That's looking great.

Mini VIC Development Part 1 - Mini VIC without a VIC chip? As promised (admittedly a while ago), here is the first of the development logs covering the early stages of Mini VIC development, this from...

It's possible, but not trivial. Many people are working on such things, including me.
There are older posts about my investigations on the blog:
blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/search/label...
And more recent updates on my Patreon.
www.patreon.com/tynemouthsof...

Snake Pit on a Commodore 1901 monitor from an S-Video modded VIC20

Tut-Tut on a Samsung LCD TV from an S-Video modded VIC20

Simple VIC20 S-Video mod installed

Scope waveforms showing luma, composite video and chroma from a screen showing colour bars.

New blog post - A VIC20 S-Video conversion:
blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2026/04/vic2...
A simple (and reversible) mod with pretty decent results on CRT and LCD monitors and even USB capture.
(at least with this VIC20, and with the monitors I tried)

Snake Pit on a Commodore 1901 monitor from an S-Video modded VIC20

Tut-Tut on a Samsung LCD TV from an S-Video modded VIC20

Simple VIC20 S-Video mod installed

Scope waveforms showing luma, composite video and chroma from a screen showing colour bars.

New blog post - A VIC20 S-Video conversion:
blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2026/04/vic2...
A simple (and reversible) mod with pretty decent results on CRT and LCD monitors and even USB capture.
(at least with this VIC20, and with the monitors I tried)

That must be the limited edition with coconut flavour controls.

Ah, that explains why the new batch of SD2PETs have _really_ thick cables.

Looks good, but I hear there is an Osborne Executive on the way, so I will wait for that.

What's that smell?

I guess I must had forgotten to change the Rifa in that monitor.

Ooooh, nasty.

We're narrowing it down, and I can confirm it wasn't me out on a bender with @futurewas8bit.bsky.social

Hot damn…more toys that I never knew I needed, that I need to treat myself too…

New blog post - Roller Bearing IC Leg Straighteners:
blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2026/04/roll...
I have been after one of these for ages and accidentally bought a second one whilst looking for parts to improve the first.

New blog post - Roller Bearing IC Leg Straighteners:
blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2026/04/roll...
I have been after one of these for ages and accidentally bought a second one whilst looking for parts to improve the first.

One of the nurses stuck it on and no one had the guts to tell him it had been there for a fortnight.

I have one and a half of those Maplin keyboards, both of which were missing the case.

One is missing a couple of keys, and the other is missing lots of keys. I have never managed to find both of them at the same time, but one day I hope to put them together to make one good one.

Thank you to @filmisfabulous.bsky.social the BBC and everyone involved for a wonderful Easter treat.

AI putting people out of jobs is one thing. But once they start putting cats out of a job, then the revolution begins.

I think it would have been 1988 or 89 at the school which is about 200 yards from where I live now. I would sit in the corner learning CP/M on the 380Z whilst everyone else was playing snake on the newer machines.

I would really like an RML 380Z, the first CP/M machine I ever used, but not that much.

They were so confident there would be no firmware updates, they soldered most of the ROMs in. Sockets are expensive you know.

Well, it's now April the 2nd and it's still here, so I guess it must be real.

Finally, a Computer for Women - Petticoat 5 YouTube video by Wisdom Land

More info on the Petticoat 5 for those not aware of this unusual machine. Very difficult to find working examples these days, so this is from one of those 80s BBC computer programs.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0fJ...

Now this is some rare piece of equipment: An Atari 2600 "Heavy Sixer" running UNIX System V.
The venerable VCS is attached to a box branded “pdp11/2600” and runs System V from a DEC cartridge. TTY is looped through the Spectravideo CompuMate keyboard add-on. Must investigate…

Are you keeping up with the Commodore?

For too long now, 8 bit retro computers have been largely targeted at boys. I didn't think that was fair, so I have created a new retro computer kit just for girls, the MENSTRUAL 3.
This is still ZX81 compatible, but has a new mode which is Petticoat 5 compatible.
#Menstural3 #Z80 #8bit #Petticoat5

I looked everywhere for suitable long switches, but had to just stick with the old ones, so it is only software compatible with the Petticoat 5.

For too long now, 8 bit retro computers have been largely targeted at boys. I didn't think that was fair, so I have created a new retro computer kit just for girls, the MENSTRUAL 3.
This is still ZX81 compatible, but has a new mode which is Petticoat 5 compatible.
#Menstural3 #Z80 #8bit #Petticoat5

Genuine MOS 6522 IC showing date code of 0482, 4th week 1982, and a remarked 6502 showing a date code of 1837, presumably intended to be 2018, but using Commodores numbering scheme would be 1937 or 2037.

Looks good, 16K and BASIC 4, so _should_ be OK with an SD2PET.

Interestingly remarked 6502. I guess they didn't know Commodore did the dates the other way around, so that would be 18th week of 1937. or maybe it slipped through a wormhole from 2037?

It really is about time I bought one of those. OK. Ordered.

Minstrel 2 computer, with copy of Toni Baker's book on machine code and a cassette player.

Minstrel 2 computer, about to load program, with copy of Toni Baker's book on machine code and a cassette player.

Sound from an unmodified #ZX81/ #ZX80? Surely not. However, Toni Baker showed how to get quite impressive sound from the tiny micros, provided you were happy with a flickering screen. Also works on #Minstrel2 / #Minstrel3, though you need to access signal on mic socket. github.com/markgbeckett...

New blog post - As requested, I have listed my joystick emulators on Tindie.
blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2026/03/joys...
These are simple test boards that emulate a standard 9 way D joystick using push buttons. Useful for testing or when you want a minimal interface without dangling wires.