Playing Wasteland on a dystopian retrofuturistic industrial computer with a green monochrome monitor from the nuclear department of a public energy service. That's immersion.
That gigantic card (9:15) is exactly what it says it is, it's an old IBM Channel Adapter. It is indeed used to connect a PC to a mainframe's "Channel I/O Architecture" which is the original implementation that IBM engineer Chet Heath then reused to create the Micro Channel Architecture of the PS/2 line. It's a bus designed to connect the various components of an IBM mainframe but that could also be used to connect to anything with the right adapter.
@@ronarprefect7709 In a nutshell, not really. As far as I know, the only "PC" that can natively talk to IBM mainframes (and we're talking System/360 here to be era appropriate) would be the 5100/5110/5200 series which are not IBM PCs of the 5150 type by any means. My comment was simply to point out that IBM didn't set out to design a new bus for the PS/2 line, they simply cannibalized the one they already had in their mainframes. To make things worse, they even introduced it in a gimped 16-bit mode so that they could later unlock it to the full 32-bit and call it a major improvement with no engineering involved. In true IBM fashion, the PC division got something original that worked from another division.
@@LGR wow a response from the great highness himself! i’ve found sgi machines super interesting for example. the amount of specialised engineering is insane! i highly suggest you have a look into intel itanium platforms. pretty interesting stuff !
I would like to see more offered on ebay, an LGR video might do it. Granted, you can buy a pentium and 486s now, but they're priced higher than equivalent PCs, I guess in hope there's industrial factories actually buying them as replacement pieces. Yeah, I'm not interested in an actual video on it, just if it helps bring prices down, or makes the older stuff more available, anyways.
@@squirlmy That's a thing in commercial/industrial applications. Dudes will buy legacy hardware because their current configuration works and modernizing one thing may result in having to modernize an entire line that they really don't want to bring down.
For some reason, to me your giving this industrial computer a home and the pleasant task of running games feels like a Grampa who worked hard his whole life getting to putter around his house and play with his grandchildren whilst wearing a comfy sweater.
It's the same switch my 8180 had... At least it looks the exact same. It feels more like a breaker than a switch lol Edit : I meant 5150... I keep getting the numbers mixed up because of the damn Platinum 8180 Xeon.
@@jasonblalock4429 When that switch clicked, you knew that your PC had been turned on or off. Much more so than the current soft switches.. That said, I do like to be able to use WOL to turn on my PC while I am in another room..
The whole system seems very well-preserved for ~35-year-old industrial equipment. I suspect that it wasn't used very often, or for very long. Also, it was probably in a clean environment to begin with, what with it being in a nuclear facility and all.
Dude! When you said the Nuclear Department of the Salem New Jersey Power plant I was freaking out, what a small world. I work there currently! Very cool!
That channel adapter card is definitely for connecting to a System/370. It's the key component of the IBM 8232 LAN Channel Station. Depending on if you ordered the model 001 or 002 LAN Channel Station, you got either 1 or 2 7532 Industrial PCs with the channel adapter card, a CGA card, and a choice of host network adapters (MAP, Token Ring, Ethernet, etc). The purpose was to act as a bridge between the System/370 and one or more non-SNA LANs to allow desktop PCs to connect to the mainframe with the appropriate software. Considering how common a need this would have been, I'd be willing to bet most 7532s that you find will have this card, since most of them sold were probably sold as part of an 8232 purchase.
"Enterprise" holds that slot today while in some ways Industrial has gone the opposite direction now that reasonably powerful cheap CPUs can be shoved into a small fanless slab of aluminum case.
"Industrial" is still expensive, and has its place, right next to "Automotive". Wouldn't want your heavy machinery to malfunction due to EMP from a large motor knocking out the controller. Or to have a substation exploding due to several kilovolts filtering through to its 5V electronics. Or for your autopilot to crash due to a GPU getting unseated from its PCIe slot thanks to vibration. Or just plain "everything dying" due to overheating because factory.
Industrial, military, professional, enterprise and yes gaming are all words used today for that sort of thing. Although in today's context it seems to be "cheaper to produce but looks expensive." I straight up avoid products with any of these claims. If someone feels the need to say "Military grade tech" I get the impression the marketing team didn't have many positive things to say where as good products brag about very specific things.
I’ve actually repaired computer equipment in the data center in Salem. I’m not surprised the equipment was that clean. I think the most ominous thing was all of the evacuation signs near and around the town.
Most "real" data centers are clean like that. I worked in an office building with an olllld data center, and even the old machines from the 80's and 90's that were never cared for had very clean cases. I visited a few other offices with data closets off a hallway or in a room corner and those were a different story, lots of dust... but real data centers with the big chillers and filtered air, it's like a time capsule. Maybe some yellowed plastic if they were under flourescent lighting 24/7.
computers are so quiet and unassuming now. even hardcore gaming beasts show off their power by being... colorful. i know that there is this mechanical keyboard thing that brought retro clickiness to at least one aspect of computing again, but everything else is just bland.
@@KiraSlith what are you even talking about? US ICBM's has never been so advanced. But last year they were discussing replacing the 8 inch floppy system. 8 inch, not 5 inch. On the other topic, load Winamp Milkdrop up on a Samsung G9 ultrawide monitor and tell me you are not entertained.
Sounds like the perfect advertising b-roll for a Steam re issue of the original games by Embracer Group who aquired 3D Realms and the Dukes current owner Gearbox.
Yo men! You have some decent stuff on your channel I can't lie. I hope you will get in touch with Mr. LGR ASAP :D Good luck and now make something more! :) Greetings from Poland.
I've recently bought one of these on german eBay, listed as broken but complete with original hard disk, 720kb FDD and fully loaded with expansion cards (also with the front door yours is missing :) ). I also got the service documentation for it in those neat folders which can be used as reading stands, I'm sure you'd love them. While I was restoring it (the problem turned out to be just one of the tantalum caps on one of the expansion cards), I was really surprised by how little information there was on those monsters in the retro community. And now I see your video entirely devoted to it! It is really great that you have brought this beast of a computer to a wider audience. In the end, it really is nothing else but 5170's beefier twin, but it is so much cooler ;) I'm really jealous of that monitor you got for it!
What I love most about your videos is that you turn something I have no interest in (a random computer from the late 80’s or so) and turn it into something I want to know everything about. That my good sir, is a testament to your talent and passion. And I thank you
Yeah, with all this newfound exposure I'm not particularly thrilled with market values on most old things these days. But, it's a by-product of viewership and it's out of LGR's control.
@@sameash3153 This. Been wanting to find a totally broken system to use the chassis as a sleeper, and I still like the aesthetic of the classic 90s PCs 20 years after the fact. Sadly, everything in the used market that I have found has been jacked up to prices that I can't justify. Especially with how much more work I'd have to do to make it functional (labor, buying tools, etc). I'm lucky that I was able to keep my Model M from middle school and was able to refurbish it before everyone and their mother's dog wanted one.
This thing is giving off strong 'Fallout' vibes, what with the green coloured screen. The fact that it also came from a nuclear power station is just so fitting!
This might seem very expensive, but in my experience the hardware cost isn't very significant for these types of computers because the whole implementation cost is usually very high with most of it spent on man hours, it's more important that the quality is very high and the mean time between failure is well documented. Also it's quite common for industrial hardware that the supplier/manufacturer must guarantee service and spare parts are available for at least 20 years, especially for government and military contracts.
Massive bonus points for the "blink and you'll miss it" cameos of Dave Murray's Planet X3 when describing the problem with the monitor, a game specifically designed with different video modes in mind including monochrome, which Dave talks about in his "Making Of" videos.
Worked in a a few factories as a teen with model + Model M condoms installed in their PCs. That made me strangely nostalgic for a couple jobs I hated at the time
I love robust industrial engineering like this. A 20 year old computer that looks like it's been through hell but still does it's damnedest to keep running has personality, in my opinion, especially if it has quirks like that monitor. It's like a knackered old workhorse that refuses to lie down and die.
Industrial environments can be pretty tough on PCs - in the late 1980s I did a service call on an Olivetti M24 that had lived in the office of a textile mill - inside it looked less like a computer and more like a giant furball.
I pulled apart an old 486 desktop that was used in a print shop right up till 2015, the boards were jet black from ink dust and shit lol, sadly it didn't survive the cleaning.
I donno, humans being around machines en masse can be harmful to machines too. I used to work at both a casino and a Dave & Buster's. In the Dave & Buster's it was especially bad because for security of profit reasons, they had to shred the used tickets to avoid them being reused. All the paper pulp that made up the tickets was the same crap used for phone books and newspapers and that crap blew friggan _everywhere_ in the arcade. We had to wipe the whole place down every night. Then there was the casino. Yeesh. At least once a year, we had to do preventative maintenance cleanings on the machines. It was a rolling calendar, but even after 6 months, some of the slot machines would get so loaded with dust... let me explain where that dust comes from. Human skin dies. Human skin flakes off. Human skin flies in the air. Human skin gets sucked into case fans of slot machines... I know. _Gross!_ It especially sucked because we couldn't clean the CPUs out because they were security sealed by the gaming board. We couldn't break the seal tape that was over the locks, so the CPUs themselves would get absolutely LOADED with dust. Same with the GPUs inside the cases. Some machines - Like the Bally Technologies games - were sooo badly designed , they were already choking because of lack of airflow. The dust killed those machines faster than anything else. To imagine, all that dust from a bunch of blue hairs playing the penny slots. When it was still legal to smoke inside buildings in my state, I heard it was even worse. Industrial? I don't doubt at ALL those environments were bad, but don't knock the disgusting presence of human bodies in a small space.
@Jeff Guse you do realise that you found the one very specific application where face masks wouldn't work but in almost every other application they work right? Last time i checked, not every material behaves like graphite Like unless you are reffering specifically to people wearing masks when working with graphite, you are completely in the wrong here, and maliciously ignorant to boot
Where I work we have 8 Dell Optiplex XE desktops in our production/testing area. They were designed for high-heat environments and came with a metal mesh filter that slotted into the bottom of the front panel. I usually try and clean things at least once per year, and those are so easy! Just pop the filter, vacuum it off and pop it back in.
“My inner Trent Reznor fantasy” ...you know, that is way more accurate than it had any right to be. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to play music and run as many fans as possible.
Excellent camera shots in all your vids. Always gorgeous and a pleasure to watch. I also really appreciate you going to the hardware store to get security bits, instead of trying dremelling them out in a weird fashion.
Funny how this channel always makes me feel amazed and excited like when i started to discover computers in the early 90s... Thanks Clint for the nostalgia feels.
Yeah looks way cooler. I always hated the beige color most computers used until 05-10 just very gross looking. It always looked like it was sorta dirty.
@@Zoroaster4 because brown is really dark orange, the yellowing creates a different (often uglier)shade of brown- instead of the yellowing of white and cream-colored electronics.
I was thinking "That needs nice woodgrain panels on it to disguise the rack mount". Ten seconds later you reveal the custom cabinet. Absolutely fabulous.
If he was anywhere nearby I'd absolutely be banging on his door asking for help. Unfortunately we couldn't be farther apart on opposite ends of the country.
@@LGR if it helps at all, it's probably a stupid simple fix if the blue gun isn't outright dead. It can be a cold solder joint somewhere in the circuit for the blue gun. Just start at the neckboard and work your way back with some good magnification. I've fixed a bunch of monitors with this exact issue thar way, and only one was the gun actually being dead. In a way it's a good sign that no blue at all shows rather than a weak blue output
@@LGR I have worked a few times with industrial color monitors from IBM and all of them were wired internally for monochrome orange operations only with several shades of intensity with the blue channel signal going nowhere on the board probably why you don't have the RGB spectru
I'd love to take a look at that monitor. CRT's are WAY EASIER to fix than flat panels. I'd check the board that plugs into the very back of the CRT electron gun. It's usually a bad POT or a poor soldering connection from the POT to the PCB. Had two different PC monitors ages ago. One was a Proview that had all sorts of issues with that PCB on the back end. Bad solder joints at the POTS being one. And of course all the TV's we had, and I'd usually get someone asking me to fix their tv because I was ..."that guy" lol. I don't like messing with LCD flat panels. Not many user serviceable parts inside. Micro sized parts connected to digital IC's,. Aside of the power supply board... replacing the entire boards are the easier options instead of trying to diagnose those things.
"Aaaand that means removing the two security bits..." **8-bit guy scary flashbacks** "A quick trip to harbor freight and a bit driver took care of that" Now that's classy way of showing how it should be done. You are such a nice human being Clint.
Ah yeah, the time when he just drilled and dremeled the crap out of some security torx screws. Tbh, I never got the outrage on that one, just because something is old doesn't mean it's worth preserving and these doggon stupid "security" screws that want you to buy otherwise not needed tools can gtfo in my humble opinion. Replacing them with proper Philips screws was an upgrade.
@@jetaddict420 That kinda doesn’t surprise me. I like the 8-bit Guy’s videos but he’s always been a little bit weird about criticism and negative comments. He doesn’t seem to take it very well. You can hear him talk about negative comments a lot more in his older videos.
Hey Clint! I just had few beers and I'm binge watching your older videos (ofc commenting under newest one - not that drunk!;-)). Just wanted to say thank you for your content and work. Stay safe and healthy! Greeting from Poland - fellow 86 boomer ;-)
In 1986 one of our F/A-18 Hornet Avionics test stations was 'upgraded' with this exact PC and monitor! Previously it had a similar rack mounted PC and monitor made by DEC ie 'DIGITAL'
I worked for a large UK Aerospace company at the same time. One of the many things done on site was servicing F-111s. All our computers including the CAD systems we used were DEC or based on DEC. PCs were still considered to be toys only fit for the home or a small business.
That woodgrain mini-rack is BEAUTIFUL. Makes me wish the front plate of the case was that kinda shiny aluminum finish and the plastic was a shiny black or dark brown to make it look like an early 80s hifi right before everything shifted to mostly black surfaces. Just gorgeous stuff
The lamp/alarm clock from the Thrifts episode is looking pretty good here. Humble as it is, it doesn't go unnoticed, even beside such a rare PC as this!
I love seeing these old computers. It's amazing how far we've come in such a short time. One of the things that fascinates me is how much cooling was required then where as now something with similar specs, or even far more powerful would require no active cooling at all. Then you have the size difference. Something that fits in our pockets now would've been massive then.
Yep. Only wish software industry wasn't retarded the same rate as the hardware has developed. Today's bloatware is horrible and effectively nullified decades of advancements in hardware.
actually it didn't really need it, aside from the power supply. but this being an industrial system would be rated for hot warehouses where it would get into the 100s easily and require a 24x7 operation running some custom or off the shelf application. reliability in the sales literature would mandate having loud fans so the customer knew it was working hard.
@@notreallyasloth also because this PC is only a few years older than the Simpsons and was likely in service at some nuclear power plants around the world when the Simpsons made their debut :)
He'd give up if the game had any sort of copy protection, except it's a code wheel with pictures. Would probably take up half his shift, but he would eventually figure it out.
I know diddly squat about retro computers, and only slightly more about modern ones. But all the same, this channel is fascinating, and I'm loving every minute if it!
Oh man the keyboard covering. I still remember the feel of it. If you've never felt one it's odd.. it's really easy to type with and preforms well. I've not used a modern system with something that fit so well and lasted so long.
I occasionally have to work with a computer from that era, even more expensive at $36k in 1980s currency. But it is a motorola 68000 based system with a real 32 bit OS. It has ethernet and connects to the corporate network and supports multiple users and full remote operation. I hate having to compile stuff on it though I can't help but marvel at how far ahead of microsuck and intel it was.
I have been watching your videos while studying for the past 5 years, u basically helped me get through highschool and part of university lol. Thanks clint :)
yeah premieres are, as the swedes say, "skitbajs" not only it doesn't say how long the video is but if you're hyped for it and by the time the premiere starts it's already too late, you're either asleep or busy
i think what i like most of all about this guy is he writes his scripts out (and adlibs of course) and probably rehearses it. i find myself watching some of his videos for his voice. i appreciate the work you put into these @LGR sir
The content, the setup for this content, the way you improvise when something's off in the setup and the subtitles... I cannot appreciate this enough, LGR!
Thanks for the video. It reminds me of a system I worked with for a few years. The computer was a stock IBM PS/2 model 80, but its monitor was the industrial version of the IBM 8514 display. A 16" screen operating at a fixed 1024x768 resolution (and requiring IBM's 8514/A adapter card in the PS/2). The most noteworthy part of it is that it was big, square and heavy. A tempered glass sheet bolted over the screen, black case and loud fans with filters. Unfortunately, I can't remember its product number after all those years (I was using it in 1991) and web searches have so far not been fruitful.
It didn't come from Three Mile Island. Nuclear power stations have so many checks, a woman visitors uranium doped glass jewellery once set off the exit alarms at one.
Great video Clint! I live in Salem County NJ, and have actually toured that nuclear plant a few times from my science classes in high school, and a friend's dad was a reactor operator. It's in Lower Alloways Creek, and owned by PSE&G who operates 2 Westinghouse reactors there, Salem 1 and 2. Outputs about 2,000 MW of electrical energy and has been the biggest employer in the county for at least a decade, after DuPont Chemical started their layoffs, and Anchor Hocking Glass shut down the Salem factory. They have a nuclear program with the community college. Also, Bruce Willis worked there!
I put LGR videos on when I can’t sleep and I fall asleep almost immediately. Not to say you or your content is boring. You’re just so relaxing to listen to.
The channel adapter is most likely industrial control. Sensors and activators for different parts of the area it was in. It might have worked on part of an assembly line that needs to send power along with it's control signals.
Which probably cost more than the rest of the computer altogether. P.S. You have just reminded me of an environmental chamber we had that used an uncased PC motherboard inside and ran it's software directly from a floppy disc (there was no hard drive). It's replacement used XP embedded, and a repair cost about £3000 when one of the specialist cards failed.
I wonder if having a cooled Monitor would make it last longer? I really like that idea. Also noticed the little alarm clock light you recently featured lol
you are the ONLY you tuber who care to translate the measurement to metric! you have NO IDEA how it makes a diffrence! you are real awesome, AND your videos are real treat! thank you!!!!
Playing Wasteland on a dystopian retrofuturistic industrial computer with a green monochrome monitor from the nuclear department of a public energy service. That's immersion.
e
@@nothing-mm8ui good point
Fucking tell me about it
How can a computer be dystopian?
This is President Eden and i'd like to have a chat.
That gigantic card (9:15) is exactly what it says it is, it's an old IBM Channel Adapter. It is indeed used to connect a PC to a mainframe's "Channel I/O Architecture" which is the original implementation that IBM engineer Chet Heath then reused to create the Micro Channel Architecture of the PS/2 line. It's a bus designed to connect the various components of an IBM mainframe but that could also be used to connect to anything with the right adapter.
We used this cards to control our machines in the steel factory
So any computer with MCA could talk to IBM mainframes more easily?
@@ronarprefect7709 In a nutshell, not really. As far as I know, the only "PC" that can natively talk to IBM mainframes (and we're talking System/360 here to be era appropriate) would be the 5100/5110/5200 series which are not IBM PCs of the 5150 type by any means. My comment was simply to point out that IBM didn't set out to design a new bus for the PS/2 line, they simply cannibalized the one they already had in their mainframes. To make things worse, they even introduced it in a gimped 16-bit mode so that they could later unlock it to the full 32-bit and call it a major improvement with no engineering involved. In true IBM fashion, the PC division got something original that worked from another division.
We used it to connect to a "A Frame" type product dispenser. IIRC that card lost support in the early 2000's. That computer would not die.
we need more coverage of these commercial/industrial pcs , they’re so interesting!
Agreed! I've wanted to see a video on this machine for years and got tired of waiting for someone else to do it :)
@@LGR wow a response from the great highness himself! i’ve found sgi machines super interesting for example. the amount of specialised engineering is insane! i highly suggest you have a look into intel itanium platforms. pretty interesting stuff !
@@LGR Have you or anyone else done a playlist of your Commercial PC's you've covered like the Terminal video and the IBM PS/2?
I would like to see more offered on ebay, an LGR video might do it. Granted, you can buy a pentium and 486s now, but they're priced higher than equivalent PCs, I guess in hope there's industrial factories actually buying them as replacement pieces. Yeah, I'm not interested in an actual video on it, just if it helps bring prices down, or makes the older stuff more available, anyways.
@@squirlmy That's a thing in commercial/industrial applications. Dudes will buy legacy hardware because their current configuration works and modernizing one thing may result in having to modernize an entire line that they really don't want to bring down.
For some reason, to me your giving this industrial computer a home and the pleasant task of running games feels like a Grampa who worked hard his whole life getting to putter around his house and play with his grandchildren whilst wearing a comfy sweater.
A great retirement for a great device.
Putter?
I actually worked with a few of those back in the day. Even at that time I was surprised at how little they could do.
@@jamesdavis727 that's not a nice thing to say about grandpa
Good
I’m just here to say that the lighting in this video’s thumbnail is absolutely gorgeous. That is all.
Eee ooo.
Thank you, Christian! I took a little extra time experimenting with the lighting for this video so I'm glad it didn't go unnoticed.
@@LGR it's hard to not notice the lack of shadows casted from all objects ;D
6:18 live the dream
@@LGR yea it looks really good
That power switch looks and sounds satisfying as hell.
They were. They really really were. That *thunk* when it's flipped ALWAYS felt good.
I would kill to have that on my home PC xD
It's the same switch my 8180 had... At least it looks the exact same. It feels more like a breaker than a switch lol
Edit : I meant 5150... I keep getting the numbers mixed up because of the damn Platinum 8180 Xeon.
@@jasonblalock4429 When that switch clicked, you knew that your PC had been turned on or off. Much more so than the current soft switches.. That said, I do like to be able to use WOL to turn on my PC while I am in another room..
@@swytchblayd You can do it... not hard to wire in a switch. Probably anyone could do it.
Is anyone else, like, incredibly impressed at how well those little foam filters did their job?
The whole system seems very well-preserved for ~35-year-old industrial equipment. I suspect that it wasn't used very often, or for very long. Also, it was probably in a clean environment to begin with, what with it being in a nuclear facility and all.
that kinda depends on where they have been :P they -can- turn into biohazards rather quickly lololol
@@Nighterlev mv
Dude! When you said the Nuclear Department of the Salem New Jersey Power plant I was freaking out, what a small world. I work there currently! Very cool!
should he worry about radiation? lol that would sound like it could be a Simpson's episode!
@@squirlmy the plant hasn't had any accidents so I reckon he'll be alright lmao
I was also surprised to hear it mentioned!
Same! I'm thinking, "wow, that's right down the street!"
Run dude. 2 Westinghouse reactors built in 77... Westinghouse sucks at everything they build.
That channel adapter card is definitely for connecting to a System/370. It's the key component of the IBM 8232 LAN Channel Station. Depending on if you ordered the model 001 or 002 LAN Channel Station, you got either 1 or 2 7532 Industrial PCs with the channel adapter card, a CGA card, and a choice of host network adapters (MAP, Token Ring, Ethernet, etc). The purpose was to act as a bridge between the System/370 and one or more non-SNA LANs to allow desktop PCs to connect to the mainframe with the appropriate software. Considering how common a need this would have been, I'd be willing to bet most 7532s that you find will have this card, since most of them sold were probably sold as part of an 8232 purchase.
Back then, Industrial was the magic word for making things expensive. More so than Gaming these days
Nothing's changed lol
"Enterprise" holds that slot today while in some ways Industrial has gone the opposite direction now that reasonably powerful cheap CPUs can be shoved into a small fanless slab of aluminum case.
"Industrial" is still expensive, and has its place, right next to "Automotive". Wouldn't want your heavy machinery to malfunction due to EMP from a large motor knocking out the controller. Or to have a substation exploding due to several kilovolts filtering through to its 5V electronics. Or for your autopilot to crash due to a GPU getting unseated from its PCIe slot thanks to vibration. Or just plain "everything dying" due to overheating because factory.
P.S. "Gaming" isn't making things too expensive. "Apple", on the other hand…
Industrial, military, professional, enterprise and yes gaming are all words used today for that sort of thing. Although in today's context it seems to be "cheaper to produce but looks expensive." I straight up avoid products with any of these claims. If someone feels the need to say "Military grade tech" I get the impression the marketing team didn't have many positive things to say where as good products brag about very specific things.
I’ve actually repaired computer equipment in the data center in Salem. I’m not surprised the equipment was that clean. I think the most ominous thing was all of the evacuation signs near and around the town.
When the sirens go off on Tuesday instead of the usual Wednesday tests. lol
Most "real" data centers are clean like that. I worked in an office building with an olllld data center, and even the old machines from the 80's and 90's that were never cared for had very clean cases. I visited a few other offices with data closets off a hallway or in a room corner and those were a different story, lots of dust... but real data centers with the big chillers and filtered air, it's like a time capsule. Maybe some yellowed plastic if they were under flourescent lighting 24/7.
I love the cameo from the thrifts lamp.
I miss the days when turning on a PC felt like launching an ICBM.
I also miss the days the noise on the ibm PC 5150 keyboard made when you were typing on it.
computers are so quiet and unassuming now. even hardcore gaming beasts show off their power by being... colorful. i know that there is this mechanical keyboard thing that brought retro clickiness to at least one aspect of computing again, but everything else is just bland.
Lols lmao
They did use these for launching ICBMs so you're not far off there.
@@KiraSlith what are you even talking about? US ICBM's has never been so advanced. But last year they were discussing replacing the 8 inch floppy system. 8 inch, not 5 inch. On the other topic, load Winamp Milkdrop up on a Samsung G9 ultrawide monitor and tell me you are not entertained.
Wouldn't want to drop that solid beast on your foot 😅
Bye bye foot
@@appalachianexploration5714 Bye bye floor under your foot, for that matter.
@@azraelle6232 if floors broke that easily houses would not be safe to even step inside lol
Don't worry, the computer will survive it :-)
Ah Psivewri, seeing your videos I am not surprised you are subbed here
Playing OG Duke Nukem on a 1980's industrial computer connected to a monitor from a nuclear facility... Just sounds freaking awesome!
Sounds like the perfect advertising b-roll for a Steam re issue of the original games by Embracer Group who aquired 3D Realms and the Dukes current owner Gearbox.
Good
Such sweet sounds! If you ever need a wood case in the future I’d be glad to collaborate. It’s what I do! Great stuff as always!
Yo men! You have some decent stuff on your channel I can't lie. I hope you will get in touch with Mr. LGR ASAP :D Good luck and now make something more! :) Greetings from Poland.
At least you would probably use box or dovetail joints and not just for planks put together poorly as they did huh loll not hard to beat.
I'm _always_ needing another wood case.
Absolutely down to collab sometime!
Commenting like this is a good way to get more subs
@@LGR very trash pc. Lol
I live vicariously through Clint. This is case is so metal
No clearly its wood!
Me too man, I would love to have one, but also wouldnt know what to do with it. I mean c’mon it doesnt even run Doom
So metal that would be a sin not to slap a Slayer sticker
Heavy metal
@@clavius5734 não jnnjku9nnonj
Lets not pretend LGR isn't more excited about that glorious wooden case.
It really ties the room together.
It doesn't suit this pc, I was actually mad when he put it in that rack. It looks so beautiful like it was on its own.
In fairness that is a pretty amazing case.
incorrect,his excitement for the wooden case is equal to his excitement for the computer
I keep expecting the top to flip open to reveal a record player.
Came across one of these recently running a very old SCADA System for conveyors in a bailing wire mill. They are pretty bullet proof.
I've recently bought one of these on german eBay, listed as broken but complete with original hard disk, 720kb FDD and fully loaded with expansion cards (also with the front door yours is missing :) ). I also got the service documentation for it in those neat folders which can be used as reading stands, I'm sure you'd love them.
While I was restoring it (the problem turned out to be just one of the tantalum caps on one of the expansion cards), I was really surprised by how little information there was on those monsters in the retro community. And now I see your video entirely devoted to it! It is really great that you have brought this beast of a computer to a wider audience. In the end, it really is nothing else but 5170's beefier twin, but it is so much cooler ;) I'm really jealous of that monitor you got for it!
What I love most about your videos is that you turn something I have no interest in (a random computer from the late 80’s or so) and turn it into something I want to know everything about. That my good sir, is a testament to your talent and passion. And I thank you
I love how vintage electronics preservation has become intrinsically tied to vintage electronics entertainment.
Shit you used to be able to get for $30 before RUclips now costs $500, shit sucks man
Yeah, with all this newfound exposure I'm not particularly thrilled with market values on most old things these days. But, it's a by-product of viewership and it's out of LGR's control.
Also just inflation and gradually increasing scarcity
@@sameash3153 This. Been wanting to find a totally broken system to use the chassis as a sleeper, and I still like the aesthetic of the classic 90s PCs 20 years after the fact. Sadly, everything in the used market that I have found has been jacked up to prices that I can't justify. Especially with how much more work I'd have to do to make it functional (labor, buying tools, etc). I'm lucky that I was able to keep my Model M from middle school and was able to refurbish it before everyone and their mother's dog wanted one.
Yo this might be off topic, but may i ask for the sauce of your profile pic? 👀
This thing is giving off strong 'Fallout' vibes, what with the green coloured screen. The fact that it also came from a nuclear power station is just so fitting!
I was going to comment on that...
Ha, I said the exact same thing. Honestly, Clint should keep the green color. I love it and it fits so well.
...ever hear of "influence"?
Green monochrome monitors was the standard for decades.
I would not be surprise if this is the same one used in the military to launch nuclear warhead.
You know a computer fan means business when it's made of solid cast aluminium.
This might seem very expensive, but in my experience the hardware cost isn't very significant for these types of computers because the whole implementation cost is usually very high with most of it spent on man hours, it's more important that the quality is very high and the mean time between failure is well documented. Also it's quite common for industrial hardware that the supplier/manufacturer must guarantee service and spare parts are available for at least 20 years, especially for government and military contracts.
This is like something you would see in an 80s scifi film
This is the ultimate way to watch space odyssey on 7 floppy drives
The IMSAI 8080 is peak late 70s/early 80s Sci-fi aesthetic
Alien vibes for sure
@@peterkeleher Alien was very cassette futurism. More like the beta version of the cyberpunk genre.
You mean the best sci-fi films
Massive bonus points for the "blink and you'll miss it" cameos of Dave Murray's Planet X3 when describing the problem with the monitor, a game specifically designed with different video modes in mind including monochrome, which Dave talks about in his "Making Of" videos.
Worked in a a few factories as a teen with model + Model M condoms installed in their PCs. That made me strangely nostalgic for a couple jobs I hated at the time
My dad has been with Big Blue since '81. That bootup sounds like my childhood.
I love how you put it in that commissioned wooden enclosure. Would have looked right at home in its day, reminds me of old amplifiers too!
The green screen and the fact that it came out of an actual nuclear power plant only heightens the Fallout aesthetic :)
Why so dramaticaly, it was my normal daily driver Amstrad back in 1990 with Locomotive Basic!
I love robust industrial engineering like this. A 20 year old computer that looks like it's been through hell but still does it's damnedest to keep running has personality, in my opinion, especially if it has quirks like that monitor. It's like a knackered old workhorse that refuses to lie down and die.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
If the horse still pulls, don't turn it to glue!
Sounds like my car
Industrial environments can be pretty tough on PCs - in the late 1980s I did a service call on an Olivetti M24 that had lived in the office of a textile mill - inside it looked less like a computer and more like a giant furball.
I pulled apart an old 486 desktop that was used in a print shop right up till 2015, the boards were jet black from ink dust and shit lol, sadly it didn't survive the cleaning.
I donno, humans being around machines en masse can be harmful to machines too. I used to work at both a casino and a Dave & Buster's. In the Dave & Buster's it was especially bad because for security of profit reasons, they had to shred the used tickets to avoid them being reused. All the paper pulp that made up the tickets was the same crap used for phone books and newspapers and that crap blew friggan _everywhere_ in the arcade. We had to wipe the whole place down every night.
Then there was the casino. Yeesh. At least once a year, we had to do preventative maintenance cleanings on the machines. It was a rolling calendar, but even after 6 months, some of the slot machines would get so loaded with dust... let me explain where that dust comes from. Human skin dies. Human skin flakes off. Human skin flies in the air. Human skin gets sucked into case fans of slot machines...
I know. _Gross!_
It especially sucked because we couldn't clean the CPUs out because they were security sealed by the gaming board. We couldn't break the seal tape that was over the locks, so the CPUs themselves would get absolutely LOADED with dust. Same with the GPUs inside the cases. Some machines - Like the Bally Technologies games - were sooo badly designed , they were already choking because of lack of airflow. The dust killed those machines faster than anything else. To imagine, all that dust from a bunch of blue hairs playing the penny slots. When it was still legal to smoke inside buildings in my state, I heard it was even worse. Industrial? I don't doubt at ALL those environments were bad, but don't knock the disgusting presence of human bodies in a small space.
@Jeff Guse you do realise that you found the one very specific application where face masks wouldn't work but in almost every other application they work right? Last time i checked, not every material behaves like graphite
Like unless you are reffering specifically to people wearing masks when working with graphite, you are completely in the wrong here, and maliciously ignorant to boot
Where I work we have 8 Dell Optiplex XE desktops in our production/testing area. They were designed for high-heat environments and came with a metal mesh filter that slotted into the bottom of the front panel. I usually try and clean things at least once per year, and those are so easy! Just pop the filter, vacuum it off and pop it back in.
“My inner Trent Reznor fantasy”
...you know, that is way more accurate than it had any right to be.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to play music and run as many fans as possible.
I still have the Compaq 386/33 with 16mb RAM and THREE external MFM drives 300mb each. Monsters. About $13,000 each, new. We had to have 3 of 'em.
Excellent camera shots in all your vids. Always gorgeous and a pleasure to watch.
I also really appreciate you going to the hardware store to get security bits, instead of trying dremelling them out in a weird fashion.
Thank you! I tried a few different things with the lighting in this one, pretty happy with the results.
14:12 it really is incredible how long this menu format has survived. You still see it today in word text format.
I'm now imagining racks of these things in a weird parallel universe where we have a DOS based cloud computing system.
We already have that, it's called Fallout
"In a world where telegraphs beat telephones, there is only DOS."
While not quite DOS, a lot of cloud computing system has Linux in Console mode as its OS.
@@ZX3000GT1 A lot? I'm pretty sure it's over 90%
Novell NetWare would like to have a word with you.
I remember someone saying that one day computers will fit into the palm of your hand.
But that's crazy talk.
Check the steam deck.
@@theentirestateofalaska.4983 Why are you mentiong the Steam deck?
@@zoomer8367 Yes.
Funny how this channel always makes me feel amazed and excited like when i started to discover computers in the early 90s... Thanks Clint for the nostalgia feels.
7:02 - the sound in virtually every scene where any kind of big lights are being turned on
Ah yes, the sound of "contactors".
The sound of the boot sequence is glorious and reminds of the hums of my Amstrad PC1512
I love that warm, dark-grey more than the retro-beige, if I'm being honest.
It's a mighty pleasing look, no question.
I say, is that standard ocean grey or standard military grey?
Yeah looks way cooler. I always hated the beige color most computers used until 05-10 just very gross looking. It always looked like it was sorta dirty.
It doesn't look like it would age as much as a lighter plastic.
@@Zoroaster4 because brown is really dark orange, the yellowing creates a different (often uglier)shade of brown- instead of the yellowing of white and cream-colored electronics.
I was thinking "That needs nice woodgrain panels on it to disguise the rack mount". Ten seconds later you reveal the custom cabinet. Absolutely fabulous.
I never put it together that the "O" and "line" on older switches was actually a 0 and a 1 for binary on off until seeing it on an oldschool computer.
Omg....thanks for commenting that because I also didn't know that! xD TIL....
oh my god....
When IQ +10
Oh hi Verlis
That noise you made at 5:47 is going to haunt my dreams for a while
CRT issues seem like an exellenct collab opportunity with Adrian in his Digital Basement...
If he was anywhere nearby I'd absolutely be banging on his door asking for help.
Unfortunately we couldn't be farther apart on opposite ends of the country.
If you let fedex handle it you will be left with only the G.
@@LGR if it helps at all, it's probably a stupid simple fix if the blue gun isn't outright dead. It can be a cold solder joint somewhere in the circuit for the blue gun. Just start at the neckboard and work your way back with some good magnification. I've fixed a bunch of monitors with this exact issue thar way, and only one was the gun actually being dead. In a way it's a good sign that no blue at all shows rather than a weak blue output
@@LGR I have worked a few times with industrial color monitors from IBM and all of them were wired internally for monochrome orange operations only with several shades of intensity with the blue channel signal going nowhere on the board probably why you don't have the RGB spectru
I'd love to take a look at that monitor. CRT's are WAY EASIER to fix than flat panels. I'd check the board that plugs into the very back of the CRT electron gun. It's usually a bad POT or a poor soldering connection from the POT to the PCB.
Had two different PC monitors ages ago. One was a Proview that had all sorts of issues with that PCB on the back end. Bad solder joints at the POTS being one. And of course all the TV's we had, and I'd usually get someone asking me to fix their tv because I was ..."that guy" lol.
I don't like messing with LCD flat panels. Not many user serviceable parts inside. Micro sized parts connected to digital IC's,. Aside of the power supply board... replacing the entire boards are the easier options instead of trying to diagnose those things.
The lamp alarm clock from one of your thrifting ventures definitely goes with your aesthetic choices.
I literally emitted a sound similar to that of Ron Swanson getting his shoes polished when I saw that thumbnail. DAAAAAAANG THAT'S FIIIIIIIINE
Thank you Clint, love your content. So cool to get a glimpse of technology’s progression
"Aaaand that means removing the two security bits..." **8-bit guy scary flashbacks** "A quick trip to harbor freight and a bit driver took care of that" Now that's classy way of showing how it should be done. You are such a nice human being Clint.
Ah yeah, the time when he just drilled and dremeled the crap out of some security torx screws.
Tbh, I never got the outrage on that one, just because something is old doesn't mean it's worth preserving and these doggon stupid "security" screws that want you to buy otherwise not needed tools can gtfo in my humble opinion. Replacing them with proper Philips screws was an upgrade.
@SteelRodent Yeah, that was completely unnecessary and I feel like he did it just to get a rise out of people.
@@mikemorrisonmusic he actually turned off comments on the video and removes comments mentioning it so i dont think it was to get a rise out of people
@@jetaddict420 That kinda doesn’t surprise me. I like the 8-bit Guy’s videos but he’s always been a little bit weird about criticism and negative comments. He doesn’t seem to take it very well. You can hear him talk about negative comments a lot more in his older videos.
@SteelRodent I believe I used a dremel to remove the rusty/corroded bolts in my XT 286 repair video! It's a great tool for certain situations.
I love how dedicated you are to your very personal tech aesthetic
I remember those keyboard covers. I always hated trying to type through them.
Especially when they were yellowed, crunchy, torn, and sticky
Hey Clint! I just had few beers and I'm binge watching your older videos (ofc commenting under newest one - not that drunk!;-)). Just wanted to say thank you for your content and work. Stay safe and healthy! Greeting from Poland - fellow 86 boomer ;-)
In 1986 one of our F/A-18 Hornet Avionics test stations was 'upgraded' with this exact PC and monitor! Previously it had a similar rack mounted PC and monitor made by DEC ie 'DIGITAL'
I worked for a large UK Aerospace company at the same time. One of the many things done on site was servicing
F-111s. All our computers including the CAD systems we used were DEC or based on DEC. PCs were still considered to be toys only fit for the home or a small business.
@@MrDuncl I also maintained F-111s and nearly all the computer support infrastructure was DEC, right up until the late 90s, and our mainframe was VAX
That woodgrain mini-rack is BEAUTIFUL. Makes me wish the front plate of the case was that kinda shiny aluminum finish and the plastic was a shiny black or dark brown to make it look like an early 80s hifi right before everything shifted to mostly black surfaces. Just gorgeous stuff
The lamp/alarm clock from the Thrifts episode is looking pretty good here. Humble as it is, it doesn't go unnoticed, even beside such a rare PC as this!
Based on that alarm clock it looks like you've been working with it for about 7 hours. Dedication
Working for one. Checking out games for six, although I suppose that is part of Clint's job.
I love seeing these old computers. It's amazing how far we've come in such a short time. One of the things that fascinates me is how much cooling was required then where as now something with similar specs, or even far more powerful would require no active cooling at all.
Then you have the size difference. Something that fits in our pockets now would've been massive then.
Yep. Only wish software industry wasn't retarded the same rate as the hardware has developed.
Today's bloatware is horrible and effectively nullified decades of advancements in hardware.
actually it didn't really need it, aside from the power supply. but this being an industrial system would be rated for hot warehouses where it would get into the 100s easily and require a 24x7 operation running some custom or off the shelf application. reliability in the sales literature would mandate having loud fans so the customer knew it was working hard.
That retro power switch is so satisfying I am seriously considering having a switch like that on my next PC.
"My Trent Reznor fantasy" what a beautiful phrase Clint.
Why am I getting visions of Homer Simpson playing games on this while he is supposed to be working.
No any key 😐
@@notreallyasloth also because this PC is only a few years older than the Simpsons and was likely in service at some nuclear power plants around the world when the Simpsons made their debut :)
He'd give up if the game had any sort of copy protection, except it's a code wheel with pictures. Would probably take up half his shift, but he would eventually figure it out.
where's the any key?
Can't forget the drinking bird
Y Y Y Repeatedly presses Y 😂😂😂😂
Pretty sure that cooling fan inside is made of cast aluminum. That PC is no joke!
Replaceable filters is something I would love to have for my modern system.
I know diddly squat about retro computers, and only slightly more about modern ones. But all the same, this channel is fascinating, and I'm loving every minute if it!
Oh man the keyboard covering. I still remember the feel of it. If you've never felt one it's odd.. it's really easy to type with and preforms well. I've not used a modern system with something that fit so well and lasted so long.
This is awesome! Also love seeing the lamp/alarm clock that you found on LGR Thrifts!
Those start up sounds take me straight to my childhood days of late 80's and even early 90's :')
I occasionally have to work with a computer from that era, even more expensive at $36k in 1980s currency. But it is a motorola 68000 based system with a real 32 bit OS. It has ethernet and connects to the corporate network and supports multiple users and full remote operation. I hate having to compile stuff on it though I can't help but marvel at how far ahead of microsuck and intel it was.
I have been watching your videos while studying for the past 5 years, u basically helped me get through highschool and part of university lol. Thanks clint :)
Me too but Middle School thru highschool
Thank you for not premiering this. I want to be able to experience all of this Metal
yeah premieres are, as the swedes say, "skitbajs"
not only it doesn't say how long the video is but if you're hyped for it and by the time the premiere starts it's already too late, you're either asleep or busy
Yeah, I just made masterpiece for all of the world's newspaper nerds!
@@pchound5962 My brother is wearing the other one...
but it's dirty!
funny to see u here
@1:58 ... that woodgrain alarm clock 😎
Watching you turning on the PC makes me feel like I'm watching someone waking up an ancient mecha from its long sleep especially with that noise level
i think what i like most of all about this guy is he writes his scripts out (and adlibs of course) and probably rehearses it. i find myself watching some of his videos for his voice. i appreciate the work you put into these @LGR sir
The look of that PC is awesome 👌 Utter beast! Would be amazing to use it as a case for a modern PC.
You have a exploding pen!s
The content, the setup for this content, the way you improvise when something's off in the setup and the subtitles... I cannot appreciate this enough, LGR!
I know right? Clint often puts light humour in the subtitles which is kind of a bonus too.
What an insane piece of history. Seeing that you had the monitor was amazing enough, but knowing that Siemens made a 286? Mind blown! 🤯
I love how it looks inside - all those clean shiny slabs of thick IBM sheet metal!!
Your production quality is ridiculous and when you add that stellar editing you end up making videos better than anything TV ever gave us.
Thanks for the video. It reminds me of a system I worked with for a few years. The computer was a stock IBM PS/2 model 80, but its monitor was the industrial version of the IBM 8514 display. A 16" screen operating at a fixed 1024x768 resolution (and requiring IBM's 8514/A adapter card in the PS/2).
The most noteworthy part of it is that it was big, square and heavy. A tempered glass sheet bolted over the screen, black case and loud fans with filters. Unfortunately, I can't remember its product number after all those years (I was using it in 1991) and web searches have so far not been fruitful.
Wow.. the roar when Clint turned it on
I was waiting for the 'fasten seat belts' sign to light up
WOW! Amazing find! The reliability was worth it for heavy industry or manufacturing. Downtime could easily cost a company thousands.
Greetings from Salem! Got a kick out of hearing where this came from, seen that cooling tower all my life!
OMG, that sound when the computer is turned on is music to my ears. Just wow!
1:51 is what PC cases need.
I see a lot of stupid lights and crap added to ATX cases but this is actually a need and nobody does this.
Well, it's been a moon and a song since i last saw one of these. I remember helping a family friend who was an IT specialist clean them up.
now I want to see you point a geiger counter at it :)
3.6 roentgen. Not great not terrible.
@@wut6922 Truly the chest x-ray of EGA monitors.
It didn't come from Three Mile Island. Nuclear power stations have so many checks, a woman visitors uranium doped glass jewellery once set off the exit alarms at one.
@@MrDuncl lmao i wouldve freaked out
Before finishing the video, I'm already looking forward to see what games you've played in it.
Great video Clint! I live in Salem County NJ, and have actually toured that nuclear plant a few times from my science classes in high school, and a friend's dad was a reactor operator. It's in Lower Alloways Creek, and owned by PSE&G who operates 2 Westinghouse reactors there, Salem 1 and 2. Outputs about 2,000 MW of electrical energy and has been the biggest employer in the county for at least a decade, after DuPont Chemical started their layoffs, and Anchor Hocking Glass shut down the Salem factory. They have a nuclear program with the community college. Also, Bruce Willis worked there!
I put LGR videos on when I can’t sleep and I fall asleep almost immediately. Not to say you or your content is boring. You’re just so relaxing to listen to.
It really is a *GOOD FRIDAY* now that this video is in my feed. What a gem
I've bought old computers from industrial environments before and they all seem to have a huge ISA card that nobody knows what it does.
The channel adapter is most likely industrial control. Sensors and activators for different parts of the area it was in. It might have worked on part of an assembly line that needs to send power along with it's control signals.
Which probably cost more than the rest of the computer altogether. P.S. You have just reminded me of an environmental chamber we had that used an uncased PC motherboard inside and ran it's software directly from a floppy disc (there was no hard drive). It's replacement used XP embedded, and a repair cost about £3000 when one of the specialist cards failed.
I wonder if having a cooled Monitor would make it last longer? I really like that idea. Also noticed the little alarm clock light you recently featured lol
3:57 oh yeah. That wonderful keyboard sound.
Your videos are always super well done. Thanks for all the uploads and for sharing your collection.
That is Industrial Poetry in its purest form.
Clint is a real retrotech Bard.
Love your stuff man !
This old mate is so fricking loud!
I LOVE IT!
"Big, loud, and kinda ugly"
I think you just wrote me a new tagline. 😂🤘🏻
If anyone is surprised that you had a custom wooden case made for this thing, they haven't been paying attention. 🙂I love it!
you are the ONLY you tuber who care to translate the measurement to metric! you have NO IDEA how it makes a diffrence! you are real awesome, AND your videos are real treat! thank you!!!!