Category Archives: Tech Flashback

Tech Flashback: Citizen 3.5″ Floppy Drive

Posted on December 4, 2012 by lui_gough

I just managed to find an old Citizen drive that’s a bit borderline, and a head-clean didn’t help, so I thought I’d throw it out – but before I do that, I’ll open its guts for all to see. This … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Reviving the Kaypro 4

Posted on December 1, 2012 by lui_gough

Just yesterday, the RJ10 phone cables arrived. I unpacked them, and they laid on the desk, staring at me. I decided to take the plunge – I decided to start the Kaypro 4. (For Physical details, see my last post … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Internal Modems

Posted on November 29, 2012 by lui_gough

So earlier on, I made a few posts showing my external modem collection. First it started off with the Banksias, then the rest of them. Now it’s time for my Internal modems. I think after this post is done, it … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: SCSI Controllers

Posted on November 29, 2012 by lui_gough

Look at that port. It looks just like a regular DB-25 female connector. If it didn’t have that yellow label beside it, one could easily mistake it for a PC Parallel Printer port. But it’s not. It’s a SCSI port. … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Madge Smart 16/4 Token Ring Network Card

Posted on November 29, 2012 by lui_gough

Say hello to the Madge Smart 16/4 Ringnode PCI. This is the only Token Ring Network Interface Card I’ve ever seen. For those who don’t know, Token Ring was a competing network protocol to Ethernet. In the early days, there … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Jayton Hollywood Plus DVD Decoder

Posted on November 29, 2012 by lui_gough

The other day, I posted about the Zensonic Z400 Networked Media Player, and while looking in the internals, I commented on the “magical” Sigma Designs REALMagic SoC. Then I thought, “Hey, I’ve seen this somewhere else before …” It’s the … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: The Golden Age of Sound Cards and Creative Labs

Posted on November 29, 2012 by lui_gough

As computers have evolved over time, many peripherals have been integrated into the base system. Nowadays, it’s commonplace to find onboard Ethernet, sound and even video capabilities on many motherboards. This wasn’t always the case though – in the early … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: A Kaypro 4

Posted on November 28, 2012 by lui_gough

Now this one’s a beauty. Thanks to Jeremy ($qwuzzy at OCAU), and his father Phillip, which I happened to get in contact through OCAU forums – this gem was being “disposed of” due to a house move, and I just … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: The Networked Media Player (Zensonic Z400)

Posted on November 28, 2012 by lui_gough

When rummaging through my old pile of things, I came across the following “box” – a Zensonic Z400. In an era where the Apple TV, WDTV, Noontecs and Rokus are taking off, it’s hard to imagine these devices didn’t take … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: A dead Netcomm NC-35C Modem

Posted on November 27, 2012 by lui_gough

It’s not often I start a post with a picture, but this is exactly what I’ll do. This is the first of a series of posts, which could have only come about due to good fortune, and the generosity of … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Other external modems in my collection

Posted on November 27, 2012 by lui_gough

[First of all, I’ve been very busy as of late, hence why the steady stream of blog posts came to a halt. Today, I’m trying to crank out a few for you all to enjoy (or otherwise ignore) – so … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Banskia Technology Modems

Posted on November 18, 2012 by lui_gough

I’m a bit of a tech-person, and the high pace of change in the Technology sector sees many companies become acquired, or collapse. Today, we examine some of my modem collection – those of the two Banksia modems. Banksia Technology … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Dot-Matrix Printer Ribbon Cartridge

Posted on November 18, 2012 by lui_gough

Before inkjet and laser printers became popular at home, the dot matrix reigned supreme. The loud screeching noises were a defining characteristic of the technology, which still sees use today in certain receipt printers and on forms where carbon and … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Pocketmail

Posted on November 18, 2012 by lui_gough

So you’re out in the bush, or in unfamiliar territory. Wireless mobile data is extremely expensive or entirely unavailable, high speed broadband just a dream. Say you’re a corporate exec, and you needed to read and reply to e-mails, maybe … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: iBurst, another IP-only network

Posted on November 18, 2012 by lui_gough

After my last post, a friend of mine (Jason) mentioned iBurst. (I love the slogan as well!) This was another competing IP-only wireless network which saw deployment in Australia through a variety of providers. The network was shuttered in 2009 … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Quantum Bigfoot CY 4.32Gb Hard Drive

Posted on November 15, 2012 by lui_gough

[Yes, I felt this was an appropriate way to begin a post, to celebrate the complete saturation of the internet with memes!] The answer to that is, yes. Yes they do! While those who have used MFM/ST-506 based hard disks … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Cornice Storage Elements

Posted on November 15, 2012 by lui_gough

Do you remember the days when flash media used to cost an arm and a leg? I do. My first flash card was an 8Mb CompactFlash card bundled with a camera, my second was 64Mb CompactFlash card for $90. (The … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Before ATAPI CD-ROMs, were proprietary interfaces

Posted on November 12, 2012 by lui_gough

Nowadays with SATA III, anything IDE is already considered old. But early CD-ROM drives didn’t work with the IDE interface. There were CD-ROM drives which worked over SCSI, but that was quite expensive to implement owing to expensive controller cards. … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Netcomm NP3620 Mini Print Server

Posted on November 12, 2012 by lui_gough

Interesting to come across one of these in my junkbox. I remembered being amazed by one of these – many schools and small businesses used this decide to turn their parallel ported printers into network printers. I was amazed at … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: 2-port VGA PS/2 KVM Switch

Posted on November 12, 2012 by lui_gough

Rummaging through some of my old equipment boxes, I found this old two-port KVM switch. KVM stands for Keyboard, Video and Mouse and these switches were used commonly where someone wanted to share one keyboard, mouse and monitor with two … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Verbatim Teflon Coated Floppies

Posted on November 12, 2012 by lui_gough

The Rolls-Royce of floppy disks. Not just ordinary floppies, but teflon coated floppies! These were expensive, and were touted as the ultimate in reliability. The teflon coating prevents the magnetic material from being rubbed off the disk, and prevents dust … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Mitsumi CR-4804TE

Posted on November 11, 2012 by lui_gough

I guess one of my most memorable moments with optical discs was when I got access to my first CD burner. Back then, having the convenience to encode plastic platters with 650Mb of data (later, 700Mb, and then later, even … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: A 486 that wasn’t quite a 486

Posted on November 11, 2012 by lui_gough

Been a bit busy lately, so didn’t have a chance to post any more nifty things for a bit. Hopefully I can make some time to show a few more interesting things. For this post, a follow on from my … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: A discarded BEAST of a 486

Posted on November 5, 2012 by lui_gough

On my last post about MS-DOS 5.0, 6.22 and Windows 3.11 Install Disks, my good friend Irfan asked: What machine are you using to run these? You still have working 5.25″ floppy disk drives?? Wow… Good question, and that will … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: MS-DOS 5.0, 6.22 and Windows 3.11 Install Disks

Posted on November 4, 2012 by lui_gough

Here’s another tech flashback – lets start with MS-DOS 5.0. This made possible thanks to Dr. Richard Corkish, who had saved these for me during the cleanup when School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering moved from Electrical Engineering Building … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Windows Mobile 2003SE in Pictures on HP iPAQ h5550

Posted on November 2, 2012 by lui_gough

Having only just mentioned the evolution of PDAs, smartphones and tablets, I realized it would not be a proper description of Windows Mobile without actually showing you what it was capable of, in pictures. I reasoned that many of you … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: iomega ZIP 100 and the Superdisk LS-120

Posted on November 2, 2012 by lui_gough

So, the habit of a good blogger is to post – and post “often” – so this will be my mainstay. I will be posting random posts of “tech flashbacks” into the past, featuring computing hardware and other technology which … Continue reading →

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