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Hi everyone, I'm trying to install this HP LaserJet driver and utility package for Mac OS 7 and a later one from Mac OS 8 I found on a CD (attached below). This is in an attempt to rename the printer name on the JetDirect 600N AppleTalk card in it. (And sadly no, you can't do that from the web...

Hello everyone, Last year I purchased half of a Performa 550 chassis that was missing the analog board and CRT. My goal was to use the included wiring harness to help me troubleshoot compatible 68k LC/Performa systems, the Color Classic, and Macintosh TV. Sadly, I have a few of these boards...

For almost 17 years I've been tinkering around with the Apple Interactive Television Box, or Set Top Box (STB). If you don't know much about the device, there's a great wiki for it here. But essentially, it was a semi-Macintosh LC 475 designed to support multimedia playback and interactive...

In this thread I'll be discussing my adventures in modifying the Kodak Reels 8mm film digitizer firmware. First I'll explain how I started, my goals, the the results, some tidbits I learned, and how-to do this yourself. This will be a lengthy post, but my process may be helpful to others and I...

Hello all, As someone who repairs a lot of systems, the CUDA / EGRET microcontroller chip is one of those pieces that is getting harder and harder to replace. It would be amazing if these chips could be replaced by a modern solution so we can save more 68k / PowerPC Macs! I was doing some...

Hello, I'm looking for a driver or software package that shipped with the Newer Technology SCSI Dart, a RAM disk drive. Any leads would be great! I've checked the usual places, but nothing so far. It is also possible it could carry an odd name. Thanks, -Steven

Hello all, I'm working on a particularly unhappy Macintosh IIci board. After a recap and repair of the startup circuit area, the system turns on (with a green LED on the board), but I don't get a chime. The speaker does "pop". I'm using known-good RAM and the PSU is good as well. When I turn...

Hello there, My partner in crime @Action Retro brought over his Mac Portable, the SCSI bus wasn't happy on the unit, but we wanted to see if the HD had any data on it. Thankfully his portable would boot from a floppy. I now have the Portable's hard drive here and a 34-pin to 50-pin adapter...

I wanted to share a quick tip about the sound chip on the Performa / LC 575 and similar Macs. We all know that leaking caps can kill these sound chips. Of course this could also eat away traces on the board and make the sound only partially work. I had an interesting scenario with a client's...

Hello all, I recently did a live stream (link) where I attempted to repair a client's WGS 9150. (120MHz). The symptoms were that the system would freeze after being on for a period of time. The voltage regulator behind the ROM slot had some visible singing of the board, so I decided to replace...

I've recently acquired this interesting Apple KanjiTalk Font NuBus card... and I'd love to learn more about what it does and it's purpose, etc. Doing some research, I've found other websites (example from okqubit.net) wondering what this is. I'm assuming it may have something to do with some...

Hello everyone! During the recent TinkerDifferent live stream it was suggested we make a thread for those attending VCF East in Wall, NJ this coming April. Details about VCF East can be found here, and you can check out the Exhibits list here. There is a general admission charge of $25 (1 day)...

Hello everyone! Some of you may have seen the video I did on my odd acquisition (video link), but I wanted to provide some more photos. I purchased it because it really looked slickly done. The seller didn't take a photo of the side of the machine that clearly showed this was a mod... so I...

Hello all! Hopefully this tip will help someone in the future. ☺️ My friend sent me a Macintosh SE/30 that was previously recapped, but the previous person didn't clean the pads before putting new caps on. Therefore, it had to be recapped again! Their machine was getting the dreaded Simasimac...

The SE-BUS PC Drive Card is a PDS card from 1987 for the Macintosh SE (not SE/30) models which allows them to connect to the Apple PC 5.25 floppy drive. This drive will read 5.25″ floppy disks that are formatted for PCs (MS-DOS, etc). This pinout is for the cable that goes between the SE-Bus...

I have two PowerBook 5300 / 5300cs series machines and sadly they are both not in the best shape. While trying to fix them up I removed the LCD screen and took note of the capacitors to make this guide. The PowerBook 5300 series shpped with a few different LCD panels, but even similar models may...

A few of you here may be familiar with my cursed Quadra 840AV desktop. If not, this is a machine I purchased for $5 back in the mid 2000's at the Trenton Computer Festival here in New Jersey. Their flea market was 90% PC stuff, but the few people who had Apple stuff had excellent prices. A lot...

Hello everyone, I recently installed my Adaptec PowerDomain 2930 SCSI card in my PowerMac G4 (MDD Dual 867MHz) in order to use my Nikon LS-2000 slide/negative scanner. I spent quite some time figuring this out, so I figured I'd share this adventure to help anyone out in the future. I've been...

Hello everyone! I think it's finally time to replace my Yihua hot air gun (pictured below). I've stopped using the soldering iron when I got a new one, but I've been relying on this for my repairs. Sadly, it seems to be slowly losing it's juice. The air doesn't seem to be coming out as hot or...

Some of you may have seen my attempts (link) on YouTube of me trying to fulfill the promise of Steve Jobs during the iMac G3 debut. And that is the action of beaming digital camera photos to the iMac via wireless IrDA. I'm using a Kodak DC260 camera which has an IrDA 1.0 compaliant port on it. I...