Fixing Common Vintage PowerBook Problems + Recapping Luke Miani's PowerBook 165

[@lukemiani]

So great to see my 165 restored! I’m definitely not still trapped in the basement!

[@rartolak]

Hey good thing you weren't stuck in computer clans lair lol.

[@NOSWFT]

sounds like a joke that could be used in portal!

[@janusu]

Or perhaps that's what Steve would have you say. Blink twice if you're still trapped down there.

[@pieroc91]

Hey that's my picture at the tunnel vision syndrome on that poor PB180 next to my iBook G3 and PB145. So cool to found it on your channel. I still have that PB145 working like a champ. Great content, keep up saving those macs.

[@Mac84]

Hah, sorry - I didn't know where the photo originated from other than that forum thread. I'm glad your PowerBook 145 is still working well! :-) Thanks for the kind words.

[@TheducksOrg]

Always great to see these fixed. I have a 170 I need to get on to..

[@jack68k]

That's a beautiful PowerBook 165!

[@evibes512]

Wonderful restoration!

[@RudysRetroIntel]

Excellent video and work! A must watch! Thanks for sharing

[@TheBasementChannel]

Great video explaining all the issues! And you nailed the pronunciation of my name, well done 😂

[@BigBadBench]

Really nicely done video Steve!

[@TheOriginalCollectorA1303]

Always cool to see another vintage machine back to proper working order! Great video!

[@3lectr1c]

Excellent job detailing the faults of these PowerBook laptops that we all love. And thank you so much for showing my website in your video! I’ve been putting a lot of time into it and I really appreciate the promotion. One thing worth noting - tunnel vision only happens on Active Matrix monochrome and grayscale display. So if it’s passive matrix, or it’s color, you’re completely safe. This is also the first time I’ve seen that cap removal method in action. When I recapped my PowerBook 145’s LCD, I did twist the caps off and it didn’t cause any damage despite the fragile PCB. I may have to try your way in the future though, it looks like it works pretty darn well. I also can’t believe I didn’t think of sanding the edges of the 3D printed part when I was having fitment issues on my machines. That should save me a lot of time!

[@i80386sx]

I can confirm the baking for the monochrome TFT panels for a few hours does largely eliminate the tunneling problem. I did my test on a damaged Compaq LTE Lite panel. It’s still tunnel free a year later.

[@cathrynm]

That hinge repair looks solid, nice job.

[@eleven4375]

Great content, and an enjoyable crossover of two of my favorite channels!

[@georgemaragos2378]

Hi, another well done repair. With the plastic reinforcement for the hinges, your can buy some cheap "rocks on a stick grinders" that come in round and cone shape, they attach to a power drill ( cheap 12v ones are best but you can use a normal ac drill with a flexi hose shaft. Anyway they make the grinding down of the old plastic very easy and fast, and once they wear out they are fairly smooth so use can still use them as a fine cutter to smooth out the last lumps Also when giggling the plastic hinge i use some blue-tac to roughly hold things in place while i line it up and test, then i use some old school liquid paper in a bottle to white mark the final position Regards George

[@DavidStahlOLDHAPPyMACs]

Great Work Steve Nice repair

[@philbergen1567]

Excellent and useful vid! I have made several successful repairs to my beloved 540C PowerBook but, was humbled when trying to repair hinges on a 165C. Those plastics. Pre-3D printing days for me, I settled on blobs of JB weld “steel” epoxy with the brass insets embedded LOL! The JB bonds very well to these plastics and is hard as a rock. May be a good alternative to affix the abs blocks to the case. I worry that the UV curing stuff under those flat pieces won’t get fully cured.

[@8BitRetroJournal]

I can also confirm that baking fixed it for my PowerBook 180. In fact I used i803886sx (KZbinr below) as my reference as he baked it at the higher temperature (100 celcius for 4-5 hours) and the tunneling is still gone after more than 8 months (I sometimes leave my screen on for 6+ hours). Note that it likely isn't moisture but the internal panel seals deteriorating and the panels slightly separating....the baking re-flows the seal. Liquid crystal is very miscible and any encroaching moisture would mix and get trapped within the narrow space and miniature glass beads that are used as separators, and not recede, as is the behavior of tunnel vision. So it's more likely heat causing slight warping/separation of the panels which impacts the LCD helix to not align properly letting light pass through. There are some cool videos of LCD construction -- I posted a couple on of the Tunneling threads on 68kmla.

[@GarthBeagle]

Damn fine job!

[@1BitFeverDreams]

Ugh more console5 kits to buy for my PB170 and PB180. Thankfully I've become fearless with SMDs

[@koztech]

It would be awesome if someone came up with modern replacement LCD panels akin to those for Game Boys, Game Gears, etc. I know it's not quite as simple since those for handheld consoles are based on new old stock displays for older smartphones, but still...

[@87sjg]

That’s pretty impressive for a passive matrix. I once had a Duo 230 and that passive matrix display had very noticeable ghosting.

[@term-827]

14:30 Can't you use a Dremel with a fine sanding disc instead?

[@Mac84]

Sure, but I didn’t want to test out power tools on a client’s system.

[@NeptuneBrother]

hinge fix? ULTRA STRONG (and i love old macs)

[@kirishima638]

Please tell me you put some silicone grease on those hinges!!!

[@joshj88]

To be honest this is why I like the Post-Jobs laptops. The pismo and newer can almost all use the same DC power plugs. They are super easy to get second hand. They are all PowerPC and while that’s not good for some pieces of software due to speed or cache comparability most games just need a slow down control panel and they run.

[@WinrichNaujoks]

These laptops were enormously expensive at the time. But what were they actually getting used for? Word processing on the go, yes, a spread sheet maybe. That's a lot of money to be able to write something while you're on the move. Anything else?

[@creepyhobo5211]

Mac84 sure picked a perfect time to post a Marchintosh video in the final few hours of the month! Wait is this an April Fools prank? 🤔

[@Mac84]

Hah, nope - life just got in the way and I barely made it.

[@creepyhobo5211]

@@Mac84 🤭

[@TheLordOfNothing]

Do you know of 8 Bit Guy YTP Productions, its hilarious. Techmoan seems to always be the imposter.

[@EriolGaurhoth]

Hey Mac84, if you ever have the time, I can send you my PB 180c in need of a restoration ;)

[@vvlist]

has anyone tried swapping the screen with an e-ink display on a black and white powerbook?

[@kirishima638]

Not compatible

[@nyccollin]

I collect vintage laptops as well. You fix them, and then it’s like ‘what now?’ It’s not like you can do anything with them really lol am I right?