Is the CURSED Macintosh SE/30 finally UN-CURSED?

[@TheTamaranch]

As someone who has always appreciated human ingenuity, the fact that the (formerly) cursed macintosh even exists is amazing! That guy sat down and took a chance, and it really payed off. In terms of modified prebuilt machines, this has got to be the best I've ever seen! I'm glad you decided to keep the mods, it easily makes this machine one of, if not the best, all-in-one mac ever conceived!

[@ActionRetro]

Yeah I love this little guy!

[@theannoyedmrfloyd3998]

*paid

[@autobotjazz1972]

I love that the paperwork is printed from an old daisywheel printer

[@godzil42]

I think it is more of a dot matrix printer (like an Image Writer) than a daisywheel

[@UpLateGeek]

Careful with those speakers, they don't look like they're magnetically shielded. Definitely try taping them in place to see if they interfere with the screen before you go fixing them in permanently. I must say I'm a little jealous about how shiny and new that logic board looks after its recap. Mine is very tarnished in comparison, and the ports and metal bracket thing has a fair amount of surface rust which didn't come off in its vinegar bath before I recapped the board. Anyway, can't wait to see what's next for the un-cursed Mac!

[@ickipoo]

And don't install them anywhere near the Jazz drive!

[@eDoc2020]

I don't think the unshielded magnets will be too much of a problem here. The largest problem would be with a color screen where they would cause color purity issues, but this obviously won't happen with a monochrome CRT.

[@shadowflash705]

@@eDoc2020 If you'll get them too close to the tube they can deflect the beam and distort the picture, otherwise there shouldn't be any problems.

[@RavenDaSergalOwO]

they kinda look like eMac speakers

[@Davestar-fj7kp]

I don't care what other people say it's only right to keep with the original owners wishes and paint it black and blue

[@glitchedmac]

Your hand has more personality then most faces.

[@Kara_Kay_Eschel]

My hand was following along.

[@FloppydriveMaestro]

Im so glad you are not restoring it. Its such a unique example of the sort of things people did with these machines. Such a neat piece of history.

[@infamousacidrain]

This Mac is pre capacitor plague. It’s just old. The capacitor plague is commonly considered to be later 90’s to mid 00’s.

[@DanaDoesStuff]

See if you can find yourself a black CD ROM… That is, if you still intend to use black paint. Also, I think it’s been said but make sure you shield those speakers from other components, particularly the CRT.

[@ActionRetro]

Yeah I'm trying to figure out the best place to mount them. Possibly on the back case.

[@greggv8]

@@ActionRetro going to drill holes so the sound can get out?

[@nicekeyboardalan6972]

Just leave it the beige is aesthetic in there because it really stands out.

[@BollingHolt]

That configuration is so dang cool. I'm glad it's coming along nicely!

[@GGigabiteM]

The capacitor plague didn't actually start until the very late 90s. You won't find many machines from before that time that use radial or axial style capacitors with issues, with the one exception being machines which used the newer SMD style capacitors like most Apple machines from 1990 and onward. That was caused by a different issue, the rubber plugs in the bottom of the then new SMD capacitors used to seal them would dry rot and shrink, allowing the electrolyte to leak out. This is different from the later capacitor plague where an incomplete electrolyte formula from Nichicon was stolen and mass manufactured by the Taiwanese and Chinese under various counterfeit brands, sometimes even counterfeiting the original company. These capacitors would fail from the electrolyte breaking down and creating hydrogen gas that eventually ruptured the safety seal, or blew the rubber plug out the bottom. This is why when you find leaking SMD caps from the 90s, it's almost always from the rubber plug on the bottom and not swelling up and venting like later capacitor plague caps. The only time I've seen the older SMD caps blow up is if they're powered up after they start failing and kept in continuous use.

[@Nukle0n]

For the those Mac mobos, the theory is that the problem isn't the formulation, but the fact that they switched to surface-mount capacitors instead of thru-hole capacitors. That meant that instead of someone installing and soldering the capacitors by hand, they would be fitted to the board with solder paste and then heated in an oven which would melt the solder in the solder past and form solid conections. Problem is that these early surface mount electrolytic caps did not like the trip through the oven, and the heat essentially aged them prematurely. This is why the SE's motherboards typically still work fine, as it has the thru-hole caps, but the SE/30 with its surface mounted caps and those have all leaked.

[@zapakitul]

Dude, I just cannot wait for the next video! I've just got my own Mac SE and I'm waiting for a couple of parts for mine to turn it into a Retro Game Development station! Thank you for showing off this cursed mac, it really helped me decide on what retro computer I should build my retro station on!

[@ActionRetro]

Awesome man!!

[@Afsafs123]

I have been WAITING for the return of the curse! This has quickly become my favorite machine to watch.

[@ActionRetro]

Thanks Adam!!

[@jhnbngtssn]

Excited for the next part of this series! Started watching today and didn't want it to end!

[@brianterrill9587]

You can also remove the potentiometer, jumper the connections and use the system volumne instead. Having the board be just a regular amp hidden in the case. And watch the Impedence.

[@decm8]

Those speakers look like they came straight out of a G3

[@lily_skye]

I love this project; super excited whenever I see you upload a video about this Mac!

[@DavidStahlOLDHAPPyMACs]

Steve Did A Great Job On That Board Glad it Is Working Can't Wait To See The New Paint Job And Hear The Nice Sound The Curse Is Gone

[@atomicorang]

I like the NeXT logo on the keyboard..That show some connection between Apple Inc and NeXT through Steven P. Jobs!!! Great stuff you guys.

[@djdjukic]

Fantastic. It would look really cool painted dark gray instead of black, to match the NeXT keyboard, and it would kinda match the Jaz drive in value as well. Also, it might be worth looking into vinyl dyes instead of lacquer based paints.

[@stevearkwright]

Yes, completely with you on the spray-on plastic dyes. On a previous ‘Cursed Mac’ thread, it was mentioned/recommended by another contributor and I managed to do a spot of research and posted a couple of links. The links showed the results of spraying a set top box white (from dark grey), and hi-fi/PC speakers black. The dyes actually seep into the plastic. That’s great because that resolves the problems of primer and/or the paint just scraping off the first time it touches anything. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on this stuff (it’s expensive: £10 for 440ml can), and trailing it. Pretty sure it’s the way forward for old plastics.

[@gp3328]

I really love this channel and its videos, i actually remember finding this channel, and being surprised when it didn't even have 10k subs.

[@ActionRetro]

Thanks!

[@HomelessTechnology]

The fact your clearly not British but had a London Tube map as a mouse pad made me subscribe!

[@ActionRetro]

😂

[@stevearkwright]

Wasn’t it just the logo for ‘Underground’ rather than the proper tube map? Still, I was impressed too!

[@ActionRetro]

@@stevearkwright It also came directly from a little tourist-trap shop at Earl's Court!

[@Kara_Kay_Eschel]

For the volume knob, there seems to be a lot going on near the area where you are thinking about internally. Maybe on the right of left hand side where it is not a busy.

[@Vizimech]

Excited to see this machine fully working and painted!

[@sleveee]

i think some others have mentioned but those huge speaker magnets will likely twist the picture on that CRT. you can test by powering up the system and then slowly inching the speakers closer to the screen. my guess is within 6-8 inches you'll start to notice the twist on the CRT.

[@LuisMercadoorg]

I’m rewatching your old videos because they are awesome too. It’s funny how you said 128mb RAM was crazy for 1989. Man, 128 was crazy even for 1996! Good times.

[@godzil42]

The so called Capacitor Plague is from early 2000. The SE, and SE/30 are way older than that. The older an electrolytic capacitor is, the more likely it will leak plague or not. Also SMD electrolytic capacitor, especially early one like on the SE, SE/30 are badly sealed and they are most likely to leak in an even worse way than the normal through-hole one.

[@Codeaholic1]

Definitely recap the analog board yourself. I promise that if you don't give up you will end up improving your soldering skills.

[@stevenjlovelace]

I'd say putting an Apple logo over a NeXT logo is like putting a Corvette badge on a DeLorean. Both super cool, but one's a lot rarer and interesting.

[@CrazyTechReviews]

good job sean and steve! That is one damn cool mac se!

[@LellePrinter82]

It's no longer The Cursed Macintosh SE/30. It's now The Blessed Macintosh SE/30.

[@nena_nezali]

Man you're making me reaaaaally want to grab an old classic Mac to fuck around with! Good stuff~

[@koztech]

Am I the only one that immediately started singing Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap in my head as soon as I heard high voltage? 'Neckties, Contracts, HIGH VOLTAGE Done Dirt Cheap!' (Well, probably not dirt cheap in this case with all the work done on this Mac!) And yes, DO NOT mess with CRT's if you're not comfortable dealing with the fact that one wrong move and no more restoring retro and vintage electronics, even if you let it sit for hours. However it's not that difficult to discharge one if you know how. Same applies with the power supply (or analog board on the 128k/512k/Plus as the P/S on those are integrated into the board itself.)

[@ActionRetro]

Hahaha now this song is stuck in my head

[@koztech]

@@ActionRetro You're welcome!

[@rhysholdaway]

Instead of adding apple logos to mouse and keyboard have you considered replacing the apple mini logo with a next logo? Also would love seeing if you can do a colour screen mod :p.

[@ActionRetro]

Oh crap that's a good idea

[@rhysholdaway]

@@ActionRetro the ultimate incarnation of the next se/30 :p

[@tylerrobertstsr]

@@ActionRetro If possible an LCD color screen mod would be amazing to see.

[@simontuchman5181]

@@ActionRetro please no. I get it its a joke but I feel that just goes too far and rather than adding to the coolness it would subtract from it

[@simontuchman5181]

the next logo i mean

[@calicantdrive]

I'd have thrown the knob behind the Apple logo, cut the logo out, and glued it to the knob, so it was flush with the case and level at your typical listening volume. That's just me tho.

[@derkpoortenga]

I'm so happy to see the progress you've made with this project! You should definitely use this machine if you ever want to do "reviews" of older software on an older mac platform. --Derk

[@g3monster89]

Requires a daystar turbo powerpc 601 upgrade card (it's for a Mac II but it is possible to get it in the SE/30) and colour screen

[@VieVentar]

PDS slot graphics card with a second monitor in a second black mac case - possibly with a colour screen? Hell, could split the speakers between the cases to make a bodged stereo setup, or use the extra space in the other case for more drives?

[@eprushan1289]

i think you should bring back the blue in the theme! miss the blue disc drive and the blue keys :(

[@rudder3084]

finally an update on the not so cursed MAC, been wondering about this machine XD

[@BestSpatula]

Does the link LED on the connector plate of your Asante MacCon Ethernet power on before the driver is loaded? I have one of these cards, but no way to load the driver yet, but even the AUI transceiver is dark and so I'm afraid the card is dead.

[@unidorsalicosahedron7416]

Love him or hate him, his finger pointing game is on point.

[@KipKipKip]

I like the (no longer) cursed Mac, it's as if it has it's own personality!

[@barbugia123]

Actually, it's PCB WAAAAY

[@ActionRetro]

🤣

[@deathdeathrevolution3499]

one of my friends gave me a boxed ibook g4 and i have enjoyed macs ever since. they work and dont force you to update every time a microsoft employee sneezes.

[@Mamiya645]

I want a PC chassis in this style now, heavily modifiable and with some gorgeous 4:3 IPS for a screen. Since screen wobble decreased but was still a thing, could it perhaps be the Jaz drive? Seeing people build retro PCs nowadays I never catch them putting the sound card the furthest away from the power supply.

[@auzzey7037]

Oh, nice! Another video about Macursedtosh

[@yorgle]

13:50 I've found that you don't need the Iomega drivers (at least for ZIP drives), if you boot with the disk in place. you just won't get the remove/auto mounting features. So you should try out booting with the ROM-Disk, with the Zip disk in the drive. You won't be able to eject it, but it /should/ work as a fixed disk drive.

[@storm_f1788]

Nice video man!

[@ActionRetro]

Thanks!!

[@bryandrobny7690]

I voted for external speakers and this mac is CLEAN!

[@Gartral]

is there anyway to do a CRT swap to make the machine color?

[@rastusbojangles]

He had me at "Documentary style videos"

[@friedpancakes266]

I've never even heard of many of the terms you've used in your videos. I've learned so much from watching your videos

[@ActionRetro]

So happy to hear that!

[@jonasthemovie]

Those speakers looks like they need a par of magnets glued to the back of them to chancel out the magnetic field.

[@kaitlyn__L]

Hey man, just recently found your channel. Love the weird stuff, it's infinitely more interesting than restoring these Macs to factory. If you're open to constructive criticism; I would suggest editing out the non-speech mouth sounds, which your mic is good enough to pick up pretty strongly. That's obviously fairly time consuming (I used to edit videos and podcasts, so I know firsthand), but it'll go a long way to increasing the production value, more than might be expected from such a seemingly-small difference. Also; re-cutting the intro to fit in time with the music could also be a small change that would have a bigger effect than you might expect. Right now it seems to be a sped-up single take, and every time I'm expecting the text to appear in sync with the lead instrument's few notes near the end. Also, being sped-up makes the shutting down at the end almost too brief to appreciate. My suggestion would be: keep the sped-up boot screen. (Consider adding an era-appropriate "bong"/"ding" sound at the very start.) Jump-cut each word into appearing, in time with the first notes of the lead instrument's, rather than showing the sped-up typing. Then, finally, allow the shutdown action at the end to play out in real time. You may need more or less of the intro track as a result. I would also suggest fading-in a little reverb when you start moving to do the shut down, and ultimately fade-out the entire track for maybe 0.1s or 0.2s after the screen goes black. Of course, feel under no obligation to follow any of these suggestions! But as a fellow (well, ex-) creator, it can be amazing what a difference such small changes, made in an afternoon, can end up making to the overall tightness and presentation of the video. Of course, it's totally up to you whether to follow my advice! Anyway, thanks again for the weird Macs!

[@kaitlyn__L]

(Oh yeah, when I said "in an afternoon", I just meant re-cutting the intro - a bit of unintended ambiguity there.)

[@ActionRetro]

Hey Kaitlyn, thanks so much for this in-depth advice! I really appreciate it, because I'm really trying to make each video a little better than the last. Editing out (and trying to prevent) weird sounds has definitely been a huge struggle. Really interesting advice about the intro - that was literally the first thing I ever edited together! I've been meaning to redo it, especially since I'm editing in 4K now and that clip is 1080p :)

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@ActionRetro sweet, glad it was useful :D

[@ActionRetro]

Oh, one question I've been meaning to ask someone with more experience - do you think I'd get a better result with a shotgun mic, or using only a lav mic? I did try a Rode Wireless Go for a while, but I couldn't get it to sound right. Granted, I barely know what I'm doing. Right now I'm using a Stellar X2 Large Diaphragm Cardioid Condenser which I like the sound from, but I wind up with creepy breathing noises and such and it's tough to position on a mic stand to talk while I'm working on things. Thanks again for your suggestions!

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@ActionRetro I'm fond of cardioids like you're using right now, but as you say, positioning can be a bit annoying. People often choose to move away from the mic to breathe with them, which can result in having to redo sentences now and then. You'd probably get 80-90% of the sound from a lav mic, though it'd be harder to record computer noises. But I don't think they outright eliminate mouth/breath sounds, more just change them. Less lip noises, more chest breathing sounds. My recommendation would be to not get new gear, and to just practice leaving a little more of a gap between your sentences so it's easier to cut out half a second or so of noises. So long as you're satisfied with the cardioid placement most times, at least. If you want the freedom to move around a lot more freely, then you may indeed want to consider a lav for voice, and use the cardioid on computer sounds. But a shotgun is just going to exacerbate your placement issues, as it has an even smaller sensitivity cone than a cardioid. A noise gate might also be helpful, where it cuts off all sounds below a certain volume. That can usually be done in software in whatever program you're using to record audio. That can eliminate the quieter strange noises, at least, and background noises from in the distance. Also I would consider possibly moving the mic slightly further away from your mouth? All cardioids are slightly different in this, but if you're, say, 6 inches away from it, you might want to try being a foot away from it instead. You lose some of the proximity bass effect (radio voice), but depending on the mic it can also be less prone to picking up strange noises. But these are more generic-type advice, I haven't used your particular mic personally. But yes, I think your best tool would probably be altering your approach a bit, moving to the side to breathe and between sentences and so on, rather than getting new gear. Doing so would almost automatically bake in a slight extra delay which you can snip out of the audio track (and maybe jump-cut the video to match). Thanks for asking, by the way!

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

The sticker is an excellent aesthetic!

[@TaylorThomasVideo]

Perfect October content

[@ActionRetro]

Hahaha

[@theannoyedmrfloyd3998]

AOL Instant Messenger is shut down, so you might as well uninstall that software. AIM is pronounced just like the word "aim" as in the Verb "To Aim."

[@vasya_cat]

Speaker with speaker bits in a baglet

[@electricdragon9366]

Maybe use a slimline optical drive (from a laptop, assuming it's compatible) for the mac?

[@minidisque]

i think he said the CD drive is SCSI, and most slimline laptop drives are SATA, maybe some are IDE and i don't know how hard that would be to adapt.

[@ActionRetro]

Yup stuck with SCSI so it's tough

[@JoducusKwak]

replace the CRT with some kind of flatscreen so you havemore room for crazy mods

[@jba2048]

This makes me want to crack open my SE/30 and bring it back to life. If only I had the time.

[@DanaDoesStuff]

Just remember, the longer you wait, the more damage those leaking capacitors will do. Also, if you haven’t removed the battery yet, you will want to do that ASAP.

[@jd_railfan]

hey action retro, where did you find that 5v adapter? i've been looking everywhere for it. if you can find a 5v sata barrel version. please link both if you can. I keep finding 12v sata/molex but need the 5v to put my rasberry pi 4 inside my computer case.

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

This should be included in "Paranormal Survivor" (former) videos!

[@JapanPop]

Yes! I have been waiting for this. Nice!

[@kyle8952]

It's perfectly fine to run a CRT with the case off. How else do you think you test them when they need repair?

[@microtecture2442]

Dude, you should try installing Apple A/UX on it, I bet it’ll fly and run pretty fast with all of those crazy upgrades.

[@The_Vanished]

I think the NeXT branded keyboard and mouse can be left as they are since it is essentially or should I say spiritually Mac

[@AlexandrTVOfficialChannel]

Awesome project, maybe try adding a built in webcam?

[@Rodville]

The AIM network has been shut down on 12/15/2017 so other than nostalgia it's just using resources.

[@ActionRetro]

Well, the *official* AIM network was shut down... iwarg.ddns.net/phoenix/index.php

[@Zahgurym]

Still say it needs a switching 1/4" jack so you can output to a guitar amp.

[@johnfinn1570]

Hey, it's the talking hand with the shy tatts. Greetings from Australia

[@bland9876]

Those non centered arrows mildly infuriates me.

[@Lemony1456]

Another great video!

[@zsombor_99]

Don't stop here! Add in those speakers! 😉

[@helloimacat000]

Mac os 8,1 latest mac os for macintosh se/30 (with rom upgrade)

[@inpurgatory]

Fit a colour screen of some sort in lol

[@laurenwortman8695]

You should do a video with you filing it with your government 😂😂😂

[@ilhamrealamadhani3129]

I am very happy you got a sponsor, also great video

[@ActionRetro]

Thanks! 😀

[@ryderrepairs]

Just Invert the colors on your logo to get the (Not so) Cursed Macintosh :P

[@Inject0r]

Ahw maaannn... CLIFFHANGER!!! 😫

[@tmack729]

Amazing restoration work, especially compared with some hack jobs on KZbin whose channel begins with 8!

[@smeqwack7337]

Blessed mac

[@jaydub8085]

JAZZ HANDZ!!!!!!

[@bland9876]

In 2020 computers only have 4 ram slots. This think has 8 holy

[@oofingberg]

What a poor thing how could someone do something like that to its case

[@robertshanks3674]

great video...tks!! do you know anyone who can repair a se/30 logic board....in USA???

[@Edward3DFX]

Sweet

[@bland9876]

Can it run crysis? Or doom?

[@Wapitiii]

Nice, new video!

[@Commander-Beef]

Get a colour screen somehow

[@Cameront9]

Any idea why auto-captions aren’t working for this video? I’m deaf and rely on them.

[@ActionRetro]

Oh geez I'm not sure, but I'll see if I can figure it out. Thank you so much for letting me know!

[@Cameront9]

@@ActionRetro working now thanks so much!

[@ActionRetro]

@@Cameront9 Hooray!

[@kryptoniurn]

Try putting a LCD screen in this Mac... It Will be so coolllll

[@amdintelxsniperx]

please please pleaasssssse get a black cd rom face and tray piece

[@MrFreeware]

repaint the case and CD drive

[@ActionRetro]

I have the paint sitting right here! Soon :)

[@michaeltaylor184]

I’m a little late but

[@MammottMSM741]

why is it cursed?

[@jmdjasonday]

lose the chris fix

[@NovaDelta]

paint the cd drive blue

[@basic-bear]

Stop doing that with your hand it’s horrible.