Joe's Computer Museum

An 80's kid playing with computers on YouTube and sharing that love with the world.

Selling cool retro/vintage computer gear! - https://jcm-1.com

Public Key

npub1qfy0ad4q45qn4k5a83x8v2zkheymckqad9qrk0d7esk3lf0mwu0q7nwnn8

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsqyj87k6s26qf6m2wncnrk9pttujdutqwkjspm8klvctgl5hahw8spz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsvq0nqv

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1qfy0ad4q45qn4k5a83x8v2zkheymckqad9qrk0d7esk3lf0mwu0q7nwnn8

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Last Notes

2026-05-05 00:54:20 UTC

She’s so pretty. 65C02, serial port for control and program loading, 6 channel stereo sound and other features that may change later.
The boot chime is the same chord as the Mac startup.
I love it.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/519/237/053/863/077/original/5a15d4b1ad1c3485.jpeg

2026-04-29 20:59:16 UTC

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Gridlocker on Apple II.

2026-04-28 15:13:59 UTC

JCM is now your online source for eMate Flash/RAM upgrades and Comm Slot II cards.
Come get 'em!
https://jcm-1.com/product/comm-slot-ii-10-100-ethernet-card/
https://jcm-1.com/product/emate-dram-and-flash-upgrade/

2026-04-23 19:09:44 UTC

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Will I be allowed to investigate the Chinese government over Tiananmen Square and not be hauled off at night to a re-education camp?

2026-04-22 17:44:11 UTC

The world's lowest-cost multi-function card for the Apple // is here.
$20 gets you just about any function you can imagine.
https://jcm-1.com/product/a2pico2lite-multi-function-card/

2026-04-12 00:26:02 UTC

Have you heard about BlueSCSI Ultra? It's the SCSI device emulator to have for your more modern vintage machines.
Faster performance, works in more machines, audio CD abilities and more.
Check it out! https://bluescsi.com/ultra
#BlueSCSI

2026-04-10 23:02:13 UTC

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Yeah: Ron's Computer Videos and I have a better Neithernet brewing. Taking a while because finding a good way to get DIN8 connectors is, like, this whole thing.

2026-04-10 00:54:04 UTC

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Them: "Joe made an unauthorized copy of XYZ product."
Me: *shows up with a direct chat log between me and the originator of the product -three days ago- discussing future updates to the product and how I can make changes on my end to match their firmware.*
Them: *crickets*

2026-04-10 00:47:54 UTC

I was tipped off to someone on a "well-known" forum stating lies about my associations.
I made an account there; apparently registration is fixed. How long has it been? 3 years?
Anyway, I addressed the kind person's statements. With receipts.
If you're going to step to, you better be "armed".

2026-04-02 19:46:40 UTC

This is why I don’t suggest HP laptops, especially the 17” models: they’re garbage.
This machine sat on a desk. The hinge failed from simply being opened and closed on that desk.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/336/833/286/896/179/original/de674ec273e83d68.jpeg

2026-04-02 00:32:17 UTC

New products coming to JCM-1.com: BurgerDisk and DominoDisk: Daisy Chainable SmartPort solutions for Apple II.
BurgerDisk includes cable and box, so you can have it to the side and interface easily with the card. DominoDisk is tiny and attaches directly to your machine's DB19 Port!
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/332/294/060/384/020/original/8a77b521063ee3b8.jpeg

2026-03-30 19:02:12 UTC

BlueSCSI Ultra now in stock at JCM-1.com. Get the best performance at the best price! #bluescsi
https://jcm-1.com/product-category/hardware/bluescsi/

2026-03-23 20:27:12 UTC

PicoMicroMac is back in stock! Get one soon - they're gonna go fast!
https://jcm-1.com/product/picomicromac/

2026-03-23 17:12:49 UTC

A quote from a client today:
"I would consider printers to be a physical manifestation of evil."
This guy gets it.

2026-03-13 20:29:32 UTC

Hey look! My neighbor’s tree is now mine. Neat! /s
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/223/755/649/420/111/original/3b889ef288268b4b.jpeg

2026-03-13 02:03:34 UTC

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I assume this is tokenized and interpreted like Basic or somesuch?

2026-03-12 21:29:33 UTC

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Animated water!

2026-03-12 20:12:49 UTC

Montgomery Scott is my spirit animal.
I make shit work. It may be taped together, it may exceed specification, it may be totally improvised and against all logic, but by God, it fscking works.
Now, if only I was a smart or focused as him, I'd be a force of nature.

2026-03-09 16:03:41 UTC

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Random Suggestion: music should be a bit quieter than the sound effects.

2026-03-09 03:07:06 UTC

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2 frames of high noise. 2 frames of mid noise. 4 frames of low noise. Done?

2026-03-08 04:09:55 UTC

Another rabbit hole I've fallen into without results: The design of the house we lived in from 1989 through 2010.
I've seen the same design in small towns all across the United States, so it's a kit house. Dates from around 1910. But I have never been able to find the designer or plans for it.

2026-03-03 04:42:20 UTC

Fun fact. Timbuktu 3.0 Pro for Mac (if you enable AppleTalk in the settings) allows you to control other Macs -across the planet- over GlobalTalk.
Thanks torbar!
#MARCHintosh shenanigans!

2026-02-27 17:06:27 UTC

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A friend last night asked Claude to take code for a PIC and convert it to RP2040. It did it in 20 minutes with a single prompt, and it compiled, flashed, and ran without errors.
No change of output code was required.
This friend, however, was careful to note that "I used Claude to generate code"...

2026-02-27 16:37:40 UTC

When using AI to "make" something, don't say that you "made" it or "wrote" it. Say that you "used [AI] to generate a program". Neither of you made anything, no matter how good that thing is.
Taking credit for something a computer generated from someone else's work is disingenuous.

2026-02-23 03:53:48 UTC

SOON #MARCHintosh
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/117/918/729/413/884/original/dae372e2a1115c61.png

2026-02-17 18:48:51 UTC

You can be nice, or not.
I just received a large order of BlueSCSI units because the customer says purveyors of alternate solutions are not nice. My customer told me that was a --primary motivator--.
I'm humbled.
I try to be nice. So should you! It pays off.

2026-02-05 00:35:33 UTC

I could have given the binary of the SpectraGen to Claude, asked it to disassemble, then write scripts to interface to it.
But, I chose to learn.
I asked people for help, dug in deep, & now I'm someone who understands this thing & has documented what it can do.
https://github.com/jcm-1/sg3_4-reverse/tree/main

2026-01-29 21:03:52 UTC

Support PicoIDE!
https://www.crowdsupply.com/polpotronics/picoide

2026-01-06 21:05:01 UTC

My company is now taxed like an S-Corporation instead of a single member LLC to reduce my tax burden. Basically: I'm passing the tariff burden back to the gov't instead of customers.
I am now required by law to post a Worker's Comp certificate in a conspicuous place.
So, it's hanging on my fridge.

2025-12-18 03:26:01 UTC

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I have a gigatron I never built. LOL

2025-12-16 20:34:04 UTC

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if you have a memory increment and decrement instruction that doesn't touch A, then you can just use a memory location.

2025-12-04 20:07:42 UTC

Get a crazy deal - RIGHT NOW - at JCM-1.com
BlueSCSI v2 25-Pin External, Pico 1 with WiFi, fully assembled: only $35! That's crazy!
https://jcm-1.com/product/bluescsi-v2-25-pin-external-short-board/

2025-12-04 02:35:41 UTC

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It's from like 6 years ago. I just never finished building it. You can have it for cost of shipping. It's just taking up space.

2025-12-04 02:27:59 UTC

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Yeah. Like a board, and most of the stuff to build it and all that jazz...

2025-12-04 02:14:29 UTC

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You want one? I have bits just laying around I've never used...

2025-11-26 17:03:53 UTC

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Agreed.
I tried a linux desktop switch from Windows last week on my new computer.
It just... doesn't work for my very specific use case. Had to go back to Windows.
Does that make linux bad? Does that make Windows better? Nope!

2025-11-26 03:18:22 UTC

It's that time of the year. 10% off anything in the store. Expires December 24, 2025. Have fun!
HOLIDAY2025
https://jcm-1.com/

2025-11-18 23:17:25 UTC

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Jawhol. Also, if one intends to have the machine be educational, having discrete logic makes it easier to explain to the learner what the thing is doing.

2025-11-18 23:15:39 UTC

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NEAT. I was going to go the opposite way on JCM-1, just to reduce chipcount. Then again, I don't need that much decodning: JCM-1 is much simpler.

2025-11-18 23:13:39 UTC

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You moved the ATF logic into the FPGA?

2025-11-11 21:07:41 UTC

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take the two signals. use a resistor divider to halve the peak voltage. shove them both through a signal diodes into the same output. done?
I mean, if you want line out.

2025-11-10 18:01:05 UTC

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Right. What PicoIDE does is brings the image management of BlueSCSI into the IDE/ATAPI world. Instead of having CF cards as whole drives, you can just change images and ISOs at leisure. Backup a machine by just copying the disk image.
It's kinda a big deal.

2025-11-10 02:45:44 UTC

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All I can say about PicoIDE is this:
It's going to be the biggest thing for vintage computers.
Ever.
Take Platinum Filament, Retrobrite, BlueSCSI, PicoGUS and PicoMicroMac combined. Then multiply that by about 20.

2025-10-31 18:52:50 UTC

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Solving the hardware problem with software, basically.
Downside: extra software overhead for decoding the matrix. Potentially a lot.
Upside: you never have key clash. You can always see the entire state of the keyboard. Every single key pressed down? OKAY! no problem.
Question: how are you handling keybounce? By the nature of the read loop taking a while, or are you just going to read twice and compare?

2025-10-31 03:11:29 UTC

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Yes. Can we have windows with the modern kernel and security, but the old user interface and *gestures wildly* whatever all this other garbage is?

2025-10-18 20:59:46 UTC

Imma let you in on a little secret. Come in close now.
.
.
.
.
The Apple II is my favorite computer ever. I still have my original unit from 1994, and it is - hands down - the most reliable computer I own.

2025-10-18 20:47:39 UTC

If you had a system that allowed you to connect different brands of 80's era computers over the internet with a unified protocol...
What would you use it for? Games? Messages? File Transfers?
Imagine an Atari, Apple, Commodore and CoCo all doing something together.
What would that be?

2025-10-07 03:13:39 UTC

If you had the opportunity to talk to someone really cool in the tech industry, who would it be?
Game developer? Hardware designer? Tech visionary? The one dude who had that weird idea about marketing?
I wanna know! Sound off in the replies.

2025-10-04 03:31:58 UTC

Thanks to @npub1rrv…6x22 's suggested tool, and cg-wiki.org's great bitmap dump: we have a TTF of the -entire- SpectraGen character set.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/115/313/783/007/773/485/original/eb1b484c0999190e.png

2025-09-25 22:06:34 UTC

Hey internet! Can I get enough interest to build these? I have no idea what production costs would be, but I can't see these costing more than $50/ea final retail price.
I don't want to commit to a large order if there's not enough interest. Sound off in the replies!
https://github.com/saybur/hootswitch

2025-09-04 01:43:13 UTC

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the ........ lottery is a massive scam, it's kinda funny
.....
There, I fixed it.

2025-09-01 20:54:59 UTC

Coming soon* to JCM-1.com: MiniPerformer+ For the Macintosh Plus.
Turn your Mac Plus into almost a Mac SE/30.
* i have to build them manually send help oh god where did all my time go
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/115/131/029/830/751/822/original/505187f5f91461a3.jpeg

2025-08-14 18:59:02 UTC

I love the 6502. You can just look at the code and understand it. (Except for all the weird branching modes, but that's it's own thing)
And hooking it up to hardware? Slap a buffer between it and your other chips and it'll just talk to them. To the 6502, everything is a memory location.

2025-08-07 20:36:44 UTC

I was contemplating a switch from Windows to #Mac for my daily driver before the Windows 10 EOL next month.
No longer. I will switch to Linux or install Windows 11 before I buy another #Apple product.
You lost a customer, Tim Cook. #timcook

2025-08-04 23:56:53 UTC

Dear Intuit,
STOP FSKING CHANGING THE UX FOR QUICKBOOKS ONLINE. Every six months, it changes completely and we have to re-learn everything.
Also: it keeps getting SLOWER.

2025-07-28 20:43:48 UTC

We need a scientific process to de-brittle plastics, the same way we have one to de-yellow them.
Get on it, or something.

2025-07-28 15:49:29 UTC

All orders packed and headed to the shipping company.
Thank you everyone for your patience!
"What's next?"
-Jed Bartlet

2025-07-23 15:36:02 UTC

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It can be a cloud service using an agent application and different authentication than the network.
It can be a specialized appliance that is not accessible to the loads by normal means.
Hell - it can even be *tapes* you physically remove.
Firebreak that shiz.
2/2

2025-07-23 15:35:57 UTC

Joe's Advice:
If you aren't backing up your data to a system that has proper filesystem isolation and snapshot immutability: you aren't backing up at all.
"We followed all guidelines, had backups, got encrypted and went out of business!" means you weren't following guidelines.
1/2

2025-07-17 17:24:54 UTC

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"Hold on, let me have another bite of my bran muffin. You'll get your answer in a couple of hours."

2025-07-17 17:21:05 UTC

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So, basically, AI is a huge Excel spreadsheet with a bunch of rows and columns that - at the end - is all passed into =AVERAGE()
4/4

2025-07-17 17:21:00 UTC

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Ask it to generate a program that does thing "x" and you'll get birdshot, because programming is both objective and subjective; the input is essentially white noise. There's millions of different ways to do the same thing with program code, and every neckbeard has their opinion about it.
3/4

2025-07-17 17:20:55 UTC

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It's a classic signal-to-noise ratio thing. Ask it about 1+1 - a question with an objective answer - and it's likely to tell you "2". Ask it to generate art - something completely subjective - and it's going to generate something "art-like" that is devoid of meaning.
2/4

2025-07-17 17:20:49 UTC

All AI does is take the average.
You ask it a question. It takes millions of data points to give you something in the "middle" of a bell curve.
If "valid answers" are the majority of the data points, the answer will seem plausible.
If the data points are random, you'll get bullshit.
1/4

2025-07-17 00:19:51 UTC

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To paraphrase one of my old mentors, Blondihacks: "Most 8 bit computers are huge, sophisticated video generation systems with a tiny little underpowered computer glued to the side."

2025-07-17 00:16:23 UTC

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Yes.
I would like a "tile" mode that has a built in text tile set that can be switched out, so that one mode can do both functions.
Yes, sprites. I want something like 16 sprites per line? Maybe?
Yes, H and V scrolling.
I want 256 colors per tile.
I want 256 colors per sprite.
Then, I'd also like a pixel addressable bitmap mode to allow advanced graphics stuph.
It's a huge ask. The system would need to be crazy fast and have an easy memory mapped programming scheme compatible with 650x CPUs (since those are my jam).

2025-07-17 00:04:30 UTC

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I want video to work independently (i.e. a graphics chip), but also not be a RP2040 or something. I want it to be a mangle of chips. But that's expensive.
I also want it to be mine. Something -I- designed. Not off-the-shelf. Not VERA. But I don't have the time to design it.
2/2

2025-07-17 00:04:25 UTC

I'm thinking about JCM-1 again. Not my website, but its namesake. The JCM-1 Single Board Computer.
It was almost done. I just had to add IRQ logic and a video subsystem and it was complete.
The Video subsystem got me. Six years later and I still don't know how to do it.
1/2

2025-06-30 15:30:44 UTC

Intuit -forces you- to use their AI Prompt when matching income transactions to sales transactions where there are more than two transactions of the same value on the same date.
I can't match them manually. I -have- to use the AI prompt.
STOP THIS SHIZ NOW.

2025-06-24 21:00:34 UTC

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Cue someone saying "Install Damn Small Linux" in 3... 2... 1...

2025-06-19 23:52:05 UTC

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For example. Look at this mess, Anakin. Look at it.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/712/713/649/628/391/original/3e6fec8d8d3558b2.png

2025-06-04 22:45:16 UTC

Does this mean I'm famous now? Woah. All I did is want a cool thing for folks. :D
https://arstechnica.com/apple/2025/06/new-filament-lets-you-3d-print-parts-in-authentic-1980s-apple-computer-color/

2025-06-01 19:28:22 UTC

Remember:
Be gay, play with old computers.

2025-06-01 02:30:38 UTC

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How often do you see four people walking up to the thing? Or, can the ports be used for other functions provided one has the right adapterdoodle?

2025-05-29 20:52:45 UTC

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I once had to power a voicemail server with a bench power supply because it would take too long to get the proper supply for it. This seems rather normal to me. :D

2025-05-27 00:06:17 UTC

Get LocalkTalk printing for your ImageWriter with the ImageScribbler LocalSquawk Option Card by Polpo!
In stock now!
https://jcm-1.com/product/imagescribbler-localsquawk-option-card/

2025-05-24 02:21:13 UTC

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Question: is it faulting consistently on all five units?
Could it be a bad VERA source flash, causing all VERAs to be bad?
Could it be a bad power supply?

2025-05-16 15:53:01 UTC

Got a message from a client.
Their dog got -inside- the PC, chewed wires and killed the PC.
They asked if I have a solution to that problem.
That dog is lucky it didn't chew one of the high amperage lines, or else the problem would have solved itself. 😟
And yes, I can fix that. 😁

2025-05-09 00:40:54 UTC

Hey, did you hear? The A2Pico now has a new A2RetroNet firmware that supports up to 8 SmartPort Devices? And you can also get it with USB Flash Drive Support!
The most cost effective mass storage solution for the Apple II. Here now.
https://jcm-1.com/product/a2pico/

2025-05-02 19:18:46 UTC

In response to recent talk: If you want better BlueSCSI compatibility, reach out! We don't own -all- devices so we can't test 'em all. But we can improve if you let us know what doesn't work.
Don't yell into the void: tell us what's broken!
Submit issues right here: https://github.com/BlueSCSI/BlueSCSI-v2/issues

2025-04-29 15:36:13 UTC

The honeymoon is over. My latest PCB shipment was double the cost.
Prices on my web store will likely have to increase in order for me to maintain profitability.
If you voted for this, you're the reason you're paying more now.

2025-04-24 00:15:37 UTC

I'm currently making a WordPress plugin.
Send help.

2025-04-18 15:00:35 UTC

Making products is all about "Find a hole, fill a hole" not "Dig a hole, throw customer in hole, hope they want the ladder you made for the hole you dug."

2025-04-14 22:31:30 UTC

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I thought so. I just couldn't find doco about it. Multitasking? Threads? YESSIR!

2025-04-14 21:30:05 UTC

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YES. The 65xx architecture is amazing. Question: is the stack pointer relocatable on the '816?

2025-04-10 02:59:17 UTC

The Mac SE/30 Peeker by Rudy's Retro Intel - Get insight into every signal on the SE/30 logic board, broken out into easy-to-access test points.
Want to know when they're ready? Sign up at jcm-1.com and be the first to get notified!
https://jcm-1.com/product/macse30-peeker-v4-5/

2025-04-07 01:57:01 UTC

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Thanks! Always on the lookout for a smart way to do video on my 65C02 JCM-1 machine (eventually.... 8 years later.... *cries in nerd* )

2025-04-07 01:51:28 UTC

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What chips and stuff are you using? I've been following, but not closely enough for my brain to function. HA!

2025-03-28 23:26:24 UTC

If you have a classic Mac that has one of those weird HD-45 video ports, well, we gotchu fam.
Check out these designs by Michael Wottle, now at JCM-1.com. Your choice of DA-15 or HD-15 adapters.
https://jcm-1.com/product/hd-45-to-da-15-video-port-adapter/
https://jcm-1.com/product/hd-45-to-hd-15-video-port-adapter/

2025-03-27 19:47:55 UTC

I love how the ATARI 400 is so delightfully brown that if it's dirty, you can't really tell.
Is that smoker tar, or just the plastic? YES!

2025-03-13 01:54:17 UTC

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I found a spare tube chassis for an IBM 5155 on eBay. It took ages to find.

2025-03-12 20:52:10 UTC

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As a fellow "Pumpkintosh" owner, I approve! #MARCHintosh

2025-03-10 21:24:37 UTC

Join me tonight at 8PM while I ship out the first batch of ImageScribbler LocalSquawk cards for for #MARCHintosh! Let's get people printing before the end of March, shall we?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgPJKA5AL_M

2025-03-09 01:20:52 UTC

GIT UR IMAGE SCRIBBLER CARD NAO
https://jcm-1.com/product/imagescribbler-localsquawk-option-card/

2025-03-05 16:45:00 UTC

I'm streaming a bit of Pumpkintosh for #MARCHintosh. View its website! Send it greetz! Listen to obnoxious music on loop! Watch the machine crash in real-time What more could you want?
https://youtube.com/live/DlxLA5iFcL4

2025-03-04 04:04:52 UTC

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I know who printed those. It wasn't me.

2025-02-25 16:42:10 UTC

You know Tech Ambrosia - the awesome lady who made those cool Flexible Test Benches for PC motherboards?
Well, did you know you can get your own Test Benches and accessories now?
Check it out: https://jcm-1.com/product-category/tech-ambrosia/

2025-02-21 20:09:36 UTC

#MARCHintosh is just around the corner. Come watch on Monday February 24th to get ready and hyped for this year's awesome Classic Mac appreciation month!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkbsH1v34OE

2025-02-05 19:23:53 UTC

I've fixed my 3D printer problems, so the SE-Mini case is now back in the shop!
Convert your Macintosh SE in to a sexy desktop format. Grab one today!
https://jcm-1.com/product/se-mini-desktop-case-for-macintosh-se-or-se-30/

2025-01-25 16:58:47 UTC

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Just saw you delete my friend request on Discord on your live stream. *sadface* JCM-1