The first Kickstart event of 2026 showcased a NEW retro 📺 Monitor project. What is it? Well, If you’re rocking an OG Commodore 64, 128, or Amiga, you’ll like this, a LOT. You almost certainly WANT your own 1084sx (flat screen) Monitor to complete that retro picture. Join me and Leigh Malpas, as we discuss this exciting new project.
Author: Retronaut
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A 33 year journey: Finally getting my Amiga Piccolo SD64 setup perfectly!
After a 33 year itch, FINALLY my Amiga 2000 has my dream graphics card, a Piccolo SD64, giving it high resolution 24bit graphics! But that itch is not fully scratched, because it’s passthrough is not working yet, making it quite frustrating to use. In this video I fall down a rabbit hole. Can I use my stock 15Khz video with the passthrough, can I make a suitable VGA passthrough cable, will my new Flicker Fixer card work. Lets dive in with, me and see what I find out!
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I Waited 33 Years for This Dream Amiga Upgrade… Will It Work?
33 years ago I had a dream: a 24-bit graphics card for my Amiga 1500, the key to taking my 3D graphics to the next level! There was just one tiny problem… a £3,000 price tag. Fast-forward 33 years and against all odds, a Piccolo SD64 has fallen into my hands — but there’s a catch. It’s untested, it’s ancient, and it may already be dead. Will it power⚡up? Will it let me live that long-denied Amiga dream? Or will this be the moment when nostalgia goes up in a puff of magic smoke?
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Restoring a Motherload of OG IBM PCs: First steps, the IBM 5150
In this video, I kick off renovating three early IBM PCs: One IBM 5150, two IBM 5160 (PC/XT) and a classic IBM 5153 CGA monitor. We’ll take an initial look inside, assess their condition, and talk about the known risks—those infamous tantalum capacitors that love to fail explosively. You can expect dust, ageing electronics, and a little (possibly explosive) peril as we start the process of preparing the 5150 for safe power-up and restoration.
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Fixing a Badly Wobbling Retro GPU with a 3D Printed Bracket
My XP era vintage Dell Dimension E520 upgrades, left it’s Zotac GT 730 with no PC slot bracket. Could my new Bambu Lab H2D and Autodesk Fusion have come to the rescue!? I’m going to model a precision replacement bracket in Fusion and print a high quality solution that will get that Zotac card securely locked into its slot.
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First 3D Printer, A Bambu Labs H2D. Does It Fly or Flop?
I’ve been waiting to get into 3D printing for A DECADE. So I am very privileged that (literally) my first hands on experience with a 3D printer, is with my new Bambu Lab H2D. Why do I need a 3D printer? Well I explore retro tech, and old plastics break, adapters and brackets are needed and who knows I may make entire new projects with this new wonder tool. Join me as I unbox the beast and put it through its first test print. Will out pop out a perfect benchy, or a tangled web of filament?
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ProDOS: Why This Changed Everything for Apple II Users
Join me in this ultimate guide to the Apple II’s ProDOS. Why did it take Apple so long to replace AppleDOS, a DOS only suited to the simpler DiskII system. What did ProDOS finally bring to the legendary Apple II and why did it become indispensable to all Apple users within just a few months of its launch? I’ll answer these questions and show you how to quickly become proficient with ProDOS on your Apple II.
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Computer Gaming History Exhibition: A Celebration with Friends!
Lets head in to the Retro Computer Festival 2025 (Gaming Edition) at the Centre For Computing History, in Cambridge UK. The event promised to show an array of gaming history, from the early mainframe days, to Unix workstations, through to the 80s pomp of the home micro revolution, the Amiga and the 90s dominance of consoles vs the PC. It was a great event, with fun had by all!
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Apple II Storage: The ULTIMATE Timeline Deep-Dive (From Disk II to SuperDrive!)
For two decades, the Apple II family was a home micro pioneer! This deep dive celebrates its legendary storage history: From the revolutionary Disk II system and the birth of micro-hard disks, through the essential UniDisk 5.25 era, all the way up to the high-density drives of the IIe and IIGS. We’ll show you the crucial hardware, the controller cards required, and how these devices made the Apple II evolution a fun ride!
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Unleashing the Legend: The Apple II and the Disk II!
In this episode, we’re diving into a true titan of early micro-computing: *the legendary Disk II floppy disk system* for the Apple II. Designed by the brilliant *Steve Wozniak*, the Disk II wasn’t just another peripheral—it was a *seismic shift* in engineering ingenuity. Its streamlined, cost-effective design fundamentally unlocked the full potential of the Apple II, tearing down barriers that shackled game devs. Simply put, it was THE key ingredient that propelled the Apple II to greatness.