Compaq Contura 2820A Keyboard Repair

I bought this Compaq Contura 2820A laptop that was in working order except that a few keys supposedly did not work for around $40. The laptop has a 25mhz 368SX CPU, 4mb of RAM with 121mb hard drive. It is running MS-DOS 6 and Windows 3.1.

Tempest Programmable TV Game Composite Mod

A simple circuit to get composite video alongside audio out of a Tempest Programmable TV Game console using a BC557 transistor. The circuit is based off of the schematic from John's Retro Workshop schematic.

Tempest Programmable TV Game

A few years back (2018?) I picked up a non-working Tempest Programmable TV Game cheap off of TradeMe to see if it was repairable. When it arrived it had looked like it had been left outside for a bit or in a shed somewhere. The inside of it was filthy and there was some corrosion on the circuit board. I cleaned it out but since I did not have any cartridges for it there wasn't much I could do. At this point I just put it away in storage and forgot about it.

SEGA SC-3000 Flash Cartridge

I picked up a SEGA SC-3000 from TradeMe that came with the game Flipper. It claimed to be working some of the time. Upon receiving it I opened it up to inspect what was wrong with it and found that it had been opened before in an attempt to fix the cartridge connector and traces. It was with some excessively long wires.

Mega Drive II Modifications

Following on from my 3D Glasses modification for the Master System 2 I wanted to see if I can add the 3D Glasses support to the Mega Drive. I have seen posts online asking if it could be done and the original Power Base Converter did support the 3D Glasses adaptor so it should be possible.

Since I will be pairing up the Mega Drive 2 with an American 32x I need to also implement a 50/60hz and region modification using a single switch. On top of this I decided to install the Crystal Clear Audio board to enhance the Mega Drives audio.

Controller PAK FRAM Mod

The Nintendo 64 Controller PAK used to store save games and settings uses a battery backed SRAM. This means that it has a limited lift span depending on the quality of the CR2032 battery, once the battery is dead all data is lost. Luckily the SRAM chip can be replaced with a non-volatile FRAM alternative.

Sega Game Gear Restoration

After repairing my Samsung monitor I looked for something else to work on and decided to have a go at seeing if I could pick up a faulty Sega Game Gear for a cheap price. Looking on eBay I found a listing by japan_4_you that was $9.73 plus shipping. The Game Gear was listed as not working and didn't have a the lens cover.