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Hydro Thunder Arcade - Setting Up A Dream Machine

Here's the big project I've been working on, literally! I absolutely cannot believe I managed to get one of these! This has been a dream purchase for years but the stars aligned in the most perfect way over the holidays to make it possible and I couldn't let the opportunity get by. And it gets even better as you watch the whole thing ;).

This is going to be the first part of a series of videos I'm going to be doing on this, I've already been shooting the second part as I was working on...

Big video project rolling into next week

Hello, I wanted to let you know that there won't be a video this week. I'm working on a very large project (that was a spur of the moment thing I was able to get) right now that has been physically demanding to get done and after 4 days is only just now in a place where I can start filming it. I was hoping to get it done "enough" for a video to release this saturday but I think I'm going to just say it won't be ready until next week which will let me make it much better overall. I've been tor...

Cataloging My Software Collection

Hello! This project actually started all the way back on black friday when I ordered some bookshelves to be able to finally get the bulk of my software collection finally unpacked. That set off a whole other chain of events because I've also been setting up a wiki for keeping track of personal projects aaannnndddd I ended up cataloging my entire software collection. I've started this before in the past, but I took my time with it and cross contamination between finished and unfinished areas w...

The Tools I Use

Hello! I've got some background projects in the works stealing my focus that weren't ready for a video and then had tons of construction this week near the office making it really hard to film. So I decided to do a more laid back subject and take a look at all the tools I like to keep at the ready when I'm working on stuff!

I've wanted to do a video kind of like this for a while to go over some of the tools I think are unusual but none of them really seemed like a compelling enough sub...

Plotting For The First Time - HP 7470A

Hello! This one has been a long time coming, I have finally been able to get an HP plotter working!

I picked up this HP 7470A recently because I just kind of got a wild hair to make this project a priority. It was a lot less than I thought it would be to get an entry level example and I think being a GP-IB version made it a bit undesirable. It was a lot of fun to check out!

This may not be the final version, I need to get a December supporter list printed and I had this fun idea...

CZUR ET24Pro - Easy 320DPI Book Scanning

Hello! A couple weeks ago I found out that there were linux drivers for the newer version of the CZUR scanner I reviewed a while back. I tried them out with the one I had but found they weren't compatible and was a little disappointed since it is the last part of my archiving setup that only works on Windows. I'm not kidding, like two days after that I was reached out to by the the sponsor I worked with for my last CZUR video out of the blue and asked if I wanted to try out the new one. So I ...

Original Happy Hacking Keyboard, HHK

Hello! I wanted to get a video done early this week since holiday stuff in the US will take over the rest of my time before the next video would come out. So while working on last weeks video I also spent the whole time testing and researching an original Happy Hacking Keyboard I was sent! I've been really curious about it so getting to finally try one was a nice box getting ticked for me. After having tried it...I have some thoughts about it though.

That's it for now though, if you ar...

90's CAD Digitizer and AutoCAD - Preview

Hello! Taking last week to rest and recover helped so much more than I expected. I should keep that in mind when I start to get overwhelmed in the future. For this week though I felt ready to finally tackle this project, it's not particularly complicated on the surface, but was full of potential to go wrong, which it did. But I had the time and energy to push through it and I'm happy to have finally been able to!

This is more of a conceptual video, I'm taking a look at using a CAD digi...

No video this week

Hello everyone, I mentioned on the last video I put up that I've been hustling to get the videos done recently and that it's been a work than usual recently with some big projects. I had to spend the first part of this week working on my van to get it to pass emissions (which it finally did, woo!) but that left me with less time this week to get a video done again. So rather than rush to make another sub-par video again, I think I'm just gonna take this week to mentally reset and refresh on v...

Serial to PS/2 Keyboard Adapter - L3 Systems KeyAT

This was a weird one, I don't even remember how I first heard about these, but this is a device that allows you basically full control over a PS/2 keyboard being connected to a computer over RS-232 serial. It can both act as a keylogger by reading key presses, as well as an automation tool by sending fake key presses. It's a really cool little thing to play with but takes a whole lot of work to set up to do anything interesting. I kind of gave up on making a video about it a while ago because...

Windows XP Media Center 20th Anv. - Gateway FMC-901X

Last week I realized that the 20th anniversary of Windows XP Media Center Edition was coming up and I had just finished getting this computer mostly working on a stream. At least enough to know it could be usable. So I decided to buckle down immediately after releasing the last video and have pretty much not stopped working on it since. But now it's done!

I used Vista's Media Center a lot on a laptop I had around that time and actually really enjoyed it. I've always wanted to ...

Windows XP Gaming PC Brought Back to Life

This was a completely left field video this week. I saw this computer on craigslist and had to have it. It just spoke to me, and I'm glad I picked it up because it was more than I thought at first!

It is an fairly similar configuration to the one I built last year but in a really cool and weird case.

This video has been surprisingly difficult to get made, this version may or may not be the final one. The audio is quieter than I would like (I have no idea why) so I fixed...

Abit--BP6 ReCap - Dual Processor Motherboard Back to Life

This week I attempted to try a different video production process to better make use of my time by combining some aspects of streaming with my usual video production. But just about everything short of loosing all the footage happened and I had to put a bunch of time into recovering this one. I think it probably ended up as a better video for it but I didn't get the time to work on some other long term projects like I was hoping. Oh well, I'll try again next week.

But this one...

Internal CD Caddy Changer - Torisan CDR-C3G

I had some really rough problems this week with the videos I was planning to get done. I accidentally fried my favourite Socket 7 motherboard which also took out a new prototype card I was working on with someone. Not a fun time.

So I needed a quicker video to get done and I just picked up this drive and wanted to check it out. So I decided to just record my initial explorations with the drive. It's a really cool internal CD changer that uses a caddy! I've never seen an intern...

Cloning a Philips CM153 to use my CM100

Sorry for not having early preview time on this one, I rushed as much as I possibly could to get this done and it was just called complete moments ago and I wanted to get it out at a good time while I still could.

This is the culmination of years of searching, weeks of work, and a lot of effort to have this setup. I was able to get a Philips CM100 which was the first CD drive commercially released, but never able to use or even test it because it used a rare old interface card. Just ho...

DECtalk

This has been a big one I've been working towards for over a month now. I bought a DECtalk Express a while back now to use on streams for TTS. While I knew I would like it, I didn't quite expect just how much I would like. It's awesome. But while I was working on a video about it, another opportunity came up, this time for the DECtalk DTC01 which was the first model ever. It was initially being offered for far more than I could justify spending on it, but I threw them my best offer anyway to ...

SCSI For Laptops Over PCMCIA - Adaptec SlimSCSI

I've been staring at this PCMCIA SCSI adapter thinking "Someday I should really check that thing out on a video" and this week made for the perfect time to do it. So I'm taking a look at the Adaptec SlimSCSI! SCSI is great, when it works, but getting it to that point can be a challenge and doing so in a portable way makes it all the more complicated. So I didn't have high hopes going into it but by the end I was pretty impressed!

In the backgound I've been working on some other project...

Manual Floppy Drive Switching Made Easy

Hello! Sorry this one is a little bit late, my original video plans for this week changed for the better derailing my objective. So I decided instead to finally go ahead and make an announcement video about this, The Floppy Switch Board.

This is just about the most basic thing I'll ever design but is also incredibly useful. All it does is redirect the Motor and Drive Select signals for a floppy drive connection to one of two connectors. But what you can do with that is what ma...

IBM Selectric Inspired Keyboard Build

Hello! I have two options for you on this video today. I did an extended cut again this time but I also just turned around and started editing the short one right after beginning the long versions render so both are ready at once. I don't think I've asked yet if the longer ramblier versions are something people enjoy but it seems like not the worst thing to throw up since it's usually part of my process already.

This video was kind of a stop gap to give me more time on the long projec...

In case you didn't know, I have a second channel for extra content

Hello everyone! I realized it has been some time since I mentioned anything about my second channel in any of my usual places and pointed it out twice yesterday while I was streaming and mentioned it on Discord. Both times I got the response "I didn't know you have a second channel" which is fair because I never really push it.

So I thought I would mention it here again in case you may not have known about it, I have a second channel where I now mostly put up all my stream recordings b...

MailCall 0x0C: Mail From Viewers Like You!

Finally a video! Over the last few weeks I've had a surprisingly influx of mail and other items sent my way and I really wanted to get a mail video recorded so I can start organizing things away. There are a number of really interesting projects that are going to stem from things here as well!

Video link: https://youtu.be/QFIDrr5nErI

August Suppoter Update

Hello, I wanted to let you know that I am feeling better after getting covid and  go over some of the things I've been trying to work for a video this week that didn't pan out. I've also been working on a bunch of random stuff in the background that is going to help out a ton in different ways but it's either not really going to be a video or is still working towards something worth covering.


Link: 2022-08-19 16:48:04 +0000 UTC View Post

Video delays

I mentioned in the last post for the video on the monitor that I cut short some of the work I was putting into it because I was sick. Well it turns out I have covid. I'm all vaxed up so I should be fine and I'm trying to get some rest in to fight that off. I doubt I will have a new video out this upcoming week, I might see if I have any old videos that I didn't finish that I could edit into something but I don't have high hopes.

Windows XP Gaming Monitor Doesn't Disappoint

Hello, I finally got a video finished before release day for a change! I've moved around my streaming schedule to give me a larger block of time for YT and it helped a lot this week. Unfortunately I'm feeling pretty sick at the moment so I may not stream this weekend but I was able to get this video done with a few changes to work around some over the top plans I had for it.

This one is about the monitor I teased in he 20th Annv. XP video that turned out to be a lot more interesting th...

Using a Phone With a Computer So Twitch Chat Can Call Me

My original plan for a video this week didn't work out after something beyond my control didn't work. I was going to hold out until next week to do something else but a side project I was working on for stream ended up getting done in time to just barely release this week. So I edited it as quickly as I could to release this week so this isn't the most amazing video for production but the concept worked out really well. I'm still finishing up the code to publish and the thumbnail but I hope t...

Getting an 8088 PC Online

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WB9d1JM8oo

After a busy weekend I was able to get the video edited I talked about last week. This one ended up very different from what I had originally planned it to be. I wasn't setting out to make any kind of tutorial but I expected to be able to present this more smoothly for sure.

Anyway, in this one I get some kind of 8088 system connected to a...

Man I was close, but no video this week

The next video is shot but I'm not going to be able to finish the edit for a release this weekend. There just weren't enough hours in this week to get everything done with numerous complications and delays. I'm not going to spoil the video but here's a high level look at what all went down.

The next video will be about getting an 8088 PC "online" through the networking in the office and there were so many more hurdles to that than I anticipated. Running the cables to the 5150 was MUCH ...

Preview - Ultimate VGA Capture Desk Setup

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SklE84Rx0l0
(The video is still processing as I post this because it is a big one and I'm about to head to sleep)

This video has been a long time coming, I've finally started implementing my plans for networking in the office with remote VGA capture! It was a lot of work to get this project done on a short time table this week because the PERFECT desk becam...

June 2022 Viewer Mail

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UDs3eXPalI

Firstly, sorry for no video last week. I had a couple projects not pan out that derailed some things and I decided not to push really hard to get one done. I am still working out some things with them but I'm going to be changing gears now.

This mail video is one I've been waiting on for a while and I'm glad to get to some of these now! I'm looki...

CZUR ET18 Pro Book Scanning Vintage Computer Manuals

This is a sponsored video from the manufacturer of the book scanner that I've been recommended a bunch that CuriousMarc reviewed a while ago. I tried to get one to review without it being a sponsored video but they weren't interested in doing that for some reason. But at least this gave me an economical way to be able to scan every kind of document I have now!

I published some samples from this video in the description, I'm looking forward to what I can get out of it because it did gen...