What retro things have you done today?

purplesky said:
I had a spare Raspberry Pi 3B hanging around so what better than to create a little retropie setup specifically for a CRT? This will do until I get a Mister FPGA setup
You can download an already made image, although it's around 2 or 3 years old so I installed the latest retropie image (that is also around 1 year old or more), but manually installed the script as per https://github.com/stuckonretro/CRTPi-Project
I've set it up to output as RCA. The analogue composite output from a Raspberry pi is actually quite decent. A lot of TVs bought in the late 90's and early 00's in Europe can accept NTSC on composite so that's what I've gone with here. I didn't want a crippled PAL system. The pictures below don't really do the setup justice due to the poor camera used in the shots plus the fact it's taking a picture of a CRT TV! First picture is the interface in 480i, second picture shows a very good game that we all love and in 240p. The 240p is lovely and in person the scanlines look fantastic. Coupled with the Dualshock 3 controller, I honestly prefer playing retro games this way over the real consoles - you can see my US NTSC SNES also in the pictures below. I do have the real console set up for RGB over scart so it's gonna look better than composite and obviously beat emulation, but really, retropie with retroarch 1.15 and the SNES2005 core is pretty solid. I also set preemptive frames to 2 which completely eliminates input lag and the pi 3 still keeps full frame rate for most games.


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Have you tried RGB-Pi? I found it much better experience with a CRT than RetroPie
 
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Zaf said:
Have you tried RGB-Pi? I found it much better experience with a CRT than RetroPie
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I haven't unfortunately. Is it an adaptor of some sort which provides RGB output via a scart and connects to the pi's header pins?

To be honest, this project for me was just a bit of a time waster given I already had the pi 3 sitting doing nothing and was bored. I have plenty of ways to play old system, including the original consoles themselves, but I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised at just how well the setup performs as is. This afternoon I was doing some comparisons between the pi and the real SNES. The console displayed a slightly better picture, but that was to be expected as it was outputting RGB to the TVs scart input. What shocked me was the quality of the pi's composite output. Some consoles put out horrid composite, be it PAL or NTSC, but the pi's is really clean and the NTSC colour was punchy. My screenshots really are awful due to the crap camera I was using, poor lighting, no shutter etc which is really necessary when trying to take pics of CRT screens.
 
purplesky said:
I haven't unfortunately. Is it an adaptor of some sort which provides RGB output via a scart and connects to the pi's header pins?

To be honest, this project for me was just a bit of a time waster given I already had the pi 3 sitting doing nothing and was bored. I have plenty of ways to play old system, including the original consoles themselves, but I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised at just how well the setup performs as is. This afternoon I was doing some comparisons between the pi and the real SNES. The console displayed a slightly better picture, but that was to be expected as it was outputting RGB to the TVs scart input. What shocked me was the quality of the pi's composite output. Some consoles put out horrid composite, be it PAL or NTSC, but the pi's is really clean and the NTSC colour was punchy. My screenshots really are awful due to the crap camera I was using, poor lighting, no shutter etc which is really necessary when trying to take pics of CRT screens.
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They also have their own OS called RGB-Pi OS/2. You don’t need their SCART cable to use the OS and it’s been built specifically for CRTs unlike RetroPie

ko-fi.com

RGB-Pi OS/2 (Pi2/3) - RTA RetroDev's Ko-fi Shop

Linux distribution for playing retro games in real CRT TVs. Compatible with Raspberry Pi 2/3. Quick installation instructions: - Do not uncompress th...
ko-fi.com ko-fi.com
 
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I finally finished my 12V Apple ][ PSU conversion.

From:

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To:

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Image heavy, but worth it!

ATX4VC voltage conversion board by DekuNukem, a 7P VH 3.96 female connector, and some lengths of 18 gauge wire.

New motherboard connector suitable for Apple ][ series computers as well as Acorn BBC series computers sourced from eBay.

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2 pin plug sourced from a Microserver power supply fan, soldered to some lengths of wire for the power switch.
And a piece of insulating plastic salvaged from an old power supply cut to shape and holepunched for the standoffs and power switch wire passthrough.

yuZRKMu.jpg


The original PSU contents.

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And removed, almost completely non destructively. I had to cut one wire, and crimp on insulated spade connectors, essentially making this process easily reversible.

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Mounted in the original PSU enclosure with 2mm PCB standoffs.
Wire passed through the casing using the original retainer.
Streacom Nano 120W PSU installed. (Overkill, but I got a good deal on one open-box)
Also a new power switch.

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Cable management, and ends crimped on for the power switch.

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New C14 connector cut so that the face plate can be used on the outside of the PSU.

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Tufnol sheet to be cut to make the plate to mount the 12V barrel connector.

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Installed, and finished.

BxjA4P0.jpg


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Installed back in the machine.

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vs. how it used to look.

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How the power connector now looks.

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vs. how it used to look.

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And my booting issue seems to be fixed! :)

I'm sure I could fix the original PSU by re-capping it or something? But this works.
 
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Had a reshuffle.

RtmEWe2.jpg


Finally got an OS installed on the XP machine!

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It seems to all work fine so far, which is nice, because it is built from untested parts sourced from various places, that weren't originally together.
And then after I built it, I left it for a couple of years, and had a house move. :p

The RAM activity lights are very cool.


Current issue is that I'm struggling to get a version of net framework working. They have some kind of .dll error. So I can't open CCC etc.

It is connected to the internet as well. Using K-Meleon, and running an old version of Avast, which they are kindly still updating definitions for, for XP users!

bkTeRGb.jpg
 
The X-Fi external interface reminds me how much I miss the days when it felt like PC audio was going places - between Creative and MS things really stalled about then and even took steps backwards and never seems to have really recovered.
 
Rroff said:
The X-Fi external interface reminds me how much I miss the days when it felt like PC audio was going places - between Creative and MS things really stalled about then and even took steps backwards and never seems to have really recovered.
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I don't have the cable to link it to the card sadly, I got the card and the front panel separately.

I may have a lead (ha) on one though.
 
Rroff said:
The X-Fi external interface reminds me how much I miss the days when it felt like PC audio was going places - between Creative and MS things really stalled about then and even took steps backwards and never seems to have really recovered.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of the Hercules Game Theater XP, one of the best sounding cards back in the day, imho, and I tried them all.

My nostalgia runs so high for the GTXP that i've imported two complete boxed sets from the USA :cry:.
 
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Firestar_3x said:
Reminds me of the Hercules Game Theater XP, one of the best sounding cards back in the day, imho, and I tried them all.

My nostalgia runs so high for the GTXP that i've imported two complete boxed sets from the USA :cry:.
Click to expand...

I still have a Herc Game Theater XP kicking about in the loft somewhere. I've never seen a thicker cable than the one connecting the card to the external box, other than maybe in a 33kV substation transformer.

I remember I only bought it to resolve a midi sound issue which a SB Live card had in just one single game, Ultima Online. Evidence of how addicted to that game I was at the time.
 
Well the Audigy 2 just died.

No audio output from any of the ports.

I've done all my troubleshooting and its definitely borked. :p

It was untested and I found it in a box. Unfortunate it only worked for two or three power cycles before copping it... :o

I'm sure that it can be fixed so I've just stashed it away for now.

Local guy has another one, hopefully picking it up Saturday.
 
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My retro thing of the day was to make a whole thread for my retro endeavours, because I have been doing too much stuff and I wanted somewhere with a log of it all :p

** Acme's [Akagi's] Retro Odyssey! From Apple ][ to Pentium 4. Repair, modding, and more! **

So I have been on a bit of a retro adventure lately. It all started when I got hold of an Apple ][ locally which had been in someone's attic for 35 years, and then things started to snowball... :p These are my adventures so far, broken up into sections, and I'll make new posts with my progress...
forums.overclockers.co.uk forums.overclockers.co.uk
 
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I bought Driv3r (for science), Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, Act of War Direct Action as part of a £4 Atari pack. Also COD4 and GM Rally (and Forza Motorsport 1).

My Office has been gutted, plastered and painted so I can now plan my work, play and retro space in here which should be good having not had a retro desk for nearly a year now!
 
almoststew1990 said:
I bought Driv3r (for science), Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, Act of War Direct Action as part of a £4 Atari pack. Also COD4 and GM Rally (and Forza Motorsport 1).

My Office has been gutted, plastered and painted so I can now plan my work, play and retro space in here which should be good having not had a retro desk for nearly a year now!
Click to expand...

I used to really enjoy Driver 3 back in the day! I played the snot out of it. Great game. Fun for exploration and finding secret cars and such!
 
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