The Small Gizmo-&-Gadget Scores thread

[Zagnorch]

Didn't you find one of those before Zag? Seems like you once showed off some calculator with interchangeable carts anyways.

You're thinking of the HP 41C I found a little while back:

http://www.rfgeneration.c...14483.msg216965#msg216965

I don't get what the big module is, it looks like there are three smaller carts and one big one that cover the whole top of the thing?

I suppose I could just use Metacrawler or Alta Vista or Bing or something to figure it out but it seems better if I just guess......is it a camera like on the Game Boy? The display would be about the same.......maybe it's storage space for things you might need, would a Skylander fit in there? Maybe it's simply a counter weight so you can increase your wrist strength while factoring statistics?

The larger lock-on module is a reader accessory for magnetic data cards:

[img width=603 height=550]http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y409/Zagnorch/tech%207-23-2015_zpsfsbny6pm.jpg[/img]

The other two unmarked "modules" are cover clips, akin to dust caps for SNES cartridges.

[Zagnorch]

Uncovered a stack of graphing calculators over the last few days, along with a Polaroid 250 land camera:

[img width=550 height=659]http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y409/Zagnorch/tech%20score%208-14-2015a_zpsx3nwj0ed.jpg?t=1439500929[/img]

[img width=380 height=632]http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y409/Zagnorch/tech%20score%208-14-2015b_zpsc0ymvwjg.jpg?t=1439500929[/img]

[img width=619 height=550]http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y409/Zagnorch/tech%20score%208-14-2015c_zpsxlyepfz8.jpg?t=1439500926[/img]

[Ikariniku]

It's been too long since I posted in the Gizmo & Gadget thread.  And that's a shame, because I love gizmos & gadgets.  The gizmo & gadget nature of retro games is a large part of what I enjoy about them outside the games themselves.  And that leads us to the scores...

[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/6ZDhA6q.jpg[/img]

The hero shot.  Sorry, for the glare.  This looked better on my phone.  Let's move on to the solo shots.

[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/OTp9gVn.jpg[/img]

I was surprised to learn that there's still an operating Radio Shack in my area, and pretty close to my house, to boot.  So, I picked up some connectors.  A 2-pack of coax (F) male to RCA (phono) female and a 3.5mm male to coax (F) female.  The 2-pack was a fair price, but I paid a bit of a premium on the 3.5mm to coax.  However, I wanted the adapter now and was willing to pay for convenience (foreshadowing).

[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/rZZ12Zc.jpg[/img]

This is the FDSStick ROM loader (with optional case).  I ponied up for the case because the FDSStick must be handled frequently during operation.  I do plan on writing up a review, but long story short is that if you have a RAM adapter, owning this is a no-brainer.  It's like an Everdrive for the FDS, but cheaper.

[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/aqVCuUn.jpg[/img]

[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/tGtOnE1.jpg[/img]

A Radio Shack RF modulator.  Despite the brand, I didn't get this at Radio Shack.  This was pulled out of a bin at Goodwill for the price of a dollar.  These devices are widely available in my area, likely due to its large population of elderly persons.  They usually run $10-$25 or so.  While I don't have use for it, a dollar seemed like a good price to pick one up, just in case.

[img width=636 height=1195]http://i.imgur.com/PhBbeYm.jpg?1[/img]

My other Goodwill pickup, a GPX Personal Television AM/FM Lantern Radio.  It's got even more onboard gizmos than the name suggests.  Flashlight, weather band radio, thermometer, compass, and battery charger.  You see these fairly often in my area.  Someone picks it up after a hurricane, it sits around for years, then it gets donated just before the next hurricane.  I normally don't pay these things much mind, but I reflexively check any TV I see, big or small, for what kind of inputs it has.

[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/bKtTmAU.jpg[/img]

A coax input and composite inputs?  I was shocked.  I'd never seen all three on a 5" TV.  Now, you may notice it only has three picture control knobs, meaning it's a black and white TV, but this was perfect, too.  I recently became enamored the idea of going back and experiencing retro games in black and white, especially those made for it, like the Atari 2600.  However, I had no idea where I would find a black and white TV.  I haven't seen one in decades, and all the CRTs I see on the side of the road or at Goodwill are large, high quality color CRT TV's.  Sure, I could fiddle with color settings until I had, essentially, a black and white TV, but I wanted a dedicated unit, especially if I could get it on the cheap.  This was the perfect solution.

Of course, it was only perfect if it worked.  There was no power supply with the unit.  I wasn't going to buy it without testing it, and I knew that replacement power supplies would cost more than I wanted to spend.  Luckily, I found the unit's power supply in a bin.

[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/BLUj2f9.jpg[/img]

Well, close enough.  It was the right output and polarity.  The unit powered on like a charm, and I had my black and white TV.  I got the TV and the RF unit for $9 and change.

[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/sOURtbS.jpg[/img]

This is an older score of mine.  I think I talked about it elsewhere, but not in this thread.  This is a Sony Color Watchman FDT-5BX5.  I rescued it out of a local resale shop for $15, with another $15 spent to get a replacement power supply.  I typically have it set up in my bedroom, where there isn't room for a larger CRT from my game room.

[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/LgHmTXt.jpg[/img]

The back panel, revealing mono composite inputs (perfect for the NES), picture control knobs, and the TV/AV switch.  The coax jack is not built in.  That's the 3.5mm to coax adapter plugged into the external antenna port.

And that's it.  I hope this post was fun and not just a rambling mess.

[Zagnorch]

I hadda pick up a couple RCA-to-RF adapters recently myself, for my ColecoVision. Sadly, all the local Radio Shacks are pretty much kaput. Fortunately, I live near a Fry's Electronics, which is like Radio Shack, but a helluva lot bigger. I let a clerk know what I was looking for, and he led me right to the stuff I needed.

As for the parting out of appliances from their power supplies: that's pretty much business as usual at the nearby Savers thrifts. They seem to take sadistic glee in selling you the items separately so they can get a few more shekels out of ya. And to add insult to injury, they'll put the parts at opposite ends of the store so you waste as much time as possible searching for that missing part. 'Course, when you consider that they likely do this to get you to look at and buy other stuff during your search, it makes perfect sense from a business standpoint...

[Ikariniku]

I hadda pick up a couple RCA-to-RF adapters recently myself, for my ColecoVision. Sadly, all the local Radio Shacks are pretty much kaput. Fortunately, I live near a Fry's Electronics, which is like Radio Shack, but a helluva lot bigger. I let a clerk know what I was looking for, and he led me right to the stuff I needed.

That's what I bought these adapters for.  The RCA-to-RF adapters are going to friends who have pre-NES consoles, one of which is a Colecovision.  The 3.5mm-to-RF is for me so I can hook up RF-only consoles to the featured Color Watchman.  Radio Shack is really the only place near me where I know I can get these adapters.  Maybe I could find them buried in a Home Depot or hobby shop, but there are no other dedicated electronic supply shops I know of in my area.  So, I was very glad to see this Radio Shack hanging in there.

As for the parting out of appliances from their power supplies: that's pretty much business as usual at the nearby Savers thrifts. They seem to take sadistic glee in selling you the items separately so they can get a few more shekels out of ya. And to add insult to injury, they'll put the parts at opposite ends of the store so you waste as much time as possible searching for that missing part. 'Course, when you consider that they likely do this to get you to look at and buy other stuff during your search, it makes perfect sense from a business standpoint...

I've never seen this practice.  When i said I had to buy the power supply for the Color Watchman, I meant I bought a new one online because the resale shop had lost or simply never had the original.  With the GPX, I took a compatible power supply off one of those crappy iHome boombox ipod docks.  Goodwill is similarly lackadaisical keeping electronics and accessories together.  If I walked into a shop that was parting out electronics like that Savers, they would have to have great deals to keep me from walking out.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

I owned one of those GPXs. They're actually fairly good.

[Ikariniku]

I owned one of those GPXs. They're actually fairly good.

The GPX is insanely feature rich.  Aside from using it as a B&W TV, I think I might use the adjustable lanterns to light my Small Scores pictures.  I can see why it would have been attractive in 2003/4.  You could really do a lot with it in an emergency situation, assuming you kept C batteries in multiples of 9 to power it.

However, the build quality is incredibly cheap.  The plastic housing bends and creaks when it's lifted by its handle.  The coax port is slightly misaligned and takes a lot of fidgeting to attach a cable to.  I'm more than happy to pay $9 for it, but retail on these things today seems to be $50-$60, which is way too much.

[Zagnorch]

Time to show off another retro gadget/gizmo-thingy: A complete Tecnostyl portable drafting machine.


[img width=653 height=500]http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y409/Zagnorch/draft%201_zps5tj4lbb4.jpg?t=1439939059[/img]

[img width=500 height=613]http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y409/Zagnorch/draft%206_zpsqeibmtaa.jpg?t=1439939059[/img]


- 'Late

[Ikariniku]

Nice grab, Zag.  I really like the design of those mechanical, pre-digital mathematics and engineering aids.

As for me, well, another weekend brings another small TV purchase.

[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/VL3pdq3.jpg[/img]

This time, it's a Jensen J53-BW 5" B&W TV.  This is more what I was looking for when I picked up the GPX, so I bought it.  It was only $9 at Goodwill and had its power supply bundled with it.  I didn't take a pick of the ports on the back, but it's fairly standard stuff.  Mono composite inputs (despite the unit having stereo speakers) and a 3.5mm external antenna port, along with the video adjustment knobs.  I think it's a nice complement to the Color Watchman, and I have the video output of the NES in the picture split so both display at once.

On top of the TV, you can see a Nikon Coolpix 4600.  I've been wanting to get a camera so I can stop using my phone, and this is the first I've seen at Goodwill that wasn't missing critical parts or required a lot of proprietary accessories.  It's only 4 megapixels, but for $5, it seemed worth it.  Of course, next week something better will come in and I'll have to buy that...

[Shadow Kisuragi]

I owned one of those GPXs. They're actually fairly good.

The GPX is insanely feature rich.  Aside from using it as a B&W TV, I think I might use the adjustable lanterns to light my Small Scores pictures.  I can see why it would have been attractive in 2003/4.  You could really do a lot with it in an emergency situation, assuming you kept C batteries in multiples of 9 to power it.

However, the build quality is incredibly cheap.  The plastic housing bends and creaks when it's lifted by its handle.  The coax port is slightly misaligned and takes a lot of fidgeting to attach a cable to.  I'm more than happy to pay $9 for it, but retail on these things today seems to be $50-$60, which is way too much.

Yeah, mine was a purchase from Goodwill in 2004 after Hurricane Charley, Frances, and Jeanne all hit in my area, and I brought it with me down to Palm Beach when we rode out Hurricane Wilma the next year. I didn't really use the coax port much, as I used it more for the radio, but I definitely remember that handle being questionable.

[Ikariniku]

Yeah, mine was a purchase from Goodwill in 2004 after Hurricane Charley, Frances, and Jeanne all hit in my area, and I brought it with me down to Palm Beach when we rode out Hurricane Wilma the next year. I didn't really use the coax port much, as I used it more for the radio, but I definitely remember that handle being questionable.

I have solar/hand crank radio options for actual emergencies, so my interest in the GPX was purely as a B&W TV.  However, it was immediately replaced by the sleeker Jensen model I picked up.  However, I have to fix a friend's NES soon, so maybe the GPX will come with me as my "on the go" diagnostic TV.

[Zagnorch]

Welcome all to part two of the Magical-Skylanders-Tote-Bag saga!

(Part 1: http://www.rfgeneration.c...15918.msg228444#msg228444 )


All right, time to dig in again. Got me one of the usual suspects...

[img width=400 height=561]http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y409/Zagnorch/score%209-2-2015o_zpsqk1u7eob.jpg?t=1441154247[/img]


...and something unexpected.

[img width=700 height=482]http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y409/Zagnorch/score%209-2-2015p_zpszbaaqtjj.jpg[/img]

[img width=700 height=440]http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y409/Zagnorch/gear%202_zpsdch122ic.jpg[/img]


Now I know what some of you are thinking: shouldn't that second score be shown off in the Small-Toy-Scores thread instead? Well it's funny you should mention that, 'cuz that's exacly where this little adventure is headed next!

Check it out at

http://www.rfgeneration.c...13502.msg228446#msg228446

See you there!

[nupoile]

Where have I been? Guess I should post some finds....why not start here?


New calipers arrived today from Amazon. This has been right at the top of my list of "tools to get" for a long, long time. Now I can measure that time, I think I can anyways, I've been measuring everything else.



[img width=700 height=515]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5809/20916522649_b1985ab9ca_o.jpg[/img]





They came with some very helpful instructions in something like English.


[img width=640 height=180]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5755/21093238302_f70a483108_o.jpg[/img]

[mumboking]

I got this about a week ago:
[img width=409 height=512]http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll222/mumboking/Photos/DSC_0661.jpg[/img]
It's sealed!

[Zagnorch]

Found yet another pocket computer, this time the Sharp PC-1270:

[img width=700 height=360]http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y409/Zagnorch/tech%209-11-2015a_zps68s64hwg.jpg[/img]


Sadly, this one doesn't sport alphabetic keys in QWERTY format like the other pocket computers I've found...

[img width=700 height=368]http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y409/Zagnorch/tech%209-11-2015b_zpszuabdth2.jpg[/img]


...but it does accommodate pre-programmed Flash cards that can be "updated and maintained" by a professional programmer.


[img width=563 height=550]http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y409/Zagnorch/tech%209-11-2015c_zpsggvvwh5d.jpg[/img]


At one time, this particular pocket computer calculated estimated funeral costs and expenses for clients of the Oak Hill Cemetery and Memorial Park, where so-called psychic/medium Sylvia Browne is interred. Boy, who woulda seen that coming?