The Blog

Return of the McRetro

Nix McRetro // 4th July 2015 // News, YouTube

Geez! I sure have been absent as of late - I guess my non-internet life gets in the way at times! I’ll do my best to bring this channel up to speed in the next few months. I’ve definitely got more videos in the pipeline, so sit down, kick your... Continue reading

Lunchbeat / PICkit 2 - PCB Arrival (Part 1)

Nix McRetro // 16th February 2015 // Programming, YouTube

The Lunchbeat / PICkit 2 adventure begins! The Lunchbeat is Buranelectrix’s neg-fi groovemachine with 1-bit sounds, and now the properly fabricated PCB has arrived for the next round. As a bonus challenge, we’ll be programming the Atmel chip with a PICkit 2 and AVRDUDE… just for kicks… in OS X!... Continue reading

Sega Genesis Activator Disassembly

Nix McRetro // 29th January 2015 // Repairs, Sega, YouTube

I don’t remember seeing many of these around Australia when they were current. The Sega Activator was a 1993 motion-control peripheral for the Genesis, based on the Light Harp work of Asaf Gurner and Oded Zur. Here we have a look at the innards of what makes it tick. See... Continue reading

Ants Nesting in an Apple iMac G3

Nix McRetro // 27th January 2015 // Apple, YouTube

This poor iMac was left in the garage. It already had a bad analog board, but now it had another problem. Bugs… or rather, an entire ant nest inside the machine! Don’t worry, I debugged it by letting the ants gather their eggs and move out before sending the iMac... Continue reading

Baby Willie Wagtail Call vs Parent Call

Nix McRetro // 27th January 2015 // YouTube

Just a quick video comparing the sounds of the young Willie Wagtail with the parent. They had been living in the backyard until recently, but the youngster has since flown away! Related posts Newly Hatched Willie Wagtail Chicks Continue reading