willegal.net – interesting facts

www.willegal.net was created in March of 1999.

During the entire first year, the www.willegal.net server counted about 5000 “page views”. I can plainly remember how happy I was when the count reached 10,000 after over 2 years of existence.

During the first 9 months of 2013, the www.willegal.net server counted between 53000 and 150000 “pages” downloaded per month for a total of 802,000 “pages” downloaded. Over the last 12 months almost a million “page” downloads have occurred.

Believe it or not, my page on breeding Jack Dempsey tropical fish is my most popular page. I believe the reason for this, is that this fish is readily available in most retailers here in the US, even though it is a terrible choice for most fish keepers.

It seems like the hit count on my retro computer pages, specifically the Apple 1 registry, are closing in and could knock the Jack Dempsey off the top spot in the next year or two.

Mimeo Silk Screen Error and Fix

Fixed - extra 22MF 25V legend

Fixed – extra 22MF 25V legend

The lower 25V 22MF legend in this picture was a feature of the non-NTI Apple 1s. The legend is a duplicate of the one slightly higher up in the image and was removed for NTI series production.

The Mimeo is a NON-NTI clone and is missing this duplicate legend. Note that I had been shipping Mimeos several years before anyone brought this to my attention. Future production Mimeos will have this error rectified.

As can be seen in the image above, I have found a fix for the missing legend for existing Mimeo owners. This is water slide decal that I have printed. If you are a Mimeo owner, I’ll ship you several decals (extras in case you make a mistake) for a shipping and handling charge of $10.00. If you are a Mimeo owner and happen to be ordering kits, PCBs or any other stuff, let me know you want them and I’ll add a few copies of the decal into your shipment for free.

To apply the decal follow the this procedure.

  • Make sure this area of your PCB is clean
  • Cut out the decal as close to the printing as you can
  • Apply a drop of decal setting solution (I use testers brand) to the area where you are going apply the decal
  • Put the decal in clean water for about a minute. After that time you should be able to begin to slide the decal off the backing paper
  • Carefully slide the decal off the backing paper into position on the PCB.
  • Add a bit of decal setting solution to top of the decal
  • Let dry for 24 hours
  • If you have a glossy Mimeo, carefully apply a bit to Gloss Cote to protect and seal the decal to the PCB
  • If you have a matte Mimeo, carefully apply a bit of Dull Cote to protect and seal the decal to the PCB
  • Note that the decal can removed with Isopropyl Alcohol
  • SCELBI front panels now available

    I’m now taking orders for custom made reproduction SCELBI 8H front panels.

    Price is $65 plus $10 shipping continental USA or $20 international. I am pricing these more as service to SCELBI PCB kit builders than for profit. When I eventually sell most of the 20 that I have made, there may be a small profit in it for me, but it will not be much. Based on my experience, unless you were already set up for making custom front panels, making a single one for yourself would cost at least two to three hundred dollars.

    A couple of things to be aware of.

  • In my opinion, they look very good, but on close inspection you can tell that they are not perfect examples of what many people expect from modern machine made goods.
  • I will try to ship the best looking examples to first buyers, but even the ones with the most defects look very good.
  • The screen printed legends are rather fragile and can easily be damaged or rubbed off. I recommend you overcoat with some kind of clear satin spray. I have put 3 light coats of Minwax satin spray lacquer on my personal unit and it looks better than without the overcoat. I would do this myself for all units sold, but this sort of process takes a lot of time and care to get it right and it would make any tweaking or customization by the end user more difficult.
  • Send an email to:mike@willegal.net if you need more details on ordering.

    Progress on SCELBI Front Panels

    We are almost there.

    SCELBI Front Panels

    SCELBI Front Panels

    I need to reprint the bottom portion of a few that I printed last week. This weeks session went much better. There are a few minor defects in the printing, so I’m not guaranteeing perfection.

    The printing is pretty fragile. IPA takes it right off, with almost no effort. I’m going to experiment this weekend with spraying a light coat of clear as a protective overcoat before taking orders.

    Regards,
    Mike W.

    Can you figure out what this person is requesting?

    Occasionally I get emails with cryptic requests, most often from folks from non-English speaking countries. Some are SPAM, some not. This is one of the most cryptic that I have ever seen. Do you think I should reply and ask for more information?

    Subject: Prom provramming
    Date: September 19, 2013 9:01:34 AM EDT
    To: mike@willegal.net

    First of all i admire people like you that release that what they know to the people in the word
    I search the prom code that can programming into the ptom that started the screen monitior opporation.
    If you tell me when if it possible to get this i will thank you

    Have is nice day
    name removed
    If it is cost mony tell me

    SCELBI Front Panel Installed – new images

    I found a digicam and was able to take these photos.

    SCELBI Front Panel Natural Lighting

    SCELBI Front Panel Natural Lighting

    Front Panel - flash lighting

    Front Panel – flash lighting

    This panel has more scratches than most of them. Installed and in normal lighting it takes close inspection to reveal them. It is good enough that I’m going to use this panel on my “exhibition” SCELBI.

    Within the next week, I should be able to screen print the rest of the panels, figure out the best way to ship, and set a price.

    First Front Panel Screen Printed

    Unfortunately I can’t find a decent camera, so this is a poor iPad shot. There are some small defects and a bit unevenness in the printing, but the overall appearance is good. I think I can improve the unevenness by using more “ink” during the “production” run.

    Trial Front Panel

    Trial Front Panel

    Front Panel II

    Front Panel II

    I have a jig made, so I can print the rest once I properly mount this trial unit and do a bit of checking on the how well the paint adheres to the anodized aluminum.

    Compare to some of the images at www.scelbi.com

    Apple 1 Microchess Running

    This is something that I had intentions of getting going for a long time and finally succeeded.

    Microchess in emulation

    Microchess in emulation

    I just added an Apple 1/Ipod compatible AIFF file of the version of Microchess that was available on the applefritter website. I also took the trouble to figure out the user interface, which was not obvious.

    check it out on my Apple 1 software page:
    http://www.willegal.net/appleii/apple1-software.htm

    Initial SUPERPROTO to Swyft Card Conversion Instructions Posted

    http://willegal.net/superproto/index.php?title=Swyft_Card

    For those of you without soldering/rework skills, depending upon interest, I may do a run of reproductions, but it’s not going to happen for quite a while as I have too many projects already in the works.

    I’ll try to find time to do a video blog of a Swyft card in operation, but don’t know when I’ll find time, might be today, might be three months from now.