Recent content by jdmcs

On August 24, 2025, the Retro Bits and Bytes Indoors Swap Meet will be held at the Dulles South Recreation and Community Center from 1:30-6PM. General Admission is $5 and includes a beverage and a raffle ticket for a SONY VIAO vintage computer. Kids under 10 are free. (I will be attending as a...

I just found switch settings for the Belkin F3H1381... both versions. Hopefully this helps someone with this adapter, especially because some places have only one of the two manuals. One version of the Belkin F3H1381 does not have a rotary knob, and this version is configured as follows...

I’ve been told that the 10MB limit is in the ASIC itself, which would mean that it would not be possible to overcome the limit with an extension. There was a PDS accelerator card that allowed more than 10MB of RAM, but that extra RAM was on the PDS card, allowing it to bypass the ASIC on the...

The LC II is compatible with standard 30-pin SIMMs that are rated 100ns or faster (-10 or smaller for the timing). The LC II doesn’t do parity, but the extra chip shouldn’t be an issue. I always suspect memory first: Try running Snooper 2 (not the Emergency Disk version) after booting with...

I usually use this book (Apple II Plus/IIe Troubleshooting & Repair Guide) as a starting point in troubleshooting. Given how throughly you've gone through the system reseating items, you might have a component failure.

DOS Fox told me that the Cisco 34-0874-01 power brick is another candidate for making an Atari 520ST power supply. Might be good to keep in mind if you have friends in IT, or if you have access to a cheap source. It’s rated for 3A @ 5V, 2A @ 12V, 0.2A @ -12V, and a maximum of 30W. This is...

I live in Virginia, so I will probably end up taking the computer to a locksmith if I can’t locate a key. The main locksmith in town has been in business long enough that they might even have the IBM key codes… one can hope.

It’s a blade key.

I have an IBM PC 365, and I need a key to safely open the case, as I don’t want to break the plastic. However, I can’t find any information on which key fits this case, or where I can get one. Which has me thinking, “Has someone modeled the IBM case keys so that one can simply be printed?” It...

I'm thinking of going to the Silverball Pinball Museum in Asbury Park, NJ the evening before the swap meet, for anyone else that would like to join me. Admission is $18 for one hour or $20 for the rest of the day. I'll probably be there sometime after 7PM. (Note that the parking near the museum...

If the system has VLB slots that you would like to use, then you want to go the DX4 100MHz route. The reason Intel abandoned the DX 50MHz (so I've been told) is that other chips weren't always reliable at a 50MHz bus speed, though shortages of the DX 50MHz may also have contributed to poor...

My PC Chips M326 motherboard is now dead. I believe the root cause was plugging the AMD 386 40MHz processor I had in incorrectly one too many times, as it is mounted on a PQFP to PGA adapter board that requires careful attention to the pin 1 indicators. I one too many time fell for aligning PQFP...

If you remove the leaking capacitors and clean the board, you're probably OK to power up the board. As others have mentioned, you won't have sound, and the system will eventually become unstable. Worst case is the board won't have enough capacitance to keep the voltage rails within tolerance and...

The most recent System Source Swap Meet on April 27th had the largest seller turnout of the three I've attended. It was worth my trip up from Central Virginia, but I should disclaim that I drove halfway and then rode up with RetroTech Chris the rest of the way. If you want to get an idea of...

Note that the Swap Meet has been moved to Sunday the 27th due to the forecast for heavy rain on the 26th. The Repair Workshop remains both days, but will be all-day on the 26th and start after the conclusion of the Swap Meet on the 27th.