Bench Notes

When Two EPROM Programmers Disagree: A Cross-Validation Workflow
When Two EPROM Programmers Disagree: A Cross-Validation Workflow
A cross-validation workflow for production EPROM burning, walked through the actual case where two programmers disagreed on the same chip. The audit trail that proved which one was telling the... Read more...
New Pickup... Atari 2600 Bundle
New Pickup... Atari 2600 Bundle
Picked up an Atari 2600 bundle in excellent condition! The console, 2 original CX40 Atari joysticks, 1 set of original CX-30 paddles, and 5 CIB boxed games! Read more...
Commodore 1526 / MPS-802 graphics EPROM upgrade chip, the Grafik ROM II on an M2764A.
The Print Shop on a Commodore 1526: four routes, one easy fix
Everyone says the Commodore 1526 can't run The Print Shop, so just buy a different printer. True out of the box — but there are four ways to actually fix... Read more...
A Print Shop banner on the Commodore 1526 — the printer that "can't"
A Print Shop banner on the Commodore 1526 — the printer that "can't"
Everyone says the Commodore 1526 can't print graphics. With the Grafik ROM II upgrade, I loaded The Print Shop on a real C64 and printed a full banner — and... Read more...
New gold-plated BEST Electronics CX40 upgrade PCB beside the darkened, worn original Atari contact board.
Reviving the joystick everyone had
The CX40 is the joystick everyone remembers—well-built, but after decades of use mine finally wore out. Here's what's inside, why they eventually fail, and the BEST Gold PCB rebuild that... Read more...
A live status display for the MiSTer, on the $15 board everyone already has
A live status display for the MiSTer, on the $15 board everyone already has
A small touchscreen that always knows what the FPGA is running—live game artwork, system stats, network state—built on the $15 Cheap Yellow Display. The install is easy now. My evening... Read more...
What is MiSTer? The FPGA that plays every Atari I don't own (and some I do)
What is MiSTer? The FPGA that plays every Atari I don't own (and some I do)
There are two MiSTers in my workshop, sitting a shelf away from the real Atari hardware they imitate. That's not a contradiction—it's a division of labor. Here's what MiSTer actually... Read more...
Jeffrey playing Centipede on a Millipede arcade cabinet, hands on the trackball
Centipede at 45: the arcade classic, the woman who programmed it, and the board on my bench
Centipede turned 45 this summer — the arcade classic, Dona Bailey (the first woman to design a coin-op arcade game), and the real Atari board on my bench. Read more...
Two trackballs, and the Atari Trak-Ball that turned out to be a mouse
Two trackballs, and the Atari Trak-Ball that turned out to be a mouse
I keep two Atari-compatible trackballs on the bench — an Atari CX22 Trak-Ball and a Wico. The Atari one wouldn't work, so I opened it up. A previous owner had... Read more...
Why a Commodore 1526 can't print graphics—and the community ROM swap that fixes it
Why a Commodore 1526 can't print graphics—and the community ROM swap that fixes it
Why a Commodore 1526 can't print from The Print Shop—and the open-source ROM dump that fixes it. Workshop story plus a bench-tested chip from the CRT workshop. Read more...
GQ-4x4 vs XGECU T48 (the modern TL866): A workshop-bench comparison
GQ-4x4 vs XGECU T48 (the modern TL866): A workshop-bench comparison
The GQ-4x4 and the XGECU T48 (the modern TL866) compared side by side from a workshop that owns both. Price, software, device coverage, and where each one earns its space. Read more...
Drawer overview of the cross-validation rig: GQ-4x4, Chicagoland Retro Tech Chip Tester Pro V2, BackBit chip tester, and Atari cartridge interface adapters
When the gremlin won't come back: Chasing an intermittent EPROM fault across five programmers
Part 1's GQ-4x4 misreads wouldn't reproduce on the rematch. Five programmers, 67 fc /b comparisons, zero faults — and what the null result taught me about working with intermittent EPROM... Read more...
DOS hex view of an EPROM byte comparison — bit-flip analysis
Reading an EPROM Verify Error: A Bit-Flip Primer
What does "Verify Failed, Address=0x000002, Device=0xA2, Buffer=0xA9" actually mean? A first-principles walk through offsets, hex, and why the direction of a bit flip tells you whether the chip or the... Read more...
Greaseweazle V4.1 floppy-writing rig on a workbench: bench power supply, mini PC, 3.5-inch drive, and disk caddy.
Writing a brand-new game to a real floppy with a Greaseweazle
I bought a new Atari ST game in 2026 and the store page said to write it to a floppy disk. The Greaseweazle rig that does it—a drive rescued from... Read more...
Amiga Software Failure requester showing Error 0000 000B on a MiSTer running AmigaVision.
Updating AmigaVision on the MiSTer—and the crash that taught me to hash everything
I went looking for one demo list and ended up doing a clean reinstall of my whole Amiga setup—then chasing random Software Failure crashes (Error 0000 000B) that turned out... Read more...
Aleste title screen running on a Panasonic FS-A1 over WiFi via FujiNet, the board lit below the monitor.
No SD card required: streaming MegaROMs to an MSX over WiFi
The broken SD card stopped mattering the moment the game database moved into the WiFi chip's flash. Here's the FS-A1 streaming big MegaROM games over WiFi—Aleste, Zanac, Gradius, Bubble Bobble—plus... Read more...
MSX FujiNet board mid-debugging in a Panasonic FS-A1, ribbon cable and flashing adapter attached.
Two chips, one stubborn lesson: debugging a FujiNet on the FS-A1
The board was built and flashed—and the FS-A1 still wouldn't load a game. Three walls: games that dropped to the machine's built-in desktop until I reflashed the Pico (for reasons... Read more...
MSX FujiNet board powered up in a Panasonic FS-A1 cartridge slot, ESP32-S3 power LED lit.
FujiNet comes to the MSX: putting a 1986 computer on the internet
A 1986 Panasonic FS-A1—a Japanese MSX2—pulling games down over WiFi with nothing in the cartridge slot. Part 1 of a three-part build, told from the cheap seats: what the MSX... Read more...