EV Roadtrip, Vintage Computer Festival, and Moonbase Repair

[@EmperorKrow]

that shattering sound wasnt the tube breaking, it was his heart. i cant imagine how bad that mustve felt when it happened.

[@TechTimeTraveller]

I've done it a couple of times. Had an NEC APC I had just about restored, went behind to retrieve a loose connector. Didn't even feel myself making contact with the neck, but I heard the whoosh. I watch guys plug in the socket on the end with no particular care day in day out, but if I even breathe on mine the wrong way out goes the vacuum.

[@soupwizard]

Probably didn't feel that bad, he has a history of treating vintage computers carelessly

[@Blackout_1692]

That was only 1 video Yes I do Admit that video really ticked me off Because It was not just a vintage IBM computer but a prototype as well.

[@SoraHjort]

And the hiss was his soul leaving his body.

[@jakematic]

@KeeDx3 THIS COMMENT exactly

[@JacGoudsmit]

Picture tubes showing a "hole" in the center of the phosphor when they go to air is pretty typical, especially for monochrome tubes. In color CRT's, the mask usually holds the phosphor together a little. If you see a device at a flea market or on eBay or CraigsList or whatever and it has a hole like that, walk away.

[@kbhasi]

Yep, I agree. I remember seeing a 'vwestlife' video where he showed a Zenith TV or monitor that had a hole like that and he explained that the neck would've been bent as part of preparing the display for recycling.

[@cleverhardy5230]

It's a shame the old CRT had to end this way. But at least David solved the problem with the help of Sark. It was an outdated transistor on the power regulator.

[@stephenw2992]

The phosphor stays in place. What blows away is the aluminium backing over the phosphor. You can see it easier with colour tubes and their rows of phosphor dots.

[@stephenw2992]

@@gothesouthway I did the same. I used to see 20" tubes from old valve black and whites on the dump that people had removed from the cabinets that they used for other things. No bonded rim bands on those things. They sure went off with a bang and sent glass flying when you chucked a brick at them, purely for safety reasons of course.

[@KennethScharf]

I remember working in NYC on Canal street at Ramco Electronics, a typical "junque" store that had lots of overstock and surplus offerings. He had gotten a small truckload of Panasonic color TV sets in the 19-25" size range. I spend an entire day building a few "Frankenstein" sets by taking dead sets apart, saving the good PCB boards and such to build a few working units. One such unit was almost completely assembled when we noticed that the CRT had a hairline crack in the exhaust stem, and was under air. RATS!!! I feel bad for Dave, getting a replacement CRT these days will be almost impossible. He may have to find a similar but not identical tube and rewire the socket and yoke connections to match.

[@Mailin5121]

The biggest health hazard of these electrical cars are the fast food chains located right next to the charging stations! 😆

[@GeoffreyGore]

That said, it (and you) also makes for a great argument for EVs supporting local businesses, since the first supercharger led to them exploring town and eating at a mom-and-pop place

[@Danuxsy]

No the problem is that these EVs weigh a lot more so the issue is in fact particles from the tires.

[@DanTDMJace]

@@Danuxsy you just dont get a good joke.

[@Danuxsy]

@@DanTDMJace a good joke will not save you from climate change

[@sorrenblitz805]

@@Danuxsy you know who positively impacted global warming? Genghis Khan.

[@seelad]

The glass tube breaking at the end of the project is an experience that's all too relatable..

[@Mueller3D]

I had that unfortunate experience long ago while repairing a Commodore 1084 monitor. I had just fixed a loose connection, and I was maneuvering the back of the case down onto the chassis. While still a couples inches above, it slipped from my fingers, and since it wasn't perfectly aligned, something in the case back caught on the CRT neck board, torquing it and breaking the neck. It's always such a disappointing feeling when you try to fix something and end up making it worse. I ended up giving that set away for someone else to use for parts.

[@MadameTengu]

It was super cool meeting you and Clint that weekend! It was definitely a "God I wish this was a pay week" kind of events then I could have gotten all the cool stuff I wanted to. Getting a lot of use out of the red cassette pouch I got from you, it is now FILLED with quarters for parking meters downtown.

[@jdk0517]

In defense of Galloping Ghost, while it is $25 to get in, every machine is set to free play. Plus that's for the entire day, with you being able to come and go throughout the day. Plus, they have a building down the street full of pinball machines. As for machines being down, most of the games in there are VERY rare nowadays, which means parts can be hard to get. They do their absolute best with making sure the games are in playable condition, but there is usually only a VERY small crew working at any given time. So it's tough to work on the games while having to man the front counter. I've watched GGA grow by leaps and bounds over the years, and I personally think the entrance price is more than fair for the vast amount of games the have to play. Not only do they have many people coming from around the country specifically to go there, but they've had many international visitors as well. You will NEVER find another arcade quite like GGA. I say all this as a regular customer with no stake in the arcade at all.

[@joey_after_midnight]

I thought about the Real Estate costs for the place. Rentals for buildings and places like that seem to only postpone an eventual mass sell off or donation to the local landfill... of all the machines when the lease gets pulled. Things can happen so fast. They're like Time capsules .. visit them while you can.

[@TheStuffMade]

I think $25 is reasonable for a full day. I mean it's not a place you go hang out every day, but I understand if you only got an hour to visit then $25 is a bit much. Anyway, I don't even want to think about what their electricity bill is like.

[@budgetguitarist]

I agree with the other two responses - $25 for entrance into the biggest arcade in the country seems very reasonable to me.

[@RootinrPootine]

One of a kinda museum of that magnitude for $25 seems reasonable. Crazy that it exists at all.

[@Curt_Sampson]

Another thing to consider is, if they pull broken machines off the floor, where are they going to put them? Shifting the allocation of customer floor space to storage space simply means that in the long run, as you get things fixed, you can't display as many machines.

[@michaelturner2806]

Meeting up with Technology Connections must've been fun, telling him all about your EV trip. Or since he recently did a video explaining a lot about EVs and charging, he may have been burned out on the subject.

[@senvr11]

he probably has like 28 revisions already

[@megan_alnico]

He looked a little awkward on camera, maybe it's because he didn't have his magic suit jacket on? I'm actually kind of disappointed he doesn't wear that everywhere he goes. Lol

[@DarronBirgenheier]

Technology Connections is one of my faves! I always enjoy seeing two or more of my favorite KZbinrs get together, whether by accident or design. For those of us who live cloistered lives, the vicarious socialization we get from KZbin can be very valuable. We can get many of the benefits and few of the drawbacks of how IRL social interactions often go for those who are ND.

[@Tigerskunk]

@@megan_alnico maybe it's like I heard the famous NASCAR driver Richard Petty say, "I take off the Hat and glasses and no one recognize me." By not wearing the jacket, he can go.places without being recognized.

[@jetalone_music]

13:45 Props to David for actually sounding like he kept a quite a cool head after the sound of that tube breaking, God knows my first reaction would have been a whole lot of swear words for 10 minutes straight

[@joey_after_midnight]

Mike actually sounded more upset. David is just the Chill master.

[@johnathin0061892]

David has to be super chill. I would have gone through the roof, given what that tube/entire game was worth, especially if I did it and only had myself to blame.

[@sideburn]

I would have been screaming ef! Ef! Ef! Ef n’ A! G Dammit! Efffff!!!!! (I have anger management issues when “repairing” stuff).

[@MKVideoful]

I was expecting it to happen in the previous video when David pull and in so many times, CRTs are heavy and fragile, it simply will eventually happen. Maybe that is why he is so calm.

[@John_Locke_108]

I would have walked into the ocean.

[@Jenisonc]

Holy moly. I didn't think that brief view of the Weather Channel would give me such a nostalgia kick in the..

[@OzzFan1000]

It was nice to meet you at VCF. I'm sorry my social awkwardness and anxiety got in the way of me not being a total weirdo. And thank you for signing my game for me.

[@mctv6486]

I wish I was at that event, it looks amazing, but I also have social awkwardness lol

[@greje656]

Dear 8bit guy, thank you so much for sharing the mistakes you make of damaging the tube while installing it. It's so good to see that people we admire also make these kinds of mistake. I really appreciate it. Love your channel!

[@davidgood840]

Totally agree! Demystifying the whole process, failures included is wonderful for anyone trying to fix/repair things. We learn from the mistakes of others and it helps console those of us who have had projects go sideways because of stupid mistakes or just bad luck!

[@valkasolidor6727]

Kudos to Sark for the repairs and taking time out of his other convention activities to help you out. I enjoyed the road trip and agree that taking time to stop can be a good thing.

[@joey_after_midnight]

I think 'learning to stop' and 'learning to chill drive due to cheaper insurance' has saved my life on more than one occasion now. Driving in Texas.. you kind of boil your blood pressure as you get older until you have a wreck. Since getting a Tesla all of that has changed.

[@Okurka.]

I might hope Sark got paid for his time. After all David was only there to sell his game and make a profit.

[@luke27luis]

That CRT crack and hiss sound is as terrifying as a dead hard drive ticking sound. They are nightmare material. Great work, David! Love seeing old stuff back from the grave!

[@jukingeo]

Ahhh, yes, the HISS of death! It means the phosphorus genie has escaped and the CRT will not perform it's magic any longer.

[@blenderbachcgi]

There's a difference. You can send the Hard Drive to a lab to get the platters out, reseat the platters in new working drive, and copy the data to a new drive. You can't save a CRT, however...

[@widicamdotnet]

Breaking the CRT's neck was exactly what I was worried about all the time watching that last video... ouch

[@lannstarr35]

oh yes the sound of nightmares

[@TruckFan542]

And i thought a creeper hissing in Minecraft was bad!

[@Craxin01]

When you were talking about travelling long distances in your Bolt, my first thought was Technology Connections did an hour-long video talking about EVs and had done a previous video talking about doing a road trip similar to the one you did. Then you show Alec later on in the video. Nice to see tech geeks showing some solidarity on KZbin.

[@QuintusAntonious]

The cross over we didn't know we needed.

[@missachan867]

I'm glad 8-bit Guy and his wife got to experience the weirdness of a Pizza Ranch

[@freshPrinceOfBelfairs]

Genuinely interested - what is weird about it? Here in the UK Pizza Hut used to do buffet pizza lunches.

[@petersage5157]

In my area most "family steakhouses" that have buffets have pizza on the buffet. (It's often worse than your typical frozen pizza, but it's there, so...yay, I guess?) If you want a really weird experience with pizza and don't mind a drive, go to Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa. There's an article about it in Bloomberg and there are videos on KZbin, but The Mighty Wurlitzer is something that has to be experienced first-hand.

[@NHFNNC]

weirdness?

[@razcarsey6635]

My wife and thought it was hilarious when a Pizza Ranch opened up nearby. How about Sushi Farm? Shawarma Rodeo? Anyway, it was no laughing matter when they had to close for a while because a bunch of people got sick. We've elected not to try it out for ourselves.

[@henryasbridge5161]

@@freshPrinceOfBelfairs Pizza hut still do buffet pizza lunches (at least in the UK) source: i went to one two weeks ago

[@JeffGeerling]

3:44 every so often a truck stop or gas station has some incredibly tasty food made by some local who gets chicken fresh off the farm and uses all local ingredients. Not sure if that's the case there, but I know when visiting a cousin in rural MO there's a little gas station with the best chicken tenders ever, along with some tasty homemade sauce.

[@Sashazur]

There are two truck stops on I-5 in Oregon in the vicinity of Albany and Salem, which have excellent Indian food trucks. Apparently there are a lot of Sikh trucking companies on the west coast. These are also pretty much the only options for vegetarian food at truck stops unless you are happy with fries and toast!

[@Hotlog69]

Where else can you "Kum & Go" but in a gas station? Good work on that LTT screwdriver review. Hope it's holding up for you.

[@AKsevenFOUR]

Sark is humble and quiet, masking his BOSS status.

[@BenState]

seriously.. a voltage regulator is BASIC to check and replace. Checking voltages is step 1 on any diagnosis.

[@peterjantzer4767]

I think I can honestly say that a lot of us were truly feeling your hurt when the tube broke.

[@blenderbachcgi]

Hopefully there's a way to repair the phosphor coating, re-vacuum the tube, and re solder the glass to seal the hole...

[@amirpourghoureiyan1637]

@@blenderbachcgi it’s easier to just find a monochrome CRT that’s the same size and just recreate the tape filters

[@blenderbachcgi]

@@amirpourghoureiyan1637 But it won't be the same. The filters are very specific. The wavelength of light they allow through. We would need to find out what they are, and also measure where to precisely tape them.

[@eDoc2020]

@@blenderbachcgi The easy thing to do is peel the filters off the old tube and transfer them to a new one.

[@petersage5157]

@@blenderbachcgi They look like they're cut from standard theatrical lighting gels.

[@Capt.Marco-Hawk-L.L.A.P]

Good job you didn't have to wait hours in a queue just to charge your EV. My heart sank when you broke that tube, but congrats on fixing Moonbase in the end. Awesome fix by Sark, He must be an awesome engineer

[@ronaldschild157]

This was great! I originally came to this video for the Vintage Computer Festival, but loved the review of your road trip getting there. It's a very frank, pleasant, and honest presentation. It looks like you guys took your time and were able to really enjoy the journey.

[@RetroTechChris]

Sark is a national treasure in the retro community!! He can fix just about ANY monitor you send his way too. Glad you got the Moonbase fixed!

[@joey_after_midnight]

First I've heard of him.. seems like a brilliant guy. Hope he's got a channel.

[@vhfgamer]

I always thought of Shango066 as the CRT god. Now it seems we have a new contender in the battlefield of phosphors.

[@Deep_wolf]

Shark is great!

[@AiOinc1]

@@vhfgamer Shango is definitely the more powerful man, I would say he rivals radiophonotvnut though.

[@ForgottenMachines]

@@vhfgamer On KZbin I suppose he would be, but in real life, Sark is far more accessible....if only because Sark comes to VCFMW and VCFEast, but Shangoo066 does not.

[@AurelTristen]

15:20 For the glair issue filming Moonbase, try throwing a polarizer on your camera and rotating the filter to reject the overhead light. Should look great!

[@nimoy007]

Yep, you're referring to a CP (circular polarizer) filter.

[@mycosys]

@@nimoy007 no, a CP doesnt need to be rotated, he is talking about a linear polarising filter.

[@nimoy007]

@@mycosys Assuming that my comment is held for review since I posted a link... You should probably check the validity of your statement. CPs and LPs are almost the same thing, but for cameras, a CP is the correct way to go.

[@siterrill]

My heart totally sank with the pop and hiss. What a trial that restoration has been! Glad you finally got one up and running though.

[@Okurka.]

Those tubes are rare; of course he had to break one.

[@BriBCG]

Yeah, that was rather disappointing.. I'm guessing by the looks of the screen that it's not fixable. But at least it was just from a knockoff.

[@FTfilm]

@@Okurka. Maybe we should find every other rare thing you like and break it, just so you can talk some more sh*t ;)

[@parallaxical]

Honestly when I went to VCF it was super fun! And meeting you was a blast and you're super nice and along with the whole rest of the vintage computing community. I would really recommend to try and go to this when it happens next to anyone who missed out!

[@Wflash00]

Your sentiment about the Galloping Ghost is exactly how I feel about it. I love the place, but man I so badly wish I could work there as a tech and get a few of them working at least

[@memadmax69]

You know what really warms my heart? The fact there was a ton of kids there. Theres hope after all.. ^.^

[@joey_after_midnight]

Taking care of kids and helping them understand the past and master the future is the best thing in life. Its all we can do.. until we're immortal.

[@macdonalds1972]

Instead of a candy and a van they use retro computers.

[@ballyastrocade5672]

A lot of kids show up to the Classic Game Fest down in Austin, and the Texas Pinball Festival up in the DFW metroplex, too.

[@blenderbachcgi]

I'm 19 years old. I might not be very much of a "kid" by now, but I am a Gen Z. While I don't go to old tech cons, I am into old technology and software from the 1980s. In fact, I have recently managed to reverse engineer sprite data from "Star Rider", which is a 1983 Arcade LaserDisc Game from Williams Electronics. I might not know anything about the electronic side of these technological marvels, but I know a bit about the software side of them. So yes, there is hope. Especially if I eventually start my other KZbin channel, "Mission CyberSpace", that is currently in the works, and get funds from the subscribers on it, I will hire professionals to fully remake "Star Rider" to be available on computers. Also, I will be very strictly monitoring this. I want these things to be as close as possible to the real deal. I want to capture the magic as close to perfect as possible. But anyway, I'm Blender Bach, let the old arcades live on, and have a great day!

[@ctech9856]

Alec is legitimately an awesome creator, and he basically turned a one-off video about the CED selectavision into an entire documentary about the history of RCA Edit: misspelling

[@Okurka.]

Yes, he surely milked it.

[@DrDingsGaster]

@@Okurka. But it was a really good series though. I'm all for falling down rabbit holes like that, especially in video form and the way he talks about it keeps me engaged.

[@machinedgod]

Still my fave from his channel, liked the documentary tone from his earlier videos much more than this newer, almost pure comedy-oriented thing.

[@unlokia]

@@machinedgod he *thinks* he’s funny. He’s in error. He’s no comic and should stick to the original format. His “jokes” are contrived to say the least.

[@Hepglon]

@@unlokia personally, I enjoy his comedy. To each their own though.

[@EngineeringVignettes]

I feel your pain, on necking that CRT. I did that once in my repair days, in the 90's. Once. The black spot in the phosphor is most likely due to moisture in the air. When the neck broke, a "blob" of moist air got sucked into the CRT and smacked into the front of the screen, accelerated by the vacuum, making the phosphor darker. I saw Robin on Ben Heck's video on this same show but did not realize who he was. Cheers,

[@svenvandevelde1]

Give a big hug to your wife who is supporting you in your endeavors :) She deserves a thank you also. Cheers David!

[@mattandsarahaschan]

My wife and I are very seriously considering buying a 23 Bolt EUV, but I was nervous about long road trips. I love that this video answered that question for me, even if I wasn't expecting it going in

[@TheUnofficialMaker]

just wait till the batteries burn out...

[@JoeBurks_1]

🤩Woohoo! My super-cute mini-ITX X16 made it into the video @8:05!

[@wadereynoldsgm]

My heart sank into my stomach when that tube lost vacuum! Glad you were able to salvage the project. Keep the videos coming!

[@cll1out]

Sorry to hear about the tube getting necked. On the last moonbase video I had similar fears of this happening every time I saw you remove/replace that CRT. A bit more painful to actually watch it happen. Glad to see that arcade come together, hopefully you can source a similar tube easily for the other one.

[@joey_after_midnight]

It kind of felt like that last Scene in a Movie.. where you know its gonna happen.. but will the hero ultimately save the day?

[@F40PH-2CAT]

He needs to contact Shango066.

[@PeowPeowPeowLasers]

If you're struggling to eliminate glare while filming, pop a polarising filter on the front of the lens. Rotate it until the glare is gone. You'll lose a stop or two of light coming in, but your picture will be much easier to see.

[@Themicspike176]

I’m actually from Springfield, Missouri! Lived here for 24 years. Glad to hear you enjoyed your time here!

[@ForgottenMachines]

Hey 8-Bit Guy...THANKS for the Forgotten Machines table sighting in your video at 9:56! I'm seriously honored to make your video! It even made the video thumbnail! "TurboHonor" there, thank you!!! So glad you were there at VCFMW this year again!

[@Seryous]

Big thanks to Sark. You're the man! Not a lot of people competent enough to trouble shoot things like that anymore.

[@lostincyberspaceIII]

In august I did a cross country trip that was around 80% the width of the country, it was 3 days fo driving and I generally had to gas up twice each day, and I was really pushing it but my car has a fairly small tank so even with decent gass millage I was gassing up every 400 miles. Living out west there are plenty of place that would still be hard to just go out and roam outside of the larger population centers. But sticking to major roads I think most places are fine with EV's now, especially if you are on the top end of range.

[@agoatmannameddesire8856]

I live out West too, the pro-tip for reaching rural places with EVs is RV camp sites. Plenty of places have 14-50 plugs (or 30-TTs) so you can L2 charge, just either spend a night here and there or see if you can charge during the day while out for a hike.

[@EnjoySynthSounds]

Kudos for traveling so far for your beloved retro tech hobby, interest and your website. Greetings from England David.

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

The sound of the keyboard and disk drive are satisfying, thank you!

[@jacksampsonforever]

finding out David has TWO Moonbase games was a great plot twist

[@cleverhardy5230]

I mean, if you saw Adrian's video, he had two Moonbase analogue boards. Big fans might have already known.

[@The8BitGuy]

Yeah. I missed out on on opportunity to copy Technology Connections and say "through the magic of buying two..."

[@joey_after_midnight]

@@cleverhardy5230 So he did it in the kitchen, with a toaster .. lol.. Ace Ventura ..tech detective

[@jacksampsonforever]

@@cleverhardy5230 hey. I am a big enough fan to know about the Dimebag Darrell connection, which will always be the ULTIMATE plot twist!

[@Hotlog69]

@@joey_after_midnight "Ace Ventura ..tech detective" Say that five times fast!

[@nhexan]

It always amazes me, the size of the US. I could roadtrip to anywhere in my country (Norway) with my EV (Honda E) within 24hrs. This roadtrip reminds me of when I drove my Honda to Netherland. Which is a few countries away from my own. It's as if the US wasn't a country at all but rather a union of a bunch of countries instead. AU American union 😅 or USA United states of America as it's known. Except every state speaks the same language and use the same currency. That alone is amazing. I bet a coast to coast EV roadtrip in a Bolt or my Honda E would be absolutely brutal.

[@Roxor128]

European tourists get tripped up by the distances in Australia, too. I got the reverse effect when visiting Europe in 2016. The towns were so close together it had me wondering why they were even bothering with the distinctions. To my Aussie eye, "the next town over" is 30km away, not 3km. While I didn't make the comparison at the time, I think comparing it to a computer game would have been decently fitting. Game environments tend to have compressed distances, if only because it's boring to trek long distances. No game developer would put towns 30km apart unless they were giving the player a car that could go at 300km/h, yet we not only did that in real life, but we did it back in the days of horse-driven carriages when a 30km trip would take all day.

[@Randarrradara]

its continent wide after all

[@zata1197]

It’s definitely crazy to think about, a lot of our states dwarf most European countries, but yet if you hop the border in most states you aren’t really going to see a difference, I live on the border of two and we don’t even see it as different places usually, then you’ve got Europe with countries right beside one another having vastly different cultures and languages, it’s pretty wild

[@noahleeman2715]

@@zata1197 yea most of the empty open space in the states are pretty much for the wildlife

[@BattleBladeWarrior]

@@zata1197 Its true. even the populations dwarf other countries. All of Canada has a total population of around 36 million people. But I think I remember reading there's something like 30 to 40 million people just living in California or Florida.

[@studioblackheart]

When you were talking about the arcade, the same thing is true about Funspot and arcade museum in NH. I've been a few times and games are slowly breaking down. It makes me sad because I genuinely liked playing some of them.

[@ericsills6484]

The Weather Channel thing was neat. I think you've mentioned it before, but I've always wondered what computers were behind some of the special text and graphics we've seen on TV in the old days.

[@KylesDigitalLab]

Thanks Dave for signing the picture of me and you. It was a great experience to see you in real life. I was working with the other Dave (who runs Dave's Retro Video Lab). You can see my channel at 10:59 as I put up a little flyer. I was there but I didn't get to see Technology Connections sadly.

[@shinmalpure2397]

I was hyped on seeing you in the vid!

[@shawnparker7]

Awesome video, David! Awesome to see all the Retro computers & Arcades and such! Great to see your Moonbase arcade finally working!

[@danek_hren]

Sorry for being here but comma must be in another place

[@dr.rotwang]

I wonder how many guys who were at VCF went over to the Sears HQ clear out sale. Literally hundreds of old PCs, servers, monitors, PVMs, BVMs, video gear and old tech of all kinds. The carts of goodies I was seeing being picked up on various facebook groups made me drool. Of all the years for me to not be able to go. Stupid Covid.

[@shiru8bit]

I was afraid it going to happen ever since the very shot of the tube reinstall process, it looked very easy to make a mistake and break the tube. Something similar happened to me a while back. The things are damn fragile. As for the arcades that really needs maintenance and is in a bad shape on display, I was involved with a local arcade museum, and they had and still have the same issue for years. Just not enough talented and enthusiastic electronics engineers to support all the stuff. They have a much lower entry fee, tho.

[@marcusdamberger]

Does someone not at least walk through the building every so often and then shut off those machines that are obviously having some kind of issue that makes them unplayable? Also, do they turn them off nightly, or just leave them on 24hrs a day? I looked up the hours, and on weekdays they are open tell midnight and 2am on weekends from 11am that morning on all days. That's between 9 and 11 hours a day of no use that the CRT's are getting further burned in and hours on the tubes and a ton of electricity is being used with no revenue coming in. Probably why it's $25 or twice what other arcades are charging. The question is, is it better to leave everything on 24hrs a day, or save the electricity and tubes some hours and turn them off at night? I suspect they keep everything on 24hrs a day. Less chance of components burning out or dying on power up when the most stress happens on the electronics. But man, that electric bill must be huge, nothing is "Energy Star" compliant or has "power saver" mode built in.

[@eDoc2020]

@@marcusdamberger It's better to turn them off at night because the powerup stress on the electronics is minimal. The things most affected are marquee lamps and other lights but, like other light bulbs, these are made to be replaced.

[@VJK102]

10:57 ok, didn't expect the protogen head on the table XD Yet, I'm not surprised

[@ObiWanBillKenobi]

10:14 This video clip is showing two TV Guide channels, but the booth did have the software of The Weather Channel running also.

[@itogi]

10:12 These two machines are not The Weather Channel machines, these are Prevue Channel's Amiga and TVGuide Channel's Windows NT based computers. TWC's stuff was (probably) on right/left side of the space.

[@marcusdamberger]

You are correct, those are for Prevue Channel. I used to work for a cable company in the 90's when these were still being used, the Amiga based ones. Every so often the unit would lock up and you would see Guru Meditation flashing at the top with the scrolling text frozen, later versions just said Software Failure. The video would continue since that came from a satellite feed. As an aside, the top half of the screen was available at certain times for local advertising to be displayed. I would make those graphics to fit the top half of the screen as well as work within the limited 32 color pallet. You would save that to a 3.5" floppy along with other adverts and I would have one of the managers take the floppy to the head end the following morning and he would exchange them. It was kinda neat to see the graphic you made show up on the TV knowing others were seeing that too. You would also start to realize where you could blend colors and manually dither to give a better quality gradient or transition (within the limited pallet) when displayed in video versus on a RGB computer monitor. i.e. fudge it a little. I don't think I saved those pics to a disk I took home unfortunately. I do have my own old Amiga in a closet. It would be cool to pull up those graphic images I worked on back in the 90's. But I guess they are now all lost..

[@jessecar96]

@@marcusdamberger Is it a prevue channel Amiga that you still have? If you still have any floppy disks from that time I would be very interested in archiving them for you.

[@darktetsuya]

super cool to see the retro computer stuff at VCF! galloping ghost does seem to be quite an amazing place, definitely impressed that they have just SO MANY games!! and yeah even with my extremely limited arcade tech knowledge even I had to cringe at the tube breaking, ouch! but cool to see moon base working again.

[@etshArk87]

So unlucky you broke the CRT's tube but oh well, one sacrifice needed for victory. I'm so glad you picked up the Moon Base project and finished it as quickly as possible. Thanks for the guy who helped you, who knew it was the voltage.. Great video as always man, you really rock, so entertaining

[@BattleBladeWarrior]

Once again, awesome video (and soundtrack) and glad to see the one moon base machine was finally fixed! I felt so bad for you when you blew the tube by accident. That must have been heartbreaking after all the work you put into getting the running. Hopefully you've broken the curse by fixing that machine, so you'll have much better luck locating/replacing the parts. Keep up the great work and hope you've had an excellent summer so far!

[@superman60201]

Hey this is great, I was there and attended the panel. I also have Bolt EUV and the info on the roadtrip is useful. Thank you for adding that.

[@Myriadys]

I can't say I ever thought about how the phosphors on a CRT aren't permanently bonded to the glass somehow! To see them just blown away like that is interesting.

[@Fiku_]

It's like the middle of the night and this video was released 6 minutes ago, I'm now determined to watch this from start to end like all other video on this channel

[@Vector_Ze]

Quarter to 9 (Central Time) is the "middle of the night"? Okay, I checked your channel. And, your accent explains it, heh.

[@Sinistar1983]

I'm so excited to see the cx16 update. As I've been getting myself ready to make some serious games on the machine

[@tyrkukulkan]

That is amazing, a collection of all the KZbinr's in my subs list on that side of the pond!

[@TaberBucknell]

Thank you for showing us an avoidable mistake with the tube installation (you could have just left it out). When I make that kind of error I tend to “beat myself up” mentally about it thinking only I could do such a thing. Even worse, then one can be reluctant to start a repair / project in case a mistake could happen. By showing the error you let us know that, clearly, stuff happens to others too ... don’t worry about it, go ahead and do the repair / project even if a mistake could happen ... and I have. Thank you again, great video!

[@c1ph3rpunk]

Galloping Ghost rocks! We often do team outings there, it’s a blast. Yea, stuff is borked a lot but it’s as good as we get around here. Awesome seeing you at VCF!

[@Okurka.]

It wouldn't be an 8-Bit Guy video without him complaining about something.

[@SupperUpper]

Love these “outdoor” videos 😊 Would love to see more!

[@samthemultimediaman]

you could always gut the other table keep all the stuff for spare parts, then take the table and convert it to another game with a color and or vector display.

[@joey_after_midnight]

Not exactly David's style.. a QLED conversion would be fun.. but he's more likely to get ElecTex to blow him a new Glass CRT.

[@Me-xk1gd]

Make a Petscii Robots cocktail table. ; )

[@absalomdraconis]

​@@joey_after_midnight : More likely than that is to just buy an interchangeable replacement. The hardest part will be the research, likely followed by finding a listing specific enough to confirm anything.

[@absalomdraconis]

​@@Me-xk1gd : Nice though that might be, I think that building a custom one for his screen choice would be even better, and a counter-top machine would probably be better yet.

[@Okurka.]

He can always sell it to Galloping Ghost to place it next to their other non-working games for KZbinrs to moan about.

[@myrmeko]

Tbh, it sounds kinda fun to travel in an electric car. Not saying it's more efficient or more useful than an ICE car, but taking 45 min breaks is nice to visit some other towns and cities. I'm personally into "car spotting", so that would be a fun activity for me to do while the car is charging. Also just looking at stuff, architecture, shops, arcades, idk. Photography too, because there has got to be something cool to take a photo of in each town/city.

[@JGirard1Stream]

I didn't see the tube breaking coming, but once I saw it, I was in utter shock. I had to pause the video. I sat there in total disbelief with my face in my hand for literally two minutes. Then I started laughing uncontrollably and thinking to myself, if this could happen to anybody, of course it has to happen to David. I felt so bad for you David, but once you showed in the next scene that you had another unit with a working tube, I felt total relief. Thanks for showing this incident and not hiding it. It made for a great memorable video!

[@C_B_Hubbs]

There is another very large arcade in New Hampshire called Funspot. If David is ever in New England I hope he checks it out. Also, for retro telephones and radios, other communication tech, there's a museum for that stuff in Connecticut, just north of Hartford, which I discovered while at the Retro World Expo this August.

[@eDoc2020]

I think Funspot is the name for the entire location. It appears the arcade itself is called the American Classic Arcade Museum

[@relic985]

Loved the EV road trip breakdown at the beginning. I drive a Nissan Leaf myself with a miniscule battery compared to the Bolt. Obviously couldn't do a road trip like that, but I find the planning process both stressful, fulfilling, and relaxing. Doesn't really make sense, but it always works out!

[@jamesstien6847]

the protogen head at Dave's booth caught me so off guard

[@Charleshawn66]

Great video and TY for the content!! OMG I kind of felt sick myself when the tube broke! I'm just now starting to work on 5 of my 12 Commodore CRTs that each partially work. I will aways think of this when they are open, so TY for this cautionary tale and I'm sure many will take it to heart from now on.

[@johnnyroberts3761]

Longtime 8-Bit Guy fans remember when they used to have the BMW i3 REx. These road trips always show us some interesting, though 😆

[@DarthVader3DS]

Im 14,, Have never used a CD, And yet I love your content about vintage tech, I find it really fascinating and I wish I had some old tech to try and restore, I love doing stuff like that. Keep on making great, refreshing content!

[@UNSCPILOT]

CDs are deffinitly still worth a shot even now, if you can find a good CD player or a CD, DVD, or Bluray drive (inturnal (desktop or laptop if compatible) or usb external are still cheap) for a PC they are still great sounding, and don't need an internet connection to play. I still hunt down or order CDs for most music I want or can't get on Bandcamp and rip them to high quality FLAC to play on my PCs, phone, or dedicated music player (a Fiio M9, bizzar in this day and age, but actually pretty great having something very good at one job)

[@joey_after_midnight]

These are the artifacts of our civilization now.. all that we create and share online .. is exactly vulnerable to 'disappearing' long term.. either due to revisionism, recycling or not caring about future generations access to what we created as a culture. We're becoming 'culture less' with nothing to give to the future.

[@vorrnth8734]

CDs are new nonsense that wont get anywhere anyway ...

[@DarthVader3DS]

@@UNSCPILOT I watch Dankpods so I can understand Audiophile garble (he loves the M9 btw)

[@UNSCPILOT]

@@DarthVader3DS Dankpods is awesome, some of the nonsense he finds is hilarious, and his enthusiasm is infectious

[@cdarrigo]

Curious about the trip. What did it cost you to charge and recharge your car vs what it would have cost via gas powered

[@MrEd6066]

I was a bit surprised that the EV car stops weren't terribly long. I always thought it would thoroughly suck because fueling would take so long (which apparently it doesn't). It is frequent - but not too bad. It reminds me of motorcycle travel which I really like because it force you to stop more often (fuel and comfort for the legs and ass) which means you see more. You get to see more of the places you are travelling through and meet the locals. Driving an EV might actually make touring better. Being able to drive 6 hours without stopping robs you of actually seeing the sights.

[@stevethepocket]

It should get even better as the owners of tourist stops that are actually worth stopping at realize the benefits of getting chargers installed in their parking lots.

[@Okurka.]

Right, planes should land at every airport so we get to see more of the country.

[@stevethepocket]

@@Okurka. I don't think anyone is expecting people to stop using planes. If you're already taking a two-day road trip, it's not because you want to get there as fast as possible.

[@jaczob666]

LOL, I love how Ben looks so focused using that teletype. Complete seriousness hahaha. Super cool to see the panel with so many people that I love: 8-Bit Guy (of course), Computer Clan, LGR, and Ben Heck!!

[@Okurka.]

Ben was not just typing; he was programming.

[@TheNewCarryTrade]

my heart sank when I heard the sound of the vacuum being broken. I've actually done that before as well. Glad you had a second tube.

[@cynic5581]

You handled breaking that tube well. I would have been sweeping it off the floor after I spiked it like a football in a fit of rage.

[@SteveMorgan-qc1dv]

At least had a crying fit :).

[@nickwallette6201]

My epilogue would not be suitable for a family show.

[@Okurka.]

You get used to breaking stuff.

[@Angelgreat]

I see that Adrian Black used a Action Retro quote

[@MoonDeLaAxel]

Watch, the next game planned will be called "The VCF Trail" 😉 Cool stuff as always!

[@Wythaneye]

"Stopped for sushi at the Kum and Go. You now have dysentery."

[@TimmyJoe633]

Went to an arcade in Southend, England a few weeks back with my girlfriend and couldn't believe how many old crt machines were in use in there and how clear and bright the image still was on them. Sometimes pays to look in the less glitzy arcades on the sea front for a bit of nostalgia.

[@729MendicantTide]

That weekend was a really fun outing. Loved meeting all the KZbinrs who partook in the panel and then some. Bummed that I kind of missed out of a chance to meet Technology Connections, but I can't help trying to work around an unplanned fly-by. Oh, parking sucked at the venue, too.

[@David-he6uj]

I can imagine that road tripping in a bolt is a much bigger challenge than doing it in a Tesla.

[@Okurka.]

Or any ICE car.

[@spacekitt.n]

its wild there are so few charging stations still. you would think restaurants and shop owners would be fighting each other to put them on their property and they'd be all over the place. you literally have a captive audience/customers with time to kill. but i suppose just like electric car ownership itself, charging station installation is a cost barrier to entry. i hope Biden's bill with electric car subsidies does something to help people overcome these barriers.

[@The8BitGuy]

Yes, unfortunately, installing a DC fast charger probably costs north of $100,000 at this point.

[@absalomdraconis]

Electric vehicles are about the same as methane/natural gas vehicles: rare. As an Okie I'd have to say those "Francis" chargers are likely an example, as they're likely installed & maintained by Francis Tuttle Technology Center (a votech), likely with funding from a grant.

[@6581punk]

It's not just the quantity it is if they're even working and vacant. If you're running low on power there's nothing more stressful than having to search around for a charger. That's why I won't be getting an EV until I am forced to. The eco friendliness is over-rated, the manufacturing process on an EV requires more energy and the battery materials are mined in very bad conditions for the workers. They're for people who just believe what they are told by the government and don't look at the wider picture.

[@spacekitt.n]

@@6581punk yeah its not as green as it could be but i feel like its at least a baby step in the right direction. the real polluters are corporations though not individual cars.

[@mycosys]

@@6581punk you sounds about a decade out of date

[@pepstein]

9:06 We finally get to see Robin's face!

[@UpLateGeek]

Oh dude, that's pretty crushing to see that tube break! I know a bit what that's like, as I bought an IBM monitor from a guy interstate, and he very thoughtfully shipped it in enough packing peanuts to kill a horse, but it showed up with the neck snapped. Pretty sure the reason it snapped was because it was packed with the tube facing down, and the packing peanuts allowed enough movement when it was jostled to make it snap. If it were packed tighter or in the correct orientation, it probably wouldn't have snapped. Normally gravity would ensure that the neck was supported by board on the socket, when it's upright that means the neck is supporting the board. Anyway, at least you had a nice trip to VCF Midwest.

[@more.power.]

Thank you David and excellent adventure. Great drive and charging station location by you wife. Thank you both again for the awesome road trip.

[@Akotski-ys9rr]

16:00 this kid don’t even realize he’s using one of the most rarest machines rn

[@lostfan5054]

I love the road trip summary!!!!

[@dennisdobransky5977]

cant wait for the solar upgrade, hoping it works great for you

[@erichaan770]

Thanks for the shoutout to Pizza Ranch! I grew up in Northwest Iowa where it originates.

[@organiccold]

Cool video, interesting for the Bolt doing that trip! Looks like the recalled batteries are working ok lol. Never seen that room so full of people, thats really great. Dam that machine is really cursed lol

[@ericpullen524]

I have been wondering if road trips might look more like the time before interstates for the next few years while charging tech improves. So what I mean is roadside attractions start popping up around charging centers. So there is something to occupy 20-30mins while charging. I actually think it would make trips more fun, the journey not the destination.

[@kimkimpa5150]

Good point, but the environmentalists won't like that. They have something against the sprawl, and wants us all to live packed in big cities, for some odd reason.

[@CoWinkKeyDinkInc]

@@kimkimpa5150 that isn't sprawl

[@kimkimpa5150]

​@@CoWinkKeyDinkInc Britannica: "urban sprawl, also called sprawl or suburban sprawl, the rapid expansion of the geographic extent of cities and towns, often characterized by low-density residential housing, single-use zoning, and increased reliance on the private automobile for transportation". Sounds like spraw to me.

[@EnglishMike]

Stopping every two hours for a 15 to 20 minute break is actually a very good idea regardless of the type of fuel you use, especially if you're driving solo.

[@JeffHokie]

no

[@EnglishMike]

@@JeffHokie Yes.

[@charmcoin]

Crazy to see one of my favorite KZbinrs stopping in my hometown on a road trip! Glad to see that everything went well with Moonbase.

[@jesdadotcom]

Loved seeing your channel blow up over the years. Great content!

[@Superwastaken1]

I actually live near Chicago and I’m so mad I missed this show I’m definitely coming next year.

[@julianskidmore293]

This is a really great EV demonstration! We have a humble 70-90 mile range Renault Zoe, but we live in the UK, so if we push it, we can get to anywhere in Britain in about a day. Great to see the wind turbines at 5:39!

[@Boosted0ne]

That's silly the last thing on a long road trip that I wanna do is stop every couple hours to charge my battery car. Taking a break to take a leak every now and then with a quick fuel top off is sufficient break time for me. To each their own. :)

[@Boosted0ne]

@Future Pants lol :D

[@BiscuitLazers44]

I recently went on a 12 hour drive vacation with a friend and his family, many of whom are vehement electric car haters because reasons. Of course, the trip is 12 hours on a map, but after all of the stops and breaks, it was about 15 hours at least. I think in reality electric car infrastructure is extremely useable for most people, as once you're out of the car to stretch the legs, you will almost always find yourself waiting on everyone else to finish their business, often up to 45 minutes of waiting per stop.

[@ConvexCheeto]

The practicality of long road trips varies. You're fine where the distance between towns is an hour apart. In states like Utah and Wyoming it would be difficult if not impossible unless you had a long range EV.

[@BiscuitLazers44]

@@ConvexCheeto true, I’m thinking from an east coast perspective

[@seanholmes8290]

I just moved from PDX to a small town a few hours outside Chicago. Happy to see retro computers in the Midwest. Will have to check it out next year,

[@LJ45Chimera]

Great tour, thanks :). Was nice to see the PDP/8 there.