We're back.

I honestly had given up on this project for a month or two considering the monitor was faulty and I was out $270 for nothing. Determination is key, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.

Here is a new monitor I got for free!

It's better than the previous monitor I had, and it actually works. But I did take it to a shop today to get it adjusted. As you can see it's pretty washed out,

so I needed a knob to be adjusted within the monitor, and I'm not trying to die so imma have someone do it for me.

I tried out a couple games like Oblivion and Devil May Cry and it was butter smooth, smoother than my 165hz modern monitor.

I'm excited to get it back potentially next week and do some more gaming on it.

There are a couple things I want done to the monitor. I'm currently trying to find someone who could repair the screen and get rid of the scratches and scuffs (very hard mind you),

and I already found someone who can repair the cracks and repaint the thing. I want to completely restore this thing before I start building around it.

I do need a desk for this behemoth though so maybe I can do that at least while I work on everything else.

Thanks for sticking around!

Welcome back!

We are in the second month, and I got a couple things to follow up on and also to gauge interest on some things.

Last month, I had gotten one of the major parts of this project, a beautiful 19" CTX CRT monitor. But unfortunately it had flickering problems, and it was not cheap to get where I purchased it (recycling shop). I actually found someone about 15ish minutes away from me that repairs a bunch of vintage tech. It's been about two weeks since I took it and I just got a call back today.

The problem with the monitor is the flyback transformer on the machine, which basically is the part of the CRT that draws picture. For reference, we got the monitor for about $200, and the amount to repair it is going to cost me $270 (does not include the $75 diagnostic fee which also applies to the repair fee, so about $345). So...yeah. I'm going to get it repaired but damn does this suck. It'll be repaired in another two weeks. So since I'm saving up for this repair, not much was added to the project this month, but I have been questioning some things about it.

Last month, I gave some inspiration pictures on what kind of vibe or aesthetic I want to go for. But I want to dial in exactly what kind of ambience I want to go for. Do I want something that looks completely retro? Retro but modern? Y2K? Simple? Cozy? I'm gonna list a couple pictures at the bottom and would love for you guys to @ me with your favorite.

Other than that, I had to stop using the mouse I posted last month due to sensor issues. But I'm not sure if it was my mouse or my mousepad. My mousepad might just be dirty, cause I've been having issues with my ol reliable mouse as well. Maybe I'll give it a good clean, then I'll give it another go.

We're going to focus hard on getting a new bigger desk, monitor stand, and keyboard tray for next month since I have to be able to use my monitor comfortably when I get it.

Thanks for reading :)

Pick one!:

Hello!

This is the start of the project called Year of the Downgrade, where I will be downgrading my modern setup to more of a late 90s/early 2000s type of setup. While I am mostly going to reinvent my setup to match the atmosphere (think beige, blocky, cluttered, charm), I will also be implementing technology from those eras as well when it makes sense to. The images below gathered from around the web (a lot of the inspiration pictures originate from r/retrobattlestations) should key you into what type of ambience I'm going for.

This is what my current setup looks like now:

Lifeless, modern, mismatched colors, no charm. How grotesque. We will return to the blocky cluttered glory of days past, and it will take approx. one year.

As you can see, I already have made some progress on some of the setup. I got a new mouse recently. It's pretty neat. It has the look of the atmosphere I'm going for, on top of that it's pretty unique as the mouse buttons are keys. They don't feel like key's though, which kinda defeats the purpose. It's also wireless, but it has a weird annoying sleeping function where you have to click it every ten seconds to be able to click again. So I just use it wired and have had no issues. I'm not sure if we're keeping this mouse for the final project or not, but it's a fun test run.

You would think it would go clack clack but it goes click click instead. Very acute.

Besides the mouse, I did some things on the software side since that's free and only requires payment of my time. I found a great guide that includes a downloadable where It has a auto setup function to make Windows 10 look like Windows 95/98. Here is the link to the guide (download at your own risk): (https://newagesoldier.com/windows-95-theme-for-windows-10/) On top of that, I also figured out how to get Winamp to show my Spotify playlist through an old archive of Spotiamp, which is a piece of software a Spotify engineer made in the early 2010s. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the way the software looks currently, there's some things I could do (remodel all software icons with Windows 9x icons, pay $15 so I can get software to change my taskbar to better suit Windows 9x, etc.) but it's not even January yet, so any progress is good progress.

Next steps for us: Keyboard, Monitor (CRT Monitor), Mic, Mousepad, PC, Stickers, Desk (maybe), Chair, Charm.

Thanks for reading :)...

Is what I would of said before this entire month got flipped upside down. I managed to get one of the major parts of this project when I went to go visit family in Oklahoma, in the very first month of this project.

Would you look at this beauty. 19" CTX CRT Monitor. I was in love with this the first time I saw it. But unfortunately, there's some very bad news.

This monitor needs to be fixed. It wasn't known when I bought it, but it flickers off and on at random intervals. This is just the price I pay for ancient technology. I was very upset and disappointed at first, but I won't give up yet. Gonna try and get it fixed, but if it's unfixable, we move on.

I think next month I'm going to focus on two things in particular. Fixing the monitor, and a desk to put it on. I think I might have to get a keyboard tray, just because of how massive the monitor is.

Thanks for reading :) for real this time.