there's something about "computers built by companies who wanted to use up their inventory of VCR chassis" that really appeals to me
The CRT monitors worked well within the exsting form factors for portable TV's, so it made sense for the computer cases to match... :D
@mavica_again @mos_8502 MBC-55x has a linear power supply too! I'm pretty sure an engineer just started building a toy computer in an old amplifier case and things got out of hand.
@mavica_again @foone I had this MSX by Gradiente from the first picture. It's a Brazilian version and yes, Gradiente also built VCRs
@eltonfc i repaired a couple before i left brazil :)
@mavica_again Well now I kind of want to make an htpc in a VCR case... I only use one VCR to convert to digital, and I think there are two or three at my parents house that may or may not even work.
@mavica_again This might end up being the fate of my TiVo HD.
It's a pretty minimal MIPS32 SoC with limited RAM. Worse: it's deep in the signed-kernel era, so the way to run something modern is to figure out a kernel exploit to turn the Linux 2.4 kernel it shipped with into the world's most godawful bootloader. And after that, it's a broadcom chipset with no documentation.
Which is why half the time I look at it and think I should hack it, and the other half, I should stuff an SBC in it.
@mavica_again I know the Green purists will come for my head, but Amber was the best monochrome color.
Yeah, I said it.
@mavica_again i was amused to look up the Philips machine and discover that Sanyo made that one too.
i guess they had a *lot* of hifi separates boxes to retool...