What retro things have you done today?

Oil for lubricating sewing machines is also supposed to be ideal for re-lubing fans. You can get it from haberdashery shops. The shop assistant will rightfully utterly baffled if you say you are going to lube a noisy fan though.
 
Damn, is that a 19" Vision Master Pro 454? It looks to be in near perfect condition too!
Must weigh about 30kg :D
Spot on! 19 inch 454. :)

According to the manual I think I read its 24kg? Certainly felt heavier, mainly due to the bulky shape. I was careful to ensure that it sat on Alex drawer unit (didn't want my desk to bow)! :D

It's in really nice condition and has a lovely image. Haven't used for ages, normally stored in a cupboard, waiting for the day I find a space and desk it can sit on! The more I used the better the image (or simply placebo and I got used to it) the picture is ace and perfectly usable. I was repeatedly comparing the image to the Dell U2412M (which is my normal screen for retro) and the colours to the naked eye seemed very comparable.
 
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Spot on! 19 inch 454. :)

According to the manual I think I read its 24kg? Certainly felt heavier, mainly due to the bulky shape. I was careful to ensure that it sat on Alex drawer unit (didn't want my desk to bow)! :D

It's in really nice condition and has a lovely image. Haven't used for ages, normally stored in a cupboard, waiting for the day I find a space and desk it can sit on! The more I used the better the image (or simply placebo and I got used to it) the picture is ace and perfectly usable. I was repeatedly comparing the image to the Dell U2412M (which is my normal screen for retro) and the colours to the naked eye seemed very comparable.
Not far off.
There's something about CRTs which I miss. They give off a nice warm colour glow which LCD, OLED or any other monitors i've seen cannot do. From memory they still glow for a short time, even turned off.

It's just unfortunate that the whole design and how CRTs work means they are so big. Imagine if they could have just shrunk the back of the CRT down over the years instead of coming up with new display types
 
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Finally found a good quality 4:3 small (portable) monitor. 10" (9.7")

Lilliput 9.7" FA1000

There seem to be loads of cheap Chinese rubbish, all that look the same build probably with QC issues and bad OSD.
I narrowed my search down to Eizo DuraVision FDX1003-BK, Eizo DuraVision DSV1201-GY, iiyama Prolite TF1215MC-B1 or this Lilliput. The Eizo dont seem to be for sale to the consumer market and Iiyama slightly too big. Anyway, here it is. So far its fantastic for my PCem setup.

I've also bought a 12V to USB C trigger adapter, so will have a go using it with a power bank and USB-C cable. Easily packable in hand luggage for travel

The only thing I was slightly concerned about was the 20ms stated response time. I found out this was 20ms BwB, so ~5ms GtG.

Main downside I guess is the poor speaker (which I can live with as just don't use them) and the TN panel. It would be nice if it was IPS, but can't have everything

 
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Went in my loft and found a box of bits that had previously been sat in a cupboard in my parents' house for years that I hadn't looked through. Some interesting parts there, going to have to figure out how to test what I can but I suspect the motherboards will need a recap.

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Expensive for what it is.
There’s nothing (at least I can find) that has similar brightness, refresh rate, response time and connectivity at the size and being 4:3.
Challenge for someone maybe?

Expensive is subjective too. £200 might be an hours wage to one person, a days to another or a week to someone else.
 
More old PC goodness. Does this class as retro? A Socket 754-based Shuttle SN85G4 from around 2003/2004. This beast is kitted out with an S754 Athlon 3700+, 2GB of DDR, a 160GB HD and a Radeon 9800 Pro:





Not sure where the lid has gone though but I know it's up in the loft somewhere.

As an added bonus I managed to pick this up from someone locally for £10. An AGP Radeon X1650 Pro 512MB that I was told was brand new. I had my doubts, but it definitely appears to be - no dust anywhere and no signs of contact on the AGP connectors. I might have to burn some time playing some old games and testing the X1650 Pro against the 9800 Pro :)

 
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Yeah, they definitely had a price premium but I had quite a few of them back in the early to late 2000s and always loved them. Overclocking support was quite good on them despite their size too - I remember having one with a P4 2.4GHz overclocked to 3.2GHz that ran flawlessly for the whole time I had it. This S754 Shuttle was my main PC at the time and I only replaced it when S939 Shuttles came out. Unfortunately I think I sold my 939 Shuttle on so this is probably all I've got left.

Just tried the X1650 and getting no video output from it, although it does seem to still be booting into Windows. 3 of the 4 caps seem to have a bit of a bulge though so I guess I'll be ordering some replacements and sorting that out next week. Thankfully there's only 4 caps on this card.
 
lol, that's a PocketStation for the PS1.

Yup! My PS2 detects it and displays the correct icon for it too. Unfortunately the PS2 AV to HDMI adapter I'm using doesn't seem to play nice with PS1 games (which is fine as I have my PS3 for that anyway) so I won't be able to do much else with it. Looks like some PAL titles may have had support for it but I don't own any of them, annoyingly only the Japanese MGS Integral supports it, not my standard PAL copy.

Still, it's a really neat little thing, and immaculate too.
 
Ordered an Anbernic RG35XX last night, should be here Monday, looking forward to some retro gaming on this.

anbernic-rg35xx.large.jpg



I liked the look of the Miyoo Mini but would be too small for me and difficult to get hold of.

The stock OS is a bit iffy by all accounts but Garlic OS has been released already which is a big improvement even though it's still early days.
 
Picked up a Microsoft Sidewinder Force Wheel (original game port version). All complete other than no box or disk; £25.00 seemed a good deal to take a punt. Well it turned up today and its in really good nick and the wheel and pedals seemingly have had little use! It only needed a good clean having been stored for years. There are a couple of small scuffs to the rubber grips, and will soon clear up with use. If it works out okay, may try and source the later USB version.

Always wanted one of these back in the day, fond memories of Colin McRae Rally when the MS wheel came into its own! Me and my mates used to set times to beat one another, I just wish I still had these old stage times to see 20+ years later if I could match!

Another reason for the purchase, Grand Prix Legends is simply unplayable without a wheel (unless you are an alien) another sim I want to revisit using period hardware. :)

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Yup! My PS2 detects it and displays the correct icon for it too. Unfortunately the PS2 AV to HDMI adapter I'm using doesn't seem to play nice with PS1 games (which is fine as I have my PS3 for that anyway) so I won't be able to do much else with it. Looks like some PAL titles may have had support for it but I don't own any of them, annoyingly only the Japanese MGS Integral supports it, not my standard PAL copy.

Still, it's a really neat little thing, and immaculate too.
There are easy ways round that now :).
 
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