfx Glide mode glory. I had a whole lot of fun putting this one together since I've got so many years of experience with it and countless fond memories. It is somehow even more absurd than I remember, haha.
P...
EDIT: Had an issue with the first upload. There's a new one linked now!
https://youtu.be/o7W6hv4kcvg
"Nobody registers WinRAR." Or so goes the saying. So let's register WinRAR!
Yeah I've had this idea kicking around for a while and I needed a simpler video for this week since I'm working on more involved things, so why not! WinRAR is notorious for havin...
https://youtu.be/t3SPe7hv-DA
Ahh, now this is the good stuff.
Greetings folks, and allow me to introduce a video that I've been enthusiastically craving to make ever since LGR first began. And thanks to a unit on loan it's finally happened!
This is the one and only Ad Lib Gold 1000 sound card, released in 1992 as a (rather late) follow-up to the OG 1987 AdLib Music Synthesizer. And it really is ...
Greetings folks! After some unforeseen delays I've got a rather long-awaited video for y'all: it's time to talk about my main synthesizer setup. ALL OF IT.
https://youtu.be/UgNqzbcr2Pw
Well, maybe not absolutely everything but a whole lotta stuff is touched on here. Analog and digital synths, drum machines, eurorack, mixing, compressors, scopes, switchers, and way more bleep, bloops, and bops than you can shake...
https://youtu.be/EfoPRZURqHk
New Oddware episode! I was aiming for around 20 minutes in length for this one but eh, I had things to say so it ended up being longer. And it's all about the Hewlett-Packard Photosmart Mobile Camera for Windows Mobile PDAs, which is a 1.3 megapixel digital camera packed into an SD card. Or, more specifically, SDIO. Neat!
I considered making the video of my typical retro camera revi...