Welcome to the Tech Dept, or as my partner calls it, Jess’s home for out-of-date technology, here in Vienna, Austria. The Tech Dept is a place where I get hold of old computers, game consoles and explore, restore, upgrade or simply clean up. They then go into the collection, with a view of someday putting all these old machines on display.
I’m not a professional, though I do have some electronics training, so come and watch me re-learn an old skill, and have fun while I’m doing it. Oh and likely screw up as I go.
There’s a Patreon account if you like what I do and would like to help the channel out, but if you watch the videos, then that's what counts.
Either way, welcome.
Jess B
patreon.com/Tech_Dept
Пікірлер
Glad you mentioned that it was a bit of a downgrade. I had a dual 2 GHz g5 I bought in 2004, replacing a heavily upgraded PowerMac G4, and while the g5 was faster, wasn’t radically so and hit that awkward phase when 24-bit audio became the ideal recording bit depth and HD video was taking off, and was ill suited for either (not to mention Apple jettisoned PowerPC support in snow leopard) thus making it the most disappointing computer I owned.
It's not bad for a machine that was designed in a week.
Interesting! I had a Sinclair ZX81 and an ATARI 800XL in the 80s! And later ATARI 1040 ST, Mega ST and TT.
Looking forward to seeing how you got the +3 going!
Where did you get the new PRam battery? I have looked everywhere and when I order “new” ones they arrived dead
The problem with those being shipped is that shipping cost more than the device, and it destroys the feet / handles, all bent :( / ...
It can need the heat transfer re-pasted (clean cpu/gpu dye and heat sink surfaces and apply new heat transfer paste, like arctic silver etc. I use Noctua; but sadly this is needed every 2 years. The original Apple paste was probably better as it last longer. SYmptom for me were picture going black on the display (gpu) or mar not booting all the way (cpu)
It's a good arms workout !
Nooooo! the right OS for those is 10.4.11 (or 12) Tiger or Suriken !! with classic etc. I savec one from ebay and feed it with ram and ssd from OWC macsales, and it's solid. just avoid the liquid cooled ones and you're safe (almost) I have a long story with those, I first had (new) a DP 2.7 with the right GPU, it leaked after 24/7 use from 2005 to 2016. (stable 97°C no cheating) So I "purchased" 4 of those and made two good. The NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL still rocks.
So I'm not the only ones that name my old machines :0 I usually try to use puns about what they are or names inspired by their repair and refurbishment process, lol My current project since mid-may has been a Gigabit Ethernet G4 PowerMac with dual 450MHz processors I've been tinkering with to essentially convert it to specs closer to late Quicksilvers or earlier single processor MDDs. I named her "Hela" because damn. It's had so many little things fail and was missing so many parts when I got it, it turned into an absolute money sink, lol
...also, with all those vents on the bottom, they werent thinking much about spilt office tea either. Its a mirracle some of these survived.
I wonder if they were trying unnecesarily to compete with the Sinclair ZXSpectrum and the impending (not very successful) Dragon 32 and SAMcoupe? Sinclair tried to do the Home Computer=Home Office too with the QL. That didnt work out well either.
You seem a bit dubious about the Tomy Tutor's claim to be a 16-bit computer. I believe it really is, technically, a 16-bit computer. IIUC, it uses the Texas Instruments TMS9900 CPU, which is the same microprocessor that was in the TI99/4A. In the TI, the architecture of the computer was horribly crippled, so that it had only 512 bytes of 16-bit memory (which the TMS9900 used as a register file), and had to access its 16K of 8-bit wide RAM through the video display processor. Furthermore the BASIC was _doubly_ interpreted, so it was even slower than necessary. I'm not sure how similar the architecture of the Tomy Tutor is to the TI99/4A, but the CPU is a 'real' 16-bit processor. I was glad to see the CD-i. Looking forward to future videos about that. I'm also curious about the Laser 310. The screen looks like a Motorola 6847 VDG like the Tandy CoCo 1&2 and the Dragon. Great video.
Nice job, but i have to admit i was struggling to get through the whole video because the music was annoying AF! Maybe consider at least turning the volume way down.
I have a similar issue showing only a cursor on screen but with a bbc+ model
0:22 I don't see the problem. I have 7 Mac pro (5 of them 2010, 1 2013, 1 2008). I love the Intel mac pro vs apple none upgradable mac now days
My first computer was a Texas Instruments TI 99/4a bought, as most of them were, at closeout prices after they were discontinued. I learned a ton with that machine and there were some very fun games for it. The TI was probably not too common in Europe since it didn't last very long at all. That was followed several years later by an Atari 800 when I was 12 and I was an Atari Kid from then forward. Your videos are great and hopefully you can amass a good pile of interesting retro for your museum!
Thanks for the comment. I’ve seen a few Ti 99’s kicking around here. Interestingly, the little Tomy Tutor machine in this video is based on, but not compatible on the Ti 99.
@@techdept Oh that's cool, I"ll be looking forward to the Tomy Tutor video for sure. The TI is a weird machine but 7 year old me loved it.
(Kleincomputer) KC 85/2
Oh that’s on my list. The East German machine is a fascinating
Great video! To your question: I grew up with a ColecoVision. I have no idea how hard to find they are today, but to me, it was a nice console and a far cry from the Atari 2600 in terms of graphics and sound.
The ColecoVision is a cool machine, and I have 5 for some reason. None of which work! They’re on my current ‘todo’ list, but two of the machines will never work again.
It's fun to watch you try out all of these old systems. You might try the MAME emulator as it has support for a lot of old (and obscure) computer systems, the MSX1 driver seems to work pretty well. It can be useful to learn about these systems by using MAME and the software lists. My favorite Atari Flashback is the Flashback 9 which has an SD card slot. I grew up on Atari 2600, then Apple II, then Amiga 1000.
Thanks. I have to get around to trying MAME. It’s been there just waiting for me to get around to trying it out. As for the flashback, I’ve seen a lot of different ones around recently here in Vienna. I’m debating about adding more to the collects as I find it fascinating that some systems seem never to die. The keep turning back up again and again. Nice computing history as well. I went from Atari 2600, ZX Spectrum, PC then Amiga A500, plus a few other machines as well as my dad would just come home some days with a new console or computer. I learnt a lot.
@@techdept MAME is kind of cool in that it supports Win, Mac and Linux. I like to compile and run it in Ubuntu and fiddle with the source code and the debugger. I have a c64 mini and an Atari Flashback 9 but I keep coming back to MAME on my Ubuntu system. My favorite game controller of all time is the Hayes Mach III joystick (on the apple II as well as the IBM PC). I'm able to still use it on linux with a USB to gameport adapter. There was a neat computer museum called the Living Computer Museum (which is closed because of the pandemic) but you could play on a bunch of classic computer systems that they had there. I remember they had a sign that said "No more commodore 64 donations" next to a huge pile of c64s.
oh goodness the katagana keyboard on the tomy tutor! what an interesting little machine...
It’s soooooo cute. I’m looking forward to getting this one restored.
Greetings from Croatia 😊 Atari 800xl guy... Tone 😮
Hey, great machine. The 800XL is really a proper 1980s looking machine. Atari just knew how to build them back then. :)
I've got a similar problem. Managed to buy 10 to complement one I had an another that did not work, and now I have 13 cheese grater Macs, and one is a G5 with missing fans. I haven't named them yet though. Some of them probably need a name and a home that shows them some love and attention. All had missing drives and cards that were taken out from a sound studio.
The G5 is just a great looking machine. I’m really looking forward to stripping all of mine back and getting the cleaned out and checked out. I’m concerned about those power supplies and the caps within. :)
"shoddily put together in the best way possible" great autobiography title
I’m saving that for mine then. :)
Bill herd days it was the raspberry pi of its day....im not being funny but that ic count is higher than a spectrum
I know this is unrelated but give the Quran a read, also that g5 when it was released it was a beast
One comment to improve your videos: drop the background music!
there's something so nostalgic about the sound of a BBC keyboard.
There really is. Just the beep from the speaker and I’m back in junior school.
@@techdept I don't know about your computer class, but in 1986 at my school the computer room, was filled with many different computers, not just the bbc, but the spectrum, c64, amstrad.. then within maybe 2 years they'd been replaced with pcs running dos, this was pre windows 3.11.. i have such nice memories of that computer room..
"Promo SM"
Very nice! Thank you. 😃
4:48 I was getting sooo invested in that epic battle for that screw's freedom from the tyranny of the evil warranty sticker by the end of that clip and it cut right before we could bear witness to the glorious victory JESS NOOOOOOO!!!! :V
"Don't turn it on, take it apart!" - that's what Dave said... I'd at least use a dim bulb tester. If shit happens, it won't hit the fan. Watching you discombobulate and recombobulate the oldie... It fills me with determination. I love it that you don't hide the mistakes. No one is perfect and we really should get rid of the illusion that if you're not perfect, you shouldn't do stuff and show it. We're real people. We make mistakes and learn from them. Rome wasn't built in a day. Oh, Micro Men was nice! A bit too skewed on the BBC side, but I still liked it. And just look at Sophie Wilson! I had to try eating with DMM probes as chopsticks, here's the result: kzread.infoZeXaZAbKi3g
Thanks gorgeous. I screw up all the time, but I definitely learn from it. Micro men was great, and having Sofie in there made me very happy.
Nice fix with the RAM enable issue there Jess... Calling the DC power cabling "shoddy" is a bit harsh. The designers have taken care and expense to route relatively high current capacity leads to multiple places on the board to ensure reliability (near the RAM for example).
Yeah. I was a bit rude. The wiring did take me by surprise. I guess I’m more use to the speccy than the Beeb. But now I know the reason, so it’s a win for me. :)
Don’t worry, I just bought 7, only 2 are working. I am trying to see if I could cannibalise the non working 5 and hopefully have at least one more working, so that I can use them during winter. The case is beautiful, would try to repurpose those that cannot be revived. Just dismantle a really rusty one due to leaking LCS.
Yup. And if you look at one of them the wrong way, it’ll be 1 working! Still they’re great looking machines. But I’m now banned from buying any more PowerPC based Power Macs.
If the G5 logo's on there twice, it's a DP. Once is dual core or single cpu
The more you know. Seriously Apple, why be so confusing. :)
Ginger's got quite a rack, (processors) doesn't she ?😊
. . . Gem? Microsoft cloned the screen as Windows . . . 😮
These cases break if you look at them funny. Is there anyone that produces new ones with less shitty plastic?
Love the naming convention of your G5 Power Mac(s).
There's nothing wrong with Dell computers today. In fact it's all I buy.
Cuando pruebes usar pegamento con sianocrilato con bicarbonato de sodio no usas más esos pegamentos
Hi, Jess B. I loved the way you did not use a load of jargon. Like some repair channels do. Nice video. Stay safe to you and your loved ones. 💻
Thanks for that. I did try and keep things simple, partly because jargon doesn’t always help explain, and partly because I’m learning as I go as well. :).
try baking soda and super glue to weld plastic and other stuff
That’s on my list to try next. The case still needs attention sadly.
Love the special effects on the CPU heatsinks at timestamp 15:40 ;-)
I love the idea that you name your machines :-)
The other half started that. First based on where they came from , but now anything goes. I just got an Amstrad CPC464 in with a stuck return key, opened case, jammed speaker and the PCB has begun to bend upwards due to the speaker issue. I’ve called that one ‘Lucky’.
Yes, please do a video when you recap one of these boards. I have an interest in seeing how that's done!
Will do. I’m mostly concerned about the Power supplies. They just go bang if not services.
@@techdept I get a bit concerned when I see a need for cleanup to the degree you showed in this video. Is there a reason for not using a portable vacuum for the big stuff?
Nice vid, man
😂
ah, the computer of my childhood! i was introduced to midi sequencing with a cracked version of Cubase and my fathers Korg X5DR using the ST. i love your content and your collection!
I never got to use Cubase on the ST, but it did come across my desk in college on a few old power macs. Later I had it for PC but by then I was using it for vocal performance rather than MIDI sequencing. Great to see it’s still around form it’s ST beginnings.
Nice video Jess. We had a 1040FM years ago, sadly it went to the tip in 2012 before I got interested in old computers. It was in very nice condition like your machine. I have four ST's now, although two are very yellow indeed. One of them doesn't load some games, I wonder if is something to do with an older TOS version. However in your case you seem to have a later machine, but TOS may possibly explain the compatibility.
Yeah, I’ve three ST machines. One original ST with external disk drives and two 1040s that both have problems. One of them has the painted grey case which looks great, if the keyboard hadn’t started yellowing.