# LinuxJedi's /dev/null


## Posts

- [Reviving a Roland SoundBrush: Floppy MIDI Playback Without the Computer](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/reviving-a-roland-soundbrush-floppy-midi-playback-without-the-computer/): Back in the 80s and early 90s, when games often came on floppy disks, the music came in MIDI format. If you have never heard of MIDI, this is a standard way for electronic instruments to communicate the notes being played. When the music was composed, sound modules such as the Roland MT-32 and later the SC-55 were used. If you were lucky enough to own one of these devices, you would hear the games as they were meant to be heard. It is like having an orchestra playing in front of you. I have both the MT-32 and SC-55 […]
- [A Socket 7 Upgrade: Moving Beyond the 486](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/a-socket-7-upgrade-moving-beyond-the-486/): A while back I built a 486-based machine to play with some late 80s / early 90s games, as well as try out hardware of the era. I blogged about the process here, with an update here. I really enjoyed using this setup, but I wondered if I could improve it enough to run Quake well. A new journey began…
- [Reviving an Amiga 600: From Dead Video to a Clean Boot](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/reviving-an-amiga-600-from-dead-video-to-a-clean-boot/): I managed to score an Amiga 600 motherboard which was faulty for £41. This weekend I attempted to fix it. Here is my progress.
- [The Amiga 1200 That Fought Back: The Faults I Missed the First Time](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/the-amiga-1200-that-fought-back-the-faults-i-missed-the-first-time/): I recently repaired an Amiga 1200 with a difficult to find fault. Unfortunately, it came back to me with more unusual faults that I didn’t discover the first time. So, here are the things I missed.
- [Why Recapping Isn’t Always the Cure: And Amiga 1200 Repair Story](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/why-recapping-isnt-always-the-cure-and-amiga-1200-repair-story/): I often see on places such as Facebook that an Amiga owner will show a fault they have with their machine, and the immediate response you’ll see is “recap it”. Now, I’m not saying that recapping isn’t needed, for the SMD caps used in Amigas, it always is. But that isn’t always the problem either. A bad recap can make things worse. Which leads me to today’s story…
- [KDE Plasma Automatic Time Zone](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/kde-plasma-automatic-time-zone/): I have been a full time KDE Plasma user for quite a while now. Whilst I do not miss much from GNOME, and love the way I can make Plasma my own, there is one niggle that has been missing for a while. That is automatic time zone changing. I don’t mean daylight savings, that is covered nicely, but I have worked abroad several times this year, and each time I have to manually set my location in the System Settings to get the correct time/date.
- [The wolfDemo Board Story: From Idea to Reality](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/the-wolfdemo-board-story-from-idea-to-reality/): I work building open-source cybersecurity solutions for wolfSSL. These solutions often involve embedded environments, which is why we attended Embedded World in Nuremberg this March. We showcased several embedded security demos running on development boards. It got me thinking: what if we made our own development board?
- [Upgrading the RAM Detective: A Firmware Adventure with RAMCHECK](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/upgrading-the-ram-detective-a-firmware-adventure-with-ramcheck/): The firmware in my RAMCHECK is very old, there were many updates since then. Unfortunately, the firmware was not published on the internet before Innoventions closed down. So, this is my adventure about obtaining new firmware.
- [The Ultimate RAM Detective: Meet the Innoventions RAMCHECK](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/the-ultimate-ram-detective-meet-the-innoventions-ramcheck/): Whilst repairing vintage machines, a lot of RAM passes by my benches. Most of it works great, some of it is in not so good condition. It is possible to test RAM in a system, but that may not tell the whole story, particularly if a RAM stick causes instability. It can also be difficult to pinpoint exactly which stick is causing the problem. I’ve wanted a better solution for a while, and now I finally have one…
- [Vintage Speed Demon: Fixing an ARK1000VL Graphics Card](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/vintage-speed-demon-fixing-an-ark1000vl-graphics-card/): According to some, the ARK1000VL is considered the fastest VLB graphics card chip you can get. I recently repaired several other VLB graphics cards, so when an ARK1000VL based card came up, I had to take the challenge.
- [Using rr On Newer Intel CPUs](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/using-rr-on-newer-intel-cpus/): If, like me, you have a newer Intel hybrid CPU, with P-Cores and E-Cores, you may hit an issue running rr in Linux to debug things. Here is how to solve it.
- [The Legend Continues: Amiga 1000 Keyboard Revival](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/the-legend-continues-amiga-1000-keyboard-revival/): I have restored the boxed Amiga 1000 main unit and the mice that came with it. Now is the turn of the keyboard.
- [Amiga 4000 Repair: This one was just weird](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-4000-repair-this-one-was-just-weird/): I was recently sent an Amiga 4000 motherboard repair. It should have been quite straightforward, but as we will see, not everything went to plan.
- [Unboxing the Legend Continues: Amiga 1000 Mouse Restoration.](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/unboxing-the-legend-continues-amiga-1000-mouse-restoration/): I recently received a boxed Amiga 1000 which was in excellent condition, but required a little work. It came with two original Amiga 1000 mice and the keyboard, all of which needed work. Today I’ll cover the mouse restoration.
- [Unboxing a Legend: Amiga 1000](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/unboxing-a-legend-amiga-1000/): I have a local friend who is a private collector of vintage computers and consoles, and he has an incredible collection. He visited me recently to drop off a few awesome things. One of which is a ZX Spectrum +3, which I will blog about another day. The other is an Amiga 1000, complete with its original box!
- [Amiga 4000 With Lots of Little Problems](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-4000-with-lots-of-little-problems/): I’ve had a few people send me things in to repair lately. Amongst these was an Amiga 4000 motherboard, RAM and CPU card with lots of minor issues. Here is how I diagnosed and fixed them.
- [Amiga A3640 CPU Card Repair](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-a3640-cpu-card-repair/): Lately, I’ve been very busy, but haven’t had many interesting things to blog about happen. That will change soon, but today I thought I would cover a repair that came in for an A3640 CPU card.
- [Two special Amiga 4000s: Finishing Jools Repair](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/two-special-amiga-4000s-finishing-jools-repair/): You may remember that the A4000 known as “Jools” went to its new owner for an event in a semi-working state. Unfortunately, due to an injury, he wasn’t able to bring it back to me to finish until now. There was a bit more work to do than I thought, but here we go!
- [Repair of a Trident VLB Graphics Card](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/repair-of-a-trident-vlb-graphics-card/): Hot on the heels of repairing the Cirrus Logic VLB card, I acquired a dead Trident TGUI9440 based VLB graphics card to see if I could repair it.
- [Raspberry Pi JTAG Programming - 2025 Edition](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/raspberry-pi-jtag-programming-2025-edition/): It seems that every time I document how to do Xilinx JTAG programming from a Raspberry Pi, they change something to break it. So, it is time to update the instructions again.
- [Repair of a Cirrus Logic VLB Graphics Card](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/repair-of-a-cirrus-logic-vlb-graphics-card/): Fellow vintage computer collector, Gammitin, challenged me to fix four VLB graphics cards, as well as upgrade the RAM on them. If I could do it, I could keep one for my 486 PC build. Can I do it? Let’s find out.
- [Upgrading my 486 PC Build](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/upgrading-my-486-pc-build/): You may remember my recent 486 PC build, I enjoyed doing it, but I had several issues with it. It also didn’t quite have everything I wanted in it. I ended up making huge changes. This post covers everything I have done to it since then.
- [The Roland MT-32: The Ultimate late-80s Gaming Sound](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/the-roland-mt-32-the-ultimate-late-80s-gaming-sound/): One of the projects I wanted to do with my new 486 PC was to try out a Roland MT-32 with it. The MT-32 is a MIDI synthesiser that was used to help compose many late-80s games. Many of these games sound amazing with an MT-32, so, like many before me, I decided to talk about it.
- [486 PC Build](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/486-pc-build/): A lot of people my age went from the 8bit era to the 16bit era and then PCs. I took a very different route and, as such, I want to build a machine compatible with what I would have had in the 90s.
- [wolfSSL on Amiga](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/wolfssl-on-amiga/): As many of you are probably aware, I am one of the developers of wolfSSL. I specialise in porting to various platforms, everything from 16bit microcontrollers to big iron 64bit server processors. I decided to see if I could get wolfSSL running on a 30+ year old platform, specifically “Jops”, the Amiga 4000 I just finished restoring.
- [Two special Amiga 4000s: Rebuilding Jops](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/two-special-amiga-4000s-rebuilding-jops/): Now that the motherboard work is finished, it is time to rebuild. Lots of 3D printing involved in this one, let’s dive in.
- [Two special Amiga 4000s: More Jops Repairs](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/two-special-amiga-4000s-more-jops-repairs/): In my previous post in this series, I managed to diagnose and repair three very strange issues that were causing issues with the video output. Now it is time to continue the repair to the rest of the motherboard.
- [Two special Amiga 4000s: Jops video](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/two-special-amiga-4000s-jops-video/): I finally got Jops to generate a good DiagROM serial output, but the video output wasn’t working. This time I dig further into why that is happening.
- [Restoration of a barn find Amiga 2000: part 3](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/restoration-of-a-barn-find-amiga-2000-part-3/): All the motherboard issues were resolved in my previous post in this series, now it is time to reassemble and see if the hard drive works.
- [Restoration of a barn find Amiga 2000: part 2](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/restoration-of-a-barn-find-amiga-2000-part-2/): With this Amiga 2000, I previously got it into a state where it would boot from the main CPU and the accelerator card. Now it is time to continue working on it.
- [Two special Amiga 4000s: Repairing Jops](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/two-special-amiga-4000s-repairing-jops/): Last time I worked on Jops, I left myself a lot of work to do. This weekend I picked it up again to work on. So, here is the update!
- [Restoration of a barn find Amiga 2000: part 1](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/restoration-of-a-barn-find-amiga-2000-part-1/): I recently acquired an Amiga 2000 for £350 which was in an unknown state, but had many upgrades in it. There is a lot to go through with this machine, so I’m going to break this up into multiple parts. For the first part, I’ll see if I can get the motherboard working.
- [Diagnosing an Amiga 1200 Data Path Fault](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/diagnosing-an-amiga-1200-data-path-fault/): I recently acquired an Amiga 1200 motherboard in a spares/repairs condition for about £100 recently. There was evidence of a repair in the past, but I wanted to see if it was something I could get running.
- [Bare Metal "Hello World" on an STM32MP135F-DK](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/bare-metal-hello-world-on-an-stm32mp135f-dk/): Whilst I do like working with STM32 development boards, some basic information I need can often be buried in pieces of documentation, videos and examples. Today I wanted to simply echo “Hello World” to the built-in ST-Link UART, running on bare metal. This post might help others, but it is also to help me remember for next time.
- [Two special Amiga 4000s: Diagnosing Jops](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/two-special-amiga-4000s-diagnosing-jops/): When I last left this blog series, the first of Stoo Cambridge’s A4000s had gone to its new owner. It will be back for new SIMM and joystick sockets, but now it is time to take a look at the second A4000 I dubbed “Jops”.
- [Joining wolfSSL](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/joining-wolfssl/): At the beginning of November, I started working for wolfSSL. Now that I’m a week in, I figured I should talk about what wolfSSL is and the fun things I’m doing there.
- [Two special Amiga 4000s: Rebuilding Jools](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/two-special-amiga-4000s-rebuilding-jools/): In my previous post, I had the Amiga 4000 known as Jools mostly repaired, there were still a couple more issues found after the board was cleaned. So, let’s get into part 4 of this series!
- [Two special Amiga 4000s: Repairing Jools](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/two-special-amiga-4000s-repairing-jools/): In my last post, I created a list of things I needed to repair on the Amiga 4000 named Jools to get it running. Let’s see if it helps.
- [Two special Amiga 4000s: Diagnosing Jools](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/two-special-amiga-4000s-diagnosing-jools/): In my previous post, I introduced two Amiga 4000s I received from Stoo Cambridge to repair. Since then, I have been working on the motherboard of Jools. Let’s see how far I got…
- [Two special Amiga 4000s: Introduction](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/two-special-amiga-4000s-introduction/): On Saturday, I was at a Norwich Amiga Group meetup, where I got to meet Stuart (Stoo) Cambridge again. For those who don’t know, Stoo is a great graphics designer and used to work for a famous game development company called Sensible Software. Stoo brought a couple of Amiga 4000s along with him for me to repair. So, this is the first post in a series where I repair these machines.
- [Working with the AVR Dx family](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/working-with-the-avr-dx-family/): In recent years, Microchip has launched a new range of AVR chips. They appear to have had some things borrowed from the PIC range, and you have to do some things a little differently. That being said, they are very powerful, feature rich and relatively inexpensive. I started using them earlier this year. I thought I would share what I have learnt.
- [My WordPress Slack ban](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/my-wordpress-slack-ban/): A couple of days ago, I got banned from the WordPress community Slack. As this is about WordPress, I figure I should use my WordPress blog to talk about it.
- [Issues I found during WordPress.com to .org migration](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/issues-i-found-during-wordpress-com-to-org-migration/): Whilst migrating from wordpress.com to an installation of the open source WordPress, I hit some gotchas that I couldn’t easily find information about elsewhere. So, I figured I’d document my findings in case anyone else has issues.
- [Why I moved my blog](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/why-i-moved-my-blog/): Unfortunately, there is a war going on within the WordPress community. To stay as far away as possible from it, I have moved my blog to a hosting provider that is not related to what is happening. I wanted to talk a little bit about what is going on and why I moved.
- [Four new Amiga products for September 2024](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/four-new-amiga-products-for-september-2024/): Since the June Amiga Expo, I have been developing some new Amiga related products. I challenged myself to launch four of these throughout September. I managed to achieve this, so I figured I should talk about what I have launched.
- [Repairing an Amiga that caught on fire!](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/repairing-an-amiga-that-caught-on-fire/): Karl at Retro32 likes to challenge me, and this time he had an interesting one. When he turned on an Amiga 600 motherboard he acquired, smoke and a small flame came out of the motherboard!
- [Fixing a reproduction Amiga 500 Plus motherboard](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/fixing-a-reproduction-amiga-500-plus-motherboard/): I’ve had several customer machines on my bench lately, there is one in particular I think is worthy of a blog post because the repair was weird.
- [Building my ideal 486 laptop](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/building-my-ideal-486-laptop/): Over the past few weeks, I’ve learned far more than I initially wanted to about the Dell Latitude XP series. I originally purchased a Latitude XP 450C (a 486 DX2 50MHz with a passive matrix display) and ended up making a 4100T (486 DX4 100MHz with a TFT display). This is the journey.
- [Restoration of a special Amiga 4000 motherboard](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/restoration-of-a-special-amiga-4000-motherboard/): Earlier this month was the Kickstart Amiga Expo, and my Amiga business, Retro Supplies, had a stand there. I had pre-planned to take in several Amiga motherboards to repair and recap whilst there, and among them was a special Amiga 4000 motherboard. Special because it belongs to Mike Dailly of DMA Design fame. It also happens to have a really interesting fault. So, I figured I would document it.
- [An Amiga 1200 fighting me the whole way](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/an-amiga-1200-fighting-me-the-whole-way/): On my repair list have been two motherboards from Retro32. An Amiga 600 and Amiga 1200. The Amiga 600 repair was simple, and not worth a blog post, but the Amiga 1200 has had so many weird issues, it is definitely worthy of talking about.
- [Weird Amiga 600 Fault Repair](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/weird-amiga-600-fault-repair/): I have a lot of customer repairs in right now, and most are awaiting new parts (mostly SMD PLCC sockets, as I have run out). In the meantime, I bought a faulty Amiga 600 motherboard, which Karl Dyson (Retro32) pointed me to. It was available for a very low price. Let’s see if I can fix it.
- [Kickstart Amiga Expo and My New Products](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/kickstart-amiga-expo-and-my-new-products/): Last weekend I was at the second Kickstart Amiga Expo, where I had a table under my “Retro Supplies” brand, and I was helped out by my amazing wife. I debuted some new things at this expo, so I figured I should talk about them for everyone else here.
- [Amiga 1000 Repair](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-1000-repair/): I was at the Norwich Games Festival last week, along with six of Amigas and a BBC Master 128 with Valiant Turtle. Whilst I was there, OMTG Retro handed me his Amiga 1000 and asked if I could fix it for him, it wouldn’t boot. So, I had a look into it.
- [Amiga RPT-75B PSU: Testing and enhancements](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-rpt-75b-psu-testing-and-enhancements/): In my previous blog post, I showed how to make a new, high-spec power supply for Amiga 500 / 600 / 1200 computers. Now I want to do some testing and there are a few improvements that can be made. Let’s get to it!
- [Building an Amiga PSU around an RPT-75B](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/building-an-amiga-psu-around-an-rpt-75b/): A lot of people use Meanwell power supplies as the replacements for the poor quality ones that came with the Amiga. Typically, the 50W variants such as the RPT-60B are used because it fits nicely inside an original Amiga power supply. I wanted to see if I could use a 75W PSU for heavily upgraded Amigas. Here is the journey.
- [Fixing a TV Stand With 3D Printing](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/fixing-a-tv-stand-with-3d-printing/): I have recently acquired two Sony KDL-15G2000 TVs, one via eBay and one via a local auction. These are great 4:3 LCD TVs for use with vintage computers. Unfortunately a piece was missing from the eBay one, which meant it couldn’t stand up properly.
- [Amiga 600: Retro Restoration](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-600-retro-restoration/): Every week I check the local auction websites to see if there are any interesting vintage computer related things to bid on. This time around, there was a lot, including an Amiga 600. So, let’s take a look.
- [Weird Amiga 1200 Issue Repaired](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/weird-amiga-1200-issue-repaired/): In the last week, an Amiga 1200 was dropped off at my workshop to be repaired. That isn’t unusual, but the faults were unusual enough that I thought I should blog about them.
- [Modifying a PC floppy drive to work inside an Amiga 500](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/modifying-a-pc-floppy-drive-to-work-inside-an-amiga-500/): My Amiga 500 Plus no longer has an internal floppy drive. It was given away months ago to help another Amiga user. I needed to replace it, and I realised that I’m completely out of Amiga floppy drives. So, I decided to see if I could convert a PC one to fit. Here is the story.
- [Yet Another BBC Micro: Retro Restoration](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/yet-another-bbc-micro-retro-restoration/): In the town I live, there is a small auction house which every week puts up their list of items for the next auction on their website. I check this every week just in case there are any computers in there that I would be interested in. This week there was, so I put in an absentee bid without visiting to see if I could get it. I won!
- [More BBC Micro Repairs](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/more-bbc-micro-repairs/): Last weekend I started the first of a four-part course teaching children to program on the BBC Micro. Of course, when dealing with 40 year old hardware being used all day, something could go wrong. A couple of minor things did fail, so this post is about what happened and how I solved them.
- [Acorn Electron: Retro Restoration](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/acorn-electron-retro-restoration/): When I was much younger, I had a BBC Micro computer at home. A few friends had Acorn Electrons, and I saw them at the time as the inferior sibling to the BBC Micro. Roll on to today, and I have a BBC Micro or two, which was originally called the Acorn Proton. I also have the Acorn Atom. So, it was inevitable that I would end up acquiring an Acorn Electron too. But like buses, two turned up at once!
- [BBC Micro: Restoration part 3](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/bbc-micro-restoration-part-3/): In my previous post, I thought I had both BBCs fully working and almost complete. I cleaned the inside of the bottom half of the case for the white BBC and installed the motherboard again, screwing it back down. This would turn out to be a mistake.
- [Acorn ANF03 Data Recorder: Retro Restoration](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/acorn-anf03-data-recorder-retro-restoration/): For BBC Micro owners in the 1980s, a disk drive and DFS upgrade was often financially out of reach, sometimes costing nearly as much as the computer itself. This was the case for me as a child, instead we had the ANF03 Data Recorder to use cassette tapes instead.
- [BBC Micro: Restoration part 2](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/bbc-micro-restoration-part-2/): Following on from my previous BBC Micro restoration post, I figured I should take a look at BBC Micro #2. Let’s see where we are at.
- [Teletext on a BBC computer in 2024](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/teletext-on-a-bbc-computer-in-2024/): Before the Internet, if we wanted to read up-to-the-minute news or weather, we had Teletext. It is a low-bandwidth text standard that used to be sent via the hidden black border on TV signals. BBC Micro and Master computers had a Teletext character generator chip and mode, which they actually booted into by default. Therefore, Teletext was easy to implement via a small ROM and a modem. I managed to get it running, despite Teletext here in the UK being killed off years ago. Here is how I did it.
- [Valiant Turtle: Retro Restoration Part 3](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/valiant-turtle-retro-restoration-part-3/): I thought part 2 was the end of my restoration journey for Tobias the Valiant Turtle. But there is more that has happened since. So, let’s get to it.
- [BBC Master 128 #2: Retro Restoration](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/bbc-master-128-2-retro-restoration/): I was recently chatting to a local friend about the course I’m setting up to teach local kids BBC BASIC and Logo. He mentioned that he had his brother’s boxed BBC computer in the loft and that he would donate it to me so that I had the final machine needed for the course. I’m going to be helping him with some work on his retro collection in return. What I didn’t realise at the time, was that the machine was a BBC Master 128!
- [BBC Micro: Restoration part 1](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/bbc-micro-restoration-part-1/): In a previous post, I showed the two BBC Micro computers I had acquired. I decided to work on the black one first, this is the start of the restoration.
- [Retro computer diagnostic tools](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/retro-computer-diagnostic-tools/): In the past, I’ve discussed the soldering gear and general tools I’ve used, but I haven’t really summarized the diagnostic tools I recommend. I have been asked about some recently, so I figured it is time to blog about it.
- [Atari 800XL: Restoration Part 2](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/atari-800xl-restoration-part-2/): I previously left my Atari 800XL with a faulty GTIA chip which completely broke the video output from the Atari. Now the restoration continues.
- [BBC Micros: Pre-restoration discovery](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/bbc-micros-pre-restoration-discovery/): In 2024 I’m going to be setting up a small class to teach local children how to program the same way I was taught back in the 80s, all on BBC computers. For this I need BBC computers to teach with. I already have my Master 128 and a couple of years ago I acquired a faulty BBC B to restore, I needed two more machines and this week another turned up. This particular one has a bit of a story, so warrants a blog post before I even start restoring them.
- [Archiving a copy protected disk](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/archiving-a-copy-protected-disk/): I recently received a rare floppy disk for the Acorn Archimedes, one I cannot find archived anywhere. My concern is that a nearly 40 year old disk may not have many years left in it, so I wanted to archive it. This proved more difficult than I thought. I figured I would document why and how managed it in the end.
- [Valiant Turtle: Retro Restoration Part 2](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/valiant-turtle-retro-restoration-part-2/): In my previous post about the restoration of the Valiant Turtle, I managed to get it powered up, but the battery door was not closing properly. Now that he is living, I’ve decided to name him Tobias the Valiant Turtle. This is the continuation of his repair.
- [Valiant Turtle: Retro Restoration Part 1](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/valiant-turtle-retro-restoration-part-1/): Back in the 1980s, many schools in the UK had BBC Micro computers as part of the BBC’s computer literacy project. One of the major strengths of the BBC at the time was its expandability, it had many different expansion ports. The expansion possibilities meant that many addons were made for it, particularly for educational purposes. Around this time one popular computer language was Logo, which is a language to draw vector graphics. Not just on screen but drawn on paper too. This led to one popular type of expansion for the BBC (and other 8bit machines at the time), […]
- [Fake chips, I got stung](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/fake-chips-i-got-stung/): Unfortunately, in the tech sector, just like many other sectors, there are scammers around. When you are dealing with electronics this is typically in the form of chips that have had their markings changed, usually to make them appear as if they are a more expensive chip. This has happened to me, so I’ll talk a bit about it.
- [Atari 800XL: Restoration Part 1](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/atari-800xl-restoration-part-1/): When I was a teenager, one of the last 8bit machines I acquired was an Atari XEGS. This was a pretty cool machine, even if it was way out of date when I got it. I decided I needed an Atari of similar era for my collection, and along came an Atari 800XL.
- [Acorn Atom: Virtual Tapes](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/acorn-atom-virtual-tapes/): Now that the Acorn Atom is working, I wanted to be able to load software on it. One solution many Atom owners go for is AtoMMC, which is a way of loading software from SD card. There is also an entire software archive for this. But I wanted something with a bit more of a retro feel.
- [Acorn Atom: Restoration Part 3](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/acorn-atom-restoration-part-3/): Pretty much everything was working in my previous post. But I was struggling with the tape interface and there are a few changes I wanted to make. Here is where I am at.
- [Acorn Atom: Restoration Part 2](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/acorn-atom-restoration-part-2/): In the previous part of this series, I got the Acorn Atom working. But I don’t just want it working, I want it in a good, usable condition. So, there is a little more work to do. Here is where I am at.
- [Tigard and the Xilinx XC9500XL CPLD](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/tigard-and-the-xilinx-xc9500xl-cpld/): This is a blog post mostly for my reference, as I forget how to do this every time I need to. Tigard is a great little device which exposes an FTDI and gives lots of ports and power options to connect it. I occasionally need to use it for programming Xilinx XC9572XL and similar ICs. This is how to do it with an open source toolchain.
- [Acorn Atom: Restoration Part 1](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/acorn-atom-restoration-part-1/): In my previous post, I discussed the massive haul of Acorn related equipment I received, and one important piece in the collection was an Acorn Atom. Today I got to test if it worked!
- [Large Acorn Haul](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/large-acorn-haul/): Today I received a large haul of Acorn related machines and parts. With it comes a story and a quite rare machine.
- [Amiga CD32 Restoration: Part 3](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-cd32-restoration-part-3/): At the end of my previous blog post, I had things mostly working. But I need to make the temporary repair more permanent and rebuild the machine. Here goes!
- [Amiga CD32 Restoration: Part 2](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-cd32-restoration-part-2/): At the end of the first part, I had the CD32 in a state where it shows the boot logo, but the red video signal was missing. Let’s continue the repair.
- [Amiga CD32 Restoration: Part 1](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-cd32-restoration-part-1/): I recently acquired a CD32 which is pretty much in a destroyed state. This is going to be a lot of work to restore, so, let’s make a start.
- [Amiga 1200: PiStorming](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-1200-pistorming/): Now that my new Amiga 1200 has been restored, and the boot loop repaired, I have been having a play with the PiStorm32-Lite. Things have come along leaps and bounds since this Amiga 1200 board was released, so I wanted to go over setting it up and running it.
- [Amiga 1200: Fixing Boot Loop](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-1200-fixing-boot-loop/): Over the weekend, the Amiga 1200 I restored picked up an interesting symptom. It started randomly rebooting, sometimes rebooting many times a minute. This is the diagnosis and repair.
- [Amiga 1200 Restoration](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-1200-restoration/): Someone recently sent me their Amiga 1200, which used to be their pride and joy, for free, to look after. They no longer had a use for it. It needed a bit of work, so I decided to document it.
- [Making Amiga IFF Thumbnails Work in Linux](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/making-amiga-iff-thumbnails-work-in-linux/): I was having an email conversation with Stoo Cambridge, and he mentioned that he was having trouble making his Linux machine display thumbnails of Amiga IFF/ILBM files. It turns out I have a solution for him, so I am sharing it here to help anyone else.
- [Amiga 4000 Restoration x2: Part 8](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-4000-restoration-x2-part-8/): With one machine down and with what, I think, is the diagnosis of the final issue with the second one, it is time for the home stretch.
- [Amiga 4000 Restoration x2: Part 7](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-4000-restoration-x2-part-7/): I last left the motherboard with one more repair to make. In the background, some new parts have been 3D printing, whilst others have been cleaned and retrobrighted. Let’s continue!
- [Amiga 4000 Restoration x2: Part 6](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-4000-restoration-x2-part-6/): We are on part 6 of what I originally hoped would be a 3 part series. There has been some progress since last time on several fronts. As well as some setbacks. Let’s get into it.
- [Amiga 4000 Restoration x2: Part 5](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-4000-restoration-x2-part-5/): In part 4, I had the motherboard for the Amiga 4000 #2 mostly working. But it required a new buffer chip for the Fast RAM. That chip arrived, so let’s continue…
- [Amiga 4000 Restoration x2: Part 4](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-4000-restoration-x2-part-4/): The Amiga 4000 #2 motherboard has been repaired enough to almost boot correctly, but there is still a problem. There appears to be a stuck bit on the custom chips bus. Let’s continue with the diagnosis.
- [Amiga 4000 Restoration x2: Part 3](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-4000-restoration-x2-part-3/): With a clean motherboard base to work from, it is time to start the repair work!
- [Amiga 4000 Restoration x2: Part 2](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-4000-restoration-x2-part-2/): There is a lot to do with these Amiga 4000s after the initial inspection, but some progress has been made.
- [Amiga 4000 Restoration x2: Part 1](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-4000-restoration-x2-part-1/): Due to a series of strange events, I have ended up with not one, but two Amiga 4000s in the last few weeks. They are both in need of very different restorations. I hope that I can get at least one complete machine out of them, and then sell the other one. I don’t have room for two in my collection, and it will help recoup the costs.
- [Amiga 3000: I Was Wrong](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-3000-i-was-wrong/): I recently posted about how the BFG9060 was causing my Amiga 3000’s SCSI port to become unstable. It turns out I was incorrect, here is the story.
- [Amiga 3000: Major Upgrades](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/amiga-3000-major-upgrades/): Now that my Amiga 3000 has been fully restored, I decided to make it the best Amiga I could. Here is the journey I took.

## Pages

- [Downloads](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/downloads/): This is a page of downloads for software, BIOSs and driver software for preservation of old computers. Acorn Cumana 16bit SCSI Podule This is the software to map physical SCSI drives to drives IDs in RISC OS. You need to increase the SCSI drive count in RISC OS appropriately and then use this utility to map them. It also comes with diagnostics utilities. Cumana Bravo Parallel Port CDROM Drive This driver is for the Archimedes / RiscPC Cumana Bravo parallel port to MKE / SLCD CDROM drive. The drive inside these will be a CR-562 or CR-563. Cumana Oscar Parallel […]
- [My Retro Collection](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/my-retro-collection/): Current Working Machines Acorn Archimedes A3000 Acquired via eBay Acquisition Date May 2023 Work Done Battery damage cleanupLight general clenupUsed unpopulated battery door and PCB area for new battery Current State Working! Upgrades Hard disk upgradeRISC OS 3.11 upgrade Restoration Blogs Archimedes tag This Archimedes is an early revision with a 1MB RAM upgrade installed. Luckily the battery damage was minimal. Acorn Archimedes A3010 Acquired via Facebook Acquisition date Unknown Work done Extensive battery damage repairPorts replaced Current state Working! Upgrades RAM upgradeHard disk upgrade Restoration blog posts Archimedes tag I bought this from a school teacher who in-turn purchased […]
- [About](https://linuxjedi.co.uk/about/): This is just a short excerpt for the about page.


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