Anything that can go wrong in a demo will go wrong.

I couldn’t connect to the projector and used a TV. My serial pin jumper hack for my Teletype Model 43 didn’t work. My VT220 wouldn’t connect. My PiDP-11 fell, so all four standoffs are snapped with plastic stuck in the case. My Portavision TV wouldn’t tune to channel 3, so my three earliest CoCos were unusable. All my Commodore 64 games on floppies were unusable, because I couldn’t find its serial cable.

I’ve troubleshoot all of these things before and have detailed notes, but am utterly incapable when frazzled.

#retrocomputing #vintagecomputing