techav

Many thanks to our returning Platinum Sponsor of #VCFSW, the National Videogame Museum! Thank you for supporting the festival each year - check them out while you're in town for our show: nvmusa.org

Tools Exist for Good Reason - techav Tools Exist for Good ReasonALTI don’t know why I haven’t tried this before. Wire-wrap socket id tags are a thing that exist. They slip around the pins on the under side of the board and number the...

I've been building projects using wire wrap for seven years now, but never tried using socket tags to help keep track of pin numbering on the board wire side. Turns out they're quite useful.
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My Portrait display was also really dim and smeary after sitting in storage for too long. I did some recapping but it didn't fix the problem. Haven't sat down to figure out what else is wrong.

The wait is over. Exhibitor tables are available for #VCFSW 2026: www.vcfsw.org/event-detail...

VCF Southwest is back for 2026, May 29-31! Get tickets and learn more at vcfsw.org! #VCF #VCFSW

techav Farewell ViRGE, We’ll Meet Again Soon ALTALTI’ve removed the ViRGE graphics chip and its video memory from my PikaPC prototype. There’s just a large bare spot on the board left in its place. My new...

The nice thing about wire wrap is it can be undone as easily as it was placed to begin with. Since I never could get it to work properly, I've removed the S3 ViRGE from my PikaPC prototype to make room for new bus logic.
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Photograph of a table in a library makerspace. Piles of newly-minted stickers are in the foreground. In the background, a Cricut device is busy cutting more stickers.

This weekend I dropped by my local library and learned how to use a new tool. Walked out with a big pile of custom stickers to hand out this year at VCFSW.
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I currently have the same problem.
Sure there is technically a cheaper shipping option, but add on the tariffs on delivery and unspecified handling fees and processing delays and ...

techav PikaPC Phase 2 I’m moving forward into the second phase of my PowerPC homebrew computer project, PikaPC — spinning up PCBs to replace the wire-wrap prototype. I’ve spent the past week dividing up the....

I've been working on designing modular PCBs for PikaPC, my PowerPC homebrew computer project.
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techav New Bus? I believe I may have run into a hard limit of using wire-wrap construction. After weeks of trying to debug video memory access with the S3 ViRGE, it’s looking like the failures are in the...

I think I've run into the limits of what I can do with wire-wrap. A 46MHz EDO memory bus may have just been a step too far. I've decided to start the next phase for PikaPC, my PowerPC homebrew project — it's time to lay out PCBs. But first, I need to define a new bus.
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techav On Stubborn Problems I am … stuck. I have been stuck on the same problem for weeks now and I’ve just about run out of ideas. I am stuck like have never been stuck before. I’ve been working on trying.....

For weeks now, I have been fighting one of the most difficult problems I have ever encountered in the ten years I have been building homebrew computers — how to read and write VRAM on the S3 ViRGE.
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I've had nothing but trouble with Home Assistant. I gave up on Zigbee2MQTT after a breaking change killed it & all my batteries in a day.
HA is great idea, but the reality of it is a nightmare. Constantly breaking; terrible documentation; and the most condescending, unhelpful user forums ever.

DFW Retrocomputing Winter 2026 Meetup - techav DFW Retrocomputing Winter 2026 MeetupALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTFun old tech on display or for sale at the Winter 2026 Dallas/Fort Worth area Retrocomputing Meeup on.....

This past weekend was the first Dallas/Fort Worth area Retrocomputing Meetup of 2026! I took pictures of some of the fun old tech on display.

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PikaPC had me chasing my tail for a while, but it's up and running again.
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techav techav 2025 Recap: I had quite a year! I worked on some great projects and accomplished far more than I ever could have imagined. Blog Stats• 50 original posts & 6 reblogged posts • 18 photo dump...

I can't believe how much I actually accomplished in 2025. I built things that I already look at and wonder how I pulled it off, like porting NetBSD to my 68030 homebrew computer and building a functional PowerPC homebrew computer.
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A bunch of microsoft logos from the 70s, 80s, 90s and today but instead of saying Microsoft all of them spell Microslop in the vibe of the original logos.

It's fascinating to see the changes in one company's logo over the years.

techav Slow GoingI needed to rework my peripheral data bus to be able to steer the most significant 8 bits of the PPC403 data bus to any of the four bytes of the VL Bus to properly read back data registers.....

I got my peripheral bus rewired and the logic updated. It booted up just fine … until it didn't.
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techav Just Read the Datasheet It was staring me right in the face. ALTI had run into a roadblock and had no idea where to look next. After sleeping on it, I came back with fresh eyes to look over some logic...

I was finally able to get the ViRGE chip to initialize and start outputting a valid video sync signal, but I missed some important details for translating the PPC403 bus to VLB.
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Wire-side of the PikaPC homebrew computer main board with several thin wires removed from their posts but currently trapped under all of the wires that were placed after they were originally installed.

Wire wrap is great because it can be undone by just twisting the opposite direction. But the layers of wires add up quickly and it can be difficult to fish out a wire to remove it.

techav ViRGE TroubleshootingA big fear of mine when making major additions to a project, such as the work I just completed for wiring video to my PikaPC project, is that the additions will break what I’ve...

I haven't gotten the PikaPC communicating with the ViRGE chip yet. I've made some progress, but had some surprises.
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techav So Many Tiny Wires ALTI’ve just finished the wiring to add an S3 ViRGE video chip to PikaPC, my PowerPC homebrew computer project. It required hundreds of 30 gauge wires wrapped around hundreds of...

Finally finished wiring video for PikaPC!
Just need to start testing & debugging ...
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techav ALTNeed Input I’m working on adding peripherals to PikaPC, my homebrew PowerPC computer project. I have plans for adding support for video, SD card, and keyboard & mouse. I’m still waiting for some...

Working out keyboard & mouse input for PikaPC, my PowerPC homebrew project:
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Get ready for #VCFSW 2026! It seems like just yesterday we were wrapping up our amazing 2025 show. This year, our attendance grew 50% to over 1,800 visitors, plus over 100 exhibitors. On behalf of the organizing team, a huge TH...

Excited to get things rolling for VCF Southwest 2026, May 29-31! Hotel room block is open now! Here’s the newsletter announcing the show and all the details #VCFSW #VCF

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Handling bus translation for PikaPC
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Who coulda seen that coming.... 🙄

techav PikaPC Project Goals I’m planning on taking a different approach to my PikaPC project. For Wrap030, my 68030 homebrew computer, my end goal was always to build something capable of running a proper...

Project goals for PikaPC, my PowerPC homebrew computer:
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Rendering Mandelbrot fractals in Forth on PikaPC, my PowerPC homebrew computer:
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techav ALTPikaPC Runs First CodeI’ve finished wiring the essentials on my PikaPC homebrew computer project. As it sits currently, it has the PowerPC 403GA CPU clocked at 24MHz, 512kB of flash ROM on an 8-bit...

Running code on PikaPC, my PowerPC homebrew computer.
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techav ALTPikaPC Homebrew ComputerI’ve started a new project. I even gave it a proper name this time! I’m calling it PikaPC, named after the adorable screaming lagomorphs. My last big homebrew project was...

I've started a new homebrew computer project, this time using a PowerPC 403GA as the CPU.
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DFW Retrocomputing Fall 2025 Meetup - techav DFW Retrocomputing Fall 2025 MeetupALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTALTFun old tech on display at the Fall 2025 Dallas/Fort Worth area Retrocomputing Meetup on the 18th.....

Pictures from the Fall 2025 DFW Retrocomputing Meetup
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