The Monorail Computer Owner's Kit! - Unboxing and System Restore

[@k6kaysix675]

I remember as a kid feeling like an expert after using a Restore CD on my Packard Bell, I even somehow managed to borrow my aunts Windows 98 Restore CD at one point and get that running on my Windows 95 model (I remember terms such as 'tattoo'!), fast forward 20 or so years and I now work in IT building images to deploy across 4000+ devices, funny how life turned out :)

[@knightsson1045]

Hahahah ... Good job man

[@RutraNickers]

hey, you're still using Restore CDs to this day!

[@Personality5124]

7 yo me: *boots off the recovery partition on my aunt's laptop because she deleted a system file* also me: Im lern tek

[@luenwyd]

I am a 13 year old who loves tech, and your channel has taught me so much! Great work!

[@Manny73211]

and I'm 10 and I know python

[@chrisskelton]

That's great that you guys are interested in older tech. Computers back then were a lot more exciting IMHO, even if they were slow by comparison, they were evolving so quickly!

[@sparkmel672]

I'm 15, and the same way!

[@Wave_Duck]

Me too. I even have some older tech, I've always wanted to start collecting older stuff like this

[@foxstodios]

I'm the same age and I watch channels like this all the time!

[@cleverlyblonde]

The reason for the encoder/decoder software was that back then sending binary file attachments by e-mail or usenet newsgroups was a complicated mess. You'd often have to encode the file from binary into text and paste into the e-mail/news post, or copy paste text from an e-mail/news post and decode it into a file again yourself. So nice of them to include that.

[@bintobox]

I love when computers have mascots that show up in the instruction manual and stuff, really neat looking packaging

[@thomastartu9597]

That is a very cool-looking computer for its day and time. Really wish that someone brought back that type of concept today.

[@bluephreakr]

Well _supposedly_ a neew upstart named eBlaztr is making a portable DIY ATX AIO they shipped a prototype of to Linus Sebastian, check that out and see if it'd be your jam.

[@gravitycoil828]

a lot of big tech companies have, i have a dell optiplex 9010 all in one as my main PC and it looks pretty similar

[@cyrparlapiano2514]

From your keyboard a decade ago to installing the software today this must feel accomplishing

[@lamtatyan]

Congratulations for finding this owner's kit. And thanks to the donor, who helps making this Monorail video series more interesting!

[@michaellacock]

I love that that computer had a mascot, I wish companies still did that today.

[@kantraa]

lenovo would probably have an anime girl as theirs lmao

[@sierrachief117]

Sadly, it is better not to do that because of all the creeps on the internet that ruin it all

[@prateekpanwar646]

Apple - Newton eating Apple Microsoft - Ms Bob Dell - Dank hehehe meme substituting for that angled E in its logo Logitech - Shroud's cartoon

[@iraitsjffskts]

LenOwO ​@@kantraa

[@SomeBlokeOrWhatever]

@@prateekpanwar646 Microsoft could take the opportunity to bring back Clippy.

[@Fredisaviewer]

Hey there, I know others have mentioned their takes on Mindspring & Eudora but I'll put in my two cents. I'm a wee bit older and was a professional based in Chicago, then in Indianapolis back in the early 90's through the late 80's and traveled the country a lot for business. Mindspring was great for me because they had phone numbers you could connect to just about everywhere you could go in the U.S. for those that are too young, that was most often not the case with most other isp's. If you traveled a lot and didn't have an isp with access in lots of places (both cities and rural), you'd likely have to pay hundreds of dollars in long distance telephone calls in order to do what you needed to do. Also, most other isp's that were national, and had decent coverage had front ends you had to go though which really made it a pain to get things done. It took away a competent end user's ability to set up their own user experience their own way enabling the most freedom possible. Ministering allowed you to do this. Sure you could use the rich package they gave you if you wanted, but you also could simply set up a dial in only, and you'd be good to go. For me, the only other major players for widespread national access without a bunch of built in unavoidable front end isp garbage was AT&T or EarthLink. Bothe AT&T and EarthLink cost a lot more for the ips flat rate. Ministering was very cheap for what you got. Finally regarding isp's in general, not all connections isp's provided were the same. Some isp's only offered low baud connections in certain towns, with other towns have much higher baud connections. At least with AT&T, EarthLink or Mindspring you could count on pretty high baud rates throughout the country. Other national providers had some sub 2400 baud connections only, and if you were stuck with them, downloads or general web surfing for simple things could take half a day or more. So baud rate and access were very important. Regarding Eudora, it was one of the very best email clients out back in the day. It was very deep and full featured compared to most other email clients. I certainly used it whether I was with Mindspring or other isp's back in the day. Excellent video MJD otherwise. Thanks as always for your good work!

[@MegaManNeo]

That computer introduction program is so awesome, I love it.

[@llloyd4]

Interesting, the Wayback Machine website has backup of the Monorail website dating back as far as 1997.

[@jkholtgreve]

The monitor looks decent enough for its age….oh those trailers take me back to when I tried using early laptops though. Also hearing a younger person react to 90s ISP names is peak KZbin.

[@kaitlyn__L]

That networking package is pretty cool. I bet the encoder was to get warez from Usenet and IRC :) the early days of MP3 file sharing encoded them into text strings to be shared in private groups/rooms!

[@vwestlife]

You used to have to manually encode and decode e-mail attachments, too, before MIME became the standard.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@vwestlife kids these days don’t even know they’re born 😁

[@kantraa]

@@vwestlife i dont even know what the fuck MIME is

[@starletscarlet]

@@kantraa It's a header that tells applications what file type a specific file is

[@LordHorst]

@@kantraa It stands for "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions", and as the name suggests, it plays a role in email attachments.

[@silverchairx]

I'm just astounded that someone can make a video about restoring a computer entertaining.

[@pianokeyjoe]

I used to have this system and I upgraded it from a Pentium 100mhz to AMD K5 133mhz, 8MB ram to 32mb, and removed the ISA network card and installed a ISA soundcard that I could do midi triggering (ESS audiodrive). I installed Windows 95B with USB support and I changed the default desktop to an alternate desktop shell called Litestep to make it LOOK like LINUX window manager Enlightenment Blue Steel Theme. I changed the boot screen to a custom one that featured Enlightenment and a Technos Pi synthesizer picture. The system was nice but sadly I sold it years ago.

[@oddstuffyt8161]

damn, technology has evloved so much. nowadays 8000mb ram aint enough and even 16gb lol insanse!

[@SubtotalAnt8185]

@@oddstuffyt8161 your standards are quite off, the laptop I'm using right now has 32gb of RAM installed, a 256 GB SSD, and is manufactured in 2012 (original model came out in 2011), and is still seamless after I did an unsupported upgrade to windows 11 btw, windows 11 sucks. I'm just lucky that windows 10 product keys are compatible, and that this PC meets the minimum security upgrade requirements with TPM 1.2

[@oddstuffyt8161]

@@SubtotalAnt8185 but how fast is your 32gb of ram? What do you do on tht pc? All depends and from what i understand ive used 8gb its really not enough for casual browsing and gaming, even opera gx with cpu limiter etc. 16gb is good tbh but i would still prefer 32 gb 3200+ mhz.

[@SubtotalAnt8185]

@@oddstuffyt8161 good enough to disable paging file

[@nidulaperera]

I’m not gonna lie this has been the most interesting video I have watched in my life! Thank you MJD! Also make sure to keep that kit could come in handy 😀

[@nidper101]

I can agree!

[@bishlottman6914]

Yes I totally agree with you great content

[@nidulaperera]

@@nidper101 Jake why you on my social account lol

[@stevenjlovelace]

I like how they use a mall as an analogy for the internet. Ironic when you realize that the internet basically killed off malls.

[@EssenceofPureFlavor]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

[@TwoThousandStu]

Well, sir, there's nothing on earth like a genuine, bonafide, electrified Windows 95 PC!

[@bacongl]

Dang how rare is that. I have never even seen one. Freakin cool. I bet LGR is drooling over this right now.

[@Evansmustard]

hey man you're really awesome for uploading this to archive.

[@bedrat2223]

When I was a kid, MindSpring and then EarthLink was our first ISP until we finally got cable internet “for school”. I can remember it taking hours to download a game patch or mod and it taking hours even longer if someone picked up the phone and tried to make a call.

[@Thekinggamelon]

Everytime I hear the word: "Monorail", it reminds me of that Simpson song: "Mono-d'oh!"

[@Eyetrauma]

The ring came off my pudding can

[@ryantherock1023]

@@Eyetrauma take my pen knife, my good man! fellow Simpson fans

[@quitebuttery397]

Where you sent here by the devil?

[@JosephFaulkner2k8]

I hear those things are awfuily loud

[@ryantherock1023]

@@quitebuttery397 No good sir, Im on the level 🙂

[@Excellence123]

NEW MJD video. Made my Tuesday

[@mrphlip]

Google tells me that "Run-time error '380'" is from Visual Basic, error 380 is "Invalid Property Value", which is... pretty vague. Presumably it's trying to set up something, like laying out the main window, and it's trying to set a value to something that isn't accepted. My point-in-the-dark guess is that there's a config file missing or empty or something, that's supposed to control some aspect of how this window looks, so it's setting stuff up with invalid nonsense as a result. Like, maybe it loads the list of applications to show in the UI from a config file, and if the config is missing it tries to show the UI with zero applications in it, and that breaks. Or something, idk.

[@goulashball_mapping]

this guy deserves more subscribers

[@DavidWonn]

Eudora was the mail client we used in school back in the day, so that brings back memories. I also remember many mindspring web sites, one of many alternatives to geocities back then. Great nostalgia!

[@Zackcatyt]

As someone who lived in Marietta most of my life. I remember seeing these around growing up.

[@travelthetropics6190]

Eudora mail was huge back then, my dad used that along with Netscape at the workplace.

[@Reziac]

Mindspring acquired, er, merged with Earthlink, then got subsumed into Earthlink (possibly because Mindspring's support sucked, and it didn't fly as primary branding). The Mindspring branding was then used for VOIP, then dropped entirely. Earthlink of course still exists.

[@NoahClevinger]

Michael MJD videos are always such a treat to watch!

[@fsdfgasgfisd]

Amazing, Monorail predicted new becoming a form of entertainment in the future, which is now.

[@Ruinah]

MindSpring was an ISP based in Atlanta and was actually a major player at one point before merging with EarthLink. My parents had MindSpring as our first ISP.

[@PhilipMurphy8Extra]

New MJD video has made my Tuesday for sure.

[@John17TheOGmp4]

glad to see more of this topic

[@eDoc2020]

The custom Monorail software (bot the installer and their launcher) looks like it is using Borland's custom controls. Microsoft didn't introduce standard progress bars until Windows 95 so they must have thought the slider was a good enough alternative.

[@called2voyage]

"This was a complete success" - rare words for an mjd video, haha

[@poeterritory]

Many programs bring back memories of the frustrating but exciting days of the net.

[@dperla76i]

MJD you gotta let us know if you ever do get the mouse for this system. I’d love to know if you are able to complete the whole collection

[@BCStudioYT]

6:10 Mindspring has merged with EarthLink

[@shibolinemress8913]

Was Mindspring in any way connected with Handspring?

[@OfficialAXEPvpBedrock]

Ok

[@Yellowpick10]

Things I learned from this video: New things are added to the internet every day! New things are added to the internet every day! New things are added to the internet every day! New things are added to the internet every day!

[@the_broly_arms]

Moe sounds a lot like Tom Kenny as he voiced Heffer in Rocko's Modern Life.

[@tranquileyes383]

Was thinking the same, he kind of stopped doing more ‘normal’ soft-spoken voices after a point but this is believably a 90s performance of his

[@picklerick_91]

12:25 - 12:45 I love this part of kicking the HD into SSD mode while adding some cool music to the mix also 6 days ago was the founding of company 26 years ago if Wikipedia is to believed 😅

[@j__r0d]

So rad that you found the recovery disk. Really makes this machine extra cool to check out!

[@CEO100able]

It's possible that this Owner's Kit did originally come with Monorail computers in the first place.

[@bradymeyer5941]

he said that in the video

[@lastatarist]

Thanks Mo for this video! :)

[@HouseOfFunQM]

Windows 3.1 SDK widgets don't include a progress bar. Not specifically anyway. The slider is a good way of back-porting 95 widgets to 3.1, that's actually really clever.

[@tyta1]

I've been a power user of Forté Agent back when Usenet was popular - a nice reminder of those times 🙂 The company and software are actually still around.

[@DaveAdams222]

DUUUUUUUDE MINDSPRING!!!!! My teenage years brought back to life!

[@thedopplereffect00]

Pretty sure that phone cord info sheet was a hand photo copied last minute addition, hence the sloppy angle.

[@mcch1n]

"Hello Everybody" ah never gets old

[@_techana]

I was hoping to see the CD-ROM drive eject tool that LGR demonstrated with his Monorail computer! It's a taskbar icon that opens and closes the CD-ROM drive tray automatically without the need to physically press on the eject button

[@DragonProtector]

what?

[@MichaelMJD]

That wasn't included in this version of the software bundle. I suspect it was added for newer Monorail models, which is what LGR had in his video.

[@DragonProtector]

@@MichaelMJD ah well guess you will need to hunt for it 😂

[@ptzzzs]

That was quick! Being only a few days after your video on the Monorail and the mention that you bought a Restore Disc. Its a good thing that you and LGR archive software discs, especially the more rare recovery media for specific computers.

[@Creeper_ofDoom]

Completely forgot about the monorail until this popped up on youtube recommendations

[@Zekiu]

when you opened the ping program i got a notification on discord wth

[@ozzie_goat]

That's hilarious

[@majoryoshi]

obv michael pinged you

[@Eyetrauma]

Michael’s calling… will *you* accept the charges? 📞 🎵

[@blunderingfool]

Surprised you got your hands on that so quickly.

[@shawnm355]

i could have sworn clint from lgr had the compleat package with the restore disk.

[@dhpbear2]

Eudora was the e-mail program I used back in 1994-2000.

[@kupokinzyt]

Michael your channel and videos make me happy! 😊

[@ArifTheSpriter]

18:54 half-life reference... yep

[@kantraa]

its crazy to think that the irc program would probably still work if you somehow connected this thing to the internet. there are multiple IRC networks out there such as Libera Chat.

[@WilburJaywright]

I called the Mindspring phone number as seen in the booklet in the vid, and a recording said “Hi! Welcome to EarthLink. To set up a new Internet connection…” I haven’t done any research as of yet, but it looks like they may have just been re-branded. Edit: Yep, looks like on Wikipedia the two companies merged in February of 2000.

[@UserOfYoutube338]

The perfect video to make my day!

[@omaraguero]

Would be fascinating if you talk about Microsoft Encarta!

[@lacrak27]

i just love how in unity, all progress bars are kinda sliders

[@Divyanshu.Saraswat]

I just had the best 29 minutes of my day

[@esquared.mp3]

the tutorial video was moving to a new section, and i was multitasking and not watching the screen, and all of a sudden usher’s “yeah” started playing and for a second i thought it was the monorail tutorial. turns out it was just an ad for ross.

[@amichels]

NEW THINGS ARE ADDED TO THE INTERNET EVERY DAY

[@WilburJaywright]

My sister just said you sounded like Kevin Flynn from Tron. Yeah, we got another you sound like comment, but at least this one is definitely positive and even makes some sense.

[@basic-bear]

LView PRO!!! WHAT! Havent seen that in forever dude..

[@stormweaverr]

micheal, where is compaq pc restoration part two??

[@lloyddavies5587]

I have one of the old Monorail desktop towers, the 366mhz Celeron model. It was a no thrills PC, with not much "bloat ware" which is something I liked. Runs Win98. I put in a SD to IDE drive. Need to replace the power supply due to power surge a awhile back. (Let's hope it still works) Bought at a Best Buy in Huntsville, Alabama in 1999

[@salazirko]

iso for 9:46 pls?

[@Iso_Tech7_YT]

bruh my name is iso

[@shej5456]

at 21:10 is all the information true?

[@ChaseMC215]

Technically the last video to have the old background

[@stevethepocket]

It's a great day at MindSpring!

[@jargon343]

What bios is that at 9:54? Never seen that type of bios before!

[@Master_Cheese-kf2mm]

ami hiflex simple setup. youtube deleted the comment when I edited the link where it contains wiki about ami bios

[@drum_n_bass]

Mindspring is still around! They were acquired/merged by Earthlink!

[@pipipipipipipipi_]

Monorail really stands out, the coolest pc I ever seen, even more than just all-in-one pc, the OLD all-in-one pc! :)

[@robloxanticheat]

That was very quick!

[@theloststarbounder]

Windows 3.1 also had title centered and it looks kinda like Windows 11 in low color mode and the options are all grouped in that left side menu

[@stpworld]

it looks like they took left over laptop stuff and put it in an all in one pc for the time. Like last generations stuff that was left over at the time.

[@imark7777777]

How would one go about archiving an ISO? I have a Compaq Presario and I am very paranoid that my restore disk might be ummm degrading it is after all the second one. I've ripped ISO off before but I've also had weird issues with Games and other discs that refuse to duplicate properly to the virtual domain. I Usually use ImgBurn.

[@Shaddow798]

11:59 I'm so disappointed that he didn't attempt to slide the slider across to "speed up the installation or something dumb"

[@AlyxRythrill710]

MJD You Should Try To Install Windows 2000 On It

[@derekw6811]

Surprised you haven’t heard of the Eudora email client. It’s a classic. Along with Pegasus from the same era.

[@𰻝]

10:43 is that OS/2?

[@underthehall]

The one answer I was looking for you didn't mention...where did you find the restore disk at?!

[@aurathedraak7909]

I think LGR's pants dropped when this was made.

[@Yellowgorilla504]

Mindspring actually turned into Earth link internet through Cellular tower. Funny!

[@tonythecomputer03]

Could you emulate this to 86box if you know how to emulate old machines like this?

[@TheOmegaDMM]

Question: Is your archive served on a 64k ISDN connection??

[@reedreinfeld3737]

You’ve never heard of MindSpring? I remember them from the late 1990’s and 2000’s

[@Master_Cheese-kf2mm]

could you extract bios rom dump?

[@Alchiter]

I saw the monorail video 2 days ago

[@DryPaperHammerBro]

I'm just as surprised as you are that Qualcomm made Eudora

[@crispycuero]

What happens if you call the monorail number in 2022

[@OfficialAXEPvpBedrock]

Idk

[@luisangelvasquezfierro]

Is your archive page MJD also or it’s under a different name??

[@cleverlyblonde]

See description :)

[@NatetheNintendofan]

New vidio I love when you make videos like this Michal so I have something to look forward to after school.

[@encycl07pedia-]

It's weird to me that you haven't heard of Eudora. How old are you?

[@paintdev]

just uploaded today, cool vid!