Just a quick note for those experiencing a display shift when using a VGA box with their Sega Dreamcast (mine shifts to the right). This seems to happen only when using LCD monitors or televisions; I have been using it on my CRT monitor and it works great thus far.

Categories: Dreamcast, Hardware, Sega
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This is a very cool board and has a lot of good features, but for those of you who are attempting to install your own operating system, you’d better make sure that only one of the jumpers are closed (either the data flash or the NAND flash)!  The flashing script will start the procedure but will halt after fetching the CPU id (incorrect) and will not continue. This is all very logical and there are good reasons behind it, but if you weren’t aware of the existence of the “data flash” jumper, then it can be very puzzling indeed.

Categories: Hardware
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While touch interfaces for small devices are creating a small revolution in our technoverse, the problems of transitioning the personal computer into this space is a little more problematic. The folks over at 10/GUI have done a good job in summarizing the problem and presenting a nice solution. Of course, whenever I look at new technologies like these, my mind always wanders to how they could be used to enhance the games I play. It’s nice to have these kind of vices.

Interesting video on new human-computer interaction techniques

Categories: Hardware
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Our 360 optical drive is stuttering and causing the video playback to freeze sometimes. It doesn’t always do it, but once it gets going, it won’t stop. We always need to turn it off and hope for the best the next time we use it. It may be a dirty lens, since I have never cleaned it the entire time we have owned it (around 5 years). Does this sound like the problem? Has anyone ever tried to replace the drive?

Categories: Hardware, Xbox 360
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Here I am in an air conditioned house on a Sunday morning playing a nice game of Contra III on my Macbook Pro and I’m sweating. Why? Because my Macbook Pro runs only slightly cooler than the surface of the sun. Ok, that’s an exageration, since the sun only run at 9800 degrees Fahrenheit, so my apologies to any astronmony group members out there who might have been offended.

I would love to know is if the new Macbook models (2009) run any cooler than the original Macbook Pro models sporting the Core 2 Duo 1.X GHz processors? Also, since I don’t have the money to drop on a new Macbook right now, I would love to hear more information about a store which allows trade-ins of used Mac hardware in Canada. Any ideas?

Categories: Hardware, Mac OSX
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Ok, so after creating a proper boot disk on a Mac computer, which would have been a pain in the neck if I didn’t have Windows XP installed in VMWare Fusion, and moving the BIOS reflashing software and image onto the diskette, I slapped the diskette into the floppy drive and fired up the machine. Nothing happens as the system refused to boot using the diskette. The 3 1/2″ drive was the “B:” drive and, of course, this particular BIOS doesn’t recognize the “B:” drive as a candidate drive in the boot sequence. Normally, I would have just used the “Swap Drives” option in the BIOS, but if you’ve read the last post, you’ll know my BIOS seems to have a bad case of Alzheimer’s. With my back against the wall, I knew the only option was to tear my carefully installed ribbon cables apart, and after the customary floppy drive error due to misaligned cable, I was ready to begin the process again. Knowing I was nearing my goal, I hurriedly rebooted and began flashing the EPROM with all haste. After following a few poorly worded prompts and trying to digest the jumbled documentation, the process was complete at last. Content with the success of the operation, I rebooted the machine and waited for the uncorrupted BIOS to work its magic. Exhausted and more than a little frustrated at having to reconfigure the BIOS for the twentieth time, I was treated to a marvelous sight:

“CMOS Checksum error – Defaults loaded.”

Categories: Hardware, Retro
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I want to build some software I received the other day, and I’ve been trying to resurrect one of my older boxes as a development machine after it failed to boot. First it seemed to be a power supply issue as one of the hard drives was failing to spin up correctly. After changing to a different supply and more power, it still refused to work correctly. I began to suspect the hard drive, so I imaged the disk using Mac OS X via the dd command, which was horribly slow but did make a successful backup. Once the backup was transferred to the new drive, again a very slow process, I shoved it in and turned on the juice. Sadly, it still didn’t boot. By now, my wife is chiding me saying I should just toss it and use something more modern. I immediately reversed my polarity and deflected those negative comments back at the beast (of course, I mean this in the best possible way, like a cute little beasty-weasty for example). Refusing to give up I focused on the new error glowing steadily on the monitor.

“CMOS Checksum error – Defaults loaded”

Usually this is caused by a dying battery. Rolling up my sleeves, I went and bought a replacement, cleared the CMOS, saved a new configuration using Award’s snazzy 1997 BIOS interface and… presto! Nothing changed. I tried this a couple of times with no luck. Before I reset the CMOS, I noticed something odd. It seems the jumper was set in the clear position for a while. I’m not sure for how long exactly, but the last time I exumed the motherboard from the old chassis I seem to remember the jumper falling off. With my attention focused on something else, I guess I just slid the jumper back on without checking the configuration. I’m wondering if that eventually lead to a small corruption in the original copy of the BIOS. Will a simple reflashing solve the problem, or will it lead us down a different path? Stay tuned for another exciting episode!

Categories: Hardware, Retro
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Computers like the Atari 800, Commodore 64, or Amiga 500 share a special place on my gaming mantle. The specialized sound and video hardware can make all the difference when experiencing old and new games alike. However, there are times when they really begin to show their age. Of course, being old is never a problem here, but it is when you’re trying to mesh the old with the new. Take the Atari 2600 console, for example. I just recently installed a nice little hardware upgrade which provides the console with the technology to output a composite or s-video signal. The composite signal looks good on a normal television; the colours are clear and sharp and the signal is strong and healthy. When I  plug the cable into my high-definition television, suddenly things start to go very wrong.This doesn’t necessairily mean it’s the console’s fault or a poorly installed hardware mod. In this case, it’s probably something the television is doing. Most high-definition televisions have electronics which pre-process the video signal before it is sent to the display. These processes, or filters, can help clean up the signal or enhance it to make it look good on your high-definition screen. The hardware is normally tuned to your specific display, so the number and quality of the filters can vary from television to television. One of the downsides to this technology can be increased blurring, shifting, or muted color when you’re trying to view a low-definition signal, or a signal that the hardware deems to be unclean or poorly formed. The filters kick in to help fix the problem but it really only serves to exacerbate the situation. Some of the filters seem to designed for higher resolutions, and only serve to degrade the visual quality of the lower-definition signal coming from your console.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have crisp, clean, beautiful colours shown on your high-definition television? Of course it would, and there are options available to you. One option is to support the services which provide these games to you on your high-definition console. The Nintendo Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 both provide on-line shops for you to buy these titles. However, when compared to the sheer number of classic games available, the companies simply do not have the money, desire, or the ability to offer anything more than the most popular titles for the most popular consoles. Sometimes I like to play games which will never be discussed in the forums, and I would bet one of my cats that these titles will never see the light of day through these services. It’s not a case of simply choosing one over the other; I support these services whenever I see a title I would enjoy playing, but the release cycles are too few to satisfy my gaming needs.

The solution for me was the personal computer and hardware emulation. I had specific requirements for the physical size, number of available ports, and driver compatibility. Those were the three biggies. I could ramble on about the time I spent searching and testing different machines, but I won’t bore you with that. No, you’re reading this blog for results. The machine I chose to go with is the AcerPower 1000 computer. It’s smaller than your average DvD player, performs well using under low power consumption, and runs very quietly. It also  has oodles of USB ports for lot’s of expansion possibilities. I needed the machine to support at least two joysticks (along with the USB keyboard and mouse), and I wanted those ports easily accessible. The AcerPower has four high-speed ports right in the front of the machine which was perfect for my needs. It also has 3D support using an nVidia GeForce 6150 chipset and full environmental audio; I tested the graphics chipset with the Ion Storm’s  Deus Ex and it ran very well at 1024×768. So long as the software can support one of your television’s video modes, everything should work out alright.

Categories: Hardware
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Johnny Chung Lee has come up with one heck of a hardware hack for the Wii. In fact, it’s the first hardware creation I’ve seen which actually looks fun to use. If I were one of the boys at Nintendo I would be trying to work out a deal with Mr. Lee over the design rights, or even offer him a job within my company. I can see so many possibilities with such an invention. Anybody remember a little thing called Virtual Reality? I have visions of Lawnmower Man all over again, only this time Jeff Fahey isn’t cutting lawns with his shirt off.

Categories: Hardware, Nintendo Wii
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I tried to use the SX-Key over the weekend to upload binaries and run or debug them via the SX-Key IDE. Unfortunately, there seems to be a timing problem when I run the programs. If I assemble and upload the binary using the XGS ME software, the program works just fine. I’m going to compare the generated files when I get home tonight. Hopefully, I will find a difference between them which could account for the difference in operation; otherwise, if the porgrams are the same, it would imply a defect in the hardware, which is a lot more troublesome to diagnose (at least for me since I am not a hardware engineer).

I posted my problem to the XGS forum and received a few pointers from the designer, André LaMothe. As per his recommendation, I have reseated the oscillators to no avail. I’ll have to keep the coffee pot hot tonight.

Update: I did not realize the SX-Key “Run” command simply assembles, uploads, and sets the clock. You must still switch the XGS into run mode and reset the system. This is different from the “Debug” command which does everything the run command does, but it uses its own clock instead of the clock found on the XGS which allows the program to run without switching the XGS into run mode.

Categories: Hardware, XGameStation
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