0041 Cool IBM memorabilia, some DEC goodies and a Mardi Gras extravaganza!

[@adventureridergirl]

It's funny you made such a big deal about the Ravioli box. As an Italian American (I'm actually a dual US/Italian citizen), I found the history of Chef Boyardee very interesting. Chef Ettore Boiardi was an Italian immigrant who sold bottled pasta sauce (in recycled milk bottles) from his restaurant, Il Giardino d'Italia (The Garden of Italy), due to customer demand. He eventually anglicized his name to Hector Boyardee in order to make it easier for Americans to pronounce. While today's Chef Boyardee products are many times removed from his original recipes, it still carries significance to me as an Italian American. Especially so since I practically grew up on the stuff despite my Mom being an accomplished Italian cook herself, lol.

[@RKelleyCook]

And Pixar made Ratatouille's Chef Gusteau loosely based on his life.

[@adventureridergirl]

@@RKelleyCook, I didn't know that, I'll have to rewatch that movie with my kids this weekend. Thanks for letting me know!

[@petekeretz9624]

Wow the TI Dataman - had one of those as a kid, hadn't thought about it in decades! Yeah it was math games but don't recall whether it made noise.

[@manganmegamangan]

i had one to i loved it cos the games

[@WX4CB]

i thought it was like a "little professor" rebadge

[@naysmith5272]

@@WX4CB I had a little professor, is the professor the sucessor to the Dataman? I don't know. from memory the games look different, the little professor had an LCD screen.

[@douro20]

No it didn't.

[@ricksharpe6895]

I think your “decorations” can be assembled into crowns.

[@jondough76]

17:30 My teenager has a torch just like that. They keep it next to their stinky vase that never seems to have flowers in it. No idea what they do with the torch.

[@Dark_eVader]

As soon as you revealed the Dataman, a burst of recognition came upon me. I have seen those but in my age, I barely remember using them. I think there should have been sound though.

[@acidhelm]

Same here! I definitely remember the colors and the ribs on the side of the case.

[@crazyboy2006cashier]

@Adrian PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do a baking edition - that would be so cool - food edition 001

[@thorsteinj]

Adrian’s Digital Bakery!

[@bluehatguy4279]

I had one of those Dataman calculators when I was a kid. I wonder where I stored the thing... It's a game, and you have to solve math on a timer.

[@SudosFTW]

Watch out for the expiration date on that coffee - I've had plenty of that come through my house when I had a taste for it... and if you are anywhere CLOSE to the expiration date, the coffee is just flat-out stale and tastes like chicory wood pellets. Honestly is a coffee you should buy fresh and use fresh.

[@fnjesusfreak]

Well, Chef Boyardee was an actual Italian-born chef named Ettore Boiardi... 😜

[@uni-byte]

The DEC rainbow originally came with an LK201 keyboard which is pretty much identical to the LK401. The LK401 is just a newer (and slightly lower build quality) version that shipped with VT300 and VT400 series terminals.

[@Psychlist1972]

Heh. Those Mardi Gras decorations are crowns. :)

[@MrUSFT]

Great to see you in Ben's video at VCF!

[@januszkszczotek8587]

Thanks for all the not-so-mini SMMCs.

[@mawamatakama5150]

OH COOL! A butane torch! Perfect to do some soldering and repair on a Commodore Mother Board! /sarcasm.

[@MSmith-Photography]

I had one of those Dataman calculators back in the early 80s. It was definitely neat.

[@LJ45Chimera]

Can't wait to see the DEC Rainbow. Great vid :)

[@Nukle0n]

Those keyboards aren't ANSI, they're ISO, ANSI is what a standard American keyboard uses with the flat return key and no key between left shift and Z, whereas ISO has the tall return key and the greater/lesser characters on an extra key.

[@James_Ryan]

13:04 I remember those horrid keyboards supplied with VT420 terminals - many of us kept using VT320-era keyboards because they were much nicer to type on!

[@jeffreyphipps1507]

Dataman is a game. When I was a kid, I loved this a ton. I still have it. It is a teaching game. It does not have sound - that's what my parents liked about it. I had a racing game (had three positions, had a timer) and a game called the Electronic Detective (which had minimal sound). I have all three. The Electronic Detective came with a floppy record. I have other more traditional games (Monopoly, Battleship, Subsearch - but none of those were electronic). My sister did buy me an electronic version of Battleship, but our parents hated noise and so if something didn't have a headphone jack we often didn't play with it. Still, I did sometimes... ;-) However, there was a huge age difference (my next oldest sibling was 14 years older) and friends were not close by. I grew up used to being alone. I played with Legos, records, and my games - in my room. VERY few computers were out at the time for kids in my position (around 1975). In the 1980s I had a blast!

[@DavidMarvin]

Cooking is an art, baking is a science.

[@rangercv4263]

Adrian - Those decorations look to me like cardboard crowns. You hook the notched end into the slotted end of the decoration and it forms a ring/crown, which you place upon your head. Could be wrong though?

[@muffenme]

At 22:01, that object is a TI Dataman. You can easy find the manual online. All I did was do a search for dataman calculator and I found it quickly. I say there nothing to write home about it. It just a simple toy for kids back in around 1977.

[@eDoc2020]

Mardi Gras beads always remind me of going to the furniture store to watch movies. Either you know exactly what I'm talking about or I must just look crazy.

[@michaelwessel4953]

TI Dataman rocks! Got one ~1980 from my parents for Christmas, and still owning one today.

[@DavidWonn]

Dataman looks like an updated 1980s version of the 1970s Little Professor at first glance.

[@jorgelotr3752]

It says there that the King Cake was brought by colonist from France and Spain. It's true that in Spain there's a similar tradition, but it's a bit more time-constrained (only around Epiphany), the cake is bought usually by one's godparents (in case there are kids in the family; for adult-only households it's bought by either themselves or a friend), and instead of a baby that signals the next host we have both a coin/bill (currently a Magus King figurine) that signals the "king" (whatever that means depends on the household and can vary between just being congratulated to everyone having to comply to an "order") and a raw bean that signals who as to pay for the cake. Also, it's a bit less colourful, with it being either just cake with frosted sugar on top (more common nowadays) or also having candied fruit on top (usually red fruit, green fruit and candied orange slices). PS: the box is most likely designed to be opened by turning the lid with the shotest side as an axis.

[@hugosimoes5119]

We also have a "king-cake" here in Portugal and it is usually sold during Christmas season. It looks like a giant donut but full of cristalized fruits and nuts. Very good.

[@mattelder1971]

That sounds more like what we call a fruitcake here in the US (other than the shape).

[@scottcol23]

@@mattelder1971 Yeah fruitcake... Never been a fan of those.. lol

[@jdryyz]

Ohhhh man! I had one of those TI calculators! Yes, it has games as well. I may actually still have this stashed away. Haha.

[@admirerofclassicalelectron2858]

Nice! It took me some time to get exactly such a keyboard. You can use it for the real DEC VTxxx terminals. But I use it directly at a DEC VAXstation.

[@agranero6]

This TI calculator in Brazil there was a version made by TI too called Professor Corujinha (Professor Little Owl) that was very similar. It was a kind of response of calculator manufacturers to the criticism that calculators would spoil kids on doing math.

[@scottcol23]

Another great video! I also live in New Orleans. Randazzo's and dong phuong have the best king cakes. dong phuong has the best stuffed king cakes, like cream cheese or vanilla custard stuffed. Rum praline stuffed ... oh yeah. and its almost king cake season again!

[@kd7swh]

I can't wait to see a video on the DEC rainbow! I've always been fascinated by DEC hardware. The terminals and the speech synthesizers are my favorite. The rainbow is an interesting machine because it has both Z80 and Intel chips. I wonder if it can run CP/M and DOS concurrently.

[@Wolferking]

I live in Louisiana and surprised that other state doesn’t celebrate it it popular around Mardi Gras

[@nysaea]

I'm french and I just learned the tradition is still alive in Louisiana! It's super cool to see how it evolved there! :D So colorful!

[@minty_Joe]

@Adrian's Digital Basement ][ I think the box shown at 12:00 originally was for storing Hollerith cards, since early IBM computers used the EBCDIC standard on paper tape/cards to store and input data.

[@GodzillaB210]

I use one of those butane torches for heat shrink on my electronics work. Would not trade it for the world. You will love it.

[@scottcol23]

The Mardi Gras celebration is slightly different each year. Beginning on Twelfth Night, January 6. This year the season is a long one, with Mardi Gras Day on February 21, 2023. Mardi gras day (or FAT Tuesday) is the day before Ash Wednesday.. The beginning of lent. The major celebrations with all the big parades start the 10 days before Mardi Gras day.

[@Jennifer-pk4wq]

I had one of the Dataman thingies as a kid! Whoa!

[@djdublo]

Great vid! You really need to add a 3rd channel, Adrian's digital kitchen!

[@richardwernst]

Wow, the DEC Rainbow was used where I worked DOS computer I had access to and played with, learned a LOT from it. Yup, had both 8088 and Z80 cpus so DOS or CP/M. Ours had a 5, possibly 10meg full height hard drive and the equivalent to EGA monitor for amazing color! I can't tell you how many hours I played the little demo flying (side scrolling) program in color on it. Learned that DOS 2 didn't allow subdirectories on the floppies, or that's what I remember, or was it when you used CP/M? We had both bootable disks. Yes, VERY strange floppy drives as well as format. We'd gotten VAXmates, the DEC 80286 systems, again, very interesting in it's proprietary setup, etc. Had a couple many years ago when being disposed of but usually blew caps... :) They ran Windows v1.something!

[@area73blog]

Wow that calculator looks really familiar; I feel like I had one as a kid back in the 80s

[@richardwernst]

re: that IBM stuff, I have a friend who still lives near Endicott, NY, origins of IBM, and worked for them for 40+ years and is now a volunteer docent at the IBM museum (part of Endicott? museum on Washington street). I suspect that if you don't have a special use for the two IBM boxes, she'd love to get them for the museum. Let me know and I'll get you two in touch.

[@TheOliveWalsh]

I very vaguely recall using the dataman as a kid, I think my dad brought them home from his work. That would have been early 80s

[@AristarcoPalacios]

Those are not ANSI keyboards. Those are ISO. Check the Enter key. All ANSI keybs have a long 1-unit high by 2.25-units long Enter, while the ISO versions use a 2u high by 1.5u/1.25u widths in an inverted-L (or half-T) shape. Those keybs are in really good shape! So beautiful. Yes, I'm a keyb fan.

[@sa3270]

That Dataman calculator looks about the same vintage of TI's Little Proffesor. It looks familiar to me, so I probably saw pictures of it in catalogs in the past.

[@c1ph3rpunk]

The DEC LK-401 is my all time favorite keyboard, deployed hundreds of VT-420’s and Celebris PC’s with those. Now go crimp some MMJ connectors! ;-)

[@matthewkott8863]

I had one of those TI Dataman units as a kid. There's a number of games. You'd need the manual to understand some of the games. I'm not sure, but it might have made some beepy noises if the sound is turned on.

[@matthewkott8863]

The colourful manual for the Dataman can be found by googling. It explains all the games and functions. But no mention of sound, so it probably was silent.

[@jimb032]

ADRIAN! the box I just sent you has fresh caught river fish in it. You need to open that immediately and do my submission next. 🤣🤣

[@chadsmith8476]

Leather clad IBM box. Awesome. You can put your weed in it :D

[@Spongman]

ANSI _is_ the US layout. you're thinking of ISO which has a similar enter key layout to this.

[@jeromethiel4323]

Would like to recommend "Unicomp" again. They make the original IBM PC-AT keyboard with mechanical switches, just like the original. And they come with more modern interfaces. I am typing this on a Unicomp keyboard with a USB interface. These keyboards are beasts. You can beat the hell out of them and they just keep working.

[@wmlindley]

If only they made a version that ran QMK firmware or similar.

[@catriona_drummond]

SMCC is correct though. Super Mini Cake Call.

[@k4vms]

Very interesting as I have for for DEC for 15 years and IBM for 14 years. Ricky from IBM, Ret

[@opp31337]

Adrian's Digital Bakement

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

Cake is nuts!

[@jondough76]

Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras is absolutely disgusting and quite possibly the most fun I have ever had.

[@jensschroder8214]

Pine cell: the device dies at 24 volts. It can only be used at 20 volts. That's why I use the older model with a round 5.5 mm socket again. That works fine with 24 Volt.

[@TingFeng77]

I think a mod needs to be made for safe 24v Or the new V2 variant that's now replaced the old one can take it just fine

[@dustinsmous5413]

Awesome episode! If you ever have the chance to visit, New Orleans is AMAZING! I made a literal last minute decision to move there in 2004, and discovered how amazing it is! In the years since, I found out my mother's family has lived in southern Louisiana since the early 1700's! I have a box of unused 8" floppies and a some other goodies to send as time allows. I'll have to include a bottle of my favorite whiskey! 😁

[@fdfmad]

The second IBM box seems to be for storing 5 1/4 disks

[@granitepenguin]

I had a Dataman. It's a learning tool like a Speak n Spell. I completely forgot about this thing.

[@timb7085]

Interesting as always... one small "nit" - DEC is Digital Equipment Corporation (You said "Electronics" in this video and a previous one). In my younger years, I dealt with DEC equipment all the time - PDP-11s and VAX systems. Fun days. :)

[@fivezeroida34]

I had one of the Dataman games when I was a kid.

[@osgeld]

the coffee is the bomb btw

[@willaimkazer9754]

Could have been Super Mini Cake Call, SMCC. Just throwing that out there.

[@fumthings]

same idea here too...

[@Mrshoujo]

That Dataman reminds me of my little sister's Little Professor math tutor. It helps to have a Bravetti deep fryer for making those beignets.

[@brianv2871]

Ahh, memories of sitting in new orleans at 3am drinking cafe du monde coffee with bienget's, trying to sober up. haha

[@infamousacidrain]

Those mini torches are a blast. I mostly use mine for fireworks. You could also do Crème Brûlée. Sometimes i do heat shrink tubing. I wouldn’t bother with the little shield, just hold the flame far back and bring it in until the tube starts shrinking. I’ve been to cafe du monde. You should absolutely go to New Orleans, but skip Mardi Gras, it’s a mad house. Unless you’re into that sort of crowd. The week before is fun because everyone is getting ready and festive.

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

I remember the Dataman from the 80s.

[@JosiahAugenstein]

Just saw you on Ben Hecks video, very cool.

[@PashPaw]

The LK201 may not be fully ANSI-compatible. It's missing the ESC key (it's mapped to F11 on my Rainbow) and doesn't have an Alt key. It also only has one Compose key.

[@williamalbertson78]

it has sound i love the thing

[@Cherijo78]

One of the things I don't like about all these small TS100 style portable irons is that they all seem to come with that conical tip, which is one of the least useful and worst tips to learn with. It would be so much more useful if they just came with a proper small flat chisel tip. Tiny conical tips like what normally comes with it are useful in certain scenarios, but for general soldering use they're just not great at heat transferring. The other thing I always worry about with these cheaper irons working on older computers is that they are not ESD safe, and a lot of these older computers are more sensitive to ESD shocks than a lot of modern components are. So, I'm more comfortable using something like this on modern electronics, but when it comes to working on my older electronics and computers I definitely turn to my ESD safe Hakko iron. I know you can technically ground these irons to make them ESD safe, but it is definitely less than ideal to run that extra wire. I've seen plenty of people including yourself work on older electronics with these simple irons, and I'm sure it turns out fine most of the time, especially if you're not working on carpet and socks 🤣, but the worry wort part of my brain just can't let that go when I'm working on my vintage electronics!

[@member57]

Dataman! Kinda rare math game calculator.

[@Psychlist1972]

And now "cake" means "butt", so "just here for the cake" means something quite different. :)

[@Keduce22]

I had one of those butane soldering irons blow up on me. Was very lucky all I got was singed hair and maybe a little burn. I ended up getting a Dremel Versatip. Great as a blow torch, not so great as a soldering iron. I stick to my TS80 for most things I solder, use the torch for heat shrink, fixing metal things and cars.

[@darkwinter6028]

It’s not cool; it’s hot. Do not grab Super Happy Fun Torch by the wrong end. 😜

[@manganmegamangan]

i had one of those calculators as a kid back in the early 90´s

[@WX4CB]

the little calculator thing, isnt that like a "little professor" ?

[@grantfryer1]

Holy moly! I had that game as a kid! It actually helped me get faster at math. And I think it had sound. You should repair it.

[@kosxer]

My wife have a torch like this one to make creme brulee !!!

[@gttarus1]

I think the torch is to brown the sugar on the top of the cake.

[@samcostanza]

I had a Dataman when I was a kid. There's no music, and I don't remember the display being all that bright. The Number Guesser game was a favorite. I'm pretty sure there's a manual available online. Like all electronics of that age, I'd recommend recapping it, just in case. Your pronunciation of beignet is bang on. The purple, green, and gold things are actually crowns, so you can throw a Mardi Gras party! Manny Randazzo's king cakes are good, but IMO, Nonna Randazzo's are better. I actually grew up with the Original Randazzo's Hi-Lan Bakery, which was in my hometown of Chalmette, LA. No matter which Randazzo king cake you get, you can't go wrong!

[@bcostin]

I have my Dataman calculator from when I was a kid. I haven't thought of it in years.

[@darkwinter6028]

Never gets over 70f or so? OK, now I’m officially jealous. (Last week it was - no joke - 118f outside in the sun here).

[@vihapuu]

DEC style keyboard layouts are cool! Ctrl key at the proper position, and there's a decent size "Do" key.

[@m7hacke]

I grew up with a DEC Rainbow 100. I threw it away many years ago like an idiot. I want to get another one so bad. Adrian is right. It is not IBM PC compatible. It uses R50 floppy disks, which has 50 tracks instead of the normal 40 tracks. What is so cool about the DEC Rainbows, is that they can run DOS and CP/M. It just depends which OS you want to boot it with. The MAME emulator has a DEC Rainbow 100 emulator, though it is hard to get working.

[@TheJonBrawn]

You've got the lore about the King Cake Baby wrong. The person who gets the plastic baby in their piece of cake wins a trip to the emergency room while choking...

[@nysaea]

it's high time you learn how to eat, Jonathan :'D

[@shadows9001]

In the UK as an earlyish 90’s kid I had a TI little professor calculator which was very similar. Did get boring quite quickly!

[@E-Box]

Something feels familiar about that calculator.

[@andykillsu]

I bet a 5 1/4” floppy fits inside that leather IBM box. Did you see if it fits?

[@PG-gs5vb]

The cake would have probably already left the box by itself by now.

[@JohnJones-oy3md]

13:00 - Actual unboxing starts here, after 13 minutes of bizarre gift-wrapping and food-based packaging material.

[@DiverCTH]

14:33 - Insert Robin Williams "I don't hear enough RIPPING!."

[@FindecanorNotGmail]

DEC was maybe the biggest computer company in the world in the early '80s and their terminals were hugely influential. That other terminal manufacturers copied their keyboard layout should be no surprise. IBM was also hugely inspired by the LK-201 and LK-401 keyboards when designing the Model M. I've had a LK-401 (but nothing to connect it to): not nice key feel though.

[@christopherjackson2157]

Beigne. Or just un donut. At least locally (Ontario) I hear donut used but it's not what the dictionary says. They pronounce it differently in Louisiana, but same word: un beigne (sg) beignes (pl).

[@williamsquires3070]

Hi Adrian. I don’t think those “garlands” are garlands; I think you’re supposed to cut them along the fold-lines, then tape/glue the ends together to make paper crowns. But make sure you tape from the other (paper) side - don’t try to tape the metallic side; it (cellophane tape) won’t stick well (if at all)! Also, if the strings of beads are long enough, you can save them for Christmas and decorate the tree with them. And definitely, DON’T even think of trying to bake the fake, plastic baby into the King cake; 1) it might melt, 2) you (or someone else) might bite down on it and chip/crack a tooth, leading to an unwanted visit to the dentist, and 3) someone (a child, particularly, but even an adult) might accidentally choke on it (definite liability hazard right there.) 😫 Instead, save the fake plastic baby for Christmas, and make a little manger for it. 😌❤️ Or just put it on top of the cake, and make sure any guests understand that it’s a PLASTIC decoration, not one made of frosting! Also, you can save the crowns for Cinco de Mayo, if you’re ever down here in Texas on/before May 5; there is (or was) a celebration known as “el Rey Feo” (the ugly king), and maybe even a parade. Or maybe that’s associated with the start of Rodeo season (late January/early February), I forget. At 55 years of age, it all starts to run together. 🙁 Too many bit errors in my brain’s SIMM-modules, I guess.

[@thenaimis]

The TI Dataman had a series of 3x5-ish cards (I still have most of them, I believe) that explained how the games worked. I don't remember it having sound.

[@twocvbloke]

Can't go wrong with cake... :P

[@greenconscious210]

Woot! Rainbow power! I've got one too without a working keyboard. I got one off eBay but it doesn't work and I fear cutting the melted plastic posts holding it together

[@TheAkashicTraveller]

I actually just ordered on of those pinecil soldering irons. I'm stuck with flaky right channel audio from my DAC right now because one of the solder joints on the jack has brocken and of course my old soldering iron is also broken :/

[@michielverstoep]

Hopefully you checked the reviews about the pinecil? I trow mine away, every time when i touched the pcb for soldering, the pinecil reboots itself, im not the only who complained about it. Hopefully you have better luck then me :)

[@UpLateGeek]

Yeah, I get that same issue on my pinecil, except it usually happens while it's active, so it stays hot and doesn't go to sleep. Doesn't really bother me, aside from not being able to see the actual temp. Even so, I still prefer it to my old Hakko FX-888D. I was considering buying a second one so I can more easily switch between a big tip and a small tip, but it's a bit expensive with the exchange rate and shipping to Australia. Plus I just splashed out on a desoldering station, and there's something called inflation happening, which apparently means they have to punish people for having mortgages or something. I'm told I'm a millennium, so I don't really know what that's all about.

[@OzzFan1000]

Hope you made it back from VCF Midwest safe. I really enjoyed the discussion panel with everyone.

[@ikke1981]

Check Ben Heck's vid on VCF for a cameo from Adrian

[@OzzFan1000]

@@ikke1981 was Ben Heck the one with the video camera running around with his crew?

[@ikke1981]

No he shot it all himself.