Author: hbradmin

Posted on

BlueSCSI Setup for Adaptec EZ-SCSI 4 in DOS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k1i_IFYy0U

Building a Retro PC with BlueSCSI: My Journey

Hi everyone! I wanted to share my recent adventure in building a retro PC setup, complete with a BlueSCSI for storage emulation. What started as a simple idea turned into a learning experience filled with challenges, unexpected twists, and ultimately, a lot of satisfaction

The Vision

I’ve always had a soft spot for old-school PCs. After scratching my nostalgia itch with an IBM 5170, I set my sights on building a DOS gaming machine—something to relive the magic of Doom and Quake.

For this build, I used a Baby AT motherboard. While most had transitioned to ATX by the time my board was released, this one offered a rare mix of PCI, ISA, and AGP slots. My CPU of choice? A Celeron 433, perfectly capable of handling those classic games. For graphics, I couldn’t resist using an ATI Rage Pro—a card I have fond memories of from my early PC days.

The plan didn’t stop there. I wanted top-notch sound for those immersive MIDI soundtracks, so I added a PicoGUS. This little gem allows me to emulate any sound card, including the legendary Gravis Ultrasound and Sound Blaster.

Finally, I needed versatile storage, and that’s where the BlueSCSI came in. I’ve used this device before and absolutely love its ability to emulate hard drives, CD-ROMs, and even floppy drives—all from an SD card.

The BlueSCSI Setup

I hit my first snag early on when I decided to use a purple Raspberry Pi Pico clone I had lying around. These clones are cheap and cheerful, but I didn’t realize they had a completely different pinout compared to the standard Pico.

I soldered the clone to the BlueSCSI board, but when I tried flashing the firmware, it just wouldn’t work. Powering it up was fine, but I couldn’t get the Pico to boot into firmware mode. After some frustrating back-and-forth, I unsoldered it, flashed the firmware directly, and soldered it back on—still no luck.

That’s when I finally noticed the problem. The clone has extra GPIO pins and fewer ground connections, which caused one of the pins to ground permanently. No wonder it wasn’t working! In the end, I reverted to a trusty Pico W, and everything worked flawlessly.

Configuring the BlueSCSI

With the hardware in place, I set up the BlueSCSI SD card. The storage structure is pretty straightforward:

  • CD1 folder for CD-ROM images.
  • FD2 folder for floppy disk images.
  • A raw hard drive image for the main storage.

I wrote a few custom batch scripts to simplify things. One script lists available CD images, another lets me switch between them, and yet another handles floppy disk swapping. I found a clever trick using Adaptec’s EZ-SCSI tools to manage virtual floppy disks.

BlueSCSI Batch filesDownload

You will need to get RMVTOOL.EXE (Removable media Tool) from EZ-SCSI 4 disk / CD (the compressed file is located on DISK 2) you can expand it to your hard disk using the below command

 expand rmvtool.ex_ C:\SCSI\RMVTOOL.EXE

All this works great, but only with Adaptec cards, which is a bit limiting.

Testing the Setup

With everything configured, it was time for the fun part—testing! I loaded up Discworld to check the sound and Doom to see how well the system performed. Both worked beautifully, and hearing those MIDI tracks through the PicoGUS and my Yamaha drum machine was incredibly satisfying.

The BlueSCSI performed like a champ. I could quickly switch between disk images, and the storage emulation was seamless. There was a small quirk with file ordering (images didn’t seem to appear alphabetically), but that’s a minor nitpick for such a versatile device.

What’s Next?

Now that the internals are done, it’s time to tackle the case. I’m going for a steampunk-inspired look, complete with a wooden bezel crafted by my friend Mike. He’s a skilled woodworker and has agreed to help me bring my vision to life. But that’s a story for another day!

Shoutouts and Thanks

A huge thanks to Derek at Flame Lily, the UK distributor for PicoGUS and BlueSCSI. His excellent service made this project so much easier. If you’re into retro computing, definitely check out Flame Lily—you won’t regret it. Flamelily Shop

Posted on

My Journey Modding the VC9900 with GBS Control for HDMI Output

I’ve always loved retro tech, but sometimes working with older video equipment can be… frustrating. That’s why the GBS Control project caught my attention—it takes an affordable video scaler and transforms it into a powerful tool for retro enthusiasts like me. So, when I decided to tackle a long-forgotten V9900 scaler from my project pile, I knew GBS Control was the way to go.

The Problem with Stock Scalers

The GBS 8200, a budget-friendly scaler from the arcade and retro console world, is functional but far from perfect. Latency issues and subpar video quality made it less than ideal for anyone serious about retro displays. Enter GBS Control, an open-source firmware upgrade that changes everything. With just a microcontroller like the ESP8266 or ESP32, you can unlock low latency, improved color accuracy, scan lines, and even web-based remote control.

Why the V9900?

The V9900 isn’t officially supported on the GBS Control wiki, but it seemed close enough to the GBS 8200 to give it a shot. My VC9900 had been sitting around for ages after an initial failed attempt to use it, so I figured it was time to see if I could make it work. Spoiler: it did, and the results are amazing.

Base instructions GBS Control Wiki

The Build Begins

First, I needed an ESP8266. I found one on eBay for an absurdly cheap £3, shipping included. When it arrived, it looked fine despite some shipping damage—nothing a little pin-straightening couldn’t fix.

NodeMCU ESP8266 UK, NodeMCU ESP8266 USA

The first step, according to the GBS Control wiki, was to bypass the RGB input potentiometers. While the instructions suggested a destructive approach, I opted for a cleaner solution by removing the pots and replacing them with simple links, dressed up with heat shrink tubing for a neater finish.

Next, I wired up the debug pin using Dupont cables, which are perfect for temporary connections. The debug signal is sourced from pin 30 of the V9900’s IC6 chip, the MTV230 microcontroller. Once wired, the ESP8266 takes over, unlocking full control of the scaler’s video processor.

Setting Up the ESP8266

Connecting the ESP8266 was straightforward using the diagrams and instructions from the GBS Control wiki. I made custom cables for power and data, skipping optional add-ons like clock generators and OLED displays for now. I wanted to confirm everything worked before adding complexity.

You will also need to close the jumper to put the MTV230 in it’s place, jumper is located next to the two headers to the side of IC6.

The colored blocks, boxed in pink, on the pin out diagram below reflect the wiring and colors I used in my build. For clarity I use White for Vin and Grey for ground connecting to the 5v header.

Installing the GBS Control software was simple as long as I followed the instructions carefully. With everything connected, I ran initial tests using my Amiga 500. Cycling through ROMs and booting up a few games showed promising results—beautiful, crisp visuals with none of the latency issues I’d experienced before.

I powered the board with a Zip-Drive 5v supply, but any regulated 5v supply with a Centre positive barrel jack should work fine.

GBS Control software install

Making It Practical

While the setup worked, it wasn’t practical—just two boards loosely connected by wires. To fix this, I built a mounting board from leftover plastic from another project (thanks, A2000 undertray!). After marking, cutting, and drilling, I mounted the V9900 and ESP8266 securely.

The result? A compact, reliable solution that handles retro video signals beautifully and outputs them via HDMI. All for less than £25 ($30)—a fraction of the cost of high-end alternatives like the OSSC or RetroTINK.

The Results

The difference is night and day. My repair footage now looks professional, and retro games come to life on modern displays. This build is perfect for anyone looking to upgrade their retro experience on a budget.

Posted on

Flashing PCIe X1900GT for G5 Mac

I did this to install MorphOS on a PCIe G5 PowerMac

Required Hardware

  • Mac-specific 6-pin PCIe power cable
  • Radeon X1900GT 256Mb, these are getting rarer but do come up on eBay and Thrift shops
  • PC setup with PCIe Slot and power (Capable of booting from USB)
  • USB Drive ton install a DOS image on

Flashing Steps

  • Setup a USB device to boot the PC from with MS DOS 6.2.2 (FreeDOS doesn’t work)  balenaEtcher can be used to restore an image of onto a spare USB Drive.

MS-DOS Boot Disk Download

Click “Show older versions”

4.07 (Versions not in order)

  • Create an ATI directory/folder in the root of the DOS USB Drive
  • Move ‘atiflash.exe‘ to the ATI directory on your prepared DOS USB drive. Rename ‘Radeon X1900 GT rev 109.rom‘ to ‘x1900GT.rom‘, and move that to the same place.
I have a pre made disk image here Dos6.22 ATI.img
  • Install X1900GT into the PCIe of the x86 PC. The X1900 GT itself can provide the video output from here on; using an additional PCI graphics card is not necessary. If the PC’s power supply does not have a 6-pin PCIe power cable available, use an adaptor; these are available from the common online stores!
  • Plug the DOS USB drive in, and boot from it.

at the prompt type

cd ATI

then to check the contents type

dir

You should see ‘X1900GT.ROM’ and ‘ATIFLASH.EXE’ listed.

We need to know the adaptor number, type

atiflash -i 

note the adapter number of the installed X1900 GT, which is identifiable by the ‘R580+’ tag in the middle column.

Usually, the adapter number to the far left of the ‘R580+’ will read ‘0’, provided the card was installed to the PC’s first (or only) PCIe x16 slot.

Note In the following steps it assumes the adaptor number to be ‘0’, replace the 0 with the correct adaptor number if it differs.

Optional If you want to backup the X1900’s original ROM to the current directory, type 

atiflash -s 0 x19back.rom

To flash the card type 

atiflash -p -f 0 x1900GT.rom
  • -p tells atiflash to program the card’s ROM
  • -f tells it to force the program
  • 0 tells it which adapter to program (change this if your adaptor number differs)
  • x1900GT.rom is the ROM it should use to program the card with

Your screen may flicker for a couple of seconds. Afterward, it should tell you that the flash was successful, at which point use the power down the machine.

Remove the newly-flashed X1900 GT from the PC, and install it into the G5.

If all went well, the Apple logo should come up, and you should now be in Mac OS X. Verify the GPU information via Graphics / Displays in System Profiler, and rejoice!

You have successfully flashed a graphics card completely on your own, and now possess a Radeon X1900 GT PPC Mac Edition.

Posted on

The Purple OLED Project

If you’ve been following my journey, you might recall a video I did a while back where I converted an old Amiga external floppy drive into something cool and retro-inspired. If you missed that one, no worries—I’ve linked it below. We’re taking things a step further. I’m about to transform this incredibly grubby, stained Cumana drive into something truly special, and I’m super excited to share the process with you.

Retro GOTEK

The Vision: A Purple OLED Dream

Ever since I started this project, I’ve had one thing in mind: creating a purple OLED screen. I know it sounds a bit ambitious, but that’s exactly what I’m aiming for. Imagine pairing that vibrant purple screen with the Charity Amiga’s purple case—how cool would that be? Today, we’re going to see if we can bring that vision to life.

Before we dive in, though, I have to issue a little disclaimer: please remember that I’m not exactly a professional. In fact, I’m just an enthusiast with a lot of curiosity and a willingness to experiment (sometimes wildly). So, if you decide to follow along, do so at your own risk!

The Not-So-Exciting Prep Work

Like with any good project, I had to start by cleaning everything. And I mean everything. The drive, the cables—nothing escaped my cleaning spree. I won’t bore you with the details of rubbing down cables, but trust me, it was necessary.

The Transformation Begins

Now, let’s talk about the case. It started off in a horrible state—stained, yellowed, and just plain ugly. But with a little bit of elbow grease and a lot of black paint, it’s undergone a serious transformation. It’s now a sleek, glittery black, which I think gives it a much more retro and sophisticated look.

You might remember from the previous video (linked bove) that I built a black Gotek drive with a blue OLED display. It looked pretty cool, but I had my heart set on purple this time around. Finding a purple OLED display, however, turned out to be more of a challenge than I anticipated. After scouring the internet, I came up empty-handed—purple just isn’t a color that’s readily available in OLED displays. I found plenty of blue, orange, green, and white options, but purple? Not a chance.

The Lighting Hack: Creating a Purple OLED

But I wasn’t about to give up. Drawing on my days in theater and lighting design, I decided to try a little hack: using a color filter. By cutting some purple lighting gel to size and securing it with double-sided sticky tape, I managed to give the white OLED display a purple hue.

And guess what? It worked better than I expected! The purple actually looks really good. One trick I used to enhance the effect was turning the OLED contrast up to its maximum setting. You can adjust the contrast in the FF.CFG file, which you load onto a USB drive—just like any other configuration for FlashFloppy. If you’re interested in trying this yourself, I’ll link the GitHub page for FlashFloppy along with the specific configuration details you need.

Flash Floppy Config Wiki : https://github.com/keirf/flashfloppy/…

oled-contrast=255

Final Touches and Thoughts

To add a little extra flair, I decided to make the inside of the drive pink, giving it a neon accent that ties in nicely with the purple Amiga aesthetic. I’m really pleased with how it turned out—I think the combination of colors gives it a unique, retro-futuristic vibe that’s hard to resist.

I hope you’ll agree with me that the final result looks pretty amazing. This project was a lot of fun, and it’s always satisfying to see a rough, grimy piece of tech turned into something stylish and functional. And if you liked this project, why not give it a try yourself? Who knows, you might surprise yourself with what you can create!

Posted on

My Journey Creating a Universal Amiga ROM Switcher

In the world of retro computing, where nostalgic gamers reignite their passion, the Amiga stands as a titan of vintage technology. My latest project has taken me on an epic journey to create a ROM switcher for these beloved machines. This isn’t just an upgrade; it’s a labor of love to preserve and enhance a classic.

The Challenge: Building a ROM Switcher

I set out with a simple goal: to build a straightforward, passive ROM switcher for the Amiga. The challenge arose from the fact that not all Amigas were made equal. The early revisions of these machines had a hardware bug where the ROM socket wasn’t correctly wired. Specifically, address line 17 was connected to Byte select, which wasn’t an issue with the small ROM sizes of Kickstart 1.3 but became a problem with later, larger ROMs.

My mission was clear: create a ROM switcher that is compatible with all 68k Amigas with OCS or ECS chipsets—A500s, 600s, 2000s, and CDTVs. I wanted to switch between at least two ROM images, and that’s where my prototype journey began.

The Prototype and Its Evolution

I started with a 27C800 chip, allowing for two ROM images. My initial prototype worked functionally but was a bit of a hack job. I even considered adding LEDs to indicate the selected ROM, but that idea didn’t pan out. The key missing feature was compatibility with early revision Amigas, where the ROM socket was miswired. By correcting this in the switcher, I aimed to create a truly universal solution.

After proving the concept with my crude prototype, I moved on to a more polished design. The first iteration was functional but had some shortcomings, like the floating bite mode select line in early revision mode. This line needs to be high to enable the 16-bit word mode that Amiga runs by default. By adding a bodge wire to tie that pin directly to VCC, the switcher worked perfectly.

Refining the Design

The second revision of the board addressed these issues and extended the functionality. It supported a 27C160 chip, allowing for up to four ROM images on a single switcher. These ROMs are relatively easy to come by, provided they are no slower than 100 ns. This version came very close to what I envisioned, but I still had a few tweaks to make.

For instance, the new revision couldn’t program ROM images through the switcher—a feature that existed in the first revision. This was because the byte select pin, now tied directly to VCC, couldn’t handle the programming voltage. However, I saw potential in this functionality. It would allow for easier ROM image management, eliminating the need to manually combine images or navigate the complexities of ROM writing software.

The Final Version and Beyond

With the final version of the ROM switcher, I achieved my goals: it fixes the early revision Amiga issues, allows for easy writing of ROM images, and supports multiple ROMs. The switcher can hold four ROMs and even allows for writing new images individually, making it flexible and user-friendly.

In the end, the project was more than just about creating a piece of hardware. It was about preserving the legacy of the Amiga and making it more accessible for enthusiasts and collectors. Along the way, I also explored building an adapter for the 27C4096 chip, a more straightforward and logical design than the 27C400. This new adapter worked perfectly on the first try, a rare occurrence for me!

A Word of Thanks

I’d like to give a special thanks to PCBWay for sponsoring this project. They offer PCB prototype fabrication, CNC machining, and 3D printing services, all of which were instrumental in bringing this project to life. Their support made it possible to turn my designs into reality.

If you’re interested in building your own ROM switcher or need other PCB services, check out PCBWay.com. And if you’re curious about the ROM switcher, it will be available on PCBWay’s shared projects.

https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/Amiga_ROM_Switcher_with_Program_Write_Mode_and_Jumper_for_Early_Revision_Fix_b0ddd5b3.html

https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/Amiga_27C4096_ROM_Adaptor_with_fix_jumper_for_early_revision_Amiga_9f71f5a0.html

I would also like to than Chris “Cathers” for providing the ROMs and the inspiration for the 27C4096 adaptor and donating an Amiga 1200 case to the channel 🙂

Stay tuned for more adventures in retro computing, and if you’re curious about my process or other projects, check out my other videos!

This was my journey creating a universal Amiga ROM switcher. It’s been a fascinating and challenging project, but seeing it work perfectly in the end made it all worthwhile. If you’re a fan of vintage technology or just love a good DIY project, I hope this inspires you to dive into the world of retro computing.

Posted on

The Final Chapter of the Amiga 500 Frankenstein Build

Part 1 is here -> Building a Frankenstein Amiga: A Journey of Restoration and Customisation

Welcome to the final part of my Amiga 500 Frankenstein build, which I’m doing for the More Fun Making It charity auction. This journey began with a couple of neglected and yellowed A500 cases. Well, to be precise, it involved parts from at least three different cases that had all seen better days. One of the bottom halves was particularly damaged, so I swapped it out for a better one. When this project is finished, it’s going to be more of a Cinderella transformation rather than an ugly sister. However, I must warn you, the final color might be a bit of a Marmite situation – you’ll either love it or hate it.

First things first, I had to remove all the badges from the case and give it a thorough clean. This thing needed to be absolutely pristine before I could change the color.

With the case cleaned, the first phase of the color transformation involved spraying it with a black undercoat. This black layer acts as a plastic primer and base coat for the wild color that’s coming next. I must admit, it did look pretty good in black, but black Amigas are quite common these days. We’re going for something a bit more unique here. I planned on adding another two, maybe three, coats of the crazy color, followed by some lacquer to ensure the finish is robust enough to withstand regular use.

After about two weeks of painting and letting it dry, I decided to take the case with me to RMC the Cave to get Lee’s opinion. Here’s a picture of me at the RMC Retro shop.

With the paint now well and truly dry, I could finally put the finishing touches on the case and place the Amiga 500 board in its new home. The next stop was kickstart, where Reese showed his skills by playing any Doom game on any platform, even if it’s not an Atari. I spent much of the day chatting with people and hanging out with other YouTubers in the community room.

At the end of the day, we had a small signing ceremony, which was a great way to wrap things up. Here’s a quick look at that moment.

You might think that’s the end of the journey, but when I got back a couple of weeks later, I needed some footage for the end of this video. When I tried to fire up the Amiga, it was dead. So, I immediately began troubleshooting. After pushing some chips and trying again with no luck, I knew it was time for the big guns. I started by eliminating the CPU and Gary, the usual culprits for a black screen on an Amiga 500. I then beeped out the entire CPU socket and found one pin that wasn’t connected correctly. Turning the board over, I checked the trace and found continuity. Confused, I turned the board back over and lost continuity.

Thinking I was just too tired, I called it a night. Day two brought no change. Looking at the underside of the board with magnification, I saw that the trace was slightly damaged. The flexing of the board when turning it upside down was enough to make contact. So, I put a piece of wire across the damaged trace, and it was solid again. The Amiga fired up like nothing ever happened.

With the board now fully functional, I tidied it up and added any finishing touches I thought necessary. Then, I buttoned it up, put it back in the box, and finished the video. This time, I made sure to test it both before and after putting the lid on.

I’ll be doing something else in a similar style for another charity auction soon, so why not subscribe to my YouTube channel and make sure you don’t miss that video when it comes out? It’s free and helps the channel.

Thanks for following along on this journey!

Cheers!

Cookie Consent Banner by Real Cookie Banner