Tonight I was doing some shopping for parts to do my
Dreamcast update project. I may back burner this for a bit. The GD-ROM emulation board will be around $80. One of the comments on the product page was asking why the price was double what it used to be. Perhaps it would be best to wait until later in the year and see if the price comes down. Otherwise, the other pieces are not too bad: External power supply and associated board are around $30. And the battery holder for the RTC is cheaper than Starbucks coffee.
Looking into two alternative projects in the meantime.
The first is to replace the battery in my wife's old Pixel 3. I've been rolling with a Xiaomi Mi 9T for years, with one SIM as my personal line, and a second SIM for work. Unfortunately, the US market is hostile to dual SIM phones and E-SIM isn't available on MVNOs yet. The Xiaomi works, but is missing the primary LTE bands used for both ATT and Tmobile. I have flashed the old Pixel 3 with Lineage OS (sans Google apps and Play services). If my coverage appears to be better, than I will cancel my work line.
Second project is to replace the screen on my Thinkpad X270. When I bought it, I wasn't aware of how horrid the 720P TN screen was. I find myself constantly adjusting the screen because viewing angles suck. After a lot of research, it appears that one of the Full 1080P IPS panels for the X260 is a direct drop in replacement for my screen. Downside is I can't find anyone with stock at a reasonable price in the US, so it would ship from Singapore.
