Apple II

Power Supply Design, Group Regulation, and Vintage Computers

October 31, 2023 Big Mess o' Wires

Vintage computer power supplies will eventually grow old and die. Instead of rebuilding them, many people are opting to replace them with a PC-standard ATX power supply and a physical adapter to fit the vintage machine, similar to the ATX to Macintosh 10-pin adapters I recently discussed here. But …

Apple II

Mactoberfest Meetup Recap

October 19, 2023 Big Mess o' Wires

The first ever Mactoberfest Meetup was a success! Everybody seemed to have a great time, and there were no serious hiccups. In a hobby that tends to be pretty insular, it was nice to spend a day with other people who share the same enthusiasm for old Apple computer stuff. …

Apple II

Tetris Max Worldwide High Score Contest is Saturday

October 12, 2023 Big Mess o' Wires

Here’s your reminder for the first ever Tetris Max Worldwide High Score Contest, happening this Saturday October 14 from 11:00 am to 3:30 pm Pacific Daylight Time (UTC−07:00). Warm up your wrists, live stream your efforts, and enjoy that great music from Peter Wagner. The top scorer wins a …

Apple II

Mac-to-VGA Sync-Splitter Prototype

October 11, 2023 Big Mess o' Wires

Elapsed time: 122 hours from design concept to finished product in my hands. Hey, it works! Last week I wrote about my attempts to design a Macintosh-to-VGA video adapter with an integrated sync splitter, separating composite sync into the separate hsync and vsync signals expected by most VGA monitors. …

Apple II

Yellowstone Disk Controller Begins Second Production Run

October 10, 2023 Big Mess o' Wires

I’m happy to report that BMOW’s Yellowstone Universal Disk Controller for Apple II computers is beginning its second production run. I’d long thought that Yellowstone would be a once-and-done project, because a key chip used in its design became unobtainable anywhere late during the development phase. I was only …

Apple II

Electric Bow Tie 3000 Reloaded

October 10, 2023 Big Mess o' Wires

Ah, the Electric Bow Tie 3000: BMOW’s least-loved product. The bow tie was retired several years ago, but it’s still possible to make your own annoying neckwear device! I’ve belatedly uploaded the schematic, PCB files, parts list, and instructions here. For those who’ll be attending Mactoberfest Meetup this …

Apple II

Mactoberfest Meetup is One Week Away!

October 7, 2023 Big Mess o' Wires

The Mactoberfest Meetup classic Macintosh celebration is only one week away! What is this? Mactoberfest Meetup is a free social event for classic Macintosh computer collectors in the San Francisco area, and their Apple II friends. Attendees are bringing their computer collections to display, and we’ll also have a …

Apple II

Announcing the Tetris Max High Score Contest, October 14

September 29, 2023 Big Mess o' Wires

Oh yes, this is happening. This is the moment. Put your peril-sensitive sunglasses on, warm up your wrists, and prepare your ergonomic keyboards. Saturday October 14 at Mactoberfest Meetup will feature the first-ever public Tetris Max high score contest, with the winner taking home a complete and newly-restored Performa computer …

Apple II

ATX to Mac 10-pin Power Supply Adapter Kit

September 27, 2023 Big Mess o' Wires

If you dabble with old computers, then you know the power supplies can fail just as often as the computers themselves. In the case of classic Macintosh computers, Apple didn’t use any kind of standard PSU, so buying new replacements isn’t possible. When a classic Mac PSU fails, the …