highland145
Lifer
- Oct 12, 2009
- 43,341
- 5,769
- 136
2 batteries in 11 years, I'll just bitch along since I'm 2 miles from the office.
highland145
Lifer
- Oct 12, 2009
- 43,341
- 5,769
- 136
sdifox
No Lifer
- Sep 30, 2005
- 95,022
- 15,135
- 126
That is a painful looking butt plugSo many toy released have been delayed this year, and this one was supposed to arrive in early 2020. I really wanted it when it was announced in 2019, but I kind of forgot about it until it popped up as a suggestion on Amazon based on my shopping history. It shows they are supposed to get it on Dec 23rd, so I figured why not. Hopefully they meant December 2020 and not December 2021.
View attachment 36241
UsandThem
Elite Member
- May 4, 2000
- 16,068
- 7,380
- 146
- Oct 10, 1999
- 30,883
- 12,386
- 136
I ordered the Ink-Bird IRF-4S Remote Grill Thermometer and received it last week:
Wireless Thermometer IRF-4S | INKBIRD (ink-bird.com)
It's really cool looking and I can hardly wait to use it over the holidays.
Wireless Thermometer IRF-4S | INKBIRD (ink-bird.com)
It's really cool looking and I can hardly wait to use it over the holidays.
CZroe
Lifer
- Jun 24, 2001
- 24,195
- 856
- 126
Today only:
Played Super Mario Bros (1985) when testing out a new Hi-Def NES installation.
Played a bit of Super Mario Bros 3 (1990) after repairing a copy that was full of corrosion by literally scraping rust off the contacts and tracing continuity after an eraser plus 99% isopropyl didn't do the trick.
Played some Akumajou Dracula X Chi no Rondo AKA Castlevania Dracula X Rondo of Blood (1993) when testing out a PC Engine Duo I just serviced for a Canadian friend. Glad I got sucked into the game enough to realize that later CD audio tracks were crapping out so the drive still needs some adjustment. I typically play through a 100% no deaths Richter run to make sure everything is good.
Booted up Populous to test the HuCard slot on the PC Engine Duo but didn't really play it. I did notice that you can't reset instantly once you are in-game. It must use the Run and Select buttons frequently enough that they disabled instant reset to prevent accidental resets. Instead, you have to hold both for a couple seconds much like Street Fighter II' Champion Edition and some of the SNK fighters that require the Arcade Card Duo/Pro.
I also bought a rare Turbografx Super System Card 3.0 (NOT the ubiquitous PC Engine one) with a TurboStick and a bunch of other cool stuff from a super-generous dude this morning (fellow fanatic) who threw in a bunch of free stuff too.
Oh, and I had a full day at work (10.5 hours) splitting all that up.
Retro gamers are real.
Edit: Oh yeah... I also "ordered" a boxed NES-101 from OfferUp but the price was too good to be true and I doubt I'll get anything. Wish I had never sold the one I got brand new and unused for $5 at a yard sale in 1996.
Edit: PCEFans
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snoopy7548
Diamond Member
- Jan 1, 2005
- 8,061
- 5,057
- 146
Just scored a Virtual Boy off eBay! Cosmetically it's in great condition, but no image - I can fix that. Comes with a controller, stand, and nine games:
WaterWorld (aw yeah)
Mario's Tennis
Red Alarm
Wario Land
Teleroboxer
Vertical Force
Bomberman (Japanese)
Virtual League Baseball '95 (Japanese)
Virtual Golf (Japanese)
WaterWorld (aw yeah)
Mario's Tennis
Red Alarm
Wario Land
Teleroboxer
Vertical Force
Bomberman (Japanese)
Virtual League Baseball '95 (Japanese)
Virtual Golf (Japanese)
CZroe
Lifer
- Jun 24, 2001
- 24,195
- 856
- 126
I really got into that Mario Tennis more than any of the others, and not just because it was the first (not counting Game Boy Tennis where Mario was the referee). I gave them all a good shake. Wasn't expecting to like it because I don't generally like sports games but, man, was it fun! Got the music stuck in my head right now. Also, it's more serious/grounded than the later Mario Tennis games. I recall having a similar fun playing through the GBC game that had an RPG-like quest mode and more complex controls but it wasn't nearly as "pick up and play" as the Virtual Boy game, as odd as that feels to say. I used my Doctor V64 to play the Japanese N64 game before it was released in the USA and thought that the insipidly dumb intro cinematic would never work in the USA so it would have to be changed... only to see that it was exactly the same when the game launched. *FACEPALM* Mario serving the stereoscopic 3D tennis ball right into your face followed by a 3D logo flying up was a million times better!
I say all this about the pack-in tennis game but Warioland is by far the best game on the VB. Congrats! It's an experience far too few have had. Hopefully you aren't one of the people who can't perceive stereo 3D (a surprisingly large number of people).
snoopy7548
Diamond Member
- Jan 1, 2005
- 8,061
- 5,057
- 146
Yeah, I'm excited to play tennis the most! The only time I played Virtual Boy was around the time it came out, in a Nobody Beats the Wiz for like two minutes. This is one console I've always wanted but just never bought. I see there are two flash carts (one with a fancy e-ink display), but with the amount of games I'm getting I don't know if I can justify one, at least not right away.
CZroe
Lifer
- Jun 24, 2001
- 24,195
- 856
- 126
Just received my Micomsoft XE-1 HE Pro microswitch joystick for PC Engine / Turbo Duo with built-in 5-player multitap. The button angle can rotate and the stick gate can be switched between 4-way and 8-way without tools. It seems expensive for a 2-button joystick but it's normally about twice that price. Besides, the other Micomsoft stick I want for PC Engine is three times as much and requires an even more rare and expensive "X-HE3" adapter. Luckily, I can clone the adapter.
Turbo speed seems kinda slow and doesn't seem affected by the turbo sliders so there might be something wrong with it... unless I just don't know how to operate it. Seems intended to operate like any other adjustable Turbo/Auto stick in that regard so I doubt it. Time to contact the seller.
The eBay haul so far this month...
The NEC TurboGrafx CD-ROM drive probably just needs a gear since the seller mentions that the laser doesn't home and is stuck in the outermost position. I already have several extra gears as well as a Turbo-CD dock to pair with this. It is strange that the seller was able to get a shot of the laser lighting up when that should not happen until after the homing limit switch trips. Still, I consider that a good sign. I also have junk Japanese CD-ROM² drives to get a replacement limit switch if I need to. Paid about $5 more than the last one I fixed.
A couple NES-101 "Top-loader" Nintendo Entertainment Systems for installing Hi-Def NES. I actually installed one into an NES-101 we picked up Sunday but the graphics are all corrupted. Checked every connection and still have no idea what is wrong. My brother confirmed it was something with the motherboard and not the mod kit by borrowing the Hi-Def NES + interposers, CPU, and PPU from a modded AV Famicom I also did. Installing these will help with troubleshooting that one.
A NEC PC Engine Duo for a friend who couldn't get the seller to ship to Canada. It works out since I've also got everything we need to make it whole:
3D printers to restore the missing door
Extra cap kit for TurboDuo/PCE Duo
Extra controllers I can fix up
Extra 6.3x3.0mm adapter tips that fit Duo for a custom PSU
Spare DIN connectors for a custom stereo AV cable OR mono AV cables that also work (have brand new extras for Genesis 1)
Of course after winning the cheapest PC Engine Duo on eBay, someone listed another one for a couple bucks cheaper, Buy It Now, WITH the door the next day after we won that auction listing. Oh well. That's just how it goes sometimes.
Well, I got that PC Engine Duo working except it doesn't like one of my scratched discs that the other Duo plays just fine. I have two more copies of the same game including one from the same factory pressing and it plays those perfectly fine so I hesitate to say it needs anything else. I do want to tweak it for better CD-R performance and that might take care of the issue with it being less tolerant of scratched discs while we are at it.
Regarding the Turbografx-CD drive:
The likely-bad gear I preemptively mentioned was confirmed to be bad (literally broken in half), and I replaced it, but that wasn't the only problem. The drive laser module was not ratcheting on the worm gear rail, allowing it to freely slide up and down the other rail. It is supposed to follow the worm gear with teeth attached to a spring plate which lets it skip when you push the laser module forward or backwards... but that plate was bent and the teeth broken off leaving it detached from the worm gear rail. It's mounted on a part that also actuates the homing limit switch and that piece was broken but that does not explain why the laser was lighting up without homing first.
I did confirm that the laser comes on using my smartphone camera, since it can see IR. Somewhat concerning: It comes on and stays on, even after turning off the drive. You have to unplug the power and plug it back in again to make it go off. It comes back on and stays on as soon as you hit Play. Since you can't see IR with your naked eyes you might remove the lid while bench-testing it and get the laser right into your eye without even realizing it. Guess I've got more work to do. Thankfully, I've got enough parts to completely replace the insides if I have to, so I'm not terribly worried about it... just disappointed that I couldn't have it working in 10 minutes like the last one I bought. It's kind of a pain to move everything from one drive housing to another but it essentially triples or quadruples the value.
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skyking
Lifer
- Nov 21, 2001
- 22,017
- 4,784
- 146
speaking of lasers, I got this new target for the work laser system and excavators.
One of the big stumbling blocks to production is getting help checking grade. I just bought a guy for less than $400
spectra CR600
One of the big stumbling blocks to production is getting help checking grade. I just bought a guy for less than $400
spectra CR600
CZroe
Lifer
- Jun 24, 2001
- 24,195
- 856
- 126
Other than the pack-in that had no box, the boxes for the only two VB games I ever got back in the day are still on the shelf next to me:
...Warioland and Mario Clash but I had to rebuy the games after loaning my VB out and never getting it back.
Paid $30 for the thing on clearance at Wal-Mart and even got to claim the free Duracell batteries offer despite the expiration date being passed.
Had to pay around $75 used for my second VB but I think it was worth it. Don't know how Nintendo ever thought they could charge $180 in 1995 but I'm still glad it exists.My friend got one when they were on clearance too so I did get to play Teleroboxer, Red Alarm, Galactic Pinball, etc. Another friend of mine got one of the Blockbuster Video rental units complete with rental case but he sold that off in the '90s. Wish I had offered him something for it but I still had my minty fresh one that I had purchased new. Oh well.
CZroe
Lifer
- Jun 24, 2001
- 24,195
- 856
- 126
I honestly tried to start one years ago and Apple's spreadsheet app ended up glitching which made the top half of my SNES list inaccessible no matter what platform I tried to view it on. Started the Super Nintendo list over and then gave up when it happened again. Ichinisan and I keep selling off our most interesting stuff anyway since it's usually more valuable to someone else than it is to us and we usually paid pennies on the dollar back in the day.CZroe...gonna make a full list of inventory of all your games and gadgets and stuffs at your house one day and post it here or too much to ask (too many items and too little time)?
Heck, I just saw this on Facebook today:
...and I still have at least three of them, maybe four, since I have four boxes. I kept buying these horizontal stands to use for projects back in the day and because I wanted to see if they were different when I started seeing them sold with different brands (they were identical). One of the things I did early on was make a modular mod chip that you could disconnect back before softmodding was a thing and there was some concern about Nintendo detecting them. Later my brother got a Wii ODE (Optical Drive Emulator) that required a PC to stream games to it so he built a PicoITX PC onto the controller storage area of that. I think it's the one in my entertainment center right now though he long since ditched the ODE...
No, it's not worth hundreds to me so I'll probably box it up and sell it very soon.
I think I hemmed and hawed at the first one for under $20 in 2007 and I doubt we paid more than $10 each for the others. In fact, I was somewhat critical of it back then when discussing it on the Penny Arcade forums since it kinda blocks the vents under the faceplate while swallowing the little rubber feet/standoffs back when Wiis were overheating from Nintendo's WiiConnect24 service. Kinda wondered how it got their "Official Nintendo Seal" with a design flaw like that. At least we know why they dropped the "...of Quality" part from their seal. Also didn't like that all that space more than doubling the size of your Wii (counting vertical space too) was intended for storing ONE controller. Yep: The storage area is only intended to hold one Wii Remote though it has room for the tethered Nunchuk as well.
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BoomerD
No Lifer
- Feb 26, 2006
- 62,899
- 11,294
- 136
speaking of lasers, I got this new target for the work laser system and excavators.
One of the big stumbling blocks to production is getting help checking grade. I just bought a guy for less than $400
spectra CR600
Screwing a grade checker out of a job?
LOL...
sdifox
No Lifer
- Sep 30, 2005
- 95,022
- 15,135
- 126
A slave only cost 400?speaking of lasers, I got this new target for the work laser system and excavators.
One of the big stumbling blocks to production is getting help checking grade. I just bought a guy for less than $400
spectra CR600
highland145
Lifer
- Oct 12, 2009
- 43,341
- 5,769
- 136
But it wasn't an American's jerb.Screwing a grade checker out of a job?
LOL...
skyking
Lifer
- Nov 21, 2001
- 22,017
- 4,784
- 146
I'll still have a grade checker, and he will continue being mediocre. He will no longer affect my blood pressure
he'll be grading out the bedding after I dig the trench to subgrade.
he'll be grading out the bedding after I dig the trench to subgrade.
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CZroe
Lifer
- Jun 24, 2001
- 24,195
- 856
- 126
Not sure why I suddenly started talking about the strange intro to Mario Golf there. I don't recall the intro for Mario Tennis on N64 at all but I do remember the game was surprisingly good too. Still, I kept returning to the VB game.
Probably the biggest reason to get a flash cart for Virtual Boy is "Hyperfighting," the homebrew Street Fighter II port that's surprisingly compelling and better than it has any right to be! I still don't have a flash cart for mine since you also need to build a joystick or pad adapter to play that one properly.
MrSquished
Lifer
- Jan 14, 2013
- 21,264
- 19,757
- 136
a 170mm Japanese Nakiri Knife https://thekniferoll.com/collections/knives-by-type/products/mazaki-kurouchi-nashiji-170mm
That's pretty good actually. Probably last a little longer if you drove a little further. 2 miles probably isnt really enough to even keep a battery charged. I commute 1.7 miles. I have to throw a charger on my truck every few months when my windows quit working. Then everything is good for a few months again.
lxskllr
No Lifer
- Nov 30, 2004
- 57,423
- 7,605
- 126
I wasn't super happy with the last pack, but I got what I paid out of them I think. They range from 'pretty good for the price' to 'junk' I think some of them are made from the hides of foxconn workers. Thin and delicate due to a life in the dungeons assembling electronics.
BoomerD
No Lifer
- Feb 26, 2006
- 62,899
- 11,294
- 136
Never liked thos kinds of gloves. I prefer "drivers" gloves.
Amazon just delivered these:
ATH-G1
If you’re looking for the best gaming headset for streaming, the Audio-Technica ATH-G1 gaming headset is it. The headset’s strong, lightweight construction, breathable headband pad, an ...
www.audio-technica.com
I don't game multi-player, so I don't really need the microphone...but I couldn't find a decent deal on the M50x cans I wanted...so, I'll try these. If they're not as good as advertised, back they go...and I'll bite the bullet and get something better.
lxskllr
No Lifer
- Nov 30, 2004
- 57,423
- 7,605
- 126
I'm not super fond of them either, but I like the price. I use them for the crudest, hardest work where dexterity isn't important. Bucking wood, splitting it, dragging brush... The better examples are fairly robust, but some of them are junk. For finer work, harborfreight's goatskin gloves are very competent, and you can't beat the price. I also use their latex covered gloves for climbing. Kinda slippery on oily metal, but gives a really good grip on rope, and <$2/pair.
BoomerD
No Lifer
- Feb 26, 2006
- 62,899
- 11,294
- 136
I prefer deer skin, elk skin, or even buffalo for my work gloves. Goat skin is a decent option as well.
I've worn out two pairs of these in 4-1/2 years.
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