Retro Computing Archives

Gotek troubleshooting

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 11, 2023December 27, 2022

Gotek flashfloppy drive emulators are a popular upgrade for retro computer systems, allowing you to replace finicky and expensive floppy drives and media with flash media. The flashfloppy firmware makes the drives much more capable, allowing them to work in a wider variety of machines, and also making it easier to copy image files from a modern PC directly onto the USB stick. Usually the upgrade goes very smoothly. But sometimes the drive doesn’t work. So let’s talk Gotek troubleshooting.

The first rule of Gotek troubleshooting is cabling. When the drive doesn’t work as expected, there’s a good chance it’s a cabling issue.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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Writeback vs writethrough cache

Dave Farquhar Hardware, Retro Computing January 10, 2023March 3, 2025

I was fixing a PC with a fairly late 486DX2-66 motherboard in it. In checking it out, I found an interesting setting in its BIOS: I can use its L2 cache as either writeback or writethrough. But what’s the difference? What are the pros and cons of writeback vs writethrough cache?

Writeback is faster but was harder to implement than writethrough, so not all systems support it. If it’s available and your software doesn’t malfunction, use write-back.

Dave Farquhar

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Allsop Metal Art stand #33306 review

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 4, 2023March 24, 2023

The Allsop metal art large display stand #33306 is a useful ergonomic accessory for modern computers, especially laptops. But it also makes an excellent monitor riser or platform for using and displaying vintage and retro computers. Here’s a review with some tips.

Dave Farquhar

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Identify a cable with a multimeter

Dave Farquhar Hardware, Retro Computing January 3, 2023December 17, 2022

I spotted a useful cable at a used computer store recently. I wasn’t 100% certain what it was, but I had the ability to rewire it into what I needed if it turned out I was wrong. Here’s how I went about identifying the cable with my multimeter.

Dave Farquhar

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Convert CGA or EGA to VGA (or MCGA)

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 28, 2022December 17, 2022

CRT monitors are getting expensive. CGA and EGA monitors even more so. In theory, every 1980s computer that used those types of monitor had one at some point. But the survival rate of the monitors was much lower than the survival rate of the computers, so there aren’t enough of them to go around. That’s led to a need to convert CGA or EGA to VGA.

Dave Farquhar

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Fix slow hard drive access on early PCs

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 21, 2022May 18, 2024

The prevailing wisdom regarding hard drives and early PCs is to keep your C drive small, ideally no bigger than 128 MB, and maybe even as little as 32. Otherwise, disk activity becomes unbearably slow. But what if I told you there is another way to fix slow hard drive access on early PCs?

Dave Farquhar

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Write a downloaded img file to compact flash

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 19, 2022March 24, 2024

Thanks to the MiSTer project and a number of other retro computing initiatives, there are a number of DOS disk images floating around containing a bootable operating system and a compilation of software. While these are intended for use on devices like the MiSTer, there is no reason you can’t use them on regular hardware as well. It’s possible to write a downloaded img file to compact flash.

Here’s how wrote a pre-configured image of 1981 to 1987 software to a compact flash card to use on a Tandy 1000 equipped with a 3-in-1 adapter.

Dave Farquhar

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Tandy 3-in-1 expansion review for the 1000HX and EX

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 12, 2022March 24, 2024

The Tandy 3-in-1 expansion for the Tandy 1000 EX and HX make these compact vintage PC compatibles much more useful. Here is my experience with this device, and some tips.

Two versions of this device exist. The first expands the memory to 640K and provides UMBs, compact flash for mass storage, and an RS 232 port. These are usually available on Ebay for around $100 US. The newer version 2 of the device adds all of that as well as a standard parallel port.

Dave Farquhar

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Tandy 1000 and 1000SX upgrades

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 5, 2022May 1, 2025

I watched a YouTube video recently about a Tandy 1000sx and he inquired about what kind of upgrades he should try. So let’s explore some options for upgrading a Tandy 1000 SX, or the models it replaced, the Tandy 1000 and Tandy 1000A.

The Tandy 1000 and Tandy 1000SX have ISA expansion slots, giving them more options for upgrading than the IBM PCjr or the compact all-in-one Tandy 1000EX or HX. But the Tandy 1000SX with five slots can go a step further than the 1000 or 1000A, which only have three slots.

Dave Farquhar

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Amiga 500 motherboard revisions

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing November 28, 2022January 8, 2025

There were four major revisions of the Amiga 500 motherboard released, and that matters if you are trying to upgrade them. Fortunately, if you know what to look for, you can quickly distinguish between all four, and you can even identify them without opening the case. Although it is certainly easier to identify them if you can see the entire board.

Dave Farquhar

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