MailCall 0x0E: Mail from viewers like you!

To close out the year I'm opening up all the mail I've saved for the last 8 months sent by very generous viewers!
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[@DaveHalderman]

It's so weird to see stuff from my junk pile in someone else's junk pile. :D The voltage switch on that Celeron cooler was for undervolting the fans. Back when I was running it, I installed dual fans to keep it cool since it was overclocked to 450MHz. The Celeron 300A was legendary for its ability to run rock solid at 450MHz even though it was a 300MHz CPU. The dual fans just got a bit loud, so I'd drop them down to 7V whenever I wasn't loading the CPU too much. I thought you'd enjoy those Y2K stickers. I installed hundreds of those on our company's computers in 1999. Those were the last of them that I had left over in my toolbag. They've been a drawer ever since.

[@robjones3818]

Just a note, Shelby, I noticed that you cut out the street addresses of senders (for obvious reasons) but for several US ones left the ZIP+4 code visible. In some places in the US, a ZIP+4 will get you to a precise street address or post box. (In my dense Chicago suburb, my ZIP+4 will narrow you down to just three houses.) If you want to fully protect the locations of people who send you things you should at least cut out the +4 part. Great video, thanks!

[@RedHealerMatt]

I knew that the "+ codes" on ZIPs were there to help further sort mail to make delivery faster, but i had no idea it could be that specific. Given how uncommon the knowledge of what your + code is, i wouldnt be surprised if thats more widespread. Or im just an idiot that doesnt know how mail works. You make a good point.

[@MichaelEhling]

It's Shelby's delight at opening packages with things like a massive capacitor that make this video so fun

[@Robeight]

You are going to need a bigger boat.

[@TLang-el6sk]

Hi Shelby, Happy New Year from Germany. The PCIe SCSI HBA is super cool especially as the LSI ones are quite compatible and well supported. I was listening to the manufacturer's/designer's name about a dozen times but didn't understand it. And the search engines don't find any reference to this project. So it would be very kind if you could add a link...

[@sportbikepilot]

Shelby - Glad the HP data tapes got to you OK! Looking forward to seeing.. er, yeah! Glad they got there! LOL

[@kins749]

Of course the Z88 has a membrane keyboard, it came from Clive Sinclair!!!

[@tekvax01]

The db15 AUI connections have the DC power built into the standard connector. That is an AUI to thinnet 10base2 transceiver. It looks like you can/could convert it to 10base5 thicknet as well, with the correct vampire tap adapter assy.

[@wizardorlegend]

Got to love Decnet, wish they did direct conversion from aui to rj45.

[@kenrohde6841]

The Bell and Howell is likely a check printer so has extra functions for alignment and probably a battery to retain those settings - so you only have to reset it when you load the next fan-fold ream if it got out of alignment - it would also probably have a way to enter the check numbers pre-printed in the MICR strip on the check stationery. There are specialist laser printers to print checks including all the MICR characters (eg Troy printers which are re-badged HP LaserJet printers with special fonts in memory) - I've used them in the UK where we have one MICR cheque format but they contain the fonts commonly used on US checks as well.

[@Repeatingpower7]

Wow an hour special, awesome! And happy early new year!

[@Reed-Publications]

45:42 - I knew I sent those manuals to the right guy! It was really nice hearing you say that they made your Commodore system complete. Have an amazing new year, Shelby! 🎉

[@HeadsetGuy]

Your absolute glee over that oscilloscope probe is what keeps me around. That's how I'd react if I suddenly found a complete copy of a curriculum management system I used when I was in grade school (complete meaning base installation CD, sequence CD for all grades and subjects, and all courseware CDs).

[@MrNoobed]

5:28 those caps tend to pickup a charge from the air. Put a resistor on it.

[@MrNoobed]

I have a coworker that uses them as a paper weight. I can pick it up sometimes and get a nice zap against a piece of metal.

[@nekomasteryoutube3232]

You have no idea how much I love your channel buds, Like technology connections and This does not compute and the 8-bit guy, you could make a video on farts and I'd probably enjoy it with your narration and whimsy. Keep it up buds, I love your content.

[@AdamKlein77]

Cathode Ray Dude?

[@nekomasteryoutube3232]

@@AdamKlein77Yeah I watch him as well, hes another guy i like watching and also can make engaging and interesting videos.

[@jeromethiel4323]

I've seen oil filled capacitors bigger than a standard household microwave. Caps can get quite large, especially very high voltage ones. The capacitors i was referring to were 10KV, at only a few uF. Just filter caps, but they had to be large due to the voltages they operated at.

[@SINfromPL]

Happy New Year Dude, keep up the good work!

[@garrethutchington1663]

New year is tomorrow

[@SINfromPL]

@@garrethutchington1663 I'm partying tomorrow, not hanging out on KZbin going all ackchyually online.

[@andresbravo2003]

For One hour and 10 minutes for this special. This is cool.

[@matt2021_a]

the ethernet to token ring transeiver (with the BNC's) is a SUPER handy device, and when they were in use, that was a commercial grade one. they are crutical for bridging the token ring networks with standard networking. great gift.

[@tonberryhunter]

I love your videos but you need a compressor or limiter on your mic while your recording. Your voice keeps clipping and it sounds rough.

[@roaaaar]

Oh that Guillemot International 3dfx is familiar to me. Guillemot comes from Guillemot Family founders and of no other than Ubisoft an Thrustmaster.

[@lpseem3770]

45:00 - I still use DDS4 tapes, simply because I still have a bunch of them. Streamer is extremely reliable and I only have to fix a loosen spring about once per year. You could still buy usb model. It can read DDS-1, 2, 3 and 4 tapes. I hope You'll have fun with those.

[@thechillhacker]

Oh man, I can't wait for your secret project. My first UNIX machine was an HP 9000 series Controller 382 running HP-UX 10.2 that I was given back in the mid 90s as a kid. I had an uncle who worked at HP so I was able to get some goodies. Anyway, coming from the stupidity of DOS's limitations, as I saw them, it was so refreshing. I Soon started running some sort of nix on any hardware I could get my hands on, and pretty much have to this day. Thanks uncle Jeff.

[@AdamKlein77]

Smyrna's not even on the Metro Atlanta Top 10 Dumb City Names list. We have a town called Cumming.

[@taffeylewis]

Hi Shelby. I'd be really interested to know more about that PCIe SCSI card, and maybe if I can contact the manufactures to purchase one. Didn't quite catch the name. I currently run a PCIe to PCI card for my film scanner, but that involves getting the right lowprofile PCI card in order for it to fit in the case. It's a bit janky to say the least. Having a single PCIe card would be so much better. I've tried a bunch of different PCIe U320 cards, but I think the scanner is too old as none of them will see it. Thanks.

[@FlyboyHelosim]

Just casually opening packages with a gutting knife. LOL

[@Otakunopodcast]

Does anyone happen to know where I can download the STL's for those SD card holders at 33:52 ? Those look pretty slick, and I'd like to have a try at printing a few for myself. I searched the usual places but "sd card holder" is such a common/popular item that wading through the pile of search results is difficult. I found a couple that look close but aren't exact matches.

[@drakewaterston7447]

Lol it cracks me up when someone calls a keyboard "heavy" and picks it up with one hand 😂 My S7 Elephant would make my poor desk flex lol

[@charlesdorval394]

Oh wow, the USB connector in the floppy eject hole, that's one hell of a good idea! Very interesting mounting solution for an older machine to have a front panel port, an old floppy drive with a flap for the slot and the USB port as eject button, it'd be quite nice IMHO

[@lancegentle6430]

Recently got an InteliVision and composite modded it. Had one backing the day. My parents kept the games, but, not the console. Love playing it.....again

[@omegamsx]

Nice, those Dell idrac vflash sd cards.. At my workplace I just decommissioned 70 Dell servers that had those cards.. and I thought: 8gb sd cards are kinda nice for retro use, and decided to take all of them, gave most of them away at a retro Commodore meeting and kept a few for myself ;)

[@radishdalek]

Do not use the z88 power supply it may fail and be dangerous! Cambridge Computer were notorious for buying up the cheapest power supplies. They had recalls of their power supplies.

[@joeyscleaninglady2877]

my old HP200lx had that exact version of lotus 123 built in--- in a palmtop..

[@seangorry]

That PCIe SCSI card is awesome! Definitely have to pick one up sometime

[@clairekholin6935]

The lotus 123 with no software might be for use at a company that had many copies of lotus 123 installed on hard drives so more people could have access to the documentation?

[@yueibm]

Be careful with the big caps! Certain caps will restore itself to a potential after seemingly fully discharged. I believe supercaps and ones with electrolytes / electric double layer caps, in a phenomenon called recovery voltage.

[@G_Fresh_UK_Extra]

Well that's One hour and 10 minutes I wont get back..... and you know what..... I don't want them, ill keep these ones thanks.

[@hgbugalou]

How happy you get looking at this stuff reminds me of myself when I was younger. That's part of the reason I like your content so much, you just get so exciting about the things you work on an receive and it makes the videos so much better.

[@kuglepen64]

MFD is MICRO Farad, not milli.

[@ChrisDreher]

Came to post the same thing. Unfortunately, the fault ultimately falls on the capacitor companies for thinking it was acceptable to use 'm' for micro. Those companies have engineers who should know better.

[@JenniferinIllinois]

Those giant capacitors. 🤣 As you flipped though that Commodore catalog, I said "Oooh, Marble Madness" right before you did. Hehehe... I'm guessing that Lotus 123 version was a basically just a physical license (software was installed from the local Netware server). Of course nowadays full on physical documentation isn't necessary but back in the day, a box was the only proof that you had purchased the software license (enterprise or small business licenses not yet a thing perhaps).

[@galeng73]

Printing is expensive. In a corporate environment, you will have to use a code to operate the printer. Maybe... That could be why there's a number pad.

[@toddfraser7009]

Can you share more info on that PCIe SCSI card? I'd like to get one.

[@darcyska]

Always love unboxings and mail videos - love your enthusiasm and enjoyment from all these items.

[@AdamKlein77]

5:13 ...so the plan is to charge it up and go looking for someone you don't like?

[@ReinaldoRauch]

that massive cap could kill someone if handled accordingly

[@niyablake]

For the scsi card you do know that LSi made and sold a PCIe scsi ultra 320 card ? I bought one off ebay for $5 It has the same bridge chip

[@pmacwhinnie]

Oh man, I forgot about the Cambridge Computing Z88! It’s such a bizarre little device - the word processor is just a special mode of the spreadsheet program

[@paul_boddie]

Yes, Pipedream emphasised the spreadsheet paradigm as something of a virtue, and it also appeared on the BBC Micro (as VIEW Professional), Acorn Archimedes, and on IBM-compatibles. Later on, Colton Software (the originator) adopted a more flexible approach for their Fireworkz suite, having separate applications built on the same technological, presumably component-based, foundation. Fireworkz was available for Acorn RISC OS and Windows (3.1 and 95).

[@aaldrich1982]

That retail sticker on the maxi gamer shows how cheap these cards were at one point. The one donated to you is clearly the card that came in the box because of the text on the PCB but being green is rare for the maxi gamer 3d, they were normally yellow even though the picture on the box is of a green PCB.

[@douro20]

There's probably going to be a run on iPAQ HX2000s one of these days for the people who own the 250 or so Bugatti Veyrons. Believe it or not the clock on the multi-I/O board in my 5150 is actually Y2K compliant. It probably helps that I run PC-DOS 2000 on it.

[@wesley00042]

No media but a warranty card. That's awesome

[@douro20]

I had a VideoWriter at one point, about 10-15 years ago. It worked very well and it came with extra ribbons. Guillemot is still very much in business; they sell under the Thrustmaster, Hercules and DJUICED brands. And yes, the company is named after the bird.

[@lo1bo2]

For a second, I thought the Magnavox in the upper right of your opening shot was a small microwave.

[@fastlane250]

Lotus 1-2-3n't

[@thejackofclubs]

theres a store here in houston that sells bigger capacitors, theyre not that expensive too

[@HrLBolle]

why can't I help but imagine David instant spawn behind Shelby when unpacking the Commodore finds

[@retsamyar]

i will never understand how people use keyboards with no numbpad...... its like using a trackpad just... WHY..

[@poofygoof]

I have a very late model Adaptec PCIe SCSI adapter which supports U320 and has VHDCI connectors on it, which I believe was the final parallel SCSI connector incantation before things switched to SAS. I haven't gone through the gyrations of trying to convert it down to SCSI-1 but suspect there may have been a point where the controllers lost the ability to run single-ended. That PCIe 53C875E board looks interesting, I hope we get more info on it in another video. I think I have that same Promise SATA / PATA controller, and it's been very helpful in imaging and erasing old drives, a LOT faster than going through USB adapters at the cost of not being hot-swappable.

[@Spuzmax]

I gotta say I love Shelby's excitement discovering products and technologies I worked on 30-40 years ago. The Lotus 123 box is a license for a 'seat' of a network/server hosted application. In the early 90's I worked for a company that catered to educational clients. We would go into a classroom teaching business skills and remove a room full of typewriters and install PC's, networking and a server. I would install a Novel NetWare server (I was a Novel CNE, anyone remmeber those?) and load it up with Lotus 123, WordPerfect 5.1 (Satellite Software pre-windows). Each seat in the classroom had to have a license for Lotus and WP, so there would be cases of those disk-less types of boxes of manuals. For the most part, they were immediately thrown out. The schools did not have the storage for them, and they had the invoice to show proof-of-purchase for any license disputes. Note: License disputes never happened at any of the schools/installations I was involved in during those 6 years. Keep up the great work, Shelby!

[@TheGreatAtario]

The box photo on that Casio typewriter is deeply confusing. It's sitting on a windbreaker (?), which is sitting on a brick walkway (??), next to a football (???) I guess they were going for that lucrative "football coach who likes to type sitting on the ground" demo

[@deepmaze1]

29:30. Your voice switched to the EEVblog voice once you saw that Oscilloscope )))))

[@UpLateGeek]

Interesting coincidence, a few months ago I bought some DDS tapes for my DAT recorder that I got a while back. Mine are all sealed new, so no surprises, but also I don't have a DDS drive anysways.

[@eejjkk]

Holy Shit! How random is that!?! I grew up in Omro WI. I bet I know Dave honestly. LOL That's aweome!

[@TheMetroidMurderer]

Does anyone know the stream that starts at 52:36? Was it a Members-only stream? I'm curious about the PC he's working on and that version of Linux, lol.

[@infinitecanadian]

Think those capacitors are big? The ones used in the earliest television sets were the size of shoe-boxes. Lots of games are sold without physical media inside; they only have a code to activate a download.

[@button-puncher]

12:19 That LSI SCSI adapter looks REALLY interesting. Would love to have more info on it.

[@evensgrey]

Back in high school, my electronics teacher had a monster cap (similar size and likely capacity to the blue cap here) which he would charge up and then discharge with a screwdriver to illustrate why you needed to be careful with low voltage DC as well. When you short out one of those after charging it for a while, they don't do snap, they go BANG!

[@SomeMorganSomewhere]

Fun fact, tractor feed envelopes weren't the only odd thing like that, my stepfather's law firm used something similar with legal size paper instead of envelopes well into the 90's for their correspondence ;)

[@theposguy1435]

I used to sell promise technologies stuff.. They made really good raid cards in the nineties And it's smer-na ... Ga I lived there for a bit.. u where right

[@JFD62780]

27:47 - OOOH! YaxiPads! I have a colored pair of those for my MDR-V6's! XD

[@CattoRayTube]

14:00 Wait, a Love Sex Intelligence controller?? Is the S in SCSI actually there for "Shamen"?

[@mickleman52]

I am pretty sure I used to have that pocket PC, or a very similar one. Does it have wifi built in, or do you need to use one of those SD wifi cards?

[@willynebula6193]

FYI that 2nd capacitor is from a power factor correction unit. Most buildings have one in the main switch room.

[@branscombe_]

so much mail happy new year TT

[@ora2j251]

18£ for a boxed Voodoo 1 is as bonkers as that cap.

[@nigefoxx]

It was second hand at Computer Exchange in Birmingham, in about 1999.

[@thechillhacker]

OMG! I happened on a sealed boxed copy of Lotus 1-2-3 ver 3.1+ for DOS myself, along with a metric butt-ton of 5150 sealed and unsealed ibm software and docs.! I'm so torn whether to sell it off as is or open it up to, uh, validate the disks and keep it for my own collection and hardware for real usage. Obviously this would entail imaging as well. The IBM stuff I may be interested in talking to you about Shelby, or possibly Lotus as well.

[@thechillhacker]

As far as the IBM stuff, I do have some duplicates fwiw.

[@davel4030]

jesus, is that capacitor from an air conditioner or something? XD

[@trex70]

You may send the 2004 Mouse to LGR Clive.

[@GeoffreyGore]

Smyrna is locally pronounced Smur-nah, btw

[@rommix0]

51:25 Envelope tractor paper. That's a new one lol.

[@eftalanquest]

that "huge" capacitor is actually quite tiny as far as industrial caps go

[@lancegentle6430]

LOVE that huge! cap. WHEN is it from?

[@SiD3WiNDR]

Those continuous feed envelopes are great! :D

[@iceowl]

have you ever played Polarity? it's kind of like what you're doing with the magnets on the globe, but more like a game of Go with magnets.

[@K-o-R]

5:00 You got a railgun you need to power or something? I had a bunch of those little IDE to SATA boards that fit on the back of the device. Worked very well, often had individual LEDs because who doesn't like having individual device activity LEDs, and even though they needed their own power you could very neatly stick a Molex-to-Molex-&-FDD connector in the chain.

[@fnjesusfreak]

Ooh, Sanborn, NY... that's just a few miles from here. (I went to college there.)

[@maccamcdermott5528]

Those damn Y2K stickers bring back some memories. "Yes, we have to individually check each machine in this classroom of identically built computers for the audit" Insert check disk, watch computer reboot 3 times, get pass result, stick on green label. Now repeat 29 more times. Come back next day to find *@&$ kids peeled all the stickers off. Fun times.

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

Imagine the bang if one of those caps failed...

[@HrLBolle]

An external rubber membrane key board? just did a little looksy about the Cambridge Z88 and that's what I hear to be a typical Sinclair thing

[@Rodville]

You mentioned that word processor you had in typing class. My Jr. High (middle school) had a classroom full of IBM Selectric II machines and that's what I learned on. Edit: Forgot to mention this was in the late 80's.

[@MotownBatman]

Thats Very...Not United States.. LOL

[@krzbrew]

Maximus Dominus - that's a mouse-ful

[@Montgomerygolfgator]

Ooh, an Alphasmart Neo(2?). I accidentally fried my Neo, but got a Dana. I had one in school to take notes, and it's nice to see them becoming a cult classic word processor.

[@idahofur]

That is some great stuff. Esp. when you realize all the different types of tractor feed paper you had. Then most of it went away when laser printers / inkjet prints got popular. But, you can still order stuff if needed. Just $$$$.

[@ShadeAssault]

You pulled out that first giant cap and I thought, "Oh look, a beer can of a capacitor". Then you opened the second one. That thing is a freaking paint thinner can!

[@ora2j251]

The fact i could recognize the gpu at 19:39 directly makes me consider how much i've hated the NVIDIA GeForce 6200 (because yes, that's a GeForce 6200 btw). That GPU is probably one of the worst i've ever used, and i bet it's even worse in it's AGP form.

[@philstephes]

My dad had the AGP version, and it... functioned, that's about all I can say about it.

[@ora2j251]

​@@philstepheswhen i used to run it on a machine that's now long gone, i think it scored something like 300 points on 3dmark 2001... It's so bad i dont even know how to call it. The only worse gpu i have is an agp SIS 6326, but a gpu by sis being bad isnt really a surprise.

[@jfwfreo]

It can't be as bad as the FX5700LE I used to own once.

[@ClovisChitwood]

wow, never knew continuous feed envelopes existed, they must have been a bigger PITA than aligning windowed envelopes or messing around with labels because they would have been awesome back before laser printers with manual feed trays - that aside thanks for sharing this stuff with us

[@MatroxMillennium]

Ha, I actually bought one of those HP DDS/DAT drives for myself recently

[@MinorLG]

Wait, are those dac/ddt carts? I need a single one

[@VSigma725]

I believe I have that exact HP cable, salvaged from a junk tape drive. Nice to know it's so useful!

[@jeromethiel4323]

I think i still have a pass through Vodoo board of some sort. Don't know where it is, but it's in the house somewhere. ^-^

[@abhimaanmayadam5713]

Those xg fm soundcards also showed up in some Sony laptops from the early 2000s