Project Updates - Dealing with the Backlog

It's been a busy year for me and so I haven't got as much retro computing done this year.  That being said, I have been able to sell four computers and give away a couple more this year so I am still having success with thinning out the collection.  For quite a few years I've been building a backlog of interesting broken machines.  I keep this hardware out in the garage and have a document going for each of these potential projects.  When I'm feeling inspired to take on a new project I can go fine one any time by looking at that folder and see what I'm interested in taking on next.  I've had a bit more time as of late and I've repaired a series of PCs that I'll describe in this article.

The first repair is an interesting Zenith 386 PC that came from Free Geek Twin Cities in the spring of last year.  This machine was badly rusted from water damage in and around the power supply.  The Free Geek team handled this machine well, they knew that it should be powered up, but the machine included a nice matching keyboard and a full box of documentation and software so it was worth some effort to fix it up.  

I started right in on this machine last year.  I took the machine all apart and cleaned it up.  It's model number ZBF-3340-EK, an early 386 machine built on a passive backplane.  The backplane is based on ISA but extended to 32 bits.  It was a very good thing that Free Geek didn't power the machine up because there were pieces of rust floating loose inside the power supply.  I took all the metal pieces apart and cleaned them up. I spray painted to the rusty pieces to stop further rust, but this wasn't a full restoration, just trying to halt the deterioration enough to get some basic testing done and decide if the PC would be salvageable or not.  To my great surprise after cleaning up the machine and some basic repairs, the PC was able to Post and I got video working with an old VGA card which had been paired with the machine later in life (It originally had a proprietary monitor and video card).  It took quite a few hours of effort to reach this point so I set the project aside.  I thought I'd come back to it soon but it ended up being a year till I came back to it.

After moving this PC around in the garage for the 3rd or 4th time I decided it was time to finish this project.  I took the machine apart enough to get a look at the four drives.  It had two 1.2MB 5 1/4" Floppy Disk Drives, and two Full Height MFM Hard Drives.  I cleaned and tested both of the Floppy Drives.  One of them was working and the other was not.  I replaced the non-working drive with a 3 1/2" drive I had in my spares, and set the 5 1/4" drive aside for future repairs.  Once I figured out the BIOS settings which were needed for the two Hard Drives, I was happy to see that both of them worked (after a few seek errors, which makes alot of sense if the heads had not moved for a decade or more).  It's very cool to have a machine with Dual MFM drives, although I may just leave one in there and keep the second one for another machine.

Adding a clock battery was the final step.  After adding the clock battery the PC still wasn't holding time and BIOS settings.  It turns out there was a bit more corrosion on the board around the battery area so I replaced a few corroded components, some diodes and resistors, and I added a bodge wire for a damaged trace.  After that the clock battery worked and it is holding the BIOS settings.  The machine looks nice...

Due to the solid construction, large chassis, and dual full heigh MFM drives, this computer is very heavy, and it's great to have the documentation and a matching keyboard with lovely mechanical switches.

The next PC up on the bench is an XT class machine.  The seller let me know that it had bad tantalum capacitors which had blown.  They didn't want to do a recap on the machine so they sold it on to me.  This is machine sat on my project intake queue for even longer than the Zenith.  I have quite a few XT PCs so I knew this would be a PC that I wouldn't hold onto for my collection.  It turns out that it had one bad tantalum (which failed short on the +12 volt rail), when I removed that, the computer came up to the BIOS Post screen.  After a few minutes of operation, another tantalum failed (this time on the -12 volt rail), but again that was easily removed after some basic troubleshooting probing around with the multimeter on the board.  I didn't have 4.7 uF Tantalums in stock so I ordered some of those and did the recap when those arrived.

Other than that, my main tasks were to take the machine all apart and clean it.  It was quite dusty.  I cleaned the mainboard with my ultrasonic cleaner.  After it dried I cleaned and tested the 360K 5 1/4" Floppy Disk Drive.  It was working good.  Sadly, the MFM hard drive inside the machine was not working.  I set that aside for further troubleshooting.  The faceplates for this machine were incomplete.  I was able to find a second half-height black Floppy Disk Drive to cover the gap in the front panel of the machine, and I also 3D printed a Full-Height Hard Drive blanking plate for the other drive bay, which completes the cosmetics of the front panel.  The machine is fully functional, and I'm happy with how it looks...

The last PC in this group was an original PC, the IBM 5150.  As readers of the Blog may know, I already have one IBM 5150 that came from a pickup of Facebook Marketplace some years back.  But over the last couple of years I've been making an effort to find a second machine if I can find one at a good price.  I'd been collecting bits and pieces for a second IBM PC for well over a year now and I finally came back to this project since I was already working on the XT Clone from that era.

The IBM PC also had bad tantalums on the main board and that was the reason why the seller sold it to me.  I was able to locate the shorted capacitor and replace it.  I also tested the power supply with a load but disconnected from the PC, the power supply voltages were all in range.  I was able to find a VGA card that would work in an 8-bit slot.  This enabled me to do testing with a more modern monitor and I also left the original Monochrome MDA card in the machine as well, since the IBM PC does support two different types of video cards at the same time.  The machine has 256K of memory (the maximum capacity on that mainboard) and it Posts and comes up as expected.  The next order of business was to clean the two floppy disk drives.  After cleaning they were both working.  I had two cases and so I was able to put together the best cosmetic version of the case.  It's got some rust spots on the top, but as a spare machine it will be just fine and I'm happy to have it in the collection...

Of these three machines, I'll be moving the first two on too new owners, either here locally or at VCF Midwest in the fall.  The IBM PC 5150 will go back into storage to be used as a spare.  Given how long it took me to get to these repairs I probably won't be seeking out more machines of this type to repair, but it is always gratifying to get a broken computer fixed and to have more projects off my to-do list.

If you have any memories of using a Zenith 386, an Ameridata XT PC, or an IBM 5150, please post in the comments below or drop me an email (my email address is in my profile).

Retro Computing at the Movies

Streaming and the wide availability of video on the Internet have made it easier than ever to find and watch material that was unavailable or just hard to find for many years. I a previous bLog article, I covered YouTube channels that are providing archival first person computer history videos.  But Hollywood entertainment is another culturally relavant source.  Here are several feature length Hollywood movies with connections to computing and computer history.

The films in this article fall into two categories.  The first set of films from before Y2K show peoples attitudes towards computing machines and their interactions with them.  The second group of films are more modern movies post Y2K which have historical computing as a theme of the movie.

Older Films (Pre Y2K)

Desk Set (1957) with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn was fun, I saw this film for the first time last year.  Two of the things that stood out to me were the uncertainties the workers had about how computer automation would affect their jobs and a repetition of the pattern where new automation solutions do not live up to the hype, at least in the short term.  An enjoyable film and one I'd recommend.

The films Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977) and Damnation Alley (1977)  both show inside of a Cold-War Atlas missile silo.  These were of interest to me since I'm a child of the cold war and the "What If" scenarios presented by these movies are definitely the main point.  But another thing caught my eye watching these films since these missile silos were controlled by a massive computer network called the SAGE Air Defense System (or its successor).  SAGE was designed and built during the cold war to try to prevent nuclear strikes from the USSR reaching the US.  If you are not familiar with the SAGE system, there's a fantastic talk from VCF 2025 that I'd recommend by Richard Thompson "The SAGE Air Defense System".  Richard points out in his talk that many of the SAGE control panels were saved and used a props in TV and film decades.  These appearance are cataloged on Mike Loewen's website here, and his catalog opens another whole world of media exploration in Film and TV shows.

What list of computer related films would be complete without a discussion of War Games (1983)?  This is the first film on my list that I remember watching at the time.  Back then I was more concerned about the threat of war but I was also interested in computers and computing.  Here's an interesting article about the tech used for making the film both on and off screen.  The main computer star of the show is the IMSAI 8080 computer, which has become quite expensive.  These pre-1977 machines didn't sell in the millions like an Apple II, but we can still have a similar experience with a modern replica kit built using a modern microcontroller.  I've got one of these kits on order, so stay tuned for a future bLog article on that topic.

Skipping ahead more than a decade, we have Hackers (1995).  I was in college at the time struggling to get an engineering degree and surrounded by computer geeks like me.  I didn't have a car in college and I didn't get out to the movies much which is just as well because we would not have found much to relate too in this film.  We weren't cool like the characters in the film.  It wasn't until studying the history of the Homebrew Computer Club and Hacker culture that I began to understand how computing was connected with the 60s counter culture on the West Coast.  This was not a significant part of my experience at a midwestern engineering school in the mid '90s.  However, rewatching the film recently was a fun opportunity for me to play the "Name that Computer" game.  Trying to figure out, is that an Apple PowerBook?  Is that a Toshiba Satellite or a Tecra? Which one?  I don't have a list from my last watch through.  Google search shows a detailed list, but I'm honestly not sure if you can tell just from shots in the film which computer is which, so I won't link that spoiler article here and let it ruin the fun of re-watching the film and playing "Name that Computer".

The only romantic comedy on todays list is You've got Mail (1998).  I recently rewatched the film as I was interested in seeing the portrayals of the early days of the Internet, but I'd forgotten (or never noticed when I was a kid) how problematic the Tom Hanks character's behavior (Joe) is.  But I watched the film so you don't have to.  Per the fantastic FAQ section on IMDB, Joe is using a "Desktop Replacment" IBM Thinkpad 770 and Kathleen is using an Apple Powerbook G3 250, the fastest of the Wallstreet machines.  I did enjoy the nostalgia remembering using the AOL free trial period and other dial up Internet experiences back in the day.

New Movies (Post Y2K)

The second category of films on this list is modern movie set back in time with computer themes.  When we look at modern films about the past sometimes we may learn more about our present attitudes than we do about the past, but these films are still interesting.

The next movie on my list is The Imitation Game (2014).  This is a film about Alan Turing and his team's work during WWII on code breaking.  I had my own doubts about the historical accuracy of this film after watching it.  One reviewer confirmed my suspicions says this is "... one of the most celebrated and most misleading historical movies ever".  I think most of us interested in computer history would be better off reading this article and skipping the film.

Silicon Cowboys (2016) was intriguing to me.  I've read and enjoyed Rod Canion's book "Open" about the founding of Compaq but I really didn't get into the TV Series "Halt and Catch Fire".  I remember one of the folks presenting about the history of Tandy computer saying "it was never that exciting" or something to that effect about that show.  But Silicon Cowboys is focused on what actually happened and that's still very exciting.

I've seeen The Social Network (2010) but it didn't make that big of an impression on me, so I'm not going to comment other than to say that I did watch it.  Hidden Figures (2016) is a feel-good movie where the underdogs overcome their challenges because of their patience and hard work.

What other films can you think of that have computing as a theme of the film?  Comment below or drop me an email, my address is in my blog Profile on the left side of the homepage.

Epson QX-10 - One of the Last CP/M Machines

The Epson QX-10 is a sleek looking design from the early 80's.  It is from the tail end of the CP/M Era and it's a really neat looking machine.  My experience with the QX-10 started when a friend was demonstrating his at a local Retro meet up hosted by Free Geek.  It turns out he had a second machine in need of repair and since he's already got a very nice one, I was able to acquire that second machine from him, thanks again, Steve!

I started working on this in the Fall of 2025 when I acquired the machine.  There was no cable included to attach the custom CRT to the base unit.  This cable brings both power and signals from the base unit to the CRT and so it's difficult to begin testing without that.  There is a replacement cable avaliable online, so I ordered one of those.  With the cable installed I could see that the machine was powering up to the "Insert Diskette" prompt.  This is a very good sign because it means that the processor is running and whatever diagnostic checks are built into the ROM are passing.

As with most CP/M machines that don't have a hard drive the A drive is used constantly to boot and run the machine, so the A drive often needs special attention.  This machine was no exception.  The floppy drives were manufactured by Epson themselves.  In order to maintain the sleek form factor of the machine they made these drives 1/3 height, not a standard 1/2 heigh drive, so these can not be easily replaced.  Knowing this I took my time removing the drives and cleaning and lubricating the mechanisms.  They were so jammed that I could not even insert or remove floppy disks from the mechanism.  With the floppy drives working, I could move on to the next phase of the repairs.

I made some floppy boot disks using my flux disk imaging setup that I've discussed before, but unfortunately my normal workflow did not work because these machines have a very unusual disk geometry so the first round of disks I created were not able to boot the machine properly.  But I did get far enough to type characters in to the screen and this is when I noticed the next challenge, the keyboard was not working.

This keyboard, the Epson Q603A, is a special one designed for the word processing software called ValDocs.  There is some good information on Deskthority about the keyboard.  This is a foam and foil keyboard, so I was not concerned because I've repaired several foam and foil boards over the years using the replacement kit from TexElec.  However, sadly, this board used a prototype switch with a much lower profile of foam and the normal replacement pads would cause the switches to remain pressed all the time.  I emailed TexElec about this and I was very happy to learn that they were already working on a low profile foam pad.  I got a set of these and installed them and the keyboard is working again as expected, one more step closer to getting this machine back on the road.

At this point because of my problems getting booted up and not have known good boot disks I stalled out on the project and set it aside.  But within a few weeks I saw a relevant post on the Vintage Computer Federation forums where I hang out, so I chimed in on there.  I received some great feedback about my disk imaging problem from one of the members there and I was able to create some new boot disks using a different starting point.  These boot disks worked and I could see that the Epson was fully booting up into an operating system.

Unfortunately, as often happens with Retro Computers, just when we think a project is ending, something else broke.  The CRT display starting rolling and I couldn't get the video to stabilize.  This CRT has only one adjustment for brightness on the outside so I took the case off to get inside.  I went through all the potentiometers on the circuit board and put Deoxit Fader Lube on them and cycled them back and forth.  I also did a careful inspection.  I was not able to identify anything wrong. After plugging everything back in it started working again.  I think there may be an intermittent connection with one of the sync signals so I'm going to try to isolate that to the Monitor side or the Computer side and maybe reflow the solder joints on those circuit boards.

But for now, the machine boots and runs, and it's time for me to explore one of the last and most modern looking of the CP/M machines.  I'm really glad to have this machine in the collection as it very much has the look of the era it came from...

Did you use CP/M back in the day?  Do you have memories of the Epson QX-10 or the Valdocs software?  If so leave a comment below, or drop me an email at my address in my profile, I'd love to hear about your experiences.

Steve's Retro Year in Review for 2025

With 2025 coming to a close it's time to reflect back on another year in Retro Computing.  Alot of great things happened in 2025, some planned and some unexpected.  This is my seventh year being involved in Retro Computing and my interest continues, there seems to always be something new to learn and the forum members of the Vintage Computer Federation and Tinker Different continue to be a source of help and inspiration for new projects.  Also this year I authored my 100th bLog aticle here on Steve's Retro Computer bLog.

In my retrospective article from last year I mentioned that I wanted to downsize the collection.  I added fewer new computers to my collection this year and I said no to quite a few eBay and local listings that were interesting.  I added about 15 machines this year instead of the 20+ machines I'd been adding over the last couple of years and more importantly I sold quite a few of those 20+ machines from previous years as well.  Half of the computers I sold this year are ones I bought to fix up and resell since I really do enjoy the repair process.  It also helps to know ahead of time that I won't be keeping the machines, it makes it easier to sell them when the time comes.

I sell complete systems whenever possible on both Craigslist and FaceBook Market Place (FBMP).  This year I sold about two computers on FBMP for every one on Craigslist, but I will still continue to use both platforms.  I think I get alot more spam from FBMP, but I know I'm getting alot of views on that platform since they show you those statistics now.  I'm still pricing below eBay prices, and I'm seeing machines sell on average after about a 2-3 week wait.

I bought three lots of computers this year, one with seven machines (mostly compact Macs), one with three Macs, and the final lot with eight machines (mostly Apple IIs).  In each of these lots I knew there were only 1 or 2 computers I'd want to keep but having these computers on hand made it easy for me to find an interesting repair project any time.  I plan to keep doing this (assuming that I can continue to find small and medium sized lots of computers in "as is" condition).  If you know anyone that is downsizing or needs help disposing of an old computer collection, please let me know, I'd be glad to buy machines in as-is condition or just even just offer advice about selling.

As I look back at acquisitions this year I made good progress on getting early Apple II hardware.  I got an early Apple II Plus machine and then an original Apple II machine.  I also got to extend my collection of Next computers, adding another NextStation Mono Slab and and an HP PA RISC machine that runs NextStep really well.  I got a new CP/M Machine that I haven't completed repairs on yet and another early MS-DOS compatible Wang PC, so I'm continuing to learn about both of these types of machines.  I added a couple of calculators to the collection, although I do not intend to become a calculator collector, since I'm trying to stay focused in my area of interest for collecting.

I also completed a couple of Unix workstation projects that were a long time coming, first getting a Y2K Era Compaq Alpha Personal Workstation up and running after a long time waiting for parts and then getting a Sun Ultra 10 machine up and running.  The Sun project was a machine I got at VCF Midwest 2024 so that one took a while.  The Apple III Computer parts that I got in the fall of the year were totally unexpected, but alot of fun to repair and learn about.

I don't have much room to display retro computers, so none of the machines I've acquired this year are on display in my office, instead I have an Original IBM PC, a Compaq Portable I, a Macintosh Portable, an Apple Macintosh Perform 550, a Gateway 2000 Slimline 486, a PDP-11 with VT-220 Terminal, and an Apple IIe as shown here...

During 2026 I need to think about focusing my interests even more and continuing to downsize the collection.  I still have more beige box PCs that I don't want in the collection and I will also consider downsizing other categories of machines.

During 2026 I should spend more time with software setup on the machines I already have.  Alternative Operating Systems has long been an interest of mine, and many of these machines support multiple OSes.  Networking is also one of my interests so I'd also like to spend time connecting more of the machines together.

What about you?  Do you have any highlights to share about fixing or using old computers in 2025 or plans for next year that you'd like to share?  Feel free to leave a comment below, or reach out to me via email at the address shown in my Blogger Profile.

Another member of the 1977 Trinity Joins the Collection - Apple II

One of my long term goals for collecting Retro Computers is to get the original Trinity of Home Computers from 1977, the TRS-80 Model 1, an original Apple II and a original Commodore PET.  In 2023 I got a really dirty TRS-80 Model 1 and cleaned it up.  I have a Commodore PET 4016 from 1980, but it's not the original machine.  I've also got an early Apple II Plus machine from 1979 which I've setup with the original ROMs so it would behave like an Apple II.

Earlier this year I found out about a large lot for sale locally and I jumped at the chance to buy the entire lot.  I've blogged about starting in on that lot of repairs here already.  I mentioned that I would set the Apple II aside for repairs.  It didn't sit for to many weeks before I came back too it.  Ironically, this machine was built in 1980, one year after my Apple II Plus but they have the same Revision 4 motherboards inside.  If you look on the timeline on Wikipedia it does not show any overlap between Apple II and II+ production but I think that is incorrect, Apple continued to make Apple II and II Plus at the same time and that may have continued right up till they switched to making the Apple IIe in 1983.

When I got the computer on the workbench I found that the video signal was stable but I was getting garbage characters.  Also, not all the keys on the keyboard were working.  I started by taking the entire machine apart and cleaning it throughly, it wasn't too dirty, but the seller had told me these were stored in a basement for years so the machine was just dusty.  This machine will never be a museum piece.  It came from the University of Minnesota so I've left those asset tags on the machine.  It has quite a few scratches and bumps on it but I don't mind since I intend to actually use this machine.

The Keyboard is a Datanetics type.  I sprayed Deoxit on the keys that were not working and most of them came back to function just by cycling them a few dozen times, but the S key was persistently broken.  I was able to find a couple of Datanetics key switches on eBay so I ordered a couple.  After replacing the S key the keyboard was fully functional, except that the power light was out.  I removed the bulb and tested it, it was working, so it just needed to be reseated into the keyboard and it has been working fine since.

The garbage characters on the screen were a harder fix.  I removed every single socketed IC off the motherboard and sprayed the DIP sockets with Deoxit and replaced them but the problem persisted.  I should have tested all the RAM chips but at the time I didn't have a tester for the 4116 RAM chips used on this machine (I have since got a working tester for these).  Eventually I was able to identify bad 4116 RAM chips by trial and error and swap them out.  Since this is an original Apple II I have configured this with 48K RAM.   I will be leaving the 64K RAM card out, and I will not be adding an Autostart ROM, which makes this more authentic to the original experience.  Since the machine starts up in the ROM Monitor you have to learn at least one ROM Monitor command (Control-B) to get BASIC started every time you boot the machine.  I enjoyed learning about all the different early ROM versions of the Apple II and II+ and this is much more interesting now that I have access to the hardware.  Incidentally, the Apple I also started up in the ROM Monitor, and this was all code written by Steve Wozniak himself.

During the repairs the original power supply failed.  This was not the most common failure of RIFA filter capacitors which can be easily replaced, so I removed the circuit board and replaced it with the Reactive Micro Apple II Power Supply kit.  It still looks original because that fits in the original case, but I enjoy having the peace of mind that comes with a modern power supply.

Although I am interested in experimenting with the original hardware configuration, I'm not thrilled with the idea of loading programs from tape, so I may go ahead and leave the Disk II controller attached even though I know it wasn't an option in 1977.  The Disk II system was and is an amazing "quality of life" upgrade for this machine.

I'm quite happy with how this machine turned out...

Do you have memories of the original Apple II?  If you have stories or thoughts please leave a comment here, or reach out via my email shown in my profile.

My Apple III Adventure

The Apple /// Computer was released by Apple in 1980.  It has an iconic design, and was a famous failure for Apple.  They were trying to increase their share of the business of selling computers for business.  The chronology is important otherwise we risk passing judgement on the decision makers at Apple with the benefit of hindsight.  We should remember that Apple did got a taste of the potential of the Business market when Visicalc was only available on Apple II.  This "killer app" sold alot of Apple II computers for a period of time, but by 1980 Visicalc was becoming avaliable on other platforms.  The IBM PC wouldn't be out for another year (1981), and it would be several years after that before IBM PC Compatibility would emerge as a market trend.  I think this context makes the design decisions around Apple III a bit more understandable.  It's likely the failure of the system was due to the complexity of the system and technical problems with the computers.  This system was arguably the first Apple project that didn't have Steve Wozniak at the helm, and it does feel like a system that was designed by a committee.  Or maybe it just feels more corporate (by design).

Because the systems were a commercial failure they have always been rare in comparison to Apple IIs.  Because they are early Apple computers they've become more desirable for collectors and more expensive to purchase but once again my retro computer friend Steve Hatle has been very generous with several parts machines.  This gave me a very good shot at getting a working Apple /// system.  On intake the pile of hardware looked like this...

Working my way thorough the hardware I noticed that there were two different types of main circuit boards.  I started watching repair videos and downloading and reading manuals since I've never owned or even used an Apple III machine before.  As is so often the case, Adrian Black came through with a really informative Apple III video.  There was an earlier design and a later design for the Apple III.  I had one machine with the later design and one with the earlier design as well as a spare main logic board and memory board of the older type that was quite dirty.

One of the first things I learned was that all the RAM on an Apple III is on an expansion board.  The machines won't boot at all without that board installed.  The older style main board has 12 Volt RAM and can go up to 128K, the newer style RAM board runs at 5 Volts and can go up too 256K.  The differences are explained here, but the important point is that the RAM boards can not be swapped without changes to the motherboard!

On intake both machines were showing signs of life.  I started repairs with the older machine.  I went through and tested all the RAM chips one at a time.  The first row must be populated by special 32K RAM chips that Apple had made for them at the time.  These are prone to failure and I don't have a tester that will work with these chips so I pulled the RAM off both of the 12V RAM boards and tested using trial and error.  The Apple III does have a helpful RAM diagnotic on boot, but I don't think it's a very thorough test, which I will come back to later.  The second and third rows can be populated with 4116 RAMs, which I can test offline with a low cost tester from eBay, there were several bad chips that I replaced from chips I have in stock.  After that, the machine would get through the diagnostics and try to boot.

Neither keyboard was complete.  I was able to scavenge parts off one keyboard to get the first keyboard working.  I cleaned the External and Internal Floppy Disk drives and they appear to be working good.  After this the machine would boot off Floppy Disks I made from disk images on the Internet. It was very gratify to see the machine boot for the first time.  I started poking around with the Apple III and learning about the operating system software (called SOS) but then put this project on hold just before Vintage Computer Festival.

During VCF Midwest I was happy to learn from  Chris Tersteeg that the Apple III could boot off a Fujinet.  I got one of these circuit boards from Chris that allows the Apple III ROM to be modified to auto start a smart port device.  I later learned that you can make a special boot floppy that will do the same thing.  The project is called SOSHDBOOT by Rob Justice.  I also spent quite a bit of time experimenting with a similar project that allows the DAN II Controller to boot in the Apple III, but I ended up damaging my DAN II because I didn't notice that one of the slots on the Apple III had the end broken off.  I ended up having mis-alignment of the connector pins in the slot which caused a short of some kind. I don't know what the failure mode was exactly, but I could smell that things were getting hot before I shut down, and then the card will no longer work in an Apple II.  The Dan II is an open source project, so I hope to come back to that repair, but I have set that card aside for now.  On the Apple III I don't need four expansion slots, so I've tapped off the damaged one for a future repair and pivoted to using the BOOTI card instead since it is also supported.

I discovered through trial and error some of the error codes for the SOSHDBOOT project which I'll share here:
BOOT ERROR C = No Smart Port Device Detected
BOOT ERROR R = Device Detected, but Not Good (One error is fragmented image files, fix here)
BOOT ERROR S = Device Detected and Drive Detected, but can't boot, (could also be fragmentation)

This project includes several Hard Drive image files pre loaded with software.  As a beginner to the III I was quite excited about not having to figure out program installation, but my excitement faded when the boot up stopped with an error message:
Selector Error 0D:.PROFILE/SOS.MENU

I thought that it may have another mistake that I'd made with the software setup on the drive emulation so I used Chris T's adapter to hook up my FloppyEmu to the external Floppy Disk port and put the same disk image on that.  I got the same error message.  So this made me think that the problem may be with the hardware configuration, maybe I didn't have enough RAM?  I looked for system requirements for the Selector III software that creates the boot menu, but I couldn't find that online.

But I wanted to work on the newer machine anyway, so I pivoted back to that and started doing more troubleshooting on the second machine.  The state I had left this machine is that it would do the diagnostics and pass with a keyboard attached, but it would not boot SOS.  It would boot the Confidence test disk, but it would only run for a few minutes before locking up with garbage characters on the screen.

I had used the on-board RAM diagnostics to condemn and replace several of the RAM chips in a previous troubleshooting session.  The machine was passing the boot RAM diagnostics, but I decided to remove the RAM and test one at a time on the separate RAM tester again.  What I found was a surprise, one of the "known good" RAM chips that I'd tested when I put the RAM in storage was the culprit, I should have been testing the replacement RAM as it went into the machine!  When I replaced that, the machine was back to booting and running with it's full 256K RAM.

Now I had a machine to test the theory about the Apple III Selector III menu needing 256K RAM.  This did indeed solve the problem, the Smart Port functionality works, and I have a second functional Apple III with an emulated Profile Hard Drive full of software to explore!  Very exciting.  Here's the machine paired with a Monitor III I had gotten with a previous Apple II purchase...

I spent a bit more time with the keyboards and a third parts keyboard from Steve.  I had been told before that if the light bulb on the keyboard died, the system would not recognize the keyboard, but I forgot that till I got to the point where I needed two working keyboards.  Sure enough, replacing the dead light bulbs on these two parts keyboards does allow them to be recognized by the computer, so this was another hurdle overcoming to getting the second machine back up and running.

Another side excursion on this project was the Power Supplies.  On the newer machine I purchased one of the Reactive Micro power supply upgrade kits.  This provides peace of mind.  On the second machine, I was continuing to use one of the original Astec power supplies without having given it much though, but I should have!  A couple of hours into one of the troubleshooting sessions the big RIFA on the high voltage side of the power supply gave way and released its magic smoke.  As the smell lingered in the basement I replaced the Rifas with modern filter caps from a different brand.  I've got a few hours on this repaired power supply, so far so good with that repair.

The second "Full" Keyboard is not quite perfect, I had to make some printed labels for a couple of the keys and the Alpha Lock key is a momentary key not a toggle.  The bezel around the keyboard is smashed, but other than that this is a second working Apple III machine that is somewhere between a partially completed project and a parts machine...

I did not anticipate at the start of this project that I'd be able to get two functional Apple III machines out of this lot.  These machines have a bad reputation but so far my experience with them has been good.  I'm going to keep the first machine setup and I'll keep poking around with it and learn more about the software.  One of my next goals is to try to get a printer working.

Do you have memories of using the Apple III?  Repair Stories?  Feel free to comment or send me an email using my address stored in my Profile at the top of the page.

Last of the PA RISC Machines, Hewlett Packard PA RISC 9000 System 712/60

 Early this year (2025) I picked up a cool Unix workstation at Free Geek Twin Cities, an HP PA RISC workstation, the 712/60.  It was a project machine; missing RAM, drives and a top cover, but the logic board was there with a good power supply.  Reading online, it is very difficult to find compatible RAM for these machines.  I did try buying 72 Pin ECC SIMMS on eBay, but they were not HP branded and they were not recognized by the machine.  So the computer went into storage and the project went on hold.

In the lead up to VCF Midwest this year I read a post on the Vintage Computer Forums offering to re-home some machines from an estate.   I made a note to follow up with the person who posted and I checked in with them first thing on Saturday Morning.  They had a cool pile of machines...

I am lucky enough to have a several of these machines already, and thanks to Rick I was able to add a complete HP 712/60 machine to my collection.  The hard drives were removed from all of these machines, but during the show I purchased a couple of BlueSCSI hard drive emulators.

Back at home after resting from the long weekend away I got started on the project.  I added the BlueSCSI and it was working, but I was unable to start an installer with the machine.  After some experimentation I found this article which explains that the HP 712/60 needs a special INI file for the BlueSCSI.  Although this helped, I was still experiencing lockups with the HP-UX Installer CD ISO file.  I tried switching to a different installer, it turns out that NextStep 3.3 has a RISC version that is compatible with this hardware.  The NEXT installer generated a Kernel Panic that was a bit more verbose than the HP-UX installer.  The kernel panic made me suspect that there could be an issue with the Logic Board.  After several hours of troubleshooting (and taking a break for the evening and sleeping on the problem) I decided to get the parts system I had and try that.  It booted the installer right away!  So I swapped this newer main logic board into the complete Chassis from VCF, and it works great.

I now have a complete, working HP PA RISC machine running NextStep 3.3 in Color!  The machine looks great...

And even more important it runs great.  It does feel like "where NEXTSTEP belonged all along".

I look forward to getting it setup a bit better, I need to configure users, networking, and install more software.  I also want to go back and try to get the machine dual booting with its original HP-UX operating system, but this is a topic for a future blog article.

Do you have any memories of using these machines back in the day?  These engineering workstation computers had mostly gone out of use before I started my first engineering job in 1996, I never used one at work, so I'd love to hear any stories that people have to share about using this kind of hardware back in the day, please leave a comment below or find my email in my profile.

VCF Midwest 2025 Recap

It's late September and VCF Midwest #20 (2025) is in the rear-view mirror.  This was my fourth in-person visit to VCF Midwest, but I think of the online only 2020 event as my first VCF, so I've been to five total VCF events now.  It was another excellent event this year and I really enjoyed being there.

I decided a couple of months ahead of the event that I was too busy to exhibit this year so I bowed out of having a table for the first time in 2 years.  It was nice to not have to worry about prepping and I already have an exhibit idea that I'm excited about for next time.  I'll save that as a surprise for next VCF.

This year at VCF I invited along a couple of my Minnesota based retro computer friends who came for the first time.  It was more enjoyable to have a shared experience; shared meals, attending talks, and of course walking the show floor.  Of course we also talked with alot of the other Minnesota based folks that travelled to the event.

I spent a fair bit of time walking the show floor on my own looking for bits and pieces for projects.  I had planned ahead of time that I was not going to buy new projects (unless there were deals I couldn't pass up) because I already have a handful of new projects from the previous lots I purchased locally earlier this year that I haven't got too yet.  I was successful, bringing home only a small number of items from the show...

The monitor is a composite green screen that I'll pair with and resell with an Apple IIe project.  The Pizza Box computer is an HP PA RISC machine, an 712/60 from 1993.  I've been holding onto another one of these so this allowed me to get started on an HP 712/60 project which will probably be a future bLog article.  There are a couple of Apple Unidisk drives that will pair up with an Apple IIe Platinum and my IIgs systems, and most of the rest of the lot is various kits for pending or future projects.

One of the highlights of the show was the last minute addition of Lee Felsenstein.  I'd read his book earlier this year and quite enjoyed his take on the early days of home computing in the SF Bay Area.  I got to meet Lee and he signed my copy of his book...

I didn't get to talk to Lee for very long, but it was fun to meet one of the originals from the Homebrew Computer Club, certainly a highlight of the weekend for me.  One of my friends from Minnesota brought down his Sol-20 computer and Lee signed his computer manual, too.  I have an Osbourne computer, but it's a bit of a hodge-podge so I didn't bring it to show to Lee.

Sunday morning was significantly quieter at the show.  Since I didn't have a table, I just did a single lap of the show, purchased a few final items, and then headed home.  I'm already looking forward to next year.

My Personal Personal Computer History - 100th bLog Article

For my 100th bLog article, I thought I'd do something nostalgic and go back and outline my own history with personal computing.  When I started in the hobby 6 years ago I didn't know if it would be possible for me to collect the computers I'd previously owned but it has been possible, and I've written bLog articles about all but one machine, an omission which I will remedy in this article.

I started out with the VIC-20 that my Uncle gave me in the last 80s when he upgraded to the C64.  I've already written about my new VIC-20.  Since that article I've been able to get a Penultimate II Cartridge which has alot of fun games on it.  I've also found a good deal on a "PET Keys" VIC-20 and added that to the collection, so now I have a good running machine and a parts machine if needed.  When I was a kid I tinkered with the expansion port on my VIC-20 and ended up destroying the computer, at the time I didn't know how to repair computers so we were without a computer at home for a while, a gap in my Personal Computing resume.

Of course all throughout this time I used computers at school.  We had Apple II computers at school.  We had mostly Apple IIe but also a couple of IIgs machines.  I don't recall using a Mac during my High School years although there must have been a couple of them around in the early 90s.

After High School I moved to college at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.  When I first started school there I didn't have my own computer and was reliant on the computer labs.  At this point in time some of the programming courses were still being taught on DEC VAX hardware.  I think the school may have been running 11/780s.  One lab had VT220 terminals and another had 320s.  The school also had Macintosh labs and PC Labs for the students to use, but in my electrical engineering course we were encouraged to use PCs.  Shortly after I started school during my freshman year I got a Slimline Gateway 2000 486 PC, that would have been in 1993.  It was my first new computer.

After college I moved to Minneapolis for work.  I continued to use the 486 until 1999 when I got an Apple Power Macintosh G3 Blue and White.  I was starting to get into shooting and editing Digital Video as a hobby at that time and the G3 was a necessary tool for that hobby.  I paired the Mac with a 17" Sony Trinitron CRT, it was a great setup, although I do recall how painful it was to use the Puck Mouse.  I ended up buying an accessory to change the shape of the Puck Mouse and make it more ergonomic.

That machine worked well for quite a few years, I think we used it up till 2004 or 2005.  At that point we purchased a Power Mac G5.  This was the last of the Apple professional computers I purchased new.  I have re-acquired a 2005 dual processor G5 for my collection. This is a computer I have not blogged about before, so here's a picture of the setup...

We used the G5 till 2009 when I bought our first Intel Mac Mini. Since then we've used a string of Mac Mini machines, up to and including an M4 Mac Mini I bought earlier this year.  These are great value for money but I not nearly as interesting.

Thanks for following along with my bLog!  The retro community is a really amazing group of people and I hope I can give back just a little bit here on the bLog by sharing about my experiences restoring computers regardless if they are nostalgic like the machines listed above or projects built to learn about the history of technology.

What about you?  Let me know about your personal computing history in the comments below, or find my email address in my profile.  Did you have any of the same computers?  What are your "grail computers" for your collection and why?