IO Sam
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iosam.bsky.social
IO Sam
@iosam.bsky.social
150 followers 110 following 220 posts
DIY PC enthusiast — Vintage PC peripherals collector — http://youtube.com/IOSam
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iosam.bsky.social
TIL: While watching a Computer Chronicles ep., where Cheifet & Kildall are interviewing the Tramiels (Jack & Leonard), I heard a bit I knew I had heard 100s of times before: "high resolution color graphics" — yes, the 1st sound bite in @thisweekinretro.bsky.social intro:
youtu.be/KGvsIVlbngA?...
The Computer Chronicles - Low End Computers (1985)
YouTube video by The Computer Chronicles
youtu.be
January 3, 2026 at 3:41 AM
Reposted by IO Sam
leolaporte.me
Ah I am so glad I got to talk with him. Stewart Cheifet was an inspiration in many ways.
January 1, 2026 at 7:09 PM
iosam.bsky.social
To say this was a tough year in tech, economics and (geo)politics is an understatement. Unfortunately, 2025 still had 1 more gut punch reserved for us PC enthusiasts: the passing of Stewart Cheifet... Thank you @leolaporte.me for this unforgettable interview of this legend: youtu.be/WdtHS_X1ibg
Triangulation 114: Stewart Cheifet
YouTube video by Triangulation
youtu.be
January 1, 2026 at 3:06 AM
iosam.bsky.social
Time to try the "other" PC gaming 3D spatial audio engine from the late-90's/early-00's: Sensaura

These days is all about EAX & A3D/Vortex with retro enthusiasts, but I'm curious to see what a supposedly good software solution of the time could do (before Microsoft basically killed DirectSound3D).
The image is a close-up photograph of a Diamond Monster Sound MX400 PCI sound card. The focus is on the electronic components and circuitry rather than the card’s external connectors. The card’s gold PCI edge connector runs along the bottom, with evenly spaced gold contacts that slot into a desktop computer’s motherboard. The green printed circuit board is densely covered with fine copper traces forming intricate patterns. Near the center-right is a large square integrated circuit labeled “ESS Canyon3D”, identifying it as an ESS Technologies audio processor commonly used in late-1990s and early-2000s PC sound cards, often associated with Sensaura 3D audio support. Surrounding the main chip are many small components: cylindrical capacitors, tiny rectangular resistors, surface-mounted chips, and a small metal crystal oscillator marked with a frequency number. A smaller square chip and several clusters of capacitors appear toward the upper left. On the far left edge, part of the metal audio connector bracket is visible, with black plastic audio jacks partially seen. Along the right edge of the board, white printed warning text reads “CAUTION – CAUSING EQUIPMENT REGULATION” (partially visible).
December 23, 2025 at 12:07 AM
iosam.bsky.social
Basically, my views on Bazzite (but much more eloquently laid out by a proper writer 👉 @ernie.tedium.co :) tedium.co/2024/12/12/b...
Bazzite: A Linux Distro Worth Gushing Over
While Bazzite is branded as a gamer-focused thing, the Universal Blue Linux distro has a lot going for it for general productivity, too.
tedium.co
December 22, 2025 at 9:48 PM
iosam.bsky.social
Ha! My perfect alibi for the family (as long as no one sees my stats on GOG + offline gaming on vintage PCs 😏)!!!
This image is a Steam Replay 2025 summary graphic with a dark, purple-to-black gradient background and bold white text. At the top left, the username “IO_Sam’s” appears above the title “STEAM REPLAY 2025.” At the top right, large text reads “2 Games Played.” Across the middle are three rectangular statistic panels: - 25 Achievements - 23 Sessions - 2 New Games Below these panels is a section titled “Most Played Games: By % of Playtime.” Two game cover images are shown side by side: - On the left is S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, showing a character in a gas mask and tactical gear. Beneath it, a label reads 56%, indicating the majority of playtime. - On the right is Forza Horizon 5, showing a red sports car driving on a scenic road. Beneath it, a label reads 44%. The layout is clean and symmetrical, with large, high-contrast numbers designed to highlight yearly gaming activity at a glance.
December 18, 2025 at 6:32 AM
iosam.bsky.social
I took Nathan's ( @pixelpipes.bsky.social ) suggestion (to @actionretro.bsky.social ) of using this cheap PCI GeForce GT210 on old Pentium 4 systems without AGP/PCIe slots. This tiny card was the perfect solution for a D2700 Atom system! It literally runs rings around the Atom's GMA 3650 on XP...
The image shows a person holding a compact Sparkle-branded graphics card, an NVIDIA GeForce GT 210 low-profile model. The card has a dark blue PCB with a black heatsink and fan assembly covering the right half. The fan is centered on the heatsink, with five curved blades and the word “SPARKLE” printed in yellow-orange on the hub. Thin horizontal fins extend across the heatsink. On the left side, the circuit board is exposed, showing densely packed components—capacitors, resistors, VRMs, and various small chips. Three large capacitors with pink tops stand out among the components. The output bracket includes a full-size DVI connector at the bottom and a yellow-colored digital port above it (DisplayPort). At the bottom edge of the card is the gold PCI Express connector, which plugs into a motherboard. A thin black fan cable runs along the front of the PCB. The image shows a person holding a compact green Mini-ITX motherboard (with an Intel D2700 Atom chip under the heatsink), viewed from above on a cutting mat. The board is densely populated with components and ports. Across the top are two laptop-style DDR3 SO-DIMM slots, each containing a RAM module with white labels. Below them is a large black passive heatsink made of square aluminum fins, covering the CPU and chipset area. On the right side is a small Intel Wi-Fi card installed in a mini-PCIe slot, with a white label and gold antenna connectors. Nearby are clusters of small capacitors, resistors, and chips. A long PCI slot (the old white desktop type) sits vertically on the right edge of the board. Various internal headers and colored jumper blocks are also present. Along the bottom edge are the external ports: - A DVI port - An Ethernet port - Several USB ports - Audio jacks (partially visible) At the bottom center is a large beige 24-pin power connector. Just above it is a Winbond chip used for system control functions. The whole board has a compact, tightly organized layout typical of small low-power Intel Atom-based platforms systems. The person’s hands support it on both sides, emphasizing its small size.
December 10, 2025 at 4:12 AM
iosam.bsky.social
While everyone is upset about Micron exiting the RAM business by closing Crucial, I'm still lamenting their 2001 decision to exit the PC business... Those Micron Millennias were some damn good machines!

www.eetimes.com/micron-elect...
This is a 1990s magazine advertisement for the Micron Millennia desktop PC, shown in a full-page layout. The top half features a complete beige computer setup: a CRT monitor, a keyboard, and a tall tower PC case. All components display the Micron logo. The monitor shows the Windows 95 box floating in a bright blue sky with white clouds. The keyboard sits directly in front of it. The tower to the right has two front drive bays (CD-ROM and floppy), a round power button, and a wide vent grill. Centered below the image is the headline: “THE MICRON MILLENNIA.” On the left side, review quotes from PC Week and PC Magazine praise the system as extremely fast and the best all-around PC of its time. A short paragraph highlights Micron’s advanced EDO memory and “SyncBurst” cache. In the center is a torn-paper style box titled “P120 Millennia.” It lists specifications: Intel 120 MHz Pentium 256K cache, Flash BIOS 4X CD-ROM, 3.5" floppy Sound Blaster 16 2MB PCI graphics Microsoft mouse and keyboard Windows 95 or MS-DOS + Windows for Workgroups Three configurations are shown at $2,499, $2,999, and $4,099, with differences in RAM and hard drive size. An upgrade to a 133 MHz Pentium is +$100. On the right, a PC Magazine Editors’ Choice badge is displayed, with text indicating the Millennia scored the highest Graphics WinMark and Nthstone performance in recent tests. An Intel Inside Pentium logo is also included. At the bottom right, the Micron Electronics logo appears with a bright red 800-400-6596 sales phone number.
December 6, 2025 at 6:57 PM
iosam.bsky.social
I guess listening/watching to 288 videos of @thisweekinretro.bsky.social (beginning from the very first episode) throughout this year is an accomplishment worth bragging about, no?
Screenshot of YouTube 2025 retrospective showing that I was on the top 0.1% of "This Week In Retro" podcast. Screenshot of YouTube 2025 retrospective showing my 5 most watched channels this year in the following order: "This Week In Retro", "Budget-Builds Official", "PhilsComputerLab", "Retro Computing Roundtable" and "LGR".
December 4, 2025 at 3:17 AM
iosam.bsky.social
Got one of these obscure VIA C3 cpus (from 2004) to play around... This one runs at 1.2 GHz (socket 370) and was one of the latest with the "nehemiah" core. Now to find a motherboard that works with this... 😬
The image shows a VIA C3 processor. This specific model is identified by the text on the chip as a VIA C3 1.2AGHz (133 x 9.0) 1.45V.
November 25, 2025 at 11:32 PM
iosam.bsky.social
A Fan Control (getfancontrol.com) update (from V248 to V249) just bricked my entire Windows 11 install... Made my main SSD unbootable.

Thank goodness I had JUST updated my backup via Acronis True Image an hour earlier, and was able to restore everything back! This saved me hours of frustration! 🙏
November 20, 2025 at 1:53 AM
iosam.bsky.social
Exactly what sooo many of us have been feeling lately... I, for one, am going back to Linux after years away. I'm not replacing Windows on my desktop yet... But instead building a new "sidekick" PC (w/ older parts), to slowly migrate tasks from the main Windows rig (minimizing workflow disruptions).
November 19, 2025 at 8:11 PM
iosam.bsky.social
The sound of late 90's nostalgia... "Welcome to Windows 98"

90's Trip-hop was the bee's knees!!!

soundcloud.com/dmitrij-udal...
Welcome to Windows 98 (feat. Mike Simpson)
While learning Windows 98, I thought about remixing the song that plays when the system boots up after installation. After working with it for a while, I did it
soundcloud.com
October 25, 2025 at 7:48 PM
iosam.bsky.social
This 👇, plus another fact the writer forgot to mention (optical drives no longer being manufactured), is driving the prices of remaining Blu-Ray drives to new highs...

www.tomshardware.com/software/win...
Optical drive demand surges amid Windows 10 retirement — Japanese users switching to Windows 11 are buying up Blu-ray drives
New system, new disc drive.
www.tomshardware.com
October 18, 2025 at 8:52 PM
iosam.bsky.social
Huh?!?

Another gem in @lgr-yt.bsky.social collection I guess... (youtu.be/CaNDeyYP98A)
eBay listing for a sealed retail box of Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Windows ME). The box shows the tilted Windows logo with colorful geometric shapes and the tagline “Better Living in the Digital World.” A red burst reads “For PCs without Windows.” The item sold for $733 after 69 bids.
October 3, 2025 at 8:32 PM
iosam.bsky.social
Today was a good day! Finally got my hands on an elusive Nvidia FX5950 Ultra from 2003 (new old stock XFX branded)!!

#nvidia #geforce #retropc #pcgaming
The image shows a full view of an old NVIDIA graphics card placed on top of its original XFX-branded box. The card has a blue printed circuit board (PCB) and a copper heatsink with a circular fan in the center. The fan has a shiny holographic sticker on it. The heatsink has a unique gold-colored cover with cut-out slits radiating around the fan. On the left edge of the card (the side that would face the outside of a PC case), you can see its display connectors: A DVI port on the top. A VGA port (blue connector) beneath it. The gold AGP connector edge is visible at the bottom, which would plug into the motherboard. Along the right edge of the card, several capacitors and power regulation components are visible, standing upright. The card is resting on a cutting mat with measurement lines, placed in front of other electronics (including what looks like a Roland MT-32 sound module and other audio/PC gear in the background). This is an XFX NVIDIA GeForce FX5950 Ultra graphics card, a high-end model from around 2003–2004, with its distinctive copper cooler design. The image shows a close-up of an old graphics card. The blue printed circuit board (PCB) is visible, with a large metal heatsink partially in view on the left. There is a white sticker label attached to the card, which contains product details. The label reads: Ordering code: PV-T38F-UCFB V1.3 W11/04 GF FX5950 ULTRA 256MB DDR VIVO DVI Made in China S/N: FKH149483 The text indicates this is an NVIDIA GeForce FX5950 Ultra graphics card, with 256 MB DDR memory, including VIVO (Video In/Video Out) and DVI output. The PCB has small printed component codes, solder points, and a circular “E” style logo mark. In the background, the corner of the graphics card’s retail box can be seen, with part of the word “FX” and some stylized graphics.
October 2, 2025 at 9:15 AM
iosam.bsky.social
What a sad (and poetically appropriate) end for EA...

They made a name for themselves buying and killing legendary game studios for decades (before Microsoft asked us all to hold its beer). Now, it is EA's time to die at the hands of unscrupulous vultures.
September 29, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by IO Sam
pixelpipes.bsky.social
The original 3dfx Voodoo was fast, sure. But what was it REALLY capable of? Turns out, FAR more than most people knew!
youtu.be/C4295RCp0GQ
What if we unleashed the FULL potential of the 3dfx Voodoo?
YouTube video by PixelPipes
youtu.be
September 23, 2025 at 3:24 PM
iosam.bsky.social
Silly money...

#retrotech #nostalgia
eBay winning bid of $177.50 for a rare Iomega Pocket Zip USB drive
August 31, 2025 at 9:37 PM
iosam.bsky.social
For all polyglot homies out there livid with YouTube's crappy auto-dubbing translations, that can't be turned off (and with a stupid AI voice no less), check out this Chrome/Firefox extension that blocks this annoying "feature" (at least on the desktop): youtube-no-translation.vercel.app
YouTube No Translation
Keep YouTube content in its original language with YouTube No Translation. A browser extension that prevents automatic translations of titles, descriptions, and audio tracks.
youtube-no-translation.vercel.app
July 31, 2025 at 5:10 PM
iosam.bsky.social
@asianometry.bsky.social has been one of my all time favorite YouTube documentarians. This particular video is, by far, the most comprehensive research about the capacitor plague I've seen to date. Impeccable work!
March 20, 2025 at 7:34 PM
iosam.bsky.social
Nostalgia induced inflation never ceases to amaze me... If someone from the future told me in 2005 that a 50 bucks 5-1/4 inch drive bay PC audio peripheral would cost this much 20 years later, I think I'd laugh that time traveler out of the room! And yet, here we are...
Picture of a COOLERMASTER MUSKETEER3 (RF-5AD-SAS1 Silver Sound Controller) 5-1/4 drive bay audio peripheral for PCs featured on eBay for US $379
February 6, 2025 at 3:17 AM
iosam.bsky.social
Digging some old mags out of my family's attic. I guess I have some 90's tech reading to catch up to this weekend...
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@pcworld.com.web.brid.gy
January 18, 2025 at 2:22 AM
iosam.bsky.social
Hello world!
August 28, 2024 at 7:03 PM