#old_hardware

[jendermad]

[GUIDE???] How to make cheap & comfortable 3D anaglyphic glasses

Hey there. So, recently i've obtained these, the ASUS VR-100 LCD 3D glasses from 1999

Here's how they look from behind and how they are connected to PC

So yeah, it's just two 1x1 pixel LCD screens. Noone wants that if you ain't collecting weird PC accessories. First off, i've dissasembled them, removed the cable and the polarisation filters (adhered plastic ones on the glass matrix) and cleaned the lenses with IPA (isopropyl alcohol) and got left with this

So, i've dissasembled a pair of paper 3D anaglyphic glasses and just put bare sheets of colored film on top of these glass pieces. (Warning - clean those with water or etc, no IPA this time! It might dissolve the film and color your hands with pigment from the film) Tested that out, placed those colored films on the inside of the glasses and closed it all up. Voila!

(I know, i mixed lenses up, fixed that later) Why these frames then? They're comfy! And they allow people with regular glasses on use them on top of those! Plus, they block your periphereal (sideview) vision so it's perfect for tinkering with anaglyph pictures and whatnot! <3 These are also lightweight, with that cable removed. So yeah, it's a way to make some comfy glasses for viewing old 3D movies or enjoying some other media. And yeah, it's sort of destroying the old tech - but again, those who wanted the full set in their collection already did find it all on ebay. Hope that this helps someone. Feel free to reply to this with whatever thoughts about this y'all have <3

[jendermad]

Same, but with ancient portable audio players and (for ~12 years already) headphones manufacturing. i can talk FOR LITERAL DAYS about all this stuff and i feel like if there were a legitemate person that would listen to all of this, their head would explode. So, i just tend to give them a itty bitty little snippet of info and ask them if they want to hear more, and end the phrase with a warning of "please stop me when it's enough info for you" before infodumping them with a nuclear blast of knowledge BUT, if anyone wants me to do a lecture or a podcast or something - hmu, i'll love to chit-chat about all of this. (not a joke)

Personally, I LOVE IT when a kid or teenager doesn't know much about computers because then I get to infodump about computers and look like a fuckin computer genius without having to write a single line of code

Kid: *shows me a picture of a diskette* someone 3d printed a save button

Me: *smiling so much my face is gonna freeze that way* OH COOL a diskette! That's what that's called, "diskette". You want to know something cool? Exactly the same kinds of stuff you have on your phone could go on one of those except it had to be really, really small so it would fit on there. Did you know that your phone has basically 16 thousand of those things in it? But they don't look like that anymore, they look like if you crossed a flat LEGO block with a millipede. There's an even OLDER kind of disk that was floppy like laminated paper and

[jendermad]

Need help - web crawler search

Hi there. Posting this here cuz idk where else to search and post about it. I'm searching for any web crawler website search, other than Wayback Machine. Can't find a more full dump of a forum (epiZENter.net). Need some info on some players for a script for a video, and so far it's a 85% finished and in stud state due to lack of information. (Wayback Machine has a dump of Creative ZVM pages, no downloads or any other pages from there, and i need info on some older models of Creative players) So, if anyone out there was using that forum back in the day and still has some software or whatever, please hmu, thanks in advance! [Please, reblog this! I really want to finish that script and make something good for y'all]

[jendermad]

Longpost about Philips HDD100/00, part 3 [thread post with bunch of photos, originally posted on Twitter] Fun footnotes: THERE ARE MORE OF THESE FELLAS! I suspect that those ones are more of an unobtanium these days, but it's cool to see that variety of them. I suspect this one uses Microdrives (CF-card compatible HDDs)

There were some of HDD100/00 and HDD120/00 out on eBay in UK and EU in great condition for around 20USD+

There's even that small version of these players, non-working, somewhere in states (suspect just discharged or dead battery / dead drive - can be repaired)

That's all i can say or show about these. Gonna use mine for longplays, as a portable background music thingy, maybe. (after i change the battery cell for a new one - stock one is too degraded and discharges in like 10 mins) If anyone got questions about these jukeboxes - hmu anywhere. P.S. Please don't ask me if i'm going to port Rockbox on it. I'm not a programmer, unfortunately. Plus, one person is not enough for this kind of thing. So, maybe someday. Unearthed some "new" info about Philips HDD070. They DIDN'T USE MICRODRIVE! THEY USED F%%%ING CORNICE DRIVES! (they are terrible, die fast, and are not compatible with IDE or CF) Here are some pics of the insides of these players on some Blogspot page: http://commonemitter.blogspot.com/2012/06/teardown-philips-hdd070.html

>>This is the end of this longpost. Hope it was entertaining enough. For all questions and whatever, feel free to use links in pinned post and "Ask" button here.<<

[jendermad]

Some time ago i've bought myself a Philips HDD100/00. Never heard of it, and never seen one. But, managed to find one as non-working for 3$. Restored it, and now you can too, if you happen to find one in the wild. [thread post with bunch of photos, originally posted on Twitter]

A brief overview of it (1-4 out of 8)

A brief overview of it (5-8 out of 8) + initial error on startup (more on that later)

A semi-detailed view of it's insides (1-4 out of 20) Hard drive is standart 50pin Toshiba 1.8" IDE / CF-compatible, similar to Samsung YH series and some other devices. (also used in some small laptops) I suspect it might accept drives of bigger capacity, will test it out later

A semi-detailed view of it's insides (5-8 out of 20) It was clearly tinkered with already, as seen by one screw that is clearly isn't from this device. Case is all magnesium alloy, only screen glass / side panels are plastic!

A semi-detailed view of it's insides (9-12 out of 20) Main board

A semi-detailed view of it's insides (13-16 out of 20) Other side of main board + front case panel on inside

A semi-detailed view of it's insides (17-20 out of 20) Main board in more details.

>>CONTINUES IN NEXT POST<<

[jendermad]

(originally posted on Twitter a long time ago) Finally replaced battery on this fella. Longpost or a vid will be soon, i just need some free time to write it all down.

[jendermad]

new videos coming soon!

Working on a script for a first video in a series about some old devices. Here's hope i'll finish it sometime soon. Here's some dissasembler for win32API apps for y'all.

[jendermad]

Made a new post on archive-dot-org!

It's about a player i wanted to buy for research, but seller never shipped the item and i've lost 20$. Still, figured i need to post the findings on there so that anyone else with a faulty HDD can recover their player. Hope it'll help someone. Link to archive-dot-org

(and i still hope i'll manage to find that damn thing sometime later and make some dissassembly manuals or something)

[jendermad]

Hey there!

This is continuation of this post from cl0ckworkpuppet

If you want to switch over to an MP3 player, here are some decent variants for everyone out there, let's start from the easiest one and move to more hardcore things: 1) Your old smartphone that you no longer use - YES, this is an actual variant to work with! You can install MortPlayer, or Foobar2000 - depending on how old your device is - and just add a 16-128gb MicroSD card. It's EASY and useful (your phone is not an e-waste anymore, yaaay) 2) Any player cheaper than 60$ USD (incl. used ones) - you can find them on any big wholesale website. Look for good reviews and videos about the device first, tho - some of small and sleek players can be clunky to use. 3) An old MP3 player - Some old MP3 players can play loseless files, and can support big headphones. Look for reviews and videos first, tho. 4) An old iPod - they are all easy to mod if you know your way around soldering iron station and willing to spend 20-30$ on some uprgades (you can even make it usb-c compatible!) 5) An old MP3 player with an HDD inside - Those are old and sometimes fragile, but like with iPods, there are LOTS of ways to upgrade them - including flashmods, new batteries, and more!

Footnotes: Be sure to check out Rockbox website here - some of these old players have a port of Rockbox for them. Rockbox unlocks your player's potential - more volume, more formats to play, custom themes (you can also make your own or customize community ones to your hearts content) and more! It also has ports for some of the more modern players as well. For players that cost more than 60$ - they are mostly for hi-fi enthusiasts, so if you're into that - that's another variant for you out there! If anyone out there have any questions, or need help modding their device - please, hmu! I have a bunch of documentation and info on most of players out there and can help you find parts, etc. for your device!

Huge thanks to @cl0ckworkpuppet for their original post, i wouldn't make this list w/o you! (pic source: here , pic mangled by myself, free to use whereever)

[jendermad]

I've bought myself a weird thing.

It's a VR set. No, not the Oculus or a Cardboard something for your phone. Something a bit weirder. It's Android, and it's all-in-one. Let's take it apart and see what's what. Here's what it looks like.

And here's the main board.

Model is written on the back of it.

And here's what shell looks like when dissassembled.

And that's the thing holding a pad that goes on user's head.

Also, tiny wifi antenna.

And perfectly reasonable 3000mAh battery.

But how does it work? You'll laugh. It's this.

Yeah, it's Google Cardboard with with tablet screwed to it. With a launcher that supports VR (made by a small company from Taiwan afaik) And here's the screen itself.

And how it looks from inside.

Now to the fun stuff. Here's a view of the screen from a remote desktop app.

It runs Android 5. iVRy still supports it, as well as Trinus. Riftcat's app won't run for some reason. It can be rooted and user can unlock dev menu. The most recent version of these was made in 2016 afaik. And so far, this thing is one of the cheapest ways to get VR without really outdated things like Oculus DK1/DK2 and whatever. Sidenote - same main board & custom launcher is used in "VR World" branded VR set that you can get from Aliexpress/Temu/Alibaba/etc.

[jendermad]

Video Editing Things!

People wanted me to show all i have for analog video editing, so here y'all go. A longpost with lots of pics. First one is Panasonic VW-VT1, a basic one-font video titler.

Next one is video titler as well. Some of you might seen it on YT somewhere. It's Videonics Video Titlemaker 2000. My version has a hacked ROM with added languages.

Next on the menu are mixers. Here's an ancient one, Vivanco VCR5022. I don't have the IR sensors for it, but i plan on making my own sometime later. Or i'll trade it for something more modern, idk.

Here's more modern looking yet trashed by it's previous owner. A Panasonic AVE-55. Sadly, no text input remote, but it's possible to fully use this mixer thru it's RS232 port on the back. I'll make the cable for it someday.

Here's slightly more older mixer, Panasonic WJ-MX10. It's built like a tank, and still works perfectly.

It has one chonk of a radiator, tho.

Bonus ducks (more pics, yeah) Here's a broken VideoSolutions Odyssey DVM-101. It refuses to boot it's ROM and bootloops on startup. I don't have service manuals for it and the only r%%%%%n manual (and RS232 software) there is on Electrotanya & archive-org is my uploads (thanks to a person from some discord server). Next to it - repainted b/w monitor. It works, but i have no use for it for now. I have three of them.

The next two monitors standing on 3 VCRs - Orion, and two GoldStar units.

Below them - 4 Sony VCRs.

And to the side of them - an Okari VCR, a CCTV color monitor (that needs to be fixed but i don't have time or patience for it) and a Shivaki (Goldstar, actually) video-combo TV with a HDMI->RCA and RCA->RF adapters. The bottom one is paired with that VCR on top and i use them to digitize tapes from time to time. Also, in the left corner you can spot: a sega clone, and two computers (HP Vectra VL6/333 and a XP ITX computer in IBM ThinkCentre case, with two almost-exact Pioneer drives (HP runs winME, and they both used to revive old tech and record/digitize old media, as well as burn CDs.)

And that's all for today. If you seen something on the pics that i've missed - hmu, i'll add some info. If you're interested WHY ON EARTH I NEED SO MUCH GEAR - please, surf thru my Telegram channel, IARA. You'll find your answers there. P.S. Yes, i have a lot of tapes as well. If there's enough likes/reblogs, i'll make some pics. Or if someone hmu about that. <3

[jendermad]

I wonder if anyone still uses these for any real work these days. It's my iBook G4 (800MHz / 1,125gb RAM / 24gb SSD) that i use as a typewriter for various projects.

[jendermad]

(old photo from my Twitter) A funky error in Rufus that you can encounter while trying to boot UEFI-only image in BIOS/Legacy-only machine.

[jendermad]

Longpost about Philips HDD100/00, part 2 [thread post with bunch of photos, originally posted on Twitter] Successfully repaired! Problem was that the drive was re-formatted to NTFS for some weird reason, and thus, had no FW on it so player couldn't properly start up. (Normally it's FAT32) (FW is stored on the disk, takes approx. 2.5mb space on the drive, as hidden files/folders)

Some minor details: Battery is SONY FUKUSHIMA UP325385, 1230mAh. (may change it later on) It has different buttons for 4-way controls. Overall build is similar to other early 00s jukeboxes, but magnesium alloy case is a weird choice (imo) Software side of things is extremely basic. Here's some screenshots (1-4 out of 4) On start it detects the player/jukebox, prompts with CHKDSK, and then loads up local music library on PC.

"Preferences" menu is basic as well - you can restore, flash the FW, and change some settings.

Sound quality tests and whatnot: Menu is 50/50, it takes a minute or two to understand controls. Sound quality tests are under way (i need to find a barrel plug for it to charge the damn thing, updates will be soon) Overall: Weird and cool tank of a jukebox. Continuation of this thread, now with some info on sound & etc. Sound side of things: This jukebox has Wolfson XWM8731 on board, same used on Packard Bell Vibe 500. Sound is definitely on the warmer side of things, tho details can be heard, and it's not mushy. UX: 9/10 (Image on screen can suffer from ghosting due to type of screen used in this jukebox) Settings are 8/10 (bassboost and EQ are useless) And lastly, upgradeability. Battery is unobtanium? (it's possible to just solder off protection circuit from the cell itself and solder on a new cell w/ yet another protection circuit from spare replacement 1st/2nd gen iPod battery, they're same size!) Disk upgrades: SW seems to be soft-locked to accept 20gb disks as maximum volume. 30gb disk starts up, can be formatted and FW can be uploaded thru original software but player boot-loops on Philips logo. Tracks can be successfully uploaded as well, thus it's most likely a FW soft-lock to prevent usage of disks of bigger capacity? (need clarification on this one) Possibility of RockBox port: Slim, but it is possible due to it being yet another PortalPlayer-based device. There's no page for it as of now on RockBox page, there's only two posts on forums about it. Service manuals: Accessible, links are below. It has all the board details including scans and schematics, etc. https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1367002/Philips-Hdd100.html Some details left out: HDD 100/00 - 15gb version HDD 120/00 - 20gb version Similar board and everything, the only difference is disk size. >>CONTINUES IN NEXT POST<<

[jendermad]

I've uploaded software for MSI MEGA Player 536 up on http://archive.org, so that anybody that has this thing around, can easily restore it if that old Microdrive fails to work.

https://archive.org/details/MSI_MEGA_Player_536_Restore_Disk

[jendermad]

Should i migrate my Twitter longread posts here?

I have some longread posts about some old players and whatnot. Was thinking about that, but not sure if anyone would read those. Reply with your thoughts on that! <3