ToughDev

Code. Crack. Create. Contribute

  • Blog
  • Software
  • Hardware
  • VoIP
  • Microcontroller
  • Radio/TV
  • Retro
  • Reviews
  • Highlights
  • Reverse-engineer
  • About

Reverse-engineer

Screenshot 2026-06-24 155408
Reverse-engineer Software Development Windows Tips 

Patching an Inno Setup installer to run on Windows for ARM

April 24, 2026June 28, 2026 ToughDev 0 Comment Inno Setup, Installer Patching, powershell

After getting the Windows 7 Games package from Win7Games.com working well on ordinary x86 and x64 Windows 11 machines, I

Read more
Screenshot 2026-03-15 120544
Hardware Microcontroller Reverse-engineer Software Development Vintage Computing 

PIC32MZ Iomega ZIP100 Parallel Port Emulator [Part 2: LPT100 Hardware Design]

March 2, 2026July 12, 2026 ToughDev 0 Comment dosbox, iomega, PIC32MZ, qemu, zip100

A few months after successfully getting Super 8086 Box, DOSBox-X, and QEMU to emulate an Iomega ZIP100 parallel-port ZIP drive,

Read more
Screenshot 2026-03-14 163415
General Programming Hardware Microcontroller Reverse-engineer Software Development Vintage Computing 

PIC32MZ Iomega ZIP100 Parallel Port Emulator [Part 1: DOSBox & QEMU Testing]

February 11, 2026July 12, 2026 ToughDev 2 Comments dosbox, iomega, PIC32MZ, qemu, zip100

In early 2023 my beloved Iomega ZIP100 parallel port drive started to randomly eject disks. I figured that the drive

Read more
NEW22222
General Programming Hardware Networking Reverse-engineer Vintage Computing Windows Tips 

Windows 3.1 and Windows NT 3.51 on Fujitsu Siemens S210 thin client

December 19, 2025March 9, 2026 ToughDev 0 Comment fujitsu, Futro, ms dos, s210, thin client, windows 3.11, windows 98, windows nt 3.51

My Fujitsu S210 thin client, bought in 2022, is still working well on Windows 98, with drivers for the SIS315E

Read more
Tandy 100RSX Deskmate Bootup
Hardware Reverse-engineer Vintage Computing 

Tandy 2500RSX: a solid 386 workhorse from the DOS era

April 16, 2024August 18, 2025 ToughDev 0 Comment deskmate, ms dos, tandy

My first introduction to computers came in primary school with the Tandy 1000RSX, an 80386SX machine running at 25 MHz.

Read more
Screenshot 2024-01-16 224801
CodeProject Reverse-engineer Windows Tips 

Troubleshooting hard-to-find Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) crash due to issues with NTVDMx64

November 16, 2023August 19, 2024 ToughDev 2 Comments ntvdmx64, virtualbox, vmware, windows subsystem for linux, wsl

Recently all of a sudden, my WSL instance running Ubuntu 22 could not start. Even after making sure that hardware

Read more
PXL_20230909_133235490
General Programming Reverse-engineer Windows Tips 

Fixing corrupted Code Integrity Policies (CIP) causing Windows 11 slowness on recently downloaded EXE files

October 3, 2023January 16, 2024 ToughDev 0 Comment code integrity policy, windows 11, windows defender

Windows Defender is the first thing that I disable on a new Windows 10 or Windows 11 installations. Despite its

Read more
tecsun radio lcd
Hardware Radio/TV Reverse-engineer 

Repairing a failed Tecsun S-8800 radio due to damaged charging board

September 2, 2023November 19, 2024 ToughDev 6 Comments s-8800, tecsun

In June, my Tecsun S-8800 which was purchased in Feb 2020 stopped working totally. It had started 2 months earlier

Read more
DS0007 - Copy
Hardware Oscilloscope Reverse-engineer 

Rigol DS1054Z, GW-INSTEK GDS1054B and Hantek DSO4084C digital oscilloscopes

March 12, 2023September 10, 2023 ToughDev 1 Comment DS1054Z, DSO4084C, GDS1054B, hantek, instek, rigol

Over a period of five years I have bought myself three low-end modern digital oscilloscopes, the Rigol DS1054Z, GW-INSTEK GDS1054B

Read more
Twinhead A5020 laptop
Hardware Reverse-engineer Vintage Computing Windows Tips 

Twinhead A5020 566MHz Intel Celeron laptop

October 12, 2020May 4, 2023 ToughDev 2 Comments Twinhead

In order to play DOS and early Windows games, I searched eBay for a cheap laptop that can run Windows 98, preferably

Read more
GoOO Office About
Microsoft Office Popular Articles Reverse-engineer Software Development Useful Projects Windows Tips 

Open Office 2007 documents on Windows 98

September 15, 2020February 22, 2025 ToughDev 1 Comment microsoft office, office 2007, office 97, open office, win98, windows 98

On my old but trusted Windows 98 laptop, which is used mostly for DOS and early Windows games, there is an occasional

Read more
PXL_20210506_033204878
General Programming Hardware Reverse-engineer Software Development Vintage Computing 

Tweaking the AlphaSmart Neo, a great portable word processor with 700-hour battery life

August 19, 2020May 12, 2025 ToughDev 4 Comments alphasmart, basic, neo, word processor

Although I really love my AlphaSmart Dana, its limited battery life which requires recharging every couple of days as well as the

Read more
ipc365_cr2032
CodeProject Hardware Linux Popular Articles Reverse-engineer Software Development 

Reverse engineer the 360Eyes Pro (IPC365) wireless CCTV camera

September 9, 2019May 9, 2023 ToughDev 15 Comments 360eyes, cctv, ffmpeg, ipc365, rtsp, u-boot

Available on AliExpress, the 360Eyes Pro (also known as IPC365, from the default network host name of this camera) is

Read more
alleycat_browser
CodeProject Reverse-engineer Software Development Vintage Computing 

Playing Alley Cat, a classic MS-DOS game, from your web browser

March 1, 2019April 4, 2023 ToughDev 0 Comment alleycat, pcjs, pcx86

Last week I explored gabonator’s Visual C++ and Javascript port of Alley Cat, one of my favourite DOS games. The project, despite being apparently

Read more
super_mario_dosbox_svn
CodeProject Reverse-engineer Vintage Computing Windows Tips 

Experimenting with DOSBox SVN-Daum, a custom DOSBox build by ykhwong

July 9, 2018April 4, 2023 ToughDev 2 Comments dosbox, SVN-Daum, ykhwong

While watching a Youtube video that demonstrates how to use the Roland MT-32 MIDI synthesizer with DOSBox, I came across DOSBox

Read more
  • ← Previous

About ToughDev

Since 2008, ToughDev has explored embedded systems, software development, reverse engineering, and retro computing, bridging legacy hardware with modern software.

Recent projects include the Super 8086 Box PC XT emulator, the dsMP3 embedded radio, and detailed teardowns of vintage PCs such as the Tandy 2500RSX.

I also write about voice, AI, and communication products from a technical user’s perspective. My recent first-impressions review of Talk Machine looks at its voice-first interface, email-based voice notes, transcript refinement, and natural speech output.

Beyond publishing technical research, ToughDev also provides consulting and custom development services in embedded systems, mobile applications, VoIP, microcontroller firmware, and integration with vintage or undocumented hardware platforms.

Contact Webmaster

Recent Comments

  • ToughDev on Super 8086 Box, my home-built PC XT emulator with Adlib, MPU-401, joystick and NE2000 support
  • Chris on Super 8086 Box, my home-built PC XT emulator with Adlib, MPU-401, joystick and NE2000 support
  • ToughDev on Super 8086 Box, my home-built PC XT emulator with Adlib, MPU-401, joystick and NE2000 support
  • Chris on Super 8086 Box, my home-built PC XT emulator with Adlib, MPU-401, joystick and NE2000 support
  • ToughDev on Super 8086 Box, my home-built PC XT emulator with Adlib, MPU-401, joystick and NE2000 support
  • Gianni on Super 8086 Box, my home-built PC XT emulator with Adlib, MPU-401, joystick and NE2000 support
  • Jan de Lange on Internet access from Pocket 386 retro laptop using Wemos D1 ESP8266 serial Wifi adapter
  • ToughDev on Internet access from Pocket 386 retro laptop using Wemos D1 ESP8266 serial Wifi adapter
  • ToughDev on Emulating EEPROM using flash memory on dsPIC33EP512MC502
  • Jan de Lange on Internet access from Pocket 386 retro laptop using Wemos D1 ESP8266 serial Wifi adapter
  • Jonathan on Emulating EEPROM using flash memory on dsPIC33EP512MC502
  • Jan de Lange on Internet access from Pocket 386 retro laptop using Wemos D1 ESP8266 serial Wifi adapter
  • ToughDev on Compaq Contura 3/25C 80386 Laptop
  • ToughDev on Internet access from Pocket 386 retro laptop using Wemos D1 ESP8266 serial Wifi adapter
  • Jan de Lange on Compaq Contura 3/25C 80386 Laptop
  • Jan de Lange on Internet access from Pocket 386 retro laptop using Wemos D1 ESP8266 serial Wifi adapter
  • ToughDev on Internet access from Pocket 386 retro laptop using Wemos D1 ESP8266 serial Wifi adapter
  • Jan de Lange on Internet access from Pocket 386 retro laptop using Wemos D1 ESP8266 serial Wifi adapter
  • SafeeDeen on dsMP3, my LW/MW/FM/SW radio with MP3 recording/playback [Part 1 – Hardware Design]
  • Dr. Sanjeev Saxena on dsMP3, my LW/MW/FM/SW radio with MP3 recording/playback [Part 2 – Firmware Design]
Follow @mrtoughdev

Tags

3cx 68k 80386 adlib amiga c++ cctv ch375 ch376 commodore data recovery deskmate dosbox dspic embedded ffmpeg iOS macintosh macintosh se mac os microsoft office mini pc ms dos natural language processing printer qemu radio raspberry pi retro68 rf rtsp scsi2sd tecsun turbo c turbo pascal ubuntu virtualbox wifi windows windows 11 windows 98 WordPress word processor xCode z80

Archives

  • 2026 (8)
  • 2025 (12)
  • 2024 (12)
  • 2023 (14)
  • 2022 (12)
  • 2021 (12)
  • 2020 (12)
  • 2019 (12)
  • 2018 (13)
  • 2017 (12)
  • 2016 (13)
  • 2015 (29)
  • 2014 (17)
  • 2013 (16)
  • 2012 (12)
  • 2011 (16)
  • 2010 (30)
  • 2009 (53)
  • 2008 (53)

Featured

Mobile Development
VoIP
Macintosh 68k
Logic Analyzer
Microcontroller
Oscilloscope
Radio/TV
Reverse-engineer

Tools

Site Admin
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
Contact Webmaster
Copyright © 2026 ToughDev. All rights reserved.
Theme: ColorMag by ThemeGrill. Powered by WordPress.