The new modular PikaPC, with power supply card, protoboard card, DRAM card, and host card plugged into the backplane.
I've been bouncing around on my PikaPC project, but I am still making progress.
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I got some of those a few years ago. I learned wild rabbits also like to chew through wires.
Huge thanks to Nybbles and Bytes for sponsoring #VCFSW 2026! We're proud to have your support.
I built a quick test card to help me debug my new bus control logic.
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Thank you to #VCFSW Diamond Sponsor Arcadecomponents.com, whose electronic components keep vintage computers and games alive. We appreciate your support!
Share your #retrocomputing knowledge and projects with the world. Apply to speak at #VCFSW today: www.vcfsw.org/speakers
Many thanks to our returning Platinum Sponsor of #VCFSW, the National Videogame Museum! Thank you for supporting the festival each year - check them out while you're in town for our show: nvmusa.org
I've been building projects using wire wrap for seven years now, but never tried using socket tags to help keep track of pin numbering on the board wire side. Turns out they're quite useful.
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My Portrait display was also really dim and smeary after sitting in storage for too long. I did some recapping but it didn't fix the problem. Haven't sat down to figure out what else is wrong.
The wait is over. Exhibitor tables are available for #VCFSW 2026: www.vcfsw.org/event-detail...
The nice thing about wire wrap is it can be undone as easily as it was placed to begin with. Since I never could get it to work properly, I've removed the S3 ViRGE from my PikaPC prototype to make room for new bus logic.
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Photograph of a table in a library makerspace. Piles of newly-minted stickers are in the foreground. In the background, a Cricut device is busy cutting more stickers.
This weekend I dropped by my local library and learned how to use a new tool. Walked out with a big pile of custom stickers to hand out this year at VCFSW.
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I currently have the same problem.
Sure there is technically a cheaper shipping option, but add on the tariffs on delivery and unspecified handling fees and processing delays and ...
I've been working on designing modular PCBs for PikaPC, my PowerPC homebrew computer project.
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I think I've run into the limits of what I can do with wire-wrap. A 46MHz EDO memory bus may have just been a step too far. I've decided to start the next phase for PikaPC, my PowerPC homebrew project — it's time to lay out PCBs. But first, I need to define a new bus.
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For weeks now, I have been fighting one of the most difficult problems I have ever encountered in the ten years I have been building homebrew computers — how to read and write VRAM on the S3 ViRGE.
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I've had nothing but trouble with Home Assistant. I gave up on Zigbee2MQTT after a breaking change killed it & all my batteries in a day.
HA is great idea, but the reality of it is a nightmare. Constantly breaking; terrible documentation; and the most condescending, unhelpful user forums ever.
This past weekend was the first Dallas/Fort Worth area Retrocomputing Meetup of 2026! I took pictures of some of the fun old tech on display.
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PikaPC had me chasing my tail for a while, but it's up and running again.
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I can't believe how much I actually accomplished in 2025. I built things that I already look at and wonder how I pulled it off, like porting NetBSD to my 68030 homebrew computer and building a functional PowerPC homebrew computer.
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A bunch of microsoft logos from the 70s, 80s, 90s and today but instead of saying Microsoft all of them spell Microslop in the vibe of the original logos.
It's fascinating to see the changes in one company's logo over the years.
I got my peripheral bus rewired and the logic updated. It booted up just fine … until it didn't.
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I was finally able to get the ViRGE chip to initialize and start outputting a valid video sync signal, but I missed some important details for translating the PPC403 bus to VLB.
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Wire-side of the PikaPC homebrew computer main board with several thin wires removed from their posts but currently trapped under all of the wires that were placed after they were originally installed.
Wire wrap is great because it can be undone by just twisting the opposite direction. But the layers of wires add up quickly and it can be difficult to fish out a wire to remove it.
I haven't gotten the PikaPC communicating with the ViRGE chip yet. I've made some progress, but had some surprises.
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Finally finished wiring video for PikaPC!
Just need to start testing & debugging ...
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