My Newest, Oldest Apple II Plus (1979)

There were three very important home computers that came out in 1977, the Commodore PET, the Apple II and the Radio Shack TRS-80 Computers.  We retroactively call the Radio Shack the TRS-80 Model 1 but that is not how it was advertised at the time.  Also, the use of the term trinity to describe these three computers is something that appears to have begun in the mid 90s.

One of my goals in the Retro Computing hobby is to own all three of the original premade personal computers that didn't have to be built from kits like the Altair 8800.  So far I have been able to acquire; an Apple II Plus from 1979, a Commodore PET 4016 from 1980, and an original TRS-80 Model 1 computer.

Recently on a trip to Free Geek Twin Cities I was able to acquire another Apple II Plus machine and this turned out to be a machine from 1979.  This got me thinking again about wanting to get as close as possible to an original Apple II experience from 1977 and so I started doing research.  Tech Time Traveller has a really helpful video on this topic here.  He also painnstakingly built up this list of machines have have sold on eBay, since eBay doesn't keep pricing information and old listings around on their site very long  Thanks Tech Time Traveller!  Now that I know an original Apple II from eBay is probably more than I want to spend right now, what are my options?

Going back to the machine from  Free Geek, I learned that the board in my "newest" Apple II Plus is a "Revision 4" logic board.  This is from the period in 1979 was when Apple was making both the II and the II Plus at the same time, and often with the same logic board and only different ROMs and different RAM amounts.

At the same time as this was going on a listing came up on eBay for a computer that was listed as an original Apple II machine, but after inspecting it it seems likely that this machine had been upgraded to II Plus, which I later confirmed was the consensus in one of the Apple II Facebook groups.  I'm still considering the option of building an "Original Apple II" by getting bits and pieces and putting them together, but I think I'd rather hold out and wait till one comes along that is more complete locally, or with a backstory that I can learn about.

In the meantime, I learned about the Apple II ROM card, which was a period correct accessory card from 1979 that folks bought when they were upgrading their Apple IIs to Apple II Plus which allowed them to put the old ROMs onto an expansion board and switch them in at will from a switch on the back of the computer.  I used to have a modern card that did this, but ironically that card failed, so I set out to find a vintage card that still had the correct ROMs on it (Many, perhaps most of the ones on eBay have been stripped).  This article on the VCFed forums explains which ROMs where the period correct ones for an original Apple II (With Woz's Integer basic, and without Applesoft Basic).  I was able to find and acquire one of these period correct cards with the full ROM set, and it works great...

So, as of this writing, my Apple II Plus behaves in exactly the same way as the original machine, so I am now able to explore software from that era.  A good win for a reasonable price with parts that are still relatively inexpensive.

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?

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.

Apple II Plus - Trash to Treasure - Part III - The End?

I haven't given an update on my Bell and Howell Apple II Plus machine since 2020.  I have done several little upgrades on that machine which have combined to produce an amazing looking machine.  This year at VCF Midwest I got to talk to the owner of MacEffects, thank him, and show him a picture of the machine. Later I realized that I haven't posted about this machine here on the bLog.

Since I last blogged about this machine, I asked around about which color monitor would pair with the machine.  I realize that most Apple II machines of this era would have been paired with Black and White monitors, but I was holding out for a Color monitor that existed at the time.  It turns out that the Sony PVM line does go back to the 80s.  I didn't find a period correct PVM but I was able to buy one that is the right size to sit on top with the floppy drive next too it.

I also added the Language Card to get the machine up to 64K, and a Microsoft Z80 card so I can run CP/M on this machine.  I made some wiring repairs in the backpack for the power supply so it would be more reliable.  I make a joystick adapter to go from the DIP style connector to a 9-pin connector so that I can plug in Apple IIe style peripherals to this machine.

But the most dramatic changes are cosmetic.  After having an eBay saved search running for several years an Apple II Plus Top Cover came up.  I had seen one a couple years back and I took a pass on it, but I'd been regretting that decision so I jumped on this top cover.  Since it was for an Apple II Plus, the badge and color was wrong but as I have alluded too MacEffects is producing reproduction badges.  So with a bit of paint for the top cover and a new badge, it looks like a Bell and Howell top cover.

Knowing that I would have the computer looking amazing, and seeing that MacEffects also has case badges for the Floppy Drives, I purchased one of these as well.  Taking the drive apart to repaint the housing was pretty straightforward.

After a bit of repainting my barn find Bell & Howell Apple II Plus looks better than I ever could have hoped given the state the machine was in at the start...

During VCF Midwest I talked to another owner of one of these machines and through conversation with him and with other folks I learned that mine is one of the earlier machines.  It has the sought after Backpack (although the audio section of mine is not working) and it has keyboard keys that are more smooth.  Apparently Apple switched keyboard vendors later in the product run.

I'm super happy to have this machine in the collection and grateful to the community for the help, advice, and new parts that I needed in order to get this machine back to where it is now.  It's certainly in my top ten favorite machines in my collection.

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.

TRS-80 Model 1 - Trash to Treasure - Part 1

Due to the generosity of another member of the Vintage Computer Forums I was recently able to re-home a TRS-80 Model 1 (With 16K RAM and the Level II Basic Upgrade).  The machine had come from a smoking home, but it hardly had a smell any more.  Unfortunately it did have a coating of yellow sticky tar over the entire surface, so the grey pained areas look gold instead of silver...

When I first got the unit and before I even brought it in the house I did a bit of scrubbing with water and a microfiber cloth.  With a bit of effort and lots of water the tar layer came off, so I was hopeful that a more thorough submersion with dish soap warm water and scrubbing I'd be able to bring it into a condition that I wouldn't mind touching.  Since the computer is painted, I felt that using Isopropyl Alcohol for cleaning on the outside would be too risky.  I took both the keyboard and the monitor completely apart and washed all the plastic parts with water, including removing and cleaning each keycap individually.  When I had the computer apart I rinsed the circuit boards with 99% Isopropyl and did an inspection of the circuit boards.  There were no bulging caps and nothing obviously wrong.  After putting the computer back together it looks alot better...

The silver portions look silver once again but you may notice that some the paint on the black parts of the plastic has thinned out quite a bit.  I didn't use any abrasives but the textured areas seem to have been stripped a bit even with only using dish soap.  I was pretty sure this would not be a museum piece when I started so even with these defects I'm happy with how the system has turned out.  Perhaps I will come back and use some car cleaning chemicals to try to restore some of these plastics, a trick that I've seen Adrian Black using.

The next order of business was the keyboard.  I was excited to learn that the key switches were from Alps.  The amazing key feel of these retro computers is a bit part of the appeal of these machines for me.  However the Level II machines are know to have keyboard problems and this one is no exception as most of the key switches didn't work.  This mirrored a problem I'd had with my Apple II Plus restoration, and because of the film on the surface of the machine and the dust inside I was not too worried about it.  When I had the computer apart I cleaned the keyboard deck w/ 99% Isopropyl and sprayed DeOxit into every keyswitch actuating each switch about a dozen times to start.  After waiting for things to dry I tested each key and most of them were working again with only 6 or 8 requiring a second application of DeOxit and a few dozen more actuations on each switch.  After probably about 100 actuations I finally gave up on the F key.  I had Alps keyswitches in my stock because I'd purchased some spares for the Apple II Plus repair, so I was able to use those parts.  Although, the TRS-80 uses Short Stem Switches which are more expensive and rare, so it was easier for me to take the non working switch apart and swap the stems since I only needed one.  After soldering in the F key the entire keyboard is working and I was finally able to write my first 10 PRINT program on this machine, always a happy milestone in these retro computing restoration!

More to come on this project.  I don't have the cable for the Cassette player, so I can't even use the computer to play programs in over the headphone port yet, but I have one on order and I'll be bringing the machine back out for some gaming fun when that arrives.

I'm very happy to have an example of one of the original 1977 "Trinity" of home computers.  This is the first one I've had, my Apple II Plus and a Commodore PET 4016 are the closest I'd gotten so far.  Do you have memories of using the TRS-80 Model 1?  Do you have suggestions for games or programs I should triy out when I get my cassette cable?  Let me know in the comments below, or my email address is in my Bio and you can reach me via email.

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.

Bargain Retro Computer Fixer-Uppers

It is quite common for me and my fellow retro computer collectors to complain about the high prices that Retro computer hardware gets on eBay, but there are still good deals to be had in local markets from people who are doing cleanups.  Personally I use Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.  I find many of these deals as referrals from my network of friends who know I'm looking for these machines.  It's good to have realistic expectations going in, as most of these lower price computers will require repairs of some kind to bring them back to use.  

Recently I've been able to acquire the following small lots:

$70 for an Apple IIe and a tote full of retro PC software and hardware (Apple IIe was advertised as untested, and it had broken keys)

$50 for an Apple Macintosh Plus (Tested at the store before purchase, boots to ? icon)

$80 for an original Mac and a Macintosh Plus (advertised as not working, and without a keyboard, mouse, or other hardware)

None of these computers were advertised as working.  When I see a local ad like this, I look at the other items that this seller has listed.  If they have alot of Retro computer stuff for sale that is working then I'm less likely to believe that items are "untested", tested and not working is more likely.  But sometimes the seller will indicate that they don't have a monitor to test and I find this explanation more believable.  

The Apple IIe was listed this way, stating that the seller didn't have a monitor to test with and so it was sold untested.  Apple IIes are know to be quite reliable (unlike Commodore 64s of the era), and so when I got it home and connected to an Apple II compatible monitor, it fired right up.  I did have to replace a RIFA cap. in the power supply, and I had to remove the keyboard and replace two key switches and key caps.  This was something I knew would be needed going into the purchase from the sellers pictures and description.  I have fixed Apple keyboards before with parts I purchased from an eBay seller that specializes in Apple keyboard parts.  After the keyboard repair the machine was complete and fully functional.

The first Macintosh Plus was purchased because I have several of the early compact Macs and I wanted to have another computer of this type to use as a Parts machine.  This Mac Plus was working at the store, but I ended up spending time reflowing many of the solder joints on the Analog board to get it starting more reliable.  I also took the floppy disk drive out and lubricated and tested that.  This machine is fully working and I stored it with my other compact macs.

The original Mac and Mac Plus lot was not a purchase I had intended to make, but a friend tipped me off and since original Macs don't come up very often at a good price I gave the listing a good look.  The case was clearly in rough condition but I could see from looking at the ports on the back that the logic board was still inside.  So I made an appointment to buy the systems,  They looked as advertised so I paid for them and brought them home.  

At home, I confirmed that both of the systems were not working (the same symptoms the seller had indicated) and I got to work on the original Mac.  I was hoping that there would be enough parts to make at least one working machine from the two.  It turns out that the original mac wasn't booting because it has a memory expansion board that was not properly seated.  I removed the logic board, re-seated the card, and the machine came to life!

The second Mac Plus was more difficult to troubleshoot.  I have narrowed the problem down to the Aanlog board, but there are no obvious burn marks or leaking caps.  I have put this repair on hold for now and will store the Mac Plus with my other parts machines.  Even without getting this final Mac Plus working, this purchase was still a bargain, but I am sure that I'll come back to the Mac Plus at some point.

So, if you enjoy repairing retro computers there are still many bargains to be had on these machines, it just requires patience and a willingness to accept machines that may have some damage.  For me, I very much enjoy the hands on experience with these machines and so I'd rather have a good solid functional machine with some blemishes than a cosmetically perfect machine that doesn't boot up and run.

Have you fixed any vintage tech. recently?  Let me know in the comments below, or feel free to send me an email and let me know what you are working on.

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.

2024 Year End Retrospective - Six Years of Vintage Computing

I made a return to Retro Computing in 2018.  Or it may be more accurate to say that it's something I've always enjoyed doing and never stopped completely but in 2018 I started spending more time on the hobby and became aware that there were others out there who also enjoyed fixing up and using old computers.  This happened primarily through finding YouTube channels like The 8-Bit Guy, LGR, and Adrian Black and connecting locally with folks at Free Geek Twin Cities.  In 2018 and 2019, I acquired just a few machines and authored a few articles on my bLog about my adventures in Retro Computing but things changed in 2020.

Just before the pandemic started in early 2020 I purchased my first compact Mac, a Macintosh Plus from Free Geek.  I ended up buying and repairing alot more machines during and after the lockdown.  Some were machines that I'd used and had nostalgic memories like Apple IIe and Macintosh PowerPC machines but others were older machines like the Bell and Howell Apple II Plus and the Tandy Model 102 that allowed me to learn more about repair, the use of the machines, and the history of the development of the machines.  During 2020 I participated in Vintage Computer Festival Midwest for the first time.  It was an online show and I watched most of the talks, learning about disk imaging with the SuperCard Pro, that some people use their crawlspace for storage of Retro Computers, and many other interesting topics.

In 2021 my acquisitions mostly happened all at once, I bought a large lot of Apple Laptops from my friend John Bumstead.  I spent a good deal of my hobby time during that year processing through that lot of computers.  I kept many of the machines and also sold many of them.  it was an amazing experience that helped me understand which of Apple's portable machines I enjoy repairing and using most.  I still have some PowerBooks from the early 2000's, the "Peak Fastener" era for Apple that I haven't processed yet, this is my least favorite era of Apple Laptops. But during 2021 I was also able to acquire some machines that I'd had little or no exposure too like an IBM 5150 that I purchased from Facebook Marketplace and a Next NextStation computer from VCF Midwest.  I also repaired or built up a handful of beige box PCs.

During 2022 I got on a bit of a Commodore kick.  The VIC-20 was my first computer that we had at home, so re-acquring one of those was quite nostalgic for me, but I also acquired older hardware, like a Commodore PET that needed extensive repair, and newer machines like C64 and Amiga 500.  I also acquired my first Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) hardware including a little know CP/M machine called a DEC Robin, and a more common DEC Alpha computer.  I missed VCF Midwest in 2022, but I continued to buy and build beige box PCs.

2023 was another enjoyable year for me in Vintage Computing.  During the year after searching for several years I was able to acquire a Gateway 2000 486 PC, which was my first PC that I had during college.  I got my first of the Original Home Computers from 1977, a Tandy Radio Shack Model 1, getting it clean was a major chore, but I'm glad to have one.  I also got a Kaypro 1 '86 an 8-bit Atari Computer, and several Unix workstations from the 90s including a Sun and an SGI Indy, so there was a great deal to learn and explore in 2023.  I was also able to attend VCF Midwest once again, this time as an exhibitor.  As an exhibitor I didn't acquire many new machines, but I was able to find many parts to help move projects along or complete systems I'd already built up.

As I think about 2024 the IBM RS/6000 is a highlight.  I had purchased one as a parts machine from Free Geek in 2023 and ended up failing in my repair attempt.  I thought I wouldn't get another chance but in 2024 a generous donor offered one on the forums and I took him up on it.  The machine runs great and joins my collection of Unix Workstations.  Also, it was made in Minnesota.  On the history / nostalgia front I acquired a Kaypro II computer, which was something I'd been looking for for a while as my grandpa used to have one of these.  The Compaq Portable III was a fun and challenging repair, and now I have the first three Compaq Portables.  I also got to go back to VCF Midwest this year, and one of my kids came along, so that was fun.  The Tandy 2000 repair was my largest repair effort of the year but my friend and I both came out of that with two working Tandy 2000 computers, which is a very interesting early MS-DOS machine.

So heading into 2025 what aspects of Vintage Computing will I do more of and what will I do less of?  What do I enjoy doing more and what do I enjoy doing less?

I enjoy learning about computers that are "new to me", and I get just as much (or maybe even more) enjoyment from going back in time as from going forward.  I enjoy repairing computers and learning about alternate operating systems.  I want to understand what it was like for the people using the computers at the time, so the CRTs, the Keyboards, and the Disks are important to me and I like that to be original.  I don't mind at all if we can find a way to replace the hidden hard disk drives with reliable solid state storage because we can't use the computers at all if they won't boot up, but that is my primary exception and I like to keep things period correct as much as possible. 

In general, I'm not a fan of computer gaming.  I know that's unusual since gaming is the "killer app" for most retro computer enthusiasts, but I've just never been a huge fan of computer gaming.  I also don't like overclocking vintage hardware or installing period correct processor upgrades, although more RAM is always nice.  In my mind, if you want a faster retro computer, just buy one from a few years later.

Because they are inexpensive and easy to repair I have gotten quite a few "Beige Box" PCs.  Some of these have historical significance like the IBM PC 5150 and the Compaq Portable I and others have nostalgic significance like my Gateway 2000 486, but I am running out of space for storage and I need to sell many of these PCs and stop collecting more "Beige Box" PCs.

During 2023 and 2024 when I exhibited at VCF, I was able to exhibit computers that tell a story and to sell computers at the same time.  I enjoyed that event alot and I hope to continue to be able to participate in VCF Midwest as well as some of the smaller local meet ups as time and budget allow.

Knowing which computers I'm willing to give away or sell also helps me think about preserving the ones I want to keep.  Several times this year when I got a computer out of storage that I had put away in good working order it came out of storage not working and needing repair.  So I've been on the lookout for spare machines for some of my favorites.  I don't need 3-4 of a kind, for me two seems like the sweet spot for space vs. long term usability, but unfortunately I cannot extend this policy to CRTs they are just too bulky.

Another lesson I've learned is that if I let my project list get too long, or if I am feeling too much pressure about a certain repair then it makes the hobby less fun.  If I have had a project on the list for over a year and I haven't gotten too it, it's OK to let that project go and sell or donate the hardware back to another collector or Free Geek and move on to something that's more exciting.

So what is next for vintage computing in 2025?  I have a stack of three Sun Ultra 5 and 10 workstations out in the garage that are "on deck" for repair, expect a bLog article about that in early 2025.  I have lots of little projects planned, small improvements to computers I already own.  In 2024 I've been posting about these smaller projects on Twitter / X and enjoying the community there, so I plan to continue doing that.

And for sure, I will keep an eye out for interesting projects and try to stay focused on buying computers from my wish list...

Apple II (original, not plus not e)
Apple Macintosh PowerBook 100
Apple PowerMac G5, late 2005, dual 2.3Ghz model A1117 (last air cooled G5)
Apple Macintosh SE/30 or Logic Board

Toshiba Libretto Palmtop PC
Grid Systems Laptop w/ Plasma Display
IBM Thinkpad T30 or A31 (Last model with Serial Ports Built In)

Commodore PET 2001 (chiclet Keyboard and Tape Drive)
Tandy Model 100
Digital VaxStation 3100 (w/ monitor, keyboard and mouse)
DEC PDP-11/03 or similar 11/23, etc.
Digital PDP 11
68k Apollo Workstation
68k Sun Workstation

Thanks for reading this long and rambling article, if you've made it this far I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Another Retro Lot: Recovery, Repair, and Resale

One of my fellow vintage computer collector friends posted a listing on the Free Geek Twin Cities Discord server in the "Swap Meet" channel about a lot of Vintage Computers posted on Facebook Marketplace.  There were eight computers, mostly Apple IIs of various vintages, untested but priced to sell quickly.  I had some free time on that day and so I immediately jumped on the post.  It's always a pleasant surprise when I'm first in line since so many folks are interested in vintage computers.  I went down within a couple of hours and met seller for the pickup, he had been a huge fan of Apple computers back in the day.  He had collected these machines from the University of Minnesota when they got retired from the computer labs.  He is still involved with software too this day and he was glad to hear that these would be moved to other homes.

This is the third lot I've gotten this year, I already blogged about the first lot here.  I only have one repair left from that lot, a pair of Macintosh 512K machines.  That will be a more complicated repair because servicing the 400K drives is difficult, but I know how to do that now so I expect to be able to bring the drives back to working order.  All the other machines from that lot have been fixed up and resold already.

The second lot had three machines in it but only one I wanted to keep, a Macintosh Quadra 650.  I installed a BlueSCSI in that machine and it's back in good running order.  I still have some big box software but the other two machines (a Macintosh Plus and a Power Mac G4 Quicksilver) have sold and much of the boxed software was donated to Free Geek.

When I got this lot home I was faced with a pile of incoming material to process...

The lot included an original Apple II from 1980, four Apple IIe machines, two green screen monitors for those machines, two Apple IIcs with two CRTs, and a NextStation w/ Keyboard and Mouse (but no monitor).  On the first pass through these machines I had the following results:

The original Apple II is booting and running, but the video is rolling.  Since this is a machine that I want to keep I set this machine aside for a future repair.

Of the four Apple IIe one just worked with some basic cleaning and testing and one with a DuoDisk only needed a new cable, which are avaliable online from this vendor.  I've already sold those two Apple IIe machines, but I have two more which power up with garbage characters on the screen so that will be a future repair.  I've repaired multiple Apple IIes in the past so I'm looking forward to that repair.

Of the two Apple IIc machines only one was complete.  Neither showed signs of life.  The incomplete machine is an early revision which matches the Apple IIc I already have so I'll keep it as a parts machine.  The second Apple IIc didn't work right away but I took it all apart and cleaned and inspected it.  While I was re-assembling it I put deoxit on all the connectors and after that it came back to life.  I ordered a 3rd party power supply to make this a complete listing and it sold.  I also had made a bunch of DOS boot disks and Flapple Bird floppy disks so that I could include software with the Apple IIs as I've been selling them, it's really nice to be able to set people up with a functioning system.

Finally, the NextStation.  These can not be tested without Next hardware as the connectors are proprietary.  I am fortunate to have a complete NextStation setup, so I was able to setup and test this machine.  The Keyboard and Mouse were both working, but I had some trouble with the NextStation itself.  I had forgotten that this machine will not boot at all if the clock battery is dead.  When I moved the good battery over to the new NextStation it booted right up!  I ordered another new battery to replace the dead one.  It may come as no surprise that the Quantum SCSI HDD was dead so I installed a BlueSCSI V2 into the machine and got NextStep 3.3 installed and booting on that.  I'll be holding on to this machine at least for now.

It's been fun to meet the people who buy these machines.  We have some interesting conversations and I get to hear about their experiences with machines like this, and their plans for their new acquisitions.  I've had a couple of repeat customers and even made friends with some of the buyers.  So as I complete a few more of these repairs I look forward to helping people expand their collection while I build my own.

Let me know if you have a lot of retro computers to sell, or if you have memories of using these machines, or have been helped by my repair experiences.  You can comment below or reach out via email with the contact information in my profile.

Oops I Did it Again - Another Lot of Computers Needing Repair

Recently I was browsing the retro computer forums and a for sale ad came up in my city.  A fellow Macintosh computer enthusiast had purchased a lot of Macintosh machines to restore and the project sat for a long time.  He decided to shift the project along to someone else.  The listing had a single photo and some text, the photo showed seven machines and one box full of peripherals.  The text described another box of peripherals not shown but included in the sale.  The price was low enough that I could purchase the entire lot and if my repair attempts failed I'd still have gotten some much needed peripherals for my collection.  But as readers of my blog will know, I really enjoy the repair process and so I was hoping that I'd be able to repair much of this lot and sell it on, since these were all machines that I had, and I even had some parts machines of this type.

When I got the lot home this is what I had...

The lot consisted of; 2 512K Macs, 3 Macintosh Plus machines, a Mac SE and a Mac Classic II along with the peripherals, an external 400K floppy, an HD20, and a couple of different keyboards and even a couple of random vintage PC parts.  As usual I began the intake process with some light cleaning.  It was no surprise but the equipment was quite dusty, including inside of the machines, so I think it was likely these machines spent quite a few years in a garage or basement.

On my initial checks (triage), both of the 512K macs booted to a ?.  I'm quite certain the floppy drives will need lubrication and maintenance so I've set those machines aside for now.

For the Mac Plus machines, 2 of the 3 booted right up to the ?.  The third machine was booting, but showing some odd video corruption of a kind I had not seen before.  On further inspection that machine had a 68030 accelerator board inside of it.  It's possible this accelerator board is damaged, but I need to do some research to figure that out, so I've set the accelerator board aside for now.

The Mac SE booted up to a ?.  This was a project I wanted to work on in the short term because I have a couple of other Mac SEs including one mostly good machine with bad Floppy Drives and one parts machine.  I was hoping to get two working Mac SEs out of these three, but more on that later.

The Mac Classic II made a normal good chime on boot up, but the video did not come up.  These machines from the early 1990s are often damaged for two reasons, the first is an exploding clock battery, and the second is the "Capacitor Plague" where Apple unknowingly used sub-standard electrolytic capacitors that slowly leak out onto the circuit board.  Both of these problems can ruin Mac Classic and Mac Classic II machines and so all of these machines should be serviced ASAP.  Fortunately for me, the clock battery had not leaked, so I removed it.  The capacitors had been leaking so I removed them immediately and got to work cleaning the board to prepare it for a recap.

I worked on the Mac SE and the Classic II at the same time.  For me, a big part of the experience with the original style Mac computers is using the Floppy Disk drives.  Servicing them can be tedious and error prone, but there are some great tutorial videos out there, and once you've done each type of drive a couple of times it starts to come easier.  But it can be tedious when there are many drives to service.  I try to keep one or two of each type of drive in my stock because often drives will require spare parts not just lubrication so I got the drives out of the Classic II and the Mac SE along with some of my spares and got started...

Having these drives ready allowed me to start the repairs in earnest.  As I've mentioned, I had a couple of other Mac SE machines and I checked on those floppy drives that were not working, and they had already been serviced.  It turns out that the reason they weren't booting was because I had some bad boot floppies, so that was one mystery solved.

The Mac SE from this lot had badly yellowed in the sun, but my parts machine was still a great looking platinum case, so I did a case swap on the Mac SE and got a lovely looking fully running machine...

I don't need 3 Macintosh SEs so I currently have this machine listed for sale locally here in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area.

The Mac Classic II repair took a bit longer because I had to order capacitors and wait for those to arrive for the recap.  Also it took a while to clean the logic board of this machine using both water and IPA and multiple manual rinse cycles.  I also had a parts machine for this repair, a Classic machine that I'd previously recapped but that machine never worked quite right after the recap it would boot and run just fine but the external SCSI and FDD ports weren't quite right.  It's possible that further board level work could bring this machine back to full function, but I was able to use the Classic to help troubleshoot the Classic II.

It turns out that not only did the Classic II need a recap on the logic board but the analog board was bad as well.  I did another swap on the analog boards and CRT boards to get a good setup into the Classic II case.  After swapping the Analog board the Classic II came back to life, and with the recap and cleaning, I'm hopeful that this machine will have a long and happy future.  Classics and Classic II machines are not my favorite from this time period, so this is another machine that is for sale here in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area...

I'm still actively working on fixing up the Macintosh Plus machines.  I have all three of them running again because I was able to borrow parts off another parts machine that I had, so the next step is servicing another set of Floppy Disk drives, the earlier 800K drives that came in the Mac Plus and Mac SE...

Since I already have a couple of nice Mac Plus machines I plan to offer these machines for sale when the Floppy Servicing is complete.  Hopefully I can complete the Plus repairs this weekend and get back to the other projects I was working on when this lot came up.  It's been alot of fun doing these repairs but I'll also be glad to move back to my "regularly scheduled programing" of Retro Computer projects.

Do you have memories of using these machine?  Let me know if you have stories you'd like to share in the comments, or my email address is in my profile.  Thanks for following along with this repair story.

Commodore PET - An Iconic Classic

 I've recently completed a restoration that took quite a long time and has ended up being one of my most extensive restorations, a Commodore PET 4016 from 1980.  This machine came from a trusted seller here in the Minneapolis St. Paul area from whom I have gotten several machines over the years, including the Apple II Plus machine that I've already covered on the bLog.

The PET machine was much cleaner than the Apple II, but both machines were in a non-working state when I bought them.  As is usual for this type of restoration, step one was to take the machine all apart and clean it.  In this case, I didn't take the monitor apart because it was cleaner and at least from the bottom appeared to be intact, but I removed the monitor from the base of the machine, removed the mainboard and power supply, and throughly washed and cleaned both the bottom housing and the mainboard.  On inspection the mainboard showed alot of corrosion.  There is corrosion at the top of the IC legs where they enter the DIP packages. If the package seals are broken, those chips will likely be bad.

This machine started life in a local Junior High and had some identifying marks on the side which I was happy to keep, but the students had picked at the front label.  It was all tatty and so I removed it during the cleaning process in order to throughly clean the case.  Fortunately, replacement labels are available.

After cleaning and reassembly the next step was to test the Power Supply.  I found these helpful troubleshooting steps on the Forums.  The Power Supply voltages check out but I was not able to get signs of life from the board.  Based on the markings on the board, this is not a "Universal PET" logic board, it appears to be an earlier design.  I was not able to find a schematic for this machine.  Because of my own lack of familiarity with the PET and not being able to find the Schematic I have put further troubleshooting of this logic board on hold.  I'm keeping the board here, and I hope to come back to it at some point.

In the meantime, I learned about a replacement Motherboard, The Future was 8 Bit 40/80D for the PET from the 8-Bit Guys's video on the topic.  I was hesitant to purchase such an expensive part, but there were a couple of factors that helped push me in that direction.  First, the PET is a very large computer.  I will only be able to have one in the collection and it's hard to pick between the 40 and 80 column versions of the machine (which have some pretty significant software incompatiabilities).  The 40/80D is DIP switch configurable, so you don't have to decide, it's two computers in one.  I also knew that I would not have room for the massive external floppy disk drives, I prefer having a way to load disk images from solid state media.  The SD2PET is a great option for that, but would cost over $100 delivered in the US, so between getting a known good replacement logic board, DIP switch changes between 40 and 80 column mode and the SD2PET built in, I decided to bite the bullet on this replacement logic board.

The 40/80D board fit quite well inside the PET case.  It's about 1/3 of the size of the original board, but mounts at the back to the connectors fit out the back side.  My Commodore PET 4016 didn't provide access to the User Port on the back or the second cassette interface on the side, but there were knock outs built into the case that I was able to remove in order to gain access to these critical areas.  The UserPort is helpful because several PET games are available now that work with a Joystick Interface on the UserPort.  The side panel where the second cassette used to enter is important because the SD card comes out there along with a couple of buttons, one for Reset and the other to bring up the DOS used for navigating the SD card.  I ordered it from England and waited for it to arrive.

After in installing the 40/80 board, I was very pleased to find that the Monitor was working with zero repairs required!  Of course, as with many of these project only a few minutes later I discovered that not a single one of the keys on the keyboard worked.  I had already seen in an older 8-Bit guy video "Commodore PET Restoration" which shows exactly how to repair that, and the specialized metallic paint was in stock at Digi-Key.  Of course while the keyboard was apart I cleaned all the keycaps.  I temporarily lost one of the springs along the way, but was able to find replacements on eBay for only $10.  Of course just a few days after the springs arrived and I had a fully functional keyboard again, I did find that lost spring.

So, with a cleaned and repaired Keyboard, working Monitor, replacement Motherboard, and a cleaned and re-labelled case, the Commodore PET 4016 looks better than it has in years...

I've quite enjoyed poking around with the software provided by TFW8B, watching PET demos, playing Space Invaders and some other arcade classics and basically just looking at the machine.  I don't have any nostalgia for this machine as we didn't have any Commodore at my school, but being the second version of one of the first home computers it's an iconic machine and I'm extremely happy to have one in the collection.

Do you have memories of the Commodore PET?  If you are using a PET still, what are your favorite PET programs?  Let me know in the comments below or feel free to shoot me an email.  Thanks!

Starting the New Year Right - Macintosh 512K - Part 2

As I mentioned in the last bLog post, I've recently become the next owner of a Macintosh 512K computer.  One of the first things I'd do with most of my Retro Computers is figure out how to get some kind of Flash Storage solution going for the system, but my goals for this system have been somewhat different.

One of the main things I was hoping to get out of this was experience and a workflow setup for creating bootable Single Sided, Double Density (400K) Floppies for the earliest Macs from Disk Images.  That's been an ongoing interest of mine, and one I've bLogged about before a couple of times.

I've had good success in the past creating 1.44 MB and 800K floppies for Mac OS installers from disk images from the Internet, using a Beige Power Mac, but I was really struggling with 400K disk images.  You can find disk images on the Internet and suggested workflows, but I was not able to use any of the downloaded disk images I could find with Disk Copy 4.2, as the resource fork from these disk image files had been stripped and the files were no longer useable with the older version of Disk Copy.

Then I remembered my FloppyEmu.  These are a bit expensive so I have only one, and usually have it connected to an Apple II computer.  Moving it onto the Mac requires that the firmware be re-programmed, it's not a huge task, but I usually avoid it.  At this point, I could avoid it no longer and I'm glad I didn't because it ended up being exactly what was needed.

As a test, I started out with my Macintosh Plus because I can boot it from SCSI2SD and I have a large range of OS choices, for this, I choose 6.0.8 because it's got good native support for the 400K disks, so the disks I'd image would be immediately readable and testable on the disk imaging machine.

I started out with Mac II Disk v. 5.2, and used the settings shown here...

I apologize for the scanlines on the screen, but to summarize, we are doing a single-sided, sector by sector copy from FloppyEmu too the real internal floppy drive.  This worked great, and how I have a floppy disk set with Mac OSs from 1.1 up to 3.3 on 400K floppies that work great in the 512K.

However, this method isn't perfect because it requires the use of the FloppyEmu each time.  (as I've mentioned, I prefer to leave this connected to an Apple II).  So, I fired up Disk Copy 4.2, and used it to grab backup copies of the disks from FloppyEmu as .image files, with correctly formatted resource forks.  I have these files safely backed up to the cloud, as well as ready to go on my disk imaging rig any time additional floppies are needed.

These are all files that ship on FloppyEmu, just in a different file format that should work with the workflow I've described.  If you have any comments, questions, or feedback about this workflow or the files, please let me know!