Compaq 486 PC exploration, restoration and upgrade - Part 1 REUPLOAD @ModernClassic

Modern Classic Note: This is a reupload due to a copyright strike on the previous version of this video. There is no way to simply replace the video in that case so my only choice is to reupload with the required changes. On the plus side, maybe some of you will see this video who didn't see it before - it's one of my favorite little video series that I've done and not a lot of people originally saw it.

Here's the original description:

I bought a 486 PC - a Compaq Deskpro XL 466. It's not my first 486 - in fact, my very first IBM-compatible computer was a 486 too (and a much crappier one than this!). But I wanted to relive that era of DOS and early Windows gaming and computing, and DOSBox just doesn't always cut it. It also doesn't give you the fun of tinkering with old hardware!

This is going to be the first of two (or more?) parts in which I explore, restore and upgrade this machine. By "upgrade", I don't mean in performance terms, but I'll be hopefully adding a couple things that will make any old PC more livable... and of course, I've gotta add some gaming capabilities to this old business machine. But I'm getting ahead of myself - most of that'll come in part 2. For now, watch as I tear down this machine, get it cleaned up, put back together and test it out, with a new component or two added. Along the way, maybe you'll find out something about why I think this era of computing is special.

Watch for part 2! Depending on when you're seeing this, it may already be up. Most of it's already shot and I hope to release it in the next couple of weeks.

Socket 3's blog post on building a 486: socket3.wordpress.com/2018/06/17/my-ultimate-486-build-revisited
Vocalyst keyboard post (in Chinese, but there are some pics): http://kbshow.blog.sohu.com/111763398.html

Songs in the video:
Good Vibe by Ketsa, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk
Nico Staf - Smooth and Cool - YouTube Audio Library

updated 1 year ago

Compaq 486 PC exploration, restoration and upgrade - Part 1 REUPLOAD

Modern Classic 2023-08-31 | Note: This is a reupload due to a copyright strike on the previous version of this video. There is no way to simply replace the video in that case so my only choice is to reupload with the required changes. On the plus side, maybe some of you will see this video who didn't see it before - it's one of my favorite little video series that I've done and not a lot of people originally saw it.

Here's the original description:

I bought a 486 PC - a Compaq Deskpro XL 466. It's not my first 486 - in fact, my very first IBM-compatible computer was a 486 too (and a much crappier one than this!). But I wanted to relive that era of DOS and early Windows gaming and computing, and DOSBox just doesn't always cut it. It also doesn't give you the fun of tinkering with old hardware!

This is going to be the first of two (or more?) parts in which I explore, restore and upgrade this machine. By "upgrade", I don't mean in performance terms, but I'll be hopefully adding a couple things that will make any old PC more livable... and of course, I've gotta add some gaming capabilities to this old business machine. But I'm getting ahead of myself - most of that'll come in part 2. For now, watch as I tear down this machine, get it cleaned up, put back together and test it out, with a new component or two added. Along the way, maybe you'll find out something about why I think this era of computing is special.

Watch for part 2! Depending on when you're seeing this, it may already be up. Most of it's already shot and I hope to release it in the next couple of weeks.

Socket 3's blog post on building a 486: socket3.wordpress.com/2018/06/17/my-ultimate-486-build-revisited
Vocalyst keyboard post (in Chinese, but there are some pics): http://kbshow.blog.sohu.com/111763398.html

Songs in the video:
Good Vibe by Ketsa, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk
Nico Staf - Smooth and Cool - YouTube Audio Library

What was the last IBM ThinkPad?

Modern Classic 2024-06-23 | The ThinkPad line of business and prosumer laptops began under IBM in 1992 and has been under Lenovo's umbrella since 2005. But that takeover wasn't as clean as you probably thought. With many ThinkPad fans considering 2005 as a watershed year when the entire line changed, I take a look at whether that's really true and at a specific example of late-stage IBM design, the ThinkPad X41T.

Fair warning - this video will make a case that the question itself is unanswerable. But it will hopefully give you a little bit more insight into how the ThinkPad line developed and what the takeover of IBM's PC division by Lenovo really meant.

Windows XP Tablet Edition content ahead!

Affiliate links - I get a cut of revenue from these:
Lenovo has a selection of current ThinkPads on Amazon: amzn.to/4cy8HtY
You can also shop for new, refurbished and vintage models on Ebay: ebay.us/9j6JLx

Revisit, Recap and Rebuild of my capacitor-plagued aluminum retro gaming PC tower!

Modern Classic 2024-03-26 | Seven(!) years ago, I tore down and jokingly "retired" my original gaming PC - a home-built aluminum monster that I put together in 2002-2003. In this video, my goal is to turn it into an all-in-one retro gaming PC for DOS, Windows 98 and Windows XP - but at this point, that means almost literally bringing it back from the dead. This PC was built during the capacitor plague era and many of its major components were right at the edge of total failure. Watch as I stop the bleeding with some new capacitors, make some new hardware additions and get all three OS's up and running smoothly, with game demos!

This is a long, long video I know. I thought about breaking it up into smaller segments, but didn't think any of them would be interesting enough on their own. So, whatever - watch it all at once or pause whenever you like and come back to it later. I leave the choice to you! Chapters are included for you to skip around as desired.

00:00 Intro and history
05:16 New additions, BIOS demo
10:10 Teardown
18:45 PSU intro and basics
23:10 PSU teardown and recap
34:28 Motherboard intro and recap
45:38 Completing reassembly
54:59 Testing!
58:32 More "new" hardware and DOS games!
1:03:18 Showing off tri-boot, Win98 and XP games
1:14:07 Outro

Repairing a Sony cassette Walkman (or trying to)

Modern Classic 2024-01-25 | Watch as I attempt (and mostly fail) to restore two different Sony cassette Walkman models. A lot of things went wrong in this video, including the video shoot itself! But I just need to get it out there and move on to the next thing, and maybe it'll be a lesson for some people in what *not* to buy, because these gumstick Walkman models with the battery covers holding the battery are just bad news these days.

Minor thing but just to head off some comments: I meant "bit depth" when I said "bit rate" talking about the modern Walkman. Didn't even catch that in the edit.

One thing I didn't mention in the video - I had planned on capturing some audio direct from each of these, but by the time the shooting was done, literally all of my battery covers were broken. So at this point, I'm back to no working Walkmen. I do still hold out hope that there's a solution to this in the form of just finding 3D print files for the covers themselves, which can probably be printed in a way that makes them stronger than what's commercially available right now. (Cheap PLA filament isn't the best idea for a structural element like this, and that seems to be what the ones I've seen for sale/bought myself are made with.)

Compaq 486 PC restoration and upgrade - Part 2 REUPLOAD

Modern Classic 2023-08-31 | Note: This is a reupload due to a copyright strike on the previous version of this video. There is no way to simply replace the video in that case so my only choice is to reupload with the required changes. On the plus side, maybe some of you will see this video who didn't see it before - it's one of my favorite little video series that I've done and not a lot of people originally saw it.

Here's the original description:

This is part 2 of my restoration and upgrade of my Compaq Deskpro XL 466 computer. In this video, I'm going to finish getting this thing looking and working how I want it... in fact, above par for a machine of its vintage, but while keeping it mostly period correct. The one exception is adding a CompactFlash card to take over for its aging SCSI hard drive, but I have numerous problems while attempting to do so! I also work on replacing the dead (soldered-on) battery, repainting the case, and figuring out if the Matrox MGA Impression Plus video card is going to work as a retro gaming card.

There's a lot going on in this video - so much so that there's a bonus part 3 coming! There are just a few extra things I want to try out that really deserve a little more time than shoehorning them in at the end of another 40 minute video.

Some links/credits:
Vogons topic on classic PC colors: vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=66199
Phil's Ultimate VGA comparison chart: bit.ly/30Z9CRq
Early PCI and AGP DOS graphics compatibility chart: https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/
Ben Zotto on "Apple Beige" (be sure to read part 2!): bzotto.medium.com/what-color-was-apple-beige-acd14bca0c1a
The Instruction Limit Guide on installing a CF card in a 486: http://theinstructionlimit.com/installing-ms-dos-6-22-on-a-486-without-a-floppy-drive-using-a-cf-to-ide-adapter

Music:
Good Vibe by Ketsa, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk
Bobby Richards - Two Moons (YouTube Audio Library)
Nico Staff - Walking in the Sky (YouTube Audio Library)

00:00 Intro
01:27 Replacing the CMOS battery
04:26 Dealing with that ugly paint!
12:00 CD ROM drive repair
14:20 CF card and CD ROM drive install
18:14 CF card woes!
20:26 Graphics card woes!
24:57 Exploring the MGA's 3D features, then saying goodbye...
29:38 Installing and testing a new graphics card - an S3 Virge
33:30 Fixing the CF card issues
36:55 Showing off some games and wrapping up

Channel Update

Modern Classic 2023-08-06 | In which a guy sits in a chair and talks a lot with his hands about stuff.

Steam Deck impressions/review!

Modern Classic 2022-07-21 | Well I only had to wait a full year, but my Steam Deck has arrived! I realize I'm a bit late to this party but hey, I still have opinions on this handheld gaming PC. Watch as I break down what I consider its ups and downs playing PC games, how it fares with emulation, and more.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:27 What is Steam Deck?
01:31 Hardware impressions
04:59 Visual explanation
06:34 The Steam UI
08:37 Let's See Some Games!
12:32 Emulation - Playing the Classics
16:57 Conclusion

The Cassette Comeback - should it?

Modern Classic 2022-07-04 | In which your esteemed host looks at the current "comeback" of the cassette tape as a modern commercial music format. Is there any good reason for cassettes to be back on the market? Or is it purely based on nostalgia for a format that we never really liked all that much? I'll talk about my own experiences with cassettes back in the day as both a consumer and electronics salesman, along with what I think about new releases on tape.

A small update: VWestlife pointed out in the comments that you'd never see XDR and Digalog together as they came from competing record labels, and it is likely that I just switched the cases at some point. I actually have several XDR tapes but most likely only one Digalog tape, which is Curve's "Doppelganger". It advertises digalog on the tape itself, so probably matches to that case too. (Yes, it's the one you see that got eaten by my TC-K96R.)

A few promised links:
The actual deck in the photo on my monitor: fryderykdanielczykstore.com/en/product/technics-rs-bx626-stereo-cassette-deck-fully-revitalized (looks like it's sold now)

Techmoan on Digalog and other digital bins: youtube.com/watch?v=I0beJZaOUYM

VWestlife's review of the Pioneer CT-W606 (really the 616; he got an odd duck): youtube.com/watch?v=v14AEKgX29U

Affiliate links - I'd appreciate the commission if you want to buy something you see in the video!
Ebay (buy a cassette deck or some tapes): ebay.us/dhPUmY
Amazon (for new normal blank cassettes, or anything else): amzn.to/3OFaZMD

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:10 My cassette collection
02:28 The hardware - cassette decks
09:18 The format's biggest problem - hiss!
13:48 Tangent - what's this format actually called?
14:31 Blank tapes and recording at home
19:13 What about mix tapes?
20:54 Cassette's last stand - making it digital
24:23 Early conclusion and new cassette releases
26:23 How to ignore my advice and buy into the format
28:36 Wrapping it all up

Hi-Res Audio on the Cheap!

Modern Classic 2021-06-02 | This is a video that I meant to be a short little side thing but that just seemed to balloon over time with discussions, tangents, and rants on various music-related topics. I considered not even publishing it, but what the heck - think of it more like a vlog. The original question: is it possible to get true high resolution audio playback on a home stereo system without spending big bucks on "audiophile" components? I had accumulated a bunch of hi-res music over the years with no real ability to play it properly, so I decided to find out.

This video both promises and requires a bunch of links if you want to dive deeper into things, so here are some:

First, if you'd like to purchase the NW-A55 or NW-A105 Walkman, or the STR-DH190 receiver, I'd love it if you'd use my affiliate links to help support my channel:

NW-A55: amzn.to/3vQiKWg
NW-A105: amzn.to/3wQO7Ap
STR-DH190: amzn.to/34yydyn

By the way, I didn't mention it in the video but the NW-A55 can be used as an external DAC. So if I did want to use it as a DAC for my iPhone, as far as I know, I could... though I don't know why I'd want to.

I wrote this video assuming that most viewers would at least know what Hi-Res music is, but if you need a basic primer:
digitaltrends.com/music/what-is-high-resolution-audio

I also didn't really attempt to explain much about waveforms and spectrograms, so...: izotope.com/en/learn/understanding-spectrograms.html

Techmoan's video that convinced me to buy an NW-A55 - note that the US version does not have the volume limit to begin with like the European version does: youtube.com/watch?v=7VPaXdQoKXs

Here's that study on ultrasonic sounds: journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jn.2000.83.6.3548
Tangentially related but I mentioned it in the video and it's an interesting story - read about the guy who survived putting his head into a particle accelerator while it was running: mentalfloss.com/article/31616/man-who-survived-proton-beam-brain

On MQA:
GoldenSound's analysis of MQA: youtube.com/watch?v=pRjsu9-Vznc
MQA's response: bobtalks.co.uk/a-deeper-look/all-that-glitters-is-not-golden
GoldenSound's response to MQA's response: youtube.com/watch?v=NHkqWZ9jzA0

On Bluetooth:
This is a little informal but really thorough and debunks a lot of Bluetooth myths: habr.com/en/post/456182
SoundGuys' basic info on BT codecs: soundguys.com/understanding-bluetooth-codecs-15352
SoundGuys' AAC codec tests, which prove that AAC re-encodes for transmission like every other codec: soundguys.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-bluetooth-headphones-aac-20296

If you want to read about the Hi-Res Audio badge: jas-audio.or.jp/english/hi-res-logo-en

00:00 Intro
01:09 The Goal
03:38 Why Hi-Res?
08:33 Not all Hi-Res is created equal
12:56 The Sony NW-A55
14:43 Why not just use a cell phone?
16:04 The NW-A55, streaming NW-A105 and MQA
17:56 The Sony STR-DH190 receiver
22:32 Using the NW-A55 with the STR-DH190
24:35 Bluetooth - good but goofy
28:03 Other functions and outro

Compaq 486 PC part 3 - upgrade to a real Pentium!

Modern Classic 2021-04-09 | This is the "bonus" part 3 of my Compaq Deskpro 466 XL restoration and upgrade series! You can start with this video if you haven't seen the previous parts, but you may enjoy the earlier videos too:
Part 1: youtu.be/GLUTFtjCUP8
Part 2: youtu.be/WdXLNpmFV2g

In this video, I'll be upgrading from the 486DX2-66 that this machine came with to a full Pentium 100. Compaq made that easy with the use of processor boards in their high-end workstations. Mainly this video is just about testing it out and seeing how much faster various things are with the new CPU - it's just a bit of fun.

I'm also testing a new VGA capture setup here, and while I think it worked well, the workflow I used definitely resulted in some blurriness in the final product. There's just a lot of scaling and compression going on at different points in the process - the output straight from the capture card is beautifully sharp. That means I just need to figure out how to minimize quality loss for future videos, but since the original video is so pristine, I should definitely be able to improve things for next time.

Keep in mind, though, that most of the time on YouTube, if you're seeing older games or DOS screens that look super-sharp, that's usually being done with emulation on a modern PC, not real hardware. This is real old hardware.

Enjoy!

Music:
Nico Staff - Walking in the Sky (YouTube Audio Library)

00:00 Intro
01:23 Explaining 486 upgrade options
03:50 Compaq's different approach
05:04 Explaining my (very simple) VGA capture setup
05:58 486 BIOS and benchmarks
09:04 486 DOS games
13:26 Replacing the processor board
14:30 Pentium BIOS and benchmarks
18:20 Pentium DOS games
22:15 Windows games
30:06 Conclusion

Compaq 486 PC restoration and upgrade - Part 2!

Modern Classic 2021-03-19 | This is part 2 of my restoration and upgrade of my Compaq Deskpro XL 466 computer. In this video, I'm going to finish getting this thing looking and working how I want it... in fact, above par for a machine of its vintage, but while keeping it mostly period correct. The one exception is adding a CompactFlash card to take over for its aging SCSI hard drive, but I have numerous problems while attempting to do so! I also work on replacing the dead (soldered-on) battery, repainting the case, and figuring out if the Matrox MGA Impression Plus video card is going to work as a retro gaming card.

There's a lot going on in this video - so much so that there's a bonus part 3 coming! There are just a few extra things I want to try out that really deserve a little more time than shoehorning them in at the end of another 40 minute video.

Some links/credits:
Vogons topic on classic PC colors: vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=66199
Phil's Ultimate VGA comparison chart: bit.ly/30Z9CRq
Early PCI and AGP DOS graphics compatibility chart: https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/
Ben Zotto on "Apple Beige" (be sure to read part 2!): bzotto.medium.com/what-color-was-apple-beige-acd14bca0c1a
The Instruction Limit Guide on installing a CF card in a 486: http://theinstructionlimit.com/installing-ms-dos-6-22-on-a-486-without-a-floppy-drive-using-a-cf-to-ide-adapter

Music:
Ketsa - Good Vibe - freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa
Crowander - Forever with You - freemusicarchive.org/music/crowander
Bobby Richards - Two Moons (YouTube Audio Library)
Nico Staff - Walking in the Sky (YouTube Audio Library)

00:00 Intro
01:27 Replacing the CMOS battery
04:26 Dealing with that ugly paint!
12:00 CD ROM drive repair
14:20 CF card and CD ROM drive install
18:14 CF card woes!
20:26 Graphics card woes!
24:57 Exploring the MGA's 3D features, then saying goodbye...
29:38 Installing and testing a new graphics card - an S3 Virge
33:30 Fixing the CF card issues
36:55 Showing off some games and wrapping up

Compaq 486 PC exploration, restoration and upgrade - Part 1

Modern Classic 2021-03-05 | I bought a 486 PC - a Compaq Deskpro XL 466. It's not my first 486 - in fact, my very first IBM-compatible computer was a 486 too (and a much crappier one than this!). But I wanted to relive that era of DOS and early Windows gaming and computing, and DOSBox just doesn't always cut it. It also doesn't give you the fun of tinkering with old hardware!

This is going to be the first of two (or more?) parts in which I explore, restore and upgrade this machine. By "upgrade", I don't mean in performance terms, but I'll be hopefully adding a couple things that will make any old PC more livable... and of course, I've gotta add some gaming capabilities to this old business machine. But I'm getting ahead of myself - most of that'll come in part 2. For now, watch as I tear down this machine, get it cleaned up, put back together and test it out, with a new component or two added. Along the way, maybe you'll find out something about why I think this era of computing is special.

Watch for part 2! Depending on when you're seeing this, it may already be up. Most of it's already shot and I hope to release it in the next couple of weeks.

Socket 3's blog post on building a 486: socket3.wordpress.com/2018/06/17/my-ultimate-486-build-revisited
Vocalyst keyboard post (in Chinese, but there are some pics): http://kbshow.blog.sohu.com/111763398.html

Songs in the video:
Ketsa - Good Vibe - freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa
Crowander - Forever with You - freemusicarchive.org/music/crowander

Video game physical media top ten!

Modern Classic 2021-01-28 | From the dawn of the video game age, physical media has been a defining element of each new console. That's changing now with the proliferation of download services, so I wanted to put together a little ode and top ten list to my favorite physical formats that have graced the game industry since the 1970's - along with their labeling, branding and packaging. In short, the stuff you actually hold in your hands. Oh, and there are a few dishonorable mentions here too!

See if your favorite made my list, and let me know in the comments if it didn't! Please know that this is not meant to be exhaustive or in any way objective, and I'm kind of intentionally not mentioning *every* variant of the formats I do list; I'm concentrating on the main ones. (Some systems literally have as few as one or two official releases with their own packaging or labels! So that's a never-ending rabbit hole.) There are a couple of exceptions, but I mostly relegated them to the post-top ten Honorable Mentions. This is just meant to be a fun look at my favorite physical video game media over the years.

Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) Full Review!

Modern Classic 2020-09-12 | After 14 long years, a new version of Microsoft Flight Simulator is finally here! How does it compare with its previous iterations, its competition, and reality? As a newly minted real-life commercial pilot myself, I was anxious to see how well it compares to the real world it claims to simulate. Microsoft has promised every single airport in the world, advanced flight modeling and weather effects and realistic, satellite-based scenery. Does it keep those promises? Let's find out!

I do anticipate editing this description as questions/concerns pop up!

In case you're wondering, here are the specs of my PC:

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
NVidia GeForce RTX 2060
Sabrent Rocket 1TB NVMe PCIe SSD
16GB RAM

Happy to answer questions in the comments! Any FAQs, I will probably add here or in a pinned comment.

00:00 Intro
03:08 Menus and options
08:55 Setting up a flight plan (IFR)
11:30 Departing from an airport
15:58 The world and its airports
19:53 IFR approach
22:37 Stupid stuff #1 - landing in front of my house
26:10 Stupid stuff #2 - landing a 747 at Lukla
28:53 Weather
32:20 KFRG comparison with my previous videos and real life
33:27 Autopilot discussion
39:57 747 at Lukla again and conclusion

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 First Thoughts!

Modern Classic 2020-08-21 | The new Microsoft Flight Simulator is finally here! The latest entry in the long-running series and original PC killer app serves up ultra-realistic scenery based on Bing Maps data, along with every airport in the world and a slew of default aircraft.

I'm planning a full review of this sim, but for now join me for a quick play-through so you can see some of the game's glory and a few of its relatively minor shortcomings. (Since I know I'll get comments on this, when I use the word "quick" here and in the video, I mean for me. A day to film, edit and publish is pretty quick by my standards!)

In case you're wondering, my system is a Ryzen 7 3700X with an RTX 2060, 16GB of RAM and I'm running the sim off a Sabrent Rocket NVMe SSD. I have all the flight model options set to realistic/hard, and all the data streaming turned on; I know I didn't show those sections of the options.

Watch for the full review in a couple of weeks!

btw, after watching my footage back I became a little concerned that someone's going to consider what I'm doing in this game to be suitable for actual flying. Please realize that this is a game and I was playing it as such - do not mistake anything I say or do in this video as having more than a passing similarity to how anyone flies in the real world (especially me!).

Apple IIc Plus - the rarest and fastest Apple II!

Modern Classic 2020-05-24 | Returning to one of my favorite subjects - the Apple II - I decide to finally repair a broken Apple IIc Plus gifted to me a little more than a year ago. This machine was the final true hardware revision to the Apple II line, coming in 1988, and the last standalone machine in the line released. It was also the fastest, with a 4Mhz CPU (vs. 1Mhz in most other Apple II's, and 2.6Mhz in the IIGS).

But it was a problematic machine for Apple, with a concept that had been watered down to the point of, well, pointlessness. The market wanted it even less than it wanted the original IIc (which was my first computer - the one in the thumbnail is my original machine). Still, it is an interesting computer for its accelerated CPU, and its somewhat anachronistic nature at the time of its launch.

Please let me know if you happen to have a working Apple 3.5 drive or eject motor for sale! There is contact info on my about page.

Subscribe to my channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/ModernClassic?sub_confirmation=1

Support me on Patreon!: http://www.patreon.com/modernclassic

AtGames Legend Ultimate Arcade hands-on/review!

Modern Classic 2020-04-10 | After months of searching and waiting, I finally was able to pick up the first arcade cabinet I've owned - the (relatively) new AtGames Legends Ultimate Arcade. This is not the first video on this machine out there, but I try to give a little context for my time in the arcades in the 80's and beyond and why I chose this machine before taking you through the experience of using it. Spoiler alert: I'm pretty happy with it!

Note that AtGames releases firmware updates for this thing very often, including one just yesterday, so by the time you see this it's possible that certain things might have changed.

If you want your own ALU (this is *not* an affiliate link! But just to help you out): atgames.net/arcades/shop-now

Subscribe to my channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/ModernClassic?sub_confirmation=1

Support me on Patreon!: http://www.patreon.com/modernclassic

Channel Update and Comment FAQ for March 2020!

Modern Classic 2020-03-21 | As I get settled in (again) to a new place, I'm just checking in with some updates and also taking the time to answer some FAQs from the comments. I've got upcoming stuff to tell you about too!

Here's the link I mentioned to Folding@Home if anyone does want to start doing it to help with Coronavirus: foldingathome.org

If you just pick "any disease", you'll get Corona projects. (I don't think there's a way to specifically pick only that, at least not yet.) Note that they've had such a groundswell of support that your computer may sit idle sometimes while they prepare new work units - if that happens, it means we've literally finished the work they have available at a given time. They mention that in this blog post, along with an explanation of what you're actually doing: foldingathome.org/2020/03/15/coronavirus-what-were-doing-and-how-you-can-help-in-simple-terms

Nintendo Switch Lite Impressions

Modern Classic 2019-09-22 | I picked up a Nintendo Switch Lite on release day, 9/20/2019. This is a handheld-only version of Nintendo's superhot Switch hybrid system - let's unbox it and compare it with the original Switch! As a bonus, I'll look at how its physical design compares to several other handhelds of the past. Is this the best handheld ever made?

By the way, I didn't specifically test it in the video but battery life is purported to be about 3-7 hours. That seems about right based on my usage so far.

Support my channel - if you do want a Switch Lite, I'd love it if you'd use my affiliate link to Amazon:
amzn.to/2M8xKt5

For a regular Switch: amzn.to/30i6emK

Thanks!

Turntables - new or vintage?

Modern Classic 2019-08-22 | I've been playing vinyl records continuously since the 1970's, owning a bunch of different turntables in that time. But what's the state of the turntable market in 2019? Should you buy new or vintage? I thought it was about time to upgrade my vinyl setup again, so I went out and bought some turntables to test. In this video, I scientifically test four turntables in various performance metrics that I think are important, and then judge them on look & feel and value. Along the way, I hope to answer whether you should buy a new or vintage turntable (and even which specific model).

Included in this test: representing the vintage era, my venerable old fully automatic, direct drive Sony PS-LX3 and the decidedly all manual (but also direct drive) Technics SL-1200 Mk5; and for the new turntables, the semi-auto belt-driven Fluance RT-82, and the full auto belt-driven Denon DP-300F. All of these models offer something unique that I wanted to try out. The performance results were somewhat surprising!

I purchased all of these turntables with my own money; none were provided by the manufacturers. Buyee helped out with shipping from Japan but I bought the products themselves.

btw, I actually don't get a cut from anything you buy on Buyee (nor any of the manufacturers in this test), but I do have Amazon affiliate links that I'd love it if you used if you buy a domestic turntable:

ebay.to/2mHXr6o
amzn.to/31WMDoJ

As promised, here are a couple of cartridge comparison videos that I like from around YouTube. Keep in mind that YouTube is still compressing the music so these won't sound exactly the same in your home, but you can still use these videos to compare cartridges against each other and the differences are often obvious:

youtube.com/watch?v=JMBasOIjHP4
youtube.com/watch?v=qWzp1rOLL0s

New Coke taste test, decades after it was discontinued!

Modern Classic 2019-07-26 | This is a quick little video where I taste test New Coke - something I never would have thought I could say in the year 2019. New Coke was Coca Cola's answer to the Pepsi Challenge in 1985, only instead of just introducing a new flavor, they completely replaced their iconic soft drink with this new formula. The backlash was swift and severe and Coke's original formula was brought back less than a year later as Coca Cola Classic, which is still on the market as just Coca Cola.

Now in a tie-in with nostalgia factory Stranger Things, Coke has brought back New Coke for a limited time and by mail-order only. I thought that was weird/interesting/funny, so I bought a box of it. Watch me taste test it here!

Can a PC flight sim teach you how to fly?

Modern Classic 2019-06-30 | Welcome to part 2 of my now 2-part series on whether or not consumer flight sims can make for good training aids in real-world flight training. In my first video on the subject, I had had a total of 1 hour in real-world flight, and I used FSX as my primary point of comparison. At this point, I am an instrument-rated private pilot. (I made this video while I was waiting for my PPL checkride.) I've also primarily switched to X-Plane with Ortho4XP, and have an upgraded PC setup with dedicated controls and even VR to give sims the best chance at helping me with my training. In what ways are sims a good training aid, and in what ways are they just video games?

Apologies for the soft focus on me that starts about halfway through the video - I only noticed that after editing and exporting, and I've got to move on to other things at this point, so no time to reshoot it. Luckily you don't have to look at my mug all that often after that point in the video :)

One thing I didn't mention that I wish I had was force feedback. Back in the day, I had a Logitech Wingman Force 3D joystick, and it went a long way in simulating those physical forces that you just don't get in a sim. (My stick broke, or I'd still use it.) Yes, you can feel the air pushing back on your control inputs in a small plane. No, you can't in an A320, but nobody's learning to fly in an A320. Small planes generally have their flight controls connected directly to the flight control surfaces through pushrods or cables, so you do feel a lot through the hands in a light aircraft.

Subscriber update for May 2019!

Modern Classic 2019-05-03 | I'm back! Sort of. If you've been wondering whether or not I fell off the face of the Earth, the answer is no. But I have been even busier than I expected. This video is the promised follow-up to my last - just a little update on the channel and what I've got going on right now. There will be more videos coming as I have time to do them!

btw sure, I'm gonna say the "ups and downs" comment was pun intended :)

Im doing what now?? Subscriber update for January 2019!

Modern Classic 2019-01-06 | If you've been wondering why my output's been even slower lately than usual (or even if you haven't), you might want to watch this short video for an explanation.

Long story short, I'm selling my house, moving across the country and starting flight training for a major airline. So I'm slammed right now and I'm going to be pressed for time for a little while, and potentially a long while. But I will continue making videos when I can - it's just going to be even less predictable and with even more time in between than usual. At the moment, I really have no idea at all what my schedule's going to be like.

Reality vs. simulation - flying a real Cessna 172 vs. Flight Simulator X

Modern Classic 2018-10-26 | Are PC-based flight simulations like Flight Simulator X, X-Plane 11 and Prepar3d actually realistic? It's a subject I've always wondered about, but never previously had the means to test. But I finally took a discovery flight last week in a Cessna 172S, which is coincidentally one of the default planes featured in FSX. That finally let me do a direct comparison using the same plane flying out of the same airport, on the same flight path and in the same weather conditions. How close can a current piece of consumer software come to reality?

4/1/2019 UPDATE: I'd love to do a full follow-up to this video but probably won't have time for a good long while. I'm currently in a training program to eventually get ATP certification; I'm in the private pilot stage right now, with about 30 hours of actual flight time (vs. 1 hour when I made this video).

You may wonder if any of my views have changed since making the video - and generally, I'd say no. I do use X-Plane more often than FSX at the moment, but I always think about switching back... X-Plane does have better graphics and maybe marginally better flight models, but it also has terrible ATC and really bad ground handling, both of which are also really important to creating a realistic flying environment. (One of the most difficult things for *any* pilot is taxiing... in fact, the airline I'll be flying for only allows captains to do it because it's so dangerous, especially in bad weather. There's no other facet of flight that first officers are just forbidden from doing. So ground dynamics and traffic are really important for a sim to get right.)

Sims also have a tendency to teach you really bad habits unless you get real-life training *first*. For example, it's easy to get used to the "death grip" on the yoke/stick, and as I'm finding out firsthand, it's hard to shake that habit when you've been doing it for 30 years. Ditto for staring at your instruments - you need to do that if you're IFR in IMC, but on a VFR flight it's very, very bad practice. Sims get you in that habit because unless you're in VR (which X-Plane does now support), you're looking at a static display and have no other real-life traffic to worry about, so there's no incentive to scan outside and it's even kind of a pain to do it. This is some really effective negative training.

I'm currently trying to set up my system so it's more effective for *positive* training. One thing sims can be good at is running through procedures and checklists - provided you're training on a plane that's well modeled in the sim (even the most realistic planes are often missing features that are on checklists, which again makes for some negative training since you will likely rush over or even ignore those items in real life). The plane I'm training on - the Diamond DA-40 - has a Garmin G1000 glass cockpit, and there's actually a sim of just that that can run on two iPads (one for PFD, one for MFD). The G1000 is such a complex system that just having that connected to X-Plane can be a big help, since otherwise it can take a really long time to learn it well if you try to do it while flying your regular lessons. The default X-Plane G1000 is, maybe not surprisingly, not very good. It's missing a *ton* of features of the real G1000 that we use every day, and are part of our setup and checklists.

Anyway, so that's the update. Hopefully I can eventually put all this new info in another video, but don't hold your breath because I'm flying too much to do it right now!

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Ultimate Keyboard Showdown - IBM Model F or Model M?

Modern Classic 2018-09-20 | The IBM Model F and Model M literally defined what a PC keyboard is supposed to be. Included with the original IBM PC, the Model F introduced the buckling spring mechanism that made it "the best keyboard in any microcomputer, bar none" according to Byte Magazine. The Model M, introduced shortly after the PC AT's introduction and available as an option on both the AT and XT 286, set the standard for PC keyboard layouts for decades to come. Many have argued in favor of one or the other as "best keyboard ever" - so which one really is?

In this video, I do a direct comparison between both keyboards to find out which one I think still holds up as the best daily driver today. After all, keyboards are often a series of compromises, and while these two make fewer than most, both still have their pros and cons. Though regardless of whether you agree with my ultimate conclusion, you really can't go wrong with either one.

One clarification on NKRO, since some commenters seem to be either missing or ignoring the Model M key test in the video - again, 2KRO does not mean a keyboard will only register 2 simultaneous key presses. It means that's the *minimum* it can guarantee. Let's create a "Bags of Mulch" term to continue on with the 6 wheel pickup truck analogy from the video. Let's further say that the 6 wheel pickup from the video has "NBOM" - or "N Bags of Mulch". A standard 4 wheel pickup truck with "2BOM", though, could only guarantee carrying 2, depending on the size of the bags. If they're REALLY BIG BAGS, big enough to require a forklift to load, it might not be able to do more than that, because its bed is not unlimited in size and it only has 4 wheels. Now let's say you need to carry 6 standard size bags of mulch home from Home Depot. Do you really need "NBOM" for that? Or would that the "2BOM" pickup truck work? Obviously, a standard pickup truck can carry 6 standard bags of mulch - heck, my Dodge Challenger could do that. Having "NBOM" in this situation is not only unnecessary, it's not even any kind of advantage. Both trucks will carry that mulch equally well.

In fact, you will likely do better with a good 2KRO keyboard than a cheap keyboard that claims NKRO, since these are usually poor quality non-NKRO keyboards trying to overcome their limitations with driver tricks. NKRO has become a way for cheap keyboard manufacturers to differentiate themselves from other cheap keyboard manufacturers. For the vast majority of people, it's better to just buy a good keyboard and not worry about KRO at all.

In fact, here's a quick, specific test I did on the Model M for someone in the comments of a scenario you might encounter in an FPS: imgur.com/2JDWKlT

That's 7 simultaneous keypresses on the Model M. And I had a hard time even reaching them all - that's certainly not a *common* number of keypresses you'd need to make at once.

Also, yes, once again, I am a self-taught typist. I'm never not gonna be a self-taught typist, so you may as well get used to how I type!

If you decide to look for one of these on Ebay, I'd love it if you used my links:
Model F: ebay.to/2QMOzLK
Model M: ebay.to/2xrRDVm

Couple credits not in the video itself:
buckling spring animation: By Shaddim - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30568410
IBM 4704 thread: Ellipse - geekhack.org/index.php?topic=67080.0
Model F foam thread: deskthority.net/workshop-f7/replacement-foam-in-ibm-model-f-t11657.html

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Modern Classic Live Stream

Modern Classic 2018-09-11 | ...

IBM PS/2 P70 Restoration and Demo (gas plasma display) - Part 2!

Modern Classic 2018-08-30 | This is part 2 of my diagnosis, repair and restoration video on IBM's "luggable" version of their PS/2, the P70. In this video I get the computer working again, solving several problems along the way, and then demo some of the software on the machine as displayed on its beautiful gas plasma screen. Yes, it's a portable computer with a PLASMA screen!

If you missed it, here's Part 1 of this two-part series: youtu.be/-h8NJrYI53Y

If you want one of these, I'd love it if you followed my Ebay link: ebay.to/2wsHsyw

IBM gas plasma promo video: youtube.com/watch?v=zBCV4PME7UM

Computer Chronicles episode with this machine: youtube.com/watch?v=DbnMAfXKTDw

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Top 10 Rail Shooters of All Time

Modern Classic 2018-08-23 | Rail shooters have always been one of my favorite video game genres, with non-stop action and intense, focused gameplay. But you don't see them all that often anymore. So in this video, I explain the basics of the rail shooter genre before presenting my picks for the top 10 rail shooters of all time, across platforms.

Some capture notes (as mentioned in the video):

In most cases I used real hardware, including appropriate controllers. In a few cases that wasn't possible, mainly because not every game is available for home gameplay.

Vampire Night, Time Crisis II: actual PS2 gameplay captured over composite and played with a Guncon 2
Confidential Mission: actual Dreamcast gameplay captured over composite using standard controller (I have an Interact light gun but it has never worked with this game)
The House of the Dead 2, 3 & Overkill, Sin and Punishment: Star Successor: actual Wii gameplay using Wiimote captured over HDMI
Rez: Infinite, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood: played on PSVR using standard and Move controllers, captured through the social screen over HDMI (lower resolution than what's actually in the headset, but this is the only way to capture PSVR)
After Burner, Star Wars, Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom, Space Harrier: actual gameplay using MAME
Planet Harriers: actual gameplay using Demul
Gunblade NY: actual gameplay using Model 2 Emulator
The Walking Dead, Star Fox 64, Star Wars: Battle Pod, After Burner Climax, (a little of) Rez: Infinite: official trailer footage
Afterburner PSP: gameplay captured using PSP TV output over component
Panzer Dragoon Orta: Xbox One S gameplay captured over HDMI

For all PC capture (ie. emulators), I used OBS Studio for the capture.

None of these games are current but most can be purchased on Ebay, and I'd love it if you used my Ebay link to get there: ebay.to/2hFrsCr

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Flash storage for classic PCs - building an XT-IDE kit!

Modern Classic 2018-08-12 | Watch me build an XT-IDE kit from Glitchworks designed to give modern storage options to the IBM PC (and XT), then test it out and hopefully get it running! The original PC and XT had an MFM storage interface and an 8 bit ISA bus; the IDE interface was only available for 16 bit ISA and later. This card adds the ability to use more modern options like flash storage to boot an original PC, which has the side benefit of allowing the download and loading of early PC software from a modern PC onto the 5150 and 5160.

This is partially a soldering video, but I do show the card in action as well!

Updated 8/15: I mentioned in the video that I'd give a little more detail on how I had to get the card working. At this point, I have DOS 5.0 booting on the card with a full 256MB partition. What I first had to do was *fully* clean the card using diskpart's clean command and a total MBR wipe using DOS debug. This part you can do in a VM. Then I was able to fdisk, format /s and install DOS 3.2 from actual floppy disk on the 5150 (disks I already had) to create something at least readable by both the 5150 and a Windows 10 PC. I then used that to transfer DOS 5.0 disk images from my modern PC to the 5150, and I used dskimage.exe to extract them to actual floppies. Then I booted DOS 5.0 from my new floppies, exited out, used fdisk to delete the non-DOS partition, cleaned the card yet again (probably a little redundant but I wanted to be safe), then booted from floppy again and went through the regular DOS 5.0 setup (including creating a new partition). Then the card worked and now has DOS 5 on it, with full use of the card. Bottom line is, as far as I can tell, you really need to install DOS from physical floppies. (An emulator should work too, but they're not easy to get working on a 5150 either.)

Info about diskpart: howtogeek.com/235824/how-to-clean-a-flash-drive-sd-card-or-internal-drive-to-fix-partition-and-capacity-problems (ignore step three)
Info about MBR zero data using debug: http://minuszerodegrees.net/ibm_xebec/ibm_xebec_llf_debug.htm (ignore step 1 and skip to step 2)

Music in the video by Timecrawler 82: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Timecrawler_82

You can buy XT-IDE cards at the Glitchworks Tindie store: tindie.com/stores/glitchwrks
And here's the CF adapter I used: ebay.to/2P04p4C

Don't forget that you will also need a 40 pin straight IDE cable!

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Project and Video Updates for July 2018

Modern Classic 2018-07-27 | Take a look at some of the stuff I've got going on or coming up. This video serves as both an update/future look at some videos in the pipeline, as well as a tie-up to a couple of the loose ends hanging around from previous videos I've done.

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Radiant Silvergun - one of the rarest Sega Saturn games!

Modern Classic 2018-07-24 | I'm starting a new series of quick gameplay videos, and #1 is the Sega Saturn and Treasure Games classic Radiant Silvergun. These videos will soon be on a regular schedule, once every week or two weeks - and there's a good chance that they'll eventually be live! But for now, they'll be traditional uploaded videos.

Radiant Silvergun is a classic vertical scrolling shooter, and had been one of my most sought after games until just a little while ago when I finally found a copy (actually several at the same store) in the wild. I'd waited to play it until then, so what you see here is my reaction to it after only having played it for a couple of hours.

I know someone's going to call me out on this so a quick correction: no, the game is not "all polygonal" - it's a mix of polygons and 2D sprites, which is a style the Saturn was particularly good at and Treasure was particularly adept at employing. (Their other big Saturn game, Guardian Heroes, is also a mix of 2D and 3D.)

There were a few technical kinks in this video and I'll be trying to work out a balance between speed/simplicity and quality as time goes on, so bear with me for the first couple of these!

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The IBM PC 5150 - the worlds most influential computer

Modern Classic 2018-07-18 | This is the story of the first IBM PC - your current home or laptop computer is almost certainly a direct descendant of this machine. Today, nearly 40 years after its introduction, modern PC's are used for everything from the kinds of business applications the system was originally designed for, to scientific work, to high-end gaming. But it all started back in 1981 with the IBM 5150.

If you're looking for a more personal take on this computer, watch for my upcoming review of this IBM 5150!

If you want your own IBM PC, they're not cheap but they are plentiful on Ebay, and I'd love it if you used my affiliate link: ebay.to/2Nmzcaa

Some credits for some of the images and other things used in this video:

5100: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_5100#/media/File:IBM_5100_-_MfK_Bern.jpg
Datamaster: http://oldcomputers.net/ibm5322.html
Mainframe: techrepublic.com/pictures/photos-looking-back-to-the-birth-of-the-mainframe
buckling spring: By Shaddim - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30568410
Pet: By Photograph by Rama, Wikimedia Commons, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17129317
Atari 400: Evan-Amos en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family#/media/File:Atari-400-Comp.jpg
Atari 800: Evan-Amos en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family#/media/File:Atari-800-Computer-FL.jpg
TI 99/4 Tocchet22 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_TI-99/4A#/media/File:TI-99-4_homecomputer_(adjusted_version).jpg
Vic 20: Evan-Amos en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_VIC-20#/media/File:Commodore-VIC-20-FL.jpg
Heathkit H88: Arthur G Korwin Piotrowski en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenith_Z-89#/media/File:Heathkit_computer_H88.JPG
CGA card: Malvineous en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_Graphics_Adapter#/media/File:IBM_Color_Graphics_Adapter.jpg
Datamaster ad: Adtari youtube.com/watch?v=fhskfSpGxMA
PC ad(s): La Mazmorra Abandon youtube.com/watch?v=kQT_YCBb9ao&t=16s
5120 ad: Adtari youtube.com/watch?v=n_PTPPMxTXo
5100 ad: Magdy Ragab youtube.com/watch?v=9m54rKlErwA
PC XT photo: Ruben de Rijcke: http://dendmedia.com/vintage
PC AT photo: MBlairMartin en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer/AT#/media/File:IBM_PC_AT.jpg
Model F AT: daedelus deskthority.net/wiki/File:IBM_Model_F_AT.jpg
PowerPC 601: Dirk Oppelt commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IBM_PowerPC601_PPC601FD-080-2_top.jpg
Portable PC: Hubert Berberich commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IBM-portable-PC-01.jpg
There You Go by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
Artist: http://audionautix.com

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IBM PS/2 P70 Tour and Diagnosis - Part 1!

Modern Classic 2018-06-14 | This is an IBM P70, IBM's "portable" version of the Model 70 Personal System/2. It's what was known in the 80's as a "luggable" computer - as IBM themselves put it, it's a "full desktop computer system... with a handle." Various companies made these in the 80's, but I wanted this particular one because a) it's an IBM, and b) it has a PLASMA display. (Toshiba and a few others also made machines with plasma displays, but this one also has kind of an interesting form factor.)

Unfortunately this one doesn't work! Those of you with experience with this machine probably already know what's wrong... but if you do have experience, please let me know what you did to fix it.

Also, double oops in the video - those are SIMMs in there, not DIMMs and certainly not SO-DIMMs... I'm stuck in the present, I guess.

IBM gas plasma promo video: youtube.com/watch?v=zBCV4PME7UM

Computer Chronicles episode with this machine: youtube.com/watch?v=DbnMAfXKTDw

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New arrivals including an IBM PC 5150! Lets crack it open!

Modern Classic 2018-05-23 | I just received a massive haul of new computer and game equipment, including an original IBM PC 5150, an Atari 800 and a factory reconditioned Atari 2600 with some rare games and accessories. This was meant to be a simple, short video going through everything, but you know me by now - I can't *not* crack stuff open to see what's inside and how it works! This IBM PC, in particular, has some pretty cool hardware inside.

This PC will be featured in more videos later, including one about the history of the IBM PC.

These computers have some unique history, as both were used in the Warner Communications Videotex tests in the early 80's: http://terrymcgarty.blogspot.com/2018/01/video-on-demand-home-shopping.html

By the way, those of you sensitive to the 16khz whine of a CRT will be happy to know that I filtered it out of this video.

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Inside a Tomy Digital Diamond game from 1978!

Modern Classic 2018-05-10 | In the 1970's, "electronic" games that were really just fully mechanical toys with LED's inside were all the rage. The Tomy Digital Diamond was sold at Sears and other major retailers, and I had one. This is my original unit, and after a full 40 years it's in need of a minor tune-up. This is just a quick video in which I show the basics of how the game works and fix it up so it's like new again.

If you're interested in buying an old Digital Diamond for yourself (or any other old electronic games), I'd love it if you used my Ebay affiliate link: ebay.to/2wxxmzK

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Bandai Intellivision diagnosis and major repair

Modern Classic 2018-04-30 | The Bandai Intellivision was the Mattel-licensed version of the Intellivision released in Japan by Bandai Electronics. It's pretty rare, and I have one. Unfortunately, mine has never worked properly - it's got a stuck high bit in the character generator that corrupts all text and numbers on screen. Join me as I attempt to repair this problem with the help of a donor system and some helpful people at AtariAge. I'll warn you now - it turns into kind of a rabbit hole.

A few answers to some common comment questions I've gotten:

Q: Why not just get a better soldering iron to get the shields off?

A: I do have an adjustable temp soldering station that can get up to 900 degrees F (the Aoyue 469). The problem with taking the shields off is the solder *behind* the tabs that there's no easy way to suck out. It's not just solder laying across the top. Partly this is down to my own skills, and yes, partly it may be my equipment. But I think mostly it's just a tough desoldering job - many people who have worked on Intellivisions have complained about getting the shields off regardless of equipment, and that's usually on the US model that I didn't have any problem with. The Japanese model is... something else. It's obviously not meant to be serviceable.

Q: Did you replace all the chips in the Bandai system or only the SRAM chip?

A: I did end up putting the Japanese model back to stock except for the SRAM chip, power ribbon cable and sound chip socket. Those are the only new components now in my Bandai Intellivision.

Q: Did you try the Japanese SRAM chip in the US system?

A: Yes. It did the same thing.

Q: Why not use flux and braid/wick?

A: I did! I just didn't include it in the video because it was boringly unsuccessful; it just didn't do anything with that solder under the tabs. Different people have better or worse luck between braid and solder suckers. I happen to do better with suckers. Despite the impression I may give off in the video, this isn't my first time soldering. I have all the normal stuff and I know the right ways to use it; I'm just not as good at it as some who do it every day.

Q: Did you know the sound chip socket is flipped? The notch goes on the other side!

A: I just didn't pay any attention to that because it doesn't matter in this case. I would have bought a socket without that notch if it was the cheapest one that would have worked. What matters is the orientation of the chip on the board, and I have other references for that. In hindsight, I would have paid more attention to the socket orientation (or intentionally bought one without a notch) to cut down the number of comments about it, though.

If you're interested, here's the original thread about this repair on AtariAge: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/268496-whats-wrong-with-my-intellivision

And if you need it, the Intellivision power ribbon replacement discussion/tutorial: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/258132-power-ribbon-cable-replacement

Credits:
The ad: youtube.com/watch?v=7aYqEgv6Qws

Song #1 - De Jongens Met de Zwarte Schoenen by RoccoW & xyce: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/RoccoW__xyce/~/RoccoW_en_De_Jongens_Met_de_Zwarte_Schoenenxm1

Song #2 - OST 01 Tutorial by sawsquarenoise: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/sawsquarenoise/RottenMage_SpaceJacked/RottenMage_SpaceJacked_OST_01

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Early handheld computing - unboxing a brand new Sony Clie PDA from 2001

Modern Classic 2018-04-13 | Palm helped popularize the PDA with its Palm OS-based devices, but Sony took the form factor and added new features that made their devices easier and more fun to use. I owned a Clie PEG-S320 back in 2001, and while I no longer have that unit, I decided to buy another one brand new in the box and see if I could get it working again. Spoiler alert: any time you're dealing with "new old stock" that's been sitting on the shelf for 16+ years, there are going to be problems to overcome! But in the end, it's a success.

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Super Audio CD - worth it in 2018?

Modern Classic 2018-03-12 | PLEASE READ THE FULL DESCRIPTION.

When I made my original video on surround sound music, there was one multichannel format I didn't yet have to test: Super Audio CD. So I set out on a quest to buy in to the aging format in the year 2018 - which I found out is not unlike buying in to something like open reel tape at this point. There's a lot to consider, it's more expensive than I thought, and there's a steeper learning curve than you might expect for something originally meant to have replaced the simple CD. Many of the issues I had tie directly in to why the format never took off - compatibility issues, draconian copy protection that actually interferes with playback, questionable sound quality benefits vs. other formats, and high costs.

One clarification: the study I mention in the video that pitted "CD vs. SACD" was actually testing 16 bit/44.1khz music pumped through SACD and DVD playback. The detectability of the lower-resolution music stream was no better than chance.

Another clarification! Your brain doesn't really "piece the samples together" - as someone pointed out in my comments, that's the job of the Digital to Analog Converter. I knew this - I was selling DACs for a living 25 years ago - but had a bit of a brain fart when writing the script (was stuck in "video mode" when looking for an analogy, apparently) and never caught it until it was pointed out to me. What your brain does is just decide whether the job the DAC did matches the original music (if you have a way to do so), or at least sounds good to you. Unfortunately YouTube doesn't provide a way to annotate this in the video itself (you can't use both cards and annotations in the same video, and annotations are deprecated anyway), so I'm stuck with my screwup now.

By the way, I finally did get DSD over USB to work, but my receiver apparently only supports DSD in stereo, not multichannel. (That's why it didn't work for the video - I was trying to A/B the same multichannel recordings I had on SACD.) Of course even stereo DSD sounds great, but I can't say I'd be able to pick it out from a well-mastered 44.1khz PCM file in an A/B test, any more than the pros could.

If you do still want to get into SACD after watching this video, I'd love if it you used my Ebay affiliate link: http://ebay.to/2FDF8Ze

Here's the promised link to a video that explains the "Loudness War": youtube.com/watch?v=kL13b9hCYjc

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Apple II Buyers Guide!

Modern Classic 2018-01-25 | In this video, I return to one of my favorite subjects - the computers of my youth - to bring you a buyer's guide for anyone who's interested in retro-buying their first Apple II. The Apple II's still a really fun system with a lot going on for any computer enthusiast. Apple was a very different company in those days, and IBM even took a lot of inspiration from the Apple II for its later PC. So the II line doesn't really feel like a dead end, but in many ways a spiritual predecessor to the desktops - Mac or PC - that many of us still have.

There are various Apple II models to choose from, and here I help you decide which is best for you. (Spoiler alert: there's one machine I think is probably right for about 99% of all Apple II buyers.) I also go through the most common peripherals you'll want for your system.

One clarification on the IIc/IIc Plus and the Floppy Emu: You actually SHOULD be able to boot in 3.5" mode on the Floppy Emu on a IIc Plus. It works with the Unidisk, so probably works with the Floppy Emu too. Let me know if you have a IIc Plus and a Floppy Emu and can confirm this. You also can boot in 5.25" mode on a IIc if using ProDOS disk images, but that rules out most games.

Find an Apple II on Ebay: http://ebay.to/2E8IYJR

Floppy emulator links:
Floppy Emu: bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu
CFFA3000: shop.dreher.net
(Fill out the "contact us" form to get on the waiting list.)

The link to that unfortunate IIGS battery disaster: http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2008-9-4-leaky%20battery%20consequences%20in%20an%20appleIIgs.htm

A few image attributions - contact me if I've forgotten any:

Apple IIC Plus Users SCEhardt, Apple2gs on en.wikipedia

Apple Monitor II: Mystère Martin

Amdek Monitor 300A: Apple Rescue of Denver http://www.applerescueofdenver.com/apple-ii-computers-parts/monitors-apple-ii

Apple II duodisk: Blake Patterson flickr.com/photos/blakespot/3068822669

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New Year 2018 Channel Update!

Modern Classic 2018-01-07 | Happy new year! As I did last year, it's time to take stock of my channel and let you guys know what I've got planned in the coming months. There's doings afoot! Find out what videos I've got coming up, and give me some input on what you'd like to see in the comments! Then listen to me ramble on endlessly about games and other things, as I often do.

By the way, no, I'm not missing a tooth! I'm using new lights and obviously put them at an unflattering angle, so some of my more crooked teeth are in shadow. Well, live and learn.

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Logitech Harmony Elite review - a $250 remote control?!

Modern Classic 2017-12-23 | It's not a new product, but it took me a while to get up the gumption to purchase a $250 remote control. Can any universal remote really be that good? Well, considering the mess involved in starting up and controlling my AV system, I had high hopes. See if this thing can really wrangle all your separate components into one cohesive system, and see if it's worth buying even if you're not among the wealthy jet set!

If you'd like to buy a Harmony Elite: http://amzn.to/2BVRNWf

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Nintendos First Game Console: the Color TV-Game 6

Modern Classic 2017-12-03 | With 2017 being the 40th anniversary of its release, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at Nintendo's first-ever home game console: the Color TV-Game 6. While most Americans' know the Nintendo Entertainment System and consequently probably know the Famicom that was its Japanese progenitor, not as many are aware that Nintendo had been making other home gaming systems since 1977. The Color TV-Game was a series of consoles that initially copied popular American games like Pong and Breakout, with the Color TV-Game 6 being the first in this series. Developed with Mitsubishi, it would be Nintendo's first entry into electronic home gaming, setting them on a path they've been on continuously ever since.

By the way, yes I did have a cold while filming this :)

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Audio rack components - what Ive got and why

Modern Classic 2017-11-20 | Pure audio has become kind of a forgotten medium in this age of video-centric A/V setups. I've got one of those myself, but a while back I realized I was already halfway to putting together a decent pure audio system. A couple of cheap pickups later and I had a full rack system - not to mention a couple of new projects! This video's a bit of an indulgence as I show you the components in my system, but maybe it'll give you some inspiration to go out and put together your own.

A word of caution: if you don't like hearing old guys talk about audio, this video is not for you.

Also, new drinking game: everyone has to down a shot whenever I say the word "actually".

A small correction: the Sony TA-1010 is from 1971.

Another correction: "Morningside" is an LP, not an EP. I thought it was strange that she was calling it an EP... turns out she isn't, I was!

A few links:

Fazerdaze: fazerdaze.bandcamp.com

Monoprice tube amp (in either 25 or 50 watt varieties): http://amzn.to/2zTqsoy

Theater Solutions TD4S: http://amzn.to/2z8B9QM

The rack itself is this one: http://amzn.to/2z44gEU

You'll need to go to Ebay for the others - I'd really appreciate it if you could use my link to start your searches: http://ebay.to/2hFrsCr

The model numbers again are the Technics RS-TR355 dual cassette deck, Sony TC-K96R cassette deck, Sony PS-LX3 turntable and Sony TA-1010 amp. The speakers are Pinnacle PN5+.

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Neo Geo Pocket SD - Flash Cart for NGPC quick review!

Modern Classic 2017-11-03 | I love SNK's Neo Geo Pocket Color, so I was excited to see a flash cart released for it. I take a look at it in this video to see if it's worth the price. This is not an in-depth look at the handheld itself, but a short review of the SD cart that makes it much more convenient to use.

You can order the NGPC SD at http://www.retrohq.co.uk

The Neo Geo Pocket Color's a great gaming handheld and one that really any gamer should have - you can get one on Ebay: http://ebay.to/2xQCPOg

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Modern Classic Vlog: 40 Years of Video Gaming

Modern Classic 2017-10-31 | Warning! This is a long one, and it's mostly just me. Hopefully you like to hear me talk as much as I do.

"Just play the damn game and enjoy it", or alternately, "Old Man Yells at Cloud". 2017 marks my 40th year playing video games. I was playing video games before many of you were born! I'm old! But I'm still a gamer, and I play games both new and vintage.

In this video, I reminisce about my early days in gaming, my "peak gaming" era of the early 2000's, then talk about how I've changed, how the industry has changed and how gamers have changed. Some of these changes are good; others are not.

Now get off my damn lawn!

Sorry about some of the soft focus in some parts - I thought I had locked focus but apparently not. This is an unscripted video so I thought it better to just leave things as they were than trying to re-shoot.

A few credits for some of the videos/photos (most were mine but a few were not):

MACH3: old classic retro gaming: youtube.com/watch?v=Qm5u4ErDPF4
Strike Fleet: high retro game lord: youtube.com/watch?v=T1ObyHVXheU
Super Dodgeball: world of long plays: youtube.com/watch?v=nXp92WEPzas
Game & Watch image: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2010/02/feature_the_history_of_the_nintendo_game_and_watch
Game & Watch image 2: Jason Scott: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Game_%26_Watch_(25336024873).jpg

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7 Free PC Software Utilities You Should Have

Modern Classic 2017-10-04 | In this quick video, I show you 7 absolutely free utilities to simplify your PC experience. Some of these are pretty old, but software can be "classic" too. These all do a much better job than the equivalent apps included with Windows, and even better than anything else I've found for download. They're all lightweight, contain no nagware or ads, and frankly I couldn't live without them.

If you want to save some time, these are the utilities in the video:

Picasa: 0:54
Notepad++: 4:25
VLC/MPC-HC: 5:53
Diskdata: 7:36
FreeFileSync: 10:15
LatencyMon: 14:25
Defraggler: 17:06

If you did want to read about my stolen laptop (I'd still love to have it back, though the reward no longer really applies at this point): http://www.alphabetcityblog.com/2012/05/stolenreward-dell-vostro-3500-red.html

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Unicomp Model M Keyboard Review!

Modern Classic 2017-09-13 | Since my IBM Model M keyboard roundup video, I've had a lot of requests to do a review of Unicomp's modern version of the same keyboard. Here it is! Can a Unicomp Model M really hold up to the feel and quality of the legendary IBMs? What about in comparison to a modern mechanical keyboard? Watch and find out!

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ThinkPad P50 Long Term Re-review!

Modern Classic 2017-09-01 | My first-ever video on this channel was a review of my then brand new Lenovo ThinkPad P50. It's been a bit more than a year now, and people still ask me in the comments for that video how it's holding up. Not many reviewers go back and re-evaluate things they've already reviewed to see whether time has been kind to them, so I thought it'd be interesting to do that with this machine. It turned into a more in-depth video than I planned, with a full rundown of everything I like and dislike about the machine and a discussion of screen profiling and calibration - an important aspect to this high-end laptop with its 4K, wide gamut screen.

If you're interested in a P50, Amazon still has loads of 'em available: http://amzn.to/2esVL1q

Or the updated version, the P51: http://amzn.to/2vNtUvk

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Modern Classic Mailbag #3 and a Buyee review!

Modern Classic 2017-08-23 | This is a Very Special Episode of my mailbag series with a bonus review of Buyee, a shopping service that has helped me order several things you've seen on my channel directly from Yahoo Auctions Japan. Private sellers in Japan are a market that's been basically inaccessible to western buyers for a long time, so you need some kind of shopping service - and Buyee's one of the biggest. They can open up a while new world to you in retro and classic video games.

Buyee: http://buyee.jp
Tenso (if all you need is a Japanese address): http://www.tenso.com

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