WOW! Early Christmas for me. A pickup from the dream list - an Amiga 4000! I never thought I’d have one of these in the collection or at a price within my budget. I’m floored this is now mine. Hopefully no nasty surprises inside. #retrocomputing #amiga #amiga4000

Well this Mackintosh U-2200 is all fixed up and restored. This rare piece of Canadian history is ready for VCF Montreal. #retrocomputing #mackintosh #appleii #unitron #vcfmontreal

Unfortunately missing from this U-2200 is the original 80 col card (U-2063-2). But the ROMs are online and I was able to burn them and use them on this clone card. The system has an auto-switch function. #retrocomputing #mackintosh #appleii #unitron

Quiet evening repopulating a freshly cleaned keyboard. #retrocomputing #mackintosh #appleii #unitron

Key soup #retrocomputing #mackintosh #appleii #unitron

You’d think this is an XT keyboard – but it’s not. The speaker, extra direction and Reset keys are a giveaway. This is the optional KB-2200 (U-2235) for the U-2200 computer. If you’re going to use the computer mainly for CPM I guess this layout makes more sense. #retrocomputing #mackintosh

Next is the mess with the epoxied in keyboard port repair. Ouf! This is rough. But oddly the person decided to put electrical tape under the epoxy. Maybe they were planning to eventually pull it off. It came out pretty clean. #retrocomputing #mackintosh #appleii #unitron

Time to tackle that mess of a keyboard repair on the U-2200. Thankfully the damage is not too severe. A couple of burnt pads but all looks good both side. I’m also happy I managed to track down a port which matches the original almost exactly. #retrocomputing #mackintosh #appleii #unitron

There’s the little daughterboard that turns this from an innocent Z80 CPN machine, which just happens to have Apple II compatible drive controller, slots, and video, to an illegal Apple II clone. Sealed the faith of Mackintosh Computers. #retrocomputing #mackintosh #appleii #unitron

Looks like we have a Unitron U2200-4 board with both the 6502 and Z80 processors. Weird did they have another board in mind or another case? The slots don’t line up with the back slots. #retrocomputing #mackintosh #appleii #unitron

Ouf! What is this repair. Seems the keyboard port was repaired and epoxied to the front of the case – YUCK! And we have some sort of joystick port wired to a RJ45 port on the front. That’s a new one. #retrocomputing #mackintosh #appleii #unitron

This time around the second Apple II clone Mackintosh sold. The re-badged Unitron U-2200. Advertised as a Z80 CPM machine that just so happened to also have a 6502, Apple Drive controller, Slots, & video. Pretty basic case. No screws #retrocomputing #mackintosh #appleii #unitron

More Mackintosh shenanigans on the bench. #retrocomputing #mackintosh #appleii #unitron

Next clone looked like XT/286 system – but looks like someone crammed in a K6-2. What is this? Someone’s sleeper PC from back in the day. All this and not a new case? #retrocomputing #pcclone

This Pentium 166 clone is all fixed up. Nothing too special found in this pickup. Not sure I need another Pentium clone so the case might go towards another project. #retrocomputing #pcclones #pentium

A little surgery on the Dallas chip and the message is gone and BIOS settings can now be saved again. #retrocomputing #pcclones #pentium

Re-assembled and first power on this old Pentium clone and it’s alive. Oddly set to 100Mhz but couple of dips later and we’re at 166. No surprise the Dallas is dead. It still has a funky Windows 98 install. #retrocomputing #pcclones #pentium

First look at this PC clone I picked up. Was hoping for a 386/486 judging by the case but looks like we have a Socket 7. And the CD and USB card are kind of a tell. #retrocomputing #pcclones #pentium

Picked up these two non-descript PC clones. One looks from the XT/286 generation and the other 386/486 generation. But the CD drives make me doubt that’s what I’ll find inside. #retrocomputing #pcclones

The TRS-80 Model III is fixed, cleaned, assembled, and tested. Nice to have this piece of computing history in the collection. I have memories of using these in high school before the IBM clones took over. #retrocomputing #tandy #trs80 #modeliii #septandy

Quiet Friday evening pulling keys and cleaning the Model III keyboard. #retrocomputing #tandy #trs80 #modeliii #septandy

After some fiddling with IMD both drives are aligned and the Model III is booting off its drives once again. Time to tackle the dirty keyboard. #retrocomputing #tandy #trs80 #modeliii #septandy

Good and Bad news with the Model III. Hooked up a Gotek and the machine boots – so controller is good. But when I try and format or copy to the drives same errors on both. So pretty sure it’s the drives. #retrocomputing #tandy #trs80 #modeliii #septandy

IT’S ALIVE! First power on for this TRS-80 Model III and the system is up and the screen is good. Unfortunately no “Diskette?” prompt and no boot from the disk drive. So not sure if it has controller or just drive problems. #retrocomputing #tandy #trs80 #modeliii #septandy

Stepper motor on the Model III drives seemed very stiff and sticking. A couple of hours of exercising both drives and they’re working much smoother. #retrocomputing #tandy #trs80 #modeliii #septandy

TRS-80 model III is blown apart. All is there and looks good. So time to start cleaning and get it re-assembled for a first power up. #retrocomputing #tandy #trs80 #modeliii #septandy

Oh! I don’t like that. Metal washers under the power supply. And only 3 bolts so one of those was just floating there – that’s not good. Time to print up some plastic washers. #retrocomputing #tandy #trs80 #modeliii

Good news is this TRS-80 Model III case is not empty, looks likes all the guts are still there. We have some gooeyness on the anode cap and some RIFA caps just waiting to give the next guy to power this on a bad day. #retrocomputing #tandy #trs80 #modeliii

This TRS-80 Model III has a 16K badge and the model is 26-1062 but we have dual drives and an extra port so some upgrades were done in the past. #retrocomputing #tandy #trs80 #modeliii

For #SepTandy 2025 I’m going to restore this TRS-80 Model III I picked up a while back. I have mixed feelings about these computers. My high school had these and being a Commodore kid they nothing for me at the time. #retrocomputing #tandy #trs80 #modeliii

That 286 accelerator card works. It give this IBM 5160 a nice period correct boost. Doesn’t do much for disk access performance and could us a 287 since even the 8087 blows just the 286 math out of the water. #retrocomputing #ibm #ibmpcxt #ibm5160 #ibmxt

This IBM XT 5160 is all cleaned up and working great. But I think I want to give it a little boost. I found this generic 286 accelerator card a while back and this machine would be a great candidate to inherit it. Let’s see if this upgrade card still works. #retrocomputing #ibm #ibmpcxt #ibm5160

Took me embarrassingly too long before I figured out why CTRL-ALT-DEL wasn’t working on the 5160. Can you see it? #retrocomputing #ibm #ibmpcxt #ibm5160 #ibmxt

Turns out the knocking on WD12 was the rubber end of the head brake after all these years sticking. After a little help to unstick it the WD12 drive is alive. A low level format later and we’ll see what the surface looks like after some Spinrite action.

The IBM 5160 is all back together, no errors and clean boot to disk. Unfortunately nasty knocking from the HDD so the old WD12 may be dead. #retrocomputing #ibm #ibmpcxt #ibm5160 #ibmxt

IT’S ALIVE! Start up with the basics and this IBM XT 5160 is working. Some tweaking of the on video card and we have color mode. Time to keep going with the assembly. #retrocomputing #ibm #ibmpcxt #ibm5160 #ibmxt

All cleaned up and it’s time to re-assemble this IBM XT 5160. #retrocomputing #ibm #ibmpcxt #ibm5160 #ibmxt

From the outside this IBM PC XT is pretty clean. Although all the case screws are missing and the parts sticker shows signs it may have been in a humid environment. But opening it up and it’s loaded. Let’s keep digging. #retrocomputing #ibm #ibmpcxt #ibm5160 #ibmxt

Next on the bench – an IBM PC XT (5160). Looks pretty clean. Time to dive in and see if it’s complete and there’s still life in this classic. #retrocomputing #ibm #ibmpcxt #ibm5160 #ibmxt

Cleaned and re-assembled this Kaypro II is working perfectly. The screen burn in and the keyboard shows signs that this machine was once well used. A perfect example of simple design in and out. Will be a nice addition next to the Osborne 1. #retrocomputing #kayproii #kaypro

Quiet evening cleaning the Kaypro II keyboard. #retrocomputing #kayproii #kaypro

IT’S ALIVE! This Kaypro II is back. It boots and it appears the repaired A drive works. Time to tackle the grubby keyboard. #retrocomputing #kayproii #kaypro

Two Tandon TM100-1A drives from the Kaypro II. One checks tests good the other doesn’t spin. Time to do some debugging and fixing. #retrocomputing #kayproii #kaypro #tandon

A little bubbling in some rust remover and I the original screws on the Kaypro can be re-used. #retrocomputing #kayproii #kaypro

First time I use steel wool to clean a computer case. Rub off the oxidation on the aluminum case of the Kaypro. #retrocomputing #kayproii #kaypro

Oh that Rifa cap looks ready to give the next guy to power on this Kaypro II a bad day. EW! A gooey anode cap. But so far nothing really bad. #retrocomputing #kayproii #kaypro

So that’s a Kaypro II. Pretty simple and industrial construction. No old crumbling plastic or delicate little snaps or clips to break. No “unoptanium” chips. Just a metal box, screw in and wire up what you need. Cleaning time and reassembly. #retrocomputing #kayproii #kaypro

Latest pick up a Kaypro II. Been looking for one for a while. This one was in a basement for the past 40 years. Pretty dirty and all the screws are rusty. But all (except the keyboard wire) looks intact. Time to bust it open and see how it looks inside. #retrocomputing #kayproii #kaypro

Yuck! What a mess. How has this PSU been working for the last 3 weeks. Well go to see what it looks like under there and start pulling leaking caps. Hopefully there are still some good traces under there. #retrocomputing

Some project boards from JLCPCB arrived. Something to do on long rainy weekend. #retrocomputing #jlcpcb #xtide