Recent content by MattPilz

Total devastation. Even compared to many other "recycling" events I've seen in the past, this seems to eclipse all of that. An absolute disgrace in the name of "recycling" by just filling landfills with historic and often perfectly usable products. It is a continued reminder of just how wasteful...

I only did a one day drop-in last year for my first time but definitely agree! Great seeing all the creativity and how people keep these old systems going. And by chance I won both an awesome mini computer and a signed Apple poster from giveaways. It is a very different atmosphere than Midwest...

I have a Colecovision as well and an amazing homebrew game I had recently bought, plus multicart thinggy. Also love SMS it seems like such a forgotten machine, I remember many years back I had one that had "Hang On" and I think one other game built in. Maybe they all do?

I fell in love with the MEGA65 (very similar concept from some years back) at Midwest Gaming this year. It seemed to be everything a retro reimagined system should be and I played a great WIP space shooter that really felt 16-bit. Unfortunately, that's also entered unobtainium territory. And the...

What led to the garbage screen seen on the TRS-80 in this photo? When you first boot it shows the cassette basic (MEMORY?) prompt right? I had one finnicky TRS-80 Model 1 that at times felt there was an expansion interface attached and would show this garbage screen unless you held in BREAK when...

I became friends through a local historical society with the original organizer of what was once an Atari User Group in Central WI. They'd have monthly meetings at the clinic to demonstrate and discuss the latest in Atari computer happenings.

I've always been intrigued by the Vectrex console but until this year never had one of my own. It is one of those systems that is hard to appreciate without witnessing it on the original hardware. The system is driven by a 9" X/Y black and white CRT so it has more in common with oscilloscopes...

Gone now but that was a great deal. The unknown disks are what always intrigue me especially ones that may not be archived, home programs and similar.

I really need to revisit that set at some point. I had a few acquired over the years and currently have the original black/silver style working well after months of repairs. Yet haven't yet taken the time to explore its library of titles but Parsec with the voice synthesizer is really amazing...

I hope you will be able to find a replacement easy enough. In some (really old) TV repairs I've done it was a real hunt and lots of months of waiting to find NOS parts come up on eBay. But hopefully the flyback in your set is more universal than some of the obscure spec'd ones I've had to deal with.

Saving this one to watch later. I have never hard-modded a PS2 but years ago did do some soft-mod in conjunction with an internal hard drive and ethernet so I was able to manage the library over the network. I've since forgotten the entire process but know it was still working last I tried! But...

What makes me sadder is knowing how many scrapyards COULD be what Free Geek is, by offering their piles of donated "scrap" up for grabs for 'x' $ per pound or whatever before tearing them apart for a dollar or two of metals. But at least the ones I've been to have a strict no resale policy and...

A lot of these auction houses on HiBid partner with packaging companies to ensure safe handling, I've had decent success there compared to eBay and Goodwill. I've lost some very rare pieces due to poor packaging on eBay (but also had great experiences at other times). Goodwill once sent me a...

I still have a working 2003 model, works great for stereo auxiliary hookups at picnics and with the iTrip as an FM transmitter. At some point I installed Linux onto it that had a bunch of extra apps and features.

I spent three days at MGC in Milwaukee for the first time in six years. They've improved a lot since then (when it was run at a hotel and the entire vendor area was under tents outside...now it's at the Wisconsin Center across three entire floors). Here are a few highlights. I was one of 30...