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RETROSTUFF

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Search for:
CD-i, Modification, Philips, Repair


NVRAM+RTC SOLUTIONS FOR PHILIPS CD-I PLAYERS

CD-i, Modification, Philips, Repair, Sony


COMPONENT LISTS

CD-i, Modification, Philips


MODIFICATIONS FOR PHILIPS CD-I PLAYERS

3D Printing, Disassembly, Mega Drive, Mega-CD, Sega, Sega 32X


MSDEXP AND CLAMSHELL CASE FOR TERRAONION MEGASD

2024-01-22 rosewood 3 Comments

This is a follow-up on the Terraonion MegaSD Cartridge article from 2019. In the
past two years, I managed to find an MSDEXP adapter and a clamshell case for my
MegaSD cartridge.


MSDEXP

Thanks to Mobius Strip Tech, I was able to source an MSDEXP. I can now finally
play Mega-CD 32X games with the MegaSD.

The housing from Retro Frog is a high-quality print with a matte look. Inside
there are two connectors, some passive components and a lot of tracks:

MSDEXP outside and inside Continue reading MSDEXP and Clamshell Case for
Terraonion MegaSD →
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32X3D PrintingDisassemblyMega DriveMega-CDSega
Disassembly, NEC, PC-9821, PC-FX


NEC PC-FXGA, PC-FXGA DOS/V, AND ITS BREAKOUT BOX

2023-12-31 rosewood Leave a comment

A spontaneous article about the NEC PC-FXGA: The PC-FX Game Accelerator Board
for PC-98 and DOS/V. It emerged from the search for a replacement breakout box
for the PC-FXGA DOS/V card in the PC-FX Fan Club Discord server. The details of
the breakout box are in the second half of the article, and before that some
information and photos.

There are already many resources about PC-FX(GA) (see list at the end of this
article), so I won’t go into too much detail here. Basically, it’s a PC-FX on a
card for your PC, with a special feature. Game Accelerator means that it also
contains the 3D chip Huc6273 (Aurora) that is not present in the normal PC-FX.
There are two versions of these cards: PC-FXGA, a C-Bus card for use with NEC
PC-9800 series computers and PC-FXGA DOS/V, an ISA card for use with IBM
PC-compatible computers running DOS/V.

Continue reading NEC PC-FXGA, PC-FXGA DOS/V, and its Breakout Box →
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DisassemblyNECPC-9821PC-FX
3D Printing, Disassembly, Famicom, Modification, Nintendo, Repair


NINTENDO AV FAMICOM WITH SWITCHLESS NESRGB MAINTENANCE

2023-11-24 rosewood Leave a comment

My Nintendo AV Famicom that I equipped with a switchless NESRGB solution in 2016
is spending most of its days on a shelf as a backup console. It still needs some
maintenance, which I will cover in this article: cleaning, securing the NESRGB,
placing the LED and repairing the expansion port cover.

Last week, I just wanted to quickly test some Famicom carts and realised that
the console wasn’t outputting any picture or sound. There was still a reaction
on the TV though: black picture and a crackling sound when I switched it off.
Fearing the worst, I opened it up and saw my favourite insulation tape. However,
as I’ve learned in the past, this stuff disintegrates over the years and sticks
to everything, so now I was apparently in for not only a repair but also a
clean. I opened the console and plugged it in again. When I removed some of the
insulating tape, graphics rubbish suddenly appeared on the TV. On closer
inspection, I realised that the NESRGB board was tilted slightly backwards. It
must have come loose at some point.

Continue reading Nintendo AV Famicom With Switchless NESRGB Maintenance →
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3D PrintingDisassemblyFamicommodsNintendoRepair
CD-i, Disassembly, Philips


DVS VE-200 NVRAM BACKUP AND BATTERY REPLACEMENT

2023-03-21 rosewood 1 Comment

The DVS VE-200 CD-Interactive Player is a CD-i player manufactured by LG. Like
other CD-i players, it contains a battery-backed NVRAM and real-time clock.
In this article, I will take a look inside and show how the battery can be
replaced while making sure that the NVRAM data won’t get lost in the process.

DVS VE-200 CD-Interactive Player

The player is one of four known very similar models that make use of the
GoldStar / LG mainboard (midi-size). The other three models are: GoldStar / LG
GDI-700M, GDI-S710 and Knowlogy K2000-MSS. What makes them special in terms of
NVRAM and RTC is that they don’t have a Timekeeper or SmartWatch socket, but a
different solution:

Continue reading DVS VE-200 NVRAM Backup and Battery Replacement →
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CD-iDisassemblyPhilips
Miscellaneous


10 YEARS OF RETROSTUFF.ORG

2022-12-21 rosewood Leave a comment

10 years ago, I started this blog retrostuff.org to record what I was tinkering
with in my spare time. It was initially meant to be some sort of diary and also
include everything that I bought related to retro- and game consoles (see
category New Arrival), but that turned out to be way too much work, so I focused
on technical articles. Over the years, I had so many projects that not
everything could be properly documented and put in an article. The backlog is
huge and I’m always trying to review and improve old articles as well.

For the 10th anniversary, I took a trip down memory lane and selected one or
more articles that were important to me. Be it because they are about a
favourite device or an important discovery or milestone in research.

Continue reading 10 Years of retrostuff.org →
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Miscellaneous
CD-i, Disassembly, Philips


PHILIPS 22ER9021 AND TECNOPLUS TP520 CD-I GAMEPADS

2022-11-23 rosewood 1 Comment

Last year, I asked myself whether or not all Philips 22ER9021 CD-i Gamepads are
the same and answered with probably. Since then, I have had a look at some more
gamepads of different production dates, including an unbranded 22ER9021 and a
TecnoPlus TP520 CD-i Control Pad. Let’s revisit and elaborate on what has been
discovered last year:

 * The production number on the label contains the year and calendar week
   (example: 1A 00 9447). This applies to almost all Philips CD-i players and
   accessories. So far, only the white mice for the professional players didn’t
   follow the year code.
   A full production number has 8 or 9 digits and an additional 5-6-digit serial
   number at the end. But most accessories are only labelled with simple 8-digit
   production numbers and that’s why you find so many accessories with the very
   same data on the labels.
 * Inside, all 22ER9021 gamepads have the same PCB with these markings:
   CDI JOYPAD REV 1.2
   P/N:12290210001-03
   This is still the case after checking some more, even uncommon variants.
   Also, they all have the same Philips PCA84C122AT/071 8-bit microcontroller
   for remote control transmitters.

Continue reading Philips 22ER9021 and TecnoPlus TP520 CD-i Gamepads →
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CD-iDisassemblyPhilips
Atari, Disassembly, Portfolio


ATARI PORTFOLIO PC CARD DRIVE HPC-301

2022-10-9 rosewood 1 Comment

The PC Card Drive HPC-301 is still the only way to read and write Atari
Portfolio memory (Bee) cards on a PC. Make that an old PC with an ISA slot for
the interface card and DOS. The driver can be found here and here. In the
PofoWiki (German), there’s more information about its usage and what needs to be
considered when you have Windows 9x. For me, the DOS mode worked fine and I had
less trouble accessing the card reader after loading the driver without
parameters, e.g. DEVICE=C:\CD.SYS.

There seems to be another way to access the card drive: A software called
Portfolio RAM-Card Reader by Digital Data Deicke (now Pentagon GmbH) is
mentioned in the Atari-Home.DE forums here and here. It is reported to work even
under Windows XP via Direct I/O.

Today, we’re only going to have a look at the hardware. Just look at this
massive cable with 37-pin D-sub connectors that connects the card drive with the
interface card:

Atari Portfolio PC Card Drive HPC-301 Continue reading Atari Portfolio PC Card
Drive HPC-301 →
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AtariDisassemblyPortfolio
3D Printing, Amiga CD³², Commodore, MIDI


CD-MIDI ON AMIGA CD³² – MIDI OUT + KEYBOARD ADAPTER

2022-09-29 rosewood Leave a comment

While the Amiga CD³² can play CD-MIDI discs, it lacks a MIDI out port to hand
over the data to a MIDI playback device. I’m going to build an adapter with a
keyboard pass-through for its AUX port.

CD-MIDI (or CD+MIDI) is an extension of the Red Book Audio CD that allows MIDI
data to be stored in the subcode channels, just like CD+G and CD-Text does it
with graphics and text data. Only very few devices are known to be able to make
use of that information: CD³², CDTV and WonderMega. Even though the Green Book
describes a MIDI extension, the Philips CD-i is not among these devices, and so
far, no CD-i hardware or software that made use of MIDI has surfaced.

Compact Disc Digital Audio +Graphics +MIDI
Continue reading CD-MIDI on Amiga CD³² – MIDI Out + Keyboard Adapter →
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3D PrintingAmigaCD³²CommodoreMIDI
Disassembly, Miscellaneous, New Arrival


ELV EA 8000 ENERGY ANALYZER KIT

2022-08-31 rosewood Leave a comment

When looking for an affordable and reasonably accurate device to measure the
(standby) power consumption of old power supplies, I came across the ELV EA 8000
Energy Analyzer. It’s being sold as complete device or as a kit; I went for the
kit to spend some time with it and have a better look inside.

It has two power measuring ranges (40 and 3680 VA), several measuring functions
(e.g., active / reactive / complex power, power factor, costs), storage space
for 10 devices and up to three different electricity tariffs. Before buying, I
was already aware that it has some flaws, but more about that after the
assembly.

ELV EA 8000 Energy Analyzer Kit
Continue reading ELV EA 8000 Energy Analyzer Kit →
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DisassemblyMiscellaneousNew Arrival
CD-i, Disassembly, Mega Drive, Modification, Philips, Repair, Sega


PHILIPS CD-I RC6 REMOTE CONTROL HACK

2022-02-16 rosewood 3 Comments

A quick and dirty hack to save a broken Philips CD-i RC6 remote control with a
Sega Mega Drive controller.

Most CD-i players come with or are compatible with the 22ER9055 CD-i Commander,
an RC6 remote control with a pressure-sensitive thumbpad. There are three known
versions of the CD-i Commander:

 * RV 7701 – standard remote for most CD-i Players.
 * RV 7704 – with additional stand-by button for CDI660 and 670.
 * RV 7706 – with additional controls for CDI740.

When buying a used remote control, your first action should be to check the
battery compartment for obvious leaking damage and also take it apart to find
hidden damage. You never know if there were accidents in the past and previous
owners just cleaned out the battery compartment without looking further into it.

Philips RV 7704 with battery leakage Continue reading Philips CD-i RC6 Remote
Control Hack →
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CD-iDisassemblyMega DrivemodsPhilipsRepairSega


POSTS NAVIGATION

1 2 … 15 Next →


RECENT POSTS

 * MSDEXP and Clamshell Case for Terraonion MegaSD
 * NEC PC-FXGA, PC-FXGA DOS/V, and its Breakout Box
 * Nintendo AV Famicom With Switchless NESRGB Maintenance
 * DVS VE-200 NVRAM Backup and Battery Replacement
 * 10 Years of retrostuff.org


RANDOM POSTS


 * SUPER FAMICOM SUPER CIC MOD
   
   Another quick mod – I ordered a Super CIC board by borti4938 along with the
   SD2SNES upgrade board from VideoGamePerfection. …


 * PHILIPS CD-I MONO III / IV FUSES
   
   Replacing blown fuses in Philips CD-i players with Mono III and Mono IV
   mainboards – sounds too simple to write …


 * NEC PC-9821 BIOS TRANSLATION
   
   Changing settings in the BIOS of a japanese computer can be dangerous if you
   don’t have any knowledge of the …


 * PLAYING PHANTASY STAR / DREAMCAST ONLINE – CONTINUED
   
   Yesterday I erased my Dreamcast’s flash memory, hoping to get past the serial
   number prompt. Day 2: Today I dug …


 * NEW ARRIVAL: DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION COLLECTOR’S EDITION
   
   Look what came in the mail today: The collector’s edition of Deus Ex: Human
   Revolution. Basically it’s just the augmented/limited …


TAGS

 * 3D Printing
 * Apple
 * Arcade
 * Atari
 * Bandai
 * Capcom
 * Card Games
 * CD-i
 * CDI210
 * CDI220
 * CDI350
 * CDI450
 * CDI470
 * CDI490
 * CDI550
 * CDI605T
 * CDI660
 * CPS2
 * Datach
 * Disassembly
 * Dreamcast
 * Famicom
 * Mega-CD
 * Mega Drive
 * Miscellaneous
 * mods
 * MVS
 * NEC
 * Neo Geo
 * Neo Geo X
 * New Arrival
 * Nintendo
 * PC-FX
 * PC Engine
 * Philips
 * Pico
 * Pippin
 * PSO
 * Repair
 * Saturn
 * SD2SNES
 * Sega
 * SNK
 * Sony
 * Super Famicom


RECENT COMMENTS

 * rosewood on MSDEXP and Clamshell Case for Terraonion MegaSD: “Your best bet
   is to ask Mobius Strip Tech, also to show that there is still a demand for
   this…” Feb 19, 10:43
 * Ryan on MSDEXP and Clamshell Case for Terraonion MegaSD: “I wish more of the
   MSDEXP adapters would be made. I’ve seen one on the resale market and the
   price…” Feb 19, 01:08
 * rosewood on Cuckoo CRP-N0681F Battery Replacement: “As long as it works and
   doesn’t catch fire… Great that you got it working again and thanks for the…”
   Feb 16, 07:39
 * David Koley on Cuckoo CRP-N0681F Battery Replacement: “Thank you so much for
   posting these instructions. They are very well written and easy to follow.
   It’s unbelievable that…” Feb 15, 22:22
 * rosewood on Neo Geo CD Controller Pro Ball Top: “The top is really very tight
   and you need a good grip and some force to loosen it. But you…” Feb 6, 19:15


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