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A tale of two Pico-ITX mods
As William Gibson once wrote, "the street finds its own uses for things." Of course, the future he envisioned was populated by cut-throat characters with names like Dex Cowb0t, mercenary-types who made their money the only way they knew how: with custom cyberspace decks, hopped up on designer drugs like "splurge" and "spazz." What he never understood was that the only true measure of a technology is its ability to aid a bored populace in its pursuit of nostalgia and novelty. And by these standards, the Pico-ITX board might be one of the most important technological breakthroughs of its time (roughly 2007-2010 CE). Where would the hackers and case modders of our humble era be if it weren't for this guy? They wouldn't be shoving PCs into old Game Boy cases, that's for sure. Case in point: the Linksys Bt320g seedbox project places VIA's EPIA PX10000G mobo and a 320GB HDD in an old Linksys shell (and a 400GB HDD in a second router). The man responsible doesn't say whether or not this one was intended to thwart they copyright police in the event of a search and seizure, but on the other hand we're assuming that he isn't going to be seeding OpenOffice on the thing either. If retro computing's your bag, we've found a Timex Sinclair ZX81 case mod that should bring you considerable joy. Unfortunately the membrane keyboard's been disabled, but if you don't mind using a USB keyboard with a machine that originally sported 1KB RAM (at a whopping 3.25MHz), you might want to hit the read link and see how it's done. Read - Linksys BT320G case modRead - Sinclair ZX81 turned into PC
Better keyboard and AIM client released by fans
Qaz from DCEmu (registration required) has released a pretty nice AIM/MSN/Yahoo client for the PSP. It's pretty easy to install and use ... so long as you're willing to struggle with the PSP's pathetic phone-like virtual keyboard. Too bad ZX81's newly released Virtual Keyboard isn't compatible: certainly, conversations would be far more manageable. Regardless, these are two appreciated apps that will certainly help a great number of people, especially because it doesn't involve homebrew. Simply download, extract, and access from the PSP's internet browser.
Horror history: Inside 3D Monster Maze
Developed for the Sinclair ZX81 twenty-five years ago, 3D Monster Maze occupies a tender spot in European gamers' hearts; consisting of a maze rendered in contemporary 3D and complete with a monster, it truly lived up to its title. As the first 3D title for a home computer, and the first corridor-based horror game, 3DMM is considered by some to be the first FPS, a precursor to the likes of Doom -- technically the game features no shooting, but there are similar elements.However, it wasn't developed as a game at all, as this behind-the-scenes look by Edge reveals. Originally a learning exercise, the frightening T-Rex only came to life after a casual suggestion, and the game's air of horror and suspense developed from there. This story really brings to life the days of bedroom coders and the times when a game could change on the creator's whim, although anyone who remembers the cold sweat induced by the words "HE HAS SEEN YOU" is probably quite glad they're over.
