The Blog

Sega TeraDrive Power Supply Problems

Nix McRetro // 8th August 2016 // IBM PC, Repairs, Sega

The faulty supply pictured above is an SPS-356JU, part 400-5142. Its label lists +5 VDC at 5 A and +12 VDC at 1 A. The TeraDrive’s serial number is 102000629. One of the reasons I originally ended up with two TeraDrives was for exactly this kind of troubleshooting. Unfortunately, swapping... Continue reading

80kg Weight Goal Achieved!

Nix McRetro // 7th August 2016 // News

Look at that! I don’t need to slap a red line on this one. The goal line in green is more than enough to show I’ve hit my target, at an average rate of 1.14 kg per week for the past seven months. 35.4 kg shed and my meals 30%... Continue reading

IRC RIP in Peace

Nix McRetro // 6th August 2016 // News

Running an IRC server was an interesting experiment, and I eventually got the whole thing working properly. It is now defunct and has been removed from the McRetro.net server. Nothing much happened on it and it was taking up space in my dock, so with very little regret we bid... Continue reading

Programming with Visual Studio - Week 1

Nix McRetro // 4th August 2016 // News, Programming

I’ve begun my journey into the world of programming. Apart from some HTML and CSS hackery, I have basically no experience, so off I go on another adventure. Below is the first program I wrote in full. I actually made another one that calculated BMI properly, but that has been... Continue reading

Third Party Dreamcast Shell

Nix McRetro // 2nd August 2016 // Hacks, News, Sega

I’ve moved a smoke (and sun) discoloured Dreamcast into a fresh smoky translucent shell. It fits in pretty well with the This is COOL Saturn. I had a Broadband Adapter (BBA) in this particular Dreamcast, so I trimmed the modem opening in the replacement shell to make room for the... Continue reading