Recent content by vwestlife

I know you can't judge an entire company's product line based on a sample size of one, but the Kalok Octagon drive I have suffered the same fate as most of them -- now it won't even low-level format anymore:

Just because it's similar to MSX hardware doesn't mean that getting MSX games to run on it will be as simple as a ROM patch. 8K of ROM isn't enough to give it anything even close. First-gen MSX machines have 16K of system ROM plus another 16K ROM for Microsoft BASIC.

Put UV-blocking film on the windows, the kind used to prevent artwork from fading: But in my experience, once the yellowing process starts, nothing you can do will stop it. I've had computers stored in a box or cabinet, completely shielded from any light, which yellowed even worse than ones...

I wish I had one of these cards in my Z-148. It's a neat little system, but not having any ISA slots absolutely cripples it.

The 1000RSX was a rare bird, only on the market for a short time, before Tandy sold their computer business to AST. It is a 2500RSX in a smaller box. So if you don't mind the different size, a Tandy 2500 would be easier to find and would deliver the same experience.

Are these Data8 tapes, i.e. the same thing as Video8 / Hi8 / Digital8 videotapes, just with a different name?

If in doubt, you can open it up and there should be a sticker on the motor indicating its voltage.

FWIW, an XT-class Tandy 1000 with CRT monitor uses almost exactly the same amount of power from the AC line as a Core 2 Duo PC with LCD monitor:

Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and thus is not international, at least according to the USPS. Airmail postage and/or customs forms are not required to send items from the mainland to Puerto Rico or vice versa.

It is the seller's responsibility to get the item to you in the condition it was advertised, regardless if they normally accept returns or not. This is even true if the item is listed as "for parts or not working". It gets to you in the condition it was advertised, or else the seller and/or eBay...

I use DS (Directory Sort) from Norton Utilities 6.01. Also SPEEDISK, which is the equivalent of DEFRAG in DOS 6.x/7.x (which itself requires DOS 5.0 or higher to run) can sort directories while defragging. Also, MOVE and DELTREE, copied from IBM's PC DOS 7.0/2000, work fine in DOS 3.3x, as does...

Here is WD's IDE SuperBIOS 3.1 (copyright 1990) from the Acculogic card:

It would be for a second drive. You can't daisy-chain drives with IDE-XT, so in order to use a second hard drive you'd need a separate cable for it.

I got an Acculogic sIDE-1 on eBay. But it turns out it's just a rebadged Western Digital IDE-XT interface. It has the same "WD IDE SuperBIOS". Its drive table matches the parameters of WD's 20, 30, and 40 MB IDE-XT drives.

I plugged a space heater into a power strip once. The power strip itself was fine, but its plug started to melt itself to the wall outlet.