• Background and Inspiration: During the coronavirus pandemic, the author took up repairing old electronics. Visiting the PEEK&POKE computer museum in Rijeka inspired them to research 8-bit microcomputers like the Galaksija. They decided to build a Galaksija from scratch with the help of available documentation and a crowdfunding campaign.
• Building Process: The author documented the build on Twitter and followed some self-imposed rules. They sourced parts from Mouser Electronics and eBay, ordered a PCB from jlpcb.com using gerber files. Soldering jumpers and IC sockets was tedious, and they faced issues with keyboard switches and EPROMs. The LAQIYA TL866Ⅱ Plus EPROM programmer couldn't burn 2732 EPROMs properly, and they had to resort to various methods to program them. They also encountered problems with the wrong CPU and other components.
• Fixing Image Problems: After many struggles, they found that missing jumpers were causing issues with image synchronization. Once the jumpers were soldered, they got some characters on the screen. They fixed contrast and flickering issues but still had missing pixels and couldn't run commands. Eventually, they discovered that low-quality IC sockets were the problem and soldered the memory directly to the board.
• Final Projects: The author completed three mini projects. They integrated the RCA/HDMI adapter with the board and added a switch. They designed a 3D printed case using SketchUp and ordered a 3D print. They also wrote a dump2gtp tool to convert Galaksija programs from wav to gtp format.
• Bonus: The author became interested in small details like different READY logos on Galaksijas. They made a version of the character generator ROM with the MIPRO logo and made it available on GitHub.