Modding a Commodore Amiga 500 to Run Games on USB

Not long ago, I got a great deal on a Commodore Amiga 500 complete in box. I already had an Amiga 500, but it's a PAL version and was missing some important components like the power supply, video adapter, mouse, and any software. But now I had an NTSC machine with everything I needed to play games. Or rather, one game.

Calculator Review: Langenscheidt German Electronic Translation Machine and Calculator

It's been too long since my last calculator review. I never intended to stop doing these, but I became obsessed with vintage computers so that has consumed a majority of my life. But I've still got a huge collection of calculators and they aren't going to review themselves.

Langenscheidt German Electronic Translation Machine and Calculator. Say that thirty-eight times fast.

Commodore 128 Part 3: RF Modulator Issues

When I first booted up the Commodore 128 and saw that it was working just fine, I figured the restoration would be a fairly simple task. The computer was dirty and yellowed, so some scrubbing and retr0brighting would be enough. Or so I thought.

What came with the Commodore SX-64

Getting the Commodore SX-64 was exciting enough, but the seller included a box of software and accessories. I was mainly focused on ensuring that all of the components of the SX-64 were in good working order, but eventually I got around to taking a look at the box.

That's my foot in the lower left.

It's a crazy amount of stuff, so I still haven't gone through all of it. But I'll discuss some of the highlights.

Commodore 128: Keyboard Retr0brighting

The summer heat wave has been horrible but that doesn't mean I can't take advantage of it. The sun puts out at least 20% more UV than my two 15 watt black lights, so I might as well save a bit of electricity and use nature for what it's intended.

It didn't start out this way though. I tried using the black lights to restore the keyboard keys. Here are the results of that attempt.

Commodore 128: Teardown

Project 64 is on hold while I wait for parts to come in the mail, and I'm unable to create calculator review videos since Microsoft Windows Movie Maker has stopped working. I guess it's time to focus on some other computers in my collection.

I had a hard time finding one of these. This is the Commodore 128, the successor to the Commodore 64. It's one of the first computers to be fully backward compatible with a previous generation. All software and hardware that worked on the C64 will work on the C128.

Inside the Commodore SX-64

My favorite part of getting any cool retro tech is taking it apart and cleaning it up to make it look new again. Making something that has been neglected for years look nice again is incredibly satisfying and there are many successful YouTube channels that do just this.

That being said, I had to draw the line with the SX-64. It was not cheap, and I'm not likely to find another one again in the near future for the price I got it. In the Meet the Machine post, I said I'd be giving this machine a deep cleaning. I won't be doing that. Not now, at least.