Apollo LVDC computer board (and more)

[@soniclab-cnc]

Master Ken at the ready "I will study the schematics" (4.5 minutes later....) "Ok, I know everything about this thing"

[@BaumInventions]

And he has decapped and reverse engineered it. 4.5 mins are a long time :D

[@largepimping]

Some day, Marco Reps and Curious Marc will release videos on the same day, causing my heart to explode with happiness.

[@CuriousMarc]

Oh I love the Marco Reps videos. Ken is helping Marco as we speak to reverse engineer a custom HP IC.

[@oldguy9051]

@@CuriousMarc That will surely result in a great video!

[@MLX1401]

@@MatthiasWelwarsky Even the bare thought of this collab is enough to give me some serious restlessness xD

[@luisjaimegarcia]

@@CuriousMarcfor

[@jlwilliams]

I love seeing how excited CuriousMarc is about opening his boxes! Totally winning at adulthood.

[@jonathanvanier]

We need a full tour of your laboratory!

[@964tractorboy]

I swear Ken's white lab-coat doubles his IQ; as if it wasn't high enough already. Very dapper too.

[@jlwilliams]

Everybody who does tech stuff needs a white coat. I remember when I worked for a big food company as a bottom-of-the-org-chart graphic designer, running a DuPont Vaster Design System (anybody remember those? pre-Mac design workstation based on Unix and GPIB.) I had just gotten filthy crawling around behind the console untangling GPIB cables when my boss came in and said the VP wanted to give some visiting Japanese dignitaries a tour of the department. I grabbed a white coat one of the food techs had left behind to cover up my dirty clothes, and gave the visitors a quick demo of the Vaster. Later, after they had left, my boss told me they had told the VP the thing that had impressed them the most about the tour was the opportunity to meet "the scientist" (me!)

[@unlokia]

It sounds as if you’re implying he’s less intelligent without it. Careful how you word things.

[@BilisNegra]

@@unlokia What about the second part of the sentence? No, that implication is not to be found.

[@danieltufvesson1349]

Waking up to a new video from Marc&Co is a good day!

[@jeldrikpetersen]

Incredible how the whole basement is stuffed with obsolete vintage electronics. If I understood half of the technical basics you explain, this would be a nice playground. Love it!

[@virtualinfinity6280]

I subbed to this channel a long time ago just to see the incredible lab-space and equipment shown. It is absolutely over the top. Also, being 57, I can relate to anything Apollo, since it has been an inspiration and source of fascination since I was a little kid. Suffice to say, the NASA missions provided the missing piece (if any) to me going into engineering and computer science. Greetings from Germany and many thanks for the incredible content.

[@KolliRail]

This is what I like about the channel. You are showing things I never heard about. With every single of your videos I learn something new.

[@scottyb069]

There were a whole bunch of those nuvistors in the input and timebase modules on my 1963 Tektronix 564, fascinating little doodads.

[@jerseybob4471]

I worked for IBM for 37 years. I used the IO tested in system 360 days. It was a switch indicator unit. A portable maintenance control panel for units without a control panel. You would connect the cables to the unit under test, insert the correct plastic overlay and user the tester to exercise and diagnose the unit. I remember using the tester on 2501(punch card reader), 2821(card reader/ punch and printer controller) and 2701(telecommunications controller). Many other controllers had a build in control panel.

[@CuriousMarc]

Yes, I got this one specifically for my 2501 card reader. But we have not found any 2501 docs showing how to use it yet…

[@jimmuehlberg2153]

Let's not forget to thank my bosses, Bert and Saini, who mostly tolerate my desire to hoard and fix old HP stuff. BTW, there are more plotter parts in the box where you fond the nuvistor.

[@CuriousMarc]

Thanks Jim and bosses! And yes, I did find and identify all the precious HP 7132 chart recorder spare parts although I did not show it in the video! Nice treasure you contributed here.

[@jimmuehlberg2153]

@@CuriousMarc I don't think I've ever seen a man so excited about a roll of paper. I get it though! I have a similar disease! I almost kept them to make a scratch paper "dispenser", but I think you can make better use of it!

[@CuriousMarc]

@@jimmuehlberg2153 Yes I got a little over excited on that one, but I had been looking for these rolls for a long while now... I had found the pens (still in great condition), so the only thing that remained was finding the rolls. Thanks for sending them in!

[@gregorymccoy6797]

Puzzles, trinkets, toys, so much fun.

[@RetroSwim]

I had a 4953A (precursor to the 4957) that died an absolutely horriffic death. One of the daughterboards had a large NiCD battery pack onboard, which violently leaked and destroyed not just the board it was attached to, but several adjacent boards and a decent chunk of the passive backplane. The internals were destroyed beyond repair. It's a very cool looking piece of equipment though, so I retrofit the chassis with an LCD, hand-wired the keyboard matrix with an MCU, and built a cool little portable PC out of it.

[@CuriousMarc]

Yep. I have already changed the NiCads in both units.

[@CraigPetersen12f36b]

Love my Nuvistor powered HP 3400A, use it regularly for power supply noise measurements and audio levels on transceivers.

[@CuriousMarc]

And I love my HP 400E, which will happily continue giving me RMS voltages up to 10MHz while my modern Keysight pewters out at a few 10’s of kHz!

[@SteveInScotland]

Motorola used the TI terminal for remote control of some of their radio equipment which was great until of course the remote modem would lock up and we would have to drive miles away up to the top of a hill, cycle the power and come back. Those were the days! Lol. The other thing that someone mentioned was the size of the return key on the TI Silent Writer, in my experience 90% of the time your using it as a terminal not a typewriter so your choosing from menus with say option 1,2 or 3 or a,b or c, so return was rarely used unless a value needed to be entered which was rare.

[@BAD_CONSUMER]

Its crazy how much they accomplished, and yet, how much of the knowledge they took with them. You guys are basically archeologists.

[@acmefixer1]

Wow! That HP protocol analyzer brings back memories! We had a Honeywell Bull mainframe and its FNP - frontend network processor emulated Burroughs poll / select so we could have a dozen or so ADM-31 terminals on a single port. The FNP would crash occasionally or do something else unexpected. So we had to get the HP protocol analyzer on the line to see what was coming from where. I remember watching that little screen to see the control characters between the mainframe and the terminals. The tape cartridge was handy to play back the screens to analyze what was going on. I don't know what happened to it, but I think we may have leased it for a year. Thanks, Marc and crew for the rest of the stuff.

[@Lennyp4]

i don’t care what he posts. i’m watching it. curiousmarc is the best youtube channel

[@reasonablebeing5392]

Really enjoy your videos. I'm envious every time I see "new" gear and also get a tear to my eye as it brings back memories. I had a Silent 700 with magnetic bubble memory inside as my first "portable" terminal. I went through a lot of thermal paper when I was connected to the company's mainframe through the 300 baud handset cuffs.

[@jeromeprater183]

When storing the IBM LVDA circuit board, I would recommend using a small air tight (Pelican?) container with a desiccant pack and dryness indicator. The main structure is made from a Lithium Magnesium alloy hence the separation of the gray paint. Back in the 1980's, I dissected a rejected Apollo Block II gyroscope. It is built like a precision Swiss watch with tolerances in the sub-microns. The design is based on the MIT/Draper Polaris submarine launched ballistic missile IRIG 25 gyro.

[@CuriousMarc]

Thanks for the tip. Indeed, I have several of these disintegrating magnesium alloy modules.

[@lostlullo]

Ahh the rubber duck debugging method. Works for me every time.

[@gmergulhao]

the swag has reached insane levels once he lowered the keyboard on that HP

[@fabiosemino2214]

I've never known about Nuvistors, the fact that MIG-25 used tube electronics make much more sense now!

[@Yrouel86]

Christmas early for Marc. Ken getting dibs on a chip to study from the donor Bermuda board in a nanosecond was hilarious

[@dr.zarkhov9753]

Marc, watching this was good therapy. Thanks 😀

[@DevilishDesign]

Cool! I love those TI Silent 700's. Have a couple of the earlier 745's and a 707/1200 which unlike the normal 707, has a 25pin RS232 port and can run at an amazing 1200 baud!!

[@8-bitbitsa821]

Looking forward to seeing the HP protocol analyzer fix Marc 😉 I’m about to try that EPROMs swap here 👍🏻

[@CuriousMarc]

Good luck with the EPROM transplant Ian. Our patients have survived over here :-)

[@8-bitbitsa821]

@@CuriousMarc cheers, I’m curious to see the background to the remedy too 😉

[@CuriousMarc]

@@8-bitbitsa821 Actually Ian, before you do the ROM transplant, could you get some footage of your faulty screen and share it with me? I am curious to see if it's the same fault as mine. From our email exchange, it seems to be very similar.

[@8-bitbitsa821]

@@CuriousMarc will do 👍🏻

[@8-bitbitsa821]

@@CuriousMarc uploaded to KZbin for you also Marc… kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6XQaXh7fJaWadU

[@AnalogThinker]

Thanks for the mention of that booklet "Transistors vs Tube", I found it online and I must admit it was a pleasant and interesting read! Merci!

[@tabajaralabs]

had I already said how much I love this music that plays in your videos?! :D

[@julesinspaaace]

Would love to see a scan of that "Tubes vs Transistors" case study! I couldn't find it online...

[@mxlje]

Please do a shop tour, even if it’s just broad but I’d love to see your amazing space in its entirety.

[@Pistoletjes]

I second that request. It absolutely looks like a candystore to me, and a nightmare to my wife ;-)

[@Electronics-Rocks]

I love the update tags onscreen as the protocol analyser I have used and fixed so have seen it only had no 6502 but multiple z80

[@laptop006]

The connector for the gyro also looks like the same connector that's used on some of the Efratom Rubidium oscillators.

[@petermopar]

Good banter. Smallest return key. Transistor dog died.

[@TechGorilla1987]

I think the only thing more voluminous than Ken's knowledge is his socially awkward shyness. Both are almost immeasurable. Both are a huge asset to your content.

[@renimarenima7453]

Encore un super épisode merci👍

[@mjaerkens]

It's weird seeing all these people I follow for some time on this channel. From Ken to Ben and all the others. Really awesome!

[@MrHichammohsen1]

Too many eye candy in one video! Amazing as usual thank you so much for this.

[@j7gy8b]

Therapy is right, Marc. These videos are so soothing.

[@lwilton]

The switches on that IBM tester are the same type that were used in the Model 29 keypunch, and possibly on other terminals and maybe even 360/25 and 360/40 front panels of that general era. Very reliable. I had a bunch I got surplus back in the 1970s, but they are all long used up and gone.

[@CuriousMarc]

Yes, I knew I had seen them before! these are C-H branded.

[@1944GPW]

The switch is IBM p/n 738826. Also used on 3741 Data Station, 1052 printer keyboard and others. Definitely not used on the 360/40 front panel, instead this used the lever switch with the plastic body and chrome tip common to the other 360 front panels, but may have been used for the internal CE panel. I found some on eBay a few years ago.

[@williamsquires3070]

Nuvistors were used in some UHF tuners in CRT TVs, I believe.

[@jwingo7257]

Christmas came early for you guys!

[@radarmusen]

Those Nuvistor was in a bendix radar in the preamp. They was really something special.

[@mrJety89]

I once had to build a test connector for a repair board. I inserted the metal pins I liberated from another connector, into a 3D-printed plastic body. The print time was 12 hours.

[@compwiz101]

I feel very clever fixing my HP 412A VTVM, and then I remember Marc is out there fixing this gear :D

[@heinrichhein2605]

These connectors are also still used in space electronics, i just used the one from your gyro a couple of moths ago in a design

[@vvdvlas8397]

21:28 - Такой нувистор стоял в советском осциллографе С1-64 (советская копия осциллографа Tektronix) Such a nuvistor was in the Soviet С1-64 oscilloscope (Soviet copy of the Tektronix oscilloscope)

[@overbuiltautomotive1299]

Gob bless you all neat vintage toys

[@mrl22222]

"the Fran board" I caught that~!!

[@sittingstill3578]

Some people use ducks as natural pest control in gardens and on farms.

[@CuriousMarc]

So I should use my ducky as bug control. A debugging ducky.

[@sittingstill3578]

@@CuriousMarc Sort of like _Adrian Black’s_ RAMMy and Dead Chips Chest.

[@comicsansgreenkirby]

ohhh that power up was music to my ears. (recording charts unboxing clip)

[@andreilikayutub3496]

Marc do you just have a separate house for your collection and workshop? Can’t wait to see more gyro stuff, the more dangerous the better!

[@Digital-Dan]

I had a Bell Labs book about relay logic that gave tubes and transistors some credit when you needed fast, if unreliable, operation. 1951.

[@SkyOctopus1]

Hah, is that a bottle of sake in the background of the end credits? A geek after my own heart.

[@CuriousMarc]

It trips everyone, it just holds the water for tge soldering iron sponge…

[@TeslaTales59]

Fab collection of goodies!

First generation Tektronix 453 oscilloscopes had nuvistors on the front end amplifiers.

[@douro20]

I think that's where they are most commonly found. The first time I saw them, though, was in the power supply of an old Dymec digital voltmeter from the 1960s- one of the first all-electronic digital voltmeters, and which had an interface for an HP 2100 minicomputer.

[@Richardincancale]

13:00 I used to have a 144MHz to 28MHz down converter using four or five Nuvistors back in the early 70s. Can’t recall who made it…

[@carlosamaya8379]

I got my geek on!

[@jean-pierredesoza2340]

Re: Nuvistor. The Braun branded CE-1000 vintage Hifi tuner uses 2 of them to amplify radio signals out of the antenna.

[@MLX1401]

Last :P Party was great though!

[@benjaminhanke79]

I never heard the phrase "permanent screen" but that's what it is.

[@2packs4sure]

My father told me that men should never send other men a plastic duck

[@oldavguywholovesRCA]

I would love to have that Apollo mouse pad

[@CuriousMarc]

I found it on Zazzle: www.zazzle.com/apollo_guidance_computer_mouse_pad-144635773911339514

[@oldavguywholovesRCA]

@@CuriousMarc You DA MAN!

[@nikreichel2232]

Oh! That's what I found in the boxes we saved from trash! Nuvistors! @CuriousMarc: Do you want some more? I have 2pcs. 7586 😎

[@CuriousMarc]

I’ll sure take them. contact me via the link in the description.

[@boots_n_coots]

‘We’re gonna need a bigger boat… er, basement’

[@alanletterman]

Not often that you see someone get so excited by a roll of paper....

[@video99couk]

15:15 Like certain car manufacturers today, EVs are a game changer and they don't want that.

[@video99couk]

@SteelRodent Sorry but that's just not reality at all.

[@explorer914]

I'm first to say that you sure got a good little stash of candy there 😋

[@marvintpandroid2213]

Oh my, good morning all.

[@nacabaro3737]

I feel like at some point in the next 5 years, you will use all the equipment you have from past space missions to make a rocket and go to the moon.

[@CyclingSteve]

Love it!

[@yuglesstube]

The Soyuz Clock...The Soviets clearly wanted their Cosmonauts to stay awake!

[@RetroJack]

OMG - I want that AGC mouse mat!

[@CuriousMarc]

I found it on Zazzle: www.zazzle.com/apollo_guidance_computer_mouse_pad-144635773911339514

[@RetroJack]

@@CuriousMarc Thanks so much! 👍

[@kaitlyn__L]

That IBM tester looks similar to some original Star Trek computers! Not the integrated ones but the standalone ones, such as in conference rooms and shuttles.

[@soniclab-cnc]

beep bloop blurp beep.... "calculating" (whirring noises)

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@soniclab-cnc exactly :D

[@patrik3623]

When do you start streaming KZbin 24/7/365? I never get tired of your videos.

[@csudsuindustries]

If I remember correctly, some Russian Cold War military hardware uses

[@Kates-dead-goon]

My scope uses those nuvistors.

[@CuriousMarc]

Yes I saw the Tek scopes used a lot of these at some point.

[@lwilton]

@@CuriousMarc Yep, the 4-channel plugin (I forget the number) for the 547 used four of these as the input tubes. They worked very well, and since they were small (electron transit time) could manage pretty high frequencies.

[@reasonablebeing5392]

They also used them to build the first "portable" hearing aids. The prototypes were built in metal travel cigar cases.

[@lwilton]

@@reasonablebeing5392 Were they? It's certainly possible, but from the late 1940s there were very low power "pencil" tubes that didn't even have bases. They were about the diameter of a pencil and an inch or so long with flying leads out of the base end. They were used in portable radios from the early 1950s, and in hearing aid packs, once those got down to the size of early six transistor radios.

[@reasonablebeing5392]

@@lwilton you are correct sir - I was going from memory but checked an old photo from the days I worked as a tech and they were as you described.

[@pmcgee003]

Blue tape over the laptop camera ... 😆

[@ITGuyinaction]

💪😎👌I've found your channel not so much time ago. Great channel and great videos (incl. this one). I'm also trying to do sth similar but in much smaller scale... Thus if you have few minutes... 🤓

[@drocles]

Ooo where did you get the apollo control panel poster?! Is there some high resolution photos available for download? Ive been wanting to build a raspberry pi/arduino simulator version of the panel

[@drocles]

From 1:20

[@CuriousMarc]

It's from Lunareplicas. They make all kind of great space stuff.

[@mutzbunny]

is Eric now a new memeber of the CuriousMarc crew? because i really do like him a lot....

[@CuriousMarc]

We do too!

[@Mues_Lee]

Dude, seriously, how big (in km²) is your basement!? :D

[@ToTheGAMES]

"yes"

[@CuriousMarc]

It’s so big, it’s measured in light-years.

[@Mues_Lee]

@@CuriousMarc From what I saw in all your videos, I really gonna believe this :D

[@neilshep50]

Christmas already? Where has the year gone?

[@douro20]

How fast does the IRIG gyroscope spin?

[@CuriousMarc]

Runs at 800 Hz, so I think twice the normal rate, 48,000 RPM.

[@jj74qformerlyjailbreak3]

Those rare parts we all pray for. GOD Delivers Personally. I prayed for a IBM Ceramic CPU, In the comment section of Play With Junk Channel. I promised never to harm another computer for the rest of my days. Christian mailed me a Digital/Harris J11 DEC White 60pin Ceramic and a Power 6 CPU for my collection from Switzerland. These are my best pieces I show when I tell my story. I have started a collection from my favorite KZbin Channels. I’d love to add some Apollo Core Memory to it. It’s ok. God created time in an instant. Comprehension IS Ongoing. Great Stuff Guys. Reverse Engineering IS the number 8. Love Is Draft.

[@killyergebeurendinge]

He Marc do you have the manual for a HP 59304A numeric display? I can't find it online and there is just a little bit of info about it but no schematics.

[@CuriousMarc]

I do. Contact me via the link in the description.

[@Chiavaccio]

👏👏👏👏👏

[@oblitum]

😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

[@franzrosental7869]

What model wrist watch is that? Been wondering about that for quite some videos now. Can anybody could identify it?

[@CuriousMarc]

That's one of the early Casio G-Shocks. They make a million different ones now. Highly recommended.

[@franzrosental7869]

Thank you Marc! Yes, that is exactly the problem researching: too many models! Do you have a model # by any chance, should say on the metal back cover.

[@CuriousMarc]

@@franzrosental7869 It's a Pathfinder PAW 1200. I'm not sure you can get it anymore. I have had it for ages. This things last forever.

[@franzrosental7869]

@CuriousMarc Brilliant! Thank you very much! Also thank you for hinting at the patreon content. Should be an influx of new subscribers now. Your channel is absolute treasure.

[@TheDiveO]

next up: unavoidable recap therapy...

[@douro20]

Schneeweis, or Schneeweiss, literally "snow white"...

[@anderskarlsson9881]

But...????.... Christmas is two months away!!!!

[@mylestechnological7031]

Managed to get here at 10 seconds

[@CuriousMarc]

And that's a click for the win! Now I am not sure which vintage thingy to award in this batch. The mini rubber duckie maybe?

[@mylestechnological7031]

You're like a repair company or something

[@CuriousMarc]

Basically.

[@pizzablender]

@@CuriousMarc "For all your Apollo repair needs".

[@cheapasstech]

Did I see a ‘belden’ box ?

[@adamdickson608]

Is there any chance of making a scan of that “Tubes vs Transistors” booklet available? Fascinating, and good for a laugh!

[@2001pulsar]

That capacitor board would contain some serious amount of palladium. Yummy.

[@ristojokinen1258]

cool devices, I have used silent 703 and moved it around europe a lot :D well before pc time.... , also used that protocol analyzer, bit slow for modern protocols...

[@retrocomputerskarachi6158]

Thank you sharing the stuff, I only see in pictures. Greetings from Karachi, Pakistan.