The Blog

Creative Labs CD-200 2x CD-ROM Driver Success

Nix McRetro // 12th October 2012 // Categories: IBM PC, Repairs, YouTube

We did it! After a couple of days of messing around with drivers, I’ve finally managed to get my Creative Labs CD-200 double-speed CD-ROM drive working under DOS. Something that ought to have been relatively straightforward turned into a surprisingly stubborn little project, mostly because finding useful information about this... Continue reading

Creative Labs CD-200 2x CD-ROM Driver Hunt

Nix McRetro // 8th October 2012 // Categories: IBM PC, Repairs

So little information seems to exist about this particular Creative Labs CD-200 that I figured I’d better document the struggle. At this point I had a desktop absolutely covered in driver files and still hadn’t found the magic combination. The first video shows where the investigation had reached. This machine... Continue reading

IBM PS/2 Model 30 8086 720K Floppy Drive Failure

Nix McRetro // 8th October 2012 // Categories: IBM PC, Repairs, YouTube

Time to replace the floppy drive in my IBM PS/2 Model 30 8086. The original 720K drive hadn’t been behaving particularly well, so I’d ordered what looked like a suitable replacement from eBay. The drive itself was only around $10, but the shipping came to about $60. Ouch! Still, the... Continue reading

Sharp PC-4521 Internal View

Nix McRetro // 8th October 2012 // Categories: IBM PC, Repairs, YouTube

Here’s something a little different: a Sharp PC-4521 from the PC-4500 portable-computer family. This one isn’t mine. I just managed to have a poke around inside it while the owner was absent! The PC-4521 was the hard-drive-equipped version of the series. It uses a NEC V40 processor running at 7.16... Continue reading

Amstrad PPC640D Internal View - Relative of the PPC512

Nix McRetro // 8th October 2012 // Categories: IBM PC, Repairs, YouTube

I picked up this Amstrad PPC640D from eBay and thought I’d give everyone a quick look inside while I’ve got it apart. It’s a rather nice machine for its age, and considering how long it’s been around, it’s holding up remarkably well. The camera isn’t particularly interested in focusing on... Continue reading