On the 18th of February 2024, I attended to Kickstart Amiga User Group, in Ottershaw, just off the M25 near London, UK. It was a smaller scale event, but perfectly formed. Join me as I dive into the event, and find so really interesting nuggets within…..
Author: Retronaut
-
Fujitsu Ergo Pro x453 PC – CH05: The Reassembly
My Ergo Pro’s bit-rotted BIOS is good again, and the machine is now repaired. We explored Hard Disk replacement solutions in the previous chapter, so now we know what solutions we are going to use. In this chapter, we reassemble this Windows 98 gaming PC, allowing me to once more deep dive into MSDos and Windows games of the 80s and 90s.
-
Fujitsu Ergo Pro x453 PC – CH04: Retro Hard Disk Replacement Options
This video is a (relatively) comprehensive overview of the Hard Disk storage replacement options available to all of us in retro PCs, Amigas, Macs etc. So, for my Ergo Pro x453, an IDE based Win98 PC, do I stick with its built in IDE, or do I choose to use a SCSI Adapter and if so, to what benefit?
-
SWAG: South West Amiga Group Event – February 2024
After an invite, I made the spur of the moment decision to visit an Amiga centric event at SWAG’s February 2024 event in Chipping Sodbury, just a few miles away from Bristol on South West England. I arrived pretty early and headed in, to see what I could see…
-
Amiga 4000 CH06: The Reassembly
It’s time to put my rescued Amiga 4000 back together! After a complex repair, that spanned over a year and a case front fascia restoration. Its time to put it all back together, so I can use it as my own machine for gaming, and productivity (I’m looking at you Real 3D).
-
Can I Repair this Amiga’s RAM and bring it back to life?
In the previous video we looked at the damage caused by a leaking Varta battery to my Amiga 4000. This was once a working computer, used at a large TV station. Now it would not even show any video, and the battery had done some serious damage to various traces and chips near it. Now, we will see if we can get this machine to work again…
-
Fujitsu Ergo Pro x453 PC – CH03: The Repair
During the cleaning process, the Ergo Pro developed a fault. In this video, we are going to try and repair a machine, with almost no signs of life, no video and with an architecture I am unfamiliar with, with no schematic to help. I know, when it failed to boot, my head sank, as pre-cleaning it was working.
-
Fujitsu Ergo Pro x453 PC – CH02: Post Code Analyser
Sadly, during the first chapters cleaning, something went south on the Ergo Pros logic board. During its repair, one piece of equipment, a Post Code Analyser card, really proved to be pivotal in diagnosing the problem and ultimately repairing the machine.
-
Spectrum Next, Issue 2 CH01: Unboxing & First Impressions
If you are aware of the Spectrum Next, Issue 2 saga, then you’ll know how long I have waited to get my itchy mits on this machine. Paid for in August 2020, it took until later December 2023 before a box was dropped (a little too hard…) at my front door, with the Spectrum Next inside.
-
Is My Amiga 4000 Battery Damage Too Severe To Repair?
The rescued Amiga 4000 was cleaned, now we had to evaluate just how bad the battery damage was. Amiga 4000’s nearly always feature battery damage and its located RIGHT next to the main system memory. Would this Amiga live again, or would be be doomed to be a “for parts” machine….