Best products from r/retrobattlestations

I suggest poking around on an emulator first to get a feel for things. If you're determined to go with the real thing, though, you would need a disk drive, and that could add double to what you're paying for the machine. Many tape games can be cheaply bought on eBay, so if you wanted those you could get a 1531 Datasette, which should be very cheap. Many UK games (where some of the best games came from) came on tape, but the majority had disk releases as well.

Look out for boxed games, but they're getting expensive nowadays and even the hardware itself has been steadily going up in price for years. Boxed disk and cartridge games are fetching higher prices now than ever before. The most common cartridge would be the one that came packed with the failed C64GS system, and later with C64C's. It has four relatively good games on there - Fiendish Freddy's Big Top 'o Fun, Flimbo's Quest, Klax and International Soccer (the last being a very old and slow game but still fun). Flimbo's is definitely the pick of the bunch.

I would suggest instead of going with the tapes, disks and cartridges route you instead just get a C64 and a SD2IEC, which you can plug into your machine with as much software as your sd card can hold. If you want a little more capability you can get the 1541 Ultimate II, which is a much more fully featured device, but obviously costs a lot more.

C64's do not give out a good picture on modern displays because, like all machines of the time, it was designed to run on good old radiation inducing CRT's. You can get LumaFix 64 (if you get a C64/G and not a C64C, as it forces the VIC-II video chip to sit too high on the board, interfering with where the keyboard sits). Or if you're determined to get the best possible picture, you can splurge on an XRGB Mini Framemeister, which is supposedly the best option.

Good luck with your C64 and if you have any problems, ask here or /r/C64 or even message me directly :)

Ok, so the first card (LWHA02150) uses an ESS AudioDrive 1688 chipset. This is a pretty good Sound Blaster clone that, in my opinion, sounds quite nice for a non-Yamaha FM synth chip.

Second card (LWHA151A00) uses a Yamaha OPL3-SAx chip. This is a genuine OPL-series chip, which from my research doesn't sound quite as good as a normal OPL3 but should still get the job done.

Either card should serve you well, and will sound pretty good in DOS and Windows games that use FM synthesis for music (such as Doom). There are MUCH worse-sounding chips than these two. They should be fine in newer games like Half-Life, but won't have any cool features like the 3D sound you would get from newer Creative or Aureal cards.

For newer games that use CD audio, such as Half-Life, you will need to either connect the soundcard to your CD drive using a CD audio cable, or enable a feature called "Digital CD Audio" if your drive supports it (Google how to do this).

You can find Win95/98 drivers for the ESS card here, and drivers for the Yamaha card here (scroll down to OPL3-SAx).

Get yourself a 2Gb (or whatever size you want really) compact flash card and a CD to IDE adapter and replace that spinning drive. You'd not only gain some speed, but you also gain the ability to simply unplug the CF card, throw it into a USB reader and copy the data from your newer PC to the card. Quick and easy.

I own this one, and it is pretty awesome. You can mount it so the CF card is accessible from the 3.5" external bay, or via slot in the back.

If you did not want to replace the spinning drive in there, then you could just install it as a second drive and use it to copy data to and from the machine.

As for the 486 keyboard adapter, the larger old AT connector is compatible with the smaller and newer PS/2 keyboard connector. Adapters are available in most of the usual places for about $6.

https://www.amazon.com/SF-Cable-Female-Din5-Keyboard/dp/B0016RTMQE/

ISA sound blaster card I would recommend eBay. If you want a genuine ISA sound blaster, you can go with pretty much any of them from the original 8-bit all the way to an AWE64 model. Prices will vary based on type and model. Perhaps around $20 shipped. If you don't need an actual sound blaster but are good with any number of the clones, those will probably be much cheaper.

The same thing will be true for an ADB keyboard and mouse. Ebay would be my recommendation, or perhaps craigslist. Perhaps around $25 + S&H.

A good tip, if you're not familiar with it, is to check the 'sold' listings on eBay. Those will give you a good idea how much something is worth before you go bidding on it or buying it on craigslist.

Hook it up to an old PC (or new one). For the old, grab an old sound blaster (16 or above), get a midi port adapter and go wild! The MPU cards are ideal but are pretty hard to come by, or just damn pricey, even my clone card was around $70 or so, but if you happen to have one of those even better!

You could also hook it up to a new PC using a https://www.amazon.com/Roland-UM-ONE-MK2-MIDI-Interface/dp/B00967UN50 and run games through it using dosbox. I have my SC-55 connected that way actually, Duke Nukem sounds great on it.

edit Third option sell it to a retro collector you can get an alright amount for them, nothing near what they originally sold for but not bad for a 30 year old device either.

You'll have to find the right plug, but yes any 7.5V supply that can put out 3 amps or more will work. If you're lucky, it'll have something like this next to the charger port that'll tell you whether it's center-positive or center-negative. If you've got a 7.5V supply (or an adjustable bench supply) it's probably worth it to just buy a set of connectors, they're super handy for other projects, not just this one.

Posted above, but I converted mine to LED backlight (side light really) using this

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XFXM4NA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It was pretty easy and it looks great, if not maybe a little bluer than it was new.

That looks like a very clean machine.

Something I like to do is to make a system info packet.

• On a modern laser printer with archival quality paper, a few pages about the system, its original specifications, and any modern modifications. Specific product names, configuration settings, quirks, passwords, a software list, etc. Put each page in a plastic 3 ring holder. Like these.
  
  
• Copy software and images to modern physical formats, and include them in the protector pages. (Some more properly sized ones can hold 3.5" and 5.25" disc/ks and microSD cards more securely).
  
  
• Put all that into a nice 3 ring binder, optionally with printed photos of it being used and enjoyed. Keep the binder with the system.
  
  
• Optionally, sans binder, if the system in question has enough space inside its case, you might be able to keep this administrivia inside the computer case itself.

IMO, older Logitech are way better then modern. I still rock a X-620 set (though don't use the surround, just L-R-Sub) The sub makes an awesome foot rest under my desk, and when really cranked up, makes a nice foot warmer in the winter. I did improve on it though, adding a JBL S120PII Sub over in the corner.

Honestly, I would get something newer.

Something like this should work fine. Just run dosbox.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IOTZGOE?m=A3R2SJ6OXUDNDY&ref_=v_sp_widget_detail_page

If you really want to go retro, install something like freedos.
http://www.freedos.org/

I play a bunch of old games, and they all seem to work fine in dosbox.

> no way to record tapes from modern computers.

You don't need to record tapes, you just need to play the audio. You need one of those headphone jack to cassette converters and plug it into your phone/computer. I've picked up a couple of them at Dollar Tree. PM your address and I'll mail one to you.

> I may have game X, but who knows if someone else does?

There's only one way to find out! Another option would have been to invite a few friends over and have them all play too, something that a few people of done in the weekend contests. Of course that rule won't be allowed for a Twinsies Week. ;-)

> And there should be more ATDPro-like things out there.

Or at least more guides on transferring software using common household materials.

Here's the specs sheet for the cells used in this battery.

You are right, they are basically NiCad D cells.

EDIT: And in Amazon, you can buy a 12 pack of NiMH D batteries with a capacity of 10 amp-hours for about 70 American dollars. That is going to make a dent on your pocket, but hey, if the hack job is successful, you'll end up with better battery life than with the stock battery. Now if only if they made lithium-ion batteries at D size...

Thats awesome, where did you get one of those from?

I have a copy of this on my desk, I am planning on getting an FPGA to do something useful with it. A real PDP-11 would be a 100 miles better.

I purchased the same computer and my project is underway. I also lived through the dark ages of when this computer would have been new. :)

I think your best bet will be to find a real PS/2 keyboard and mouse to use with this system. Check thrift stores and eBay. If you have one of those green adapters, try it with all your USB keyboards and see if they work, or just use one with a mouse and go retro for the keyboard only.

As for the floppy drive, I had good luck replacing it with one of these GoTek floppy drive emulators.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MT3K5F6
Howto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taFP1J_lZBI

This will allow you to replace floppies with image files copied to a specially formatted USB thumb drive and it works quite well. I was able to install DOS 6.22 and then Windows 3.00 on top of it in just a few minutes.

I don't know if there will be any good way to make PCMCIA cards work with this system (??). I know there are PCI adapters but I'm not sure how compatible they would be. Internally you can either use a single PCI slot or a single ISA slot. There is only room to populate one or the other. I'm going with an ISA SoundBlaster CT4170, the same card in the 486 model in the other thread. This card should be ideal for what I'm trying to do -- run DOS 6.22 for retro gaming and general screwing around. There is already an NE2000 compatible network card in the system that will work with DOS so that's one less thing to worry about.

Edit: You also mentioned wifi -- this computer is veeeerry old. Wifi with an older PCI card could technically be possible but it's going to be a complete hassle. If your setup has to be wireless, go with a wireless bridge through the built-in NE2000 card.

I got an ide/pata to CF card adapter and use a 16 GB card as the hard drive. It's great because you can easily transfer files between your modern PC. Just partition the flash card and format and the computer will see it as hard drives. Pretty quick too.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000T9QQP0/ref=psdcmw_15874201_t2_B000YUMLPI

Assuming a debian based distro running on a vm/rPi/server/etc:

• apt-get install asterisk
  
• apt-get source asterisk
  
• build and install spandsp from https://www.soft-switch.org/ (just follow README in the download tarball) adding this patch if you're using Asterisk version 16.x on: https://github.com/proquar/asterisk-Softmodem/wiki
  
• build and install https://github.com/proquar/asterisk-Softmodem following the README there
  
• append to /etc/users.conf the following
  
  [6001]

fullname = user1

secret = supersecret

hassip = yes

context = users

host = dynamic
  
  ​
  
  [6002]

fullname = user2

secret = supersecret

hassip = yes

context = users

host = dynamic
  
  ​
  
  [6003]

fullname = user3

secret = supersecret

hassip = yes

context = users

host = dynamic
  
  ​
  
  [6004]

fullname = modem1

secret = supersecret

hassip = yes

context = users

host = dynamic
  
  ​
  
  [6005]

fullname = modem2

secret = supersecret

hassip = yes

context = users

host = dynamic
  
  ​
  
  
• append to /etc/extensions.conf
  
  [users]

exten => 6001,1,Dial(SIP/6001)

exten => 6002,1,Dial(SIP/6002)

exten => 6003,1,Dial(SIP/6003)

exten => 6004,1,Answer()

exten => 6004,n,Softmodem(localhost, 23, v(V22bis)d(8)s(1))

exten => 6004,n,Hangup()

exten => 6005,1,Answer()

exten => 6005,n,Softmodem(localhost, 23, v(V22bis)d(8)s(1))

exten => 6005,n,Hangup()
  
  
• restart Asterisk
  
• install a telnet server on localhost (listening on 127.0.0.1 only for security's sake :)) see something like https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-install-enable-telnet-on-debian-linux/
  
• Grab yourself one of these ATA's: https://www.amazon.com/Linksys-PAP2T-NA/dp/B000Q7PDW2
  
• Configure it to point to your Asterisk server
  
  Finally, plug a dialup modem into the ATA and dial either number 6004 or 6005. A 2400bps modem will answer and connect you to a telnet session running on 127.0.0.1:23 on the Asterisk server, ie a Linux login prompt. From there, log in and telnet/ssh/links (text browse) to the world from your vintage PC.
  
  ​
  
  Hope that helps.

It was this thing:

https://www.amazon.com/Nyko-80610-AirFlo-Game-Controller/dp/B0000TNJWM

Edit: Looks like AirFlo was still making something similar for consoles at least up until a few years ago lol.

If you don't own it already, the Brian Bagnall book on Commodore, Commodore: A company on the edge, is superb.

Wait, how is it 122 pounds? I found mine for like ~35$ dollars.

​

Heres a link for the one I was referencing: https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Power-supply-internal-connector/dp/B00006B8CH/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=startech+psu&qid=1557174114&s=electronics&sr=1-3

Beats me. The same PSU on Amazon UK is £122! I could import it from Amazon US for much cheaper, even if I do get hit with a customs bill on the receiving end. I'll keep it in mind though if I can't find a similar option locally for the same price.

That's only going to work if the motherboard has a header for it, and since it has a DIN port, I'm guessing it doesn't. You're going to need this for the keyboard, and a serial mouse.

It's the StarTech.com 3.5-Inch Drive Bay IDE to Single CF SSD Adapter Card Reader.

Fair warning, though: The eject lever on mine was broken when I got it. Probably just a one-off mistake, but it doesn't say great things for their quality control.