0099 PC keyboard on a Mac Plus, the ultimate C64 RAM test and a NOS 5.25" drive

[@pawanyr360]

43:09 a touch of percussive maintenance always helps!

[@RetrogamerGenX]

Dude, the thing that cracks me up about Adrian's videos is the towel he puts on the back of his chair. It's like his signature towel kind of like Roseanne's crocheted blanket on the back of their couch on Roseanne. Keep rocking the videos Adrian, all us viewers love you!

[@FaithyJo]

Daaaaaassaaaaan!

[@cencio_1976]

My daughter said to me: Dad, are you watching the Computer Wizard again? She got confused with the Car Wizard, another YT channel I watch, and made me laugh so hard.

[@kyorin6526]

She wasn't wrong to be fair...

[@JeffTiberend]

With all the bs going on in our country, it's so good to see you on here. Thank you!

[@ivanmilenkovic8285]

Adrian, the biggest lesson I learned from your video is to not watch you being hungry :) You finally broke me on biscuits. When you said Trader Joe's has similar ones, I almost jumped and ran toward the car :) Great content, as usual.

[@networkg]

Why does a trip to the basement always brighten your day ?

[@markmuir7338]

It’s his new super bright studio lights… 😉

[@networkg]

@@markmuir7338 Really ? Gee, I thought it was the candy.🍬

[@Frostwize]

Man I totally think right now adrian has the best Chanel. For me it’s been 8 bit guy, lgr and Steve Wallis but Adrians videos are just the most chilled thing ever.

[@ct6502c]

I would also suggest Artifact Electronics, and Curious Marc 🙂

[@Frostwize]

@ thanks will subscribe now

[@Frostwize]

I will also suggest to you Curious Droid :)

[@andrewdonatelli6953]

Back in the day, as a technician, we used to set the RPMs of the Tandon drives using fluorescent lights.

[@Frostwize]

Cool. I wondered why there were those printed strips, I guess they work like rpm lights on a turntable?

[@paul_boddie]

@@Frostwize Definitely a familiar exercise from Techmoan's turntable calibration efforts.

[@VicTheVicar]

I hope you'll repair that Plus soon - and do a video about it! It's so soul soothing to watch you repair a classic b&w mac

[@fattomandeibu]

The RAM talk about the C64 makes me think of how crazy them Ocean carts from the early '90s are. They had a NES style mapper on cart and could have huge ROMs, Terminator 2 was 512kbytes, for instance. They actually did really cool stuff with the mapper, such as being able to map 8kb of ROM as "CHR ROM" as it was called, and just like on a NES it would treat it as 8x8 tiles for the background data, it could switch in banks of, I think 2kb, could be 1kb, at a time and create "animated" backgrounds by switching banks every frame to bank in new tiles to the CHR ROM area, so the CPU didn't have to do any screen redrawing, the VIC 2 just displays what tiles are in CHR ROM at the time the frame is drawn.

[@thomasschuler5351]

pointing video ram onto the eprom, and the use the border color and timing via scanline to create indicators simply is genious

[@YARC-1981]

FYI: Jelly Babies are, along with being a popular treat in the U.K., famous as one of the 4th Doctor's (Doctor Who) trademarks. During the Tom Baker era (7 seasons starting in 1974), the character was frequently seen popping them into his toothy smile, offering them to both friends and enemies, and, occasionally, using them to confuse his foes. I'm surprised you hadn't sampled them on one of your trips to England. They were hard to get here in the U.S. for a while because of the gelatin and caution over BSE (Mad Cow). They're one of my favorite candies, but I don't get them often.

[@CasualSpud]

I assume Ringo Starr is a fan of Jelly Babies. I remember people throwing them to(at) him at a concert years ago. I don''t know the backstory

[@Otakunopodcast]

🎶He looked sane enough... well maybe... With a floppy hat and a long multicolored scarf He offered me a Jelly Baby But his curly hair just made me laugh 🎶

[@TheErador]

Would you like a jelly baby?

[@HTMLEXP]

Also the screaming jelly baby experiment with potassium chlorate is fun.

[@SINISTARQUESTLABS]

great video. good luck with the NOS stuff and tech goodies. plus I always enjoy your candy sharing taste tests from all of the various places.

[@westfailia]

always delightful to see you enjoying the snacks and lollies that you get!

[@tschak909]

Yup, some notes: Jugi Tandon's major innovation was the first workable double sided recording head. Thus Tandon was the first manufacturer of double sided floppies. The TM-100-4's were the quad density models. The standard 4 had a head assembly set for 96 TPI operation. The TM-100-4M was the "Micropolis" variant, which used Micropolis' special 100tpi format. Insanely rare, but was able to squeeze more than a megabyte on disk. This drive is definitely from factory, the blue Beckman terminating resistor and shunt blocks are a dead giveaway. CompuAdd was also a company that got its start as a servicing and peripheral depot for CP/M and later IBM PC machines. They would go on to produce their own line of PC clones that were very well received.

[@adriansdigitalbasement2]

Awesome! Believe it or not, I have not one, but TWO TM-100-4M drives. My friend had some random two drive chassis he found at e-waste in California and gave it to me, as both drives had broken drive levers... Only when I got it home did I notice they were the 100TPI variants. I have one of them installed in my disk imaging DOS PC if I ever come across the need to read/write 100TPI disks in a FM or MFM format.

[@paul_boddie]

CompuAdd also made at least one SPARC workstation "clone", which was a brief trend amongst clone makers to move upmarket, although this doesn't seem to have helped the company escape the increasingly difficult PC clone market.

[@VintageTechFan]

MAX238 is a 232 with 2x4 lines. You use this if you not only want RxD,TxD,RTS,CTS but also DTR,DSR,DCD, which the 6551 supports. More or less at least. Its a well known bug/feature that it IMMIDIATELY stops transmitting when CTS goes inactive, also in the middle of the current byte.

[@FactorOfMatt]

As I understand it (and believe me, I don't) RTS and CTS weren't really intended to be used as flow control as we might think of it today. Stopping the transmitter immediately and not bothering to finish the byte-in-progress does seem rather ludicrous. There were several vendors for the 6551 - and I downloaded several sets of datasheets to see if any handled CTS differently - but alas I was disappointed. Additionally, the current WDC6551 is broken and doesn't raise an interrupt when the transmit buffer is empty.

[@VintageTechFan]

@@FactorOfMatt This is correct. They were meant first for half-duplex modems, so "RTS" (request to send) meant "please switch to transmit" and "CTS" (clear to send) meant "I did switch and am ready to send" .. the flow control usecase came later, with the IBM PC and (for example) Laplink. In newer standards, CTS did "officially" gain the additional function RTR "Ready to Receive", which is more or less the only use today. Under this perspective, the 6551's behaviour of stopping immediately does make sense in a way, since CTS falling off would mean the modem has for some reason switched back to RX and can't send a single bit anymore, even if you tried. It does more or less prevent the flow control usecase though.

[@iroll]

I love the ZIF64 for some reason. 10/10 would buy a mug featuring it.

[@cuilidh]

I think he said the converter supports ISO not US keyboards, so thats probably why its working somewhat wonky.

[@LxRv]

Kinda cool is see "Rowntree's", originating from my home city, although probably far removed these days.

[@bobblum5973]

[39:16] "The firmware has only been tested with ISO keyboards, not US layouts." Not saying that's your problem, Adrian, just something to be aware of and look into further.

[@AndrewHelgeCox]

Adrian's Digital Basement is the first suggestion for the letter a in the search box for me 😅.

[@CaptainSouthbird]

Heh, watching him bang that old Mac around brought back a childhood memory. One computer we had at one point was a mid-90s era Packard Bell, replete with the funky monitor with the speakers you'd screw into the sides. Anyway, it clearly had a "bad solder joint" or something going on, it would randomly lose the red signal. Which us kids would then just beat and smack it a few times until it came back. Actually went a long time with that terrible monitor.

[@KennethScharf]

I always wondered what a jelly baby was. It was Dr. Who (Tom Baker) that kept mentioning them.

[@adriansdigitalbasement2]

Ahhh yeah I had heard it a bunch of times and always assumed they were just Gummy Bears with a funny UK twist.

[@user-nd8zh3ir7v]

love the shirt, great video as always

[@jeromethiel4323]

Jelly babies. The candy that the best Doctor Who always carried around in his pockets and offered to everybody around him. Epic scarf doctor, you will always be the best doctor in my opinion.

[@bathesheba111]

Doctor Who “Anyone for a jelly baby?”. Adrian “Oh yes please, and can I use your Tardis to travel back in time for some old Macs please” ☺️

[@nickwallette6201]

Gotta love how everything you used to buy came with documentation that always started with the same word: "Congratulations" -- as if that new floppy drive was an engagement gift. These days, it should all begin by apologizing. "Sorry about this, but what with the economy and all ...."

[@TooMuchMiddle]

STOP EATING THE BISCUITS! You're killing me over here.

[@PeteWord]

Real world Fonzi … great mail call!

[@Ice_Karma]

14:46 My understanding is that it's the interaction of cheap floppy media with poor magnetic coercivity, and drives that are out of spec, even by a small amount, leading to one or more bits in a sector not being written cleanly and then not decoding cleanly on read. About 30 years ago, I had the sector containing an important (small) file on a 5.25" floppy start giving read errors, and while looking at the sector with a disk editor, I noticed that most of the bytes were fine, but a few were not--and they were different every time I re-read it. This inspired me to write a program that succeeded in recovering 510 of the 512 bytes, by reading it repeatedly and using statistics to decide the most likely value for each byte. (Years later, I realize I should've done that on the bit level instead. Also, I assume both that Spinrite's sector recovery feature does something similar, and that neither I _nor_ Steve Gibson were the first person to come up with the idea; I've lost track of all the ideas it's turned out I've *re*-invented. 😸)

[@Ice_Karma]

And unlike hard disks of the last 30+ years, floppies are always low-level formatted, so if the problem is that magnetization has faded, reformatting it can fix it.

[@angrydove4067]

Next month I will have to pay a tariff to watch this channel. 😞

[@twocvbloke]

I've had some St Michel goodies before, and yes, they are soooooo good, to the point of being dangerously moreish!!! :D

[@Hiraghm]

I need the reverse of that PC->Mac keyboard adapter... I want an adapter so I can use a Mac Plus or earlier keyboard with my SE/30, because those keyboards seem so cool to me.

[@charlesjmouse]

Ah, the R6551AP is an awesome little serial UART. The much underappreciated Apple2Pi board and software (of which I've made my own 'improved' versions) uses one of these for communication between the Apple II and Raspberry Pi, and can be made to clip along at absolutely silly speeds - I'd use one in the CP/M 80 Column Coleco ADAM card I designed for speed and simplicity, but as I'm not a software guy and wanted to maintain compatibility stuck with a more commonly used UART for that system.

[@Hiraghm]

Ever since I watched Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor, I have wondered what "Jelly Babies" were...

[@billferguson8049]

Dr. Who (especially #4) was famously fond of Jelly Babies

[@euromicelli5970]

24:14 Background to those who haven’t seen an earlier video about (I’m sure) an older version of this Test ROM: To test the first 4K of RAM, when Video RAM itself cannot be trusted yet, Desmond point the video buffer address to a hardcoded block in his ROM that contains the explanation text, which is obviously unchangeable. Then to communicate the results, he manipulates the border color with carefully timed code to draw color bars.

[@pirateneil3948]

Hahaha... Those are called "Technical Taps!" I love it!

[@thomaskowald9138]

The term I've heard and used is "percussive maintenance". "The Fonz" and "Han Solo" are experts at this. I'll add your name to that list of "experts" in case anyone gives me any flak when I use it.

[@johnruschmeyer5769]

Drive 0 and 1 sounds like it might have been set up for a TRS-80. Tandy dealt with the idea of users not having to set drive jumpers by enabling multiple drive selects and then removing contacts from the disk cable.

[@ToddBrenneman]

Tom Baker's Doctor Who Jelly babies!

[@tschak909]

Jelly Babies! Tom Baker nods in approval. :)

[@jeromethiel4323]

That's the epic scarf doctor i was thinking of. Could not remember his name. "Jelly baby?" Tom Baker sill always be the best doctor who in my opinion. ^-^

[@Nas_Atlas]

Great to see enthusiasm and development for the c64

[@michaeldibb]

2:44 There's an old British joke that boy jelly babies were more popular because they had more jelly in them

[@questionablecommands9423]

That mac keyboard tester software reminds me that there's special keystrokes you can use to get the accent marks over letters like the one over é in café. I'm slightly curious what the keyboard tester shows for that.

[@dasistdaniel]

Time for another Channel, Adrians Basement Eating 😄

[@rmx77]

oh yes jelly babies i love those. they are yummy. i got to find more of those. btw its always great to meet up with ya at the group meets

[@johnathanstevens8436]

An adapter for the Mac Plus keyboard would be great. I see so many Plus now but no keyboard or mouse.

[@mfryer100]

This and your main channel are my favorite KZbin channels. Thanks!

[@Ice_Karma]

13:35 Okay, the time between you saying, "This should work" and it failing was *_impressively_* short. 🤣

[@wimwiddershins]

I would scoff that packet of biscuits in one sitting. 🍪

[@horusfalcon]

I still have a Dell QuietKey keyboard in inventory here. Darn thing is nearly indestructible.

[@Mrshoujo]

Ahhhh... CCGMS. I got a copy of that for a friend who was given a C64 with a modem & enabled him & I with my Atari 8-bit & 835 modem to call each other up & "chat" over the phone & send him files I got from other BBSs he couldn't call (long distance). The main annoyance he ran into was being unable to transfer & save a file which CCGMS was not on. He'd always get "File not found" error. I think that's a big reason he switched to Atari 8-bit soon afterwards.

[@pablogirol]

Please Adrian, don't let KZbin auto translate the video titles, I'm spanish and it's translation is mediocre at best, which ends up being confusing

[@DavideAchilli]

At 12:28, NFORMAT v1.10, "LABLE" instead of "LABEL" 🙂

[@lightmagick]

That Tandon drive is the same age as I am lol.

[@jeromethiel4323]

Man, i would pay at least $200 for a brand new full height 5.25 drive. Getting pretty rare.

[@JayAlfredoG]

I love how his brain is stuck in base 2.

[@Mal-u-Envy]

He said the red box only supports a different setup of keyboards not American

[@chepossofare]

Galatine are a symbol of my childhood

[@rascalwind]

Let the smoke out!!!

[@bobsbarnworkshop]

OK Mr. Smartypants ( just being funny!) is it possible to somehow hack, splice, rig, or butcher that drive to repair a 1541 with an open head? Reuse the whole thing with 1541 electronics? Or swap out the head module? How common are these drives? Just curiosity from a guy with two dead head 1541’s! Thanks!

[@MicrophonicFool]

Les Tetes Brulees is also an excellent afro-pop/funk band from Cameroon (Burnt brains or Burnt heads)

[@myleft9397]

"I was a Mac guy" We forgive you. Great video as always.

[@adilsongoliveira]

7:49 I believe you meant 4 months, not 6.

[@garage6346]

You really should rename the channel to "Adrian's tasty basement" 😄

[@gingertimelord5]

The doctor knows jellie babies .... offered them a lot in a past incarnation

[@AmadeuszKlodawski]

Minor editing oops with the name censoring there. Still, love all the awesome stuff. 👍

[@maxtornogood]

All that testing makes Adrian crave for candy!

[@thomasschuler5351]

that disk drive alone is 2k, that's more than some laptops are 😂

[@tony359]

Le Galantine, che delizia! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ 😂

[@samcostanza]

Are you sure John isn't The Fourth Doctor?

[@Daveyk021]

should work like the windows key.

[@adriansdigitalbasement2]

That's a windows implementation and not something implemented in the keyboard firmware.

[@kennethwadejohns8561]

You have become a true American, afraid of butter.

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

An hour is “mini”?

[@thomasschuler5351]

is there a way to turn off auto-translation for the video name? it translates to nonsense (on german at least)

[@awiseguythatsmorewise]

Hi!

[@midgoog2]

Adrian, your an evil man. Here I am half way through a mission to lose half a human being in weight ( on doctors orders ) and your munching away on delicious candies and butter biscuits!!!! 😢😢😢😢😢😢 Cheers Eric

[@cencio_1976]

Michele, not Massimo 😂😂

[@uomoartificiale]

Galatine are just the best!

[@adriansdigitalbasement2]

Yeah I got confused, sorry to Michele!!!

[@mad1316]

ps2 ports are NOT hot pluggable

[@Minigig]

RJ11

[@rascalwind]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2q1fWeIdrmqpbs

[@780tech]

Whoa posted 1 minute ago and I'm NOT the #1 commenter :/ GRRR

[@cencio_1976]

Become a Patreon, and you will see the video at least a week before the rest of the world. Lot of entertainment for less than a Starbucks coffe a month.

[@780tech]

@@cencio_1976 Or I could not.. and just complain about it. a lot more fun AND FREE ! 😆🤣😂😹

[@SubBlackIndustries]

ads ads ads...stop monetizing your channel and do a situp!