Month: February 2024

We continue our quest to learn the secrets of the AdLib sound card and its Yamaha OPL2 FM synthesizer. Last time we did the drum programming, but this time we learn how to code melodic instruments and how to play notes.

Programming the OPL2 FM chip on the original AdLib card can be a bit tedious. Join me in this episode to learn how to program the drums on the AdLib card to create a simple sequencer or drum machine. In the future we will also look at the melodic instruments, but for now we try to create some nice percussion!

The IPS display mod for the original GameBoy from a couple of weeks ago already developed a fault. bright horizontal lines run through the display, and it seems a full replacement of the LCD panel is needed. It seems these mods are a bit fragile. Also the display lens is a bit crooked and needs fixing. So off to another round of DMG modding!

Ian Scott, also known as polpo, has upgraded his Raspberry Pico based Gravis Ultrasound clone to version 2.0. It can now be fully factory assembled, and has WaveBlaster support as well as a new design. Let’s test drive the card and see what it can do!

A friend gave me two GameBoys, one of which he wanted back after the repair. The other one was dead and I could keep it. So after a quick testing I determined that only the display board was broken due to quite severe battery damage. While maybe salvageable I decided to use a drop in IPS LCD replacement board, as the original DMG screen is pretty abysmal anyway. This mod is relatively easy to install, and requires no soldering!

As is tradition for the Holiday Season on this channel, we will code a little Christmas themed thing in PowerBasic for MS DOS. Grab your copy of PB 3.20 and follow along as we learn how to load a 256 color PCX image and place a nice, cozy fire in there!

A couple of years ago I got a PET 3016 from 1979. The machine comes stock with 16KB of RAM and back then we upgraded it using a RAM/ROM expansion, giving it 32KB of SRAM and BASIC V4 ROMs. However it never ran stable in this configuration. It turns out the SRAM was not playing nice with the system. So in this video we will use new old stock 8116 DRAM chips to upgrade the mainboard to its maximum and hopefully get a stable system.