Home Office Move

On moving to our new house in 2014 I made the third of our four bedrooms into a small office space for my computing and video game collection. It worked quite well (though became increasing cluttered) over the years, but by 2019 I was forced to downsize and move to the fourth bedroom to make space for a another bedroom for the second of our mini-people.

As such, a lot of effort was put in to designing the new, smaller space to accomodate the bulk of the computing/gaming equipment, with the advantage of new technology (including HDMI adapters for almost everything, to do away with the CRT monitor) and a need to box up almost all games for those systems where they could be pre-loaded to HDD or flash cards… as a result it's a much busier room, but actually works much better.

2014 - 2019

Last image before the relocation to the new room:

How the room looked for most of the time:

First room setup after moving in:

Fit or move existing components or route wiring:

• FIT Keyboard cable from VGA KVM to desktop keyboard switch
• FIT UK and Japanese keyboard connect to desktop keyboard switch
• FIT PS/2 Trackball to VGA KVM
• FIT Wire up power and scart for Amstrad CPC464
• FIT Wire up power and scart for NeoGeo AES
• FIT Wire up PS/2 cables (x2) from MSX2 to VGA KVM
• FIT Wire up PS/2 cables (x2) from Amiga 500 to VGA KVM
• FIT Wire up PS/2 cables (x2) from Atari STe 520 to VGA KVM
• FIT PSX HDMI adapter
• FIT PS2 HDMI adapter - But it's not particularly great quality, perhaps component output to OSSC instead?
• FIT New CF card in Amiga 1200
• FIT IDE to CF card adapter and CF card in Risc PC
• FIT AztecMonster SCSI to CF reader and flash card in Mac IICi
• FIT MIDI cable to run to RS232 MIDI adapter in PC-9821
• FIT Vectrex to space on top of desk or shelving (maybe in place of GBA?)
• FIT Everdrive GBA X5 flash card to GBA
• FIT Power supply to GBA and plug in to remote power switch
• MOVE Metal drawers from under old office desk to somewhere
• MOVE Metal paint/tool chest to garage
• FIT Picture frames to walls
• FIT 5v PSU to Atari ST sd card reader - to run off main Atari socket
• MOVE Everything from old office desks
• MOVE All old, un-needed cables to loft or garage
• MOVE Anything else from old office to loft or garage
• MOVE All packing boxes from top of stairs to loft or garage
• MOVE Reference books to somewhere…
• FIT & TEST Wiring for
  • PC-9821
    • VGA cable check
    • 240 to 110v cable and convertor
    • PS2 keyboard to check
    • PS2 mouse to check
    • 3.5mm stereo jack
    • Roland MIDI cable
    • RS232 MIDI cable
  • Risc PC
    • VGA cable check
    • PS2 keyboard check
    • PS2 mouse check
    • 3.5mm stereo jack
  • Mac IICi
    • Mac to VGA cable check
    • ADB to PS2 keyboard cable
    • ADB to PS2 mouse cable
    • 3.5mm stereo jack
• MOVE Boxes of unpainted miniatures to top of bookcases
• FIT Remaining ethernet cables
  • PC-9821
  • Risc PC
  • Mac IICi

Install components, solder or build:

• INSTALL Amiga 500 internal PS/2 keyboard adapter (plus trailing PS/2 socket)
• INSTALL Repair Turbo Duo RGB scart cable
• INSTALL Atari STe internal PS/2 keyboard and mouse adapter install
• INSTALL Small IDE to CF card adapter (<512MB) in PC-9821
  • INSTALL DOS to CF card
  • INSTALL EXIDE 486 IDE BIOS modification software to CF card documented here
  • REMOVE BIOS chip from PC-9821 SCSI card
  • FLASH New EEPROM with EXIDE486 generated ROM images
  • INSTALL EEPROM to PC-9821 SCSI card
• PC-Engine modification
  • INSTALL Either RGB board to PC-Engine, or
  • PURCHASE Super SD System interface board (~£200)
• REPLACE faulty network cable for main Retro PC
• FINISH VME chassis
  • Install 2x small (<18GB) SCSI drives
  • Mount IO panel to rear of chassis
  • Blanking plates to front
  • Fit 2x ethernet cables
  • Fit 2x RS232 to USB cables
  • Power supply cable to remote power switches
• INSTALL New 2.5“ SATA drive to PS2 and load up with game images

Buy new parts or hardware:

• PURCHASE 2m MIDI cable for PC-9821 RS232 MIDI interface
• PURCHASE Turbo Duo power supply
• PURCHASE Desktop power strip for airbrush compressor, soldering iron, lamp etc
• PURCHASE original Sony Playstation to replace broken one
• PURCHASE Buy 3x or 4x shelves for left hand side of desk
• PURCHASE PS/2 keyboard adapter for MSX2
• PURCHASE a Spectrum 128k or 128k +2a so that I can fit a PS/2 keyboard adapter - not compatible with +3
• PURCHASE PS/2 keyboard adapter for Spectrum
• PURCHASE Storage units for Vellejo paint dropppers and Tamiya small paint pots
• PURCHASE Multi-drawer, wall mounted shelves for small electronics components (above monitor)

Things to sell or dispose of:

• SELL Sony PVM 14L4 broadcast monitor
• SELL Old Scart switches
• SELL Full width Billy bookcase
• SELL 3/4 width Billy bookcase
• SELL 2x CD shelves
• SELL 1x Office desk
• SELL 1x Desk shelving/paper tray unit
• SELL TV centre units
• DISPOSE Old spray paint booth