@janbeta@chaos.social
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

janbeta

@janbeta@chaos.social

I repair/hack/make/destroy stuff on YouTube. Retrocomputing, VintageAudio, Tinkering. As unprofessional as it gets. Toots in English, underständs Germän. Chaotic good. C64 rules.

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janbeta, (edited ) to apple
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

New video! I'm starting to restore a very interesting Apple Macintosh Performa 630 in the DOS Compatible variant. It has both a 68040 Mac and an IBM compatible 486 PC in one machine. In the first episode of this series, I try to make it safe to run by replacing capacitors on the main board and in the power supply. More to come!

YouTube: https://youtu.be/86CrkFDuNWY
PeerTube: https://makertube.net/w/jrXDtMmCv5MPxHfkvmsbyW

janbeta, to random
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New video is up ad-free for all monthly supporters on Patreon, Ko-fi and the YouTube community tab! Thank you so much for your donations! <3 https://www.patreon.com/posts/apple-mac-630-1-103162898

janbeta, to apple
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

Some 630 capacitor shenanigans going on in the Beta lab today. Main board got recapped although none of the caps had leaked. The power supply is not so fortunate, found 2 severely leaky smaller caps and some traces beginning to dissolve in the electrolyte. I think I caught it in time though, should totally be salvageable.

The removed old SMD electrolytic capacitors in a pile on my workbench.
Closeup of the power supply from the Mac. A pretty standard switch mode power supply by the looks of it. Nicely built with large heat sinks on the components that tend to get warm.
Fluoride of the power supply PCB after some cleaning. The solder mask is missing from some parts around where one of the capacitors has leaked. Some corrosion is visible on the through-hole plating it was connected to.

janbeta,
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

@iiidiy It's just one screw, unplugging a connector and then removing a bezel on the back of the case. The whole machine is super serviceable and modular thankfully. Getting to the power supply pcb to work on it is a bit trickier, I had to desolder the mains input cables to get it out. The rest was just a couple more screws that were clearly visible after inspecting it for a bit.

NanoRaptor, to random
@NanoRaptor@bitbang.social avatar

They just don't put thought into design like they used to.

The longer you look, the calmer you feel.

janbeta,
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

@NanoRaptor Screams

janbeta, to apple
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

Something "new" to explore on the workbench today: a 1995 630 in the "DOS Compatible" variant. It’s a bit of an oddball machine from Apple‘s otherwise quite bland (in my opinion) beige era. It has both a regular 68040 Mac and a full 486/DX2-66 PC inside. Should even be capable of running Windows 95 alongside MacOS 8! Thanks to a very generous donation from @markuspooch I’m going to get to play with it. Thank you!

Closeup of the same Mac with the "DOS Compatible" logo showing. The floppy disk drive slot is also visible.

janbeta,
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

Initial research suggests that I’m going to have to do some recapping, both on the logic board and in the power supply. There are plenty of forum posts I found where the PSU had blown up capacitors. The logic board has some SMD electrolytic caps. Probably not quite as bad as the slightly earlier Amiga models where they all leak but they still need to be replaced asap, I guess. It does power on fine (we tested that when I picked it up) but needs some work to be safe(r) to use.

janbeta,
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

@modulusshift Oh, thanks for the offer! As far as I can tell at this point, I’m fine in regards to install media. I got a complete box of MacOS 8 install media with the required DOS/Windows drivers that came with the Performa. If something doesn’t work, I’ll let you know! 😊

janbeta,
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

@modulusshift I think that’s what mine probably came with originally, too (minus the TV thingy). I read that there was a variant with a TV tuner and a remote control. I think the TV tuner wouldn’t even fit in my variant because the PC stuff takes up most of the expansion slots. 😅

janbeta,
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

@modulusshift Oh, neat! Would be great to have a TV tuner to play with (although absolutely obsolete these days, of course). I saw the network card in some video, too. Both probably very rare these days but we’ll see. Definitely lots of fun things to try with the machine. The DOS part was available separately at some point, too, it seems. At least for the predecessor Mac models. It’s a deep deep rabbit hole for sure… 😅

janbeta,
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

@pitrh I read about those! Probably super impressive at the time (honestly, still impressive to me these days). Can’t wait to tinker with it but I’m definitely going to take my time with the capacitors etc before I try it proper.

janbeta, (edited ) to c64
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

New video! I finally managed to fix a C64 board that my late friend ZXkim81 gave me in 2017.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/FcpRs62eg2I
PeerTube: https://makertube.net/w/nNM4RFWSE4xjH4khP2vJrm

janbeta, to random
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

New video is available ad-free for all monthly supporters on Patreon, Ko-fi and the YouTube channel memberships page! Thank you so much! https://www.patreon.com/posts/102527054

janbeta, to c64
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

ZXkim81's is fixed!

Closeup of the C64 board. A Kung Fu Flash cartridge is inserted in the cartridge port and the shielding on the port is labeled "Recapped by ZXkim81 11.11.17".

janbeta,
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Video coming tomorrow if everything goes according to plan.

janbeta, to random
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

I'm going to be interviewed live on German radio station Radio Eins in a bit (around 11:20 my time today, I was told). You can tune in if you are in the Berlin area, or via the internet. My nerves! https://www.radioeins.de

janbeta,
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@dukeitch I think they have an archive page, too. The program should be available to download some time after it airs.

janbeta,
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@blenderbuch Yes, they are going to call me on the phone. Old school. ;)

janbeta,
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

@blenderbuch No, it's a live call.

janbeta,
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

@blenderbuch Thanks! Still feels weird to me to speak German "on the air". :D

janbeta,
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@plicktzah Intern hab ich ziemlich gezittert. :D

janbeta,
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Wow, that felt quick. Hope my voice wasn't shaking too much. I definitely was shaking internally. Quite a big deal for me being live on air on a major radio station. I need a strong coffee and some rest now and then back to repairing C64s. ✊

janbeta,
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

@plicktzah Ja, die waren auf jeden Fall deutlich schneller als ich. 😅 Freut mich, dass ich halbwegs kohärent rüberkam.

janbeta,
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

Available in the archive now: my phone interview thingy starts at around 2:17 (2 hours 17 minutes in, that is) in today‘s recorded show. https://www.radioeins.de/programm/sendungen/zwei_auf_eins/archiv.html

janbeta, to random
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

In other news, I finally managed to replace the hideous modern IKEA lamp in my lab that was left by the previous tenants with something more period correct (a ceiling lamp that I’ve owned since some time in the early nineties). It’s showing some signs of wear from long term use in previous apartments I lived in (plus some yellowing that I didn’t bother to remove) and I love it. Lamp nostalgia. 😅

janbeta,
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

@trc Interesting idea! 😅

daputz, to random German
@daputz@nrw.social avatar

next hot air desolder practice item: a Hauppauge WinTV. due to the lack of analogue TV, the value for this thing is below 20 euros. and to be honest: the software didn't help to make it an experience without hard swear words.

janbeta,
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

@daputz I used one of those to watch PayTV for free back in the day. Good times. ;)

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