Mac Pro 5,1 Upgrade Guide
Choosing a macOS version, a GPU, and an upgrade path for the classic Mac Pro 5,1 — there’s no single perfect configuration, just tradeoffs.
Getting XTIDE Working on the Amstrad PC1640
Turning a CompactFlash card into hard drive storage for an Amstrad PC1640 — the failed attempts, the Serial Drive detour, and the recipe that finally worked.
Fixing Fan Noise on a Radeon X800 XL
A cheap used Radeon X800 XL turned up with a seized, screaming fan. Quieting it took three goes — new bearings, then a new fan, then a whole aftermarket cooler.
I made 3Dfx Voodoo2 work on a modern PC!
I don’t have PCI slots on my Z97 motherboard anymore — so I used a cheap PCIe-to-PCI adapter to bring a 3dfx Voodoo 2 back to life inside a modern Windows 10 PC. It took a full-height mounting workaround, an unsigned x64 driver from the 3dfxzone forums, disabling Windows 10 driver signing, and a very unlikely Windows XP fix for a “trying to map memory” error — but native Glide, on real 3dfx hardware, on a 2020s PC, is real.
The Three-Screen Ridge Racer Quest: Chasing a Cabinet Nobody Could Emulate
Namco built an arcade cabinet that stitches three screens into one race. Nobody had properly emulated the chip that makes it possible. This is the full story — two other people’s abandoned attempts, a ROM dump that can’t be released, a canonical chip emulation built from scratch, and a discovery near the end that changed everything.
I Tried to Turn a Dell Dimension E520 into a Windows 98 Retro PC
A case-study post on why the Dell Dimension E520 looked promising for Windows 98, but turned into a more mixed DOS, Win98, and XP experiment.
I Tried to Turn a Dell OptiPlex 760 into a Windows 98 Retro PC
A case study on why the Dell OptiPlex 760 looked promising for Windows 98, but turned out to be much happier as an XP and DOS machine.
