The Blog

Preparing to Dump the Sega Dreamcast HKT-0120 Dev Kit SCSI Hard Drive

Nix McRetro // 8th April 2016 // Categories: Devkit, Sega, YouTube

This is the preliminary setup for preserving the SCSI hard drive from the Sega Dreamcast HKT-0120 development box. Before making any changes to the development kit, I wanted a raw copy of the existing disk in case there was anything cool hiding on it. Or, to use slightly more archival... Continue reading

The Dimplex DC15RCBW Reverse Cycle Air Conditioner

Nix McRetro // 6th April 2016 // Categories: YouTube

You might all remember this review from early March. Not the most glowing review, because my Dimplex DC10RC was either faulty or, in my original highly scientific terminology, a complete hunk of junk. Let me show you the MEGA edition, the Dimplex DC15RCBW Reverse Cycle Air Conditioner. In my actual... Continue reading

Status Update - April 2016

Nix McRetro // 3rd April 2016 // Categories: Hacks, Sega, YouTube

We’ve got a few videos to crank out this month and I think I may be working on too many projects at once. I guess we’ll find out if I burn out and set fire to all my way past cool hardware! Continue reading

Circuit Bending VRAM on a Sega Mega Drive / Genesis 2

Nix McRetro // 27th March 2016 // Categories: Guides, Hacks, Sega

Circuit Bending VRAM on a Sega Mega Drive / Genesis 2

After actually reading the RAM datasheet properly, I realised that disturbing the power pins might explain some of my earlier random resets. On the 40-pin SOJ pinout shown here, VCC is on pins 11 and 20, and VSS on pins 30 and 40. Those are not pins I want to... Continue reading

Sega TeraDrive Model 3 - Faulty Power Supply (Part 2)

Nix McRetro // 27th March 2016 // Categories: IBM PC, Repairs, Sega

Part two reveals an interesting bit of information. I think we’ve found the symptom. Now we have to find where the disease is originating from! Fortunately I’ve got two Sega TeraDrive power supplies here, one working and one faulty, so at least I’ve got something useful to compare. The faulty... Continue reading