BigBadBiologist
@bigbadbiologist.bsky.social
Big Bad Biologist. Doggo daddo. Alliteration Aficionado. (I'm a retro computing enthusiast that livestreams a lot of my restoration work, normally at noon eastern on Saturdays)
Trumpers please kindly fuck off.
https://www.youtube.com/@BigBadBench
Trumpers please kindly fuck off.
https://www.youtube.com/@BigBadBench
I picked up an Atari 520STFM yesterday. As you can see, it is in exceptional condition 🤣 I’ve recapped the PSU and cleaned the floppy and functionally, it seems great. Should I upgrade the RAM to 1mb (I already had chips) or just get a 4mb upgrade for it? Tagging @rectapete.bsky.social my Atari guru
November 14, 2025 at 2:56 PM
I picked up an Atari 520STFM yesterday. As you can see, it is in exceptional condition 🤣 I’ve recapped the PSU and cleaned the floppy and functionally, it seems great. Should I upgrade the RAM to 1mb (I already had chips) or just get a 4mb upgrade for it? Tagging @rectapete.bsky.social my Atari guru
Got the little Dell System 450/L running that I opened up on last weekend’s stream. Added a 5.25” drive, SD IDE, Windows Sound System card, Etherlink III, and partially recapped the mobo. It’s a nice little WfW 3.11 powerhouse!
November 11, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Got the little Dell System 450/L running that I opened up on last weekend’s stream. Added a 5.25” drive, SD IDE, Windows Sound System card, Etherlink III, and partially recapped the mobo. It’s a nice little WfW 3.11 powerhouse!
Weird dealies I just picked up. I’ve seen the 30pin to 72pin adapters before, but i’ve never encountered these 2-to-1 30pin before. The chip is a PAL and there are two jumpers. If anyone has info about these, let me know!
November 7, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Weird dealies I just picked up. I’ve seen the 30pin to 72pin adapters before, but i’ve never encountered these 2-to-1 30pin before. The chip is a PAL and there are two jumpers. If anyone has info about these, let me know!
Welp, the story of this system is coming to a close. I changed the machine ID to Centris 650 and the LC CPU worked fine. Supposedly the base Quadra 650 came with a LC CPU and the FPU CPU as an option, but that doesn’t seem to the case. This machine will live on with a full fat 68040 as a Quadra 800.
November 3, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Welp, the story of this system is coming to a close. I changed the machine ID to Centris 650 and the LC CPU worked fine. Supposedly the base Quadra 650 came with a LC CPU and the FPU CPU as an option, but that doesn’t seem to the case. This machine will live on with a full fat 68040 as a Quadra 800.
Even weirder is that I put the CPU in my LC475 (clocked to 33MHz) and it worked totally fine. Put it back in the 650 and it type 10 errored. Oh well, I’ll keep the LC475 CPU in the 650 I guess.
November 2, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Even weirder is that I put the CPU in my LC475 (clocked to 33MHz) and it worked totally fine. Put it back in the 650 and it type 10 errored. Oh well, I’ll keep the LC475 CPU in the 650 I guess.
Well poo. I mentioned on the stream that while the Quadra 650 board was booting, it would give a type 10 error upon doing almost anything. Seems to be the CPU since swapping made it work perfectly 😥
November 2, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Well poo. I mentioned on the stream that while the Quadra 650 board was booting, it would give a type 10 error upon doing almost anything. Seems to be the CPU since swapping made it work perfectly 😥
When I reviewed some of my work on the IIvx during the stream, I mentioned that I thought the EGRET chip was bad. I checked all of my EGRETs on my good IIvx and they all work! Best news I got all week.
November 1, 2025 at 8:38 PM
When I reviewed some of my work on the IIvx during the stream, I mentioned that I thought the EGRET chip was bad. I checked all of my EGRETs on my good IIvx and they all work! Best news I got all week.
My similar 5500 system so that you can improve on the mistakes I made (mostly that a regular ATX is way too big)
October 29, 2025 at 11:16 PM
My similar 5500 system so that you can improve on the mistakes I made (mostly that a regular ATX is way too big)
It looks like I’m going to get away with only 14 traces repaired on this battery-damaged Quadra 650. #VintageMac
October 26, 2025 at 6:13 PM
It looks like I’m going to get away with only 14 traces repaired on this battery-damaged Quadra 650. #VintageMac
Anyone like weird 486-ish CPUs?
October 25, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Anyone like weird 486-ish CPUs?
It’s been a fun, busy morning at MIT Swapfest. Almost sold out!
October 19, 2025 at 3:47 PM
It’s been a fun, busy morning at MIT Swapfest. Almost sold out!
I was looking for some RAM for the 39 bodge Classic and found these two SIMMs that needed some trace repair. Up to 42 total system bodges. Also love that this computer will look really nice on the outside with horror on the inside.
October 17, 2025 at 9:15 PM
I was looking for some RAM for the 39 bodge Classic and found these two SIMMs that needed some trace repair. Up to 42 total system bodges. Also love that this computer will look really nice on the outside with horror on the inside.
39 trace repairs, RTC and battery back on and it’s testing perfect!
October 15, 2025 at 12:57 AM
39 trace repairs, RTC and battery back on and it’s testing perfect!
Well poo. I forgot I still need to do the analog board.
October 13, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Well poo. I forgot I still need to do the analog board.
Spent some time before and during @davesvinappletech.bsky.social ‘s stream today working on the Classic. We’re up to 31 trace repairs with caps and CPU back on. Working fine! (Still need to wire up the RTC)
October 12, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Spent some time before and during @davesvinappletech.bsky.social ‘s stream today working on the Classic. We’re up to 31 trace repairs with caps and CPU back on. Working fine! (Still need to wire up the RTC)
At the end of yesterday’s stream, we only got 19 bodges done, but a lot of the work went into exposing traces and clearing out vias.
October 12, 2025 at 1:20 PM
At the end of yesterday’s stream, we only got 19 bodges done, but a lot of the work went into exposing traces and clearing out vias.
Before and after of a Mac floppy drive repair. Superglue and about 10 traces.
October 9, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Before and after of a Mac floppy drive repair. Superglue and about 10 traces.
Well, the IIsi PSU is fixed-ish. My good potentiometer on the daughter board broke when desoldering, so I just replaced it with a 1.5kohm resistor (very professional!). IIsi very happy with a 50MHz Daystar accelerator. Now I need to fix its Video Spigot.
October 6, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Well, the IIsi PSU is fixed-ish. My good potentiometer on the daughter board broke when desoldering, so I just replaced it with a 1.5kohm resistor (very professional!). IIsi very happy with a 50MHz Daystar accelerator. Now I need to fix its Video Spigot.
Today’s stream is a great watch if you’re into schadenfreude (not pictured: IIsi power supply explosion)
October 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Today’s stream is a great watch if you’re into schadenfreude (not pictured: IIsi power supply explosion)
Would anyone mind if we added triaging a couple Mac Classics to today’s itinerary?
October 4, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Would anyone mind if we added triaging a couple Mac Classics to today’s itinerary?
I’m annoyed I forgot to take a before picture of the bottom of the PCB. This was apparently in a battery-bombed system and there was all manner of corrosion. I stripped most of the remaining solder mask off and coated with solder.
September 29, 2025 at 9:09 PM
I’m annoyed I forgot to take a before picture of the bottom of the PCB. This was apparently in a battery-bombed system and there was all manner of corrosion. I stripped most of the remaining solder mask off and coated with solder.
Make sure to recap your Mac IIci power supplies! (This is an Astec aa15830)
September 29, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Make sure to recap your Mac IIci power supplies! (This is an Astec aa15830)
YT has informed me that my channel has gone over 15,000 hours of watch time. That’s like one person sitting down and watching my stuff for ~1.7 years. Neat! Seriously, thank you to everyone that tunes into streams or watches afterwards! I appreciate the heck out of all of you ❤️
September 27, 2025 at 11:23 AM
YT has informed me that my channel has gone over 15,000 hours of watch time. That’s like one person sitting down and watching my stuff for ~1.7 years. Neat! Seriously, thank you to everyone that tunes into streams or watches afterwards! I appreciate the heck out of all of you ❤️
Well poo. Came out this morning and the vertical lines are back. Hit UF8 with a little hot air and it started drawing properly again. I think I have a dodgy trace.
September 22, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Well poo. Came out this morning and the vertical lines are back. Hit UF8 with a little hot air and it started drawing properly again. I think I have a dodgy trace.
Just finished a very interesting and frustrating Mac SE/30 repair. It drew half the screen properly interspersed with garbage. And the system would randomly lock up. The screen issues were caused by a bad LS393, and the random lockups were caused by the 8530 chip. #VintageMac
September 21, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Just finished a very interesting and frustrating Mac SE/30 repair. It drew half the screen properly interspersed with garbage. And the system would randomly lock up. The screen issues were caused by a bad LS393, and the random lockups were caused by the 8530 chip. #VintageMac