Ferroresonant Transformers and Making the Centurion Complete! Usagi Electric 2023-10-08 | First things first, Open House at System Source Museum!Date and Time: October 23, 2023, 1500 - 1900Location: System Source Museum, 338 Clubhouse Rd. Hunt Valley, MD 21031Link: museum.syssrc.comWe may have lost the battle in the previous episode, but we sure as heck aint gonna lose the war! In this episode, we dive in deep on the power supply. It’s a weird one too – a ferroresonant supply. No, I didn’t just make that word up, it’s a real thing, I promise! So, let’s find out just what that is, and then let’s dig into the supply itself and find out just what exactly went wrong.Check out CuriousMarc’s channel here:youtube.com/@CuriousMarcCenturion Wiki:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/wikiIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Open House at System Source Museum!1:29 Where did we leave off?3:52 First things first, what is a Ferroresonant power supply?5:45 Let’s start with a regular transformer7:51 Both feet first into the deep end with Ferroresonant transformers12:29 Once we got our stable AC, then what?13:45 What went wrong on our power supply?16:04 Zeroing in on the issue18:19 A full day later…23:13 Victory!24:17 Begin rant25:55 End rant26:22 Putting it all back together28:27 The final test!32:11 Bunny!
Testing Thousands of G15 Germanium Diodes Usagi Electric 2024-10-13 | I can’t fault them, they’re nearing 70 years old, and that’s a big ask from diodes that old! Still, we know for a fact that we have at least two bad diodes, and I suspect we may have dozens more. Which means, it’s time to test diodes. But when the machine has more than 3,000 diodes lurking inside of it, how do you test that many without losing your mind? Well, turns out, Bendix made a pretty awesome little tester to do just that!Check out System Source here:museum.syssrc.comCome hang out with us at the LSSM on October 25th:https://lssmuseum.square.site/product/haunted-hardware-fundraiser-ticket-patron-access/1Check out Lloyd's Diode Tester Manual here:github.com/Nakazoto/UEVTC/blob/main/Reference/The%20Bendix%20G15%20Diode%20Tester.pdfIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 What does 80 million yen buy you these days?3:54 A problem of scale7:16 A walkthrough of the tester12:10 Calibration (if you can call it that)13:57 Test drive time16:56 Time to test 3,000+ diodes18:51 This never happens, I swear!21:50 Surely, I didn’t make it worse, right? Right?23:40 Legitimately took me 5 hours to hunt down the fault…26:53 Bunny is upset there’s no more banana
The Bendix G15 Boots! Usagi Electric 2024-10-06 | We did it! We did it! We did it!Kind of… It boots, and let me tell you, it was an absolute journey to get it to that point. But, it’s still not quite right. It’s trying to execute code, it’s just executing the wrong code. Still, with multiple bad germanium diodes and even a bad photodiode holding us up, it was an absolute battle to get to this point. But man alive was it worth it!Check out System Source here:museum.syssrc.comIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Who let me get my hands on a piece of history?3:10 Cleaning the dirty motors6:32 Giving them a test7:10 Photodiode problems9:26 Maybe it’s dirty potentiometers?11:20 Nope. Okay, let’s learn how the phototape reader works16:16 Bad photodiode. What next?18:52 Did that fix it?20:24 Not yet. Okay, let’s learn how the input system works23:59 Troubleshooting montage!32:46 Yoooo, that’s a booted machine!35:22 Banana time!
A Day of Fun With MFM Hard Drives! Usagi Electric 2024-09-29 | Usually, I rotate through about four big projects, but lately, I’ve been falling behind with some basic housekeeping around the shop, so today, let’s do some of that housekeeping. I’ve been amassing MFM drives for about a year now, and it’s finally time to take them out, and see which ones work and which ones don’t. So, let’s bust out the Gesswein MFM Emulator and a screwdriver and make some questionable decisions!Come hang out with us at the LSSM on October 25th:https://lssmuseum.square.site/product/haunted-hardware-fundraiser-ticket-patron-access/1Check out David Gesswein’s emulator here:pdp8online.com/mfm/mfm.shtmlIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 A day of housekeeping3:15 How to use the Gesswein MFM emulator8:46 Speedrunning time11:20 Programmers make better lovers16:03 The CDC Wren19:01 The CDC Wren II21:22 The Quantum RD5225:39 The Seagate ST409728:04 A little bit of failure management30:59 Turning a 10-minute job into a 2-day job33:16 Baby bunny!
Restoring a Model 15 and a Model 14 Teletype Usagi Electric 2024-09-22 | I love teletypes, which might seem like a weird thing for a vintage computing dude to say, but really, teletypes are just electromechanical data terminals! The communication protocol is a little different, and of course you’d have to match speeds, but it receives serial data and transmits serial data, it just does it with motors and contacts and spinny bits. And that makes them awesome.Check out John’s business here:kadindustries.comIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 A wild John appears4:13 Disassembly6:03 We found the current loop!6:26 Cleaning8:29 A very sad dashpot11:17 Back to cleaning12:13 What even is a teletype though?14:01 How to send17:15 How to receive21:29 Final assembly22:14 An oil bath23:28 Checking the RPM25:20 First test26:08 Victory!27:45 But wait, there’s more!30:38 An oil bath… again31:23 It took a while, but we got there34:20 A gift for John36:40 Baby bunny!
VTC P.38 – I Built a Paper Tape Reader from Scratch! Usagi Electric 2024-09-15 | This is it, this is the first real step towards completing the project! And boy what a step, because we step right out of our comfort zone, and right into machining and manufacturing. You can see in the thumbnail that some successful machining took place, but it wasn’t without its frustrations for sure. This is a fun one y’all, so tag along as turn big pieces of aluminum into small pieces of aluminum.Tube Computer Wiki (horribly out of date):github.com/Nakazoto/UEVTC/wikiIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 This is a big version of this2:02 What madness have I built?6:33 What madness will I build today?8:15 Aluminum fears me, as it should16:18 What madness did I build?20:22 What madness will I build next?23:40 No madness, just fluffy bunny
The Most Adorable Data Terminal Ever! Usagi Electric 2024-09-08 | Hi, I’m sick.Hi, Sick, I’m Dad.No, literally, I’ve got some kind of upper respiratory thing going on and it’s no fun. I am coming out the other side of it, however, when you’re loopy and contagious, there are certain things you shouldn’t do, like invite people over or play with heavy machinery. So, today, we’re taking a bit of a break to take a look at an adorable little data terminal BoxcarJim donated!If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 “Get up, come on get down with the sickness”3:14 “I’m adorable and I know it”6:46 “Whatcha gon' do with all those ports, all those ports inside your trunk?”7:57 “It’s getting’ hot in here, so take off all your… CRTs?”8:48 “The Devil went down to Texas Instruments”11:26 “What does the Quick Brown Fox say?” “’Hellorld!’ obviously.”12:37 “No phone, No phone, I just want to be alone today”16:29 “That’s why I say, ‘Hey man, nice terminal. What a good terminal man.’”17:18 “Just like the fat orange cat, sings a song, sounds like he's singing”For the curious:Disturbed, LMFAO, Black Eyed Peas, Nelly, The Charlie Daniels Band, Ylvis, Cake, Filter, Stevie Nicks
Solving the halting problem with my PDP-11/44! Usagi Electric 2024-09-01 | In the previous episode, we got the 11/44 up and running, and it looked like it was trying to go, but we kept running into a problem: we couldn’t halt the CPU. Which seems like a really weird thing to want to try to do, but PDP gonna PDP. At any rate, we need to get the CPU to halt so we can start trying to run stuff on it, as counterintuitive as that sounds. So, today, that’s what we’re going to tackle!Check out Gunkies.org for awesome PDP information:gunkies.org/wiki/PDP-11If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Solving the unsolvable1:16 Solving the real halting problem3:51 Taking care of the basics first6:26 A little board swap and some progress!8:40 Getting some help from the past11:25 An introduction to PDP11GUI14:22 Loading something from a simulated paper tape18:02 The two avenues of media21:28 Slow motion noms!
I Was Wrong… and It’s Awesome! Usagi Electric 2024-08-25 | You guys called me out on it, and you know what, y’all were absolutely right! My understanding of straddle erase versus pre erase was definitely flawed, and I’m so glad you all spoke up about it. This particular drive came from the amazing Dave McGuire over at the Large Scale Systems Museum (mact.io) up in Pittsburgh, and in the previous episode, we didn’t get it going. Can we get it going in this episode? Well, at 40+ minutes, I bloody hope so!If you want to know more about the Centurion, the wiki is full of just about everything we know:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/wiki If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon: patreon.com/usagielectric Also, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.com Come join us on Discord! Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from: Artist: The Runaway Five Title: The Shinra Shuffle ocremix.org/remix/OCR01847 Thanks for watching! Chapters0:00 At this point, I still didn’t think I was wrong…3:04 The man, the myth, the legend, Mr. Ken Romaine!6:41 Start with the basics9:30 Okay, let’s try putting data down again11:59 A short interlude on why my program failed13:50 Back to troubleshooting!16:57 Success!18:34 What went wrong?20:04 Searching for a missing Sector Address line25:09 That fixed it, right? Right?26:42 Oof28:11 Success again!30:50 And introducing, special guest star, my underwear!32:20 What happened to the mini Centurion?37:09 We still got problems, naturally…41:27 Nom nom nom
VTC P.37 – Learning How to Build a Paper Tape Reader! Usagi Electric 2024-08-18 | The one-bit vacuum tube computer is back baby! Well, kind of. The reason it’s been so long since we last took a look at it is because I’ve been doing some serious thinking about how best to build the paper tape. I experimented with a lot of ideas before finally settling on a “Keep It Simple Stupid,” approach. Fair warning, this episode is primarily to get everyone back up to speed on the project and let y’all know what direction we’re now headed in for the paper tape. The good news is, we have a gameplan, so things should start shaping up real soon!Tube Computer Wiki (horribly out of date):github.com/Nakazoto/UEVTC/wikiPaper tape ideas:https://maker.pro/pic/projects/diy-punch-card-reader-using-pic-microntrollerhttp://www.decodesystems.com/ce-punched-readers.htmlIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 This is almost a computer1:19 First things first3:12 Where are we on this thing?6:23 Just missing a paper tape reader7:45 What is paper tape even?9:10 How are we going to read paper tape?10:27 Idea 1: Mechanical followers12:21 We need to take a book out of everybody else’s page…12:52 “Time to go mobile”14:14 Idea 2: Optical but with big boy photodetectors16:35 Idea 3: Nipkow disc?17:32 Idea 4: 5mm photodiodes19:26 This all seems way too complex, how did Bendix do it?20:05 Idea 5: This is the one21:49 Giving the concept a test24:11 Ideas on how to demonstrate the machine25:53 30 seconds of bunny noms
The Bendix G15 Inches Closer and Closer to Booting! Usagi Electric 2024-08-11 | The G15 wants to run, I can feel it, but there’s just a few things holding us up. The typewriter is giving us the run around, so first order of business is sorting that out. But in the process, we find all sorts of weird modifications to the typewriter, and then we run into even more troubles with the paper tape reader. But, progress is progress and we’re getting closer and closer to fully booting up!Check out System Source here:museum.syssrc.comIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Who let me get my hands on a piece of history?1:03 What stopped us last time?2:30 Why didn’t I just jumper the SA line to -20V?4:10 I can’t make sense of these mods, can you?5:58 Where did my 0Va, 0Vb and -20V go?8:48 A quick fix to get us up and going10:17 Did that fix it?12:40 Nope, try again!14:56 Serious progress! But why isn’t it reading?18:51 Let’s take one last swing at this19:55 The paper tape reader is going to need some proper effort22:22 Sunny kun!
I Repaired This 1970’s Hard Drive, but I Still Can’t Use It Usagi Electric 2024-08-04 | It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of spinning rust, and so I’m always going to jump on an opportunity to work on my all time favorite hard drive, the CDC Hawk. This particular drive came from the amazing Dave McGuire over at the Large Scale Systems Museum (mact.io) up in Pittsburgh. But, this Hawk Drive is a Straddle-Erase instead of the Pre-Erase I need. What does that mean? Well, that’s what the video is for!If you want to know more about the Centurion, the wiki is full of just about everything we know:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/wiki If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon: patreon.com/usagielectric Also, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.com Come join us on Discord! Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from: Artist: The Runaway Five Title: The Shinra Shuffle ocremix.org/remix/OCR01847 Thanks for watching! Chapters0:00 This is my forever computer3:40 Welcome to the CDC Hawk Drive8:09 Let’s take this thing apart9:30 Head crashes!12:34 Head coils14:09 Straddle erase and pre-erase, an introduction16:29 Cleaning and rebuilding19:51 Loading the heads and test drive23:25 So, why can’t I use straddle erase heads?28:55 Slow motion noms!
An Epic Trip Through Japan! Usagi Electric 2024-07-28 | And now for something completely different. I’ve been going pretty hard at work lately, so it was time for a little time off, and what better way than to hop on a plane for the most wildly perfect country in the world. Hop on along with us as we see some historically significant computers, do some pretty righteous thrifting, and go on a road trip through the most beautiful countryside you’ll ever see.If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847All other music from:Artist: Ben PruntyAlbum: Chromatic T-RexThanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Time to Relax0:35 Welcome to Japan!1:29 Heavy metal at the Tokyo University of Science2:42 The Bendix G-155:20 The Facom 201 (and some terrible audio)7:56 The Univac 1209:46 A small retro computer get-together10:40 Sean’s Multi811:29 Curt’s TK8512:29 Tom’s MSX13:23 Sven’s custom adapter14:06 Michelle’s NEC PC-980114:50 A little thrifting montage19:29 My haul22:05 Makidou Caves22:40 Bihoku Circuit24:27 Okayama Omurice24:52 Kurashiki Bikan25:38 Fukuyama Auto and Clock Museum27:25 Matsuyama City28:21 Oda Miyama Gorge29:24 Nakatsu Gorge30:13 Awajishima Monkey Center31:28 Nara Park33:07 Sunny kun!
The PDP-11/44 Lives! Usagi Electric 2024-07-14 | The PDP-11/44 power supply has been giving us the proper run around, but I’m too stubborn and dumb to know when to quit, so we’re right back in the thick of it in this episode. Only this time, I come out of the gates swinging and emerge victorious! Sometimes, not knowing when to quit is a good thing. Once we got all the power rails up, it was still a bit of a challenge to get proper life out of it, but we got there for sure!Check out Gunkies.org for awesome PDP information:gunkies.org/wiki/PDP-11If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 This is the last intro I’ll film about a dead power supply2:25 Could it be just a fuse?4:53 Running down the wrong path6:56 Finding the right path12:00 Victory!13:59 The cards18:55 Trying to power it fully up22:09 Life!24:50 What’s next?26:38 Ten chan!
The Bendix G15 (Almost) Roars into Life! Usagi Electric 2024-07-07 | This is the big one – we push that tantalizing green button to fully bring up DC and get the machine online! Of course, things don’t quite go as planned, and we didn’t get as far as we had hoped. But, lots of exciting things happened and the machine is in a very good state to be brought up fully and executing code soon!Check out System Source here:museum.syssrc.comIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Who let me get my hands on a piece of history?1:24 Why has it been so long since the last episode?3:15 A little bit of capacitor checking5:48 Pushing the green button!7:44 Hmm, that’s not great…10:32 Pushing the green button again!12:14 Why won’t it start up fully?18:54 She wants to run though!23:14 Baby bunny!
PDP-11/44 PSU is Slowly Coming Back to Life! Usagi Electric 2024-06-30 | This PDP-11/44 power supply is taking me to school, but we’re slowly getting there. In this episode we dive in, make some mistakes, repair our mistakes, and then make a little progress. Actually, I have no idea how many people actually read these descriptions. If you do, you’re a rockstar!Check out Gunkies.org for awesome PDP information:gunkies.org/wiki/PDP-11If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Welcome to my excuse to play with spinning rust2:39 How to troubleshoot without killing myself5:32 Let the testing begin!7:33 Things go horribly awry…10:46 Fixing my own dumb mistakes12:51 Okay, back to where we started14:30 Wait, wait, wait, check the obvious stuff first17:37 Hey, five out of six ain’t bad!21:33 Baby bunny!22:16 Helps if you plug it in…
The Forgotten Usagi: Ep. 02 Usagi Electric 2024-06-26 | This is a new thing we’re trying out, I have no idea how it’s going to turn out, but I’ve been wanting to give it a shot for a while, so here goes! This is a podcast/video… thing I’m doing with my good buddy AJ from Forgotten Machines. It’s mostly just two dudes chatting old machines. Minimal editing and a bit longer than my usual fair, let me know what you all think!Check out AJ’s work here:youtube.com/@ForgottenMachinesyoutube.com/@KnightRiderHistoriansOfficialCheck out VCF Southwest:vcfsw.orgyoutube.com/@VCFSWFor more on the prison laptops:twitter.com/zephray_wenting/status/1761548861896606014hackaday.com/2024/02/26/deep-dive-into-a-prison-laptopIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon: patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord! Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHDIntro Music adapted from: Artist: The Runaway Five Title: The Shinra Shuffle ocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching! Chapters0:00 Introductions1:05 The elephant in the room3:20 What happened at AJ’s booth11:58 What happened at Usagi’s booth19:55 When to use emulation?25:21 What about VCFSW 2025?27:49 What is too new for a vintage festival?33:05 Can an iPhone 1 be restored?38:54 What’s coming up next on FM and UE?41:14 The Usagi was not Forgotten!41:57 The train left the station, and I wasn’t on it…
FM is RLL, MFM is RLL, RLL is RLL! Fight me. Usagi Electric 2024-06-23 | The EDS PC is a fascinating machine, but where we last left off, it didn’t have a functional hard drive. It has an ST-238R in it, which is an RLL drive with appropriate RLL controller card, but the drive did not seem all too happy last time we spun it up. In this episode, I want to try to rescue the data off the drive using David Gesswein’s amazing tool, but also, I want to learn a bit more about FM, MFM and RLL in general.For more on the EDS PC:youtu.be/Alsv-v9o4yQFor more about David Gesswein's excellent emulator, check here:pdp8online.com/mfm/mfm.shtmlIf you want to know more about the Centurion, the wiki is full of just about everything we know:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/wiki If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon: patreon.com/usagielectric Also, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.com Come join us on Discord! Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from: Artist: The Runaway Five Title: The Shinra Shuffle ocremix.org/remix/OCR01847 Thanks for watching! Chapters0:00 How fast is too slow?3:38 FM, MFM, RLL and the ever important… RLL?10:48 Imaging an MFM drive (which is really RLL)15:42 Imaging a not crap MFM drive (which is still actually RLL)18:57 Imaging an RLL drive (which is… also RLL…)23:00 Giving the RLL (not MFM) drive a shot24:12 Giving the MFM (yes RLL) drive a shot33:02 How fast is excellent?36:24 Baby bunny!37:15 Don’t anger the Youtube Gods…
Only DEC could make a PDP-11 PSU this insane… Usagi Electric 2024-06-16 | In a haze of jet lag, I woke up with a burning desire to get hands on with my PDP-11/44. It’s been sitting on a back burner for an intense amount of time, but even still, it hasn’t been a high priority item. But, sometimes, you can’t help wanting to work on certain things, so in this episode, I give in and have a bit of fun tooling around with the PDP-11/44!Check out Gunkies.org for awesome PDP information:gunkies.org/wiki/PDP-11If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Who needs responsibilities, let’s work on something fun1:00 The who, what, where, why and when3:51 Taking things apart5:09 Even at first glance I can tell this PSU is gonna whip my butt6:50 Initial testing9:06 Fan cleaning and testing one more time10:44 Okay, it’s broken, but how broken?14:55 Hands on with the PSU modules16:38 Swapping different modules in and testing again21:39 Losing the battle, but still hoping to win the war23:10 Another rescue?!
Assembly Programming is Hard… Usagi Electric 2024-06-09 | VCFSW is marching ever closer and to make matters a little more interesting, I’m currently on the other side of the planet. (Though, to be totally honest, I’m actually writing this description on the plane.) That leaves me with just two days before I fly out to get the fixed platter of the mini-Centurion low level formatted. Sounds easy, right? Well, we gotta program a new, bare-metal assembly program to do that formatting for us, and that’s anything but!Music credit: Heartbound OSTstore.steampowered.com/app/776560/Heartbound__OSTIf you want to know more about the Centurion, the wiki is full of just about everything we know:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/wiki Come hang out with us at VCF Southwest:vcfsw.orgIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon: patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord! Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHDIntro Music adapted from: Artist: The Runaway Five Title: The Shinra Shuffle ocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching! Chapters0:00 Schedules man2:10 Cowabunga it is!6:19 Will this collection of bad ideas work? (Nope)8:25 Last chance11:00 Success!15:03 Life is tough when you’re dumb19:09 Koma-san!
The Forgotten Usagi: Ep. 1 Usagi Electric 2024-06-02 | This is a new thing we’re trying out, I have no idea how it’s going to turn out, but I’ve been wanting to give it a shot for a while, so here goes! This is a podcast/video… thing I’m doing with my good buddy AJ from Forgotten Machines. It’s mostly just two dudes chatting old machines. Minimal editing and a bit longer than my usual fair, let me know what you all think!Check out AJ’s work here:youtube.com/@ForgottenMachinesyoutube.com/@KnightRiderHistoriansOfficialCome hang out with us at VCF Southwest:vcfsw.orgCheck out CommodoreZ's photos here:commodorez.com/photogal.htmlIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon: patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord! Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHDIntro Music adapted from: Artist: The Runaway Five Title: The Shinra Shuffle ocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching! Chapters0:00 Introductions1:50 AJ with Forgotten Machines7:57 A talk about weird data9:58 A question about floppy images17:08 Floppy emulation is hard, yo24:04 What are we bringing to VCFSW?29:45 A special exhibit at VCFSW32:47 Dragged kicking and screaming into the world of emulation43:11 Outroductions44:32 Apparently, the Usagi was literally forgotten…
Software Problems? Hardware Solutions! Usagi Electric 2024-05-26 | VCF Southwest is barreling down on us real fast, and some of my junk works, haha. The CDC hawk drive is almost there, only it’s giving us even more grief now and the data terminal takes a dirt nap everytime we throw data at it. Let’s see if we can coax some of this stuff back into life enough for the event!If you want to know more about the Centurion, the wiki is full of just about everything we know:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/wiki Come hang out with us at VCF Southwest:vcfsw.orgIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon: patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord! Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHDIntro Music adapted from: Artist: The Runaway Five Title: The Shinra Shuffle ocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching! Chapters0:00 A funny story!1:41 Alright, what’s broken now?6:39 Swapping heads like it’s Frankenstein’s monster9:25 Taking it for a test drive12:10 Shady business practices striking 40 years later15:33 Finally getting to the data terminal16:59 Comparing the Regent 100 and Regent 20019:38 It couldn’t have been easy, could it have?22:17 Shifting gears and digging into the MUX card24:45 Building and testing the daughter board29:01 Hacky hardware solutions!31:26 Koma!
Reviving a 1970’s Hard Drive for the Mini Centurion! Usagi Electric 2024-05-19 | VCF Southwest is barreling down on us real fast, and none of my junk works, haha. Time to hunker down and start getting stuff over the finish line. The Mini-Centurion is specifically meant for shows and right now, it doesn’t have a hard drive. So, in this episode, we dive in deep to try to bring the old 14” Hawk drive that’s bolted to it back into the land of the living.If you want to know more about the Centurion, the wiki is full of just about everything we know:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/wiki Come hang out with us at VCF Southwest:vcfsw.orgCheck out John’s shop, Kad Industries, here:kadindustries.comCheck out Butler Tech here:butlertech.orgIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon: patreon.com/usagielectric Also, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.com Come join us on Discord! Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from: Artist: The Runaway Five Title: The Shinra Shuffle ocremix.org/remix/OCR01847 Thanks for watching! Chapters0:00 Carry on my wayward son…5:56 Power supply shenanigans12:30 Head cleaning and disk inspection15:08 Loading the heads and failing to boot18:18 What went wrong?20:37 Repairing the drive and aligning the heads26:14 Test drive28:08 The good, the bad and the ugly31:20 ニャラリー
The Rarest IBM PC Clone in the World! Usagi Electric 2024-05-12 | The Centurion is one of my all time favorite minicomputers, but did you know, they also made an IBM PC Clone? Well, they almost shouldn’t have. The story of this thing is absolutely bonkers, and the story of how it got here is just as bonkers. So, tag along as dig in deep with a history lesson, and then try to get this old PC back up and running!The BIOS has been uploaded here: github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/blob/main/EDS%20PC/EDSPCBIOS19.BINIf you want to know more about the Centurion, the wiki is full of just about everything we know:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/wiki If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon: patreon.com/usagielectric Also, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.com Come join us on Discord! Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from: Artist: The Runaway Five Title: The Shinra Shuffle ocremix.org/remix/OCR01847 Thanks for watching! Chapters0:00 This is not Doug Demuro0:31 Brief history of Centurion2:50 Why does the EDS PC even exist?4:44 How did it get here?11:11 Cleaning up the monitor12:42 Does the monitor even work?15:18 Let’s dig into the PC itself17:51 A closer look at the motherboard and cards25:27 Putting it back together and turning the switch26:49 Let the troubleshooting nightmare begin31:35 Will it boot?32:56 I hate foam and foil keyboard with a passion36:41 All clean and back together, will it get to DOS?39:29 Plugging the Centurion into the Centurion42:25 Kitties!
The Mini-Centurion is Back! Usagi Electric 2024-05-05 | With VCF East all wrapped up, it’s time to start prepping for VCF Southwest, which is coming up very, very soon! The party piece I want to have on display is the mini-Centurion, which we had on display last year at both East and Southwest. But, all the travel has taken its toll. Couple that with us swapping the CPU6, 128k MEM and Hawk drive with the Desk System CPU5, 32k MEM and Hawk drive up at Butler Tech., and we have a serious mountain to climb before we’re ready to display. So, let’s get to work!If you want to know more about the Centurion, the wiki is full of just about everything we know:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/wiki Check out John’s shop, Kad Industries, here:kadindustries.comCheck out Butler Tech here:butlertech.orgIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon: patreon.com/usagielectric Also, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.com Come join us on Discord! Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from: Artist: The Runaway Five Title: The Shinra Shuffle ocremix.org/remix/OCR01847 Thanks for watching! Chapters0:00 Time for VCF Southwest!1:33 Where did all this different hardware come from?5:42 Woodworking 9:32 And now, the news!10:38 Paintwork12:21 Side panels15:18 Getting them mounted17:45 Yeah, that turned out alright!20:27 We love you and miss you Chibita!
Health Update and a Really Cool Disk Pack! Usagi Electric 2024-04-28 | VCF East was an absolute blast, but it had one final parting gift to give me – an upper respiratory virus of some kind. Usually, I recover from these kinds of things in a day or two, but this one was particularly brutal and put me down hard for eight days! I’m finally starting to literally get my feet under me again, so unfortunately, there won’t be a traditional video this week. But, I didn’t want to leave y’all hanging completely, so hang around for a short little story from VCF that I particularly enjoyed!Check out more of Commodore Z's photography here:commodorez.com/photogal.htmlIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon: patreon.com/usagielectric Also, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.com Come join us on Discord! Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from: Artist: The Runaway Five Title: The Shinra Shuffle ocremix.org/remix/OCR01847 Thanks for watching! Chapters0:00 The video is so short, who needs chapters!
VCF East 2024 + Museum Tour + PDP8 Fun! Usagi Electric 2024-04-21 | VCF East 2024 + Museum Tour!One event I’m always looking forward to is VCF East. Not just because it’s a stellar congregation of amazing people, but because there also happens to be one heck of a museum on campus as well. Let’s take a walk through the event, look at some of my favorite exhibits, and then hang out in the museum, and maybe even get hands on with one of their machines. I had an absolute blast hanging out and learned a ton! Can’t wait until next year!For more information on the museum, check out this link:vcfed.org/museum-infoIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon: patreon.com/usagielectric Also, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.com Come join us on Discord! Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from: Artist: The Runaway Five Title: The Shinra Shuffle ocremix.org/remix/OCR01847 Thanks for watching! Chapters0:00 What is VCF East1:05 The show5:08 Usagi’s best in show7:06 The Museum9:50 Some of my favorite pieces16:30 A wild PDP-8 appears!22:42 Running a proper program on the straight 825:59 Bunny!
Co-Op Snake on a 1980’s Business Minicomputer! Usagi Electric 2024-04-14 | The Centurion is an epic piece of hardware – able to support up to 32 simultaneous users and over half a gig of storage, it’s an absolute beast. But there’s once thing it can’t really do, and that’s game. Today though, we fix that! Bu, single player games don’t make a whole lot of sense on a system that can support so many simultaneous users, so something a multiplayer co-op game would be pretty epic to see, right? Well, that’s just what’s in store for today!Here is the source code for CNake:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/blob/main/Software/New%20Software/Snake/cnake.asmAnd here is the complete CPU6 instruction set:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/blob/main/Software/New%20Software/Bible/optest07.asmgithub.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/blob/main/Software/New%20Software/Bible/optest8f.asmIf you want to play around with the emulator, check it out here:eciv.net/meisaka/cen/cen.htmlIf you want to know more about the Centurion, the wiki is full of just about everything we know:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/wiki If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon: patreon.com/usagielectric Also, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.com Come join us on Discord! Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from: Artist: The Runaway Five Title: The Shinra Shuffle ocremix.org/remix/OCR01847 Thanks for watching! Chapters0:00 What did $50,000 get you back in the day?1:47 Multi-user and…2:41 … big storage!4:31 But, can it play Doom? (No, not even a little)5:35 Printing out the code listing7:57 Ran when parked, right?11:21 The code listing (this is a long one)17:43 Let’s assemble the thing20:19 Setting up the terminals24:18 Multiplayer co-op gameplay!27:38 Do copy that floppy!31:08 Printing a label and making it look good31:42 Vim and an Emulator!33:20 Sunny-kun!
Doing Carburetor Work on the Austin Healey 3000 Usagi Electric 2024-04-07 | Sometimes, you just need a break. A lot of things that we work on in the room have very similar failure modes, which means it’s easy for your brain to get stuck in a loop. The best way to break from that is to change gears completely and do something wildly different, like working on some old SU carburetors on one of my all time favorite cars!Check out this video on the Bellett:youtu.be/qgrvf2xLrns?si=H0f3hI_GqBwDKJC8And this video on the Honda Beat:youtu.be/4S0Q_6VtY0A?si=8wxmhn5awi-cxk8nIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 I need a break1:19 My first passion3:57 A very special car5:22 Carburetor work10:42 Plug work and a wash14:28 Let’s go for a drive!19:12 Kono san!
The Bendix G15 Typewriter is Crazy Pants! Usagi Electric 2024-03-31 | As we barrel towards DC full speed ahead, there’s one last large hurdle we have to overcome – the typewriter. This thing is insane on multiple levels. Sure, it weighs about 70 lbs. and some crazy fool slapped a 28” platen on it, but also, it’s been heavily modified by Bendix to send the weirdest collection of data-bits and signals back and forth with the computer. Come on along as we dive down the weird and wonderful rabbit hole of the G15 Typewriter!Check out System Source here:museum.syssrc.comIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Who let me get my hands on a piece of history?1:25 The story so far3:07 A normal typewriter you say?4:15 5-bits is 5-bits is 5-bits6:34 But wait, there’s more!7:16 The Monty Hall problem, if it were switches instead of doors8:53 Scrub-a-dub-dub10:24 Madness lies that way12:00 Alright, back to work you!13:16 Can we make the platen move like it’s supposed to?16:17 A little more scrubbing17:33 “Hellorld!”18:45 This thing is a marvel of mechanical engineering21:19 VCF and the Open House22:02 Sue and Mei
This NEC PC-8001 is Epic! Usagi Electric 2024-03-24 | I’m mostly focused on large scale systems as of late, but that’s not to say that I don’t find microcomputers fascinating. And one such machine I’ve had that’s been on the back burner for literal years is this NEC PC-8001. It’s time to get this thing up and running, and maybe even take it for a proper test drive!If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 I don’t have that many micros…2:19 Where did this PC-8001 come from?3:34 A quick look4:54 Showa era is the best era6:07 The motherboard7:57 Japan’s bonkers power grid10:19 Where that video hiding out at?13:18 First proper power up14:17 Let’s go for a test drive20:22 Final thoughts and Project Euler23:52 The cutest combo on the planet!
Still Broken… but, Different Broken! Usagi Electric 2024-03-17 | In order to have a portable PDP-11, we need a portable data terminal. In the previous episode, we took a bath in rodent feces trying to revive our little ADDS Envoy, which is perfect for this task. But, we didn’t manage to get it up and going. We’re taking another swing at it today, but as is obvious from the title, it didn’t go well. However, it did make some progress!Check out Gunkies.org for awesome PDP information:gunkies.org/wiki/PDP-11If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Our goal of a portable PDP-112:22 Check the power rails first!5:17 Did that fix it? (Hahaha, seriously?)6:48 After a full day, where are we?11:50 Trying to repair the bad FE/GT to compare to the good FE/GT13:40 Okay, back to the original FE/GT…16:03 That should have fixed (so why is there still 10 minutes left in the episode?)16:44 The real smoking gun?21:06 Still broken, but broken in a different way! Yay!24:39 Cue battle music
State of the Usagi 2024! Usagi Electric 2024-03-13 | My fellow hobbyists, welcome to the first official State of the Usagi address, where we’ll talk about all sorts of stuff, from where I’ll be in 2024 to what we’ll be working on, and even a little bit about the channel and merchandise. VCF East: vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-eastVCF Southwest: vcfsw.orgSystem Source Museum: museum.syssrc.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 My fellow Usagis…1:30 Where will I be in 2024?5:38 What will be working on in 2024?10:51 Merchandise and microphones13:12 First lady Koma
VTC P.36 – Logic Done! Usagi Electric 2024-03-10 | Our DIY vacuum tube computer hits an insane milestone today – we finish up the logic! All that’s left after this is building out the paper tape and running code on it. We’re so close, so come along as we finish off the last little bits!Ken Shirriff’s article on the MC14500:righto.com/2021/02/a-one-bit-processor-explained-reverse.htmlTube Computer Wiki:github.com/Nakazoto/UEVTC/wikiLogisim file mentioned:github.com/Nakazoto/UEVTC/blob/main/Reference/Logisim/FullSystem_v1.circMC14500 Single Board Computer:youtu.be/md_cPxVDqeMHow I cut my PCBs:youtu.be/AB84_vbH_e8If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 The story so far…4:06 A quick refresher8:15 Hershey kisses of molten metal10:46 Plugging in the easy stuff11:40 Cathode follower buffers15:25 Cathode follower buffers… again17:42 Catho… I’m gonna stop you right there…19:27 Blinkenlights!21:50 Soft start24:58 A massive milestone!26:42 “My name is Sue! How do you do?! Now you gonna die!”
Printing ASCII “Art” Like it’s 1980! Usagi Electric 2024-03-03 | This is it – the Data-100 printer prints in this one! And, if we remember back all those episodes ago when I was looking at the CPU5 data platter, there was a file called “GIRL82.” Well, what better way to test the printer than by printing out some vintage ASCII p… err… science!If you absolutely have to know what "GIRL82" is, have a quick gander here, you might find what you're looking for:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/blob/main/SoftwareCenturion Wiki:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/wikiIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 What is a Data-100 printer?2:36 Can’t touch this. Hammertime.5:43 Plugging it in and setting it up7:50 Test prints9:39 Re-inking the ribbon12:19 Cleaning up the rest of the printer14:27 The infamous “GIRL82”16:43 Curse you Red Baron!20:00 Now that the printer is done, what’s next?21:39 Baby bunnies!
The G15’s Bonkers Optical Reader and Punch! Usagi Electric 2024-02-25 | We’re slowly inching our way closer and closer towards bringing the DC up on the G15. We have just a few more challenges to tackle, namely the paper tape reader and punch. This system is pretty wild looking with all sorts of electrical shenanigans and electromechanical wizardry. In this episode, we take a much closer look at it and try to get it as clean as we can in preparation for the big day!Check out System Source here:museum.syssrc.comIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Who let me get my hands on a piece of history?3:27 Money, money, money5:45 Disassembly7:50 Preventative maintenance?10:12 A look at the motor control section12:01 A look at the optical reader13:34 The elephant in the room (the punch)18:44 First, a quick clean20:15 Much ado about selenium22:10 What’s next?24:53 The babies!
I Love this DEC LA50 Dot-Matrix Printer! Usagi Electric 2024-02-18 | Honestly, I was planning on skipping a video this week. It’s been an emotional roller coaster of trips to the vet and struggling to keep animals alive. I’ve been an absolute wreck, and apparently, I was looking so haggard, Mrs. Usagi told me to go outside and do something to reset my brain. So, this week is a bit of a shorter video, but it got the job done and injected a little joy back into my week!If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comThe absolute best way to get in touch with me is through Discord:Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 It’s been… rough2:41 Cleanup3:47 First power up5:36 Self testing6:37 Trying to print from the Rainbow7:57 Battling baud and data settings9:25 Actually printing from the Rainbow10:03 Some interesting quirks13:47 Sue san!
This Data Terminal was Covered in Poop! Usagi Electric 2024-02-11 | We’re still plugging away at our portable PDP-11, and in the last episode we made excellent progress in getting the PDP-11/23 itself up and running. But, a portable PDP is pointless unless we have a portable data terminal to go with it. Enter the ADDS Envoy. This is an awesome little RS-232 capable data terminal that will make the perfect companion for our PDP-11. The only downside is, it’s in rough shape. Or at least, one of them is, it just takes me way too long to figure that out. What am I on about? Well, watch the video and see!Check out Gunkies.org for awesome PDP information:gunkies.org/wiki/PDP-11If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 This is our portable PDP-112:05 A portable PDP needs a portable data terminal3:45 A virtual walkaround6:52 Disassembly9:53 Guess what, more poop!11:53 Cleanup14:54 Testing the power supply16:51 “Everyone knows you never go full send!”19:15 Properly checking voltages this time21:14 “I’mma let you finish, but Tool had the best album of all time!”22:29 The “parts” machine24:06 Testing goes better this time26:45 We’re close, but not quite there yet29:14 Koma-san!
The Largest Printer I Own Prints! Usagi Electric 2024-02-04 | Ever since I got the Centurion a few years back, that number one requested item I work has been the massive Data-100 chain printer. Well, that time is now! In the previous episode, we double checked the power supply and saw that it was good, so we are clean and clear for working on the rest of this beast. The title spoils it a bit, but we actually throw the switch and get it printing out some test pages today, and y’all were right, this thing is epic!Centurion Wiki:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/wikiIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Revisiting the power supply and voltage levels2:39 The plan3:42 Taking it apart so we can actually clean the thing5:18 Wait, what even is a chain printer?8:24 Actually cleaning the thing10:05 First test12:19 Second test (actually the third, I put the ribbon on wrong twice)13:16 Okay, what happened?15:17 Hammers and plastics18:17 Third test (actually way higher than that, but you know, narrative coherence and all that)18:52 Did we snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat?23:04 Sue!
Reviving 65 Year Old Bearings Usagi Electric 2024-01-28 | In the previous episode, we brought up AC on the machine for the first time in who knows how many decades, and it went amazing. We confirmed that we have a good clock track and a good timing track on the drum. But, we also confirmed that none of the cooling fans were happy and the drum itself was grumbly. So, today, let’s pull those fans out, revive the bearings in them, then pull the drum out and try to get the bearings in it happier as well. Check out System Source here:museum.syssrc.comIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 I love this blue monolith of a computer!2:54 Removing the door fans5:15 Reviving the door fans9:24 Removing the main blower fan12:10 Reviving the main blower fan14:29 Removing the drum16:41 Fixing the drum with a hammer18:23 Flipping the big switch one more time20:20 All it took was a little patience!22:31 Kitty!
The PDP-11/23 Plus Works! Usagi Electric 2024-01-21 | Last episode, the PDP-11/23 11/03 Hybrid we were building absolutely crushed me. Well, to be fair, we never even got as far as testing the CPU, we got crushed by the power supply. I threw everything I had at it, and emerged the very opposite of victorious. I retreated to my corner, and armed myself with more knowledge, and now, stepping back into the ring for round 2, I absolutely will emerge victorious! How though? Well, you’ll just have to watch to find out (it was negative voltage). Check out Gunkies.org for awesome PDP information:gunkies.org/wiki/PDP-11If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comThe absolute best way to get in touch with me is through Discord at the link below:discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 It’s cold y’all2:29 Revisiting the regulator design7:00 The negative voltage8:56 Working on the -15V rail11:34 A tale of two diodes14:13 Come on man, you can do this16:45 Nice, the PSU works. Now what?19:46 Legen- wait for it -dary21:38 Let’s get it to misbehave a bit24:26 Time for a lot of y’all to click away26:00 If you clicked away, you missed out on this27:05 Sunny-kun!
This PDP-11 Power Supply Defeated Me Usagi Electric 2024-01-14 | My PDP-11 story is a weird one. I found myself with too many PDPs, so I had to thin the herd, which left me without a running PDP-11. The goal for today was to fix that by bringing up a PDP-11/23, but the power supply had other plans. After a full week of troubleshooting, I emerged from the room defeated. But just what went wrong? Well, let’s dive in and find out!If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 My PDP/DEC Story3:54 What problem am I trying to solve here?5:07 The PDP-11/23 CPU and Memory cards6:39 The PDP-11/03 AA Backplane and PSU8:22 Let’s clean this thing up first11:17 First test14:05 Second test14:42 Nothing is ever easy…17:30 Third test18:29 Why is this going so poorly for us?24:07 Fourth test26:05 “I’m calling it, time of death, probably 30 years ago.”29:22 Puppycat!
Working on the Largest Printer I Own Usagi Electric 2024-01-07 | Ever since I got the Centurion a few years back, that number one requested item I work has been the massive ODEC made chain printer. Well, the time has finally come! Let’s get this printer out into the open and dive right in.Oh, and Happy New Year all!Centurion Wiki:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/wikiIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 The story so far…2:12 What’re we missing?3:43 Initial disassembly5:18 A close look at the electronics7:17 Getting the power supply free from its cage9:09 A brief look at the power supply11:27 Reviving the capacitors14:05 First electron test in probably 30 years!15:56 That went swimmingly!18:57 Bunny!
My New NASA Minicomputer! Usagi Electric 2023-12-31 | A couple of months back, a very kind gentleman by the name of Godfrey reached out and asked if I wanted to take a crack at restoring an old minicomputer he had. After seeing the pictures, I was 100% on-board, because not only is this Data 620 a brilliant, transistorized machine, it also happens to have come from NASA. Being built in 1965 or 1966, it was used at NASA right through the entirety of the Apollo program, so it’s entirely possible this big, blue, beautiful beast actually contributed to sending people to the moon!You can find the brochure here:archive.org/details/TNM_Data_620-I_computer_-_Data_Machines_Decision__20180115_0061/mode/2upIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Welcome Mr. 620!1:55 Stripping and repainting4:47 Reassembly8:04 Rearranging the room9:14 Looking dapper11:08 A dive through the brochure17:40 Memory Power Supply19:18 I/O Control21:10 Core Memory23:31 Front Panel25:54 Central Processor28:54 Hellorld NASA-kun!32:51 Happy Fuzzy New Year!
The G15 Lives! Usagi Electric 2023-12-24 | This is the big one, this is the one where we throw some electrons at the Bendix G15 and see what happens. But, bringing up one of these machines is no simple task, and even if we throw electrons at it, that doesn’t mean it’ll be ready to execute code. All we’re doing today is confirming the condition of the drum by just bringing up the AC. The drum should spin up and the sequencers should sequence, and finally we should be able to see the clock track and timing track. If that all goes well, then the title of this video is totally not clickbait!Check out System Source here:museum.syssrc.comIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Who let me get my hands on a G15?1:53 What are we doing today Brain?3:36 How do we even power this thing?4:51 Okay, what happens when we flip the switch?8:07 What good does that do us?10:05 And how do we confirm that the clock and timing tracks are good?12:40 Enough questions, do the thing!15:20 That… wasn’t a great sound16:17 Do the thing again!18:30 Confirm those tracks!21:20 Heck yeah! What’s next?25:56 Merry Furball Christmas!
Restoring an ADDS Regent 200 Data Terminal Usagi Electric 2023-12-17 | Earlier this year, I ventured all the way up to New Jersey to attend VCF East. Aside from the fact that that was just a staggeringly cool event, it put some things in motion that have been awesome to say the least. Once of the things I’m quite excited about is this little data terminal here. I’m an ADDS fanboy, I think they build some amazingly cool looking data terminals, and I’m beyond stoked to get this ADDS Regent 200 back up and looking fresh again. So, let’s just dig into it!For more information on VCF, check out there website here:vcfed.orgBe sure to check out their forums too:forum.vcfed.org/index.phpCenturion Wiki:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/wikiIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 A VCF hoodie1:59 What are we looking at today?4:28 A quick test before disassembly5:39 Ripping it all apart9:11 Cleaning and painting13:57 Good googly moogly, that’s a pretty terminal15:34 Testing it hooked up to a computer18:14 Still a little left to do, but overall, a massive success!20:25 Sunny-kun!
VTC P.35 – Building the Output Register Usagi Electric 2023-12-10 | Our DIY vacuum tube computer is making excellent progress. In this episode, we need to get the output register built, but it is subtly different to the scratch register, which is going to take a little bit of a change in the PCB design to knock out. So, let’s take a look at how the scratch register was built and then how we have to change that to make the output register work like we need it to!Ken Shirriff’s article on the MC14500:righto.com/2021/02/a-one-bit-processor-explained-reverse.htmlTube Computer Wiki:github.com/Nakazoto/UEVTC/wikiMC14500 Single Board Computer:youtu.be/md_cPxVDqeMHow I cut my PCBs:youtu.be/AB84_vbH_e8If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Introduction0:45 Thank you so much Patrons!2:58 A 1-bit computer with 2-bytes of memory6:15 The scratch register9:07 The output register12:10 Let’s build that PCB!14:02 Testing15:05 That’s not good…16:36 Let’s try this again!20:06 Excellent! What’s next?22:38 She climbed into that spot herself…
A Vacuum Tube Single Board Computer?! Usagi Electric 2023-12-03 | The UE-1 is one of my favorite projects to date, but there’s no denying that it’s weird as far as computers go. So weird in fact, nearly everyone who got hands on with it at the last event I had it at was completely lost as to what it was or how it worked. That got me thinking that a little handheld vacuum tube computer built using the same core concepts as the UE-1 would be great for introducing people to the concept of 1-bit computing. In this episode, I build up exactly that, with a little help from my friends at PCBWay!Check out PCBWay:pcbway.comCheck this link for all the design files:github.com/Nakazoto/UE-0.1/tree/mainIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Hello and welcome back1:21 Why is the UE-1 so weird?3:56 A crash course in the UE-15:28 What if we simply it as much as possible?8:48 Logic diagram into PCB10:38 First power on13:16 That didn’t go well14:20 Let’s take this thing for a test drive17:02 How hard can it be to add 1+1?20:04 Well, there we have it21:51 Bunny!
Will This Rare 1980s HDD Live Long Enough to Save the Data? Usagi Electric 2023-11-26 | A little while back, we ventured out to Tennessee to visit a cool little Museum called Vintage Geek. It was an epic trip, but the main reason for the journey was to see the very cool Centurion MicroPlus that Aaron had. We couldn’t get it up and going in that episode, so the Finch drive, which should have all sorts of cool stuff on it, came back with me to hopefully rescue the data on it using my big boy Centurion. The drive is wounded and unhappy, but will it play ball long enough to save the data? Let’s find out together!For more information on Vintage Geek, check out the website here:vintagegeek.comAnd their Youtube Channel here:youtube.com/c/vintagegeekCenturion Wiki:github.com/Nakazoto/CenturionComputer/wikiIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Where we are and where we’re going2:00 The Vintage Geek Finch4:28 Finding the short6:50 Wiring in power8:09 Making room for the new data11.36 Preparing the OS13:14 She’s very much so not healthy16:04 Let’s try to load the heads18:33 Swapping PCBs21:10 Welcome to troubleshooting purgatory23:38 Victory?26:43 Hah, there’s no victories here!27:44 Down but not out31:01 Victory! (For real this time!)33:23 Let’s take a second, and wrap our heads around what just went down36:45 Sue!
The Ultimate DEC Rainbow and a PDP Question for You! Usagi Electric 2023-11-19 | Our DEC Rainbow is a pretty neat little machine, being a fully triple boot system – can boot DOS, CPM or into VT100 terminal emulation mode. However, it was still missing some vital components to really turn it into the best of the best. First and foremost, the VR241 color monitor. We managed to get a Princeton Ultrasync to work, but it’s not what’s supposed to be bolted to it. Next, we were a little low on RAM. And finally, we were missing the best expansion of them all, the RD51 Winchester hard drive option. Today, we fix all three of those!For more information on the Rainbow pinout, check out these links:larosse.net/pc100/VR241.htmllarosse.net/pc100/dec100-vr201-cable.htmlIf you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord and Twitter!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Twitter: twitter.com/UsagiElectricIntro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 Hello and welcome back…2:09 John the legend!3:46 Disassembly5:57 A close look at the hardware8:21 Cleaning time9:34 Time to make a new cable11:42 Round 1, fight!12:55 Round 2, maybe don’t fight as hard as round 1…15:36 Clean that floppy drive16:40 Round 321:24 I got a question for y’all about PDP-11s!24:43 Sunny-kun!
Restoring an HP-120B Oscilloscope from 1961! Usagi Electric 2023-11-12 | I have a soft spot for old test equipment, particularly old HP test equipment. My HP-150A is my all-time favorite oscilloscope. It’s rock solid, looks gorgeous, and is stunningly good. It also weighs about nine million pounds (that’s roughly four million kilograms). I was lamenting that I needed a front-end loader to pick my 150A up to a good buddy of mine, Chris Fala, and he said “I’ve got an HP tube scope that won’t send you to the doctor for back pain.” Chris is an absolute legend and hooked me up with said scope, which is the HP-120B you see here today. It’s not currently working though, so let’s dive into it. Should be easy, right? Right?If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:patreon.com/usagielectricAlso, we now have some epic shirts for sale!my-store-11554688.creator-spring.comCome join us on Discord!Discord: discord.gg/p7UsfHD Intro Music adapted from:Artist: The Runaway FiveTitle: The Shinra Shuffleocremix.org/remix/OCR01847Thanks for watching!Chapters0:00 A bit of reorganization2:34 Scopes!4:43 Testing the test equipment5:40 Throwing electrons at the 120B7:25 Deep cleaning time12:43 6U8 vs. 6GH814:05 Testing after cleaning15:21 So close, let’s dig in deeper and find out what’s wrong17:38 Thor: “Is it though?”19:35 I fought the HP and the HP won…21:56 Battling someone else’s modifications24:11 Please work correctly, for my sanity’s sake25:48 Nailed it!26:48 What am I going to do with another oscilloscope?28:46 Derpy cat is derpy
