After working on some DEC, HP, TeleVideo, & even a few Teletype-branded Dumb Terminals, I've found that checking the DC Power Rails is always a good 1st step, after the initial cleanup. Bad power issues can cause all sorts of bizarre problems. As always, interesting content, on vintage tech. Keep up the good work. Awesome channel. :)
Being the fan of Linux that you are. Combined with the fact that you own many older boxed copies of Linux Distros and much old hardware, one thing that would be great to see would be some videos where you install old distros on old hardware and show off the power of what Linux could do with say 386 DX machines as compared to the DOS 5 Windows 3.1 that most of us ran back then. There is surprisingly little content like this on youtube but what I have found was lots of fun. People showing off old distros on old 386, 486 and early Pentium systems. Showing off the power of Enlightenment and other included software. Please make cool videos of this?
Not sure I would have the patience to replace all of those foam pads. I hoped while watching this that you would have soaked the keyboard in some soapy warm water and cleaned it before putting all the pads back in. I hadn't realized until recently that that kind of keyboard was even a thing.
Indeed. Having renovated two Keytronics keyboards, the key caps can be removed using a very small crow's foot wrench/spanner to push them out of the chassis of the keyboard. A good soak in warm soapy water means the keys are perfectly clean.
This Keyboard, all cased in metal, thick body, somebody should start making a black mechanical version of this. Something about this design feels like home.
Came across this video on the weekend and finally watched it this morning. I enjoy videos rebuilding retro computers, though I really don't know much about electronics. But being born in the 60's, first computer I used was an Apple 2 at high school, 1 computer for the entire school. After leaving school bought a Dick Smith VZ200 followed by an Apple 2 compatible and then Amigas. So thank you for providing easy to understand videos and I look forward to watching you on a regular basis.
I like that you are using a Metcal soldering iron - they are great. Also I remember having one of these terminals - thrown out from an old college. Good memories.
Keyboard to system unit is TTL level 1200 baud n81 IIRC, I reverese-engineered one a teenager. That takes me back. Might be ASCII plus... memory's not what it was.
I found my manual for it yesterday, turns out there were three versions of the keyboard! If it was noticeably different, it's probably the non-function key version I would guess. I don't know what the practical differences would be, but it's odd it was configurable like that.
Is there not some kind of futureproof alternative to the foam pads? It's not something I've had to deal with before, but I can imagine there being a spring-based version.
I'm trying to get my kimtron kt-70 terminal working. I got a user manual, but not a service manual. PC-XT keyboard, Futaba switches. So now I need to try to diagnose. Next purchase planned is a logic analyzer. Unfortunately my KT 70, is all on a single board, that has a single ship keyboard interpreter, a single chip cereal interpreter, a whole lot of character rom.
Hey Shelby (or anyone else that knows), is the ESD safe vacuum a “belt and braces” type of operation or would it definitely be required if you wanted to vacuum older tech to avoid shorts?
It's difficult to get across on video because of the shutter rate of the camera not syncing easily with the video artifacting, but the characters are rendering fine, the horizontal lines are shifting and offsetting the pixels. You can be sure of this with the inverted video where you can see the "white" edge of the image isn't stable and looks jagged.
So, I purchased a Supermac/Radius Videospigot Newbus card for my Quadra 800. It was not expected to work, and it does not (although it is recognized by the Newbus). The system simply freezes when the Screenplay app initializes. If anyone knows someone with the skills to troubleshoot and repair it, please pass the info along. Thanks.
Some of those larger caps are extremely hard to get modern equivalents for, even when you can get the right values they're often in different footprints than the original so you have to do shenanigans with leads to get them to fit in the spots on the PCB. Shelby has one or two whole videos just on reforming capacitors if you are curious and want more information
If this has a video out on it, (I think you said it did in the middle of the video) you should try it. I am not so sure this is bad capacitors. The font in the ROM might be corrupt. Though if the font is in the main ROM, that is unlikely because it wouldn't do anything if the whole ROM were corrupt.
I use distilled water. If i find anything that isn't going to go away i soak that stain in in IPA or window cleaner and try again. I also limit the time in the bath to an shortest possible. Aluminium is no friend of ultra sonic cleaners, especially. Adding a bit of dish soap might help with oil or grease films, but i wouldn't try it unless all hope is lost. Limiting the the number of chemicals you introduce is a good choice, b/c you never now what components react to what solvents, etc.
Out of interest, what ultrasonic cleaner do you have? I'm thinking of getting one for motherboards, but they are expensive to buy and expensive to run due to the amount of liquid you need to fill them with.
@@TheErador I did. I think you need about 10L for up to mATX size boards, so maybe 7L of liquid total, 2L of cleaning solution and the rest deionised water.
The VT220s were terminals from Digital Equipment Corporation released in 1983. The Visual 200 predates them by 3 years. According to the manual, they were released in March 1980.
Ah ok, that makes more sense since most of the terminals emulated in Linux are DEC models. I probably should have looked at the manpage for GeTTY first.
Every time somebody tries to "rebuild" capacitors, instead of replacing them, that person ends up buying new capacitors a little while down-the-road anyways. Just skip the rebuild and replace\upgrade please.
The constantly overdriving mic is a bit tiresome to hear after some time and it doesn't seem to be a one-off thing for Tech Tangents. A bit more conservative mic gain and/or some compression/limiting would come a long way in making listening to Shelby so much more pleasant experience.
You might wanna put a black circle in front of your studio light where it creates glare on the whiteboard. Everything else will be well illuminated, this approach is very selective
@TheErador ya gotta disagree. There are quality manufacturers out there and I spend a lot of time going through new ones 1 at a time checking for a very specific value to make sure I'm putting one in that's spec. Panasonic, Sprague and a few others are good quality parts. Also they are so much more compact that any "weird" size can be achieved by pairing up 2 or if needed 3 (3 almost never happens). My only concern is leakage and the dielectric being dried out causing damage. Reforming doesn't rehydrate nor repair tears in the foil. If it works for someone and they choose that route that's up to them I'm just saying from experience I have seen caps do weird things. Check out good static and tank once under a load etc.... it's just my opinion to never reform. Seen too much to not have this opinion.
@@philstephes I already looked. It is very much not Japanese text. The lines on the display are being skewed to a point where it's almost unrecognizable. One of the shots shows something that should be a black rectangle but it very much isn't showing correctly.
@@blackterminalIf they are, they won't form. A dried out cap is a dead cap, there's no saving that. But i find it rare that the seals break in electrolytic caps, and the electrolyte leaks out.
Ever head picofarads called “puffs”? Saying the letters U F is a valid thing that people do to refer to microfarads. And furthermore there are valid reasons to reform electrolytic caps, saying otherwise is pure ignorance
Saying "UF" is Not unusual and makes the understanding easier. Imagine saying "microfarad" hundred times a day. Reforming capacitors is usually enough as long as the device isn't running very frequently.
Utterly disgusting? You mean just a little dusty? You haven't seen disgusting. Try changing a diaper or peeling a body out of a car wreck, when the car got compacted between trucks, now that is disgusting.
@@inserttanjiromeme5496 I'm calm, I'm just utterly surprised about how scared people, especially many vintage collectors are of a bit of dust. Of this but of dust is off-putting, then you shouldn't step outside.
@33:29 - ugh.. ugh... *vaguely gestures at empty space where logic board should be* - I've had that kind of day in the data center.
🤔 since when do windex bottles make vacuum cleaner noises
I can't wait for a collab between you and Usagi Electric :)
Usagi gets a lot more done and is a lot more organized, unlikely to be a good match.
@@bzuidgeest bah humbug
I love how Shelby's workbench is starting to look more and more messy 😈.. like my own garage workbench😶🌫
Still no part 2 video 4 months later
33:25 “bjehh neh… UM… **chuckles** It needs a *logic board* to be able to *turn on ahahahAAHHA!* ”
Oh lord... is it foam n foil?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Sadly, most terminal keyboards from this era are.
After working on some DEC, HP, TeleVideo, & even a few Teletype-branded Dumb Terminals, I've found that checking the DC Power Rails is always a good 1st step, after the initial cleanup. Bad power issues can cause all sorts of bizarre problems.
As always, interesting content, on vintage tech. Keep up the good work. Awesome channel. :)
Being the fan of Linux that you are. Combined with the fact that you own many older boxed copies of Linux Distros and much old hardware, one thing that would be great to see would be some videos where you install old distros on old hardware and show off the power of what Linux could do with say 386 DX machines as compared to the DOS 5 Windows 3.1 that most of us ran back then. There is surprisingly little content like this on youtube but what I have found was lots of fun. People showing off old distros on old 386, 486 and early Pentium systems. Showing off the power of Enlightenment and other included software. Please make cool videos of this?
Watching this I suddenly had a flashback to my dad making me wear an esd strap to use his first ibm compatible pc, must have been 1982 or so.
Not sure I would have the patience to replace all of those foam pads. I hoped while watching this that you would have soaked the keyboard in some soapy warm water and cleaned it before putting all the pads back in. I hadn't realized until recently that that kind of keyboard was even a thing.
Indeed. Having renovated two Keytronics keyboards, the key caps can be removed using a very small crow's foot wrench/spanner to push them out of the chassis of the keyboard. A good soak in warm soapy water means the keys are perfectly clean.
This Keyboard, all cased in metal, thick body, somebody should start making a black mechanical version of this. Something about this design feels like home.
Came across this video on the weekend and finally watched it this morning. I enjoy videos rebuilding retro computers, though I really don't know much about electronics. But being born in the 60's, first computer I used was an Apple 2 at high school, 1 computer for the entire school. After leaving school bought a Dick Smith VZ200 followed by an Apple 2 compatible and then Amigas. So thank you for providing easy to understand videos and I look forward to watching you on a regular basis.
You'd love Joe's Classic Video Games.
@@Vamptonius Thank you for the tip, just watched one video, will definitely watch some more.
I like that you are using a Metcal soldering iron - they are great. Also I remember having one of these terminals - thrown out from an old college. Good memories.
To clean cables, I typically use WD-40.
That's not dust bunnies. That's DNA from long dead users. It's formerly living history.
Keyboard to system unit is TTL level 1200 baud n81 IIRC, I reverese-engineered one a teenager. That takes me back. Might be ASCII plus... memory's not what it was.
I have one of those at my computer club but it have a different keyboard
I found my manual for it yesterday, turns out there were three versions of the keyboard! If it was noticeably different, it's probably the non-function key version I would guess. I don't know what the practical differences would be, but it's odd it was configurable like that.
@@TechTangentsMy keyboard is mounted in a wooden board. I have to get it from storage and check if it is working.
Is there not some kind of futureproof alternative to the foam pads? It's not something I've had to deal with before, but I can imagine there being a spring-based version.
@24:56 "Ahh, Shelby! I was just... stretching my calves on the windowsill!"
"Why is there smoke coming out of your capacitors, Keyboard?"
"Uh... oh! That isn’t smoke. It’s steam! Steam from the hotkeys we’re testing. Mmmm, hotkeys!"
Why don't modern keywords have a "CONVERT FUNCTION" key?
Really enjoy your videos, mate. I'm not even a collector - very interesting and you have such enthusiasm and love for your passion. Well done.
Uuh yeah, a long video of cleaning and restoration... Count me in.
Great job, I love the look of this terminal and keyboard. Look forward to seeing the next part and/or catching it on livestream.
We’ll be ready for this!
I'm trying to get my kimtron kt-70 terminal working. I got a user manual, but not a service manual. PC-XT keyboard, Futaba switches. So now I need to try to diagnose. Next purchase planned is a logic analyzer. Unfortunately my KT 70, is all on a single board, that has a single ship keyboard interpreter, a single chip cereal interpreter, a whole lot of character rom.
Nice job cleaning and restoring that keyboard, very satisfying. Looking forward to Part 2 😁👍
Hey Shelby (or anyone else that knows), is the ESD safe vacuum a “belt and braces” type of operation or would it definitely be required if you wanted to vacuum older tech to avoid shorts?
Not shorts, static discharge. And yes it's definitely a thing. Use a vacuum cleaner in a dry environment (e.g., Arizona!) and then touch a door knob.
Maybe: Knowing it from Old Displays, the Poti Bars beneeth the device arn´t for the Monitor Rate?
Hey quick question! What made you confident that the problem was entirely an analog section issue and not e.g. character ROM corruption?
It's difficult to get across on video because of the shutter rate of the camera not syncing easily with the video artifacting, but the characters are rendering fine, the horizontal lines are shifting and offsetting the pixels. You can be sure of this with the inverted video where you can see the "white" edge of the image isn't stable and looks jagged.
Bad filter cap, maybe? It'd probably be one of the smaller ones. Can you get a schematic for this thing?
What is the justification for foam and foil? Is it purely a matter of cheapness?
How did the composite out look?
Oh man! I repaired many of those V200 in the late 1980's. Not the best build quality. Keyboard needs to be disassembled and contacts cleaned.
So, I purchased a Supermac/Radius Videospigot Newbus card for my Quadra 800. It was not expected to work, and it does not (although it is recognized by the Newbus). The system simply freezes when the Screenplay app initializes. If anyone knows someone with the skills to troubleshoot and repair it, please pass the info along. Thanks.
Why not just replace the caps? What’s the advantage of refurbing the old ones with expensive gear? (Genuine newbie question)
Some of those larger caps are extremely hard to get modern equivalents for, even when you can get the right values they're often in different footprints than the original so you have to do shenanigans with leads to get them to fit in the spots on the PCB.
Shelby has one or two whole videos just on reforming capacitors if you are curious and want more information
This is the stuff the internet was made for. Thank you sir.
Wibbly wobbly terminal screen
I just realised how much of your equipment is super high-end...from the soldering equipment all the way to the vacuum cleaner...
This channel rules.
That computer is cool looking, do you want to sell it? Do you think it would handle editing 1080p video? I know 4k is prob out of the question
If this has a video out on it, (I think you said it did in the middle of the video) you should try it. I am not so sure this is bad capacitors. The font in the ROM might be corrupt. Though if the font is in the main ROM, that is unlikely because it wouldn't do anything if the whole ROM were corrupt.
If you ended up putting PCBs in an ultrasonic cleaner, what kind of liquid should you use?
I use distilled water. If i find anything that isn't going to go away i soak that stain in in IPA or window cleaner and try again.
I also limit the time in the bath to an shortest possible. Aluminium is no friend of ultra sonic cleaners, especially.
Adding a bit of dish soap might help with oil or grease films, but i wouldn't try it unless all hope is lost.
Limiting the the number of chemicals you introduce is a good choice, b/c you never now what components react to what solvents, etc.
Out of interest, what ultrasonic cleaner do you have? I'm thinking of getting one for motherboards, but they are expensive to buy and expensive to run due to the amount of liquid you need to fill them with.
You can reuse the cleaning solution a few times i believe, did you factor that in?
@@TheErador I did. I think you need about 10L for up to mATX size boards, so maybe 7L of liquid total, 2L of cleaning solution and the rest deionised water.
I’m going to take a stab here and say that this terminal is the VT200 that can be emulated by Linux. It’s really interesting to see an actual example.
The VT220s were terminals from Digital Equipment Corporation released in 1983. The Visual 200 predates them by 3 years. According to the manual, they were released in March 1980.
Ah ok, that makes more sense since most of the terminals emulated in Linux are DEC models. I probably should have looked at the manpage for GeTTY first.
I have memory of using a Visual 200 probably in the late 70's or early ' 80's.
I realise you're all about the authenticity, but. Is there no 'spring & foil' equivalent replacement for the keys?
Looks kind of cool with the cover off. Would look like art with a clear cover. Thanks for your video.
Where does one obtain a foam n foil repair kit like you have here ?
Texelec has them
Nice that's an intelligent terminal- but then dumb terminals were almost completely out of production by the time this was made.
Is that an LTT stubby screw driver?
I love your cleaning its very humbling !
Hey man.... Been watching all the way from Sweden... You are super cool, keep up the good work.. love it...
Couldn't those caps be dried out regardless of how they look?
Every time somebody tries to "rebuild" capacitors, instead of replacing them, that person ends up buying new capacitors a little while down-the-road anyways. Just skip the rebuild and replace\upgrade please.
Terminals are the coolest thing. Always enjoy your videos. 😊
CONVERT FUNCTION isn't quite as bizarre a key as HERE IS, but it's certainly a new one to me. Can't wait to learn what it's for.
The constantly overdriving mic is a bit tiresome to hear after some time and it doesn't seem to be a one-off thing for Tech Tangents. A bit more conservative mic gain and/or some compression/limiting would come a long way in making listening to Shelby so much more pleasant experience.
Don't let anyone get you down. Terrible handwriting is generally a sign of a greater intelligence.
Or so I keep telling myself...
I would love to have a Visual 603/630.
I want new PC like this and instead of terminal put AI prompt but in retro style.
I mistook the title as “Terminal Rehab” and I was like…wait, wut?😅
aother makes a guest appearance at 12:30
You might wanna put a black circle in front of your studio light where it creates glare on the whiteboard. Everything else will be well illuminated, this approach is very selective
Babe wake up new upload
Nooooooooo 😔
Cleaning standards: Mid 😂
so close!!! \o/
KEYBOARD!!!
Cool
Just replace!! Not "reform".
I tend to think those caps must be dry?
Can get expensive very quickly when replacing caps of unusual values or form factors.
Also modern equivalents a) may not behave exactly the same regards timing etc. and b) may be inferior quality
@TheErador ya gotta disagree. There are quality manufacturers out there and I spend a lot of time going through new ones 1 at a time checking for a very specific value to make sure I'm putting one in that's spec. Panasonic, Sprague and a few others are good quality parts. Also they are so much more compact that any "weird" size can be achieved by pairing up 2 or if needed 3 (3 almost never happens). My only concern is leakage and the dielectric being dried out causing damage. Reforming doesn't rehydrate nor repair tears in the foil. If it works for someone and they choose that route that's up to them I'm just saying from experience I have seen caps do weird things. Check out good static and tank once under a load etc.... it's just my opinion to never reform. Seen too much to not have this opinion.
@@troybarnes66 Just replace.
12:54 How can you work in that space in it current state, not judgeing, I just know it would be to messy for me.
Dunno if it was pointed out in chat, but that terminal has Japanese characters. that's what you were seeing.
あああああ
No? They’re standard ASCII characters, the CRT is not displaying them correctly
@@lunathir look again
@@philstephes I already looked. It is very much not Japanese text. The lines on the display are being skewed to a point where it's almost unrecognizable. One of the shots shows something that should be a black rectangle but it very much isn't showing correctly.
You can reform caps in situ. Do it all the time.
Won't they be dried out?
@@blackterminalIf they are, they won't form. A dried out cap is a dead cap, there's no saving that. But i find it rare that the seals break in electrolytic caps, and the electrolyte leaks out.
UF?!? I'm sure you mean micro farad... Don't bother reforming them, just change them. They are standard values that are easily available...
Ever head picofarads called “puffs”? Saying the letters U F is a valid thing that people do to refer to microfarads.
And furthermore there are valid reasons to reform electrolytic caps, saying otherwise is pure ignorance
"µF" stands for "microfarad", not "U F". "Reforming" those kind of electrolytics only delays the inevitable. Just replace them.
Saying "UF" is Not unusual and makes the understanding easier. Imagine saying "microfarad" hundred times a day.
Reforming capacitors is usually enough as long as the device isn't running very frequently.
1 video a month is not enough to keep me subscribed let alone a Patreon. You lost one today buddy, good luck.
Good luck to you internet tough guy. I hope you find what you’re looking for.
@@amstacy09 Me too, and it sure looks like it isn’t on this 1 a month channel.
Utterly disgusting? You mean just a little dusty? You haven't seen disgusting. Try changing a diaper or peeling a body out of a car wreck, when the car got compacted between trucks, now that is disgusting.
U don't have to that far lol tbh keyboards that ppl have snacked near are worse than this
calm down man
@@inserttanjiromeme5496 I'm calm, I'm just utterly surprised about how scared people, especially many vintage collectors are of a bit of dust. Of this but of dust is off-putting, then you shouldn't step outside.
@@bzuidgeest Whole different context. You're comparing apples to full metal jackets. You ok bro?
@@bzuidgeestdo you not know what hyperbole is?