The Silicon Underground

Home » Page 128

How to open a Commodore 64 or VIC-20

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 18, 2019May 10, 2024

The original breadbin-style Commodore 64 and VIC-20 are designed to be easy to open while keeping production cost reasonably low. But they made the design so easy it’s hard. Worse yet, due to the age of the plastics, if you open one today the way Commodore intended, you can damage it. So here’s how to open a Commodore 64 or VIC-20. Let’s also talk about how to fix one if you damage the case when opening it.

The breadbin-style 64 and VIC-20 have three large L-shaped tabs on the back that originally behaved like pivots or hinges. If you try to use them like a hinge today, you’ll probably hear plastic popping, so the trick is to open the case slightly, then pull the top forward.

Pros and cons of integrated motherboards

Dave Farquhar Hardware December 17, 2019May 18, 2022

What is an integrated motherboard? Every motherboard is integrated to a degree. But there are positives and negatives to integration. So not everyone sees an integrated motherboard as an advantage. Here’s what it means and why it matters to you.

Today, an integrated motherboard usually means all the functionality, including video, network, and all common I/O are built right onto the motherboard, with no need for any cards in expansion slots. This allows for a smaller and cheaper system.

How to hook up a Super Nintendo to newer TVs

Dave Farquhar Retro Gaming December 16, 2019January 22, 2025

Setting up a Super Nintendo can get tricky if you can’t find all of the cables. Cables from some other Nintendo consoles will work, but not always. Plus, TV sets have changed a lot since the 1990s, and that makes it much more difficult. HDTVs don’t necessarily have the same options as vintage TVs. So here’s how to hook up a Super Nintendo to a modern TV.

The Super Nintendo was really designed to use composite video or S-Video, like a VCR. It shares the same rectangular connector with many other Nintendo consoles, but a cable to use the Wii with HDMI, for example, doesn’t work on an SNES. The SNES requires a different, more expensive converter for HDMI.

What is a Magne-Traction train?

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 13, 2019October 22, 2022

Lionel enthusiasts, especially postwar enthusiasts, talk about Magne-Traction a lot. But what is a Magne-Traction train, and what makes it special?

Magne-Traction was a feature Lionel introduced in the 1950s. By putting magnets in the driver wheels, a Magne-Traction train can pull more, climb steeper grades, and run at higher speeds without derailing on sharp curves.

Configuring PC case digital speed displays

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 12, 2019December 22, 2019

Cheap PCs from the 90s and late 1980s often had a digital display that indicated the CPU speed. They were kitschy, and I can’t say I’ve ever seen a brand-name PC with one, but many cheap cases made overseas had them. That meant the computers that came from the little clone shop down the street probably had them.

Is Hart a good brand? Who makes Hart tools?

Dave Farquhar DIY December 11, 2019September 10, 2023

In late 2019, a new brand of tool showed up in Wal-Mart stores called Hart. Hart tools are cheaper than most of the big name brands, but more expensive than Wal-Mart’s Hyper Tough house brand. But is Hart a good brand? Who makes Hart tools? Let’s dig in.

The company who makes Hart tools is Techtronic Industries (TTI), an OEM for many other brands, including Craftsman and Ryobi. Post-2019 Hart tools target consumers, trying to compete with Black and Decker on price and quality.

Why Atari failed

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 10, 2019June 6, 2026

Atari was on top of the world in 1982, so much so that the movie Blade Runner featured it as a dominant company in 2049. But it fell hard and fast, and several times. Here’s why Atari failed and didn’t maintain world dominance for 80 years like we once expected.

Atari’s failure happened on two fronts, the computer market and the game console market. Atari was an early pioneer in both, but its upstart competitors ultimately understood both markets better. But in all fairness, not all of the companies that understood the market better survived either.

Is buying a house an investment?

Dave Farquhar Landlording December 9, 2019March 3, 2020

While investing in real estate is a common path to wealth, is buying a house an investment? Here’s what you have to consider. It’s not a simple yes or no answer.

By default, buying a house is not an investment, at least not without explicitly planning to make it one. That doesn’t necessarily mean buying a house is a bad idea, however.

North Pole Express Christmas train set

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 6, 2019December 1, 2019

For the last couple of years, in early November, retailers started carrying the North Pole Express Christmas train set, an inexpensive battery-operated train set. But there are two distinct, and very different North Pole Express sets. Here’s what you need to know.

The North Pole Express sets are made by Scientific Toys/Eztec, though the branding may or may not appear anywhere on the box. The trains are made mostly of plastic and operate on batteries, and sell at price points of $10 and $50.

Difference between SDHC and SDXC

Dave Farquhar Hardware December 5, 2019May 30, 2023

The difference between SDHC and SDXC can be confusing. It would be nice if we could just buy whichever one we thought we needed, but there are differences between the two and they aren’t fully compatible or interchangeable with one another. Here’s how to know which to buy, and what other important things you may need to look for.

The difference between SDHC and SDXC is capacity. SDHC tops out at 32 GB, but ExFAT, the technology that lets SDXC go beyond 32 GB, isn’t compatible with all devices or operating systems, so you need to check compatibility before you buy.