Vanessa (Vanessaira)

Voltage Blaster -5V ISA Slot Adapter

Phil from Phil’s Computer Lab has teamed up with Necroware to design and release the “Voltage Blaster”.  A device which is an ISA slot based adapter that helps facilitate the proper voltage needed to run many vintage ISA slot based sound cards.  Some classic sound cards like the Sound Blaster 2.0 requires -5V to operate […]

SmokeMonster

Atari Jaguar: Reverse Polarity Protection Diode Fix

update 2021/02/15: Added pictures of a Rev B power supply The Atari Jaguar has no protection against reversed polarity power supplies, so if a center-positive PSU is mistakenly connected it will destroy several components in the console rendering it dead*. It is common knowledge that you can add a diode to protect against this, but […]

SmokeMonster

Budget Arcade Power Supplies Unmasked

For years, I’ve been looking for the perfect budget arcade power supply to recommend to people–something with high-quality components that won’t break the bank. You used to be able to recommend products by brands like Happ that fit the bill, but after looking inside their latest offerings, you’ll probably want to reconsider. Apparently every single […]

SmokeMonster

MiSTer Power Switch Warning

UPDATE From Bob, Summer 2020:  After quite a few months of testing, switches compatible with the original Terasic PSU have been found.  Everything else in this article is accurate though and you shouldn’t use low-quality switches with any PSU (including the alternatives listed below)…   Several users have reported voltage drops when using 5.5mm barrel […]