When restoring early-2000s hardware, the original Xbox often comes with a hidden danger – the clock capacitor. This small component was originally designed to keep the system clock running when the console was unplugged. While the idea made sense back in 2001, it turned into one of the most notorious weak points of the system….
On August 24, 2011, Apple’s co-founder and visionary leader Steve Jobs resigned as Chief Executive Officer due to ongoing health issues. This moment marked the end of a remarkable chapter in Apple’s history and the broader world of technology. Jobs remained as Chairman of the Board, while Tim Cook was appointed as the new CEO,…
Sometimes bringing back old tech requires more than dusting and testing — it requires some surgery, patience, and a soldering iron. On one of our recent retro hardware excursions, we stumbled upon a dirty, early 1990s 386 laptop. It was rocking a cute monochrome display, a tiny keyboard, and all the signs of not having been handled in decades. But internally, we knew we were in for a fight: the infamous Dallas RTC (real-time clock) chip with the internal battery. The Dallas chip on this unit, like on many from the…
7 years today! Modestly, but we are getting there. We started with a simple idea and two “Pravetz 8D” computers, and now we have over 630 pieces in the collection, 94% of which are restored and ready to be exhibited. From what we can tell, something big is coming in the near future. Happy Birthday, 8BitClub!
Recently a friend of the museum sent us his breadbin Commodore 64 that he acquired online with complains that there is garbage on the screen and there is no cursor. As much as we like restoring vintage computers and dealing with newer problems that enrich our knowledge base, we have never actually repaired a breadbin…
Recently we found another Pravetz 8D on auction for a good price and in good condition. No matter that we have a few units in our collection, we decided to save this one as well. You can never have too many Pravetz computers. 🙂 On first sight the unit was in mint condition, even the…
Recently, we acquired some teletypes for the collection, one of them is the RFT F2000. The F2000 features microprocessor control, not like the earlier models which rely on motor driven mechanisms for the encoding and decoding of the signals. Here are some photos of the restoration process. Another interesting thing is that the F2000 features…
One of the many tasks in the museum is to have the appropriate era-correct monitor for our Pravetz 82. We managed to acquire one or two throughout the years, but they had missing transformers and CRT yokes that were stolen from scrapers for their expensive copper. Well, a recent donation to the museum was another…
During soviet times many computer clones were created, most of them were manufactured in Bulgaria and then exported to the USSR. But many other computers were made inside the USSR, mainly ZX Spectrum clones. In our example, the computer is manufactured from the beginning of the end of the USSR to until 1995. “Компаньо́н 2”…
After searching for a long time, we finally found a compatible mouse for our ATARI 520STFM on the web. We bought it for 25BGN, which is quite cheap. To our amazement it works. Lets take it apart to look inside and clean it.