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What's that going to do for me that my DB25 BlueSCSI doesn't already do? I looked at the announcement page for it but ... am not yet excited?

Again, bibles only go so far. You can't trust a guide implicitly because there are an essentiallu infinite number of potential failure modes in any device of moderate complexity. There is not and will never be a complete troubleshooting flowchart that gives you an exact answer - that's not how...

Probing the pins of a driven xtal circuit is always a bit problematic. See those 33pF load caps on the xtal? The scope probe can add as much as 15pF to that, which could be significant. But I would expect to see something stable on XTALOUT since it's the drive pin.

I was so proud of myself yesterday. I wanted the plastic adjustment toolset and I was about to buy one off Amazon, then I went out in my garage to check my Drawer O Tools and I found... the EXACT set I'd just been about to buy again...

Y3 is the RTC 32.768kHz oscillator and won't affect anything startup related. It also does not look damaged to me. That circuit is difficult to probe because the scope adds capacitive loading to the oscillator. But regardless, it is not part of your startup problems, I'd bet dollarpoundbucks on...

I am trying to decide if I want to put something in the PDS slot of my daily driver SE. I currently have a BlueSCSI on it, 4MB RAM, and I use it for writing without distraction. Given that I mostly use MS-Word or equivalent - should I get an Ethernet card, an accelerator or extra RAM? Or a weird...

If you replace the chip and it is still not working, then sterner investigations are called for. Do you have an oscilloscope? One of the most annoying 68000 issues I ever had to debug was a pirate clone of the Robocop arcade game board. (DECO, 68000 based). I eventually traced down the issue to...

They switched because Motorola stops making early access labeled parts once the part goes into full production. There were no more XCs to buy. The difference is chip-specific. Could be nothing at all, just a paperwork thing. In some cases Moto moved to a smaller process node when they went to...

I don't recall seeing XC68000s (even the Lisa boards I've seen had MC68000s) but for sure I've seen plenty of XC030 and XC040 CPUs in Apple gear. I, too, have not heard of any systemic problems with the parts, it's just an interesting historical note.

I very much doubt it. I mean, sure it's a weird coincidence what you're seeing, but lots of equipment was shipped with XC parts. Is it possible that there are bad batches? Sure, compare date codes on the bad boards and see if they're all clustered. But I really don't think it likely that these...

The XC prefix on moto parts means preproduction/early access samples. I vaguely recall Apple and one other vendor at least put XC parts into production computers because they got super early access and were satisfied with performance/stability.

Speaking of visceral sensory experiences, no floppy I ever encountered sounds exactly like the seek sound of a Mac drive. I do not understand, really. It's just a Sony drive. But the seeking sound of those drives is absolutely unique. Maybe the compact shell acts as a resonant cavity to amplify...

CRT voltage is in kV :) You don't need a special tool for discharging them, just a screwdriver and an alligator clip wire. Adding a series resistor (1M is good) will make the discharge less exciting, and is generally considered a Good Idea.

Like anything else "compact", there isn't much room to work inside a compact Mac :) All of us have donated knuckle skin to the compact Mac chassis gods.

The factory implosion band is spot-welded together and is under tension. You do not want to remove it because it is an integral part of the tube design. The purpose of the band is not to prevent implosion, but rather to direct it. The front of the CRT is convex; ergo, for the screen itself to...

That message feels dirty and I love it. :) Also yes BlueSCSI. I put the term power mod in all the Pluses I crack, because it takes no time at all and makes life much easier for The Next Guy.

For me I HAD to have a Plus because of the feel and sound of the keyboard. It brings back all kinds of memories. It's a unique feel, the keycaps are an unusual shape and the echoes inside the mechanism when you press and release keys are like a musical instrument.

I'm kinda surprised that people are doing these exotic swaps unless it's to change phosphor color (I'd love an amber Mac Plus). The original tubes are not rare, donor machines are inexpensive... I have a half dozen spare tubes sitting here.

That is an amazing price. If he doesn't want it, I'll take it. I have probably 20? Pluses and only two mouse/kb sets.

Like I say, it was a long time ago, no later than 9/11 - so no I don't remember a part number - I just remember looking at the dims, thinking "hmm yes" and ordering some, and they fit fine. Which is why it irks me that I can't find a direct replacement these days - it seems like it should be a...