fimbulvetr

There are a couple available on eBay https://www.ebay.ca/itm/115412955652?hash=item1adf25f204:g:sN0AAOSwj1hfPG~j

Sounds like it could be a dead drive. I ended up replacing the one in my SE/30 with a SCSI2SD years ago when the original spinning rust failed on me. You could try asking at 68KMLA.org and see if they have any ideas on whether your drive can be salvaged.

Sorry, rambled on and didn't answer your question. You can boot off of the Disk Tools disk, which comes with the set of System 7 disks. Then, either use the utilities on that disk, or a copy of Lido to get your hard drive working again.

It has been ages since I've had to do this, but have you already tried the utilities on the Disk Tools disk that comes with System 7? I've used the Disk First Aid and HD Setup utilities on that disk. You could try using Lido. https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/lido-756 Here is link to another download of Lido, available for general redistribution under the GNU General Public License: http://51.15.168.126/mirrors/macintosh/www.euronet.nl_users_ernstoud/lido7.html Getting at files compressed in apple format without a running apple computer is an annoying chicken-and-egg problem. I think I made disk images with HFV Explorer, then wrote them to a disk using a USB floppy drive and either WinImage or MacDisk. I finally got a Floppy Emu from BMOW with a SD card preloaded with lots of utilities to make it easier: https://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu/

Never mind, that went quick!

Fully loaded PEB with a p-code card, buy it now $200 https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Texas-Instruments-PHP1200-Peripheral-Expansion-System-99-4-UNIT-with-Cable-/275305741172?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

Sheesh. 38 bids and that acoustic coupler modem went for $200. I don’t get it. With prices like that I should sell mine, not like I’m ever going to use it. Yeah, I’ve noticed the same phenomenon. Makes me feel old. But then I think that for someone in their 20s tech from the 1970s and 80s is like tech from the 1930s and 40s is to me. I guess i am old.

I need some help with my IIc monitor. Sometime in early December I used my IIc and then didn't touch it until yesterday, when I noticed that while I had turned off the computer I forgot to turn off the monitor. So the monitor was on for over a month and just cooking away. The monitor was in perfect condition before my stupid mistake, but now it is dim on the left side of the screen and overly bright on the right side of the screen. If I leave it on for a while, the brightness evens out a bit, but it doesn't go away. Is there anything I can do to fix this thing, or is it toast? I am really annoyed at myself for having done this. This is what it looks like on cold start: And here it is after running for a while:

I didn't start using computers seriously for work until the early 90s, but the one thing I enjoyed working with computers in those days was when I had to crunch large datasets or process satellite imagery or whatever is that I would start the machine on processing the data and then just walk away while it did the thing. Depending on what it was doing, it could be 30 minutes, hours, or even overnight. So everything slowed down. I had a perfectly good excuse to go get a coffee, do some other work in the lab, read scientific journal articles, call it a day, or whatever. Especially when I was doing remote sensing work as often there was nothing else to do work-wise when all the machines were occupied processing data. Set up and run the script, and cool my heels until it completed. At least it was something that didn't involve sitting in front of a computer for hours on end. I don't do research anymore so now my work really is 8 hours or more sitting in front of a monitor, and no downtime unless the the network is down.

While not vintage, Retroradionics makes a laptop ZX Spectrum clone that can be run off batteries. https://retroradionics.co.uk/#!/OMNI-128HQ-LAPTOP/p/75106221/category=0

Sure, there is a ti99 in this ad, but look at the decor! https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Texas-Instruments-Ti-99-4a-Home-Computer-Gaming-System-/174952182691?&_trksid=p2056016.m2518.l4276

Dang. I'll have to fire up my ZX Spectrum tonight and play a couple games.

Other systems used a cartoon of a character, like Mario, rather than the pixelated game version. We should also consider the versions on the game manual.

I love my ZX Spectrums, but they are not durable at all. Dead chips, bad membrane keyboards, faulty ram. Simple and easy to repair tho.

Every last bit of my fairly extensive collection of ti99 hardware except for one cartridge works perfectly. None of my other vintage systems (Apple IIc, Macintosh, Tandy CoCo, TRS-80 Model 100s, Atari 800s, ZX Spectrums, various 80s and 90s PCs, etc) compare. I would put my money on the ti stuff outlasting everything else.

I tried it both ways, and preferred the console end of the cable going down and sort of tucked under the ti.

The one I ordered arrived today, and it is exactly as pictured with the moulded cable ends and works perfectly! I am so glad to not have to use the crappy cable any more.

This is the spiritual descendent of the great ZX Spectrum classic game Scuttle Butt https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/32295/ZX-Spectrum/Scuttlebutthttps://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/32295/ZX-Spectrum/Scuttlebutt

I have one of the crappy cables with two pieces of finger board stuck into one end, and every time it gets bumped it stops working and I have to fiddle with it to get it working again. The two pieces of finger board get out of alignment with the female connector, and I have to move them around until I get a good connection. It is super-annoying to use. No idea why they went with two pieces that need to be adjusted so there is a little gap between them to line up correctly with the connector. Why not just one that fills the length of the connector? No idea, but it is a terrible solution. I wouldn't bother with it if I had the desk-space for the giant foot on the PEB cable. After seeing this, I confirmed that the one they ship is identical to the one pictured on the website and ordered one. Hope it works out.

Count me amongst those experiencing intermittent FG99 glitches. It usually works, but not always. Sometimes the console doesn't recognise it is plugged in, sometimes reset causes issues. Sometimes it just crashes. or refuses to load. Usually a power cycle solves the problem, but sometimes I have to reseat the cartridge or the SD card. It is random enough that I don't see a pattern other than a reset is more likely to cause havoc than anything else. I don't have problems with any other cartridge. The FG99 glitches are more of a nuisance than anything else as the utility of the cartridge outweighs the problems.

Is Heatwave down?

Heh. That is my main desktop computer. I built my most recent iteration a year ago, but I always re-use whatever hardware I reasonably can, and either use the old hard drives in as secondary drives, or copy the entire contents to a new hard drive. As a result, all my files and whatnot going back 30 years when I got my first computer with a hard drive are on this computer somewhere -- in horribly nested directories mind you, but they are there. I still use one original piece of hardware after all these years.... the same IBM Model M keyboard that I've had since 1987.

I still have a dot matrix printer (a 24-pin Okidata Microline 590) hooked up to my brand-new Windows 10 desktop. Why? Why not! It still works, and I find it amusing to use. I changed the ribbon well over 10 years ago and it still prints fine. I think the ribbon cost me $12. Sure beats the stupid ink-jet printer we had that ate $100 worth of ink cartridges every couple of months. The dot matrix came into good use last spring printing things out for my kids to school at home during the lockdown when ink cartridges were hard to find (I finally replaced it with a laser printer because it was getting ridiculous).

I will second the one from Retroradionics. That and my Suncom TAC-2 are my favourite joysticks.

Ah, yes, my mistake. Napple Computers are much rarer.