Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 20/09/2026I love my Quad-Flop floppy controller (texelec.com/product/quad...), but I just learned that there was a “back in the day” solution that Jerry Pournelle wrote about in the November 1989 Byte Magazine. 000
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 16/08/2026The East Coast precursor to the Computer History Museum (computerhistory.org). 010
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 02/08/2026Finished upgrading this 2012 Mac Pro recovered from a pile of ewaste. It now has a pair of 3GHz Xeon processors, 64GB of RAM, an RX 580 GPU, NVMe hard drive and SSD, USB 3.1, and upgraded WiFi and Bluetooth. I’ve installed Debian 13 with KDE, and I think this will become my daily driver. 1518210
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 29/07/2026The September 1986 Byte Magazine deep dived on the Amiga and Macintosh computers, both running on Motorola’s 68000 processor. The Mac eventually found its way, but one of the best hypotheticals for vintage computer fans is imagining what the Amiga could have been if not so poorly managed. 091
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 20/07/2026Successfully upgraded the processors in this new to me Mac Pro 5,1. Painlessly went from 2.4GHz E5645 to 3.06GHz 5675 Xeons. I know others push it to 3.46GHz with 5690s, but I went with Apple’s top configuration. Also, it’s less expensive and draws less power (=less heat). 020
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 19/07/2026Stripping a Quadra 800 down to the base chassis is no walk in the park! I should buy a lottery ticket, because I got it done without breaking any of the many plastic clips. 120
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 19/07/2026Okay, not rust. Corrosion. Another damn Maxwell battery bomb. I think it’s repairable. A capacitor, diodes, an oscillator, and the SIMMs, along with the front switches, took the direct hit, but should be replaceable. The real time clock IC (343S0042) may have to be scavenged from a donor board. 130
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 19/07/2026Oof. There’s some real rust hiding inside this otherwise good looking Macintosh Quadra 800. 130
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 13/07/2026It’s funny the random stuff you find buried in a closet. 041
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 13/07/2026I’m strangely excited to put together my first Windows XP machine. It’s one of the Windows OSs I skipped; rocking Windows 2000 until making the move back to the Mac with Mac OS 10.4 Tiger. 5632
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 13/07/2026Sometimes it’s the little things: the motherboard worked outside the case, but not inside. Turns out the reset switch was dirty, so the system was stuck in reset. It wasn’t easy to get the switch free of the plastic case without breaking things, but once free, a little DeoxIT fixed everything. 020
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 11/07/2026This is the most modern board I’ve recapped so far, but this 1.2GHz AMD Athelon deserves to be saved from bulging caps. 010
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 06/07/2026I’m still making my way through all of Jerry Pournelle’s Chaos Manor columns in Byte Magazine. I’m made it to June 1985, where he talks about maintenance work on his beloved Zeke Z80. I wonder if the DE-OX-IDE is today’s indispensable DeoxIT. Crossposted with @openvibe.social 122
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 15/06/2026Jerry Pournelle’s (of Byte Magazine fame) first impression of the Macintosh (128K). 020
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 06/06/2026I’ve finally got around to setting up a RetroNAS server. After a few hurdles all is well, but it reminds me how relatively easy it was to network Macs and how finicky it is to network DOS/Win3.11. 030
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 06/05/2026Enjoying going back to July 1980 and reading each of Jerry Pournelle’s Chaos Manor columns in Byte Magazine from the beginning. 010
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 01/05/2026I’m working on restoring a lovely Dell 386DX-25, and before powering it on, I tested for shorts and found problems. Instead of replacing the 50+ tantalum caps, I started with pulling ICs, and I got lucky. The problem was this 82385 cache controller. 050
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 27/04/2026I had a good time restoring these five Macintosh IIsi, and I learned some things along the way. I documented my progress at tinkerdifferent.com/threads/mac-... The IIsi may not be the coolest Mac of its era, but it deserves to live a long life. #vintageapple #retrocomputing 041
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 13/04/2026Anyone know what type of terminal this is? It plugs into the connector shown. 210
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 14/03/2026Took a swing at buying a refurbished ThinkPad. I’m a bit undecided so far, but the keyboard hurt my brain for a second or two. 291
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 11/03/2026This Dell System 310 was one of my employer’s first PCs. It was found in a closet, but I was disappointed to discover the original 386DX-25MHz motherboard had been replaced with an AMD K6. Amazingly, my long-standing eBay alert finally paid off, and I now have the system’s original motherboard! 1111
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 26/01/2026My after-Christmas project was restoring a bunch Macintosh IIsi. I’ve been documenting my progress at tinkerdifferent.com/threads/mac-... Today, the last of the issues were addressed, and I now have five fully functional Mac IIsi logic boards and two battery bombed units that provided needs parts. 040
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 25/01/2026I’ve pondered how to remove pins from power connectors, and I’ve wondered what these strange tweezer were for. Today is the day I figured out what one has to do with the other. 060
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 17/01/2026Another Maxell Massacre. A good reminder of why we GET THE BATTERIES OUT. #retrocomputing 1305
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 11/01/2026Verifying my rebuilt Mac IIsi with the impressive recreation TechStep diagnostic tool. #VintageMac 051
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 10/01/2026So far, the hardest part by far is removing the old connector from the corrosion-damaged IIsi PSU. 120
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 10/01/2026Going to build some new Macintosh IIsi power supplies today thanks to the design from @caymacvintage.bsky.social 120
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 08/01/2026Digital archeology: testing old Macintosh hard drives and copying data to my BlueSCSI, if possible. (I should probably be using the BlueSCSI’s magical initator mode.) 030
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 07/01/2026Reassembled, greased, oiled, and ready for testing. #vintagemac 000
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 07/01/2026Seven high-density Macintosh floppy drives cleaned, regeared, and ready for reassembly. #vintagemac 100
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 06/01/2026I get to see how many of these floppy drives from the horde of Macintosh IIsi can be made to work. 1150
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 04/01/2026I now have five working (mostly) IIsi logic boards! I need to tackle some audio issues on two boards (one I broke), and then clean the floppies and check out the original hard drives. Then I’ll tackle the dreaded PSUs. (Though I am planning on building replacement power supplies.) 030
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 30/12/2025Do any Mac repair aficionados know what pin 16 on both Sony sound chips in the Mac IIsi connect to? The BOMARC schematics show it going off page to a page I don't have. 112
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 25/12/2025A true surprise landed in my workshop this Christmas. 🎄 Plastic goodness ahead. 3292
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 24/12/2025The first Mac IIsi is good to go! It had two bad connections on UE5 and three on IC UH5, both bus transceivers for the memory system. Only one small bodge under UE5 required. The rest were corroded connections. 010
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 23/12/2025I have a holiday goal of getting these Mac IIsi cleaned up (if possible) and back out into the community. Two are battery bombed, but could be useful for parts. #retrocomputing 380
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 21/12/2025I’m not sure what to make of this. Will my 2026 be demon possessed but funny? 000
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 13/12/2025I ordered an open motherboard frame thinking it would be a better way to work with bare boards on my bench, but while the Baby AT screw holes line up, they are not aligned with the card slots openings. Does anytime have a frame they recommend for legacy boards? #retrocomputers 373
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 11/12/2025It’s harder than I thought to compare this snazzy Tomlov digital microscope to my trusty AmScope. They have different pluses and minuses. For super detailed work, it’s hard to beat a true binocular microscope. However, the Tomlov is much easier to move around when working on larger boards. 1170
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 02/12/2025I really like this clever little clock. Thanks @thisdoesnotcompute.bsky.social 070
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 29/11/2025My first time removing a large surface mount PLCC. I worked at it with hot air, but I wasn’t getting anywhere. So I pulled out some low melt solder, and it was magic. The chip came slid off like butter. Next time, I’ll use less to make the clean up easier. 160
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 29/11/2025In the summer of 1987, I spent time in the California’s eastern high desert. The whole time I was rocking U2‘s Joshua Tree in my Aiwa tape deck. I now realize that the combination of that tape in that place burned something into me. And I’m glad it did. 000
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 12/11/2025It feels so good to finally have an IBM 5170 in my collection! I waited a long time until a seller within driving distance offered one at a reasonable price. It’s CGA, not EGA, but you can’t have everything. 280
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 10/11/2025One of my first assignments with the Amiga 1000 is figure out what’s up with this coiled up bodge wire to nowhere. 010
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 08/11/2025Performed minor surgery this morning on this MacBook Air 2020 (Intel), trying to improve its thermal performance. Followed the recommendations at fcracer.com/macbook-air-... Thanks @vga256@tomodori.net for the suggestion! 020
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 02/11/2025Poking around inside my wife’s MacBook Air 2020 (Intel) to see why it’s running so hot. Even before a wipe down, it looks good and fan is not obstructed. I’m going back to my first assumption that macOS Sequoia was not a good upgrade for this little machine. 020
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 26/10/2025Every once in awhile you get lucky and find a good deal. This makes up for my mistake when I passed on a reasonably priced Amiga 1000 years ago. Now I need to get even luckier and find a keyboard. 030
Retro Viator @retroviator.com · 04/10/2025Getting ready to setup the new Raspberry Pi 500+ as my retro computer emulation station. 050
