So, so good.

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!

Apple Macintosh Plus with a Radius Full Page Monitor.

This is some serious 80s productivity right here.

#Marchintosh

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

Thank you!

I read through all the documentation today to make sure I was up to speed, and I was really impressed with him you keep adding awesome capabilities.

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.

A Macintosh IIsi logic board with significant battery acid damage.

Another Maxell Massacre.

A good reminder of why we GET THE BATTERIES OUT.

#retrocomputing

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.

Verifying my rebuilt Mac IIsi with the impressive recreation TechStep diagnostic tool.

#VintageMac

So far, the hardest part by far is removing the old connector from the corrosion-damaged IIsi PSU.

Going to build some new Macintosh IIsi power supplies today thanks to the design from @caymacvintage.bsky.social

I got into the vintage/retro computer hobby in 2018. It’s amazing, exciting, and inspiring to see how much easier it is now to enjoy these old computers thanks to the work of so many in the community. The services and add-ons that flow from so many creative people is a blessing.

#retrocomputing

Digital 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.)

Reassembled, greased, oiled, and ready for testing.

#vintagemac

Seven high-density Macintosh floppy drives cleaned, regeared, and ready for reassembly.

#vintagemac

A stack of seven Macintosh floppy drives on a workbench

I get to see how many of these floppy drives from the horde of Macintosh IIsi can be made to work.

I 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.)

It is a 22.5 KHz clock signal that should be around 5V, but I have a IIsi with a much lower voltage on that pin, and it’s messing with the audio.

A snippet of the Macintosh IIsi schematics from BOMARC Services showing the audio section of the logic board.

Do 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.

A Bambu Labs P2S printer on a table.

A true surprise landed in my workshop this Christmas. 🎄
Plastic goodness ahead.

Workbench with a Macintosh IIsi logic board under test.

The 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.

A workbench with the inside of six Macintosh IIsi exposed.

I 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

I’m not sure what to make of this.

Will my 2026 be demon possessed but funny?

Day 347 - #retrorandom - NOTHING is going to stop me being able to program this EPROM!

Well yea… I guess that would work. 🙂

Excellent! I will check that out.

Thank you very much.

I 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