The Blog

Dumping the Apple 341-0813 Mac Classic ROM

Nix McRetro // 5th January 2020 // Apple

Dumping the Apple 341-0813 Mac Classic ROM

Ah yes, the old Apple 341-0813 ROM, stored in a TC534200P-F749 mask ROM. Its pin layout matches the M27C400 EPROM, whose programmer profile worked for reading it. The GQ-4X’s D27C4000 / uPD27C4000 profile also produced usable reads. These were read profiles for this ROM, not programming settings for a mask... Continue reading

Super Famicom and the Green Line of Doom (Part 2)

Nix McRetro // 4th January 2020 // Hacks, Nintendo, YouTube

After three and a half years I can finally put this one to rest and purge it from my mind. The Samsung TV I was using it on has also since died. Is that a little too convenient? It might just be. Continue reading

Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013) Repair

Nix McRetro // 2nd January 2020 // Apple, Repairs, YouTube

My then-current Retina MacBook Air, with its butterfly keyboard, was already showing the familiar w and Return-key symptoms covered by Apple’s Keyboard Service Program for MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro. Annoying. I really did miss my old MacBook Air sometimes. It had superior key travel. When did Apple announce... Continue reading

Gigabyte Xpress Recovery and the Host Protected Area

Nix McRetro // 31st December 2019 // IBM PC

Gigabyte Xpress Recovery and the Host Protected Area

Some Gigabyte boards with an Xpress Recovery BIOS were apparently affected by a rather nasty capacity-reporting bug! The explanation below comes from Franc Zabkar’s HDD Capacity FAQ. “When the drive is first in the boot order, Gigabyte’s BIOS will write a backup copy of itself to a small Host Protected... Continue reading

Console Collection Overview - February 2019

Nix McRetro // 29th December 2019 // News, YouTube

A look back at what I had in February earlier this year. A lot has changed since then with my collection, so stay tuned for a 2020 collection overview! We see some of the old favourites in there and some slightly newer ones that hadn’t been mentioned before. Continue reading