Finished 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.
The 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.
Successfully 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).
Oof. There’s some real rust hiding inside this otherwise good looking Macintosh Quadra 800.
I’ve decided I don’t have problems with my hobby projects. I have puzzles. Real problems have no place in a hobby.
Networking vintage computers is the ultimate test. The hardware has to work, the software has to work, and then you have to please the mercurial gods of networking.
I’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.
Sometimes 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.
This is the most modern board I’ve recapped so far, but this 1.2GHz AMD Athelon deserves to be saved from bulging caps.
In the Sept 1985 Chaos Manor column, Jerry describes a presentation by Steve Jobs and Bill Gates demoing Excel. He was impressed, but spent much of the column reflecting on a statement Gates made on the benefit of consistent user interfaces and sharing across applications. Radical thinking in 1985.
I’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
@adriansdigitalbasement.com With your work speeding up startup on early PCs, you might know that in the ‘80s, Security Microsystems Consultants had a replacement ROM called Quickon that eliminated the RAM count on PCs. They later released PC Reset to add a hardware reset button to the PC and XT.
Jerry Pournelle’s (of Byte Magazine fame) first impression of the Macintosh (128K).
I’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.
Enjoying going back to July 1980 and reading each of Jerry Pournelle’s Chaos Manor columns in Byte Magazine from the beginning.
Any recommendations for a good bench power supply? I’m looking for one that is safe and offers straightforward controls.
I’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.
I 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
Anyone know what type of terminal this is? It plugs into the connector shown.
Took 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.
This 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!
I’ve noticed that the 24-pin Pico ATX PSUs I’ve ordered have some rough looking power signals when probed by the oscilloscope. Does anyone have a link to a particular Pico ATX they’ve found produces clean looking power rails? #retrocomputing
I am passing along praise for the great work of @eric.scsi.blue and his team that continue to make the @bluescsi.com a wonder. I’ve used almost every iteration, and the innovation, documentation, support, and overall attention to detail are superb. My vintage Macs love their BlueSCSIs!
My 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.
I’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.
Arghh… Evertime I install a significant Linux update, I lose WiFi on my 2012 MacBook Pro. Then I have to fiddle around and remember what incantation I used last time to get it working. Each time I swear, just as I’m ready to beat my head against the wall, it magically starts working.
