The Macintosh Plus - The Best Retro Macintosh?

The Macintosh Plus is one of my favorite retro computers in my collection.  It's understood that the first Macintosh has the most value, as does the first of anything, but in this case the Mac Plus is the last of the "original" Macs.  It's got the same industrial design (the same shape), and the early machines in the run have the same color as the originals.  These computer are significantly more useful, as they can have up to 4MB RAM, an external SCSI connector, and can run System 7.  Also, the double sided drive allows the system to read and write the original disks, but is also more practical should you want to run off floppies for nostalgia purposes, since you can have a boot disk and a program on the same disk.

The SCSI port is compatible with the SCSI2SD hard drive replacement,  I have two examples of the Mac Plus, a unit from 1986 and another from 1989, and they both work with SCSI2SD after using these settings.  From reading online, I believe that there were some special features added to the SCSI2SD to support these machines, but it's possible that early ROM versions of the Plus won't boot off SCSI2SD.  Personally, I've gotten Mac OS Version 4.1 up to 7.5.5 installed and booting off of 2GB partitions, but I didn't set up SCSI2SD to simulate a Mac drive, so I had to use Lido to get the drives setup.  I also have a FloppyEmu, which I normally use on the Apple IIs, but it's quite useful for bootstrapping these machines when it's time to install a new version of Mac OS, or load programs.

I've used both the SCSI2SD 5.5 in the external case, and most recently, I've transplanted a Version 5.1 device into the External SCSI enclosure shown above to simulate a somewhat more period correct look.  I documented that build in another article here.

My 1986 Mac Plus had been experiencing problems with overheating.  I recently brought it back onto the workbench, opened it up, and was able to replace a bad capacitor on the Power Supply board that had started to show signs of leakage.  I had not noticed this before during previous repairs, so I went carefully over the entire board.  I also ended up breaking off the fuse holder on the board, but that was a very inexpensive part from DigiKey.  While doing these repairs, I also installed a 12volt 60mm fan that I had on hand inside the case.  The machines’s been running much better now after a couple of day long burn in sessions, so I’m greatly relieved to have what is currently the oldest Mac in my collection working well again.

Macintosh Portable (1989) - Learning about a "New to Me" Computer

One of my recent acquisitions in the collection is an Apple Macintosh Portable.  This computer was released in 1989 by Apple, and was the first Portable computer (Battery powered computer) from Apple.  

At that point in time, I was interested in computers, but pretty unaware of what was going on in the industry, and certainly not aware of high-end business machines.  I've recently developed a strong interest in the 68K Macs and because of the high cost and low number of these machines that was produced, I never thought I'd be able to afford one.  I ended up getting this in exchange for labor helping someone clean out and price a large lot of retro computers.  I was a bit concerned because a fellow retro computing enthusiast told me that it took collecting three Portables before they were able to get a single working unit.   I was hopeful however because of the care that this collector had obviously taken.

My example is from 1990, near the middle of the run, this computer was not a big commercial success for Apple.  The cosmetic condition is excellent but from what I've learned online, since these were made during the early '90s capacitor plague, they all need a Recap.  The first videos I like to watch on a new computer that I'm unfamiliar with are from Jason's Macintosh Museum, here's one that shows how to open the computer.

At this point, I knew that I'd need a battery in order to start the Macintosh portable, thanks to some good advice, I was made aware of this solution for buying a new one online from this eBay seller, Alaska360.  While I was waiting for that part to come, I was able to dive in on the Recap.

Bruce from Branchus Creations has provided an excellent recapping guide here.  Bruce's guide is for the later Backlit model, M5126, and my unit is the first M5120 model, which I believe to be more common.  I used Bruce's guide as a starting point, and made edits to update it for the 5120.  I will include my edited version of Bruce's guide here.  Also, I'd highly recommend watching Bruce's video on the topic, he's got a high level of both knowledge and skill at repairing these machines.

I did my recap using parts from Digi-Key, which we are very fortunate to have right here in the state of Minnesota.  This went OK, but as it was my first time around the main challenge was that the Radial Caps I'd ordered had leads that were too thick to fit through the holes in the circuit board.  Here's my updated Bill of Materials for this,  I've updated the part number of the Radial Caps too 0.6mm leads instead of 0.8mm leads, although I haven't tested this yet.  Let me know via email or in the comments below if you have success with these caps with the smaller leads.

So, after the recap was complete and the battery arrived, it was time for the "Moment of Truth", the power up test.  I was super excited to see that the computer worked!

Getting to play around with this computer has been one of the major highlights of my year in retro computing.  The SCSI hard drive works, making it one of the few functioning SCSI drives that I have.  This SCSI drive has a proprietary connector, but if it does stop working the eBay seller I mentioned for the battery also has a special SCSI adapter that allows the Portable to run off SCSI2SD.  I expect this drive will die soon and that's an upgrade that will be on the near horizon for this machine.

There were a few problems with my portable.  First, I noticed there was no power up sound.  I suspected something was wrong with the sound circuit because I knew that during the recap several pads had lifted.  I did my best to repair that damage, but I've had trouble with the sound circuit on computers from this era before.  So, I started to search the forums, and again based on advice joined a "New to Me" forum for 68K macs, the 68KMLA forum.  This thread seemed to be on topic, so I joined in.  I got some really great advice, and I was able to resolve the issue!  I did have to take the entire computer back apart again to get at the board.

The second issue is more concerning, the display appears to be degrading.  If you look closely at the image,  you can see a line of about may 50 dead pixels at the top left corner, right along the line of the menu bar.  This was an image I took right after getting the machine running again.  Since then, another line has appeared along the right hand side.  I do not know yet if this screen is at repairable, it would be great if this was just a loose contact or something, but I don't anticipate that it will be repairable.  This is Apple's first Active Matrix screen, and I think it may simply be failing.   I'll keep my eyes out for a donor, and in the meantime, enjoy using the machine!

Apple II Plus - Trash to Treasure - Part II

In the last update, we left off with the Apple II Plus able to power on, but without testing either the keyboard or any of the hardware.  After the replacement keyboard cable arrived, I plugged the keyboard in for the first test.  Unfortunately, with the Keyboard plugged in I was getting repeated keystrokes over and over again.  I could tell that the Keyboard was working to some degree because when I'd press a key the correct key would come through, but then fill the screen with repeating characters till the next character was pressed.

I started troubleshooting by doing Google searches on the Internet.  My first understanding from what I'd read lead me to believe that the Keyboard Encoder board could have failed, which is a separate board that is attached too but not part of the keyboard on the Apple II and the II Plus.  I found this modern replacement for the Apple II Keyboard Encoder and ordered it.  The great thing about this solution is that it also includes a PS/2 port for attaching a modern keyboard. With this board and a modern keyboard you have a complete known good keyboard solution for the Apple II or the Plus.  After this arrive and I plugged it in, it had no effect, the problem persisted.

So, understanding that this problem was not with the Keyboard or the Keyboard Encoder board, this pushed me back to looking at and considering the motherboard.  I had read about the book "The Apple II Circuit Description", and so after my failure to properly diagnose the initial problem, I decided it was time to dig in and read this.  I read through the introductory parts of each chapter, and also dug in a bit on the Keyboard I/O schematic.  Feeling a bit unsure after the disappointment with the Encoder board, I decided it was time to reach out on the Vintage Computer Forums.  As has happened before, I received some great advice.  It ended up being one and only one bad 74xx Logic chip, replacing this with a new device solved the repeating key problem!

After testing the keyboard, I determined that four of the keys were not working, the previous cleaning had not been enough to rejuvenate them.  By using the Ohmmeter I was able to determine that the key switch contact was not closing.  Having repaired individual key switches before using a procedure demonstrated on Adrian's Digital Basement, I removed the problem keys by desoldering them from the keyboard, dis-assembling them, and carefully cleaning the switch plates.  These ended up being Alps short-step switches, so the mechanism was a bit unfamiliar.  I found that for some of the switches I had to spray contact cleaner in between the plates, then blow it out with compressed air a couple of times to clear the contact of whatever was preventing the circuit from closing.

After getting a complete working Keyboard, it was time too test the RAM.   I've attached my Disk Controller II card from my Apple IIe, and FloppyEmu to this system, but I did not have any success loading software onto this Apple II Plus, other than successfully loading DOS 3.3.   It turned out that part of my problem was not understanding how the DOS system worked, I needed to go back and read about that, too.  This simple list of DOS commands was helpful.  After I learned that this is a 48K Apple, and that because it's an Apple II Plus, it has Applesoft in ROM and not Integer Basic, then I started to understand why I could load certain programs and not others.

At this point, I was finally able to load and successfully run Apple-Cillin diagnostics on the machine.  Using this tool I was able to diagnose that the machine did indeed have some bad RAM.  By doing trial and error using the first bank of 16K of RAM, I was able to condemn four RAM chips and set aside another group of RAM chips that are working, but their legs are broken. Again, due to the fantastic Retro Computing community's online contributions, I learned that the electronics distributor Jameco still has the correct RAM chips in stock.  I ordered a bunch in order to replenish the top bank to bring this machine back to 48K, and have a few spares as well.

With either 32K or 48K, I can't run most of the Apple II software that's out there from my childhood because most of that requires a 64K machine, but I have the Apple IIe for that.  I think I'll try to outfit this machine to behave as an original Apple II.  Original Apple II prices have gotten a bit crazy, but I did find this cool modern card, a MultiROM card that allows the machine to load Integer Basic, or boot to the monitor and behave just like an original Apple II.  I put this on order, and with the the current situation with shipping during the Holidays, this project will go back on hold for a while.

Thanks for reading!  Let me know in the comments or in email what memories you have of the Apple II, II Plus, or IIe.  One of the things I'm currently researching is what people did with their Apple IIs with less than 64K RAM, what games were popular from the late seventies up till 1981 or '82?

Apple II Plus - Trash to Treasure - Part 1

One of my goals in Retro Computing is to learn about older and older computers, and work my way back in time, one generation of computers at a time.  The nostalgia factor is certainly important for me, but I’m also interested in the tech that came before.  In my own retro computing development, I’d been keeping my eye out for an Apple II Plus machine.  I have an Apple IIe that I’ve already mentioned, and have been interested in the experience of using the original Apple II's since I’ve never owned one of the original “Trinity” of home computers.  Finding an original Apple II (not a Plus) seems a bit out of my price range at this point, but perhaps someday I’ll be able to repair an original Apple II.

My opportunity for a II+ came in mid November of this year, when a trusted retro computer seller on Craigslist posted a Bell and Howell “Darth Vader” computer in need of some serious help.  As Apple fans will know, this was a partly re-branded Apple II Plus, Bell and Howell painted it black, and since it’s a bit more rare it’s more valuable.  The seller and I had a phone conversation about the state of the machine, which was poor, but I was able to convince him to sell me the machine regardless of the state.

The state of the computer was not good.  The biggest problem with this computer was that the top cover had been removed before the computer was stored.  This meant that dust and dirt got inside.  I even found a couple of acorn tops as I was cleaning inside.  The main board had a significant amount of dirt on it, and there was one chip (one of the ROMs) that had bent pins  It seems likely that something very heavy was dropped onto this chip causing the pin legs to bend.

So on intake, it was obvious that I should not even try to power the machine on without doing a lot of cleaning first.  I started by taking the top half off the case, removing the power supply, main logic board, keyboard, and backpack from the unit.

I started with the logic board.  I used the cleaning method that Adrian Black has been demonstrating, warm soapy water in my basement laundry sink.  I used Dawn dish detergent, warm water, and brushes for the initial cleaning.  It took quite a bit of time because there are more than 80 chips on the board that all needed to be cleaned around, but it was very gratifying to see how much better the board looked after.

Also, at this point I was able to get a look at the date code on the board and discover that this II Plus was made in 1981, so this would have been the third year of production for the II+, starting in 1979.  After the initial clean of the logic board, I shifted gears to the power supply.   I had already serviced the power supply in my Apple IIe, but this one had an additional rivet on either side that I had to drill out.  The RIFA cap was certainly on its way out (bulging) so I'm glad I saved the smelly mess associated with a power on test.  I removed and replaced with a new X type filter cap that I had in stock.  When I put the power supply back together and tested voltages, it was not working correctly.  I remembered that as I was re-assembling it, the circuit board had flexed quite a bit.  Since this board has a heavy transformer in the middle, I think this design is prone to getting cracked solder joints at the transformer.  After I reflowed the joints on the transformer and several other components while I was at it, the power supply was working with all voltages reading good.

Next, I tackled the keyboard.  One of the things I dislike about the Apple II Plus is the use of ribbon cables with DIP connectors on the end.  I didn’t realize how fragile these were, and as I was taking the computer apart, I broke pins on the interconnect cable between the logic board and the keyboard.  Thankfully, I was able to find this article online, I ordered the replacement cable from DigiKey, and it is on the way.  This keyboard has the SKCC Short Stems with the extenders installed, and it ended up being significantly less dirty than the previous one I’d cleaned. My son especially enjoys keyboard cleanup (I think it reminds him of Legos), so he helped me with this part of the project.  We pulled all the keys and gave them a soak, he helped me go over them all with a toothbrush, they look great.  I then worked on the keyboard deck, using the same procedure I described in the Apple IIe article with lots of Isopropyl and DeOxit.

The next day, after the main logic board had dried, and on further inspection, I needed to do more spot cleaning on the logic board.   This time I used Isopropyl and  Q-Tips to get in close to each chip.  I was also able to pull out the damaged ROM chip, inspect the socket, and re-bend the pins back into place.  I made a note of the location since this may require further inspection and repair, but at first glance, it looked like that socket had not been damaged, and none of the pins broke off.

At this point, I was able to give the system its first power up, a very exciting moment indeed.  Sadly, there was no video from the machine.  So, this sent me back to looking more closely at the board.  What I noticed was that because there had been so much dirt on the board, there was dirt on the legs of many ICs where they entered into the sockets on the board.  So, as time consuming as this would be, I felt it would be important to pull every IC out of the socket, inspect the IC, clean the legs if needed, and spray De-Oxit into every socket.  Given that there are more than 80 ICs, I divided this task up into a couple of parts.

During this part of the repair, I broke multiple legs off three different ICs.  Again, using another trick I’ve seen from Adrian Black, I was able to solder a small (28ga) solid copper wire back on in place of these legs and get the chips plugged back into their sockets.  I’m super happy that I didn’t have to order any additional chips. (Yet, knock on wood)

On completion of reseating all of the chips on the board, it was time for another power on test.  This time, there was Video, along with the Apple ][  logo at the top and the ] BASIC prompt, a very happy moment indeed!

At this point in the repair there remains a good deal more work to do; the keyboard is non functional, the RAM should be tested, I should add a Floppy Disk controller, but this article has gotten a bit long so I will leave off here for now.

Apple IIe Repair and Use

The Apple IIe was the first computer I spent a significant amount of time working on, because it’s the computer they had at my junior high and high school in rural Wisconsin.  I remember playing Oregon Trail and the original Castle Wolfenstein at school in the school library.  But these were also our workhorse computers that we used to learn BASIC programming and for word processing with AppleWorks.

So, it was with great excitement that I started in watching Adrian Black and various other vintage and retro tech YouTubers dig in on these Apple II computers, learning how they work, how to repair them, and work on cleaning and restoration.  Full schematics are avaliable, and really excellent troubleshooting material from back in the day is also up on the ‘Net.

Because I’m always trying to keep my hobby affordable, I didn’t rush out and buy the first Apple II computer I could find, I made several offers, and was finally able to land a nice-looking example from a family that was cleaning out their basement.  The lot of items for sale included the Apple IIe itself, an Apple Color Monitor, a single Floppy Disk drive, and many floppies and manuals.  I purchased this at the beginning of October, the seller “didn’t know if it works”, so I was prepared for the fact that it probably wouldn’t work.

So after getting the unit home, the first thing I did was to take the power supply out.  The RIFA cap had blow, I could still smell it. I wondered if they had tried to test it and let the smoke out of the cap recently.  I removed the RIFA cap and then tested the Power Supply voltages.  Those checked out good, so I tried to power up the monitor next.  The monitor powered up without incident.  Then, the moment of truth, I powered up the computer (without any cards in it), and it booted right to the BASIC prompt.  A very exciting moment!

After poking around for a few minutes, I realized that some of the keys on the keyboard were not working.  The keyboard was filthy.  It seems likely that this machine had been stored in the previous owners basement, perhaps for decades.  The next order of buisness was to clean the keyboard throughly.  I washed the keycaps, and did what I could to clean the keyboard from the top and bottom with liberal use of Isopropyl Alcohol.  I sprayed a liberal amount of DeOxit into each key and cycled each key a dozen times or more.  This brought back about 1/2 of the non-functioning keys, but there were still three keys that I had to remove.  I was able to take these three key switches (SKCC long stems) apart and clean the removable metal contacts, then replace them in the switch housing.  Try that with a computer that isn’t 30 years old!  This restored all the keys on the keyboard to full function, and it’s been working fine ever since.

The next set of repairs centered around the Floppy Disk drive.  I was excited about getting the Apple Disk II device up and running, there’s something so nostalgic for me about the sound that the Apple II drives make when the computer starts.  When I first received the drive, I heard something rattling around loose inside and so before powering the drive up, I needed to open the drive and determine what that rattling sound was all about.  It turns out that the lever on the bottom left floppy disk guide had broken off.  This lever must remain connected, yet flexible, so I used some strong Gaffers tape to get it back in place so that when a floppy was pushed in, that lever would sense the write protect notch and operate the micro switch inside the drive.  I don’t expect this repair to last forever, but it’s been OK so far.

After this, the Floppy Disk drive did work for some time. After going through about the first 20 disks in the collection, it stopped working, and I plugged in FloppyEmu and was back up and running.  Honestly FloppyEmu is such a great product that I’ll probably keep using it, if it wasn’t for that distinct sound, and wanting to check out the programs on these disks that came  with the computer.  So, eventually I opened the drive back up, an found this on the main drive circuit...

Look at the capacitor on the upper right hand corner.  The right end of the capacitor has completely blown out of the device and there’s literally nothing left inside.  I was able to replace all three electrolytic capacitors with caps that I had in my stock bins, and get the drive back up and running.  I hear that not much else can go wrong with these drives, so I expect this drive to be operating when when the last of the Double Density floppy disks wear out.

So, with the Apple Disk II drive as Drive 1 and the FloppyEmu as Drive 2, I was able to boot off of a disk copy program and copy various disk images back out to Floppy disk.  I was able to make ProDos disks this way, and some games like Flapple Bird.

Along the way I made some simple, silly mistakes, too, like accidentally pushing the color / monochrome button on the front of the monitor, then closing the door and forgetting that setting.  I spent almost an hour trying to figure out why the image was monochrome, then remembered the monitor setting, which I now understand is there to help reduce color fringing with text in 80 column mode.

Anyway, the Apple IIe is up and running and I just couldn’t be any happier with the result, what a classic machine!  It’s been my go to game machine for classics like Donkey Kong and Choplifter since it’s been running.  I’ve also been able to use it in testing a much more broken Apple II Plus machine, but more on that in a future article.

Do you have memories of Apple IIe?  If so let me know in the comments below, or send me an email.

Current State of the Lab Workbench

I thought I'd give a bit of an update about the current state of Steve's Digital Basement, as there have been quite a few upgrades over the last year.  Many of them inspired by Adrian's Digital Basement along with many other retro and vintage tech YouTubers out there.  I really appreciate their willingness to share the wins and the losses.  I share the belief that the more comfortable we can get with learning from failure and not being afraid to try stuff that we aren't good at, the more skilled we will become.  The perfect is truly the enemy of the good.

Since spending more time learning online about the surprisingly high quality of some of the Chinese devices out there, and since I've always wanted a Digital Storage Oscilloscope, I spent some time learning about the various low-cost brands out there.  I often shop the "Open Box" section of the online catalog at my local Microcenter.   They had this Silgent SDS 1052DL+ that sat in the store for quite a while, after the price dropped a second time, I picked it up.  I paid less for it than what I got by selling my old Tektronix analog scope.  I know that the Tek scope is likely to outlast this one, but in the meantime, I've got a really capable scope and I couldn't be any happier with this major upgrade at the bench.

I've also added a new Power Supply recently, it's a generic supply also from China, but has more current capacity than the BK Precision Model 1601.  I'll keep both for situations where I need dual voltages.

The other add from China is a component tester, it’s capable of doing ESR checks on capacitors, and that’s been very useful as I troubleshoot old devices.

The Hakko soldering station was one of my first upgrades when I started to get back into Electronics and repair, it has been a truly amazing tool.  I upgraded from a non-temperature controlled soldering pencil about 5 years back.  I no longer dread soldering, it's an absolute pleasure to use, and the results are significantly better.

In the upper left hand corner, you can see storage bins, I have a couple of sets of these with common electronic components.  I'm not stocked yet to do recaps and other repairs without ordering parts, but I do have some common components on hand, and I've been able to do some spur of the moment repairs without ordering parts, like recapping the control board on an Apple Disk II or recapping the Apple IIe card in my Mac LC.

Not shown in the picture, I have a tool box off to the side filled with hand tools.  This tool box holds; hand tools,  a Multimeter, and various magnifiers.

On the wish list, I'd love to get a really nice stereo microscope.  I previously had a powered Solder removal tool on my list, but I recently got the manual Soldapullt and this has been such a great hand tool that I'm not sure now that I need a powered desoldering gun.  If I start frequently removing ICs and connectors, I may change my mind about that.  I'd also like to get a hot air soldering gun, this would help with desoldering and resoldering Surface Mount components (at this point primarily to help with the ReCapping that I"m already doing).

How to open a Power Macintosh 61XX Series Case Without Breaking It

 Opening a Power Macintosh 6100 is dangerous.  These machines are of such an age that the plastic tabs on the back of the case break off frequently.  Sadly, I've just broken two more this weekend.

That being said, I was successful at opening to cover on one of these computers without breaking the tabs, I was so excited.

In hindsight, I really wish I'd have used my heat gun to soften the tabs a bit before trying to open the case, but I did come up with another hack that I thought might be worth sharing.  (Or maybe I saw this somewhere else and I'm just not remembering where.)

If you do manage to get the case open, you'll see a couple of hooks that face backwards at the back...

One hook just over the power supply, and one over the Expansion Bay.  A quick few minute with the Dremel and you can zip those right off, as shown below...

The cover is now loose, but gravity will hold the cover down, or whatever you put on top, and there's no longer any danger of breaking the tabs on the cover.

Minnesota Computer History - CPT Corporation

Minnesota has alot of computing history.  I've always enjoyed history and technology, and so it's no surprise that I have an interest in the history of technology.  Lately I've enjoyed digging back into that history and discovering a bit more about it as I dig into resources from the Charles Babbage Institute at University of Minnesota.

I started my Engineering Career with a brief stint at Computing Devices International.  This was one of the Control Data companies, which has ties all the way back to the Univac from Remington Rand.  This history is covered well by some interesting talks given here.  This computer company formed just after World War II, and was for quite some time more dominant in the market than IBM.  I hadn't thought much about my time at Computing Devices (now a part of General Dynamics) until my Retro Computing hobby brought me into contact with another piece of Minnesota computer history that I knew nothing about.

I was out purchasing another Macintosh Plus computer as a parts computer for my working Macintosh Plus and I asked the gentleman I was purchasing from if he had any other Retro Computer equipment he'd be willing to sell.  In this case, he did have another computer, and he was wiling to sell it to me.  

The latest member of the collection here is a CPT Corporation Model 9000...

The CPT 9000 is an IBM AT Compatible computer with a 286 processor and 1MB of RAM.  There are several interesting things about this computer, but the one that I've enjoyed the most is that this computer was made in Minnesota.

When I say made in Minnesota, I'm not talking about assembled from board level in Minnesota, I mean that CPT Corporation designed the computer from the component level up in Minnesota.  Here are some pictures I've taken of the boards.  First the CPU Board (This is a single board computer design with a passive backplane)...

You can see CPT Corp. on the Silkscreen.

In reading about this company, they developed high end Word Processing systems, and there appears to be custom hardware on the mainboard to support their proprietary portrait mode, one page at a time display monitor.   My examples does not include this monitor, or any proprietary display driver.

The RAM Board is here...

Also caries the CPT Corp. marks on the silkscreen, as does the Backplane...

The computer case is very heavy and well designed, I believe the Power Supply may be a custom design, as it is mounted as a loose board inside the chassis (no separate enclosure).

This particular computer appears to have been continuously updated till about the mid '90s.  The rest of the components were not made in Minnesota, a plain 16 Bit ISA VGA Card with a Trident Chipset, a working 1.2MB Floppy Drive,  a failed 1.44MB Floppy, a Super IO Card and HDD from the mid nineties.  Perhaps this is the timeframe when CPT Corporation finally closed their doors?

Is this the last computer that CPT Corporation designed and manufactured before their demise?  Is this the last (or only) IBM Compatible PC designed and manufactured in Minnesota?

None of the CPT Corporation software was on the computer, which is not surprising, but I must say I've been a bit disappointed.  I've posted about this on the Vintage Computer Forum here, but there's been alot less interest in the hobbyist community in archiving business software, so no luck locating that yet.  

Also, I have no idea what happened to the Intellectual Property and the remains of the company after the bankruptcy, perhaps the software has been lost to time, which would be a shame given the size of this company at its peak.

Please reach out via email (in my profile), or leave a comment below if you know any of the answers to my questions about CPT Corporation, this computer or the software it ran.  Thanks!

Retro Computing - Retrobrighting

 I’ve recently tried Retrobrighting for the first time.  This is the process of restoring yellowed plastic to its like-new appearance.  There are many videos online showing this, including The 8-Bit Guy and others.

The technique relies on immersing yellowed plastic parts in Hydrogen Peroxide while exposing them to UV Light.

Finding Hydrogen Peroxide during the pandemic was a bit of a challenge, but the 8-Bit Guy recommended Sally Beauty supply for #40 Developer, that seems to work well, as it’s more concentrated than what you’d get from the pharmacy, which is normally 2% concentration.

I was able to re-use some LED based grow lamps that we had here already.  Since my first item was a Keyboard I was able to use a shallow tote for this first experiment, and installed the UV LED strip lights on the lid of the tote, as shown here...

The most yellowed item in my collection at this point is a classic Apple ADB keyboard M0116, with lovely Apls switches.  Here’s what the keyboard looked like before... 

And After...

This is very gratifying result, as the keyboard looks fantastic with the early 90s platinum macs, like this Classic II...

It looks like they were made to go together, I’m really happy with the result.

A few weeks later, I tried the Cream method on some larger items, the housing of an Apple Portrait Monitor and an Macintosh IIsi.  This was on a sunny summer Saturday, so this time I did the treatment outside.  It only took a couple of hours.

Unfortunately, the first time around the finish looked a bit splotchy.  I redid the treatment again a second time an it came out quite nicely...

So, the retrobright activities will continue.  I may need to find brighter lights and a bigger tank, as winter is coming in Minnesocold and the outdoor retrobrighting activities will have to come to an end.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever tried retrobrighting, and what has worked for you?

How to Price Vintage or Retro Computers for Sale on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace

 Hi All,

As readers of my bLog will know, I buy and sell Retro computers on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace in the Minneapolis / St. Paul Metro area.  I see a common mistake being made by people listing computers for sale on these sites, and I want to offer a bit of education.  I think an informed buyer and seller create better outcomes for both parties.

The most common error I see is people asking too much for their Vintage or Retro computers.  One common reason for this is not doing basic searches online to determine what type of computer you have.  Do not assume that all grey IBM PCs are the original IBM 5150 computer.  Do not assume that all beige all-in-one Macintosh computers are the original Macintosh computer, look for model numbers on the back of the computer and do some web searches to figure out what you are selling.  As with all antiques the value is related to the rarity, condition, and completeness.

Another common reason for overpricing comes from the practice of looking up items to sell on eBay first, then asking the same or slightly less than the “Buy it Now” price of the highest active auctions on eBay.  This is not a realistic price, you want to find out what eBay buyers are paying, not what hopeful sellers are asking.

As an example, I will describe the latest computer I have sold, a Macintosh Classic from 1991.  At the end, I will tell you what I got for the computer.

When I do a search on eBay for this computer, the first match for a currently eBay listing is asking $240 and another one is listed for $350.  However, if you look one level deeper, the real value of this computer, what eBay sellers have actually paid, is not hard to find.  This information is available by scrolling down the main eBay search results page and finding the “Sold Items” checkbox on the left side near the bottom, as shown here...

As we browse this, we see that one Macintosh Classic sold for $200, another for $96, and another for $80.  The difference in the price was mainly due to condition.  The highest price system looked really clean in the pictures, was in working condition, and was more complete included the keyboard, mouse, and cords.  The others were sold for parts / not working without a keyboard and mouse.

Once you know the value of the item on eBay, how does that apply to local market selling like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace?  I believe that asking more than 50% of what the item could be sold for on eBay means that you may have to wait a long time to find a buyer, or may not find a buyer at all.   People expect the local market to be cheaper than eBay, and if you want to sell your item quickly, this price point is important.

Using the example of the Macintosh Classic, if we apply the below 50% rule, we should be asking below $100 at the top end and below $40 for this computer in less than ideal condition on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, again primarily based on condition and completeness.

I was able to sell my Macintosh Classic recently on Craiglist for $75 without a keyboard and mouse.  It was listed for about 1 week before it sold.

What do you think about this?  Do you have experience buying and selling Retro and Vintage Computers, or other antiques?  I’d love to hear if you have other thoughts or ideas about how to value these old machines, so leave a comment below, or send me an email.

Apple IIe Card for Macintosh LC Continued...

As I've mentioned in this previous post, I'd been able to acquire a Macintosh LC system on Craigslist that included an Apple IIe card.  The card was missing it’s Y-cable, Apple Part Number 590-0703-A.  This is a custom cable only used for this card so if you buy the card without the cable it’s quite hard too find.  There was someone building and selling replacements, but they haven’t been available for some time.

As I’ve already mentioned, I built some adapters using point to point wiring.  Since my use case is for the FloppyEmu, not an authentic Apple II drive (which I do not have to test) I have not connected the 12 volt supply lines.

After making this adapter...

I decided I really wanted a joystick connector, so I built this adapter...

                    

Neihther of these adapters are very reliable, and honestly I’ve been a bit afraid of a short causing damage to the card, which is something I would not be able to replace, so the project continues.

I've never designed a PCB before, and I've always assumed that it would be difficult and that the software tools were out of reach but after seeing multiple YouTubers not only advertising for PCBWay, but also actively building little problem solving boards, I decided that I should not be afraid to try my hand at building a circuit board to solve this problem.  I started out by downloading and installing KiCad, and watching several of the. “Getting Started” Videos on YouTube.  With a few evenings of learning  and working on this, I was able to get a design created that was acceptable to PCBWay.  Finding the right angle connectors on DigiKey was a challenge, but finding the footprint files that KiCad needed for those connectors was surprisingly easy.

Waiting for the boards to arrive from China was the hard part, I live in Minnesota so order from DigiKey usually arrive in a couple of days.  I couldn’t wait to solder up the first one and do some testing.  Had I done it right, or would rework be required on the circuit board after?

Well, the circuit board worked, I was able to read the FloppyEmu, and I was able to play games with the Joystick.  All in all a very gratifying experience.

This is a simple circuit and a simple design, but I’ve decided to share it with the community.  The files are here...

https://github.com/SteveMaves/AppleIIeCardYCableReplacementBoard

I've decided to go Open Source Hardware on this as a way to give back.

I’ve so appreciated how generous people are with their time, and this is a way that I can give back a little bit too the very small portion of the retro computer community for which this board may be of use.

It’s my hope that every Apple IIe card that still exists out there will be able to be put back into service with FloppyEmu and a Joystick.

As always, I appreciate any and all feedback, leave a comment below.  Thanks!

Using Bootable Floppy Disk Images from the Internet to make Actual Floppy Disks

I’ve recently made some interesting discoveries that I thought may be valuable to other fans of the early Apple Macintosh Computers.

I had an interesting conversation about running some old Macintosh software that was pre System 6.  This era of Mac was before my time and so an interesting challenge.  Of all the early Mac system software disks out there, I think the best organized collection is currently on Winworld, here.  These files work great with the vMac Mini emulator running on a modern Mac, but when you move the files back onto a “Rosetta Stone” Mac in order to build boot floppies, the files are not associated with Disk Copy (the resource fork is missing, and Disk Copy does not recognize the files as disk images).

In the past, I have had some limited success in finding StuffIt (SIT) archives and bringing them onto the bridge machine before un compressing them, that way if the resource fork was intact it will be maintained, but unfortunately a lot of the files on Winworld are missing that information.  Up to this point I had been deleting these versions of the files and moving on to try to locate different sources of the files.

Today I learned that there is another good option.  The vMac Mini folks have created a set of utilities that can be used on OS9 and early versions of OSX to recreate the resource fork for a disk image if that information is missing.  The part of the tool that’s most relevant to vMac Mini is used to indicate that the file should be opened in vMac Mini, but they also created a tool too associate files with Disk Copy.  This utility is called SetFType and is avaliable here.

Normally I used OS 8 or OS 7 for disk imaging activities, but unfortunately this utility requires OS9, so the process I used was this:

Put the files I wanted to use on ZIP drive using the modern Mac, 

Boot my Bridge Mac up in OS9

Run the SetFType utility on the files on the Zip drive

Reboot to OS8 and copy the files over onto the Bridge Mac

Create Floppies using Disk Copy 6.3

Using this technique, I’ve been able to create boot floppies for System 3, the earliest version that will boot on the Macintosh Plus, and to get my Macintosh Plus running System 4, which is the earliest version that will support large 2GB SCSI partitions.

Other than running some very old versions of software that will crash on System 6, I’m not sure how much use I’ll get out of System 4, but it will be interesting too understand more of the history of these early systems.

Macintosh Classic I and II Repair

I’ve so enjoyed the Macintosh Classic Repairathon Series on Adrian Black’s YouTube channel, Adrian’s Digital Basement, if you haven’t seen that I've created a YouTube playlist here...

So, when I saw an add on Facebook marketplace for a Macintosh Classic and Classic II, I couldn't resist making an offer.  I probably paid too much knowing that one computer was working and the other was not, but I'm always in this tension of not wanting to insult sellers with low offers and wanting to keep my retro computer spend to a manageable hobby level and not a lifestyle.

Machine #1, Macintosh Classic

Upon inspection, the Macintosh Classic was booting and running off the hard drive.  I don't want to get my hopes up about this, since all of my vintage macs have had failed hard drives, but this one is a Connor and I haven't had one of this brand.  Maybe it will survive long after all the Quantum Fireball drives have died?

Other than that, the Classic isn't too remarkable on the outside, one of the ideas I got from Adrian was using an external drives to test all the ports, I was able to confirm all the ports are working (Floppy, SCSI) except the Serial ports, since I don't have a Printer or Modem to use for test.  On the inside, I'm happy to report that although the clock battery had not been changed and still have the 1991 date code, it had not leaked.  Also, the electrolytic capacitors on the Logic board appear to be intact.  So with a simple battery change, this computer is back up and running.

Machine #2, Macintosh Classic II

The non-starting Classic II posed more of a challenge, and knowing from the video series that most of the parts were interchangeable is what really got my excited about this project.  By opening both machines and swapping known good parts from the first machine, I was able to determine that the HDD (yet another failed Quantum Fireball), and the Logic Board had problems.  Usually on power up, I'd get a black screen, but occasionally, I'd see this...

Upon inspection, the Logic Board had leaking electrolytic capacitors, but once again the battery from 1991 was intact.

Another YouTube channel that's been helpful is Bruce from Branchus Creations.  He's prepared many Recapping guides on his website, the one for the Classic II is linked here.  I ordered the parts and prepared for a recap of this motherboard to bring it back.  As I desoldered the pads, I lifted one, and another was close to failing.  I was pretty discouraged because I've already failed in one recapping project, but I kept going.  Thankfully I was able to find schematics for this computer linked here, so even if I couldn't identify the nearby via, at least I had a chance to figure out where the pad should be attached.

Anyway, cleaning was a bit of an adventure, and there seem to be alot of cookbooks out there about how to do this.  Let me share what I believe to be the best way:

1.    Remove old Caps first (hot air appears to be the best way, but I don't have a heat gun yet), Clean the old solder pads with wick, but do not do any repair yet.

2.    Use Vinegar to clean the board, be liberal with the amount you use, you pretty much want to bathe the board in it to get under the chips and sockets where possible.

3.    Use Isopropyl Alcohol to neutralize the vinegar and remove any visible residue from the boards, paying close attention to the pins around the surface mount chips, the finer the pitch of the pins, the easier it is for the junk to short them out.

4.    As a final step, wash the board out by itself in the dishwasher.

At this point, if inspection reveals that the board is clean, the sticky residue is gone, and the finest pitch pins don't have any white material between them, then you are ready to move one.

I didn't do these steps in the correct order, and ended up having to repeat steps 2 and 3, but I do know from previous experiences cleaning with vinegar that you don't want to leave it for hours, only minutes because it can do to much damage, so better to repeat steps 2 and 3 than to loose the board.

Anyway, I'm happy to report that after cleaning and recapping the board, I was able to get the system back to life, it was a very exciting moment for me, my first successful recap of a board.

After testing, there is one nagging issue that remains, the sound for this machine isn't working.  Since I have the schematics, I've been able to use those to do troubleshooting, I assumed the problem was with my recap, but the circuit is intact now from the speaker output pin (which I know is working with the other board) all the way back to the DFAC but not further, so the adventure continues.

Enclosure Ideas for SCSI2SD

Well, it may come as no surprise, but I've had multiple SCSI HDD failures with my Classic Macs over the last months.  The internal drive in the Macintosh LC, a 40MB Quantum drive was a survivor, it functioned well for another couple of hundred hours after I acquired it on Craig's List last year, but it started reporting errors.  The failures of these old drives is an issue that people have known about and have been talking about for years, but it's still sad because that was the last internal mechanical drive I had from the early 90s.

I also bought an external Syquest 44 MB drive that was still functioning from that same lot, and now that has failed as well.  I was telling myself that since this was a more rugged version of the technology it should last longer, but that was not the case.

So, as I have done a couple of times before, I purchased a SCSI2SD to replace the defective drive(s).  As I started to work with the new device, I was having trouble getting it to work in the Macintosh LC's Internal Drive bay.  Lido was reporting a termination error, but the device has internal termination.  I know the SCSI2SD was working because I tested it in another 90's Macintosh.  After swapping cables and trying many different settings, I decided that it's likely that the internal SCSI bus on the Mac LC may have gotten damaged somehow.  Perhaps when I was using it to test other SCSI drives that I got in a lot from Craig's List.

Anyway, since I had the external SCSI enclosure available from the dead Syquest drive, I decided to transplant the SCSI2SD device inside of that enclosure.  It's certainly not the most compact solution, but it does maintain the period look, and since it's configured with 2 GB of storage I could load a very large portion of the 68K software library from the early 90s onto this machine!

Here's a picture I took partway through this project...

The computer boots up fine from the SCSI2SD inside of the enclosure when connected to the external SCSI port on SCSI ID 0.  I'm no longer using the External termination device, but I left it on there for looks.  I ran without the fan for a short time, but I do think the power supply generates enough heat, so I turned the fan back on.  I ran with the SD card inaccessible for a couple of weeks, then I decided that I'd be willing to trade the "clean" look on the front and sacrifice a blanking plate to have access to the SD card.  Now, the SCSI2SD looks like this...

As you can probably tell, I used a Dremel tool to create this opening, not a CNC machine, so it doesn't look perfect, but it is perfectly functional with both the SD card and the USB port accessible without taking the device apart.

Vintage Computing in 2020 - Overview

During the past year and a half as we've settled into our new home in Suburban St. Paul, MN, I've continued to enjoy Retro Computing, AKA Vintage Computing.  I enjoy the process of fixing old computers more than using them, although I have spent quite a few hours playing some of the old games. I used to think that I had a unique interest in installing and configuring old versions of Windows and Mac OS.  I now realize that there are quite a large group of retro computing enthusiasts with a wide variety of interests, even within the Twin Cities.  We have Free Geek MN, and we even have our own YouTuber, Collin of This Does Not Compute.

My interest in Retro Computing started with a desire to relive some of my own experiences from around the time I first became interested in computing, but I’m also interested in the history in general and the history of technology, so I soon became interested in the computers that came before my time, for example the 1983 Compaq Portable and 1986 Apple Macintosh Plus shown at the top left and top center of this image...

Three of the computers have mismatching faceplates, these are my “Bridge” computers that have various flash based boot drives or a mismatch of modern and older drives.  Since I’m more interested in the functionality, this doesn’t bother me, just another opportunity to keep an eye out for some low-cost upgrades should they become available.

I’m equally interested in Apple and IBM PC Compatible products, having used both as a young person.  My first computer was a Commodore Vic-20 that was a hand me down from my Uncle, but that computer was quite out of date, and although I read the manual and did some simple BASIC programming, I didn’t really stick with it long enough to become comfortable with that platform.

I have “only” one rack full of computers and as with most collectors storage space is at a premium.  I have some computers in storage that are less interesting too me that I’m ready to sell, and I have my project computers that are not yet working stored out in the garage.

If you are interested in specifics, I have detailed articles about each computer on this blog.  Thanks for your interest, and please leave a comment if you have questions!

Original Compaq Portable

It has been one of my goals in vintage computing to move “back in time” to the early days of the personal computer, I’ve been intrigued by the story behind the original IBM PC, the 5150, a fascinating story of the tension between one of the classic engineering trade offs (make vs buy), and the unforeseen consequences this can have in a product development, but I’m no longer interested in collecting IBM in particular after reading this book “IBM and the Holocaust”.  So, I’ve been on the lookout for another brand XT class machine, and I was very intrigued when a damaged Compaq Portable I popped up at my local Free Geek store.  This was one of the first IBM PC clones, but they did something really different by creating a “Portable”.  I won’t rehearse the development of the machine here as it’s been covered well elsewhere.

My Compaq is an early unit, with the plastic parts stamped 1983, and a Rev. B BIOS.  When I purchased it, there was an error code at boot, so I knew that the processor and RAM were working.  The case was in rough shape, cracked and dirty, but a carrying case was included.

Once again, the Vintage Computer Forum was one of the best sources for information.  Also, the 8-bit guy did a restoration video series  on this machine, having seen these resources gave me the confidence to give this repair a shot.  There was a long list of issues with the machine, but with knowledge of how to take the machine apart, clean and lubricate floppy drives, replace the defective foam and foil pads in the keyboard, upgrade the BIOS, install an XT-CF adapter so I could boot from Flash, and upgrade the RAM to the maximum 640K, I now have a fully functional first generation PC running at 4.7Mhz.

Not shown in the picture, I moved the CF slot up to the front of the machine in the middle of the unused floppy drive bay that was opened up by removing the non-functional drive.

Update:  March 2021

I found a Tecmar Captain card and installed that in this PC, so it has a functional Real Time Clock, a working Microsoft Serial mouse.  I've installed Windows 2.0 on this machine, and that's been alot of fun to poke around with, since that version predates my first PC ownership.

Let me know if you have any questions for me about the Compaq, or other Vintage Computing topics in the comments below.

Vintage Computing - Pentium 75

In mid 2019, I became interested in vintage PCs again, or perhaps still.  I was feeling nostalgic about the era around 1993 when I got my first PC, a Gateway 2000 486DX 25.  If memory serves, that PC came with 4 MB of RAM, a 170 MB hard drive, and an. upgrade to the 15” CrystalScan monitor.

I started to look around a bit on Craigslist, but I didn’t know yet that because of the popularity of YouTubers like the 8-Bit Guy and LGR, I’m not the only one feeling nostalgic.  The cost of retro computers has started to go up significantly in the last few years.  The fact that most of these computers have already been recycled by now makes even systems that used to be very common more rare.

So, after finding only computers that were too new, I reached out to a Craigslist seller who mentioned that they had other computers for sale that were not yet listed.  This seller did not have a 486 on offer at the time, but recommended a Pentium 75 system that was nicely equipped.  I remember being amazed by the Pentium systems when they were new, and for me one of the most enjoyable aspects of retro computing is being able to purchase systems that I could not afford back in the day.  The computer had been carefully gone over by the seller and parts had been changed out to get it in good working order.  I was immediately able to use and enjoy the machine for retro gaming.

One of my longtime interests has been alternate operating systems, so one of the first upgrades I performed on this machine was to get it booting from a compact flash card slot on the back of the machine.  This allows me to load multiple operating systems on different CF cards.  The included hard drive still works, and it’s in the case if I ever want to go back to it, but the compact flash cards have so many benefits.  They provide an easy way to move files onto the retro computer, make backups easy, and run faster.  The compact flash card upgrade is kind of a no brainer, especially for DOS retro PCs where the costs are only $10-15 dollars for the circuit board that adapts the IDE cable to a CF card, and the OS doesn’t use the drive for virtual memory.

Shortly after purchasing the machine, I bought and installed Planet X3, the excellent top down strategy game by David Murray, the 8-bit guy.  I realized that I was interested in the idea of traveling further back in time to before I was interested in computing, before I even owned a computer, but the Pentium 75 really started me back on the path for retro computing in the PC world.

As I started getting interested in XT class machines, this computer has morphed into a bridge computer through adding a 360K floppy disk drive, which I was able to find at the local Free Geek here.  I took the drive apart enough to clean the heads, tested, and install it in this PC, which now serves as a disk imaging workstation with Dave Dunfeild’s IMD program.

So, the mid 90s being pretty well represented by this hardware, I have moved onto other projects, but this system still remains setup and will retain pride of place in my collection, receiving new software, making new 360K floppy disks, and perhaps even the occasional hardware upgrade.

My current wish list for this computer includes:
Epson branded VGA Monitor from the period
Epson PS/2 Keyboard from the period (or an older, clicky beige AT keyboard)
Adaptec PCI SCSI card
360K Floppy Drive w/ Beige Faceplate

Vintage Computing - Apple IIe Card for Macintosh LC

Earlier in 2020 I was able to acquire a Macintosh LC, a Craigslist find.  The computer was reported to be "not working", although the pictures showed that it included a monitor, keyboard and mouse, as well as some software.  I got it home and started with an inventory and some basic cleanup with IPA.

It turned out the system was working, but it did need some TLC.  One of the surprising discoveries once I had the cover off was that the Macintosh LC included an Apple IIe card.  This was a pleasant surprise, as one of my long term goals is to "move back in time" so to speak, to acquire computers back to the original personal computers.  I had given up on the idea of getting original Apple II hardware, as the costs have gotten a bit ridiculous.  My first exposure to computers was Apple II computers in my school, they were already quite dated by that time, but we learned everything from Typing to CAD on Apple II computers, with some Oregon Trail thrown in.

Unfortunately, the computer had gotten separated from the "Y" cable that is used to connect the proprietary DB-26 connector to the apple standard floppy cable and standard joystick cable.  As with all vintage Apple stuff the cost are ridiculous so I started the research to see what the best path forward would be.

Reading on the Vintage Computer Forums, I commented on a thread here. and got a pinout, thanks again to the good folks on VCF, they've been a great resource on several projects.  The DB-26 connector itself is not incredibly rare, this part can still be purchased on Digi-Key and other electronics houses.  I ordered three.

The connector for the Floppy Drives is getting especially difficult to find, based on this article from the creator of FloppyEmu, but since my main goal was to get connected with the FloppyEmu anyway, I skipped the difficult to find connector (or the impossible mating male version) and went with header pins, which I had originally purchased for Raspberry Pi projects.

I didn’t have an Apple Joystick at this point anyway, so I simplified the pinout to this diagram.  After I soldered up the adapter, I carefully measured which pins had voltage on the computer, then powered off and plugged in my new FloppyEmu device.   It worked!  (I wish I could say it worked the first time, but I'd been through all three connectors by that point)

Anyway, I'm thrilled now that I'm able to use the FloppyEmu with my Apple IIe card in the Macintosh LC.  Now that I'm exploring the Apple IIe software library a bit, I'm learning how critical that joystick really is, so I may need to go back and re-order another connector and make another attempt with a joystick.

Vintage Computing - Windows 10 on IBM ThinkPad T60

Today's retro computing article is about my attempts to run Windows 10 an IBM ThinkPad T60 in 2019 and 2020.

I've had this T60 since I bought it used around 2010, the reason I wanted the computer is that I had one of these when new as a work computer.  My favorite thing about the computer has to be the keyboard, it has a long travel and a nice mechanical feel.  It's not as good as a buckling spring keyboard, but it just puts modern machines to shame.  Back in the day, I remember being impressed with the build quality and the software stability of the machine.  The PC was just rock solid and I remember thinking how much better this PC was than the ones I'd used for work before.

For quite some time I ran this PC with Windows XP, but at one point a few years ago I got inspired to install an SSD, add a USB WiFi Dongle that supported better security, and load Windows 10 on it.  Since this PC is hardware limited to 3GB of RAM I decided to load Windows 10 32 Bit on it.  Getting Windows 10 to run well was a challenge.  At first I was not able to get any video drivers working as this machine has an ATI Radeon X1300 chipset this not supported by any drivers that I could find.  Here's the procedure I used to get this working...

1. Use the ATI Radeon legacy driver (Windows Vista 32 Bit) from the AMD website, not the Lenovo site...
https://www.amd.com/en/support/graphics/legacy-graphics/ati-radeon-x-series/ati-radeon-x1xxx-series
2. Install catalyst software, the installer fails to identify hardware but the files are left on the drive.
3. Go to control panel and open the Display Driver group.
4. Open the Properties for the Generic Microsoft Display Driver.
5. Choose the Driver tab, Click Update Driver, and choose "Browse My Computer", pointing at the directory where Catalyst installed the drivers, by default...
C:\ATI\Support\10-02_legacy_vista32-64_dd_ccc\Packages\Drivers\Display\LH_INF
6. The first Radeon X1300 driver on the list worked.

Note:  In the future, don't ask or allow Windows to update the driver, or it will return to the generic driver.

I've also had some startup issues, and bluescreens when switching from AC power to battery power.   I went into the Power Options control panel, and to advanced settings and made sure that all the battery settings matched the settings that are used on AC power, and that seemed to resolve those bluescrens.

There were also startup issues related to the power state.  Startup completed just fine on AC power, but would not work correctly on battery power.  I ended up disabling Fast Boot in the Power settings, and the system has been stable after that.

One remaining issue with my system is that the display driver doesn't seem to support anti-aliasing for fonts, so many of the fonts look pretty jagged on the screen, at least when compared to modern computers.  Please let me know in the comments if anyone has figured out a way around this problem?

Also, another mistake that I've made was that I used to have Windows XP working on this machine, and I wiped the drive when I upgraded to Windows 10.  In hindsight, I should have kept that Windows XP installation backed up on a different drive.  Since then, I have gone back and re-installed Windows XP on the second drive.  I purchased a drive caddy that sits in the CD ROM drive bay of this laptop, so I can dual boot back into the original OS for this computer.

The Thinkpad T60 Running Windows 10 in 2020.

One other lesson learned with this computer, I tried to upgrade this PC to fastest possible processor that was supported.  This upgrade worked, but the cooling solution in my laptop was not adequate to keep the top of the line processor adequately cooled.  The processor spent so much of it’s time thermally throttled that the stock processor ended up being a more usable solution.

So, there’s not much left on the “To Do List” for this computer:

Find a solution for the video driver problem (font smoothing not working)
Swap in another drive and load a Linux distro, perhaps Mint or Lubuntu, something lighter weight.