Hello! My name is Conner, I'm currently 20 years old, and I run the new YouTube channel ComputerSmith. I've always been fascinated by classic Macintoshes, especially when I fixed my first ever classic Mac, a Classic II that I got running in 2013. Fast forward 12 years, and I've always found myself drawn to creating content on YouTube. With the encouragement of my friend Kelvin (who runs the channel nearLucid), as well as inspiration from the likes of watching Cathode Ray Dude, Bringus Studios, LGR, Action Retro, Technology Connections, JDW, and more, I decided to take a chance with YouTube. My first 3 videos were total failure! I tried doing a power plug mod on a Hue Go light, only to fry the board. I tried replacing the drifitng joysticks on my Xbox controller, only to fry the board. And most heartbreaking of all, I tried doing a recap on my Classic II, only to put one cap on backwards. Even worse, when I went to remove the caps, I ended up lifting 3 pads, and in the time I've spent attempting trace repair, a few traces have lifted as well, so my hope for that board is sadly slim at the moment. Down, but not out, I was scrolling through Facebook Marketplace one day, when something caught my eye... I thought, "this could be my chance to start making content!", so I took a leap: On the last day of summer 2024, I bought a stack of 4 broken Macintosh 512K's (+ a PowerBook 180) off of Facebook Marketplace, and saught out to repair them all. So far I have brought one back to life, and everything on it works except the keyboard.
Anyways, history lesson aside, the goal of my channel is to hopefully bring more people my age into retro computing! It's a very niche hobby (especially for people in my age bracket), so I'm hoping that with my editing style, sense of humor, and also just... being young in general, I can try and get more young people into retro computing, or even computer repair in general! I will say, it is a very interesting hobby to have as someone of my age, because I did not live through the Macintosh era at *all*. By the time I was old enough to think, Mac OS X had already come out; My first computer had Windows XP on it, so most of the stuff I cover on my channel tends to be older than me-- but that's kind of the point. The people who lived through the Macintosh era unfortunately won't be around forever, and I'm afraid that if nobody else steps in to share the awesomeness that is the Macintosh, the well of content will eventually run dry, and we'll run out of people who want to invent cool accessories (like the Floppy Emu or BlueSCSI)... I don't want that to happen! So, if I can help it, I'm going to try my best to get more young people into old computers, and learn more about the history of such things as bringing the GUI to the masses!
Outside of YouTube, I work as a SysAdmin, and am currently studying Computer Engineering at comminity college, with plans to transfer to UTD this fall if everything goes well. I'm super excited to attend VCF SW 2025 (which just so happens to be at UTD!), so if anyone wants to stop by and say hi, I'd love to meet you! Other than that, it's great to meet you all, and thank you for having me! Thank you as well to my existing 270 subscribers for giving my channel a chance, I know I have a super unpredictable upload schedule, but these videos are a passion project for me, and I'm so lucky to have the oppurtunity to share my passion with you all.
Before I go, here's some fun facts about me:
- I don't actually need glasses to see! The glasses I wear in my videos are blue light filters. I wear them because 1) I think I look better in them, and 2) I spend a lot of time on the computer and need to protect my eyes.
- I am a type 1 diabetic! It presents a lot of challenges, but I'm still here despite everything. I'm also a diagnosed autistic, which... makes sense why I'm so fixated on classic macs.
- One time when I was about 7 or so, my parents put parental controls on my 3DS. Not happy with that, I followed the instructions to get on a support chat with Nintendo and obtain the emergency reset key, which I did successfully! My parents later obtained a copy of that chat log, and after reading it, they never put parental controls on my devices ever again.
Anyways, history lesson aside, the goal of my channel is to hopefully bring more people my age into retro computing! It's a very niche hobby (especially for people in my age bracket), so I'm hoping that with my editing style, sense of humor, and also just... being young in general, I can try and get more young people into retro computing, or even computer repair in general! I will say, it is a very interesting hobby to have as someone of my age, because I did not live through the Macintosh era at *all*. By the time I was old enough to think, Mac OS X had already come out; My first computer had Windows XP on it, so most of the stuff I cover on my channel tends to be older than me-- but that's kind of the point. The people who lived through the Macintosh era unfortunately won't be around forever, and I'm afraid that if nobody else steps in to share the awesomeness that is the Macintosh, the well of content will eventually run dry, and we'll run out of people who want to invent cool accessories (like the Floppy Emu or BlueSCSI)... I don't want that to happen! So, if I can help it, I'm going to try my best to get more young people into old computers, and learn more about the history of such things as bringing the GUI to the masses!
Outside of YouTube, I work as a SysAdmin, and am currently studying Computer Engineering at comminity college, with plans to transfer to UTD this fall if everything goes well. I'm super excited to attend VCF SW 2025 (which just so happens to be at UTD!), so if anyone wants to stop by and say hi, I'd love to meet you! Other than that, it's great to meet you all, and thank you for having me! Thank you as well to my existing 270 subscribers for giving my channel a chance, I know I have a super unpredictable upload schedule, but these videos are a passion project for me, and I'm so lucky to have the oppurtunity to share my passion with you all.
Before I go, here's some fun facts about me:
- I don't actually need glasses to see! The glasses I wear in my videos are blue light filters. I wear them because 1) I think I look better in them, and 2) I spend a lot of time on the computer and need to protect my eyes.
- I am a type 1 diabetic! It presents a lot of challenges, but I'm still here despite everything. I'm also a diagnosed autistic, which... makes sense why I'm so fixated on classic macs.
- One time when I was about 7 or so, my parents put parental controls on my 3DS. Not happy with that, I followed the instructions to get on a support chat with Nintendo and obtain the emergency reset key, which I did successfully! My parents later obtained a copy of that chat log, and after reading it, they never put parental controls on my devices ever again.
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). I haven't been back there in a long time, but it looked like it had changed a lot in some of the VCFSW videos I watched. I live way up in PA now, or I'd stop by and say hi.
