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.
Category: RetronautTech
-
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?
-
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.
-
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!
-
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!
-
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.
-
How to connect a Vintage Apple IIe to Video today
Continuing our series on using an Apple IIe in 2025, today we are getting video working. Do we use a vintage monitor to get that authentic CRT look? Or do we use a modern flat screen? Another option is to use a modern Apple II video card. Yes, we can even use HDMI! Watch on to see the options you can use to rock 1977 hardware in 2025 and onwards!
-
Amiga 40th Kickstart Event: with Exclusive Commodore News!
Join me at the Amiga 40th Anniversary Event at Kickstart, a retro computer meet-up where enthusiasts share their LOVE of vintage computers. There are a whole slew of cool retro computers, including custom Amiga builds, ZX Spectrums and a mini Amstrad CPC 64! I even managed to sneak in an Apple IIe. Ex Commodore UK MD David Pleasance was in attendance and gave us an update on the official Commodore Ultimate 64’s progress to hitting the shelves for Christmas 2025, and a few other juicy tidbits.
-
Can YOU use an Apple II Today?
In this short series, we are going to kit out my bare-bones Apple IIe to make it fit for “modern use”. Using an Apple IIe can be fun but also a little challenging in 2025. We’ll dive into the particulars of the Apple IIe, the 1983 refresh that gave you 64Kb of RAM, but still left most of the configuration down to you. So, lets get started by learning what we have to work with!
-
5 Super Upgrades for a Vintage Dell E520 Gaming PC
We are going to UPGRADE with a capital G this Win xp era Dell E520 Vintage PC. It may be a typical retro computer now, but with these 5 SUPER upgrades this 20 year old retro PC will be now of the finest vintage to play a great era of Windows PC Games. Whats on the upgrade rosta? Well, pretty much EVERYTHING. We’ll install some top tier upgrades and then benchmark them. Watch on to see PC equivalent of the Six Million Dollar Man!