On July 10, 2021, I visited the Computer Museum at System Source in Baltimore MD as part of the Vintage Computer Federation (VCF) Repair Workshop. I also visited the museum in 2020.
Warning: Image heavy page ahead!
Category Archives: Retroputing
A Visit to The Computer Museum at System Source, Baltimore, MD
On Feb 15, 2020, I visited the Computer Museum at System Source in Baltimore, MD as part of a VCF Federation Repair Workshop weekend. The museum there is mind blowing. Want to see some pictures?
Warning: Image heavy page ahead!
Commodore PET 2001 Repair
(This was originally a Twitter thread from November 6, 2017.)
November 6, 2017
A huge box has just arrived! And inside are lots and lots of packing peanuts. Wait, wait, there’s something else in here. It looks like it’s from the future.
Say 10 PRINT”HELLO WORLD” to the Commodore PET 2001 from 1977, one of the “trinity” personal computers. Big thanks to @FozzTexx!
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!
Typewriter Plotters
Did you know there were typewriters that used ball point pens to draw not just text but also graphics? I’ve collected several of these over the years. Read on to discover a world that you didn’t know existed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Recap and repair of a Mac Classic II
(This was originally a thread posted on Twitter on June 30, 2022)
June 30, 2022
On the bench for recapping today is a Mac Classic II, the last of the b&w compact Macs (1991). I forgot how small the motherboard was.
