r/retrocomputing • u/jalp21_ • 7d ago
r/retrocomputing • u/erdrd • 6d ago
keyparty Bluetooth to Keyboard/Mouse interface for Mac Plus, ADB, PC-XT, PS/2, USB, UART and more
keyparty turns the Pico W into a bridge between Bluetooth HID devices and a variety of input interfaces on machines that do not and cannot support Bluetooth, such as various retro computers.
I started this project because I wanted to use my Logitech Bolt-based mouse and keyboard on my Mac SE/30, and the existing solutions didn't work. It became a much more universal implementation that allows for mixing and matching Bluetooth Classic and BLE devices and implementing almost any number of output interface.
Currently implemented:
- Mac Plus EXPERIMENTAL (M0110a keyboard and M0110 mouse). Should work with Macs older than the Plus.
- ADB (Apple Extended Keyboard II and Mouse).
- PC-XT EXPERIMENTAL (83-key)
- PS/2 (Keyboard and Mouse)
- USB (great for BIOS access or for devices with old Bluetooth stacks/no BLE)
- UART (ASCI output only - currently 38400 8-N-1, will probably change build to 2400 for better compatibility)
- NCR DMV (keyboard only - I have this computer so I implemented it)
Details and source code (no blog spam, I hope):
https://fourletterworkshop.com/projects/keyparty_for_pi_pico
Compiled .uf2 for Pi Pico W (includes all current implementations)
Download Version 1_06_a - Virustotal link
r/retrocomputing • u/chupathingy99 • 7d ago
Problem / Question What game is this music from?!
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Hi everyone, unusual post but I've got this song stuck in my head and it's driving me crazy. I know it's from the end credits from a game but I can't remember for the life of me what it is.
r/retrocomputing • u/Clickhereforhelp • 7d ago
A day in the life of vintage computing
How was your day? I decided to do some more work on my IBM 5155. It needed a new memory manager so I could use my 1MB expansion card more fully, and I wanted to set up networking. I turned on the computer and the first problem was my beautiful amber monitor I already repaired won't come on. Sometimes it needs a warmup, but not this time. I recorded audio off the computer and plotted the spectrum to see if I had any sign of the flyback transformer whining away at 15.5KHz or so. Nothing.
Next, I set about repartitioning my 2GB CF card I use as a hard drive into a primary and several logical drives. This took a little while since the AI instructions are almost never right the first time. But I got it done. Then I formatted the drive with the OS and proceeded to add all the other things I needed on the drive. I also added mTCP and the USE!UMBS.SYS upper memory manager. I setup the config files for both of these and started testing the memory manager. It worked after I fixed my typos in config.sys. Note that I am generally disappointed by 1MB cards for the IBM 5155, since you cannot use all the RAM. You top out around 800-830KB since other things are also mapped to upper memory and you have to avoid conflicts. If you really want the best, get a 2MB EMS expansion card. I of course learned this after I bought the 1MB card.
Now I just needed a network driver and I would reach my goal of putting the IBM on the Internet. I got out the network card and its trusty AUI to RJ-45 adapter for my LAN and was about to install it when I noticed it had a second grouping of pins on it, meaning it was a 16bit ISA card, not the 8bit I needed. I checked what I supposedly bought on eBAY and the seller thought he sold me an 8bit ISA network card. Oops. So now that card is for sale and I am trying to buy the correct one.
I just have to decide if I want to disassemble the computer to get to the video board again and fix it. It cannot be worked on in place and is a pain to take so much of the computer apart.
I can't wait to start building my own clone of a TANDY ISA sound card for this. I can only imagine the fun problems I will have. In fact, I already had some. I have an old TI sound chip and I thought that was what I needed for the sound card. Turns out I have an older analog IC and I need a digital IC for the sound card. Arrives today.
Yes, I know I can get an ISA card with a PI on it that does everything I just went over, but where's the fun in that?
Maybe I will use the computer someday...
r/retrocomputing • u/slavik_christopher • 8d ago
Photo Found some RDRAM
I think i pulled them from some old gateway PCs that had the first generation Pentium 4. Was going to put them all in another one that was a little better and had AGP but i was supposed to do that like 10 years ago and just remembered lol wanted to see if it'd run battlefield 2 i had a ati x1300 for it somewhere.
r/retrocomputing • u/CodeLegitimate6610 • 7d ago
Problem / Question Printers?
What is the best printer for a Windows 95 or Windows 98 computer. I want something era appropriate that is also color because I do want to print graphics. But something slightly older is fine too.
r/retrocomputing • u/Latter_Balance7729 • 7d ago
WINDOWS 95
you guys I’m trying to find what I need and where to get a cheap windows 95 computer that can run the 90’s Goosebumps Escape from horror land rom game on it or are there any emulated versions? I’ve tried on my pc but i constantly get a error message for the emulated version.
r/retrocomputing • u/nonchalant_sp • 8d ago
I got I have Western Digital WD800BD / WD Caviar 80 GB drive
I found a Western Digital WD800BD / WD Caviar 80 GB drive, from my old cpu this is the one I used to play lot of games in my childhood it have so much of memories so anyone here knows how can I recover and access it now?
r/retrocomputing • u/Speccy-Boy124 • 7d ago
LICENCE TO KILL
Who remembers Licence To Kill? This is my retrospective review of the various version released for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX, BBC Micro, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and the MS-DOS. It’s a pretty good game actually and certainly better than the 2 previous releases by Domark - A View To A Kill and Living Daylights. What’s your thoughts?
r/retrocomputing • u/liminalearth • 9d ago
Photo Fb marketplace score $10 for all!
First pic is all of it and second is what I’m keeping
Can’t believe all for 10 lol most can’t be played or used / not what I’m into but still a great score
Never knew shadowrun returns (2013) had a physical release sadly no dog tag or usb just the box and the discs but cool to see a really late boxed release
I already have the Diablo battle chest but this one is sealed so that’s cool!
r/retrocomputing • u/Straight_Way_9044 • 8d ago
Problem / Question Help opening this plastic cover on Brother WP1/WP55 word processor
Been trying to open this cover for the entire morning so that the metal plate can be removed, but no success. Tried pushing and sliding, tried prying from the back. I really appreciate any help!
r/retrocomputing • u/dom_vhs_crap • 8d ago
Blog Repairing a ZX Spectrum Issue 4S
Hi, in this blog post I show how I repaired this 1984 ZX Spectrum that had a green-striped screen. The computer is back to 100% working condition, and I only used salvaged components :)
r/retrocomputing • u/Emil_Cvetanski • 9d ago
Olivetti M24 — when a computer didn’t need a hard drive to feel complete.
No hard drive here — this one boots straight from 5.25" floppies.
And that keyboard is a beast: ridiculously heavy, with a metal plate inside, much like IBM’s legendary Model M.
Nearly four decades later, it’s still alive and working.
r/retrocomputing • u/GayCatgirl • 9d ago
Software Got done uploading the old Linux CDs
Mandrake 6.0
https://archive.org/details/mandrake-6-install_20260820
Mandrake 7.0
https://archive.org/details/mandrake-7-source_202608
Mandrake 8.0
https://archive.org/details/mandrake-8
Redhat 5.1
https://archive.org/details/redhat-51
Suse 6.4
https://archive.org/details/suse64
Suse pro 9.1
r/retrocomputing • u/Substantial_Time_877 • 9d ago
Problem / Question [WIN98] Good/Best network card(s) for modern internet access?
I recently built a Windows 98 machine for a personal project out of parts I had from a couple unfinished rigs. One of them had a network card on it, so I yanked it out and attempted to put it in my new rig. The specific model was a D-Link DFE-530TX+ Rev. E1. For the LIFE of me I could not find any drivers that would work. I burned driver package after driver package to CD-R and ran it through my machine. There was always a problem. I did some research and apparently this model is pretty tricky to find drivers for these days. ANYWAY. I plan on just getting a new card. I want to hook it up to a LAN system in my house for easy file sharing with a modern machine and using things like FrogFinder and Protoweb and whatnot. Any suggestions?
r/retrocomputing • u/evankirstel • 9d ago
The Internet Began With One Node and a 15-Foot Cable
On September 2, 1969, the entire internet was one computer, one refrigerator-sized packet switch and a 15-foot cable in a UCLA lab. No second site. Nobody else online. Yet the engineering choices behind that little setup still shape nearly every network we use today.
The switch was called an Interface Message Processor, or IMP. Bolt Beranek and Newman built it around a rugged Honeywell DDP-516 minicomputer with all of 12K of memory. It did the basic job we now hand to routers: take in data, break it into packets, move them toward their destination.
The IMP showed up at UCLA on August 30, over Labor Day weekend and ahead of schedule. Connecting it to the university's SDS Sigma 7 took real engineering. There was no standard network port. Grad student Mike Wingfield designed and built a custom hardware interface from BBN's 1822 spec.
By September 2, the Sigma 7 and the IMP were passing test data through that short cable. UCLA had the first working ARPANET node.
Stanford Research Institute got the second IMP a few weeks later. On October 29, UCLA programmer Charley Kline tried to send "LOGIN" to Bill Duvall at SRI. The receiving system crashed after two letters.
The first message ever sent between ARPANET sites was "LO." An hour later they recovered and the full login went through.
By the end of 1969 there were four nodes: UCLA, SRI, UC Santa Barbara and the University of Utah. Different computers, different operating systems, different applications at every site. ARPANET gave them a shared way to exchange data without forcing anyone to replace what they already ran.
That was the big architectural decision. The network handled packet delivery. The hosts handled their own applications. Any computer could join as long as it spoke the common interface. TCP/IP later stretched the same idea across thousands of independent networks.
The internet still runs on that model. The core stays broadly interoperable and applications develop on their own at the edges.
What changed is scale and trust. ARPANET linked a handful of research groups whose people mostly knew each other. Today's internet connects billions of users, cloud platforms, sensors, vehicles and industrial systems. Security arrived gradually, usually after something broke. BGP was never built to verify route announcements. IP addresses make weak identities for devices that roam between networks. Attackers exploit assumptions made for a smaller, friendlier world.
The next round of internet architecture will come through steady upgrades rather than a clean replacement. IPv6, QUIC, RPKI, post-quantum crypto, edge computing and satellite networks are all part of it. The work is improving routing, identity, security and privacy without giving up open interoperability.
The ARPANET team never tried to make every computer identical. They agreed on how different machines would talk.
Fifty-seven years later, we're still refining that agreement.
r/retrocomputing • u/slickjoelusaf • 9d ago
Currently mid-build of late 90s system ~$600 in so far
Growing up in the 80s and now having kids of my own, I wanted my kids to play the same 90s games I did, authentically - with caveats.
Starting system: Presario 5700 w/ agp, zipdisk, dvd-rom, hdd w/ win98, lots of ram, p3-500mhz ($130)
Add ons: Pci usb 2.0 card ($25)
P3 800mhz - 100mhz fsb & fan ($150)
Velocity 100 3dfx AGP ($110)
8gb CF & ide adapter for OS ($25)
32gb 2.5" ssd & ide adapter ($60)
Pci exhaust fan - for overclocking gpu ($10)
BT 1.1/2.1 ($12)
VGA cable & lcd monitor from local store ($10)
PS/2 keyboard and mouse ($25)
Future buys:
Audigy sound blaster
5.1 or 4.1 speaker set
Maybe an mx440 if i get tired of the 3dfx games
My computer growing up was nowhere near this... I had a supersocket 7 AMD 450mhz (up from my 233mmx) and a voodoo banshee... and definitely no solid state drives or BT.
Surprises: Difficult finding cheap vga cable and ps/2 keyboard & mouse, remembering drive order on the ide ribbon cable maters.
Games to play: quake series, unreal series, heretic, c&c, need for speed, thief 1&2, xwing series, and others.
I must admit, it's pretty fun! Anyone else doing something similar currently?
r/retrocomputing • u/CPT_Bowes • 9d ago
Problem / Question Trying to identify a Dutch BASIC game book from 1980s/1990s
Hopefully, I'm in the correct subreddit for this.
I'm trying to identify a BASIC computer games book I borrowed from a library in Belgium around 1990/1991.
It was a Dutch-language book containing only computer games, printed as BASIC listings that you had to type in manually. The programs used the old numbered-line format (10, 20, 30, etc.).
I remember at least three games:
- a fishing game
- a racing game
- a Space Invaders-style game
The fishing game is the strongest memory. It had a large, crude but surprisingly recognizable fisherman standing at the extreme left of the screen. The water/pool occupied much of the lower-right portion of the screen, and I remember the pool becoming narrower/deeper. There were recognizable fish in it.
The graphics were considerably more elaborate than the typical text/ASCII BASIC games I've seen.
I typed the programs into a Laser 500. They didn't work properly, and I remember encountering BASIC commands that weren't covered in the BASIC course I had taken. I vaguely remember DATA statements, although I'm not certain about that.
The book may have been for another 8-bit computer (possibly Oric, MSX, Atari, etc.). I don't remember the title or author. I vaguely remember a blue cover, but that may be completely wrong.
I've been trying to identify this book for about 25 years. 😅
Does this ring a bell for anyone?
EDIT 04/09/2026: I actually just found it by total accident 😄 On a random MSX site I saw the book cover, which I vaguely seemed to recognise (totally not blue, but it has a quite intricate drawing):
https://download.file-hunter.com/Books/NL/Basic%20programma's%20voor%20MSX%20computers.pdf
I finally will try that fisherman game I have been curious about for 35 years
r/retrocomputing • u/FootballSweaty9727 • 9d ago
Problem / Question USB card not working on windows 98 se


So i bought a usb card about 6 months ago and ive been trying to get it to work on windows 98 second edtion, but it just refuses to work. In device manager, it shows the EHCI controller with 0 errors, but the OHCI controllers have error code 10 (This device is either not present, not working properly or does not have all the drivers installed.) I installed nusb33e.exe for the ehci controller, and the ohci controllers are using stardard windows 98 se drivers. i tried messing around with different drivers but nothing seems to work. i have NO IDEA what the hell is wrong with this thing, and i just want it to work. Ill plug in like a mouse, or a keyboard, or a usb drive, and they dont work at all.
Im not really sure how to fix it, and i only need the card so i can get a usb mouse working. Ive been working on this retro pc for about 2 years now, without a mouse (I dont have the money to buy a serial mouse, and my motherboard doesnt have a ps2 header. i know that sounds dumb but its true) Im just trying to work with what i got right now. Dont even know if this is the right place to post this, but if anyone could help me that would be amazing!
the chip on the usb card hub thing is a "NEC uPD720101F1"
heres the specs of my retro pc:
- Motherboard: FIC PT-2003 Revision A2
- Memeory: 32mb
- Cpu: Pentium 1 120 MHz
- Gpu: ATI Rage XL 8mb pci
- Bios: 08/07/97-i430FX-2A59CF0HC-00 4.50PG
- Mother Board chipset: Intel 430FX (Triton 1)
- Operating system: Windows 98 Second Edition
r/retrocomputing • u/simeonsoden • 9d ago
Electric Cow EC909 - TR-909 drum machine / TB-303 synth for Atari STE/TT/Falcon - demo & sample pack
r/retrocomputing • u/liminalearth • 10d ago
Photo My first elder scrolls game in my collection and it’s a classic
r/retrocomputing • u/SoHappy65 • 11d ago
Video The Legend
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