Inside the WILD Lab of CuriousMarc

Vintage test gear and Apollo hardware - holy moly you have to see this incredible lab!
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CuriousMarc's channel: / curiousmarc
Check out the insane lab that CuriousMarc calls home. Vintage NASA Apollo space technology, retro computing, old school test equipment, oscilloscope music, and more!
Twitter:
@DanielBogdanoff
/ danielbogdanoff
@curious_marc
/ curious_marc
0:00 "I never turned everything on at the same time"
0:37 NASA Apollo space communication tech
1:37 The most insane clock collection
3:25 1960s HP's 1st computer and test rack
5:06 More Apollo gear
5:55 CuriousMarc's engineering crew
6:27 Machine shop
6:48 Welded discrete RF systems from NASA
9:05 The Xerox Alto from 1974
10:38 Marc's prestigious engineering background
11:55 The first HP logic analyzer, which uses Intel's 1st chip
12:30 Oscilloscope music in the "low frequency corner"
13:13 How Marc's collection started - a 10 GHz oscilloscope
13:48 1964 IBM 360 computer restoration project
16:35 CuriousMarc channel origin story
#retrotech #vintagetech #curiousmarc #retrocomputer #testequipment #labtour #labequipment #oscilloscopes #electronics #electricalengineering #technology #tech #nasa #space

[@juliankandlhofer7553]

17:40 "my videos require effort on the part of the viewer" resonates quite well with me :D marc's videos are the only one's where I'll say "you know what, I'll go to sleep and watch this tomorrow so I can pay full attention" him and his team are absolutely brilliant and sooo inspiring to me and I learn something new every time.

[@soranuareane]

you do that too?! I sometimes leave a tab open with a video halfway through just so I can get back to it when my brain isn't melted

[@benjaminhanke79]

I just watch the video a second time when I wake up.

[@Hans-gb4mv]

There's a few more channels out there like that, e.g. Ben Eater also requires your attention if you want to learn from what he is doing.

[@lucasimark7992]

I set his videos aside for sunday. I sit down when I a fresh and awake and watch them carefully, sometimes taking breaks

[@hoofie2002]

I have often stopped his videos and done some googling especially some of the microwave RF stuff and then come back 20 mins later.

[@cda32]

What makes his channel amazing is the lengths they go to restoring stuff, they honestly do not ever give up no mater how ridiculous it gets even de-capping IC's to see why they don't work anymore.

[@KeysightLabs]

Absolutely, it's amazing what they pull off!

[@DrBovdin]

@@KeysightLabs haha, I see what you did there…

[@westrex]

I couldn't agree more. I love the episode where a big cap failed inside a vintage oscilloscope and Marc stuck it in the lathe to cut it open and see why. The answer was that it was half full of epoxy and had dried out...a manufacturing defect from 50 years ago. Just awesome!

[@wishusknight3009]

@@westrex The lengths he went to getting his PS/2 computer running too.

[@SalvaBarbus]

One part I love about CuriousMarc's channel is when the elevator music starts playing. That's when you know the serious stuff is about to happen!

[@SubTroppo]

It is excellent that the heritage is being appreciated by Keysight. I had also hoped to see some of the old electro-mechanical telex machines and calculators which Marc has repaired (the mind boggles).

[@KeysightLabs]

We had to cut so many things out! The teletypes are super cool

[@vinayakonimani7628]

@@KeysightLabs you can also do a part 2 maybe, where you can add those fun parts that needed to be cut out!! :D great vid tho!!

[@macartm]

@@vinayakonimani7628 That gets my vote :) Maybe even an unlisted B-Reel linked off this main one ....?

[@ToTheGAMES]

@@KeysightLabs Please release an extended version!

[@ForViewingOnly]

This video get a thumbs up before I even start playing it. Curious Mark's Apollo Guidance Computer video series just BLEW MY MIND! I'd never seen this level of engineering and determination in any KZbin video before. Curious Mark and his team are in a class of their own.

[@izzieb]

Everyone talks about his wonderful lab, but nobody comments on Curious Marc's wonderful moustache.

[@MarcelHuguenin]

Thanks Keysight for doing this video with CuriousMarc. His channel if my absolute No. 1 favorite channel. I love the masterclasses we're getting from him and the team.

[@evilbetty9204]

For sure! Inspiration for me to pull out my first computer and restore it. Tandy TRS-80. About halfway there.

[@MarcelHuguenin]

@@evilbetty9204 great! Keep going!

[@MichaelOfRohan]

A masterclass without the masterclass!! Marc is doing gods work!!

[@MarcelHuguenin]

@@MichaelOfRohan Absolutely!

[@RaoulB.]

Curious Marc’s channel truly is a gem! It’s not common to have all that knowledge freely accessible and in a convenient format as an interesting KZbin video! Thanks Keysight (and Marc ;) ) for the tour!

[@k1mgy]

Not only is each of Marc's videos a mini-tutorial, but we also get to see the brilliant engineering that went into the older gear.

[@Bobbias]

Easily one of my favorite KZbin channels out there. Marc and his friends do some true sorcery in some of those projects.

[@IBM_Museum]

"I get by with a little help from my friends..."

[@wishusknight3009]

The Alto is so far my favorite series.. But what the team achieved with the AGC will be remembered for a generation.

[@KeritechElectronics]

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." --Arthur C. Clarke

[@sebastianwingednekokipp2694]

oh my gosh, YES! Marc is so awesome, "even" behind the scenes :D thank you Keysight for sharing this awesome video with us, and thank you Marc for accepting a behind the scene recording!

[@KeysightLabs]

He's the best!

[@mariomionskowski6223]

@@KeysightLabs Indeed and he have a brilliant Team.

[@fredknox2781]

That was great fun. But, I was hoping to see Marc wearing fancy pants, particularly since this was a Keysight interview.

[@KeysightLabs]

Ah, shoulda pulled in Mr. Fancy Pants, that would have been great!

[@philmayf]

Marc is a treasure. His extended group of collaborators is so good that it's incredible.

[@hoofie2002]

Mark sums his videos up : " they need some work on the part of the viewer". I am lucky I am an Engineer so get so much out of them. However even people who aren't can learn so much. They are I would argue the best series of technical videos on KZbin. And he sells fantastic T- Shirts😁

[@lucylastik1887]

That was a treat! We never get to actually see Marc himself on the channel, he's always behind the camera.

[@christophernetherton9389]

It was wonderful to see you guys together! Thank you for the tour!

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

This is an excellent tour of Marc's lab. Lots of fun to see him in "real life" and the fantastic equipment he has assembled. Great Alto computer too! Thanks for giving us this video tour. Really enjoyed this. (Loved Marc's "360" T-shirt too! ~ Victor

[@n00dles79]

Marc, I agree. The more I watched you open up the AGC, The more I couldn’t believe these brilliant engineers were doing this in the 60s. It profoundly impacted my view of things. Your channel is absolutely incredible.

[@leandrolaporta2196]

Curious Marc is one of a kind, the Apollo series he did on the AGC computer and the Apollo communications equipment where epic!. Not to mention the altos restorarion when they started to check line by line the execution of the machine to see where it got stuck, amazing.

[@tomohlsson9045]

Marc and his band of merry mirth makers are truly a national treasure.

[@DaveWilliamsj]

Fantastic to see the gear I grew up with still appreciated. Love the depth Marc goes to reverse engineer, nothing stops him. The 9825 memory refresh emulation was a great example.

[@stevesmusic1862]

Awesome! Kens lab next please!!

[@rsmrsm2000]

Reverse engineering the talents hidden in old technologies, I see, is not an easy task. You are very good! Congratulations.

[@jeremiefaucher-goulet3365]

Marc has the best channel on KZbin by FAR. It's been amazing to watch him over all those years.

[@bobert4522]

Marc is one of a kind. I would do anything to just sit back and watch him work in person.

[@Padoinky]

I worked for Xerox, right out of university, from 1986 to 1989, initially in the Webster NY manufacturing campus, then moved to the corporate HQ in Stamford CT(long ridge rd) …actually had access to all sorts of revolutionary tech - had a STAR 6085 workstation w/ the graphical user interface, email, Ethernet connectivity linked to laser printers, etc. all this cool tech was developed out in the Xerox Palo Alto (CA) Research Center (PARC) 21 yr old me had no idea about just how groundbreaking these technologies were….

[@timothydraper137]

This is a really nice overview of Marc’s lab! Honestly I think Marc is one of the best brand ambassadors Keysight could have, I now try to buy your equipment having seen how capable it is on Marc’s channel.

[@trumpio]

Marc and his willingness to share his knowledge is an absolute treasure.

[@TheFleetz]

Mr Marc is a real character with a great sense of humour with a passion for quality history technology! Think that sums him up in a sentence. Have not missed one of his You Tube videos....

[@s8wc3]

12:08 You couldn't even fit "Hello world" in ascii on that intel eeprom. Kinda awesome. "Hellorld" just works though :)

[@colombianguy8194]

Marc and his team are my heroes, it's so cool to see the real inner workings on past technology that change humanity forever. Greetings from a mechatronics engineer in Colombia!

[@theamaturepro]

My grandpa was a programmer that helped develop most these machines. His stories were incredible

[@Alpine_flo92002]

CuriousMarc, the one channel where I understand complex topics easely...atleast till the video ends

[@darkstatehk]

I remember watching one of his videos where he showed the circuit board in great detail from one of those lunar modules and they had surface mount technology on them, like YEARS before such technology was widespread. That below my mind seeing "old" tech that looked like it was manufactured yesterday.

[@bubblehead78]

Love this behind-the-scenes video. I'm a retired submarine electronics technician. Much of the equipment I worked on in the navigation center of fleet ballistic missile submarines came from the early '60's and is much similar to alot of this stuff. In fact, the frequency time standard we used was the HP cesium beam clock (two for redundancy, of course). Great stuff!

[@KeysightLabs]

Very cool!

[@TerryMurrayTalks]

Marc Et al. are amazing tec archeologists. Love how Marc presents his content in such a way that an non specialist like myself can appreciate it. The deep dive into the hardware and software is a joy to watch. The support from his learned friends and subscribers is what makes it so good. I always look forward to 20-45 min of Tech problem solving at its best.

[@CraigPetersen12f36b]

I have been watching Marcs channel for quite some time now. As someone who has been an electronics geek my whole life I really like the format of his videos, and even purchased equipment shown in his videos. Like the HP 59401A Bus System Analyzer for example, that piece of equipment greatly helped me understand HP-IP command structure.

[@HylanderSB]

Outstanding video. Marc's channel is indeed one of KZbin's best kept secrets. I found him through his series on the Apollo Guidance Computer.

[@anderswahlgren9308]

Curious Marc has the best youtubechennel period.

[@gerryjamesedwards1227]

Marc is an absolute diamond!

[@GadgetUK164]

Wonderful =D An amazing guy for sure (and the team behind him)! Always learn something from Marcs videos!

[@thomasandrews9355]

Says the man I'm constantly learning from :) I run an Amiga repair business and still learn new things.

[@angst_]

I think a great way to learn about modern electronics and engineering is by studying older equipment. It really is a great simplified example of what computers and circuits do today. "simplified" but not simple. I've really learned a lot about programming thanks to the constraints of a 8bit 16MHz arduino processor.

[@JohnDuthie]

I watch Marc all the time! Great channel.

[@fredinit]

Marc - Love the channel, and Thank you! The new Keysight equipment is great.. but I like it even better seeing what Master Ken, Carl, Mike, and the rest of the crew are able to do with the 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 year old test equipment and gear. Agreed with "my videos require effort on the part of the viewer". That's what makes them great. You and other masters of their trade: Ben Eater, Huygens Optics, Abom79, Primitive Technology, Marco Reps (his ppm videos) - Love them all! Keep up the great work.

[@macartm]

Fantastic stuff :) I was once, for nearly a year, a temporary employee at HP's Test and Measurement Operations facility in South Queensferry, Scotland ... a place which later became part of Agilent but not sure if it ever made it to becoming part of Keysight before it closed, alas. It's now a housing estate. HP, when I worked there (97 to 98), had a fantastic dedication to engineering development, to quality, and to looking after its workers. To have that as my first job out of university, was a fantastic experience and a gold standard that no employer since has ever beaten. I miss that place still :) I wasn't one of the electronics people. I just worked in IT. But it was still a fantastic place.... No longer in touch with any of the people from there, it was so long ago. My boss had such a common name he'd be almost impossible to find on the likes of facebook :)

[@hoofie2002]

I worked for 2 years as a student in Nat Semi in Greenock. The 80s were a great time in Silicon Glen with so many places to work. Now all gone😟

[@MesutAtmaca]

thank you much

[@tomservo5007]

Marc and his team are real superheroes

[@markgreco1962]

Thank You Daniel and crew. I appreciate all you do.

[@KeysightLabs]

Thanks Mark!

[@jakobhovman]

Thank You for visiting Marc and touring the "Curios Wild Lab"...Thank You...!

[@alpcns]

One of the very best channels on KZbin. These guys are simply brilliant.

[@c1ph3rpunk]

Excellent video, glad Marc sent us over here. He’s single-handedly the one that got me to rediscover my love of electronics after 40 years.

[@tomsherwood4650]

Those Collins modules construction are exactly the same as their regular mid 60s to early 70s aerospace equipment except for the blobs of applied material for dampening or whatever. Those cast modules all PTP wiring with teflon post terminals to feed thru one side to the other.

[@tomsherwood4650]

I just was looking at this again. I forgot! I was gonna comment the same thing again. Oh, to be old.

[@m4dizzle]

This is an awesome behind the scenes look, thank you!!

[@rkan2]

Is not really behind the scenes :D His channel is the behind the scenes. This is more like a channel introduction :D

[@my3dprintedlife]

Marc is amazing with so much knowledge, he's one of my role models! Thanks Daniel!

[@domasgrigaliunas7936]

This video was just that I was waiting I even remember asking about NASA gear on the live stream. Keep the great work :)

[@stevenspmd]

Mind blown!

[@prillewitz]

I really love your channel Marc, I do not grasp everything you do, but I have got a technical background and I find your videos very interesting! Keep up the good work!

[@BDJones055]

CuriousMarc is a legend.

[@MichaelOfRohan]

His channel is just chock full of cool shit. I am so glad I found his work.

[@artursmihelsons415]

I've seen this interview at Keysight Live event! Nice to see it, finally, at KZbin! 👍 I'm loving CuriousMarc because of restauration of old gear, what I didn't seen before! It's always nice to see something new from old stuff and understanding engineering mind behind of that for inspiration.. 😊

[@kurtiunlisted8589]

He‘s just such a lovely dude 🤗

[@Bartisim0]

Thank you Marc and Keysight!

[@glenwoofit]

Marc and his team of excellent engineers are fantastic to watch. Out of all the tech channels on KZbin his is the best and for Keysight an excellent advertisement of your products and what you can do with them.

[@lesliebishop3516]

I have been watching marc and his crew for about a year now and specially loving the Apollo series. What is even more impressive are the comments here from his fans all over the world. There is such respect for a person that is not usual for KZbin. Keep up the good work everyone. Im sure our support for Marc and his team will keep up there enthusiasm to keep doing great work and inspiring us all ... Well done

[@thelorax9622]

Thanks for alerting me to this channel - I watch a lot of YT and this is a great channel to have discovered as a fan of the early space program.

[@alexlefevre3555]

It was really cool to see a video about Marc and not just about what he was fixing at the time. A very enjoyable watch! Also reminded me it's been a day or two since I've watched him bring something back to life...

[@kriss1_]

thank you for the tour! it would be an amazing opportunity to go there to work with and learn from the masters! so much knowledge in that lab!

[@vk5fe943]

Respect. Makes my humble lab seems humbler.

[@lorenzo42p]

absolutely love seeing his work

[@SpinStar1956]

Great tour! 😊

[@DanielDziubanski]

CuriousMarc .. between the incredible feats the team pills off, and the weird hardware of yesterday, with a sprinkle of good humor, I really enjoy the channel. Nice to see Keysight support the endeavor.

[@Karebear9001]

so many beautiful machines! I got a tear in my eye

[@DIY-valvular]

I discovered Curious Marc during his mechanical TTY machines restoration series. Today is one of my favorite tech channels at the very top of the list.

[@malteibs6350]

Great tour! And for the first time I could admire your (original I guess) Anglepoise lamp in it's whole beauty!

[@ChrisBentle]

Wow, I am impressed. I have been on KZbin for 10 years and have never come across this guy's channel. Thanks for sharing @KeysightLabs

[@KeysightLabs]

It's a good one!

[@Chriss120]

this was a cool behind the scenes look of an incredible channel. hope you can contiue to find ways to work together with him and his engineering buddys.

[@A2CVMAN]

Brilliant, thank you very much.

[@jtveg]

Thanks so much for sharing. 😉👌🏻

[@openworked]

Thanks to @CuriousMarc for introducing me to Keysight and I’ve since bought some nice Keysight equipment for my home lab. Keep up the great work!

[@Dave5281968]

Excellent interview! Marc's channel is great. Thanks for inviting us to watch!

[@cocusar]

One of the best channels I've the honour to be subscribed to!

[@andrewbarnard3229]

This, was. AWESOME!

[@adeeponion9152]

Thanks to both of you!

[@TeslaTales59]

Nice presentation

[@metallurgico]

Marc is a crazy mad genius! I love his videos!

[@KeritechElectronics]

I'm absoluttely loving Marc's lab! So much gear I'd be lost there for many months playing with it all. BTW what you see on the Apollo gear (e.g. 17:22) is an edge-lit display. These have plexiglass plates bent to shape with digits engraved, and work using the total internal reflection.

[@feicodeboer]

Marc really made me appreciate the engineering that has gone in 'that old stuff'. What is out of date now was once cutting edge.

[@XMarkxyz]

Marc is a great guy, I follow his channel since a little before the Xerox' times and he was probably in the less than 10k subs, but he taught me so much about electronics with all those restoration, being a student of airspace engineering we don't have many classes on the argument so it started that I pretty much didn't understand anything and video after video I undertood increasingly more getting to now better and better how electronics works and are put toghether

[@Ihaveanamenowtaken]

So, we get to have high speed internet because of Marc? Sweet!

[@Eremon1]

I can't help but think Adam Savage would get along great with Marc. I wonder if they've ever met.

[@CorentinHarbelot]

Fantastic ! We love Marc.

[@RickBaconsAdventures]

Marc and the crew are the best on youtube for sure!

[@esra_erimez]

Kudos to Keysight! Keysight is an upstanding member of the electrical engineering community

[@rpavlik1]

Oh, the "this is your computer for TikTok" joke went right over Marc's head - the Alto has the portrait display. His channel is really great. I do feel less inadequate about my own lab hearing more about his background though.

[@brianhiles8164]

_Magnificent._ I wonder what would _@CuriousMarc_ have to say about the assertion that computers (and other electronics of this general era) will be collected and conserved a thousand years from now, in museums and private collections, just like pottery and swords. _Look, daddy, the thousand-year old atomic clock actually works!_

[@noelj62]

Curious Marc channel content is amazing and unique.

[@confuseatronica]

set sce to aux its fine

[@diego.alienigena]

very interesting. I have been a follower of CuriousMark for a while

[@joaofelix120]

Fantastic ! ! !

[@explorer914]

I almost expected Mr. Fancy pants to do the interview. 😅