#retro computer store

[digitalwitchmayura]

https://x.com/ark_akiba/status/1903269223813796166

[extrnalharddrive]

I just picked up probably my best thrift store find holy shit lol

17 inch Apple Studio Display (Graphite) M6496

[zoomar]

The 1976 Computer Store All-Stars

The most experienced computer dealers anywhere

[awwfulsounds]

iPod + iPod Mini “Take One” Apple Store brochure collection 2004 (x)

[prismatash]

Fun fact my holo cursor arrow trail glitch sticker is based off of a real thing that happened on older computers.

[jettsecret]

So, I make all of my devices look like old windows operating systems, usually Win7 cuz I'm a big fan of Aero Glass. I've got my Win11 laptop looking like XP, My Linux Dual Boot on pink Win7, My Linux Tablet on Blue Win7, and now my Win 11 desktop on pink Win7.

Here's how I do it.

For windows 10/11 there are a few ways. WindowBlinds 11 (WB11) is a good resource for this, but it's a paid program. Which kinda sucks. If you can't afford it you can find my sympathies in a button on my neocities. In an unrelated note, there's a github user named Discriminating who does some pretty cool windows styling programs. WB11 is how I style my two windows devices. The aero glass styling is done through WindowBlinds and also Start11, another Stardock program. The style I used for that is Aero 11 (set to blush :3) For the XP system (and older if you want it) I use RetroBar to style the taskbar and OpenShell to style the start menu. The WB11 style I use is eXperience11, but there are others as well. Of course, for MSN/Windows Live Messenger I use Escargot but if you're more into AIM or Yahoo! Messenger then you can check out their companion project Nina. You'll of course have to fiddle around with settings but eventually you'll get it looking good. If you want to go crazy with customization there is also Customizer God, however I've had no success getting it to work on Windows 11.

Linux is the easiest to configure to make look retro. Specifically you want to use some kind of KDE Plasma version of Linux. I use Kubuntu. Basically all you have to do for these is dig around in the app store for themes relating to "aero" "aero glass" and "windows 7" and apply them until you're happy. I don't really have any specific suggestions for that but it's very easy to do if you install Kubuntu or any KDE Plasma Linux. Basically you can find anything and everything you need in it.

There's one other thing I've not yet been able to set up but it's on my radar for my campus computer: ReactOS. I'll make another post when I'm able to try it out but if you're curious go nuts, install it in a virtual box or on a usb or directly over your main drive. God is your oyster.

One last thing, Space Cadet Pinball still runs perfectly on Windows 11

Edit: Suggested by @tetrachromacy4 (thx~!!!) GadgetPack offers a windows 7 sidebar. It is listed as 7/8/10 compatible so it will likely work on windows 11 but I have not yet tested it.

[shpadoinklefiles]

SML_FRNDS.EXE

Eeeruruhhhh,,,,,, this is my Smiling Friends AU!!! It’s called SML_FRNDS.EXE. So Charlie is a human, working at a retro gaming store (keep in mind that Alan and Glep are humans as well). So one day Charlie is looking through this old closet thing and he finds a flash drive. He puts it into his PC and he runs the EXE file in it. It boots up, and the game comes up (supposed to be sort of like an AI interactive RPG) and Pim is there, he helps you around the work place and asks you questions n whatever. But besides playing the actual game, Charlie talks to Pim because he thinks the fact that it’s AI is pretty dope. But the more he plays the games as the days go on, it starts to get weirder for Charlie cause Pim seems to remember information about him (even stuff he hasn’t told him) so it ultimately freaks Charlie out and he never opened the game again, he deleted it. But PIM WAS STILL THERE in his computer, like a virus. So he just sticks around and kinda annoys Charlie. He also has access to anything in possession of Charlie’s with a screen. So like his phone or TV. Erm,, but Pim isn’t as innocent as he seems……. 🐺 So we’ll find out what he does later on. Here's some official stuff I made for it!

Sorry if this doesn't seem too well put together, I'm still thinking of stuff for it. This is pretty fresh.

[commodorez]

If the Commodore 64 is great, where is the Commodore 65?

It sits in the pile with the rest of history's pre-production computers that never made it. It's been awhile since I went on a Commodore 65 rant...

The successor to the C64 is the C128, arguably the pinnacle of 8-bit computers. It has 3 modes: native C128 mode with 2MHz 8502, backwards compatible C64 mode, and CP/M mode using a 4MHz Z80. Dual video output in 40-column mode with sprites plus a second output in 80-column mode. Feature-rich BASIC, built in ROM monitor, numpad, 128K of RAM, and of course a SID chip. For 1985, it was one of the last hurrahs of 8-bit computing that wasn't meant to be a budget/bargain bin option.

For the Amiga was taking center stage at Commodore -- the 16-bit age is here! And its initial market performance wasn't great, they were having a hard time selling its advanced capabilities. The Amiga platform took time to really build up momentum square in the face of the rising dominance of the IBM PC compatible. And the Amiga lost (don't tell the hardcore Amiga fanboys, they're still in denial).

However, before Commodore went bankrupt in '94, someone planned and designed another successor to the C64. It was supposed to be backwards compatible with C64, while also evolving on that lineage, moving to a CSG 4510 R3 at 3.54MHz (a fancy CMOS 6502 variant based on a subprocessor out of an Amiga serial port card). 128K of RAM (again) supposedly expandable to 1MB, 256X more colors, higher resolution, integrated 3½" floppy not unlike the 1581. Bitplane modes, DAT modes, Blitter modes -- all stuff that at one time was a big deal for rapid graphics operations, but nothing that an Amiga couldn't already do (if you're a C65 expert who isn't mad at me yet, feel free to correct me here).

The problem is that nobody wanted this.

Sure, Apple had released the IIgs in 1986, but that had both the backwards compatibility of an Apple II and a 16-bit 65C816 processor -- not some half-baked 6502 on gas station pills. Plus, by the time the C65 was in heavy development it was 1991. Way too late for the rapidly evolving landscape of the consumer computer market. It would be cancelled later that same year.

I realize that Commodore was also still selling the C64 well into 1994 when they closed up shop, but that was more of a desperation measure to keep cash flowing, even if it was way behind the curve by that point (remember, when the C64 was new it was a powerful, affordable machine for 1982). It was free money on an established product that was cheap to make, whereas the C65 would have been this new and expensive machine to produce and sell that would have been obsolete from the first day it hit store shelves. Never mind the dismal state of Commodore's marketing team post-Tramiel.

Internally, the guy working on the C65 was someone off in the corner who didn't work well with others while 3rd generation Amiga development was underway. The other engineers didn't have much faith in the idea.

The C65 has acquired a hype of "the machine that totally would have saved Commodore, guise!!!!1!11!!!111" -- saved nothing. If you want better what-if's from Commodore, you need to look to the C900 series UNIX machine, or the CLCD. Unlike those machines which only have a handful of surviving examples (like 3 or 4 CLCDs?), the C65 had several hundred, possibly as many as 2000 pre-production units made and sent out to software development houses. However many got out there, no software appears to have surfaced, and only a handful of complete examples of a C65 have entered the hands of collectors. Meaning if you have one, it's probably buggy and you have no software to run on it. Thus, what experience are you recapturing? Vaporware?

The myth of the C65 and what could have been persists nonetheless. I'm aware of 3 modern projects that have tried to take the throne from the Commodore 64, doing many things that sound similar to the Commodore 65.

The Foenix Retro Systems F256K:

The 8-Bit Guy's Commander X16

The MEGA65 (not my picture)

The last of which is an incredibly faithful open-source visual copy of the C65, where as the other projects are one-off's by dedicated individuals (and when referring to the X16, I don't mean David Murray as he's not the one doing the major design work).

I don't mean to belittle the effort people have put forth into such complicated projects, it's just not what I would have built. In 2019, I had the opportunity to meet the 8-Bit Guy and see the early X16 prototype. I didn't really see the appeal, and neither did David see the appeal of my homebrew, the Cactus.

Build your own computer, build a replica computer. I encourage you to build what you want, it can be a rewarding experience. Just remember that the C65 was probably never going to dig Commodore out of the financial hole they had dug for themselves.

[jymwahuwu]

I said I'm not interested in AU but this is what popped into my head… HSR retro AU. No more space technology.

Basically you are a college student 🙈🙈🙈 Depending on whether you are an extrovert or an introvert, you may go shopping and play with your friends during the holidays, have a party, or stay comfortably at home listening to music with MP3 and cassette tapes, or reading novels on the subway.

You use a bulky computer to click on the Windows XP system, and spend hours downloading music and opening chat software. Your MSN friends list is as follows:

Jing Yuan:

Your mysterious neighbor is much older than you. You have never understood what the Xianzhou Alliance is. It is said that he kept a lion named Mimi in the yard, but every time you passed by, you thought it was just a cute cat. He'll stuff you with sweets and prepare you milk and afternoon tea, giving you advice. Well, he can also write ancient poetry. You shamelessly gave this old man your homework.

(You lie on his lap and sleep, breathing quietly.)

Aventurine & Ratio:

These two live together, are also your neighbors, professors, friends... You are not sure what their relationship is, but they quarrel every day. Aventurine is a high-level executive in IPC. Every time you visit a department store, you will whisper in your heart that this is also an IPC. He takes the bill in your mailbox every month and pays it off, very weird. His car is the most talked about in the community.

Ratio is your college professor...he is very strict about grades and academic performance. You cursed him one time and he heard you and he took you back to the office for an OTK spanking...unfortunately, it was legal. You have since become his target in class...

Sunday & Robin:

They still have halos and wings, share the same MSN account, and even the same pager. They have no privacy from each other. They are well-known brothers and sisters of the Xipe Church. They are very popular and eye-catching, attracting people's attention wherever they go. So if you are an introvert, the difference is even more pronounced haha. But both of them will approach you, in the name of kindness, with a look of concern on their face. Robin picks out clothes for you and lends you homework to copy. In return, you agree to go to church on the weekend… and help her sell cookies at the church charity sale.

Sunday provides insight into your life and schedule in the name of "for your own good". You don't know why you wrote your schedule in a notebook for him… He shows up in front of your house and listens to music with you (using the same MP3 player). You share with him a few things you learned in the sex education class, and he says that he has signed the commitment card (you: ? what is this). Promise to remain chaste until marriage… That card has an inexplicable printed pattern, with a photo of a couple holding hands, leaving you speechless. But you don’t know why you signed this commitment card under his supervision…

Dan Heng:

Your nerdy college classmate, with dragon horns (don't ask me why). He reminds you of class and exam times and lends you notes, leaving you with the last piece of cake. You always tease him until he blushes and gets angry.

Dan Feng:

Dan Heng's brother. He seems to be very traditional. You haven't seen him much and you only added him as an MSN friend.

Blade:

The mysterious old man. He seems to have a grudge against Dan Feng and Dan Heng. One time you were playing cards with Yanqing and Dan Heng. He suddenly broke into the yard, said something incomprehensible and then started fighting with Dan Feng. This scared you to death. Kafka appeared to stop him. You added Kafka friends to avoid being attacked by Blade.

Kafka:

The mysterious woman who can control Blade. You don't know who she is, but she seems to know you well and be gentle to you.

Silver Wolf:

Your college classmate has designed several computer games and won many awards at a young age, and occasionally plays cards with you. For some reason, she is very close to Blade and Kafka.

[digitalwitchmayura]

in celebration of her 24th anniversary, Mayura's Ukagaka ghost has been (officially) re-released by her creator, download her for free here (my persomal unofficial mirrors were unlinked from this blog in anticipation for Mayura's return)

for the first time since 2013, 'Little Witch Order Complete File' (a 198 page artbook) is now available to purchase digitally via Suzuri.jp

Mayura's official merchandise has been re-released (with some brand new products like posters and keyrings as well)

Mayura's creator, Mukei has been quite active with a new project, JUNKER'S HIGH (named after the OutRun 2019 prototype)

Junker's High is a well researched and laidback vtuber-ish YouTube channel focused on talking about retro computers, retro tech repair guides, and gaming history. it's set in a junk computer & parts + repair shop located in what appears to be an alternate universe's Akiba and hosted by the store managers (fully voiced by VOICEVOX voicebanks, Zundamon and Shikoku Metan) . (it's in japanese but I highly reccomend checking it out! I've been subbed to them for sometime now, not realizing the connection to Mayura so if you're into niche retro games and computers like the PC-98 you'll probably get some enjoyment out of it or learn something new.)

since Mayura now shares a living space with the store managers who host the channel, their future videos might feature cameos or comments from Mayura in the future according to Kuro Unyu's recent interview.

Mayura's anniversary (3/9) and merchandise return were featured in mainstream news outlets

it might take a minute to create a suzuri account but I reccomend that if you're looking for a download for Mayura, for archival's sake and to show support creator to her creator, please use the link to the official download. that way if she ever gets updated you'll be notified by email (if i'm understanding suzuri.jp right)

[kbs-and-fds]

Yo, Welcome to my photography blog!

This is a photography project with a focus on older digital cameras sold before the mid 2000s. I've been working with these sorts of cameras since 2022, which grew from my interest in retro computers that I have had since 2020 or so. Here, I'll introduce you to my cameras, my computer rig, and try to convince you that this is a cool hobby.

General Q & A:

Whats in the name? - Kb refers to Kilobyte, all of the photos I take with these cameras only take up a little over 100 Kilobytes of digital storage per photo. FD refers to the physical media the photos are stored in, currently one camera uses floppy disks (FD), the other two use compact flash (CF) and smart media (SM) cards. unfortunately, their shortened forms do not rhyme and so they do not matter.

What can I expect from this blog? - amateur photography using old cameras, I guess. I'll say some nonsense below each photo but you're free to ignore it. I don't plan on reblogging anything here, so don't expect that. I am the star of this blog. me me me. I tend towards finding weird buildings/architecture, "liminal spaces", sunsets, and generally trying to see how well I can make a photo look like a blender render in a Kane pixels video. don't expect any consistency, though. the medium will remain the same but the vibes will absolutely fluctuate with my mood. I'll try and tag things correctly if it's off putting.

Are you a cool person? - I tend to be! I don't want this place to be alienating for anybody but assholes who don't deserve to see the stuff I do. being a tumblr blog, I follow a lot of the standard stuff. jerks are not welcome and I'm not gonna give you the pleasure of an argument if you do turn your head round these parts.

who are you? - trans pan girl. takes pictures. listens to Femtanyl. much unlike Peter Parker.

My Cameras

Mavica FD-7

released in 1997, this was the second of Sony's "Digital Mavica" line of cameras. it records photos of around 50Kbs in size to a standard 3 1/2" floppy disk. it has some standard features like a manual focus wheel, 10x optical zoom, and exposure control. I haven't found a strict source but I believe this camera is less than one megapixel. I actually have a few different Mavica cameras (a fd-71/75/83/85/87 and a cd-1000) but they aren't different from the fd-7 enough to justify being used often. I'll make note on individual posts if I use 'em at all.

Kodak DC220

released in 1999, with a quality of exactly one megapixel the DC 220 is a weird little thing. it has custom software, connects to a computer via com ports with a transfer speed of ~11,000 bit/s. (roughly 30-60 seconds per photo in my experience) you can add custom text to your photos in the cameras built in software, and attach custom audio to each photo. it is a pain in the butt to get working, but it's quirks make it worth the frustration.

Olympus E-10

made in 2000 with a quality of a whopping four megapixels, the Olympus E-10 is the newest addition to my collection, and possibly the nicest camera I'll ever own. it's a fixed lens DSLR camera capable of 4x zoom, you can easily adjust the aperture and exposure on the fly, it's photos tend to be a whole 100kb in size (1/10th of a megabyte!) and to be entirely honest I have no idea how to use it. but I will eventually!

My Computer

I try to use all era-appropriate tech to transfer photos and do any edits, this is the computer I do all that processing on! its a Dell Optiplex gx1- the daddy of pretty much any computer used in public schools (Chromebooks don't count) It's got a Pentium 3 CPU clocking at 500MHz, 512mb ram, running windows ME. it has all the original Kodak DC220 software installed, and I can't really access the Kodak's photos any other way. I've also got a few other weird bits attached to it -an HP sketch pro cad tablet and an external data cartridge SCSI device. both work, but I don't really bother to use them, they just look neat.

that's about it. have a good one! thanks for reading this all, if you did.

[redgoldsparks]

January Reading and Reviews by Maia Kobabe

I post my reviews throughout the month on Storygraph and Goodreads, and do roundups here and on patreon. Reviews below the cut. You might notice the layout image looks different! I have switched to using the Storygraph wrap up and I'm now linking to the Storygraph reviews as well :)

The Sweetness Between Us by Sarah Winifred Searle 

Perley and Amandine are both readjusting to high school life after a major health crisis. Perley was diagnoses with diabetes; Amandine was turned into a vampire after a car crash nearly ended her life. They bond in remedial classes over just wishing their lives could go back to normal. Perley tentatively rejoins the knitting club; Amandine wants to rejoin a sports team but struggles with exhaustion; both of them have less energy than they had before. Their friendship develops into something more, but can they maintain a romance when they are both still figuring out their own shit? This is a very sweet slice of life story with a fun dash of the supernatural. I wanted a little more from some of the queer themes; I spent most of the book unsure of Perley's pronouns. But I was absolutely rooting for these two oddball teens to find their way back to each other.

LaserWriter II by Tamara Shopsin

This is a novel, loosely, but more so it's a little window back into a specific era of repairable technology and the people who were drawn to it. Set almost entirely in a (real, I think) Mac repair shop in New York City in the 1990s, this book jumps from backstory to backstory, introducing a range of self-taught computer fanatics. The cast and the story both feel wide but not deep. I didn't get to know anyone well, not even Claire, the newest hire and lead character. It did give me some serious nostalgia, even though I was really too young in this era to really have any meaningful relationship with it's technology. A weird but charming little book.

The City in Glass by Nghi Vo, read by Susan Dalian

The demon Vitrine has been nurturing, building, challenging and haunting the port city of Azril for hundreds of years when the angels come to burn it to the ground. She tries to defend her people from the heavenly attack but only succeeds in cursing one of angel, embedding a thorn of spite in his side. When his brothers leave, he is forced to stay, and since he has nothing else to do, he watches her begin the long, painful process of cleaning and rebuilding. This is a dreamy stream of consciousness book with less plot that I'm used to from Nghi Vo. I'll admit this one captured me less than her work usually does though the prose is very beautiful.

The Concierge at the Hokkyoku Department Store vol 1 by Tsuchika Nishimura 

Akino is a new hire at the Hokkyoku Department Store, a store build to serve talking animal customers including many unusual and nearly extinct species. Akino must find a way to be present, polite and helpful without hovering or intruding on the customers experience. This is harder than it sounds, especially with fussy managers always watching the store floors! Sweet, silly, and very warm hearted. I like the delicate, retro lineart style.

The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles read by Cornell Collins 

Another fun historical m/m romance from KJ Charles, this one more in the comedy of manners genre. I had a good time with it, I liked the leads, and as usual the secondary characters really shown. I did wish the enemies part of the enemies to lovers plot had lasted a bit longer, and the overall silliness of the story isn't going to make this the first Charles book I rec to anyone unfamiliar with her work, but it kept me entertained.

Noodle and Bao by Shaina Lu 

Momo loves living in Town 99, a historically Chinese neighborhood where she knows everyone and all the best places to eat and hang out. But things are changing. Her parents are worried about making rent, and her favorite restaurant was kicked out of its location and now operates out of a cart. The owner of the new restaurant, Fancé Cafe, has big plans to buy out the whole block and upscale everything. Momo rallies her friends and neighbors to fight back against the gentrification. This is a very sweet book for young readers, with talking animal characters and whimsical food battles interwoven with community organizing. An epilogue explains the issues around gentrification for a child who might not have encountered it before.

Brownstone by Samuel Leer and Mar Julia 

Almudena grew up with her white mom, always wondering about the Guatemalan father she'd never met. Until one summer mid-high school when her mom heads off to Europe for a dance tour and drops her off at the Brooklyn brownstone her father, Xavier, is renovating. Almudena has to navigate around a language barrier, an through unfamiliar neighborhood, and into a close knit Latino community many of whom see her as not brown enough to count. But Almudena is determined not to let this opportunity to know her father slip away. This is such a warmhearted book, funny and kind, with a really well developed cast. The art and the writing make a perfect whole, capturing a deeply specific mid-1990s moment. I've been following the artist's self published releases for years and I'm so happy to see their work shine in a full length book!

Leap by Simina Pepesco 

Ana is a college student in a contemporary dance program in Budapest, but her heart has fallen out of dancing. She skips her own classes to spent time rehearsing with her secret girlfriend, Carina, an ambitious ballerina in the classical program. Her new roommate, Sara, transferred out of classical and into contemporary and is thriving in the new, more supportive environment. She's also starting to develop feelings for the kind teacher, Marlena, who helped her transfer. Both of them are struggling to figure out their relationships with their art, as well as their sexualities, as well as how safe or not safe it feels to be out at their private, gossip-prone school. This is a really well told and well drawn coming of age story; I also really appreciated it as a story of queer friendship which complicated some of the standard narratives around first crushes/first relationships/coming out being kind of anti-climatic, half affirming, half disappointing. Definitely recommend!

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar 

What a book! Several of my friends called this one of their top reads of last year and I can see why. The book centers around Cyrus Shams, a poet and recovering addict, who was raised in the US by a single father. The pair left Iran when Cyrus was a baby after his mother was killed in a passenger plane, shot down by mistake by the US army. In his late 20s, Cyrus is mostly drifting through life, working weird part time jobs, sometimes writing, trying to stay sober. He wants to write about the concept of martyrdom, about dying for a cause, or what makes people consider a death meaningful. When he hears of a Persian artist literally hosting her last weeks as she dies of cancer in the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Cyrus flies to New York City to speak with her. Their conversations will impact him more than he could ever have dreamed. This is an usually structured book, full of flashbacks, alternate POVs, dream sequences. It's rich with layers of symbolism and meaning, especially with repeated references to names, to lineage, to legacy, the lingering trauma of violence and revolution, and what a life of art demands from the artist. This book surprised and moved me. I'm delighted that it was chosen by my book club, so I've got a lengthy conversation with friends about this book to look forward to!

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde read by Susan Duerden 

The Eyre Affair is a mystery-crime-sci-fi-comedy novel for the literary nerd. It is set in England in an alternate universe version of the 1980s, in which cloning of extinct animals for household pets is common, time travel looked down on as wretched career choice, and literary crimes get their own whole division in the police force. Thursday Next is a veteran of the Crimean War (which has been running more than a century) and a Lit Crimes special agent- her expertise is immediately needed when a priceless Dickens' manuscript is stolen by a thief whose image does not register on film. Things quickly get strange- and also hilarious.

Re-read in 2025: I revisited this after reading and loving Jasper Fforde's stand alone sci-fi novel Early Riser last year. Unfortunately, The Eyre Affair suffered in comparison- the main villain of the book is very weak, and I can now see the pacing issues of this debut novel. I still found it very funny and probably caught more of the classic lit jokes than I did last time, but it's no longer the Fforde novel I'd suggest people start with. Try one of his more recent works! 

She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat vol 3 by Sakaomi Yuzaki translated by Caleb Cook

This series just keeps getting more and more adorable! This volume introduced two new characters, and I braced for a moment hoping they wouldn't be rivals to the main couple, who are very slowly beginning to flirt. I should not have doubted!! Both newbies immediately seen that Nomoto and Kasuga are interested in each other and begin to cheer lead/wing man from the sides. Plus, in the author's note, the author talks about selling merch for a Japanese organization supporting marriage equality. I can't wait to read more!

[kfcdoubledown]

I bought an 8bitdo Retro mechanical keyboard!

(Picture not mine, source from PC World.)

I wanted a plastic keyboard, I really do not actually use the knob on a Keychron board I have, it still comes in a scooped keycap profile, and it has a companion numpad with a calculator built in. Win/win/win!

This keyboard comes in four designs (not colorways, full designs) themed after the NES, the Famicom, the IBM Model M, and the Commodore 64 keyboard. The NES keycaps have multiple different fonts on them, the Famicom keycaps have Japanese sublegends, the Model M keycaps have a mock stepped Caps Lock key, and the Commodore 64 keycaps are an apparently off-the-shelf SA set from one of many, many, many keycap companies floating around China (I recognize their font and profile shape from Akko ASA keycaps and numerous other scooped profile keycap sets you can have cheaply off of Aliexpress and Amazon. Do check those out, genuinely, you'd struggle to find a bad scooped keycap set these days and I love scooped profiles over Cherry and OEM.)

The build quality of the actual keyboard itself is good, feels like a very similar plastic blend to what 8bitdo uses for its controllers like their Pro 2. Stabilizers are smooth and don't rattle, the legends on the keycaps are reasonably sharp and in NES-appropriate font, the keycaps themselves are MDA profile (I would prefer SA, but beggars can't be choosers) and are somewhat thin but still good quality, dye-sublimated PBT, no warp on the spacebar. Arrow keys are a separate color from the two tones that make up the main keycap set and made to resemble a d-pad. The keyboard itself is somewhat light, but my perception is skewed from using a metal keyboard for a long time, and this is after all a plastic shell, top-mounted keyboard. Even so I think I'll probably end up cracking open the keyboard and putting in some liquid silicone as noise-dampening and additional weight.

Two knobs control both wireless functionality and computer software volume, the wireless knob is heavy with only three options while the volume one is light with many individual steps. The volume knob can be somewhat unresponsive on individual steps. Bluetooth is very responsive and wants to pair with my computer the moment it's flicked over to, and 2.4ghz wireless comes with a receiver that slots into the back of the keyboard magnetically for storage. A power light on the right of the keyboard mimics the NES power light and pulses while charging, is steady while using wireless or when fully charged and connected over USB.

The underlying PCB is south-facing hotswap sockets (who the hell cares their orientation, this only matters for lighting, which this keyboard doesn't have). By default the keyboard comes with Kailh box whites, a very light clicky switch. I yanked them out immediately and put Boba U4T tactiles in because they're the king of all switches. They thunk nicely in this chassis, the Kailh whites weren't slouches either, they did pick a good stock choice for switch without resorting to Gateron or Outemu blue horseshit.

The NES version of the keyboard came with a two-button macro pad that hooks over TRRS cable (you recognize it as a 3.5mm jack or headphone cable) to one of four ports on the top-right of the keyboard. These are essentially just two keyboard switches with giant keycaps on a separate board and the buttons are populated by Gateron greens. The switches are nowhere close to heavy enough to approximate a button, and I gave them Kailh box navies. Still not enough, but better.

These keyboards also come wiiiiiith a companion number pad!

(Picture credit the 8bitdo store.)

While I don't actually have this one in hand just yet I do have it on order. It looks like it'll be about the same build quality as the main keyboard, and it caught my eye for four reasons and ended up making me purchase the full set as a result:

The numpad has a built in calculator.

Same aesthetic choices as the main keyboard (NES, Famicom, IBM Model M, Commodore 64)

Magnetically attaches to the right side of the keyboard to transform it into a more era appropriate full-size.

Far and away the cheapest wireless mechanical numpad with calculator on the market, sitting at $45.

An important note though is that the Famicom and NES keypads don't attach to their respective keyboards, simply because their respective keyboards don't have magnets inside the sides of the chassis to allow for it. I have some cheap button magnets laying around that I'll use for this purpose and probably see if they're strong enough to be placed on the inside of the board and allow for the numpad to connect to it. I also imagine there's going to be a repop or v2 of this keyboard in the future that has this done already, seeing as the Commodore 64 version of the board and I believe the Model M version of the board already have that.

I'll reblog this and give some actual definitive thoughts on the numpad once it's in my hands.

As far as the board itself is concerned, I quite like it. The keycap profile is agreeable, the nostalgia pandering targeted me with laser precision, the board sounds quite good acoustically (especially for being a top-mount keyboard!) and it has a volume knob I'll see if I can reprogram some day. While I normally hate TKL layouts, I'm putting up with it because it will eventually be a fullsize with the numpad. Worth $150 total? Don't know, can't answer that for you, it's worth it to me but I very specifically wanted a keyboard themed after an old Nintendo console with no setup required and no chasing down or commissioning GMK keycap sets. I also wanted a calculator numpad.

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[jabberwockymoreau]

The Columbia House, Sims 4 version

So, a while ago @codename-adler made a post asking people to drop their hcs for what the house in Columbia looks like, and since I was in the mood to play the Sims that day, I figured it would be a fun exercise to try and build what I picture in the game. It took me forever to finish it once I had figured out what I what I basically wanted it to look like, but here it is:

Before sitting down to work on this I roughly scoured the books for what scant descriptions there are to be as accurate as possible, and this is what I found: There is a downstairs bathroom and it has a window (specifically between the shower and the sink), the twins' rooms are upstairs on opposite sides of the hall, Nicky is downstairs past the stairs (as seen from the living room), the living room and kitchen are connected, and there is both a living room and a den. Also there has been no mention of a formal dining room afaik but there is a table in the kitchen, so that is what I went with. Also no garage, just a driveway.

Further I figured the house was pretty blandly suburban, probably a little older and smaller to make it cheap, so that is stylistically what I went with. The living room is open to the hallway and split level, half because of the age thing, and it also influenced the way I went about furnishing the house. I figured Nicky and the twins had probably sourced most of their furniture either from cheap stores (like ikea) or got older stuff for cheap from yard sales and the like, and otherwise I tried to capture an early 2000s vibe. So, here's the floorplan:

A more detailed house tour (and a lot of me rambling) below 👇

First the downstairs hallway. Not much to be said about it: There's a small console to the side for keys and mail and a mat by the door for shoes, plus some plants to make it look a little nicer. Imagine there are family pictures in the frames over the stairs. (I gotta say I do love love the retro vibes of the door though.)

Next up is the den. While half the reason the living room is open concept is the imagined age of the house, this room is the other half. Before I started this, I wasn't sure if there was a difference between a living room and a den, so when Neil heads to the den to sleep at the end of tfc I imagined him heading to some sort of living room space - and then thought it would be nice if there was a direct line of sight to the front door where Andrew was on the porch, keeping an eye on the others, so that Neil isn't fully removing himself from the small family moment they're all having. But since I wanted to be accurate I googled it, and turns out I'm wrong. However, since the den is at the front of the house you kind of have a view on the driveway from the recliners, so the hc is somewhat intact ;)

Also the octagonal shape of the room half killed me because it made the roof all weird and that influenced the upstairs bathroom and it was a whole thing. But I was looking around the game neighborhood for inspiration for the outside and saw this octagonal front room and fell in love, so I had do it. For the furniture it's canon that there are at least two recliners, and I imagined it to be this smaller secondary family room/computer room, hence the small, old TV and desk. The computer is probably a little older than would be realistic, but I couldn't bring myself to give them the imo even more unrealistic tower with a flatscreen monitor, so it is what it is. The Sims 4, despite not being that new, is pretty bad with 2000s era furniture.

Then we have the infamous downstairs bathroom and the probably most detailed description of anything in the house. The window sits between the shower and the sink and is frosted. Unfortunately that isn't an option in the sims, so I put up some shades. But otherwise it's a pretty small and simple room.

The living room was a lot of fun. I tried to make it colorful because I feel like Nicky would try to make it look cheerful, and it's also where we have some of the biggest mixing of aesthetics. On the one hand there's an old cabinet, but then we also have some Billy bookshelves and a very cluttered Lack coffee table (side note why tf do I know all of these Ikea names?) and the most 2000s standing lamp in the back (I swear we had one of these). The armchairs I feel like are something picked up from a yard sale while the couch is more new. The fireplace is original to the house. And then of course there is a hi-fi system in the back. In game that's just a record player, I think, but realistically they would have at the very least a cd and casette player on top of that.

Next is the kitchen, which in my original draft was included in the open living plan, but that felt too open, so I changed it to an archway (in addition to changing the layout some). The cabinets are very old, the fridge and stove very basic and clunky, and I feel like that sort of glass dining table is a very 2000s thing (although I may be wrong about that). Now looking at the screenshots I think the chairs might be a little too contemporary, but I'm not about to go back and change anything. It's a very yellow room, but it fits with the generall blue/green/yellow color scheme I mostly went for with the house. Cheerful but in a pretty inoffensive way. This room is also the only one where I used some CC, because I just had to have a wall phone and the Sims 4 just does not have older technology.

And for the last downstairs room we have Nicky's bedroom. This is one of my favorite rooms in the whole house, and it came together so easily once I had the bed picked out, it was really fun. This is the most color in all of the house, which I felt fits Nicky, and then I went for this sort of hybrid adult/teen aesthetic because he's sort of caught in that transition phase. On the one hand we have a cleaner look, a framed painting, centered bed, nothing too messy despite the loud colors, but then in the corner we just have the pride flag and some posters taped to the wall in a way that looks very leftovers from a teen/young adult phase. Also please imagine there is a picture of Erik in the photo frame in that corner.

Then we're moving upstaris with a very uninspiring first look at the hallway. Nothing really here, a hall closet and a plant but otherwise not much effort put in here. I do wanna say that in reall life the measurements of the house would be a lot different and so this space would probably be smaller (i tried to make it so with the closet, but it still feels a little big)

The upstairs bathroom(s) unfortunately suffered from the roof that sits around it, making it take up more space than I wanted it to. I think realistically it would all be one big room, with the laundry next to the showertub combo and the toilet beside the double sink, but because that would have been too little going on for the size the room would have taken up in game, I split it up into a separate toilet, laundry in the hallway extension, and then the bathroom with the tub and the double sink. I do like the decals in the toilet room, I think either those are leftover from previous owners of the house and Nicky refused to take them down or he put them up in order to make the room look a little less boring and the twins absolutely hate them. I also really like the brown color scheme of the tiles, it looks very old fashioned and I like that.

And lastly the twins' bedrooms. First up, Aaron: I picked green and black for the color scheme and then the very light wood color that all of this very basic Ikea furniture comes in to lighten up the room somewhat. The layout is also very open, so that the black doesn't come across as too oppressive. Here we also again have like on the one hand some framed prints to seem a little more sophisticated mixed with just posters put up over the desk. I went with a gamer theme for those, which given the canon presence of a gaming console (not pictured in the living room) felt right. Like obviously it belongs to all of them, probably, but also if I had to pick who uses it the most that's Aaron. Also making these rooms I developed this hc that the beanbags in the dorm are just taken from the twins' rooms, so I made sure to give each of them one.

And last but not least, probably my favorite room in the house because I'm biased af: Andrew. I legit got a little emotional furnishing this because I love him and it was so fun to imagine what his room would look like. The main color is obviously black, and the basic furniture is all the same as in Aaron's room, just in a black swatch. The whole thing imo teeters between cozy and overwhelming, and the layout certainly adds to that with the Kalax separating the room instead of being shoved to the side. But when I put the furniture down before moving it to its intended places I sort of just had it standing there and it felt right. I'm not sure if in actuality Andrew would dislike not being able to see the door or if he would prefer having an obstacle like that between the bed and door, but I do like the effect it creates. Then we got this punching bag which I also felt he probably would appreciate, and lastly in my head the red wall is because Nicky put his foot down on painting the whole room black and so Andrew picked the most aggressive, terrible red just to be contrarian (but it does match with some of the posters and the punching bag and everything). Also over both of the twins' beds is the closest the game has to glow in the dark stars, which I imagine Nicky put up and while they complain that they're not little kids they actually do love those a lot.

And finally some close ups of some areas/details that I loved putting together:

And that's it. This has been a long post so I hope you enjoyed the pictures and all of my thoughts. I had a lot of fun building this, anyway, and this is the Columbia house in my head now lol.

EDIT: If you've made it this far first off, thanks for reading. Secondly, I finally got around to uploading (a slightly modified version of) this onto The Sims 4 gallery, so you can download and play in it if you want to. The lot is called "Monsters' Columbia House" and my ID is Line9599.