Notices by Karl Baron (kalleboo@bitbang.social)

Spotted a Newton 130 advertised as not working, and picked it up for $34. While until now I've had luck with several "not working" devices just being user error, even if it actually doesn't work, it's still worth the price in parts (like the pen! My only other Newton pen has fallen apart, and I've literally never seen another Newton pen for sale, just lots of eMate ones)

Well it just arrived, let's take a look

#VintageApple #Newton #PDA #RetroComputing #mb

The logic board looks pristine! No signs of corrosion at all that I can see…

There are definitely signs of corrosion on the inside case though… I’m not sure if this is just light green copper corrosion from fumes/humidity, or if it’s the green from battery acid that someone before me has tried to clean??

After messing around with the main batteries, the backup battery, the DC jack, the contrast knob and the reset hole a bunch, it’s definitely not working right. Twice, seemingly randomly, I did manage to get it to light up with the boot screen and chime, but it went off again in a second.

On closer inspection, there are signs of corrosion on the battery terminals! But it doesn’t seem to have gone far - nothing is visible on the dock terminals, the serial port or DC jack.

Let’s open it up!

I am utterly incompetent at soldering..

“Oh too much solder, I’ll use some solder wick to get rid of it!” Solder wick is now soldered to the board… this is why I’m a software guy!

Anyway here is the result. It ain’t pretty but it’s in place and nothing is bridged.

So after finding the MP130 page on the PDA-Soft website, today I decided to take it apart further to see the other side of the board, at U43.

Hmm, he’s looking a bit askew.

Poking at it lightly with a tool pick, and just just fell off! Well there’s your problem!

#Newton #PDA

Nope, no luck. When I have more time I’ll tear it down further and see what things look like under the battery contacts.

Any #Newton experts out there have any ideas? Like I said, it did randomly show signs of life twice, so it’s not completely dead…

Holy crap it worked?!??! Didn’t even expect it to!

We had to go get the seatbelt fixed on our car. I love our car dealership - gutting fish in the drive, getting free lettuce

#WeirdCarDealershipMastodon #japan

@SuperDicq I thought people were calling him fascist because he praised systemd

@mac84tv D'oh, not again! OK should be fixed now!

I picked up an ImageWriter II for cheap, it was the only one where the auction photos didn't have the error lamp on.

Alas, the belt drive motor is rusted and completely seized. Looks like replacements are also not at all worth it.

It's a shame, this is the only spot in the whole machine with evidence of rust, the rest looks fine!

#MARCHintosh #VintageApple #mb

There may or may not be a another ImageWriter II on #GlobalTalk now 🙈

In lieu of an ImageScribbler card, it's shared via PortShare Pro (thanks Wafflenet) as a shared Printer Port. Download and install PortShare from Blackbird:Essential, New>Virtual Printer, then find the printer on BaroNet, password empty, then use the regular serial ImageWriter or MacPalette driver to print.

My HARD OFF Megathread!

HARD OFF is my favorite store ever. It’s a Japanese chain of tech thrift stores that will buy your junk and resell it. There’s also OFF HOUSE (clothes/household items), the confusingly unrelated BOOK OFF (used books, games and other media), LIQUOR OFF, etc

I’ll start off by posting some overview photos of what kind of stuff you can find there, and then start following up whenever I find something interesting

Let’s go!

#RetroComputing #RetroGaming #Thrifting #mb

Went to #HARDOFF to pick something up, and ran across this beauty… a #Palm IIIc for $15! Complete with a keyboard, Pilot Pentopia stylus, modem, mobile phone data adapter and a pair of chargers.

The store description said "the display is somewhat dark” but I think the staff just don’t know how to adjust the brightness on a Palm, after long-pressing the power button and adjusting it up it looks gorgeous!

Power and Datebook buttons are stiff. Puffy battery?

#thrifting #pda #RetroComputing

@SuperDicq My favorite is still the “AI” rice cooker that actually just uses a magnet and a spring https://youtu.be/F_HOrMmWoMA

Finally all the parts arrived to build a custom router capable of 10 Gbit to replace the rental ISP router!

The basis for the router is a Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny M720q I got off Yahoo! Auctions for $70 with CPU, RAM and NVMe all included.

#mb #homelab #selfhosting #networking

Aaaand there we go! Everything installed in it's place, tidied up and labeled. I got USB-C to DC cables to replace the separate bricks for the ThinkCentre and ONU with a single USB-C PD brick, and tidied up with shorter cables for everything else.

Really happy with how it turned out! The 10 Gbit internet upgrade project is a success!

#homelab #selfhosting #networking

For the past few years I’ve been having a debate internally about if I should stay in #Japan or move abroad with my family (my wife definitely wants to at least have an experience of living outside of Japan).

It’s been a debate because, our family is at the size where we should buy a house, but buying a house basically plants us here financially for life (houses in Japan deprecate like cars, only the land has any value).

I think today, I decided, it’s best to stay here.

I got an SF Symbols update on my Mac and checked what they added, thought to myself "what an odd choice for an icon to add, and they didn't even get it right" for about 10 seconds before it sunk in what the icon was actually supposed to be.

#VintageApple #Lisa #RetroComputing #mb

@SuperDicq You'd think in 2024 you'd just register your plate number