16
votes
Accepted
Powering up old desktop games
Old games like these don't have much that can go wrong with them just from powering them up.
The biggest problem with old electronics in general is that any electrolytic capacitors will dry out in ...
- 8,373
11
votes
Did the original Japanese Tamagotchi device really die *completely* (forever) if the digital pet died?
Perhaps believing that this was the case makes for a much more interesting world, and I'll just get disappointed when you prove this to be a silly myth/lie, or possibly even a PR stunt...
Proving a ...
- 409
10
votes
Why did the Speak & Spell have an alphabetic keyboard?
Was this done for pedagogical reasons, e.g. to help children learn the order of the alphabet?
Rather the other way around:
Pupils learn the alphabet in preschool in sequence (think the ABC song) ...
- 168k
8
votes
Accepted
Why don't manufacturers make handheld computers like the Jornada 720 any more?
This answer is not quite about retrocomputing, but anyway...
They are making them, though it is a bit of a niche market.
One of the newer ones (designed by the original Psion designer!) is the Gemini ...
- 4,605
6
votes
Accepted
How were the electronics in the Elektronika IM (Электроника ИМ) designed?
Given that the clock part in the Электроника ИМ series, according to the wiki page, was not modified to support the customary in the USSR 24-hour mode, it is likely that there was no electronic design ...
- 15.8k
4
votes
Powering up old desktop games
As already answered by Mark, your first checks should be the PSU.
To add another note: If the device hasn't been used for a while, you may find dust or minor corrosion has got into the case which ...
- 7,591
4
votes
Accepted
Did the Tiger Game.Com include any hardware accelerated graphics?
The Game.com doesn't support sprites or tilemaps. It has a flat, memory-mapped bitmap display with internal support for accelerated optionally-masked and/or X/Y flipped rectangle blits.
From what I ...
- 9,875
2
votes
Handheld Systems Archives CD-ROM
If the site and company are no longer in existence then it may have to come down to using one of the many online auction sites ( eBay / SellMyRetro ) etc amongst others to see if said CD Rom is up for ...
- 574
2
votes
Why don't manufacturers make handheld computers like the Jornada 720 any more?
On the issue of qwerty keyboards on handhelds, I sympathise with you entirely (as the owner of a Nokia N900 and a Blackberry KeyOne).
Looking at a modern smartphone as the nearest equivalent of a ...
- 7,654
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