Radio Shack TRS-80 PC-2 Pocket Computer and Plotter Refurbishment

(This was originally a Twitter thread from November 15, 2019.)

November 15, 2019

Say 10 PRINT “Hello, World!” to my new Radio Shack TRS-80 PC-2 pocket computer with printer cassette docking interface. Has BASIC and “2640-character program and data memory”— so a little over 2.5K of RAM. Many thanks to @FloppyDays, it’s all in tip-top shape!

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Another Commodore 64 Black Screen Repair

(This was originally a Twitter thread on September 23, 2018)

September 23, 2018

On the bench today is a Commodore 64 picked up from @Recta_Pete at Atari Party East 2018. This revision is the cost reduced long board because of the sparse components around the VIC-II. I already spot several problems.

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Commodore 64 Black Screen Repair

(This was originally a Twitter thread from September 26, 2018)

September 26, 2018

Next on the bench is an early #c64, 1982 original motherboard with 5 pin video out and a lovely ceramic VIC-II. These tend to be tricky in my experience.

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Recapping an Epson HX-20 Slabtop

(This was originally a Twitter thread from March 24, 2020)

March 24, 2020

The Epson HX-20 is on the bench for some TLC like a new battery, new capacitors, cassette tape belt, and possibly more. Maybe I’ll eventually dial a BBS with it.

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Recapping the Apple PowerBook 160 LCD Display

(This was originally a Twitter thread from May 26, 2022)

May 26, 2022

Today I’m going to recap the LCD display on this PowerBook 160. It has a passive matrix LCD display capable of displaying 4-bit grayscale (16 shades of gray). The display was dim before with some severe artifacts (after adjusting the contrast slider) but now it will only show a black screen.

@mac84tv has an excellent page that lists the capacitors needed for this recap along with the links to Mouser to purchase.

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Sony PS-F9 “Flamingo” Turntable Repair

(This was originally a Twitter post from September 4, 2021)

September 4, 2021

On the bench today: I’ve had this Sony PS-F9 turntable for a few years but haven’t been able to fix it. Power LED lights in button held down. Otherwise, nothing. Any ideas?

Note: Own a Sony PS-F5 or Sony PS-F9 and missing the dust cover? You can purchase new 3D printed reproductions!

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Welcoming (back) a LaserWriter II

July 31, 2022

Welcoming a new (old) printer (back) into my fleet: a LaserWriter II. It’s a workhorse of a printer from 1988 dressed in Snow White design language. #RetroComputing

(This is an experimental post to attempt to convert a Twitter thread into a WordPress post).

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