A IBM ThinkPad 701C with Butterfly Keyboard, a C16/+4 CPU Adapter, a Toughbook and an 8304 adapter

[@SteveGuidi]

[my original comment was discarded while I was editing -- please ignore if this is a duplicate!] Thank you for showing the 6510->8501 adapter PCB I sent in! The URL I put on the PCB is for my KZbin channel as I didn't have any other online project page or identifier to list there at the time (no project page, GitHub, PCB-way link, etc...). I listed the remaining stock I had on eBay and currently have three remaining PCBs. That said, if anyone is interested in obtaining one, please consider getting one from Andrew Challis first. His work is the reason we have this adapter and we should support him if possible. ebay.us/ZX42Fs hackjunk.com/2017/06/23/commodore-16-plus-4-8501-to-6510-cpu-conversion/ I made the PCB to avoid having to hand-solder dozens of connections and it gave me an excuse to learn CAD for PCB fabrication. I also put together a quick 6-min video on my channel showing the PCB, its installation, and give some resources for making your own or installing in a Plus/4. Most of this is already discussed above and in your video, but I'll link here for completeness: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p2nJe2qPhqeBsNU

[@adriansdigitalbasement]

Ah thanks! I couldn't find the link and couldn't remember if I had misplaced it

[@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell]

Just put the Gerbers on GitHub.

[@TheNews1990]

@@adriansdigitalbasement replace the cells in the Thinkpad's battery pack, and plug in the charging cable while the battery is in with new cells. The battery packs on old IBM Thinkpads are essential for them to boot. If they're dead it won't boot. Even with the battery pack out, and charger plugged in.

[@Ramdileo_sys]

​@@adriansdigitalbasement ... It would be nice if you update the TFL of the LCD of the toughbook... with BackLED maybe??....... you know... work on a LCD screen among so many CRT's :-D ...

[@Ramdileo_sys]

@Adrian's Digital Basement.. to format floppy.. you NEED to take a look to HD Copy.. (look at wikipedia.. it has the download link in "External links" at the end of the article).. is the best tool for floppy's.... it allows you to format the number of tracks and sectors per track you like.. on any HD PC floppy drive... and in any floppy... i believe.. it can make compatible with almost all the "old" formats.. AT and XT... and I think that also can make for apple formats... among other very useful utilities...

[@wdd6864]

Watching this is much better than 90% of what’s on TV

[@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell]

*than Try watching less TV.

[@VenomStryker]

I spend most of my TV watching these days on KZbin. At least here, I can search for what I am interested in and actually find it, instead of hoping it is a subject that is covered on another channel.

[@wdd6864]

I watch less then 30 mins of TV a day but I always mess that one up lol

[@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell]

@@wdd6864 *than

[@digital4282]

Those butterfly think pads are always worth saving.

[@elizabethveldonstuff]

that butterfly keyboard mechanism is one of the most beautiful things in the world

[@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell]

Also the most useless. Make the laptop an inch wider and you don't need an expensive mechanism and you can have a bigger screen.

[@elizabethveldonstuff]

@@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell yea but it's ptetty

[@TheStanHill]

Unless made by Apple.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell of course, but you’re missing the point. IBM sold such larger ones too. Ultra mini notebooks were a hot market segment for a time, for those who travel for business often, and losing an inch or two on each side was something they were willing to pay a premium for over the slightly larger model. Competitors shrunk the size of the keys to fit, leading to usability complaints. This machine was purely led by market research - capitalise on the hot new segment, while crushing competitors on the keyboard usability front.

[@ultrametric9317]

@@TheStanHill Except Apple computers are runny shit. This machine was a fantastic tank-like productivity machine.

[@jessthebenjamin758]

Whenever you mention the second channel, I’m going to say you should rename it Adrian’s Analog Attic

[@ProlificInvention]

I have a digital attic, and an analog basement...great comment!

[@Fred_Raimer]

Ya know, I'm not sure whether you are joking because that is really an awesome idea!! He could specialize with CRTs and other miscellaneous electronics. The guy is so knowledgeable he could do a whole range of things (time permitting)!!

[@darkstatehk]

Nah.... it should be called "Adrian's Digital Dance Party" :)

[@fynn1202]

True, Candy and the Radio is analog 😂

[@SabretoothBarnacle]

I'd like to give that suggestion a triple 'A' rating😉

[@Choralone422]

I seem to remember there were several models of the ThinkPad made in the mid to late 90's (possibly into the early 2000's) that will not boot or even turn on if they don't have a good battery in them. In the PC repair depot I managed in the 2000's we always had spare ThinkPad batteries around just to make sure that wasn't the issue on machines that came in for a no-boot condition. Especially since IBM warrantied most laptops for 3 years at that time but only 1 year on the battery.

[@Runicen]

It takes a bit of effort, but I've been able to remove that "soft touch rubber" coating when it turns sticky with isopropyl and some scrubbing. It usually takes a few passes, but it will dissolve off and you'll be left with whatever the original under-layer happens to be. In my experience, it's usually been the same color as the coating. If I had to guess, I'd say that's down to the maker not wanting scratches that went through the coating to be too obvious. Yes, the stuff is a plague. The only benefit? People are quick to toss tech that is afflicted, so if you're willing to put in the work to clean it off, you can make out like a bandit. Best of luck cleaning that laptop off if you decide to go for it!

[@jean-francoiscaron5706]

Yep, isopropyl and lots of scrubbing works, along with light scraping with a fingernail (or maybe a plastic scraper). The colour beneath is the same but shiny instead of matte. I did it to a cheap btwin bicycle helmet and to an Achos mp3 player, among other things.

[@KronoGarrett]

Agreed, isopropyl and elbow grease seemed to strip most of it off of my old Wacom mouse and Saitek X52.

[@Runicen]

@@jean-francoiscaron5706 I really want to know why that material keeps making its way into manufactured goods. It's really wretched stuff and can degrade very quickly.

[@LeoGitarzysta]

Actually, I found that soaking this TPE coating with D-limonene makes it easy to remove, just as if paint stripper was used. It will unstick and create some creepy-looking bubbles, which are otherwise easy to remove - about an hour-two from application. This stuff is base of label removers, or sometimes in tar removers for cars. I saved one gunky HP laptop this way, it only needed a coat of matte lacquer afterwards, as inside the plastic wasn't dyed, and injection patterns were very visible.

[@plunderydoo1]

ovencleaner (that foami stuff) or Bref powercleaner works well.

[@Kalama54]

When I was a network engineer in the Marine Corps, back in 2005-2010, I carried a windows 98 startup disk in my toolkit because it also has a tool to kill CMOS passwords. I forget the command to do so but it was a great trick to reimage some tough books that some government contractor said couldn't be done to.

[@guithompsonmedvet]

love the fact that he puts no ads in the videos, 'cuz sometimes instead of paying attention i like to lock the screen and listen to his voice to fall asleep like an ASMR

[@DerekWitt]

Ah LGR had a field day with his thinkpad with that butterfly keyboard. :)

[@rawr51919]

and with his ThinkPad model's butterfly keyboard

[@DesertRaven365]

I like the video editing and background music on this video - adds to the already great experience

[@megaglowz8540]

I had an IBM ThinkPad 701C that had started to do that. I got some flat black vinyl and covered what I could with it. Turned out pretty good. Great video!!!

[@mikekopack6441]

I remember us having a few of those 701C's when I was working at IBM for the 1996 Olympics. The butterfly Keyboard was amazing for the time and allowed that laptop to be one of the smallest with a reasonable full sized keyboard and yet be a (for the time) thin and lite machine.

[@henryatkinson1479]

17:38 That flap thing is actually a kickstand. Its supposed to be on a hinge, and props the laptop up for more comfortable typing when folded out.

[@rinner2801]

I remember when the butterfly came in to our IT dept. for traders. I had so much fun "borrowing" those laptops for weekends at a time..

[@madcrowmaxwell]

That Toughbook is a keeper for sure. A portable Pentium 166 with native SB compatible audio and a decent screen? That's also bombproof? Yes please!

[@roberte94066]

Adrian,that 701c does work. It is loaded with ibm software and takes a few pushes on the power button to power up. It has been used and abused, but it will boot up.

[@mashrien]

I have a very similar machine to that Panasonic at around 31:25 - But mine's a Pantium-MMX 233mhz 64mb, 1.2gb-hdd, laptop of the Compaq Armada (model 1700) flavour. I love it as a retro trouble-shooting machine reading/writing discs and floppies. (it came with a DVD-Combo (DVD-read - CD-read/write) drive, imagine that (yes, it plays buttery-smooth DVDs)) AND the best part is you don't have to swap out between two devices. CD+Floppy+HDD are all inserted at the same time. Though you CAN remove the floppy and install a secondary battery. Machine's also got 2x usb 1.1, full size LPT, 9pin serial, modem, sound-blaster-compatible even in DOS.. It's an amazing all-in-one retro machine. Even the screen is still in near pristine condition. Whoever had it before me took fantastic and gentle care of it. It was as loved by it's previous owner as it is by me. Sits on the desk right next to my array of SX-20, DX-33, DX2-66, DX4-100, Pentium-75, and Pentium-120, machines. I've still a MOUNTAIN of hardware I'm trying to sell as well, if anyone's looking for some stuff.

[@LeoGitarzysta]

D-limonene works very well for removing this kind of rubber coating. Used for example in label removers or tar remover (for cleaning car rims) for example. After a while after application, the coating just peels off.

[@Chriva]

I miss those weird and wonderful mechanisms :) Another little machine you absolutely have to take a look at is Psion 5. It has a funky slide-out keyboard

[@barovelli]

Ex ATT Broadband manager here. My issued computer was a Toughbook CF47, the one with the weird CD drive in the keyboard/wrist rest. OS was locked down NT4.. I used to carry a 2nd hard drive with Win95 and a bunch of games to play when away. IBM with the butterfly keyboard, Alcohol may soften the coating enough to scrape it off. I've removed that coating from metal with paint stripper followed by the alcohol but that was metal.

[@retropuffer2986]

Great keyboard design by the late John Karidis.

[@parrottm76262]

Excellent parts/ideas for updating your old machines. Love it!

[@Coderjo.]

For that 8304 adapter (or other similar needs), one possible pin set is the Mill-Max 800-10-0nn or 349-10-1nn series of connectors. The 800 series has the alternating bent pins for soldering, while the 349 series has just a flat round top for soldering. (I have no affiliation. I just wanted to find something that would work, assuming 0.100" spacing.)

[@Eytaris]

I confirm, fixing LCDs back light is a pain, but from what I remember, it's worth it. I have PLCs screens at work with LCDs like these inside, they are obsolete, but due to time and budget constraints, I can't replace the core system yet, so I started to replace the screens, until my boss found that the cathodes existed as a part, so I replaced those instead of whole screens, but it take almost an hour on top of the disassembling just to access the tube, it's extremely hazardous, the tubes and wires connections are very fragile. Like I said, the replacement worth it, but you have to be very careful (and wear gloves, tube shards are no joke).

[@puggawompy]

I have successfully removed the rubbery coating off a number of devices I own, but as others have said... it usually leaves a naked, shiny plastic surface that will make whatever it is you have, suddenly look like a toy. I have considered using something like Plastidip spray to reinstate a new coating, but not sure of the potential to melt the plastic underneath beyond recovery.

[@ando8262]

That c16 is 10/10, hella S Tier. most maddest modded system ever.

[@danilko1]

I was thinking some RAM would be unpackaged. But RAMMY is a permanent fixture of MWMMC videos!

[@Dukefazon]

LGR had a video last week on an IBM ThinkPad where he also tested it with Doom and to get rid of the border in the game and scale it to full screen you have to press Funcion+F8 (I don't know if it's a ThinkPad thing or a Doom thing).

[@LGR]

It's a ThinkPad thing :) Other systems can have a similar command though, or sometimes it's in the BIOS setup

[@stathissim]

@@LGR ThinkPads > All other laptops since the 90s

[@Dukefazon]

​@@LGR Thanks, I'm glad I added the part in parentheses, othervise the comments would have shredded me to pieces :)

[@CptJistuce]

Quick rule of thumb: on an IBM-compatible anything involving a function-modifier is a laptop or keyboard thing. Function isn't a "real" key, in that it doesn't have any sort of standard key code to report back. The big "exception" is function+an F-key generating media controls. But software sees the standard dedicated media control keycodes, not fn+f-key.

[@darkstatehk]

I like turned pins as well. Yes they snap when bending but you can trim them down and do a hybrid SMD bodge job to get them compatible with double sided conversion boards.

[@TheEPROM9]

With my Plus 4 I needed a new PLA, still have my spare CPU kit. I ended up burning an EPROM with the PLA image & that worked a treat. So meany parts in that thing are prone to fail. Filmed the proccess to.

[@dlarge6502]

I had that rubberised finish on my alarm clock. It obviously went icky and sticky, so I sat down and rubbed the whole lot off with IPA! All the labels etc remained on the alarm clock so that was lucky. It rubbed down to the black plastic below. Now I have a shiny jet black plastic alarm clock. It no longer has dust sticking to it and no longer sticks to my hand when I operate it lol.

[@TheSportCompact]

Just a correction here. In regards to the phone company, AT&T was the parent company and handled interstate long distance while the Baby Bells were providers of local and in state long distance within the states the operated in. For example, I live in New Hampshire. New England Telephone was the Baby Bell that covered our state. It also covered Massachusetts, Maine, and Vermont as well. It may have been the Bell that covered Connecticut and Rhode Island as well. Regardless, I think you get the idea.

[@briangleeson1528]

Thinkpads were the coolest back then. Also, cool to see the IR port. I always liked beaming documents to printers and updating my Palmpilot via IR.

[@bjf10]

Those butterfly keyboard thinkpads are so cool.

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

Hey Adrian, for the sticky plastics I use AZAX (something like windex) and I wipe it well with a towel. It removes the "glue" smoothly and leaves a mat finish.

[@Morinaka25]

19:00 Not sure what others used, but i've used hand sanitiser gel (nice as it doesn't run everywhere, and leaves a pleasant smell if you buy scented), a scrub brush and a lot of elbow grease to get the sticky off, nothing fancy.

[@atkelar]

Funny random coincidence... just earlier today a friend forwarded me a German tweet about these sticky plastic coating problem. It seems that oven cleaner works on removing either the sticky part and/or the coatig. Worth a try I'd say...

[@mikeschleising8828]

I have an old computercase with the same rubberized coating, got sticky after a few years. Recently i tried to refurbish that computercase and acetonefree nailpolish-remover worked wonders getting that stuff of. btw, nice video as always, keep up the good work and stay safe!

[@86smoke]

You do not have to remove that IBM rubber that became sticky. I am applying baby powder to those sticky surfaces and rub it in up to the point when it is not sticky anymore. I recovered many old IBMs using that technique.

[@jan237]

For me it worked with just ethanol

[@86smoke]

@@jan237 Yes, but it removes the rubber instead of restoring it.

[@tomleech9753]

I've removed it with just alcohol, but if it's really thick, it's easier to let it soak before you try to remove it. On the other hand, of it's in good shape, powder works. Baby powder, talc, cornstarch. I use a paintbrush and really dust it over and over and apply some pressure so that it gets INTO the rubber. Also really useful for restoring thumbsticks on game controllers

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@tomleech9753 fascinating. I’ll try that on my devices which got weirdly tacky after only weeks or months of being untouched.

[@IJDM]

I have restored a few IBM Thinkpads in the past few months, a couple of them had that stupid rubber coating. I have had success using denatured alcohol and lots of scrubbing, along with using magic eraser. It basically strips off that coating to reveal the black matte finish, but you have to be careful with the models that have the metal casings, as the alcohol will strip off the paint, the plastic ones come out nearly perfect every time. I usually finish off the process with product 303, which I think you use as well.

[@kepamurray1845]

For the IBM, Take the main battery AND the BIOS battery out, leave it out for 48 hours and have another crack at starting it with both of the batteries removed. A20M of mine gives a click when pressing the power button and the BIOS battery has died. I think it takes a while for the BIOS to truly reset despite pressing the power button for 30 seconds.

[@johnsonlam]

Thanks for mentioning the square pin issue, I've receive a adapter PCB from China that send me this pin together. This kind of square pin won't fit into the socket, forcing it into socket will permanently damaging it, I've a hard time finding round pin from China, and turned out the one from AliExpress are no good, both the plastic and metal broke easily, so I have to find another from RS (or Mouser). I'm sure after you mentioning the problem, someone will going to change the design so a better Open Source PCB will come out, benefit to the community.

[@AppliedCryogenics]

The first thing I'd try with the Thinkpad is to twist the power barrel connector back and forth a few times and try to power up without the battery. I've seen that make the difference several times.

[@retropcdurham]

The 701C is such a fantastic machine. Terrible performance for the time it was released, but design wise it is so great

[@connorm955]

I had a Compaq Presario 1655 for a brief point of time that had the same coating that got sticky. Baking soda seemed to work well. It had a Pentium MMX 266.

[@ph2869]

1990s phone phreaker's DREAM computer! : )

[@tsuikagura]

I just used IPA 99 and a cloth to rub off that rubbery surface from my IBM ThinkPad. It took 2 hours but it worked like a charm. It looks pretty much the same without it, the plastic is the same matte black as the rubber was.

[@666Astrosmurf]

Watched an older episode and noticed the sound has really improved!

[@doodles113]

Oh,memories...i miss my Thinkpad 701C....

[@SudosFTW]

the rubberized coating on the Thinkpad can be taken off with 240-proof alcohol.

[@purrator]

No, those are manufactured SMD pin headers, you can buy them like that. Bummer that they are not suitable for those sockets, though. I'd have to check if there are smaller varieties

[@purrator]

I think I found a replacement for the square SMD pin headers: www.fischerelektronik.de/web_fischer/en_GB/connectors/G01/Male%20headers/PR/MK_26_SMD_/equipping/index.xhtml - They don't seem to be available through digikey and the likes, though

[@tomekhornik1831]

Dear IBM: Thank you THINKPAD

[@jameslewis2635]

@ Adrian. You may well have tried this although I didn't see it in the video but a common thing that stops a lot of laptops running is errant static electricity. To discharge it all you need to do is to disconnect the battery and PSU before holding down the power button for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Then re-connect the PSU and it should be good to go. This is something I had to do routinely to bring laptops back to life when I worked in computer retail.

[@m8528]

love you Adrian... just found your channe af fev days ago.......

[@Flashy7]

Alcohol takes off that coating (at least those kinds that I tried). If it is a small piece and thin coating (top of a computer mouse) then drop it in IPA for the night and then rub it off. If it is larger (car interior) and the coating is thicker then it is much harder, I gave up with my car door handles, I tried to rub it with a cloth soaked in alcohol but almost nothing happened so I put it back and got used to it :) If you succeed, the plastic below is often very shiny, hard and cheap looking, but at least it does not stick.

[@andrewchristiansen8311]

18:45 I get the rubbery stuff off with windex. It started coming off my Elecom BT mouse from Japan. So I rubbed it off with windex. takes a while but I got it down to the plastic and its nice and shiny now.

[@fritmoule]

I use silicone spray on sticky rubber/plastic, works like a charm ! Easy.

[@HeffeJeffe78]

Oregon and Washington were part of Northwestern Bell for a while after the ATT breakup. Eventually became USWest. Was headquartered here in Omaha until USWest was bought and moved to Denver.

[@bob0507]

Did you try powering the Thinkpad through the power jack in the port replicator?

[@galier2]

There are also M2 sata to ide adapters.

[@tomf3150]

On the rugged pc, you could gently tap the hdd at the hub.

[@RichardT2112]

Laughed my arse off at Steve’s letter!! Awesome!!

[@SteveGuidi]

Glad you liked it ;)

[@RichardT2112]

@@SteveGuidi It was great and very much something I’d do ... my OCD can be rather annoying at times :)

[@lburbo23]

I had a Toughbook CF-25 with all the same problems as yours - bad drive and supervisor password. Used KillCMOS too. Changing the CMOS batteries in these are a pain. They are directly soldered to the board. I fixed mine by desoldering the old battery and ran leads taped to a CR2032 battery accessible from the hard drive bay.

[@chuck2501]

I've fixed sticky rubber using just alcohol wipes just 70% ones. They're small so good luck!

[@chuck2501]

To be specific they are pre-injection alco swabs if that makes any difference.

[@Markus0021]

I've had mixed results with that method - sometimes it has worked like a charm, other times it just seemed to make the problem worse. Apparently there is more than one chemical compound being used to make that rubberized coating (and of course, they don't label it or tell you what it is, so it is just luck whether it works or not)

[@kiki6713]

Adrian! Nice to see you picking up a ThinkPad! Just make sure you resist the urge and don't end up with a storage unit of them. Partly-ex-collector here; if you need any advice/info/resources on the ThinkPad let me know. I'd be glad to help. Matter of fact, I think I already have a 701 restore CD image somewhere...

[@spocklodgic]

Did you power the think pad with the battery pack plugged in. If it is not in it may not start even with power applied.

[@michaelhampton6388]

At the time of the AT&T breakup one of the seven RBOC companies was US WEST, which consisted of Pacific Northwest Bell, Mountain Bell which served the Rocky Mountain states, and the oddly named Northwestern Bell serving basically everything east of the Rockies to the Mississippi River (excluding Texas). In 1991 these three were consolidated and started using the name US WEST. They were then bought out by Qwest in 2000 and CenturyLink in 2011.

[@sprint955st]

I used mild nail polish remover (acetone) to get the horrid tacky cack from a pair of BT headphones, using a micro fibre cloth and lots of small movement rubbing. Took ages.

[@BluroStacks]

I have an old but still working ThinkPad USB 3.0 Secure Hard Drive that became so sticky that it was nearly impossible to get it out of its sleeve. I have used 99,9% IPA to rub the whole 'rubber' coating of. It worked perfectly well although the case looks a little cheap in the now shiny black plastic.

[@brocktechnology]

I've used CF cards for windows before and had the install die in a few months. There are a couple files under windows that get rewritten all the time, and that runs through the lifespan of the affected flash bits fairly quickly. Apparently there is a driver for XP imbedded that solves this but I could never find a copy. Modern SSDs have write cycle leveling baked into there controllers but CF cards are a simpler beast.

[@Vaskomyr]

That IBM probably needs the battery to make connection for it to power on. Probably need to do a battery swap. Seen that on a few laptops from that era

[@KaterKomPuter]

I'd so love to have that ThinkPad..!

[@chuckymcbrien3474]

I've successfully removed that sticky residue with label remover. There's loads of different brands, but the ones that work well for it are citrus smelling. A lot of types have an applicator brush on the can that you can use to massage in the chemical. It works better than IPA though you need to use IPA afterwards to get rid of the label remover residue.

[@douro20]

There was also the Kirkland grocery store chain which was part of Price Club, the predecessor to Costco.

[@fluffycritter]

I thought Price Club and Costco were competitors, and Costco bought Price Club out?

[@Offsettttt]

Hey Adrian, try pressing Fn+something for scaling in game )) I think Fn+F8 is one that could work.

[@twocvbloke]

When it comes to phones, there was also the GTE system (which was based around Automatic Electric hardware and telephones) where the Bell System had no access to and vice versa, so some areas you couldn't call as they weren't interconnected to the opposing systems, and in some crossover areas, you'd often have one side of the street with one provider, and the opposite side with the other, rather crazy system 'til they all were forced to interconnect so people could make better use of their phones... :)

[@dirkwirsbitzki3264]

Unknown or forgotten BIOS Passwords can give you a real hard times on notebooks. On a desktop computer you would just remove the CMOS battery or set a jumper, but these things often don't work on notebooks, as the password serves as an antitheft measure. Of course the service centers know the ways for the model how to get around it, but they won't tell.

[@VincentGroenewold]

Noooooo, my beloved C16 the most unreliable? Darn it, I knew my grandpa back in the day gave it to me for a reason. ;) Still going strong here though, bit lucky.

[@6581punk]

I think it was Bill Herd who said MOS chips sometimes weren't packaged well, by that I mean the resin surrounding the chip die. There were often holes meaning the chip would get exposed to the elements. This meant they would then fail faster.

[@VincentGroenewold]

@@6581punk Ah, very interesting, thanks!

[@Breakfast_of_Champions]

@@6581punk MOS also had a secret sauce method to repair faulty prints on wafers, which gave them very high yields, but the quality of the chips also apparently suffered.

[@hammersti3n]

was thinking that to ..My Plus 4 has been going strong only problem was a dead psu and tape drive belts not bad had it since new

[@adamm2634]

In the PNW I believe we had AT&T -> USWest -> Qwest -> CenturyLink -> Ziply

[@silmarian]

So, it's been 26 years so my memory may be a bit off, but I think the difference between the 701C and 701CS is passive vs active matrix.

[@thebristolbruiser]

I had a thinkpad like that. I ended up using alcohol and an old credit card to manually scrape the rubber off. It has a smooth plastic finish once it is all done. Took a good few hours of scraping to get it all off, though.

[@1967CougarXR7]

There is a way to clean that sticky coating. I found it on the internet. It's really a matter of washing it thoroughly and scrubbing it with baking soda. It leaves it with a smooth clean surface.

[@AndrewLittleboy1]

Ipa can remove the rubberised coating but certainly takes some work.

[@offrails]

I've used WD-40 and/or Goo-Gone to treat that sticky rubber nastiness.

[@leeplatt9360]

I've heard people mention IPA will get rid of the 'sticky' feeling and i have used to good effect on a Presenter tool.

[@johnperalta9415]

What if you replace that Panasonic backlight with some LED strips?🤔 thats what i do when my old CFL backlight dies

[@ouethojlkjn]

Funny you should look at a 701C today as I got my mint in box one out of the loft this afternoon. I can’t get over how tiny it is!

[@mikemoyercell]

two batteries on the main board of that thinkpad - one is for standby and one is cmos. replace those. if they leaked that may be why your not getting anything but i have also seen those machines not work when the batteries are dead.

[@EmilOppelnBronikowski]

A dead Toshiba 2.5 HDD, brings back the dreaded memories. Had that bastard in A600, it also gave up the ghost. And I didn't even have shock absorbing encasing!

[@mihumono]

I found acetone effective for removing that rubberized coating though be careful as not all plastics like being treated with acetone. IPA might also work.

[@bobg58]

The sticky rubber can be easily fixed with rubbing alcohol. A good cleaning will dissolve the rubber. It will remove the rubber, but it won't be sticky anymore.

[@winstonsmith478]

The male header pins on the 8304 to 74LS245 adapter PCB are not a trick of his, that's the way they are sold pre-made for SMT mounting. I suspect what he wants to happen is for the IC and any installed socket to be replaced with 0.1 inch (2.54 mm) spacing female headers which are designed to mate with his male header pins. That said, I wonder if the PCB pad hole diameter will be large enough to accept the square header pins found on the female headers. If not, there may be machined-pin types to use, I haven't checked.

[@drgiller]

Before Qwest, the regional "Baby Bell" (aka RBOC, or Regional Bell Operating Company) in the Northwest was called US West. This must be the RBOC with the craziest history of renaming and mergers. It was Pacific Northwest Bell/Mountain Bell/Northwestern Bell, then US West, then Qwest, then CenturyLink, and now the silliest of them all, Lumen Technologies.

[@stanburton6224]

And in the case of At&t it was purchased by one of the "Baby Bells", Southwestern Bell Telephone. Then instead of naming the resulting company Southwestern Bell, they renamed it AT&T...

[@stanburton6224]

I think you meant Lucent Technologies which was a combination of Western Electric and Bell Labs.

[@DerekWitt]

We had Southwestern Bell here in Kansas. I think SW Bell was among the precursors to SBC. I once did tech support for Pac Bell DSL. They were notorious for selling DSL to people who were on the fringe of coverage. In fact, they had to change their max distances from 21,000 feet to 14,000 due to massive signal loss over 14,000 feet from the CO (central office).

[@drgiller]

@@stanburton6224 No, CenturyLink renamed itself Lumen Technologies around September 2020. Lucent was a different beast altogether.

[@EasyMac308]

I thought they'd only renamed the business side to Lumen and were still CenturyLink on the residential side?

[@eebaker699]

Like your videos by the way. 😁 I agree with you about the thicker pin headers being no good for IC sockets. So too the weakness in the machined round pin headers. Basically just rubbish. I found getting some decent US made machined pins like Thomas and Betts are by far superior. They are mil spec as well. These can definitely be bent and re-bent if needed. I can't say enough good things about these over the cheap ones. With a little lateral thinking this is totally do-able.

[@nemike42]

Hey Adrian, what I do to deal with projects that use pins that will damage sockets is I put them into a sacrificial socket that in turn plugs into the socket on the target devices pcb. This way you only damage a socket that can be discarded later and the target devices pcb is unharmed.

[@ethous1]

You can do led mod to make it brighter

[@the_holy_forestfairy]

The legendary "Butterfly Keyboard" from IBM

[@briannickel5131]

Costco is based in Issaquah, Washington now (which is about 15 miles southeast of Kirkland).

[@j-fharbec379]

I actually, methyl alcohol works very efficiently to remove that sticky stuff. I just use fondue fuel. It doesn't harm the plastic underneath it.

[@robwebster7406]

Thanks for the vid, my mum got me a c16 from a car boos sale in 1990 for cheap, the prob it had was when you press play on the data tape it would crash the computer, so I rigged another power supply to the data recorder and got it working, was young then and didn’t look into why it happened, just got it working, haven’t got it now 😢 but wondered what would course this. Thanks.