Byte⏩Shift

135 Followers
73 Following
926 Posts
IT person. Well-padded. Sometimes stupid, sometimes bright. I love #synthesizers. Sometimes I make #music with them, usually without pants. I also putter around with #electronics, #microcontrollers, #IoT, #HomeAutomation / #HomeAssistant, and #RetroComputing...also without pants. I won't post much personal stuff. LGBTQ ally. Say hi!
YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/@byteshiftmusic
Webhttps://byteshiftmusic.com
Soundcloudhttps://soundcloud.com/byteshift
Other stuffhttps://brazi.net
This little Micro Master 8085 trainer is a neat toy I picked up at #VCFMW #retrocomputing
Don't talk to me or my son ever again
This TRS-80 Model I was an import from Canada. It was a hopeless case, having been stripped of its ROMs and left for dead. Its journey back to the land of the living took well over a month, and I replaced a total of 28 ICs in just the main unit itself. I'll be writing about this fella's revival, and my modifications, in the future, as well. #TRS80 #retrocomputing
I've collected a few things since my posting dried up here: I bought this Osborne 1 at #VCFSW in Dallas, and spent almost a month getting it running again. I'll be doing writeups on its repair when I get time. #retrocomputing
I came back from #VCFMW with a few things beyond a case of COVID: A Kaypro 2X, and a MicroMaster 8000 8085 CPU trainer. #retrocomputing
VCFMW was a blast! Definitely my favorite VCF so far -- I met lots of cool folks, saw lots of cool hardware, and caught lots of cool COVID! Worth it, though. This was my exhibit: A packet radio link between an Altair and an Osborne 1. #retrocomputing
Although a promising improvement over its previous behavior, this is not optimal. As an aside, the Osborne 1 is very floppy and saggy without its exoskeleton. #RetroComputing
Get your HOT TANTS here! Hot and juicy, cooked to order!
...
After replacing this shorted tantalum capacitor and confirming that the power rails were once again healthy, it was time for another smoke test.
Finding the fault the old fashioned way... BURN IT
A bit of probing uncovered the fact that the +12V rail was shorted to ground. That rail is only used by the RAM and the RS232 hardware, so that narrows it down. Shorted IC or shorted capacitor? Tune in next week! #RetroComputing #Osborne