Mildred's Projects Thread

[MildredHubble]

An old joke that might get deleted quick:

One morning a man woke up and went to the toilet for a wee, and it sprayed all over the place like a fountain. He took a closer look at his penis and there was multiple holes in it. He went to se the doctor about it.

The doctor used a wooden spatula to poke it around a bit and look at it from different angles while he ummed and ahhed a bit, then he wrote down a phone number on a bit of paper and said "Give this bloke a call.".

The man asked "Is he a specialist?" and the doctor replied "Sort of. He plays a clarinet so he can teach you how to hold it.".

Sometimes the old jokes are the best Whatever your personal opinion on the subject matter, it's quite an intelligent punch line!

 

[MildredHubble]

Some more progress

This shows the SD card extension. It's just basically a dummy SD card that plugs into the socket on the board and there's a (very long) ribbon cable that connects to another SD card socket. The extra long cable is actually a bit of a benefit as it makes it easier to close up both halves of the case. The extended SD card socket is attached to the top case.

I've cut a slot into the top case so I can insert the SD card quite easily. I've used hot glue to secure it in place and so far it seems solid enough.

Here is the circuit board that carries the signals from the cassette deck to the computer. I decided to use a cable with a headphone style jack plug to plug it into the N-Go board tape socket, so this means I can leave it connected or disconnect it if I need to use an external audio source. I also connected a +5v switching regulator to the +9v power input to provide power to the cassette deck. After some trial and error and adjustments of the tape head in the cassette deck, I was able to load from tape!

Next I need to install the joystick sockets on the side of the case, but I'm still waiting for those to arrive right now. Hopefully they will arrive tomorrow and once they're in I should have a fully functional system

I will probably do a few little tidy up jobs with the cables and maybe 3D print some covers for the areas of the case I've had to cut away to access the connections on the N-Go board. Other than that it will essentially be finished

 

[MildredHubble]

Ok, I think I can finally (more or less) call this finished. The DB9 (Joy Stick) sockets arrived today. I thought it would be a quick bit of soldering a bit of drilling and mounting the sockets at the left hand side of the case, reassembling the case, putting the screws back in and enjoy! As it turns out, not quite!

Here's how I connected up the sockets for the joystick/controllers. You may notice that there appears to be some sockets at the bottom right of the N-Go board and you are correct, those are some joystick sockets Unfortunately they are going to be deep inside of the case so I can't really use them easily.

Fortunately, the Spectrum Next or in this case, N-Go has two options for joysticks. The sockets are duplicated on the bottom left. Since I want to install the sockets where they were originally situated in this Spectrum case, all I need to do is solder each of the connection on the vacant socket footprints with a bit of wire to bring the sockets out to the side of the case which basically looks like this...

I drilled some holes so I could use some small nuts and bolts to secure them in place. So that's it right? Everything is connected so I just need to button it all up and start to have some fun using it right? Well that's what I thought. I carefully reassembled everything, plugged in a joystick and booted the machine up. This is when I discovered the machine had other plans!

The menu appeared on the screen and I began to use the joystick to scroll to the "Browser" option to load a game, but I over shot the option and that's when I had to press UP on the joystick to move back one option. Buuuuuuuuut, it just refused to move up. All other controls worked except UP

So I thought "Drat! I must have a loose connection!" So all those screws had to come back out and the case opened. I tested the connections with my multimeter and they were all fine. I decided to resolder them just in case.

I assembled the machine enough to test the joystick, but still UP just wasn't working. So I rechecked everything again, and again. I tried jumping the connections together with wire. Basically when you press UP on the Joystick what you are doing is closing a switch between pin 1 on the joystick connector and a GROUND connection. The computer sees a zero volt signal asserted on the connection to the Joystick bus and responds appropriately. But doing this manually didn't work, yet all other signals responded normally!

I tested for continuity everywhere but could not figure out where the "UP" signal was connected. Eventually I started applying pressure to different parts of the N-Go board while holding the Joystick in the UP position and watching for a response from the computer. Eventually I saw the cursor on the menu move up and start looping round, so that's got to be a dry solder joint!

These were the chips that I applied pressure to (U6 and U7)...

I couldn't tell for sure which was causing the problem specifically, but logically, it's likely it's the one on the right, closest to the affected joystick socket. So I applied some flux and resoldered both chips...

I cleaned everything up and tried the joystick again, and thankfully, this time everything was now working normally!

One thing I did notice was that the realtime clock module didn't seem to be working. It's not super important, but it's something that's nice to have as you can see easily when you created a file etc. I tried resoldering the realtime clock chip, but this time it made no difference

I mentioned in an earlier post that I thought maybe the previous owner had been a bit rough with the N-Go board as one of the keyboard connectors was a bit flakey. I think the evidence is mounting as I find it very unlikely they wouldn't have noticed a problem with the joystick. I suspect they sold it hoping the new owner would assume they'd broken it. It's possible I might have damaged it, but I don't think so, I have been handling it very carefully.

My theory is that the seller damaged the keyboard connection and the joystick problem was just a manufacturing defect. They did mention in the eBay listing something about a (none existent as it turns out) firmware setting to enable use of an original Spectrum keyboard. I looked high and low for instructions on this but there was no mention of this "Setting" anywhere.

You can use an old style PS/2 PC keyboard with this machine, so I think maybe this was an attempt to push the new owner towards that option, or at least muddy the waters as to why an OG keyboard wasn't working. Just a theory as I say.

So anyways! It's working and all screwed back together and I'm pretty happy with it!

Here's a picture of the back of the machine before I made any modifications...

And here's how it looks now...

Not super tidy, but I can deal with that in the future by creating a backing plate, for now it's fictional. The internal cassette deck is connected to the cassette socket using a right angled 3.5mm jack plug and this makes it easy to disconnect it if I ever want to use another audio source to load software, quite unlikely, but useful
Here's how the left hand side of the case looked before modification...

And here it is now...

The reset button functions as the label denotes and the other two are "Drive Select" and "None Maskable Interrupt"--which just really means that it allows you to pause the computer and bring up a menu that allows you to change the settings.

So that's it, done for now! At least until I want to have a look at what's causing the problems with the Real Time Clock, but I think I will leave that for another day!

Hopefully someone might find this all vaguely interesting

 

[Outdated]

.... for now it's fictional.

 

[MildredHubble]

Oh dear, "it's functional" I meant "functional"!!! Silly predictive text lol! I guess I have to leave it uncorrected now lol!

Technically, the backing plate is "fictional" for now, just pretend it's there!

 

[MildredHubble]

I got a super cheap iMac to use in my bedroom. Sometimes it's a bit quieter in there. It's a 2012 version that should only be able to update to MacOS Catalina, but with the help of Open core it's running Ventura and Big Sur as my version of Reason (music software), it turns out, won't run on Ventura. So I made it dual boot so I can use it through Big Sur.

Here's a picture before it gets covered in cat stickers

 

[Outdated]

I got a super cheap iMac to use in my bedroom.

Did you know you can install Mac OSX on any PC that has purely Intel chipsets? The "i" in iMac stands for Intel, in 1996 they were so far behind PCs in research and development that they were almost out of business, so they got intel to start making their computers for them.

Technically you can install Mac OSX on any PC at all, but it only comes with drivers for intel chips and a limited range of nVidia and ATI graphics cards. If you want to install third party drivers for other components then you need to install the tools that are in the Extras folder on the OSX cd.

 

[MildredHubble]

Did you know you can install Mac OSX on any PC that has purely Intel chipsets? The "i" in iMac stands for Intel, in 1996 they were so far behind PCs in research and development that they were almost out of business, so they got intel to start making their computers for them.

Technically you can install Mac OSX on any PC at all, but it only comes with drivers for intel chips and a limited range of nVidia and ATI graphics cards. If you want to install third party drivers for other components then you need to install the tools that are in the Extras folder on the OSX cd.

That's very true! I have been doing that off and on since the early days of "Hackintoshing". I started with the original "DeadMoo" image that was leaked onto the internet in 2005. There was a website that popped up in response to the Apple transition to intel that had a kind of "league table" for people who had successfully installed and booted the leaked image. At least according to that website, I was within the first 100 people to get it working on my Packard Bell Pentium 4 laptop

It's become fairly trivial to install macos now with open core. I like the design and build quality of real macs though so I prefer to try and use old MacBooks and iMacs and get them running with the latest macos or if there's any potential issues with the latest, I will run one release behind. I chose to install Ventura instead of Sonoma (most recent release) just for peace of mind.

I didn't intend to get another iMac to begin with. I was looking for a decent monitor to use with another machine and was going to "Hackintosh" it. I'm not sure if you have this store in Australia, but we have a store called CEX that tends to offer things at good prices second hand. I was browsing through their app but every decent monitor in my budget it turns out, they wouldn't ship. You'd have to go into a specific store to buy it in person. So I gave up and just out of curiosity searched up "iMac" and I was amazed to find they were selling them for around £70 for a 2012 model. I had a gift card for CEX so I only paid £50 or so for it That's about the same I was looking to pay for a decent monitor!

I actually expected it to be the older, chunkier version, but it's the thin tapered version that was basically still being sold up until a couple of years ago.

I think I should be able to get plenty of life out of this machine. I'd hoped to use it in target display mode, which in theory, allows you to connect other devices to use the iMac's display. Unfortunately it turns out that these later models only allow you to connect other Macs with a thunderbolt connection. It's a bit of a shame but the way I see it, I've gotten a good computer that looks pretty nice for the price of a cheap second hand monitor I will use it until it drops to bits!

If people are curious about the MacOS, I'd definitely recommend they try running it on an intel machine before the spend any money as it's really quite simple to do these days. Now that Apple are transitioning to ARM based proprietary systems, time is ticking as to when the latest MacOS won't run on intel. It's a shame that Apple made it this way. But at least for now there's lots of potential in these older intel based iMacs!

 

[Outdated]

I had a friendly argument with a mate about it, so to prove a point I made both his big iMac and his PC triple boot, Windows, Mac and Linux. He ended up preferring the Linux. The trouble with mac was the cost of software, the trouble with Windows was it was too unreliable and virus prone.

No mucking around trying to use stupid Mac's Bootcamp program either, when each sytsem was installed only it's own physical drive was plugged in so the were all partly unaware of each other, and just use the bios boot menu to decide which to boot.

 

[MildredHubble]

I had a friendly argument with a mate about it, so to prove a point I made both his big iMac and his PC triple boot, Windows, Mac and Linux. He ended up preferring the Linux. The trouble with mac was the cost of software, the trouble with Windows was it was too unreliable and virus prone.

No mucking around trying to use stupid Mac's Bootcamp program either, when each sytsem was installed only it's own physical drive was plugged in so the were all partly unaware of each other, and just use the bios boot menu to decide which to boot.

Yes absolutely !!! That's what I did with my last Hackintosh! No faffing around with bootcamp, though on a MacBook it kinda helps to use it when installing Windows to grab the trackpad drivers etc. It's a bit silly that Apple won't make their drivers easily findable. You can get them elsewhere if you know where to look but you end up having to dredge through some sketchy sites.

I also used the BIOS boot switcher to load up the OS I needed. As I've been in the Mac ecosystem for a while I still have most of my software on that platform. I don't mind Linux but I'm so used to the MacOS it's just easier for me in terms of workflow. It's much more stable than Windows and pretty close to Linux for reliability but with a bit more user friendliness.

I do prefer to have each OS on its own drive rather than partition on the same drive. That way if something goes wrong you have a good chance of using one of the other OSes to fix things if you have the right utilities.

I do sometimes have to use yucky Windows for some of my electronics equipment unfortunately. If I can, I use VirtualBox to run Windows, but when I set up my MacBook there was an incompatibility with the Metal API on MacOS Big Sur so I just dual booted instead. It kinda bugs me that I have a 200GB partition that I don't really use but I guess it could be argued it's a bit more simple that way

 

[Outdated]

It's much more stable than Windows and pretty close to Linux for reliability but with a bit more user friendliness.

It is Linux. And yes, there's a free version called BSDfree. It doesn't have the Macintosh proprietary desktop or programs though. Much more suitable would be if you could bodgy the Mac desktop into a better form of Linux.

 

[MildredHubble]

It is Linux. And yes, there's a free version called BSDfree. It doesn't have the Macintosh proprietary desktop or programs though. Much more suitable would be if you could bodgy the Mac desktop into a better form of Linux.

Cool! I think I've heard of BSDFree through one of the YouTube channels I watch. I should probably look into trying it since my old Hackintosh is sitting unused right now I could install it on that machine. Originally I had it all installed in a G5 Power Mac case I'd hollowed out but it's such a great hulk of a case, despite being very pretty to look at I just got a cheap small PC case to house it. My dad has spied it though and I think he'd like me to build him a new Hackintosh using the case

 

[Outdated]

BSDfree is just the operating system though, I can't remember what desktop it comes with but it's probably Gnome. What you want is the familiarity of the Mac desktop so BSD might not be the right choice for your old man.

It might be something fun for you to play with one day though.

 

[MildredHubble]

BSDfree is just the operating system though, I can't remember what desktop it comes with but it's probably Gnome. What you want is the familiarity of the Mac desktop so BSD might not be the right choice for your old man.

It might be something fun for you to play with one day though.

I will definitely check it out! I kinda like seeing "Alternate Dimensions" versions of familiar software I saw a video of MacOS Rhapsody and NextStep and it did seem if you put both OSes in a blender you'd get OSX lol!

 

[Outdated]

You can of course use Linux and have a desktop that looks and feels like a Mac, but you wouldn't be running any Mac programs, they'd all be Linux.

https://itsfoss.com/macos-like-linux-distros/

 

[MildredHubble]

I made (and perhaps 90% successfully) a book case out of cardboard lol!

So ok this needs a small amount of context...
When I was about 7 we moved into a new house and I had a tiny bedroom, little more than a cupboard really, but I quite liked it. The previous occupants had left a lot of junk behind that they had agreed to remove, but they never did.

My mother had picked through various things and decided to keep a few items. Of course my mother viewed my room as a storage area for these things. One day I came home from school and went in my room and could smell a faint odour of tomato plants. It was the same smell from the greenhouse we'd inherited . Then I noticed a rustic looking book case in front of the radiator. It was a bit wobbly looking, made out of some sort of bare wood and was very sun bleached. I assume it had been sitting in the greenhouse for a decade or two.

I was a bit annoyed by it's presence at first. My mother got very annoyed when I asked how long it was going to stay in my room. Eventually I got used to it and began putting some of my things on it. I quite liked it and it's slightly battered and twisted look. Like despite looking like it should fall to pieces it defiantly remained solid and intact.

One day it disappeared and I never saw it again.

A little while ago I spotted some rolls of adhesive vinyl in the LIDL supermarket that were made to look like sun bleached wood. It immediately reminded me of that old book case! So I kinda liked them and bought a couple with the intention of applying them to some cupboard doors that I can't stand the look of. Unfortunately whatever the doors are painted with, the vinyl just refused to stick so I had to give up on that idea.

Recently I tried making some little storage boxes out of scrap pieces of cardboard and cover them with some cute cat themed wrapping paper I had kept from a previous birthday. The results were ok, a bit inconsistent as I'm just a bit clumsy with that sort of thing right now. But I quite liked them and their clumsy appearance, they kinda reminded me of that old book case. Then I had an idea! Could I make a book case out of cardboard and cover it with that sun bleached effect vinyl?

So I gave it a try. I was kinda thinking my clumsiness would aid in creating a bit of a rustic charm. I tried to keep everything as square as possible and cut the box my new iMac arrived in into cardboard planks, about the width of a CD case. Then I glued and layered together the strips to form planks about 3/4 of an inch thick. Then I began gluing them at right angles to form a big square. Then I took two planks and slotted them inside to form shelves. They were under a little tension so I was careful to try and keep them straight while the glue set. Problem is, I did it by eye. So unfortunately they were bowing down a little in the middle. I didn't notice this until I had begun applying the vinyl so I was kinda stuck with it.

So it all kinda does evoke that old wooden book case to me. The slightly bowed shelves do provoke my OCD a bit, but at the same time I quite like it. Maybe you guys won't and the shelves will drive you mad! But here's a picture of it in all it's imperfect....ehm... glory (?)...

My girlfriend says she likes it anyway If anything, my camera seems to exaggerate the bow in the shelves. If it starts to drive me mad, I suppose it won't be hard to recycle it!

It was fun making it and has confused my girlfriend all day with me messing around with all that cardboard and glue