Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

techav

@techav.net

PikaPC had me chasing my tail for a while, but it's up and running again.
techav.net/post/8056400...

techav.net

January 13, 2026 at 5:39 PM

techav

@techav.net

I can't believe how much I actually accomplished in 2025. I built things that I already look at and wonder how I pulled it off, like porting NetBSD to my 68030 homebrew computer and building a functional PowerPC homebrew computer.
techav.net/post/8050060...

techav

techav 2025 Recap: I had quite a year! I worked on some great projects and accomplished far more than I ever could have imagined. Blog Stats• 50 original posts & 6 reblogged posts • 18 photo dump...

techav.net

January 6, 2026 at 3:45 PM

Reposted by techav

Nanoraptor

@nanoraptor.danamania.com

It's fascinating to see the changes in one company's logo over the years.

A bunch of microsoft logos from the 70s, 80s, 90s and today but instead of saying Microsoft all of them spell Microslop in the vibe of the original logos.

January 3, 2026 at 2:47 AM

techav

@techav.net

I got my peripheral bus rewired and the logic updated. It booted up just fine … until it didn't.
techav.net/post/8043718...

techav

Slow GoingI needed to rework my peripheral data bus to be able to steer the most significant 8 bits of the PPC403 data bus to any of the four bytes of the VL Bus to properly read back data registers.....

techav.net

December 30, 2025 at 3:45 PM

techav

@techav.net

I was finally able to get the ViRGE chip to initialize and start outputting a valid video sync signal, but I missed some important details for translating the PPC403 bus to VLB.
techav.net/post/8037375...

techav

Just Read the Datasheet It was staring me right in the face. ALTI had run into a roadblock and had no idea where to look next. After sleeping on it, I came back with fresh eyes to look over some logic...

techav.net

December 23, 2025 at 3:39 PM

techav

@techav.net

Wire wrap is great because it can be undone by just twisting the opposite direction. But the layers of wires add up quickly and it can be difficult to fish out a wire to remove it.

Wire-side of the PikaPC homebrew computer main board with several thin wires removed from their posts but currently trapped under all of the wires that were placed after they were originally installed.

December 21, 2025 at 9:45 AM

techav

@techav.net

I haven't gotten the PikaPC communicating with the ViRGE chip yet. I've made some progress, but had some surprises.
techav.net/post/8031033...

techav

ViRGE TroubleshootingA big fear of mine when making major additions to a project, such as the work I just completed for wiring video to my PikaPC project, is that the additions will break what I’ve...

techav.net

December 16, 2025 at 3:38 PM

techav

@techav.net

Finally finished wiring video for PikaPC!
Just need to start testing & debugging ...
techav.net/post/8024692...

techav

So Many Tiny Wires ALTI’ve just finished the wiring to add an S3 ViRGE video chip to PikaPC, my PowerPC homebrew computer project. It required hundreds of 30 gauge wires wrapped around hundreds of...

techav.net

December 9, 2025 at 4:15 PM

techav

@techav.net

Working out keyboard & mouse input for PikaPC, my PowerPC homebrew project:
techav.net/post/8018351...

techav

ALTNeed Input I’m working on adding peripherals to PikaPC, my homebrew PowerPC computer project. I have plans for adding support for video, SD card, and keyboard & mouse. I’m still waiting for some...

techav.net

December 2, 2025 at 3:45 PM

Reposted by techav

vcfkyle

@vcfkyle.bsky.social

Excited to get things rolling for VCF Southwest 2026, May 29-31! Hotel room block is open now! Here’s the newsletter announcing the show and all the details #VCFSW #VCF

vcfsw.org/so/32PaQjm_j...