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That's a difference of 10nF and 10mOhm, that will be well within the tolerance of most meters. That does strike me as very low impedance though, for an electrolytic capacitor I would expect an ESR that is a sizable fraction of an Ohm. Have you tested that one with an Ohm meter rather than an ESR...

I'd say that's arguable. How long did Apple intend the machine to last? If it is estimated that 95% of units that will be produced will be obsolete and scrapped within 5 years, is it being a cheap ass to spec capacitors that will last "only" 10 years of normal use? No computer was ever designed...

I've always found glossy displays to look much better than those with a matte anti-glare coating, both LCD and CRT. Glare can be an issue, but I normally use computers in subdued lighting so it isn't such a big deal. The glossy ones tend to look so much sharper and more vivid.

In most cases it was absolutely a financial thing. I've had some involvement in consumer hardware design over the years and pennies count. When you're making 2 Million of something, the cost of goods difference between $2 worth of electrolytic capacitors and $5 worth of Tantalum capacitors is a...

Just push the board back on, it looks fine. If you do come across bent pins on a CRT, straighten them out with your fingernail, they're quite soft. If they're bent badly, try some small needle nose pliers but be careful not to apply force too near the glass to metal seal.

I haven't had any trouble installing SMT tantalums in place of the electrolytics. If you install them properly they fit just about perfectly, look good, work fine. I have seen plenty of pads ripped off various boards by people installing through-hole parts onto SMT pads.

I need to keep an eye out for one of those. The passive matrix screen in my 520C is terrible. I've been spoiled by modern TFTs.

Anyone know if it works to simply erase the eeprom, or does it have to be loaded with specific information? If erasing it works, that's pretty easy, something like a Bus Pirate, or even just a microcontroller can easily talk to a serial EEPROM, they're quite standardized parts. If you don't want...

Looking closer, I think that is definitely a screw terminal. Poke the closed end of the clip up into the anode cap so that it's under the wire poking out, then form the wire into a J shape and use the screw to attach it to the clip.

The metal clip is what clips into the ultor terminal on the tube to make the anode connection. The wire coming out of the cup is what attaches to the metal clip. Usually it's twisted around and soldered but that one may use a screw terminal. As long as the wire is securely attached to the clip...

Hmm, I wonder which particular caps affect the screen contrast? Wish I had a schematic for the thing, that's surprising that the tantalums don't work as well. It had been ~20 years since I'd played a Game Gear when I got the one I have so I couldn't recall how the screen was supposed to look...

The value is not terribly critical, but it's normally selected based on the switching frequency of the power supply. All it does is prevent electrical noise from leaking out of the power supply back into the wiring and interfering with radio reception. You can run the computer without it on a...

Esoteric things like this tend to be expensive, but in short, it's not made anymore so it's worth whatever someone will pay for it. Best bet is probably to keep an eye out on ebay and see what turns up. Maybe find a beat up scrapper 540C and you might get lucky with the amount of RAM in it. 32MB...

You'll know right away if you break the tube. It will make a sickening *tink*PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSssssssssssssssssssssssss as your heart sinks knowing that tube is destroyed. The glass exhaust pip is fragile so you do have to be careful unplugging that connector. Once air has got in the tube...

Curious, what problems did you find using tantalums and ceramics? I re-capped one of these a few months ago using a mix of those and it seems to work fine. The screen doesn't look great, but I figured I was just spoiled by modern TFTs. Passive matrix screens never were very good, but maybe I can...

Is this the neck board you're talking about? If so, I would look first at the resistors, and test the cathode drive transistor on there. The circuit on those boards is simple enough that it could be traced out fairly easily. IIRC it's a very simple single transistor amplifier with a resistor...

You can make Windows feel loads faster just by using TweakUI to disable all of the deliberate menu delays and animation effects. That's always one of the first things I do after installing XP, the difference is like night and day.

Not necessarily. If the cathode is stuck low, the gun is "stuck on" in that it isn't blanking during the retrace period, but the brightness can still be controlled by adjusting the G2 voltage, which is what the "Screen" control does. The cathode emits a cloud of electrons, and the more negative...

Depends what you're doing. You can squirt a little directly on the item you're cleaning. Sometimes I put a bit on a paper towel or magic eraser and scrub with that. Careful with the Dremel. You might try a brass bristled brush first. I recently got a package of three at a dollar store. They...

Sounds like he's talking about retrace lines. You get these when for any of a number of reasons the electron gun isn't cut off during the horizontal retrace period. It shows up as a bunch of sloped horizontal lines across the screen from top to bottom. You can see the same thing by turning the...