BC TECH
Saved by @CodyyyGardner

Tube Time: a 2020 retrospective 🧵

 i started off the year by releasing a new Micro Channel sound card, the Plaid Bib CPLD edition. little did i know that this would not be the only sound card i would release this year.
https://t.co/kE88lL24ik
later, i took apart my apple II and found a capacitor inside. and inside that through-hole capacitor, i found a tiny surface mount capacitor!
https://t.co/4t9b7SYaqQ
at my favorite electronics surplus store (the only one left in silicon valley!) i found an incredibly cute computer, and fixed it up and got it working.
https://t.co/3UMpCyfbPi
in february, i played with some tone reeds, an unusual electronic component. https://t.co/B68pFUbqep
also at the surplus store i bought a light pen and got it working! it's a really archaic input device that is seldom used now.
https://t.co/4SBR1Hx1JU
i installed OS/2 2.1 (quite early!) on my PS/2 Model 50Z. it was a challenge that involved modifying memory SIMMs!
https://t.co/OXEYlbc6zo
in march, i plugged the MOnSter 6502 into my AIM-65 and it worked!
https://t.co/k4i8gTxU2y
sometimes it *really is* a hardware problem!
https://t.co/fRhlEy50NL
i even did a cross section! wow, i ought to do more of these.
https://t.co/QM4NjztkDR
i explored how people simulated fields before software field solvers existed. fascinating stuff!
https://t.co/5suSD0Ahuy
while working on another project, i ran into some counterfeit chips. here's how to tell if your chip is fake. https://t.co/MIJtlu4Be3
in april, i investigated how the Vectrex produces text and graphics: https://t.co/aGQHwvU8S1
i discovered why the schematic symbol for a transistor looks the way it does. https://t.co/HEEEw6fZRt
also in april i tried to rick roll Archillect. https://t.co/qiH06IRRQ3
the big news in may was when i released the Scopetrex, an open source clone of the Vectrex game console that uses an oscilloscope as the display.
https://t.co/JV0SBjEdJw
oh almost forgot...in april i also bought a Fischertechnik robotics kit that came with a computer interface...for a Commodore 64!
https://t.co/7zqo1hNItp
IBM made a PC expansion card with a prototyping area! i explored a few other obscure details about the joystick card.
https://t.co/BX9O2WzTPE
talking about weird old IBM hardware, did you know that people wrote PC demos for the EGA graphics card?
https://t.co/tij5KtsSXd
digging through my stuff, i found a keyboard keyswitch with a built-in transformer!
https://t.co/nR6UgyHz3w
why do Amiga computers make a ticking sound while they're powered up? https://t.co/G8nS11ub4K
that same computer came with twice as much memory as advertised! but why would they hide half the RAM?
https://t.co/JPcdVjR29s
june rolls around, and i try to upgrade a 486 motherboard. with me, this stuff never goes smoothly! https://t.co/CSTVbtM3pd
i managed to resurrect this very beat up Amiga 2000 motherboard without shotgunning it (replace all caps, etc)
https://t.co/hZNmXH6SNL
apparently during the lockdown everyone started baking bread. so i decided to try it! i've been baking a loaf of sourdough every week ever since. https://t.co/BKrUNq8y3v
i acquired a new computer that looks like a stereo component. getting it working naturally involved some epic debugging, like proving that a CDROM drive works by snooping the data interface and comparing the bits with the ISO image! https://t.co/xFsyp5aM30
while working on that computer, i explored electrolytic capacitors in great detail to figure out how they work and *why* they fail. https://t.co/VSEWJtVm4B
then i discovered you can still pick up analog TV on channel 6 - called a Franken-FM station! (and not because of al franken)
https://t.co/m4UAPijcCj
july: i release Clock-In-A-Can which is an open source substitute for the old-style oscillator cans. https://t.co/kqhm4qGVVD
ever hear a dot matrix printer printing a whole line of "#" symbols? it's awful! https://t.co/y2pbzXpoxe
oh yeah we got visited by a comet. that was cool. https://t.co/wdIuRIO8jZ
dug out my old Handspring Visor for nostalgia's sake. https://t.co/C8883YdfCp
ooh another cross section! this one is of an unusual DIP IC that has embedded surface mount parts!
https://t.co/LP5g15TxQf
also in july was the 35th anniversary of the Amiga computer! https://t.co/hcxSn9Y3BC
wrapping up july, i released my COMIX-35 open source 1802 computer.
https://t.co/og8kSZHMbu
neat repair thread on a Nixie tube multimeter. spoiler: it was a bad hex inverter chip.
https://t.co/im5jMaib56
neat repair thread on *a different* Nixie tube multimeter. this one had a bad JFET. https://t.co/9cTGrULWhD
in august: i fired up a rare electroluminescent display made by Finlux. it looks really cool! https://t.co/WP3n4GHPXD
more bread experiments. this time i tried making ancient Roman bread. it was good. https://t.co/f1DtTbkoBI
oh hey another neat cross section! https://t.co/zX1EICSyAn
oh and another one too! https://t.co/ElMjgYfsrk
and a third! https://t.co/nYM5i7YBXs
then i fired up a weird old color video card that supports video overlays. https://t.co/bvJCoziYPS
...and i used that same card to get a triple monitor setup on an ISA-bus PC. https://t.co/sxK365w6QF
here's an unusual floppy drive i found. https://t.co/fmVm0Q6pVH
oh and look a cross section of a chip in an IC socket! https://t.co/3EOFxAzCHK
and another one! https://t.co/H4DFbA8wrW
also i forgot but back in july i started doing a little Twitch streaming. it's been a few weeks, i ought to do another one soon. https://t.co/oQS4a2JDA4
then i tore apart a pet tracking tag that i found at the local surplus store. https://t.co/HqW4QlxHxR
an old video card created a neat rainbow shimmering effect on their boot logo. how did they do it?
https://t.co/YqIojw6yNR
another epic troubleshooting thread, this time of one of my logic analyzers. spoiler: it was a bad zener diode in the power supply and a bad capacitor in the monitor. https://t.co/ZaMFGEqImN
wrapping up august, i made a ridiculous chain of adapters just for fake internet points. https://t.co/CFtOMHeKP3
starting september off with a bang, i reverse engineered this neat video capture device that transfers data over the parallel port! it has an early Xilinx FPGA inside, too.
https://t.co/uw9eCjXcZM
built a clever little FM radio transmitter from plans in an old book. https://t.co/MnZDQPO494
around this time i also started a very ambitious project. https://t.co/9BEyQGcFi6
also in september, with the air choked with smoke from all the fires burning in california, i dug into the summary report from the butte county DA's office on the Paradise fire, caused by PG&E back in 2018.
https://t.co/DUj6LwoHh3
october: i have a network card with a neon bulb on it. why is it there? https://t.co/IwBCq9MdL2
i acquired one of the world's first electronic calculators, and took it apart! https://t.co/N1p3m3pUYW
i got a book on the windows 95 UI guidelines! quite a fun read. https://t.co/lALXFOMLmz
to my surprise, *fruit* can have a EULA! https://t.co/rakdz7DlLZ
i got into 3D printing. funny, my printer is running as i type this! it's only been a few months but i've printed a few dozen designs already.
https://t.co/R6WRLRaEwH
found a cursed audio plug. https://t.co/SQ7RADnr1q
then i dug into the NTSB report from the 2018 Tesla crash in Mountain View, CA. most important concept i learned? passive vigilance puts humans at a disadvantage and causes accidents!
https://t.co/Gg7AGaZIQN
november rolls around, and so i 3D print a connector.
https://t.co/1Jv7COv6BL
i finally found a lens for an old TV broadcast camera i have! this thread is a wild ride and ends up with me 3d printing replacement connectors! https://t.co/uLamB7VD82
i bought a laptop with an incredibly strange floppy disk drive. then i fix it up and get it working. https://t.co/nBmnq4P1Ls
i bought another Amiga! this one is the rare CD32 game console. i cleaned it up and fixed some damage. https://t.co/7OoA6u6MUJ
found some neat photos of the original IBM PC (5150) motherboard prototype. i wonder if the original still exists... https://t.co/byec9t0WYV
my magnum opus for the year was probably this, the Snark Barker MCA. i still can't believe this was the *second* Micro Channel card i released this year! https://t.co/dPvatlDeVr
in december, i read another NTSB report. this one was about the Boeing 787 battery fires. https://t.co/cQ6wOBKisn
is it possible to use a 3d printer to repair damaged plastic? yes, yes it is! https://t.co/ij1VAZ5x15
a cursed connector. https://t.co/vx9CLiMuFa
oh yeah i finally got a Thingiverse account. it's a little bare now but i'm adding more and more stuff.
https://t.co/Pv2KH46Jb0
another cursed connector. https://t.co/cSmi4KnY3u
i should start a "cursed connector" business. https://t.co/KlwjK9m5p5
particularly since i have a 3d printer. https://t.co/ZQD2z37s5Z
i also started developing on FPGAs using the open source toolchain! i think you'll see more of this next year. https://t.co/B4NsV7TwyB
orientation on the build platform matters when you are 3d printing parts that need to be strong and look good. i'm learning... 😀https://t.co/SuJDZpyAPB
i found a remarkable recording from 1944! https://t.co/Hs5eTAkleS
i hit a personal milestone: something i designed showed up in the Vintage Computing category on eBay! https://t.co/DEWRVDUvxa
in this thread, i explore streamer cassette tapes and drives. https://t.co/dDI1i8LGEV
did a little reverse engineering work on a very obscure IBM PC variant that can run 370 mainframe software! https://t.co/D4ECToT3Zf
made some cookies. https://t.co/YUeNouhCBN
designed some 3d printed parts and a board to let people upgrade the floppy drives in their PS/2 computers. https://t.co/e5sQ4q4H1V
found a very weird IBM graphics card that is not MDA, CGA, EGA, PGC, or VGA! https://t.co/vGa9lI725C
fixed my multisync monitor. https://t.co/XCLc3odGPK
and we are basically caught up! it's been a wild ride this year, what with lockdowns and pandemics and election insanity.
looking back, i am frankly amazed at how much i was able to accomplish this year. releasing 4 open source electronics projects, getting into 3d printing, investigating fascinating topics in electronics and beyond, and fixing a ton of old crap!
thank you all for coming along with me. this is a two-way street -- i continue to be encouraged and inspired by all your comments and suggestions.
best wishes to you all for a happy 2021. i really hope it's going to be better; 2020 has been very difficult.
anyway i still have the rest of today to squeeze in a last project or two for 2020. stay tuned!

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