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Making an SVI-328 disc BASIC boot disc

When I got my Spectravideo SVI-328, it came with a floppy drive but no floppy discs. A chance visit to the Spectravideo Facebook group for a different matter led me to a cassette file that I could use to create a disc BASIC boot disc (and CP/M boot disc). This video runs through the process of creating the disc BASIC disc using a SVI-CAS digital playback and recording device (the process to make a CP/M boot disc is almost identical)....

May 12, 2022 · 1 min · 92 words · TassieBob

Spectravideo 80 column card - ...or not

Well, that didn’t go as planned… The “plan” was to test out the SVI-806 80 column video card.

May 5, 2022 · 1 min · 18 words · TassieBob

Repairing a Sony TC-K590 tape deck

This week I’m repairing a Sony TC-K590 tape deck. I started this a few weeks back but had to wait for parts to arrive from the UK. Was difficult to cut down 3-4 hours of footage into a watchable video without it ending up all disjointed – hopefully it came up OK :-)

April 28, 2022 · 1 min · 53 words · TassieBob

Desoldering Experiments

Experimenting with desoldering techniques in this video – hoping to solicit some feedback on how to do it better and more consistently!

April 21, 2022 · 1 min · 22 words · TassieBob

Tauntek Logic IC tester

This time around I’m building a Tauntek Logic IC tester, which should be useful for testing 74 series logic IC’s I reclaim from old equipment, and also some 4000 series IC’s. There are other testers out there, like the Retro Chip Tester Pro (which is good for testing RAM/ROM in particular), and in time I’ll probably acquire & build one of those too :-)

April 14, 2022 · 1 min · 64 words · TassieBob

Spectravideo SV601 super expander

In this video I take a look at the Spectravideo SV-601 super expander, and come across a few surprises along the way!

April 7, 2022 · 1 min · 22 words · TassieBob

Commodore 1084S-P1 repair

This time around we’re repairing a Commodore 1084S-P1 monitor (originally made by Philips). For those wondering about the doubled up insulator on the heatsink – I checked after running the monitor for 30+ minutes and the heatsink was the same temperature as the transistor (approx 35 degrees C), so the thermal conductivity doesn’t appear to be compromised.

March 31, 2022 · 1 min · 57 words · TassieBob

Vectorio part 3 – reassembly

This time around I put the Vectorio back together. There’s no real surprises here – it all bolts back together about the way you’d expect. Next time around I hope to have a working composite monitor that I can plug into it (my modern Sony LCD workshop TV doesn’t like the composite output from many retro machines).

March 25, 2022 · 1 min · 57 words · TassieBob

Macray CCTV switcher 'thing'

Another tip shop find – this time a Macray CCTV switcher thing. Not entirely sure what this is supposed to do, other than switch video in a CCTV system. It’s pretty basic, with a PSU and a bunch of relay boards. I bought it for the Euro card enclosure.

March 17, 2022 · 1 min · 49 words · TassieBob

Apple IIc 9 inch mono monitor repair - part 1

This time around we take a look at a monochrome 9″ Apple ][ monitor, and make a start on rectifying its issues. This will be part 1 of at least 2 as I’m still waiting on some of the replacement parts to arrive (some I had in stock, but many I didn’t). You’ll see what a PITA this thing is to get apart, and next time I expect you’ll see what a PITA it is to put back together!...

March 10, 2022 · 1 min · 79 words · TassieBob