Category Archives: Anything

Unsorted stuff. Regular blog posts.

Cartridge for Commodore 64

Sometimes I want to show how old 8 bit computers work for some n00bs. It is nice to load some games from tape, some from disk. But when I want to show more games, the best thing is cartridges. And … Continue reading

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ZX Spectrum inside CPLD

I found an old ZX Spectrum clone made in Soviet Union in the 90’s. It was my computer, I wrote several programs on it and also, I wrote drivers for Epson printer on this hardware. This model has Soviet chip … Continue reading

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Fancy soldering

Good fellow donated my collection with a new item- Sharp PC-2500. The only big problem- this old computer had caustic batteries inside and they leaked. Alkaline used in the batteries has a very ugly feature- it can travel under conformal … Continue reading

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Testing Commodore 6526/8520 copy in CPLD

There are quite expensive obsolete chip from various Commodore computers and peripherals- CIA/PIA MOS 6526 and a bit changed 8520 used in Amiga computers. This is a “complex” peripheral interface adapter chip for 6502 processor or 68K chipset. It is … Continue reading

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Partial solar eclipse

This outdated article about some partial solar eclipse- it was in 2008, but to keep both Lithuanian and English blog “synchronized” I leave this article. Info from wiki: As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse is a type of … Continue reading

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Klystron

In previous article I mentioned, that I didn’t managed to remove klystrone tube from metal chassis. After some time I managed to remove it… Here is the author of this blog and “little” vacuum tube: All tuning magnets and other … Continue reading

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Scanning for WiFi

In old times, when article was originally posted in 2008 wifi was not popular in our country. Now (2015), then article was translated, situation changed. I aquired several old handheld computers for tests. So I started wifi scanning software and … Continue reading

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Old style TV transmitter

From time to time I have articles about teardown about some strange items. It is not regular home items, but something more exotic… It is either 10kW or 20kW TV transmitter. It from Lithuanian region Dūkštas, Ignalina. Device is made … Continue reading

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RGB matrix: organization

This post is about structure and organization of big RGB LED matrix. Just notes to remember how it works, as paper notes tends to be lost. And it is much easier to find information back in the internet compared to … Continue reading

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Gyroscopic effects in high speed hard drives

Just short demonstration of gyroscopic effects in high speed hard disks. I had some useless hard disks. It is old SCSI server disk ST39102LW. It is only 9Gb, but 10000 rpm (10K). This increase effect to noticible level. To feel … Continue reading

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