leaded solder
@leadedsolder.com
I never met a broken TV I didn't like. Come read the blog at https://www.leadedsolder.com and see what old junk computers I'm fixing this week.
Pinned
leaded solder
@leadedsolder.com
· Nov 13
Hello new readers! This is the bsky account for the Leaded Solder blog at www.leadedsolder.com, which since 2017 I have been writing regular articles on repairing old computers and game consoles.
Also: modern clones of the ColecoVision and the Sega SG-1000, with the VTech CreatiVision ongoing!
Also: modern clones of the ColecoVision and the Sega SG-1000, with the VTech CreatiVision ongoing!
Reposted by leaded solder
New "byte"-sized blog post: A rant about AI making it impossible to search for information anymore. Alas... nicole.express/2026/not-my-...
You Can't Trust the Internet Anymore
I like things that are strange and a bit obscure. It’s a habit of mine, and a lot of this blog is to document things I haven’t heard of before, because I wan...
nicole.express
February 14, 2026 at 6:24 PM
New "byte"-sized blog post: A rant about AI making it impossible to search for information anymore. Alas... nicole.express/2026/not-my-...
Reposted by leaded solder
as announced by online Sega history zine Beep21: Hideki Sato, the "father of Sega hardware" who stewarded the design of Sega's home consoles from the SG-1000 through to the Dreamcast & presided over the company from 2001~3, passed away on Feb.13 aged 77 🇯🇵
R.I.P.
R.I.P.
X Cancelled | Verifying your request
xcancel.com
February 14, 2026 at 2:04 PM
as announced by online Sega history zine Beep21: Hideki Sato, the "father of Sega hardware" who stewarded the design of Sega's home consoles from the SG-1000 through to the Dreamcast & presided over the company from 2001~3, passed away on Feb.13 aged 77 🇯🇵
R.I.P.
R.I.P.
New blog post! Fujitsu made a wildly complicated machine in the FM-77AV2, and this one defeated me. I did narrow the problem to a bad custom chip! Come along and see the heaviest 8-bit computer I owned before I got even heavier ones. www.leadedsolder.com/2026/02/10/f...
#retrocomputing #fm7
#retrocomputing #fm7
Leaded Solder vs. The Crazy 77
Things don’t always go to plan! When battling one of the most complex 8-bit home computers ever made, you can expect to run into some problems.
www.leadedsolder.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:36 PM
New blog post! Fujitsu made a wildly complicated machine in the FM-77AV2, and this one defeated me. I did narrow the problem to a bad custom chip! Come along and see the heaviest 8-bit computer I owned before I got even heavier ones. www.leadedsolder.com/2026/02/10/f...
#retrocomputing #fm7
#retrocomputing #fm7
Reposted by leaded solder
The PicoIDE Crowd Supply campaign is now live! Back the project to be among the first to get yours! PicoIDE is an open IDE/ATAPI drive emulator for retro systems. www.crowdsupply.com/polpotronics...
PicoIDE
An open source IDE/ATAPI drive emulator for vintage computers
www.crowdsupply.com
January 29, 2026 at 9:04 PM
The PicoIDE Crowd Supply campaign is now live! Back the project to be among the first to get yours! PicoIDE is an open IDE/ATAPI drive emulator for retro systems. www.crowdsupply.com/polpotronics...
Reposted by leaded solder
New blog post! Taking a look at the Yamaha MR10, a preset drum machine from... 1982? That can't be right... nicole.express/2026/yamaha-...
The Last Preset Machine: Yamaha's MR10
Earlier on the blog, I took a look at an early preset drum machine, the Panasonic RD-9844. How early was it? Not a single IC in sights, a pure discrete logic...
nicole.express
January 25, 2026 at 2:22 PM
New blog post! Taking a look at the Yamaha MR10, a preset drum machine from... 1982? That can't be right... nicole.express/2026/yamaha-...
This is pretty neat. Someone on AliExpress is selling a Soggy-1000, my open-source #Sega SG-1000 clone, with the 3D-printed case that keegs made.
They even went ahead and modified an NES-clone controller to work with the SMS pinout. Hope they liked building it! #retrogaming #kicad #retrocomputing
They even went ahead and modified an NES-clone controller to work with the SMS pinout. Hope they liked building it! #retrogaming #kicad #retrocomputing
January 22, 2026 at 4:25 PM
This is pretty neat. Someone on AliExpress is selling a Soggy-1000, my open-source #Sega SG-1000 clone, with the 3D-printed case that keegs made.
They even went ahead and modified an NES-clone controller to work with the SMS pinout. Hope they liked building it! #retrogaming #kicad #retrocomputing
They even went ahead and modified an NES-clone controller to work with the SMS pinout. Hope they liked building it! #retrogaming #kicad #retrocomputing
New blog post! Can you play Sonic Invaders on my clone of Australia's favourite 1980s computer/video game hybrid? Yes, at long last, you can. It is time to re-enter Dick Smith's fabulous world of Wizzardry. #retrocomputing #kicad
www.leadedsolder.com/2026/01/20/c...
www.leadedsolder.com/2026/01/20/c...
Controlling the Wizzard
Remember back when I cloned the VTech CreatiVision/Dick Smith Wizzard, Australia’s almost-favourite video game system that’s also a computer? That was a fun time. Now for the really fun part of the pr...
www.leadedsolder.com
January 20, 2026 at 6:15 PM
New blog post! Can you play Sonic Invaders on my clone of Australia's favourite 1980s computer/video game hybrid? Yes, at long last, you can. It is time to re-enter Dick Smith's fabulous world of Wizzardry. #retrocomputing #kicad
www.leadedsolder.com/2026/01/20/c...
www.leadedsolder.com/2026/01/20/c...
Reposted by leaded solder
Did you know that LoopyMSE, the Casio Loopy emulator, has printer emulation? You can customize what it runs on the exported image so here it's using Python to send the image to this bluetooth printer which can print full-colour 3"x2" stickers!
www.youtube.com/shorts/zzCtG...
www.youtube.com/shorts/zzCtG...
January 11, 2026 at 11:48 PM
Did you know that LoopyMSE, the Casio Loopy emulator, has printer emulation? You can customize what it runs on the exported image so here it's using Python to send the image to this bluetooth printer which can print full-colour 3"x2" stickers!
www.youtube.com/shorts/zzCtG...
www.youtube.com/shorts/zzCtG...
Old blog post! Remember when.. I spent a lot of time trying to mod a PlayStation before accidentally buying one that was already modded? Good thing it was broken too, or I would have nothing to write about. #retrogaming #playstation #modchip #artdink
www.leadedsolder.com/2021/04/20/p...
www.leadedsolder.com/2021/04/20/p...
Modding a PlayStation (Eventually)
Several attempts at installing a modchip into a Sony PlayStation game console
www.leadedsolder.com
January 10, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Old blog post! Remember when.. I spent a lot of time trying to mod a PlayStation before accidentally buying one that was already modded? Good thing it was broken too, or I would have nothing to write about. #retrogaming #playstation #modchip #artdink
www.leadedsolder.com/2021/04/20/p...
www.leadedsolder.com/2021/04/20/p...
Reposted by leaded solder
Damn. He was my grail of Sega interviews. I was able to interact through a 3rd party but never got to spoke to him. He was a true coin-op legend and will be missed. R.I.P. 🙁
www.replaymag.com/segas-dave-r...
www.replaymag.com/segas-dave-r...
Sega’s Dave Rosen Passes on Christmas Day in L.A. – RePlay Magazine
www.replaymag.com
January 4, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Damn. He was my grail of Sega interviews. I was able to interact through a 3rd party but never got to spoke to him. He was a true coin-op legend and will be missed. R.I.P. 🙁
www.replaymag.com/segas-dave-r...
www.replaymag.com/segas-dave-r...
Reposted by leaded solder
This is unreal. In this month's @romchip.bsky.social: This author was researching "superguns," unofficial devices used to play arcade games at home
Sooo they built their own, following the instructions from vintage Japanese electronics magazines from the 80s/90s
romchip.org/index.php/ro...
Sooo they built their own, following the instructions from vintage Japanese electronics magazines from the 80s/90s
romchip.org/index.php/ro...
December 31, 2025 at 12:17 AM
This is unreal. In this month's @romchip.bsky.social: This author was researching "superguns," unofficial devices used to play arcade games at home
Sooo they built their own, following the instructions from vintage Japanese electronics magazines from the 80s/90s
romchip.org/index.php/ro...
Sooo they built their own, following the instructions from vintage Japanese electronics magazines from the 80s/90s
romchip.org/index.php/ro...
🎶 New blog post / it's one you can read / this Sun's Timekeeper is toast / so why don't we / cut a hole in it with a Dremel? 🎶
#sparc #sunos #sparcstation #retrocomputing #powertoolabuse
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/12/30/s...
#sparc #sunos #sparcstation #retrocomputing #powertoolabuse
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/12/30/s...
Giving the SPARCstation some jumper cables
My SPARCstation 1+ is very forgetful, and the cause is the old evil of batteries. In this case, the battery is entombed in an immortal epoxy container, which makes it really hard to swap! That’s why m...
www.leadedsolder.com
December 30, 2025 at 4:08 PM
🎶 New blog post / it's one you can read / this Sun's Timekeeper is toast / so why don't we / cut a hole in it with a Dremel? 🎶
#sparc #sunos #sparcstation #retrocomputing #powertoolabuse
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/12/30/s...
#sparc #sunos #sparcstation #retrocomputing #powertoolabuse
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/12/30/s...
Reposted by leaded solder
Surprise, a new "byte" post: a little writeup on a color LCD game from 1999. The mirror vision trick to get more brightness on a color LCD didn't die with the Panorama Screen, it turns out. nicole.express/2025/stop-in...
Narcissus' Direct-to-VHS Return: MGA's Space Invaders Color FX
Remember the Game & Watch Panorama Series? The use of mirrors for a clever approach to a portable color LCD console. Of course, in 1999, you didn’t need ...
nicole.express
December 28, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Surprise, a new "byte" post: a little writeup on a color LCD game from 1999. The mirror vision trick to get more brightness on a color LCD didn't die with the Panorama Screen, it turns out. nicole.express/2025/stop-in...
Reposted by leaded solder
🎁 FIRMWARE UPDATE! A gift to all my Floopy Drivers out there, this update greatly improves flashing speeds, ex.
•Harihari Seal Paradise 59s→18s🔥
•Little Romance 102s→36s🔥
To update, just plug in your Floopy like normal, and click the update notification. Give'r a reload if you don't see.
#CasioLoopy
•Harihari Seal Paradise 59s→18s🔥
•Little Romance 102s→36s🔥
To update, just plug in your Floopy like normal, and click the update notification. Give'r a reload if you don't see.
#CasioLoopy
December 24, 2025 at 7:33 PM
🎁 FIRMWARE UPDATE! A gift to all my Floopy Drivers out there, this update greatly improves flashing speeds, ex.
•Harihari Seal Paradise 59s→18s🔥
•Little Romance 102s→36s🔥
To update, just plug in your Floopy like normal, and click the update notification. Give'r a reload if you don't see.
#CasioLoopy
•Harihari Seal Paradise 59s→18s🔥
•Little Romance 102s→36s🔥
To update, just plug in your Floopy like normal, and click the update notification. Give'r a reload if you don't see.
#CasioLoopy
Reposted by leaded solder
New blog post! A smaller one, taking a look at some LCD games and how the segmented LCD game declined over the course of the 1980's. nicole.express/2025/gentlem...
How the Segmented Game changed, through the Eyes of Golf
The 1980s were a period of slow decline for the segmented LCD or VFD game. At the start of the decade, companies like Coleco were putting out tabletop games ...
nicole.express
December 21, 2025 at 1:21 PM
New blog post! A smaller one, taking a look at some LCD games and how the segmented LCD game declined over the course of the 1980's. nicole.express/2025/gentlem...
New blog post! As everyone knows, the Commodore 64 likes to get sick and die. How many C64 boards in a free pile can we fix in three hours?
#commodore64 #c64 #retrocomputing #itsthepla #itsnotthepla
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/12/09/c...
#commodore64 #c64 #retrocomputing #itsthepla #itsnotthepla
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/12/09/c...
Commodore 64 black screen failure round-up
Through the kind contribution of a friend, I was able to move a bunch of broken Commodore 64s into the hands of other folks. And then help those folks fix those Commodore 64s, because they’re broken a...
www.leadedsolder.com
December 9, 2025 at 4:53 PM
New blog post! As everyone knows, the Commodore 64 likes to get sick and die. How many C64 boards in a free pile can we fix in three hours?
#commodore64 #c64 #retrocomputing #itsthepla #itsnotthepla
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/12/09/c...
#commodore64 #c64 #retrocomputing #itsthepla #itsnotthepla
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/12/09/c...
Fixing Commodore 64s is some kind of fun, but not a normal kind of fun like fixing broken Japanese computers. #commodore64 #retrocomputing
November 30, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Fixing Commodore 64s is some kind of fun, but not a normal kind of fun like fixing broken Japanese computers. #commodore64 #retrocomputing
Reposted by leaded solder
New blog post! The Jakks Pacific "Atari Paddle"; it plays only the games that used the less common of the major Atari controller. How well does it do it? nicole.express/2025/paddle-...
Giving the Jakks Atari Paddle a Spin
Some things I like to talk about on this blog are “paddle” games that use a potentiometer to control the player position, and plug-and-play consoles. Oh, and...
nicole.express
November 23, 2025 at 1:39 PM
New blog post! The Jakks Pacific "Atari Paddle"; it plays only the games that used the less common of the major Atari controller. How well does it do it? nicole.express/2025/paddle-...
Reposted by leaded solder
It's official! #PicoIDE, the open source IDE/ATAPI drive emulator I've been working on for the better part of this year, will be launching at Crowd Supply! Go there to sign up for updates and to be notified when the campaign is live: www.crowdsupply.com/polpotronics...
PicoIDE
An open source IDE/ATAPI drive emulator for vintage computers
www.crowdsupply.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:59 AM
It's official! #PicoIDE, the open source IDE/ATAPI drive emulator I've been working on for the better part of this year, will be launching at Crowd Supply! Go there to sign up for updates and to be notified when the campaign is live: www.crowdsupply.com/polpotronics...
New blog post! It's a Samsung CRT TV/VCR that rolled out of the swamp of eBay. Some kids shoved Christmas ornaments in it. And Starburst candies. And a... Pokemon card? That's not what's wrong, though!
#retrogaming #crt #crtrepair
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/11/18/s...
#retrogaming #crt #crtrepair
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/11/18/s...
You’re Out of Timer
Now that there are more clubs forming in my local area, I’ve been thinking about taking some of my junk to shows. Of course, this means I’ll need a cheap small colour TV if anyone wants to see that ju...
www.leadedsolder.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:31 PM
New blog post! It's a Samsung CRT TV/VCR that rolled out of the swamp of eBay. Some kids shoved Christmas ornaments in it. And Starburst candies. And a... Pokemon card? That's not what's wrong, though!
#retrogaming #crt #crtrepair
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/11/18/s...
#retrogaming #crt #crtrepair
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/11/18/s...
Reposted by leaded solder
“Retrocomputing Repair” themed claw game. 🤪
November 16, 2025 at 6:02 AM
“Retrocomputing Repair” themed claw game. 🤪
The MC-10 also does this "put the 1372 in the RF modulator" shenanigan. It even puts the master clock source in there. Perhaps closer cross pollination than I first thought. Great job!
New blog post! Breaking out the Tandy Color Computer 2 for the first time in years, in order to give it a desperately-needed composite video upgrade. Why does this model get neglected in many composite mods? Take a look! nicole.express/2025/cuckoo-...
Composite Mod on the CoCo 2: The UVD Board
Since at least March of 2019, the Tandy Color Computer 2 has sat there, teasing me. It has a Motorola 6847, the tragically disappointing graphics chip, paire...
nicole.express
November 9, 2025 at 3:12 PM
The MC-10 also does this "put the 1372 in the RF modulator" shenanigan. It even puts the master clock source in there. Perhaps closer cross pollination than I first thought. Great job!
New blog post! The Apple III was perhaps the most unloved machine of Apple's early-80s losing streak, but that doesn't mean this one should have been used as a toilet for mice. Just how bad can it get? #retrocomputing #apple2 #apple3
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/10/28/a...
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/10/28/a...
Three Times the Fun
Repairing an Apple III computer that was damaged by a mouse infestation
www.leadedsolder.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:13 PM
New blog post! The Apple III was perhaps the most unloved machine of Apple's early-80s losing streak, but that doesn't mean this one should have been used as a toilet for mice. Just how bad can it get? #retrocomputing #apple2 #apple3
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/10/28/a...
www.leadedsolder.com/2025/10/28/a...
Reposted by leaded solder
New blog post! Taking a look at a Coleco tabletop game... but is it actually a Coleco? It's time to face off against Mario in Donkey Kong Junior nicole.express/2025/you-got...
Too Good to be First-Party: Coleco's Tabletop Donkey Kong Junior
What was home video gaming like in the early 1980’s? You might consider picturing things like the Atari 2600 or the Intellivision, and those were certainly a...
nicole.express
October 26, 2025 at 12:10 PM
New blog post! Taking a look at a Coleco tabletop game... but is it actually a Coleco? It's time to face off against Mario in Donkey Kong Junior nicole.express/2025/you-got...
Reposted by leaded solder
buy this
October 21, 2025 at 6:03 AM
buy this