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@TubeTimeUS
Sep 18, 2020 ā€¢ 36 tweets ā€¢ 11 min read ā€¢ Read on X
welcome, new followers! you're probably here because of my PG&E thread, but there's a lot more stuff going on here. (šŸ§µ)
first up is the MOnSter 6502, the world's largest 6502 microprocessor. (you may have seen my pinned tweet about it). the 6502 is a microprocessor that was the heart of the original NES, the Apple II, the Commodore 64, the BBC micro, and more.

the MOnSter 6502 has a website, monster6502.com. we were going to crowdfund and build more, but then COVID threw a big wrench into those plans. someday though. Image
i also enjoy cutting electronic components in half to show off their hidden beauty. this Twitter moment captures many of them.
twitter.com/i/events/11121ā€¦ ImageImageImageImage
electronic projects are another big hobby for me, like this clone of the 1980s Vectrex game system which uses an oscilloscope as a monitor.
since i'm also into retrocomputing, i've built a few projects around that, like my clone of the Sound Blaster 1.0 card.
speaking of reverse engineering, i like to do that as well. here's a chip that i completely reverse engineered, but there's an interesting twist...
sometimes i'll do a detailed investigation of something that i find interesting, usually electronics, often something of historic importance.
like here's an RC car that's illegal to operate!

or how about this prototype BART card? (ticket for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system)
one artifact i am lucky enough to own is one of the world's first hard disk drive heads!
other times i spend way too much time and effort just to use an old gadget in a fun and unusual way. šŸ˜‰
more fun!
sometimes i'll use old consumer electronics to do things that it was never designed to do in the first place.

some things we take for granted. occasionally i've delved into WHY something is the way it is.
other things i've delved into are more like science projects.
another science project
so many science projects!
once i even made my own transistor.
i also enjoy computers. new computers are OK, but old computers are cool. sometimes they're hard to find so i have to replicate them on my own.
otherwise, if it can find it for a good price, i just buy the old computer. if the computer is broken, then it's great because i have to figure out how to fix it!
i really like Amiga computers because they break so often. i'm kidding--that's just a side benefit. i learned how to use computers on the family Amiga 1000 back in the 1980s. now i mostly just fix them šŸ˜‚
here's a broken Amiga CDTV that i fixed.
and a very-nearly-broken Amiga 4000 that i fixed.
lots of these old computers suffer from battery leakage and electrolytic capacitor leakage. this etches and destroys fragile copper traces. i've gone to extreme lengths to repair it! Image
you know when you're an Amiga collector when you have to fix the same computer multiple times, for different reasons!
anyway, i also mess around with old PC compatible machines as well. also attempting crazy repairs or hacks!

here's another crazy vintage PC hack:
another crazy hack, this time with an old Bernoulli drive.
sometimes, during a hack, i find another problem that i have to solve, and then another problem i have to solve to solve the first problem, then it gets out of control...
oh here's another bit of interesting historical hardware: one of the (arguably) first GPUs available for the IBM PC.
i've investigated other rare graphics cards too.
another strange graphics card.
then there are occasional field trips that i go on. like this trip to the local electronics flea market! (canceled this year due to Covid)
sometimes i'll also tweet about a visit to the last remaining electronics surplus store in silicon valley
i think that's enough for now. welcome, and enjoy!

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More from @TubeTimeUS

Tube Time Profile picture
Jun 13, 2023
here's a weird object! it's some kind of foot pedal with an IBM logo. is it for a sewing machine? electronic synthesizer? what do you think? šŸ§µ Image
it's got a cursed connector! what IS that? Image
amazingly enough, I found something with the mating connector on it! but what is it? Image
Read 24 tweets
Tube Time Profile picture
Jan 11, 2023
hey so remember the world's cutest oscilloscope i picked up last year? i think it's time to fix the probe socket issue.
i printed a new panel insert that has two BNC sockets on it (the original probes would have had captive cables)
the tricky part is that this oscilloscope has a 333K ohm input impedance instead of 1M like umm every other scope on the planet. fortunately someone designed a little conversion circuit...
Read 11 tweets
Tube Time Profile picture
Jan 5, 2023
in honor of Sim Wong Hoo, here's a quick historical review of the Sound Blaster! šŸ§µ
but first we have to go back to their first sound card, the Creative Music System from 1987. (image credit: Bratgoul on Wikipedia)
this card has some special "CMS-301" chips. if you peel back the sticker, they have had their top marks removed. they're actually SAA1099 synthesizer chips made by Philips. Creative wrote music composition software for musicians on the PC.
Read 23 tweets
Tube Time Profile picture
Dec 31, 2022
Tube Time: a 2022 retrospective šŸ§µ
(and stuff you might have missed!) Image
starting things off in january, i found a tube of super old 555 timer chips! i also decapped one of them.
i also started fixing up an old HP 150 computer. it's not PC compatible but it runs MS-DOS--how odd!
Read 65 tweets
Tube Time Profile picture
Dec 29, 2022
today's mini project: fixing this Radius Thunder IV GX daughtercard. it looks fine, but... šŸ§µ Image
one of the chips has some broken pins! Image
looks like two of the pins got mashed and broke right at the plastic package. Image
Read 11 tweets
Tube Time Profile picture
Dec 8, 2022
on the bench of healing tonight: my coffee grinder which decided to bite the dust. Image
symptoms: i push the start button and the motor just bumps a little bit and stops.
how to take it apart? hmm, i bet there are screws under the rubber feet. Image
Read 23 tweets

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