EEVblog

More than an hour of Mailbag!
Forum: www.eevblog.co...
SPOILERS:
Sony DVO-1000MD medical device video DVD recorder teardown
8:09 Security ISA card teardown from the 1980's
18:39 Power Grid the board game!
25:02 USB soldering iron
27:21 TI-nSpire CAS+ calculator PROTOTYPE!
35:28 DIY JBC/Hakko soldering iron controller
www.team-ncrc....
41:49 UV LED lamp for PCB exposure
45:10 DIY battery spot welder
www.keenlab.de...
51:44 10W Laser Diode circuit PCB design review
www.kickstarte...
1:00:00 EL light teardown
1:02:41 IC2 rotary encoder Kickstarter
www.kickstarte...
EEVblog Main Web Site: www.eevblog.com
The 2nd EEVblog Channel: / eevblog2
Support the EEVblog through Patreon!
/ eevblog
Stuff I recommend:
kit.com/EEVblog/
Donate With Bitcoin & Other Crypto Currencies!
www.eevblog.co...
T-Shirts: teespring.com/s...
Likecoin - Coins for Likes: likecoin.pro/@...
💗 Likecoin - Coins for Likes: likecoin.pro/@...

[@RuiApostolo]

+EEVblog Dave, I'm 90% sure that 'unseen note' was written with UV sensitive ink, maybe the UV marker was a hint? Edit: Yep. UV led as well :D

[@EEVblog]

Doh! Didn't even occur to me. I just thought it was a joke because I always toss the note aside first.

[@alfoncejean8826]

EEVblog hope you did not threw away that note already.

[@vadzimyatskevich]

Nice idea! But there is no hidden message :).

[@grantrennie]

EEVblog fran on fran lab got one of these games in the post too, maybe you can play it over the Internet by sending game tactics back and forward. I think big Clive got one of those soldering irons in the mail...

[@ZomB1986]

They shouted this at you many times during the live

[@thethufir]

"It's upside down!" Well... it IS the austrailian expansion :P

[@VerstehenSieMathis]

All the 'strayans gonna fall out!

[@MarkFunderburk]

Australia from North America's POV

[@matyascerny4245]

@@MarkFunderburk Not just NA the entire north hemisphere!

[@robertcartier5088]

@@MarkFunderburk The game was made in Germany. Consider yourself debunked. ;-)

[@SimonQuigley]

No, it's up the right way. Nothing says north is up.

[@Thermosphere]

Hi Dave, thanks for the shout-out for my JBC soldering iron controller! A quick note; your power supply seems to hit its power limit and droop some voltage under load, which can be seen at 37:30. While heating the controller (and the JBC tip) can draw 8A. This can explain the "slow" first heating and sluggish step response (to the some extent) when you apply wet sponge.

[@bengrant4724]

Thermosphere hey that's a really nice controller there mate!

[@Thermosphere]

Thanks Ben!

[@jasonscott6171]

Gotta say that is a pretty decent JCB controller with a good eye on its construction.

[@CAZinAustralia]

I think you were supposed to use the UV light on the unseen note.

[@LaughingBuffaloes]

You should totally do a livestream of you and David playing a game of Power Grid. I would love to watch that.

[@SaturnV2000]

I worked with something very similar to the "Safe-Seal" during mid 80's period called X-Lok50 security card . . . it was a hardware "key" for the hard disk - generated a password protected login screen for the PC in the DOS/Unix environment, before the days of password protected boot/BIOS . . . . I think it also did encryption of HDD, and other useful security functions . . . it modified the MBR somehow so HDD would not boot if you simply yanked the X-Lok50 security card in attempt to bypass login . . . . it was a very sophisticated device, cost about $500 USD back then

[@EEVblog]

Neat, thanks.

[@wasilibarka4855]

22:10 Aussie tries to explain that the map is upside down... Meanwhile he is standing his whole life upside down.

[@heathwellsNZ]

Super interesting to watch this compared to the live recording... Gives a real peek into the production / creating side of things! Thanks Dave!

[@Ghozer]

DVD Drives sticking shut like that is quite common, happens with CD/DVD/Blue Ray drives that are tray loading.. due to the spindle, and the magnet that sits on the top side of the disk, to hold it in place while spinning, if it's not used very often, the metal on the spindle becomes magnetised, combined with the magnet on the top, it makes it too strong, so when pressing eject, the assembly that holds the motors and laser etc can't pull down and move the motor out of the way for the tray.... all because the magnet is too strong... put a disk in it (once it's open) and keep a disk in it, then it will always open (I use the clear ones from the top of blank disk spindles) - I always keep one in any of my drives/CD players for this reason :) Oh, and I love Powergrid, it's a GREAT game! :D - first played it about 10 years ago :)

[@A13tech]

i have been using my ti nspire cas as every day calculator almost 8 years. Its a beast

[@johndrachenberg2254]

Dave, maybe you should consider filming Kickstarter Mini Mailbags... When an appropriately-labelled package comes in, perhaps write a due date on it (two weeks perhaps?) with a highlighter pen. I bet you could have helped quite a few great Kickstarter campaigns over the years.

[@Masterscheffe]

kickstarter guys should insert a sound making device that plays when the package is not moved within a specified amount of time.

[@station240]

@Masterscheffe Would get blown up by customs.

[@prrt686]

think of the publicity for your KS project, though... ;)

[@FranLab]

The classic Al Bean Moon Fix - hit the top with a hammer.

[@horacegentleman3296]

Hey I found Fran. How Fran.

[@jetraid]

Schrödinger cat badge the best of the mailbag :)

[@dlayman101]

Thanks again Dave for all of the great knowledge delivered In a way that doesn't induce sleep, you're the best

[@petersage5157]

Glad you included the footnotes in the segment with the little EL panel explaining how they work. These things seem to run forever and piss away bugger all power. The phosphor slowly degrades with use, like the target screens on magic eye tubes and CRTs, but I have one that's been running nearly continuously for over two decades and it still puts out enough light to find the bathroom light switch in the middle of the night.

[@mattelder1971]

I think the X-Battery thing on the card was to show you where the battery was in case you did a teardown of the card, so you didn't cut in that area.

[@Mythricia1988]

Oh snap. That LTC6820 is really neat! I've been looking for something just like that, except for I2C. LT has some really unique solutions to problems you never thought you'd have... Maybe I can migrate my project to SPI instead, just based on that chips existence.

[@kozmaz87]

This mailbag is the best in years so far.... at 25mins right now... but it is wow

[@3k2p6]

In that card with LCD I think he was marking the place the battery is. Maybe under the layer in that place there is the battery. Just guessing.

[@subtledemisefox]

Yeah I'm pretty sure that's what it was for. In case he did a tear down on it.

[@borincod]

Oh, you didn't get the beauty of that small 365nm torch... It uses just one 1.5V battery to feed the LED that can be driven minimum by 3.4V. An elegant thing with much of interesting physics behind

[@petesmith13]

also I think the "no battery" thing on that security pin credit card was actually a crossed out section showing you where the battery is in case you took it apart make sure you didn't chop the battery

[@RoyvanLierop]

I personally have the kWeld for about 6 months now. It's a great spotwelder and i'm glad Frank got on this mailbag. For a hobbyist its a perfect way to create your own li-ion battery packs. Would love to see him assemble it.

[@joeybushagour2612]

Great video as always Dave! I'm consistently impressed by your wealth of knowledge.

[@douro20]

I've heard a bit about those IDO encryption modules. The actual encryption is done in the WD2001 chip and everything else around it is for support! I would imagine the processor is a 68000 or similar.

[@Nobody12409]

Found the datasheet for the WD2001 in an old Western Digital databook. In the book, it says, "NOTE: This device can not be shipped outside of the United States of America without authorization from the State Department and Department of Defense." Uh-oh... Dave's in trouble now!! The chip looks like it implements DES with a 56 bit key. No worries!

[@EEVblog]

Ah, that's why I couldn't find any data on it.

[@Null_Experis]

Fun fact, the DES key system was discovered to be incredibly vulnerable, and can be cracked these days in under 24 hours!

[@povilasstaniulis9484]

The US had a restriction on export of cryptographic stuff back in the day. This restriction has since been lifted, except for some military-grade certified stuff.

[@syskeytechnician3509]

Maybe it's some sort of old computer tape encryption interface, where a tape drive / streamer is attached on the 15pin connector? To store backups or other data on encrypted cartdriges or reels?

[@jull1234]

"let's get straight into it" and actually gets right into it. Good Guy Dave.

[@ghrey8282]

Power Grid is a great game. Still widely popular. We sell it in our shop.

[@Mutation666]

Power grid is a pretty good worker placement game

[@JonathanCormier]

Yeah its currently ranked 31 on bgg. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2651/power-grid

[@philipandrew1626]

It has some nice economic aspects like auctions of generating sources and supply and demand driven prices related to energy raw materials (coal, oil, wood, uranium, garbage).

[@magnets1000]

Those usb soldering irons are actually usable and quite decent. You pull the plastic cap not unscrew

[@barrybritcher]

magnets1000 nope. Tried to solder outside with it. Wouldn't heat the solder hot enough

[@ElectronicsRandomness]

Barry Britcher For me it works really well, it was really useful for me as it saved me when i had my presentation and i just brought this thing for quick repairs along with a power bank to use it, i had presentation in a few hours and i was no longer allowed to leave the hall, voltage regulator had gone bad... This thing heated up in 15 seconds and i was able to replace voltage regulator very easily with it. (i did bring all spare parts i had doubt about). Over the year i have used it several times for quick small repairs. Definitely not very useful if you need it to get at relatively higher temperatures (it just uses 5v 8w heater), otherwise great for smaller tasks. BTW I'm 16 so just a hobbyist view not pro.

[@barrybritcher]

Lachlan Jansen yea I would imagine it's ok indoors

[@Lasseu]

Ts80 FTW!!!

[@-yeme-]

I bought one a few years back to fix my actual soldering iron and since then its been in my toolbox getting fairly regular use. It works fine, indoors or out. If it wasnt even melting your solder it was either faulty or whatever you were powering it from wasnt delivering the ~2A the iron needs. It cant do high mass joints of course and it relies on a fairly high temp to work at all so you wouldnt want to use it on anything sensitive to that. Apart from those obvious limitations , for non-demanding work its perfectly functional.

[@Hagledesperado]

50:27 Of course you can do it in the lab. All you need is an explosion containment pie dish, and you're set.

[@silviustro1]

The old TI-Nspire calculators were quite difficult to use. The new TI-Nspire CX ones added a color screen, had a separate keyboard and numpad, rechargeable battery, they also added a very nice touchpad mouse, it was really nice to use. The TI-Nspire Series calculators are pretty much Linux computers, you could "hack" the firmware and make them run all kinds of software including emulators and games, got mine to run DOOM!

[@douro20]

Not quite Linux; they run the Nucleus RTOS from Mentor Graphics (which is now part of Siemens).

[@silviustro1]

Nice info, good to know. Wasn't it Linux based? I remember being able to get to the terminal and Linux commands working.

[@douro20]

They did implement the POSIX layer so Unix/Linux software will work on it.

[@ionstorm66]

I have a 89-ti and it is so easy compared to the first gen nspires. The new color ones are pretty slick though.

[@ChaseDaigle]

I've still got my Ti nSpire CAS and it was quite a rough learning curve and it definitely could have had a better interface but still probably the best calculator I've ever owned. I haven't looked at the newer revisions and I probably shouldn't so I don't buy one!

[@miamimovies]

21:55 This is the work of a master troll.

[@simontay4851]

"Its up side down" of course it is Dave. Australia is up side down compared to the rest of the world.

[@sextoempirico2243]

Rest of the world? For people living in the following places, Australia seems pretty normal. Antarctica, Chile, Argentina, Falkland Islands, New Zealand, Îles de Boynes, South Africa, Brazil, Lesotho, Namibia, French Polynesia, Paraguay, Swaziland, Botswana, Mozambique, Madagascar, Bolivia, Zimbabwe, Réunion, Tonga, Fiji, Mauritius, Vanuatu, Peru, Zambia, Angola, Malawi, Samoa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, Kiribati, Indonesia, Tuvalu, Seychelles, East Timor, Tokelau, Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Kenya, Burundi, Colombia, Gabon, Rwanda, Somalia, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, Maldives, Nauru, São Tomé and Principe.

[@restcure]

Eh - rest of the world from place of manufacture ...

[@CookingWithCows]

That's also why the display of the soldering thing was upside down

[@leocurious9919]

@sexto empirico the following places? I have never heard of these "places". And you even wrote Fuji wrong (u wrote Fiji). Thats a company, not a place. Anyway, stop naming areas in your garden. Obviously australia is upside down.

[@SoCalFreelance]

Aren't you curious if there are any videos on the HDD? 😁 I would hook it up to my laptop using an external HDD interface to see if there are any MP4 or AVI videos on it.

[@Gamamaha]

I guess MPEG2

[@keller8854]

Power grid is my favorite board game. There is a whole following for board games like this. They are made in smaller numbers and often have a limited amount that are produced. Another game I like is called "Hive". You get a dozen of these domino looking pieces, but with a picture of an insect on it instead of dots. Each different insect can move a certain way, kind of like chess pieces. The goal is to trap the other players queen bee.

[@RuneKyndal]

you have to power up that soldering iron. "pull" off the tip protector. it DOES WORK for.. granted very portable applications (4.5 - +6) volt

[@jubronaljoan]

Ow. Now my head's pounding. Being a cultured Adelaidean I have a pretty low tolerance for the enthusiastic East Coast Strayan accent. Crikey Moses! Good thing we're all one big happy country... :) Very good channel mate. New subscriber looks like I have a lot of back catalogue to go through...

555K subs! Surely that's a major milestone!

[@TravisTerrell]

That calculator was amazing for my calculus classes.

[@JerryEricsson]

I have a couple of those USB soldering irons, they actually work quite well for quick repairs, in fact I eve built a kit oscilloscope using one once while we were camping in the Mohave Desert. It worked OK, that button is a sensor to activate the tip when you are holding the iron so it can sleep when resting in the holder. I plug it into a home built USB power brick that has 5 18650's reclaimed from old laptop batteries. I wore my first one out, but the one like you have there actually still works now 3 years after I purchased it. Once I even used it to solder some 12 volt heavy duty wires for my brother-in-law's Class A motor home, and it is still working well. Now that took some time to heat up with that tiny tip. That screw end you unscrewed to take off the plastic really is supposed to hold the tip on, that plastic shield pulls off.

[@dangerousmythbuster]

We need a live stream of the Jones family playing Power Grid.

[@databang]

Scotty, I trust YOU!

[@CoherentPhoton]

53:05 LOL, "at 100KHz up where you reach space". :D

[@henrybader2380]

He's such an electrical engineer!

[@mortensentim511]

The EL is essentially a capacitor. Conductive back, phosphor middle, and transparent conductive front (with silver bus bar). The changing electric field from the applied AC excites the phosphor layer which emits light. You wouldn't see much more by taking it apart further.

[@stevec00ps]

Space, the final frequency, these are the voyages at 100KHz...

[@mikeissweet]

This is my favorite segment!

[@voltlog]

Increasing the pcb size for that soldering iron controller would allow them to do a single sided load which would not only lower the BOM cost but would also help with the assembly time.

[@SwapPartLLC]

in my experience with CD and DVD drives, I've found that dirty limit switches cause the majority of problems. I usually spray a bit of contact cleaner in each and then actuate them several times. You can check them with a meter and identify ones with resistance when closed.

[@ProfessorFartsalot]

Lol I was thinking "Those got some grunt" when you said those cables were grunty.

[@JackS425]

Your comments on the nspire are why I will always stick by my ti-84.

[@meowcula]

Morbid? With you Dave - knowledge is power. The more we know the less we fear right? :D

[@schitlipz]

Don't need a driver for the light strip. Just plug it in the wall. Often used in aircraft.

[@feynthefallen]

It's upside down, I absolutely LOVE that kind of humor...

[@loukashareangas4420]

ya might be here early but I watched it LIVE!

[@Kelthor85]

Loukas Hareangas WE'LL DO IT LIVE

[@23RaySan]

please do a quick 2nd channel video about the battery spot welder

[@zetasyanthis]

Power grid is awesome! I've played it a few times and it's a lot of fun!

[@linagee]

Dave: Thanks for opening one of my cheap chinese junk in a past video (not this one). It was awesome to get something on your show for $1.00 (shipped, from China) without having to spend $100.00 just in shipping or whatnot. :-) As always, it makes sense to send the most interesting cheap chinese junk, not just the boring stuff!

[@michaelpiotrowicz6100]

The board game review was incredibly funny, thanks Dave. I could watch you wig out about the upside down Australia over and over again. Edit: Unbelievably it keeps getting better.

[@pedrobaco563]

Part of endo stacks, seen lots of them. Nowadays these became part of a standalone unit for recording all patient data in HD, and backup for dvd if necessary

[@erikjgreen]

I've played Power Grid. Once you figure out the rules well enough to play comfortably, it's a lot of fun. I recommend a group of 3-4 people, all adults or smart kids.

[@linagee]

The JBC soldering iron controller could have done with a 5 cent red LED and prevented someone from burning their place down. Those small red LEDs are nice safety measure to be able to see from a distance as you're closing up the shop.

[@michaelbrock1093]

I used the next generation after the CAS calculator shown throughout high school and uni... Sure a lot slower than the scientific... But it is really a godsend! Will bring it to the next EEVBlog meetup and show you around it if you like Dave.

[@firworks]

That DIY JBC Soldering Controller was pretty sweet. I'd be interested in snagging one but their website doesn't seem to work sadly.

[@deelowe3]

Check out hackaday. Looks like its a common thing. There's a diy video that shows how to make one. Could be a fun project.

[@elmardus]

There is a working link in the video description :)

[@xenonram]

Marco Reps did a good video (or two) building a JBC controller.

[@johnrogers4983]

I was about to comment this, marco reps deserves more attention :) I know it is not the place but I'm 99% sur dave wouldn't mind !

[@Skauber]

The controller Marco Reps made was quite awesome, but not as DIY friendly as this one or even the Unisolder 5.2 which are available as kits.

[@JaredReabow]

cmon dave, its not no battery, its showing you where it is....

[@kjur18]

That hole at the back of this TI looks like something that mate with battery cover perhaps, for detecting when cover is of to change the batteries.

[@onemanshow4116]

I used that ti-spire calculator, and YES it was kind of a royal pain to use! I will say the production model had a better interface. One cool thing about the production model: the keyboard was removable, and you could swap in a standard ti-84 style keyboard, which also booted up the ti-84 operating system! I eventually upgraded to the nspire with a touchpad (without color LCD), which had an infinitely better designed keyboard. It also had the removable keyboard design, but unfortunately ti must have abandoned the idea of "backwards compatibility" because they never actually released any alternative keyboards for that model!

[@dangerousmythbuster]

OneManShow You might be thinking of the non CAS model. The non CAS model had a removable keypad, but I don't think the production CAS models did.

[@onemanshow4116]

dangerousmythbuster: ah- you are right, it did not have CAS. However, my current touchpad version does have CAS, and has the same removable keyboard design... but like I said: no actual swappable keyboards were made for it :( ...good catch on the “non CAS” though!

[@bkucenski]

It might be silly but the reason I don't put the labels on the PCB is because I have them made in China and I don't really trust these low cost providers to not try to sell off your designs if they look interesting enough. They're as useless as possible without the matching schematic.

[@douro20]

ZeTeCo CH was a hacker/maker camp in Switzerland. It has been postponed indefinitely until they can find a new venue.

[@EEVblog]

Ah, bummer.

[@dogdipstick]

Hell yeah K-Weld. I use Chevy Volt 15Ah cells, they tromp lipos from HK. I overcurrent, 2000A, @ 6s charged, 25V, but the sweet spot for me is slightly discharged at 22-23v. Gives a solid 1890A. Tool is untouchable, in quality, for the hobbyist. Frank is an amazing engineer.

[@Sharklops]

I don't think that X was indicating "no battery" on the card but rather showing where the battery was so that you didn't cut into it if you decided to take the card apart

[@ctrlaltdel02]

That board game is great, will wait for your comments on that.

[@vegisaynom]

Those i2c rotary encoders are pretty cool! Been designing a midi controller for my step sequencer, and I need a good few rotary encoders, was thinking of going down the i2c route with the display, so i might be getting a few of these to use with it! :D great video :)

[@thecombatengineer7069]

Love the battery spot weld kit, followed his videos and the blog chat. Everyone should check out the kit Frank built.

[@Manawyrm]

I'd really like to see the spotwelder in action. Maybe do a video in your old lab aka the garage? ;)

[@apehat]

I love Power Grid. Played it a few times. Really very enjoyable with other boardgame geeks :)

[@chrisw1462]

Germicidal UV lamps are generally UVC - which means they're 100- 280 nm wavelength. From everything I've read, UVA (315-400 nm) is better for solder resist. Might be why yours was so slow, but the sun will always work faster.

[@tcpnetworks]

We used the safe seal cards on NCR ATMs. The ATM ran either VMS or VRX and this thing held the keys.

[@illustriouschin]

He shot this live to show us how the magic happens.

[@G7OEA]

we need a live stream with dave and mrs eev blog playing

[@trr94001]

Power Grid is a pretty good game. It has an interesting strategy dynamic where it’s advantageous to _not_ be in the lead until the very end.

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

ABlu-ray drive might work in the SONY DVD recorder, if you have Thinners you might be able able to dissolve the outer of the card and leave you with the PCB.

[@jimhart4158]

I have one of those nSpire CAS calculators, and let me tell you, they are great. The big seller for me is they can do calculus in symbols. That alone was enough for me to love the thing.

[@McPcholkin]

I use USB soldering iron, it really useful. Just connect it to power bank, to solder 2-3 wires in car it perfect.

[@maddoxinc1642]

The soldering iron kit...... lmao took me a min but I'm still laughing..

[@cambridgemart2075]

The 'custom' connector on the EL panel is actually a Micro D connector which would indicate the unit is probably from a military aircraft; those connectors are rather expensive so it's unlikely they'd be used on anything commercial. Power it with 115V 400Hz.

[@JSGregg]

I have the original Nspire. Haven't used it in years, but I remember it being more enjoyable to use than the one you received. You could swap the keyboard out with an included TI-84 Plus keyboard and it would boot up a TI-84 emulator.

[@adcurtin]

I've played power grid a couple times. It's a good game, but it is a little complicated. It's also rather long, the box estimates 2 hours, I'd say plan for 3 hours for your first game.

[@danielrose1392]

Regarding this security card and the battery outside. I worked with a similar card, they lose all their keys once they lose power. The battery is on the outside so you can hot swap the battery while the system is running, keeping all the keys. With the battery on the inside, there would be no way to replace the battery.

[@m3chanist]

Southern Hemisphere, Top of the World! Viva la revolution!

[@Wineman3383]

Gotta get me one of those soldering iron kits!!!! Ha that's a funny idea.

[@djlorenz11]

Powergrid is quite famous! I actually want to buy it from a long time!

[@ProdigalPorcupine]

That DVD drive will likely just need the belt replacing on the drawer loading gear. On some you can even do this without opening the drive if you’re dexterous! Well worth doing. The recorder may not recognise a different DVD drive, it’d be interesting to test that.

[@Turborider]

1000 Amps @ 12V?! That's 12kW!

[@annaoaulinovna]

spot welder is a great. also rotary encoder is a necessary item.

[@andrewyoung3896]

Dave, have you never come across a CD drive that does that? I have 6 that have sticky draws, one is impossible to pull out. When you start doing that they eventually just lock up totally.

[@_graymalkin]

Powergrid is one of the best euro-game board games to come out of Germany! Fantastic game. It's best played with 4 or 5 players. It takes forever with 6. It's also hugely popular! You can still buy it!

[@krakonoszkrusnychhor400]

I actually love the Powergrid, but haven't played it in a while. There is quite a bit of strategy necessary, so does require some brains from all players, and I think it can be very long when more than 3 players play.

[@JimTheZombieHunter]

@17:20 .. although I have yet to confirm it - as the teardown was only to see if there were any parts with salvage value .. I recently pulled down a POS terminal which appeared to have active security; that is - open a contact (several actually) and the battery backup would over write the security key, not simply 'erase' it.

[@gordslater]

5:09 temp sensor for (indirect) dew detection - used to common on VCRs, especially industrial ones, to prevent a large cold spinning video head drum from clagging to the tape and performing self-bondage with vital footage (usually just porn)

[@SidneyCritic]

I got one of those USB solder irons because it heats up fast - all reviews say it's decent -, but my Chinese one is a bit gutless. I think the wires/phono jack aren't big enough to supply enough current.

[@vgamesx1]

They're good for small pads and stuff of a similar size to the iron, anything much bigger and it'll struggle.

[@SidneyCritic]

pileofstuff threw the jack and soldered the wires directly to the PCB and it was better. I might try that with a better cable when I'm in the mood.

[@johncoops6897]

You need a good solid >5V @ 2A USB power supply, otherwise they are gutless. Yes, would be better wired direct rather than via a 3.5mm line jack.

[@illustriouschin]

My sister and her husband love playing Powergrid with their friends.

[@agvulpine]

Did you find any cool surgery videos on the harddrive when running it through an undelete? Hopefully not too much HIPAA leak.