I think you're not storing your things properly I've never had this sort of problem with 10, 15, 20, or 30 year old tech of any sort. Tech doesn't just spontaneously combust. You seem to love putting some sort of oil all over your plastics - yeah that's a recipe for disaster through chemistry. There's a reason that electronics engineers only ever use alcohols to clean plastics (aside from acrylic), PCBs, contacts, etc - it evaporates and afterward there's no chemical reaction taking place Humidity is also a major factor Your tech problem is you - sorry Long term storage of tech: in a cool, dry, dark place. Use desiccant pouches if you can. REMOVE ALL BATTERIES. Lithium batteries should be stored in lithium pouches - not plastic ziploc bags Cleaning: with soapy water in wringed-out clean cloth (microfiber works), followed by alcohol, let dry
@@thedapperdolphin1590 expressions and stories lose their meanings over time. A joke about people from new York means nothing to someone when new York hasn't existed for a long time
Vinegar Syndrome can be repaired by removing the polarizer (and the original adhesive) and replacing it with a new one. Though how long the replacement lasts is hard to say. Shuichiro Hirakawa explains the vinegar syndrome chemical process in detail in his RUclips channel and also shows how to replace the polarizer.
@@goclunker every LCD display made in the 2000s to 2010s can develop this thing in this 2020s due to age (i have successfully replaced the polarizer on my LG Scarlet TV)
@@goclunker i have a few ancient lcds that haven't had any issues at all. so its either improper cleaning, or limited to specific types of plastic polarizers from certain companies. or perhaps a combination of the two.
@@goclunker the issue is caused by the triacetate cellulose base (what the polarizer is usually made of) reacting with moisture/humidity or even the adhesive layer. So yes, almost every LCD display including LED backlit ones are affected, because they all have a polarizer. This issue seems to be less prevalent in temperate climates though. Wrong or harsh cleaning liquids are unlikely to be the primary cause, but they can worsen or quicken the damage if the chemical process has already started.
It's a real shame that even if you take care of your tech like a museum artifact, they will still degrade to the point of looking like they've been trashed. I especially hate rubberized coatings, and stay away from anything that's advertised as "soft touch". They always turn into a sticky mess within a few years.
It is certainly disappointing that the only way to preserve old technology is to keep replacing obsolescent parts to the point where it literally becomes something that is like the Ship of Theseus.
@@therabbitchannel2059 Acetone? fine if the soft touch coating is on metal, but be careful; acetone attacks and dissolves almost all styrene based plastics and will make an even bigger mess (polystyrene & ABS are widely used for plastic enclosures). Isopropyl alcohol on the other hand removes the degrading soft touch coating and is safe for most plastics.
I have thrown away an e-book reader that otherwise still worked because of this. Now it had other weaknesses such as poor resolution, but that alone was tolerable. Edit: There are rubbers that don't have that problem. From my parents, I have inherited some jars whose rubber seal is still good after decades.
To someone who feels as strongly about preservation as I do, seeing old technology break down like this feels like watching the stars going out, one by one.
HP test gear from the 80s is mostly aluminum, that lasts a lifetime, if you do the occasional electronics repair. It's just crApple garbage, that dies. No big loss, if you ask me. That company went garbage, at the time they ditched 68k.
That nightmare of breaking plastic is also very common with cars too. It is engine parts in particular that are made of plastic becoming brittle over time or warping from heat and causing a leak. The worst thing is that more and more parts are being made that way. It is only because it is cheaper, they would not use these horrible things if they were more expensive.
Fellow car guy here! Thankfully, 3D scanning and 3D printing are solving this issue for us! Guys are 3D scanning plastic parts and just printing replacements or even making molds with the 3D scan so pieces can be reproduced with injection molding.
Price wasn’t the only reason for switching to plastic parts in cars. Injection molding is incredibly useful, allowing the creation of parts that you’d never be able to make with metal casting. They also respond better to a lot of the conditions cars face. In fact if say when done right, with glass fibre reinforcement and good design, plastic parts are somewhat better for cars than we think
Back in 1987 my boss had a 2nd generation IBM workstation. green monochrome, big floppy disk drive, the works. She loved the keyboard so much. There was an old photo of Bill Gates with that exact same model in the background when he first started out. It was built solid but computer tech guys all hated her using it and kept wanting her to upgrade.
That sounds like an IBM Model M keyboard, they started coming with IBM PCs in 1985. I'm using one from 1994 to type this, I love it. There is a company called Unicomp that still make them.
@@JustinHiggins "2nd generation IBM" probably refers to the IBM 5160 PC XT, the successor to the IBM 5150 PC. These computers used Model F keyboards! Far superior to the Model M, IMO.
@@JustinHiggins given the rest of the context: The IT department wanting the user to upgrade the machine in 1987, presumably because it is out of date, wouldn't make sense to be a PS/2 since that was released in 1987. Also notable is that it had a monochrome green screen, which was no longer a standard option for the PS/2. Also, having a "big floppy disk" seems to refer to the 5 1/4" size of disk, rather than the smaller 3 1/2" floppy disks. Anyway, it's an interesting story. And Model M and Model F keyboards are both great. I'm just a snob and I enjoy typing on an F significantly more than an M. Don't get me started on Beamsprings!
Not just tech, also data and file rot. I went into a rabbit hole about Software rot and its insane. obviously not the same but its a legit thing that happens to internet stuff over time when abandoned and its just mindboggling.
I’ve started trying to get back in the habit of paper due to that. Even screen shots if I can’t copy/paste the text into word. I’m starting to deploy binders by subject.
Ive been looking at m-disks, already have data backed up on sata devices like ssds and hdds but look up m-disks, theyre expensive but are meant to last up to 1,000 years in theory
With enough effort, things can be remade. The C64 community is a great example - various failing custom chips but through the hard work of enthusiastic people, modern replacements are now available!
the pastic destroying itself is also a concern for 80's and 90's car. in my car, a lot of gasket, engine part and washer were starting to be made out of plastic. they all now break appart when you try to dissassemble something or were already destroy. There was a really bad play in the steering wheel and it turned out they used plastic spacer to mount the bolt on. those plastic thing disintegrated years ago and left a pretty big hole and that's why the steering was shaking and moving everywhere.
In a couple decades it will be easier to find classic cars from the 50s and 60s than it will be able to find working examples of cars from 90s because of all the plastic and tech that just doesn't last.
Nature and Time destroys everything, even without using it I was looking for a cool honda from the 90s with a vtec. like i had when i was a teen But they are all in bad shape now, they are falling apart Same with other brands .... All the cool cars from the 90s are breaking down and parts are harder to find
Check out the RUclips channel “Garbage Time” where some of the old cars the owner of the channel has need extensive repairs because of the parts used in 80s and 90s cars. Then again, he also holds and destroys devices that have that sticky rubber surface on his other little known channel called…..DankPods.
@@Novusod plastic and tech can last, but it depend with quality. And at that time they found out that plastic was an awsome material to make some cost cutting part. And that plastic wasn't good either. Look at the plastic from 30's phone. My mother had à phone that her father had, it was from the 20s I guess. Full wood And Iron except for the handle that is hard plastic. Guess what didn't roted or rusted out.
I honestly hope, these old machines are being used to write proper emulators. Their demise is inevitable, but it is worth to preserve the software ecosystem of these systems for historical purposes.
I used to have a CRT monitor in the late 90s which turned pink every now and then. I started tapping it gently and it returned normal. As time passed I had to use bigger and bigger force. Months later I was banging the top of the display with full force until it returned normal. Later I learned that the issue was with the power outlet and the display had no issues. Still managed to sell the CRT display.
That phenomenon happened alrady 40 years ago. I was called to someone having a VAX machine (digital/DEC) and it would not boot anymore. They wanted to copy the data one final time. When hard drives ran for a long time and then are turned off for a prolonged time, the bearing grease gets thicker. By giving a gentle knoch it moves a bit - enough for the torque of the motor to spin it up again. The hard drive heats then up a bit making it running again.
It's how my PowerBook G3 has been operating for the last year. The HDD seizes up after a while of not running so I keep a hammer in its bag for starting the system.
The huge amount of electronics and plastic parts in modern cars that cost a small fortune is frightening when you think about how they are going to fall to pieces as they age.
Had a old E class w211 merc, i wont say that every plastic bit was still maluable but literaly all of it was like new, the only exception being the plastic bits that hold the side spoiler. and the car was from a place where the roads get salted
As a fan of the idea to keep old hardware alive, this is really painful and sad to watch 😢 WiiU owners these days worry about dying NAND storage in their consoles but it tends to corrupt itself depending on who made the flash storage. Luckily my console is still alive and also my old ThinkPads still work fine but seeing what happened to your iBook is real hard.
some wii u issues are fixable with the UDPIH method, and if you have a dumped nand (which you should if youve ever touched wii u modding) you can actually replace the nand with a replacement chip or a micro sd card
@@protocetid I mean, the PS4, PS5, XBOX One and Series XS are justsilly locked down PCs, so from my perspective these devices are just as dull as the WiiU to you.
It’s so eerie and almost unnerving watching my childhood wither away like the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean, just a slowly decaying mess of less and less available items, only remembered through the lense of a highly stereotyped image of their time.
im from 2003 but we can hold on to your past for as long as we live at least… there are ways of preserving things thats why theres even still things from 100 years ago that work perfectly… you can preserve it 😢❤ i rly mean it
I found my Sega Game Gear, which had not been seen or turned on for over twenty years. Didn’t work. I did some investigating and found capacitors which had leaked. Managed to teach myself to solder, replaced the capacitors (much trial and error). Turned it on once finished…. And it worked! Seeing Sonic 2 boot after more than 20 years was like going back in time….
I have two with exactly the same issue. Try to recap the power board. If that dosn't work recap the whole thing. Chnces are it will work then. his is VERY common for the Game Gear,.
i doubt all components would withstand a vacuum (i think back to the The Martian where he brings a notebook out into the martian atmosphere and the lcd screen breaks because of very low pressure)
We need to begin uploading STL files for plastic PC components so plastic bits can be 3D printed to restore functionality. A lot of the new filaments on the market are way stronger (especially once annealed) than the plastics that were available back then.
Glad to see some people promoting restoration in this comment section, Restoration is the only real way forward, not crying about it or living in Fear. Either restore it or move on (and ideally if you do move on allow someone else to have the opportunity to restore it).
@@draconic5129 I enjoy rebuilding things because I have ASD and find the restoration process to be soothing and meditative. It sort of began with the family Betamax player when I was 8 and it sorta snowballed from there. The unintentional by-product is reducing the number of working or nearly working items in the trash, reusing components that are working to replace ones that are not, and recycling the rest to ensure it's disposed of accordingly. I even got my 3D printer as a broken store-demo at Micro-Center for $50. Rebuilt it with genuine Creality parts for $20 more, then threw another $100 in upgrades on it so it was still less than stock retail ($199 at the time) but with all the upgrades already done. I had never even touched a 3D printer prior, I sorta learned as I went along. My 1st print failed due to warping, but my 2nd print ever turned out perfect. It's been rather dialed-in since. I had to learn some CAD in high school to design and fabricate control-surface hooks for UAVs. so I'm a bit rusty but I'm down for a refresher course. I even have a part in mind that I should be able to test with since I have many and they're prone to embrittlement and breakage (Lian Li case faceplate-clips from the early 2000s). Otherwise I would need the dimensions of the particular item to be printed; while I have a decent collection of vintage tech, I literally can't have everything. Any sort of STL repository would require a substantial amount of collaboration, or at least a 3D-scan of each object.
Good thing not everything uses it :) lots of old electronics are still fine and will remain to be fine. If ANYTHING.... Apple has always played the game with planned obsolescence. It's possible they didn't see this coming- but I understand they did something like this again to a few MacBook Pros, a few years in a row. 2014-2017? But yeah. Thankfully not everything uses this crap. I hate it so much. It "feels" neat for a while... but then it goes sticky. And what's more I'm pretty sure it rubs off particles we don't really want to carry with us. 🧠
Some of my old mice had the same issue. The scroll wheel had this plastic layer on top that just seems to have melted down to a goop. I had to remove the whole polastic bit and clean the inside of the mice from all that goop that drooled down inside.
@jamesgizasson Now I am the one that is baffled. First, lets discuss "Survivor Bias". Yes, there absolutely are cars from 100 years ago that can be driven today. 15,000,000 Ford Model T's were built. It is estimated that less than 10,000 are actually able to driven today. That is a percentage of a single percent - 0.0666%. So what happened to the other 14,990,000? They are scrap. The surviving cars werent driven for the past 100 years either. They were parked somewhere and forgotten about. I would expect if you took a bunch of modern cars and you put them in a garage for 100 years, I would definitely expect more than .06% to work. Cars are not rare and for the wealthy anymore. Around 15% of Americans owned cars 100 years ago. Today over 80% own cars - some owning multiple. There are even children today purchasing cars before they are even able to drive. Car Leasing cars is increasing yearly, with 1/3 of all Americans trading in a leased car after 1 or 2 years. People who purchase cars sell them after an average of 7 years. Simply put, people do not want cars that last. And it goes without saying, consumers want to pay as little as possible for them. This means car manufacturers have no incentive to make cars that last. This video is discussing electronics. Consumer grade electronics are no different than cars. Manufacturers COULD use electronics that lasted, but it would cost significantly more and people still would not want to pay the additional cost. If they did, they would still move on, regardless of the state of the product. In the most general of terms, of course people want things they purchase to last forever. They just dont want to keep them forever.
@@finkelmana Tell you what... when whatever you drive outlives my 30 year old diesel with O'Reilly toggle switches and a Blue Sea fuse block, we'll talk. If you get bored with your ride every presidential election, go ahead and inhale the next line of consumer garbage. Those of us that want our stuff to last, want it to last for centuries. :3
Damn this makes me sad. The inevitability of decay even when you do everything right. Just think about all the files that are or will be lost to time not even just because of being forgotten but simply because the machine they were stored on broke down beyond recovery. You know everything ends eventually but watching it happen still hurts.
I will say data recovery is quite advanced these days. While yes everything may not be recoverable you would honestly be surprised of what can be recovered
If you think that's depressing, wait until you find out that you're going to die someday too. Don't feel bad about the lost files, though. Humans generate an insane amount of data on a daily basis, almost all of which is only worth keeping until you find out whether it will ever be useful someday. Most data is no more valuable than old purchase receipts.
Iost 2 years of work on a hard drive who suddenly died during the late 2000, at a time I didn't really know about data recovering... Anyway after few days of mourning, I rewrite the disk so now it's f...ed. Yep, it hurts.
as far as old films go, there is a special vault built into the excavated salt mines under the great lakes where Hollywood and the government store film reals and other documents that require extreme environment conditions to preserve. The only other way I can see of keeping stuff from degrading is in a perfect vacuum in a chamber that blocks as many high energy particles from hitting it as possible!
Before those disintegrate, someone should take careful measurements, as replacements for any plastic part can be 3D printed. Today you can print in nearly any material, from Nylon and ABS all the way through to rubber, like TPU. It's a shame the manufacturers wouldn't release the engineering drawings to make it simpler to preserve a bit of history...
its funny you should say that. because patent documents include exact measurements for the finished product. which are completely visible to anyone for free.
@@FingerinUrDaughter down to tiniest part level? I can see overall dimensions, but wasn't aware you get a full engineering diagram of every single part.
The Dell and the CRT monitor are from the capacitor plague era. Those bursted caps would even appear after a few months or 1-2 years back when the computer was new
There was also another capacitor plague in the late 1980s-early 1990s because during that time, companies were running out of the materials like tantalum to produce them, so most capacitors in electronics would be replaced with far cheaper and poorer quality ones like most notably ELNA that didn't quite measure the properties of the older capacitors.
@@Orobas-jb9fi i actually did find one of those very old Dell Dimension 2400s or something similar to it that eas still running. Someone was actually still using it and wanted me to fix it because it wouldn't boot anymore. The caps were all fine,the reason it didn't boot anymore was because the original hard drive decided to finally die. This was back in 2022,it was in service since 2002 or 2003 whenever those things were made until last year lol
@@Orobas-jb9fi True,there were a few Dimensions that would have bursted caps (mostly were the one that had higher end Pentium 4's that ran hot and damaged the caps) but overall the GXs did seem to have failed more than the Dimension. As for reliability yeah,i never owned one myself but i did come across a few of them for servicing and most of them were really basic and underpowered Celeron and 256MB RAM combinations,but they were very reliable and actually pretty snappy for the hardware they were using
@@Orobas-jb9fi Well i wasn't trying to blame the heat for their failure,but those electrolytic caps would burst faster if they would get too hot.It's true that today's CPUs can make more heat,but all capacitors are now solid state and they don't have liquid aluminum inside them as the classic caps do. As for XP on low RAM it depends,SP3 doesn't really like low RAM and old CPU machines,but SP2 and under usually tend to run better on lower spec computers in my experience at least.
0:23 Never thought "vinegar syndrome" would be associated with old tech. I've always associated "vinegar syndrome" with old film stock (more specifically safety film), which contains cellulose triacetate, which over time degrades into acetic acid, the main component in vinegar.
You're running into the same problem that occurs with antiques made with celluloid plastics. there's nothing sadder than a box full of vintage pens and pocket knives decimated by celluloid rot. The best advice I can give besides storing in a cool, dry place is store the things you truly love by themselves with some degree of airflow. The off-gassing from one item breaking down can not just damage other item's materials, it will jump-start their degredation too.
@Orobas 66 The oldest thing I have using plastic that comes to mind is a ~1960s pocket transistor radio made in the province of Taiwan. Zero, and I mean ZERO broken plastic parts, even on the exterior.
How is it that plastics breaking down is such a big problem but everyone also says plastics never break down and that's why they're such a scourge on the earth?
@@lukasg4807 Because reality doesn't have much impact on the religious fictions (and profits) of radical environmentalism. Now repent of your enviro-sins or mother gaia will wreak her global warming upon you!
@@lukasg4807 To add onto Orobas 66's reply, if somebody says plastics *never* break down, they're either exaggerating or they don't know what they're talking about. The reality is that plastics typically take several hundred years to decompose, compared to a few days for something like an apple up to a few years for an unembalmed corpse. In nature, it's not normal for anything to really take more than five years to decompose, but the low end for plastics is 20 years. And it's pretty rare for it to break down that quickly; again, a typical timeframe is a few hundred years. So even if it starts to get brittle and useless after 20 to 30 years, it's gonna take a hell of a lot longer than that to fully decompose. And as Orobas 66 pointed out, during the decomposition process for plastic, it 1. leaches out some nasty stuff, things that cause cancers and other similar health issues, and 2. spends most of those several hundred years just breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces. That's how we end up with not only things like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch but also things like fish being caught with stomachs full of plastic and studies showing a majority of humans having microplastics in their blood (you probably have plastic running through your veins right this very moment, and so do I). I hope this explanation helps clarify.
why did this actually make me cry, like i never grew up with any of these electronics but its like watching someone you know really well die. im into old tech, especially old computers, the fact that this is starting to happen is extremely upsetting but I know there's nothing you can do about it.
@@AmazingArendsno, it has not, there are MANY types of plastic, some far more durable than others, not to mention, just because your eye can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there poisoning the soil. microplastic has become a concern for good reason.
I'm old enough to remember most these techs and it makes me really sad to see them falling apart. I got a bunch of old laptops and computers sitting in my house that i sat to the side when I upgraded to new tech. Always thinking "I'll get my stuff off here later." Lmao maybe I should finally get on to that. It's only been 20 years...😅
I am a collector of consoles, and while I am yet to experience any true disasters, I have been starting to repair electronics as practice. Living in Australia, a very hot and humid place, summer is a stressful time for me, as that is when most things fail. But it is also why I try to collect Australian versions of these consoles as much as I can. Because I have found that many have a fair few differences compared to other regions, presumably so these devices can handle our harsh climate better.
You should look inside some old 8-track tape players and cassette players from the 70s and before. The belts in those have mostly turned into a viscous liquid that gets all over the place. Good news is that there are brand new replacement belts available.
Not just the 70s, most belt driven electronics older than about 20 years are either suffering from a deteriorating belt or have had the belt fail entirely.
One of the big limitations of silicon today, is silicon is a crystal and crystals grow. So while the FINFETs are getting smaller and smaller, the space between them has been stuck for the past decade, they separate them with a calculated service time of about 30 years. Older chips had a greater space, as they weren't as dense as moderm technology, so they take longer to go bad, but they will eventually. It's this limitation of silicon that has tech companies researching other semi-conductive materials.
How am I not surprised that some of these older devices are failing... That reminds me, really need to check and/or sell on some of my older stuff. And to add regarding the rubber coating... Dell laptops from about 10-15 years ago are starting to have issues with the coating as well from personal experience.
@@treennumbers I found a Dell XT3 Tablet PC with a pen that's like splash proof and insanely shock resistant, with a display that has a single flipping arm. Got rid of the BIOS password, installed Windows, all works really well but the rubber is completely gone. I also had an HP EliteBook from about 2010 with a 1st gen i5, a dedicated MXM GPU and full size display port, experimental UEFI and USB 3, insane machine, but rubber destroyed. I am writing from a pretty healthy ruberized Dell Latitude, I wonder how long that will last. STOP USING RUBBER
This just makes me sad to watch. Really makes you think about the fragility of life and how easily things can no longer exist. Makes me worried about some of the electronics I held on to from years ago 😰
I was wondering why vinyl records are making a comeback. My hunch is that vintage cd's and cd players are experiencing the same problems as the computers in this video are.
@@tomcollins5112because of the aesthetic of them, and vinyls being bigger and easier to put on display. record labels also prefer them to cd’s as there are bigger profit margins on them. and due to the lack of facilities to produce vinyls, albums often sell out very quickly thus many are able to make profit off of them in the secondhand market, and vinyl collecting has become a hobby
@@tomcollins5112 CD's aren't popular anymore, so these 'bigger' sales aren't really a good indicator of anything other than the decline of CD's to such a level where trendy Vinyls outsell them. Nothing to do with durability or usefulness, just nostalgia.
And here I am typing my diary on a 1995 ThinkPad that I rescued from the dumpster at my university. Aside from a dead battery, the beautiful black box works without a hitch--and that keyboard made by Lexmark in 1994 is legendary.
I've got a lot of diverse older stuff where the plastic is just shattering now, and a lot of gummy rubberised stuff as well. Strangely enough the really old stuff seems to be in the best condition, reel to reel tape, cini projector, PONG consoles, and the VIC-20. 1990 to 2000 appears to be the most rotting!
I'm _in no way_ what one might call a 'tech~head', but I believe equipment assembled in those years is so notorious for its 'Bad Caps' (capacitors) that it's an actual 'thing'. As far as I can remember, as well as the usual corporate penny~pinching, there is actually quite an involved story involving industrial espionage and counterfeiting behind the problem but I'm afraid I'm hazy at this point about the details. Apart from low~grade electronic components and the well known problem of built~in obsolescence, I am constantly shocked by the lack of forethought or possibly even ignorance about the way material used in the more mechanical parts and basic construction can degrade in what, to a Gen X'er like me, seems like a remarkably short time - rubber drive belts; those ubiquitous and annoying - even - when - new rubberized coatings, plastic gear trains and doo~dads, plastic and even metal housings... Of course, if you _wanted_ this stuff to degrade (as in, in the environment) it would still be here polluting watercourses and strangling the wildlife come the year 8510, by which time (so the song says) God is supposed to be here - as if to spite us and him both!
@@richiehoyt8487 planned obsolescence is now in architecture, most houses built in 2020 wont last half as long as a medium quality house from the 1970s
Only extra tip i could add is having oxygen removing material held in bag together with electronics. Often sold as iron powder bags, iron reacts with oxygen faster than other parts and removing oxygen should make things last tad longer, especially rubberized elements
From my experience this all happens from being stored away. You have to make sure your electronics are stored in the proper conditions. Not in hot humid places or cold dam places but room temp. Once in a while it’s also not a bad idea to pull your old systems out and turn them on let them run it’ll keep them working. It’s like a car let it sit too long things start to break on it.
@@MrHocotateFreight LOL but seriously though a vacuum chamber, or at the very least a sealed membrane that prevents outside O2 and N2 might mitigate the rusting and other adverse mechanisms
@@younglee6469 Some plastics degrade sooner than others, no matter what. Plasticizers just migrate out the material. Volatile components will actually escape faster in a vacuum. Inert gas environment, like argon or even nitrogen, would be a better choice.
@@younglee6469 I suppose for most of the components that would be beneficial. But I guess there will be some components that will not like it. Maybe CRT some CRT screens are kind of sealed? Maybe capacitors will be more likely to leak because vacuum will "pull" the liquid out?
The 90s and early 2000s were a time of relentless cost cutting, even in the Mac space. To do otherwise was to lose customers. When I was a repair Tech at my local Best Buy in the 90s, poorly made caps corroding were already a known issue. This is what led to ceramic caps becoming the go to standard. Fortunately, it's relatively easy to backup all your old data to a thumb drive, or better yet, archival quality CD, DVD or Blu-Ray. Just as you can still find a turntable to play old LPs and 78 RPM records, nostalgia societies should be able to refurbish, or manufacture on demand optical drives for the foreseeable future.
The process of making an optical drive requires precision and effort that's not really acheivable (financially viable) on a small scale While anyone can make a phonograph. The only specialized part is the cartridge.
to be fair the capacitor plague was due to counterfeiting in the electrolytic capacitor market, caused by an ex-employee stealing an old/prototype formula from Nichicon and running off to china with it, selling it on so hundreds of factories produced millions of capacitors during the late 90s (either 1996 or 1998, I forget which) until 2002ish and took until about 2006 for all the stock to be either found and destroyed, or inadvertantly used *coughoriginalxboxprerevision1.6cough* I'd avoid flash drive for archival though, depending on the NAND quality they can lose data after a year of being turned off, as their modus operandi is billions of nanoscopic capacitors - better off using magnetic tape or archival HDDs, stored in a climate-controlled and EMP-proof safe
This is a problem in cars as well. Anytime I try to fix, replace or maintain some hard to reach parts, I end up breaking half the integrated plastic clips on the part. Needed to replace a bulb on my headlight, broke 5 clips and the headlight never sits right now.
I have a radio, with a wood casing and built with vacuum tubes, still going strong after 60 years. I replaced the capacitors and the tubes tho, and it was built to last...
You should make a video on Restoration and solutions to these problems, things like recapping, replacing the polarizers of displays, replacing those burned out CFL backlights with LEDs. Things that can help remedy these issues and extend the life of these machines. Also on older machines from the 2000s it's absolutely imperative to re-cap them ASAP due to capacitor plague (a lot of capacitors from that time were faulty and prone to dying early).
I had an over-30-years-old bedside digital alarm clock/radio that still worked in 2017. It even played TV stations (audio only). Keeping your lithium batteries charged between 40% and 70% does something like TRIPLE their lifetime.
This was definitely a wake up call. I have been collecting to some older Apple laptops for a while now such as the Ti Books, but after watching this, I am just gonna play them for a few more months and sell them off. I am moving soon and I don't see any need to be carrying this dead weight with me.
The algorithm has thrust me into the old tec/internet rabbit hole, and it’s so interesting. We grew up being told that things are forever, that the internet forever so you should be careful what you post. And yet, we constantly see everything get swept away through terms like micro trends, and just the sheer amount of growth. While yeah you can sleuth, it’s hard to naturally stumble on pieces of the internet from even a couple years ago - heck the majority of videos I get recommended are within 3 years of age.
If this video doesn’t make you feel old I don’t know what will. I grew up with most of those products and I remember fondly of seeing them on the shelves brand new😢
This video made me cry, it really hurts seeing our old beloved computers dying a slow and remorseful death somewhere in a dark dusty attic or basement. RIP
Same thing here. I have such a deep connection with my computers and my game consoles. I care so much about them that I did everything I could to protect them.
The good news is, if you catch some of these problems early, you can replace the affected parts with either new-old stock (if you can find them) parts, or a more modern solution that may last longer. Things like those rusty shieldings could be replaced with something that doesn't rust as much, or would take much longer to rust. I'm not sure if there are any kind of aftermarket 800x600 screens that would be compatible with the iMac ribbons to replace that dead screen, but I imagine if they start failing en masse, some enterprising person could come up with a solution to save the old tech.
someone else mentioned that the vinegar syndrome happens to most old LCD's, and all you have to do to fix it is by replacing the old polarizer with a new one, which is a fairly quick and easy fix (as opposed to replacing the entire screen)
@@RetroCaptain I definitely need to do this. I have a finished basement room with all my vintage macs, and it can get /a little/ moist in summers. Bone dry in winter, but I definitely need to get a dehumidifier.
The struggle involved with trying to preserve these machines from their inevitable and rapidly approaching fates really makes me appreciate people who make high quality videos like this documenting these things, so that we don't lose the knowledge and memories with the actual machines. The only thing sadder than things I grew up using as a child no longer being able to function is not having anything other than my own memories, sometimes, to go off of. I enjoy people who make a good, video-based nostalgia binge possible and have so much respect and admiration for that work.
The reasons in this video are why I love to repair vintage electronics. Something about it is really satisfying. I've got that Gateway Ev700A CRT and it arcs inside occasionally. I love to completely replace failure prone electronics (like capacitors) with high quality parts ensuring that they'll run for the longest time. I agree that the worst part are decaying plastics and rubber. By the way, older CRTs can also develop something like vinegar syndrome. It's called 'cataracts' and it's the adhesive between the tube and the safety glass decomposing. Very, very difficult and dangerous to fix.
Unless it's something ancient you don't have to worry. Couple of generations behind is nothing.... I have mainboards from 20 years ago (Pentium 4 era) and their batteries still work. My oldest still working PC is from 14 years ago, works like a charm, so don't worry these things are robust. Also the displays start to take mold when they don't use them... a working display would never catch mold (if you don't literally dump water on it).
I’ve noticed the same problems with a lot of my old tech, particularly the rubber on old devices. I got around the problem by carefully painting the rubberised coating with a thin coating of clear nail varnish to seal the rubber away from the air and in this case, it worked. The surface was smooth, protected and sealed. It works for sticky rubber but I don’t recommend it for rubber that’s started to disintegrate. Hope this tip helps someone😉👍🏽
It’s the Australian climate. The humidity ks a lot more taxing to electronics. I don’t know why the host didn’t point it out. I live in cold northern Europe and stuff seems to last nicely.
the melting rubber is the WORST. i had it happen to a phone case from only about 5 years ago and it was so oily and wet that it scared me when i first touched it AND thank you for mentioning the bit about batteries. i'm starting to worry about some of my old macbook batteries - one of the cables shorted recently, and while i think it may have been the outlet, it made me realize i need to be more careful with the batteries :(
It's the hydrolysis of polyurethane unfortunately...Going green comes at a cost...I had to remove foam insulation surrounding wiring from a Volvo. The foam was a sticky green, gelatinous mess...Not fun. Sneaker collectors experience this too when their prize sneakers yellow and literally disintegrate before your eyes!
@@andrewx86x PU is also the stuff that makes headphone pads crumble apart. I hate it. I keep my headphones in a dark plastic bag against ozone and UV exposure now, but if the decomposing substance is already inside (e.g. glue of the foam rubber) it won''t help. Also battery leak vapours strongly damage foam rubber. I collect music keyboards, and all with rusty battery contacts have damaged foam.
@@andrewx86x With sneakers it may help to store them airtight (in dry state, not freshly worn) in a dark place and add an absorbent if decomposition forms acid or such things. But migrating plasticizers between different materials are hard to avoid. Seiko made a talking watch "Robo-Air" using the same crumbly sneakers materials. The pneumatic cuff mechanism always decomposed. I did buy the remains with the LCD watch part because of the robot voice, but the strap would need to be completely replicated with different materials (silicone?) if anybody cares. (I collect sound toys and things with strange sound chips.)
To me looks like humidity problems IT might be a good idea to store all your PC's with a anti humidity solution .. either sillica sachets (when you get in new shoes box ) or any absorber.
Yeah, I collect a ton of old laptops and I don't have this issue. I am not saying it doesn't happen, but seeing him pull out all of his machines that were pristine previously and now junk, it makes me wonder how cool/dry his storage area really is. There seems to be a common theme with everything he showed in the video, and it is that they were all stored in the same area.
@@aaron___6014 LCD screens delaminate no matter how they are stored, one of the reasons I don't collect later machines. Plasma displays have their own issues so even early laptops are a pain. You can sometimes find modern displays that can be adapted to work on these old systems but the time and effort required is often not worth it.
Its also a good idea to be prepared to replace capacitors (all types) as they are the most likely of components to degrade from lack of use. Most analogue circuits are repairable if you have the know-how.
Disagree, solid caps like tantalums don't really degrade and electrolytic caps from pre 1990 are also generally fine as well. Bad caps (AKA the capacitor plague) started in the early 90s and right now its killing everything from Game Gears to big box Amigas. Preventative maintenance should only be done if its 100% required otherwise you risk ripping pads off trying to replace caps that don't actually need replacing. Edit - also kinda obvious but its worth mentioning, if you are replacing leaky caps be EXTRA careful when removing them as the fluid is corrosive and will almost certainly have eaten away at the pads making them much easier to rip off.
There is some time , late 1990s, and 2000s, where a lot of bad caps have been used which then bulge. I also had a Dell Pentium 4, similar to the one in the video, albeit with a larger case. That completely broke down due to caps issues after only a few years of use. Actually Dell had a recall / mainboard swap program in place but at that time, I lived in a country where this could not be done and I did not have the possibility to bring it elsewhere, and so it eventually failed.
@dungeonseeker3087 it sister start it the 90s it was just worse in the 90s, electrolytic capacitors basically will fail eventually, look into antique radios for example, it's the #1 failure
Vacuum tubes hold up pretty well, they will fail quicker than transistors when being actively used but will store for decades, if not centuries. New old stock of vacuum tubes seem to work just as well today as they did when they were new.
I went to a video game museum and some of that was really need. I got to play an Atari 2600, Super Famicom, and some Sega systems I'd never seen in person before. I still have a lot of my GameBoy games that I play on a GameBoy Advance, and my dad has some old Mac stuff. So far the cheese grater looking ones seem to be okay, but I'd love to ask a guy that ran a Mac museum at a university I went to what his experiences were like. I think all of them worked except maybe a neon orange iMac, and the Apple II. I think the coolest one was a working Mac Portable. Certainly discoloured, but it worked. The first battery powered Mac.
i used to have a very impressive collection of old electronics, PCs, Gaming systems. i couldnt bring myself to throw them away until one time in my life i was moving around a lot, probably 5 different times in one year, i decided that it was too encumbersome and hastily threw 99% of all of my stuff out. i was probably 22ish at the time... i just didnt have anywhere to put any of it...
I would be careful about opening up failed hard drives, dust particles tend to me larger than the normal distance between the read write head and the platter and its why they have to be opened in a clean room or one of those smaller 'mini-clean rooms'.
Yeah that was a really ballsy thing to do. I remember around the 2000s some thought it would be cool to have windows on hard drives and the recommended procedure was to do it in a steamy room. If you ever see an image comparison of the drive head vs. dust or hair it's huge.
I worked at a hard disk drive production plant, and yes, dust & also particles from your body that are too small to see can cause a head crash. That's why we suited up & the whole plant used laminar airflow with HEPA filters, raised flooring, and airlocks.
Yes!!!!! You're actually doing a video about it!!!! Stuff like what you mentioned make my life as a vintage PC enthusiast in Singapore troublesome, and I'd never thought the same issues would surface in Australia! For a while, I've been thinking of getting out of the hobby, partially as a result of pressure from my parents who keep thinking I'm a hoarder… ugh! I just wish PCem and/or 86Box can emulate laptops (particularly ThinkPad models) complete with a battery gauge that could be manually controlled or synced up with the host, and also add emulation of early graphics tablets. (4:36) OH NO! I didn't think about using zipper bags! Argh!
Tech archival and preservation is very difficult in tropical countries (so both SG and the Australian costal areas). Unless you have constant climate control eg. air conditioning and/or dehumidifier, many of the components like rubberized coatings and ALL forms of LCDs will simply deteriorate. LCD vinegar syndrome is accelerated if kept in an airtight condition as heat is trapped inside with no airflow. Deterioration is actually slowed down if the device is still regularly used. Got an Epson 386 PC along with a CRT at home, CRT can receive power, but no display. The PC POSTs but the HDD is dead. Been wanting to donate to a museum but no one wants to take it in such a condition. Got a Pentium MMX that only boots successfully when it pleases, but the CD drives rubber bands have long since disintegrated. The only things in my retro collection that still work reliably are the game consoles from before the CD era.
Write a little API that interfaces with the old operating system to the new and exposes the variables of the battery meter, you can write a little interface module that will work with the old operating system to control the battery gauge application or tray icon and manipulate it artificially. You could use VB and winforms.
@@HikikomoriDev That would work for Windows 3.x where there wasn't a standard, but Windows 95 introduced a unified battery gauge without device manufacturers having to make their own utilities or use an 'information panel', so I'd rather have emulated APM for older OSes or emulated ACPI for newer OSes, but what you mentioned for Windows 3.x and early Linux distro guests.
I remember using those imacs back in the day in gradeschool. What a throwback. I still think about them sometimes and their orange, blue, green and clear plastics. Its something that I can feel and see when I think about it.
Vinegar syndrome is quite an annoying cosmetic (and smelly) issue. I recently published a video fixing this issue on my iBook G3 Clamshell, just by replacing the polarizing film, in case it helps someone. Let's take care of these devices so they can last for a long time!
I've worked on repairing a lot of electronics in my lifetime, and it's always been my biggest interest. While I'm aware of the effects of aging on components like this, it still made me sad. Having it laid out like this gave me a Sisyphus crisis lol. Great video though!
5:50 the first production run of the original Xbox used very acidic clock capacitors that people noticed started breaking down several years ago. Was recommended if you have one to de-solder or remove the clock capacitors for this exact reason.
It seems that this was why I ended up going through 5(!) of them. I first experienced this issue in either 2005 or 2006 when my Xbox started overheating and suddenly refused to read any discs. I'm currently on my 6th; but knock on wood, I haven't had any real problems so far with it because it was produced after 2004. That was when the clock capacitor was seemingly fixed.
That was many devices made in that era. Again if you go a decade back. Like once a decade a supplier of capacitors is trash. Goes all the way back to at least the C64 era. Skipps 9 years and comes back to trash caps.
@@ROVA00 Sure, then how about these, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, High Impact Polystyrene, Polyethylene Terephthalate, Nylon, Corflute, Polyethylene, PVC, Polypropylene, Acrylic? How long? And if it stays in small pieces indefinitely, couldn't we consider them a semi-permanent carbon sink?
@@commodoor6549 idk bro, ask a chemist. As for making plastic a carbon sink, it would be cool except for the damage is causes animals as they (we) inevitably ingest the plastic. We don’t really know the full extent of harm from microplastics in our bodies and other animals.
@@ROVA00 So if you don't know, why are you saying things like it depends on the plastic? Make it make sense. And yes, plastic can be used as a carbon sink. Read more.
It was just environmental political pandering. I can guarantee you most large pieces of plastics will break down in under 250 years. It's the microplastics that are concerning
I'm hopeful over these next few years we start to see things like motherboard reverse engineering, as well as after market motherboards for at least the big ones, imagine a raspberry pi powered iBook, for example
A couple machines have already been reverse engineered, so hopefully more will come in the future. The Commodore 64, Amiga, and NES all have brand new boards that can be used to restore old machines. You can even build a new machine almost entirely with off the shelf parts, aside from a handful of custom chips.
You have to be carefully how you clean your tech too. There are certain chemicals in household cleaners and wet wipes that can accelerate the degradation of plastics and rubbers. Especially those items with rubberised matt finishes causing them to go all sticky. Also keeping items out of direct or strong sunlight might help too.
Those rubberized finishes will go sticky even if you never expose them to any chemicals. When that happens, I put on some gloves and apply rubbing alcohol and elbow grease. Bare plastic is better than sticky nastiness.
I agree. I've been trying to start collecting old tech and this is like watching your childhood idols succumb to mental illness. I just want to hug all the clunky monitors goodbye just one more time. I may never hear the beautiful tingy noise of my fingernail on a glass monitor screen again.
Advancement would come at a much slower pace as a cost. advancements of any kind consume resources, & with tech stuff, A LOT of them, & the funds for it need to come from somewhere. if companies can't get enough money from selling stuff to fuel the required R&D, they do really have no choice but to keep pumping out or maintaining the old stuff. as such, in a world where tech was built for the long haul, you'd have stuff that has nearly identical specs to those that came out like10 years ago. much as i dig durability & reduction of e-waste, i'm not sure if i'd like to be in a world where new stuff that comes out in 2030 is pretty much the same thing as those that comes out in 2015.
As someone with a deep interest in retro technology, seeing this old tech dying is absolutely devastating. Also, seeing an old turquoise iMac G3 hit me with a huge rush of nostalgia. My family exclusively had Mac computers up until the late 2000s, and our main family computer was an iMac G3 that ran Mac OS 9.2. We used that thing for so many years. My folks got rid of it around 2010 or so (and it breaks my heart that they did), and by then, everyone in my family had switched to laptops except my brother and me. Eventually, even my brother switched over to a laptop. I'm the only person in my family that stuck with desktops basically the whole time, and I'd say the Mac computers we had growing up are probably responsible for my preference for desktop PCs over laptops. So seeing them literally falling apart due to the harsh nature of time really tears me up inside. I hope something can be done to better preserve a lot of this old technology.
The original Bondi blue iMac was the first PC I bought, back in 1998 (but I'd used Macs before then). My 2013 iMac died just last week. The logic board failed suddenly and the display burned out. Still, it gave a decade of almost daily use, which ain't bad. The new models aren't built to last, or be repairable.
I remember the G3's we had at school, I thought they were the coolest and most futuristic looking things ever, they had so much more personality compared to the usual beige boxes.
I've lived enough to feel sad about this. My first computer was originally owned by my uncle. An old machine running Windows XP, with a CRT monitor. I remember spending evenings playing pinball and minesweeper. It saddens me that I might never be able to experience that again.
I kinda wish I still had my old CRT monitor and computer, I remember it had Windows 98 I guess it would be dead by now because of age, there's no way a computer from the early 2000s can last until 2023 without very expensive maintenance and it would reach a point where it can't be fixed anymore.
@@kentreed2011 thats a bit of an overstatement, while yes some computers will fail theres still shit from the 80s running, and there was many many more computers made in the early 2000s than the 80s, windows 10 is really not that even far away from 98 also the schematics to manufacture and produce older computers will always exist if they are archived
@@kentreed2011there we're so many parts produced for that generation of tech that you would always be able to cobble up a working one , crt's is another matter
we could also make like a tournament for old tech repair to repair as much as we can, this would be cool and this could incite people to restore these, this is an heritage that cannot be lost
I agree. There is a big problem though with the retro computer scene blowing up in the last 3 years insofar that most newcomers have no idea how to fix electronics. I am lucky that my dad is an electronic engineer so he can do most of my retro computer repairs by reflowing boards, replacing caps and fixing PSUs, etc… my own ability is just to clean and retr0brite as I have no technical skill.
a lot of this stuff thankfully can be fixed, IDE SSDs exist, polarisers can be swapped and batteries can be replaced, the stuff thats a time bomb is soldered NANDs and GPUs with Bump-gate.
This makes me very sad even through I was born in 2002 I’m very interested in old technology and the history of the retro technology so as someone who loves learning about them and seeing how they work makes me very upset that they are all dying and falling apart and soon or I guess already future generations won’t know how cool and interesting the old technology was but I guess that is life for everyone and everything :(
I'm 45 anything from my time is just a waste of time money or space it can be replaced for penny's on the dollar even keeping it for sentimental value will cost you to much you have to be very careful
@@baraodascolinas979 the things mentioned in this vid were not planned obsolescence they are simply the result of what was created with what was available at the time
This janitor when I was in school, I think in kindergarten second third or fourth grade and he was just throwing the CRT monitors in the dumpster. I said what are you doing and he said there’s no use for them anymore.
That weird stuff on the display happened to a Dell laptop I have, it was fine a week before I moved into university, but when I went to show my new friends a week later the old laptop I have I was horrified at the condition of the display.
Literally sold off my entire G3/G4 Mac collection about six months ago when I realised they were all beginning to get very temperamental in terms of wanting to run. Power supply caps started dying, the hard drives got more flaky, even solid state bits like RAM started to fail after a while. A shame for sure, but I have great memories of them all. Hopefully the new owners are better with soldering than I am.
It's interesting that some "old" tech is starting to develop issues like this, and yet my old Atari 2600 still works perfectly. Different times, I guess.
Not much tech in them to go wrong. the 2600 had like what? 2 or 3 capacitors? and a linear powersupply brick (which aren't known for efficiency, but definitely long life)
Wow! One thing that impresses me is the Nintendo 64. I still have mine and it still works. It's an original one from the release date too. I still play it along with all of my games as if it's still a new game console. They were built to last. Other things that stand the test of time are vintage equipment from the 70's. equipment from the 50's - 60's seems to be built strong with strong metal components. I have amplifiers, guitars, electric pianos like the Fender Rhodes. I mean, those are instruments and instruments can basically last forever. But the amplifiers have more components like tubes which had to be replaced on mine. I also have an Onkyo stereo system that has been in my family the 90's. I remember it being used all of the time as a kid, and now as an adult, I still use it literally everyday for my turntable. That system is a beast! I play it loud and proud to and sometimes forget to turn it off and it still works like brand new. I guess computers are different because they have a sophisticated build. Vinyl records also impress me. These are basically plastic disc that can easily warp with heat, yet old records from the 50's still play like they were pressed yesterday. It's interesting to see what lasts and what doesn't.
I found out ammonia is great at completely removing the melting rubberised coatings accidentally. And it's cheap. Comes off in an instant with no resistance
@@PhantomWorksStudios yeah, I was cleaning up an old unifi AP because it also had started to melt the coating and I had a spray bottle with ammonia I used to clean the house. With gloves on I wiped it off with a paper towel and magic, the coating vanished
@@goclunker I know amonia mixed with water temporarly fix dry and cracked up rubber. It's can be a quick solution for à temporary fix in a car for suspensions.
It'll inflate it to the point where only rich collectors should consider buying them. I'd rather get a used GPU at the same price or lower as an old computer.
@@the_kombinator No that’s bad inflated prices just makes it harder to get people interested the hobby. Retro gaming is not about money and gate keeping the hobby only hurts everyone.
@@TalesOfGothic Do you even know how to use the phrase "gatekeeping" properly? I mean, if I had a monopoly on every retro system ever made, and jacking the prices up to my benefit, perhaps what you said would make sense. I'm literally a drop in the ocean of retro tech sellers, so yeah, please use the phrase "gatekeeping" with some kind of aurhority. 1) I'm figuratively hopping the fence (i.e. bypassing the gate) to get retro systems that were pulled from recyclers, dismantling, painting + retrobriting (when necessary), seeking the era-correct drives, floppies, CDROMS (if applicable), refurbishing the often soldered RTC clocks, or worse, repairing the board from a leaked Varta cell, pairing the machine with appropriate I/O and a CRT (or at least a 4:3 LCD). I will install the correct OSes and load the drivers, optimize the memory, etc. - this takes an inordinate amount of time, and by God, I will be paid for my work, this isn't a volunteer shop - a lot of these systems are 30+ years old and require refurbishing, which I do, for a fee. Don't like it? Don't buy it. 2) These machines are kept out of landfill and redirected to enthousiasts in ready, working order - plug it in and use it - I don't sell half-dead garbage that needs any extra work. 3) You can get into the hobby for free - it's called abandonware and emulation. If the prices of the stuff are increasing, it's not because I want them to increase - I recently got a new batch of 2,3,and 486 systems, and the prices for them went up. I'm not taking a cut for some lofty ideal - this stuff is rare and it takes someone who knows what they're doing to keep it going, and it's only going to get harder. No one is being hurt here except your feelings.
@@the_kombinator it’s bad that prices go up. I already have the systems I want. It just makes others who want to get into the hobby feel like there’s to much of a barrier to entry.
it is impossible to preserve something physically forever, but what we can preserve magnitudes longer than the object is the stories and videos about it. the preservation of technology in the long term lies in the hands of copying videos, photos, and telling tales to the next generation. i hope that we continue to preserve technology as much as possible and go to greater lengths to show what it was like
This reminds me of when my grandfather would try to build a computer using parts from ones that otherwise didn't work. He managed not only boot it up once it was complete but it could even play solitaire. Going online was with it was pretty much not going to happen sadly.
This was like a trip down memory lane. Seeing the Mac Classic and old iMac's brought back some of those magical days when I first started using Apple computers! It's sad that they are slowly disintegrating, but I guess nothing lasts forever.
1:40 - Please, for the love of god, if you aren't *keenly aware* of what you're doing and how to do it, do not under any circumstances open your hard drive if you have important data on it. You could very easily end up making the hard drive unrepairable - even for a specialist.
If a harddisk won't start, never open it! - Any tiny airborne dust particle will start a chain reaction of debris (like colliding satellites) that will unavoidably destroy it. Likely it won't spin because the bearing oil has hardened. And do not knock or use force. Better simply warm the bearing with a hairdryer (not too hot) to remelt the grease and then let the disk spin for an hour to let it knead the lube soft again.
Thanks for taking the time to make a video about this topic. It's reminded me that I need to check all of my old(ish) computers. And thanks as well for having an epilepsy warning before showing what I assume was a computer screen flashing very quickly. While I don't have epilepsy, I've got a similar condition that makes me incredibly sensitive to any strobing.
Thankfully I don't have a condition affected by flickering images, but I rewound the video to see how I'd missed the epilepsy warning you've highlighted here. ⏪ Turns out it's quite easy to miss if you have subtitles turned on! ⚠
I have a 2008 Mac Mini that works as well today as it did when I first took it out of the box. It has been, far and away, the most trouble-free computer I have ever used. Not a single crash or freeze, ever. I still use it once in a while. Great little box.
So cool to see some of the old computers we all have used - I can't tell you the number of times I checked out an iBook from my school's library for projects... I loved that device & keyboard was a treat to type on. Devices back then were aesthetically pleasing & still functional! The doors on the iMac's were very in-genius for example. Very cool video!
Yeah this Rubber coating decay is one thing I hate the most because your device may be working perfect but be so tacky you can´t even touch it. I have this IBM laptop I am working on to remove this and it truly is a pure pain to do
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Looking forward to it!
ok,
Glad to hear your back to using the same music from most of your recent videos. I love that track
Can you explain what brand of Eucalyptus oil you use? Are you sure it does not cause long term damage?
I think you're not storing your things properly
I've never had this sort of problem with 10, 15, 20, or 30 year old tech of any sort. Tech doesn't just spontaneously combust.
You seem to love putting some sort of oil all over your plastics - yeah that's a recipe for disaster through chemistry.
There's a reason that electronics engineers only ever use alcohols to clean plastics (aside from acrylic), PCBs, contacts, etc - it evaporates and afterward there's no chemical reaction taking place
Humidity is also a major factor
Your tech problem is you - sorry
Long term storage of tech: in a cool, dry, dark place. Use desiccant pouches if you can. REMOVE ALL BATTERIES. Lithium batteries should be stored in lithium pouches - not plastic ziploc bags
Cleaning: with soapy water in wringed-out clean cloth (microfiber works), followed by alcohol, let dry
The tech may die, but their microplastics will be in our hearts forever ❤🥹
Microplastics and heavy metals ;)
literally
Perfectly done! Every word!
@@ahmetcanaksu6821what bro said ☝️… 💀
😂😂😂
Stone tablets should make a comeback. They can store records for thousands of years.
Battery life is insane.
no one can read your writing after 1000 years
@@Blox117 Ea-nasir would strongly disagree
@@Blox117 If we can translate Gilgamesh, I’m sure future generations will figure it out
@@thedapperdolphin1590 expressions and stories lose their meanings over time. A joke about people from new York means nothing to someone when new York hasn't existed for a long time
Vinegar Syndrome can be repaired by removing the polarizer (and the original adhesive) and replacing it with a new one. Though how long the replacement lasts is hard to say. Shuichiro Hirakawa explains the vinegar syndrome chemical process in detail in his RUclips channel and also shows how to replace the polarizer.
Is this every display? Or ones cleaned with the wrong chemicals?
@@goclunker every LCD display made in the 2000s to 2010s can develop this thing in this 2020s due to age (i have successfully replaced the polarizer on my LG Scarlet TV)
@@goclunker i have a few ancient lcds that haven't had any issues at all. so its either improper cleaning, or limited to specific types of plastic polarizers from certain companies.
or perhaps a combination of the two.
@@goclunker the issue is caused by the triacetate cellulose base (what the polarizer is usually made of) reacting with moisture/humidity or even the adhesive layer. So yes, almost every LCD display including LED backlit ones are affected, because they all have a polarizer. This issue seems to be less prevalent in temperate climates though.
Wrong or harsh cleaning liquids are unlikely to be the primary cause, but they can worsen or quicken the damage if the chemical process has already started.
@@sengyew83 damn. Everything is made to fail. I am now reconsidering my retrotech collection
It's a real shame that even if you take care of your tech like a museum artifact, they will still degrade to the point of looking like they've been trashed. I especially hate rubberized coatings, and stay away from anything that's advertised as "soft touch". They always turn into a sticky mess within a few years.
It is certainly disappointing that the only way to preserve old technology is to keep replacing obsolescent parts to the point where it literally becomes something that is like the Ship of Theseus.
You can take that sticky stuff off with acetone. I did it on some knobs a few years ago and they still work. It didn't destroy them yet.
@@therabbitchannel2059 Thanks. I've been looking for a solution to that problem.
@@therabbitchannel2059 Acetone? fine if the soft touch coating is on metal, but be careful; acetone attacks and dissolves almost all styrene based plastics and will make an even bigger mess (polystyrene & ABS are widely used for plastic enclosures). Isopropyl alcohol on the other hand removes the degrading soft touch coating and is safe for most plastics.
I have thrown away an e-book reader that otherwise still worked because of this. Now it had other weaknesses such as poor resolution, but that alone was tolerable.
Edit: There are rubbers that don't have that problem. From my parents, I have inherited some jars whose rubber seal is still good after decades.
To someone who feels as strongly about preservation as I do, seeing old technology break down like this feels like watching the stars going out, one by one.
TRASHPPLE PISSPRODUCTS BELONG IN THE TRASHCAN ANYWAH HA HA
Planned obsolescence + oxidation 💀
@@GardeDuCoeur I wouldn't say planned. These devices still worked decades after being manufactured
@@GardeDuCoeur That is not planned obsolescence. People are using these words way too easily nowadays.
HP test gear from the 80s is mostly aluminum, that lasts a lifetime, if you do the occasional electronics repair.
It's just crApple garbage, that dies. No big loss, if you ask me. That company went garbage, at the time they ditched 68k.
That nightmare of breaking plastic is also very common with cars too. It is engine parts in particular that are made of plastic becoming brittle over time or warping from heat and causing a leak. The worst thing is that more and more parts are being made that way. It is only because it is cheaper, they would not use these horrible things if they were more expensive.
Fellow car guy here! Thankfully, 3D scanning and 3D printing are solving this issue for us! Guys are 3D scanning plastic parts and just printing replacements or even making molds with the 3D scan so pieces can be reproduced with injection molding.
Price wasn’t the only reason for switching to plastic parts in cars. Injection molding is incredibly useful, allowing the creation of parts that you’d never be able to make with metal casting. They also respond better to a lot of the conditions cars face. In fact if say when done right, with glass fibre reinforcement and good design, plastic parts are somewhat better for cars than we think
Plastic engine parts have been such an issue for me my car is 8 years old and has had a plastic valve go out each year for the last couple years
You better get yourself a classic car that’ll last you a lifetime. Unless you feel like buying a new overpriced car every 3-4 years.
Its designed to fail on purpose sadly, more money in parts being needed rather than being set for life
Back in 1987 my boss had a 2nd generation IBM workstation. green monochrome, big floppy disk drive, the works. She loved the keyboard so much. There was an old photo of Bill Gates with that exact same model in the background when he first started out. It was built solid but computer tech guys all hated her using it and kept wanting her to upgrade.
That sounds like an IBM Model M keyboard, they started coming with IBM PCs in 1985. I'm using one from 1994 to type this, I love it. There is a company called Unicomp that still make them.
The old saying seems perfect for this😂
@@JustinHiggins "2nd generation IBM" probably refers to the IBM 5160 PC XT, the successor to the IBM 5150 PC. These computers used Model F keyboards! Far superior to the Model M, IMO.
@@AerFixus I thought ‘2nd generation’ might refer to PS2. I would love to try a Model F, but they are a lot harder to find than the Model M.
@@JustinHiggins given the rest of the context: The IT department wanting the user to upgrade the machine in 1987, presumably because it is out of date, wouldn't make sense to be a PS/2 since that was released in 1987. Also notable is that it had a monochrome green screen, which was no longer a standard option for the PS/2. Also, having a "big floppy disk" seems to refer to the 5 1/4" size of disk, rather than the smaller 3 1/2" floppy disks.
Anyway, it's an interesting story. And Model M and Model F keyboards are both great. I'm just a snob and I enjoy typing on an F significantly more than an M. Don't get me started on Beamsprings!
Not just tech, also data and file rot. I went into a rabbit hole about Software rot and its insane. obviously not the same but its a legit thing that happens to internet stuff over time when abandoned and its just mindboggling.
I’ve started trying to get back in the habit of paper due to that.
Even screen shots if I can’t copy/paste the text into word.
I’m starting to deploy binders by subject.
you should always download what you like on the internet, and ideally keep 2 or more copies
Buy multiple USBs and transfer every couple years lol
You can make pars files and use those to recover the data.
Ive been looking at m-disks, already have data backed up on sata devices like ssds and hdds but look up m-disks, theyre expensive but are meant to last up to 1,000 years in theory
That's sad that components will break down with no use over time, even if stored well.
Indeed, nothing lasts forever.
With enough effort, things can be remade. The C64 community is a great example - various failing custom chips but through the hard work of enthusiastic people, modern replacements are now available!
@@krnlg Yes so true, there is some impressive work being done in those retro computer scenes.
Everything has its lifespan.
Especially devices designed to not be repairable.
the pastic destroying itself is also a concern for 80's and 90's car. in my car, a lot of gasket, engine part and washer were starting to be made out of plastic. they all now break appart when you try to dissassemble something or were already destroy. There was a really bad play in the steering wheel and it turned out they used plastic spacer to mount the bolt on. those plastic thing disintegrated years ago and left a pretty big hole and that's why the steering was shaking and moving everywhere.
In a couple decades it will be easier to find classic cars from the 50s and 60s than it will be able to find working examples of cars from 90s because of all the plastic and tech that just doesn't last.
Nature and Time destroys everything, even without using it I was looking for a cool honda from the 90s with a vtec.
like i had when i was a teen
But they are all in bad shape now, they are falling apart
Same with other brands ....
All the cool cars from the 90s are breaking down and parts are harder to find
Check out the RUclips channel “Garbage Time” where some of the old cars the owner of the channel has need extensive repairs because of the parts used in 80s and 90s cars. Then again, he also holds and destroys devices that have that sticky rubber surface on his other little known channel called…..DankPods.
@@Novusod plastic and tech can last, but it depend with quality. And at that time they found out that plastic was an awsome material to make some cost cutting part. And that plastic wasn't good either. Look at the plastic from 30's phone. My mother had à phone that her father had, it was from the 20s I guess. Full wood And Iron except for the handle that is hard plastic. Guess what didn't roted or rusted out.
@@mehdisol7094 Your mother's phone would have been made out of Bakelite. Not really a plastic in the modern sense.
I honestly hope, these old machines are being used to write proper emulators. Their demise is inevitable, but it is worth to preserve the software ecosystem of these systems for historical purposes.
@sciencebear1645 Check out Sheepshaver
@Science Bear They definitely are
For classic Macintosh OSs, there's Basilisk II and SheepShaver.
@sciencebear1645 they are but progress has been stalled on the mac emulators unfortunately
FreeDOS has been in the works for decades now. Great DOS environment if you need it, though a lot of it is run in virtual machines these days
I absolutely love how percussive maintenance usually ends up working
I used to have a CRT monitor in the late 90s which turned pink every now and then. I started tapping it gently and it returned normal. As time passed I had to use bigger and bigger force. Months later I was banging the top of the display with full force until it returned normal. Later I learned that the issue was with the power outlet and the display had no issues. Still managed to sell the CRT display.
My dad calls that "gentle abuse" lol
It works great on fridges with jammed compressors after being in storage. Give it a good whack with a hammer just as you turn it on.
That phenomenon happened alrady 40 years ago. I was called to someone having a VAX machine (digital/DEC) and it would not boot anymore. They wanted to copy the data one final time. When hard drives ran for a long time and then are turned off for a prolonged time, the bearing grease gets thicker. By giving a gentle knoch it moves a bit - enough for the torque of the motor to spin it up again. The hard drive heats then up a bit making it running again.
It's how my PowerBook G3 has been operating for the last year. The HDD seizes up after a while of not running so I keep a hammer in its bag for starting the system.
The huge amount of electronics and plastic parts in modern cars that cost a small fortune is frightening when you think about how they are going to fall to pieces as they age.
old cars also have plastic and everything is fine with them
Had a old E class w211 merc, i wont say that every plastic bit was still maluable but literaly all of it was like new, the only exception being the plastic bits that hold the side spoiler.
and the car was from a place where the roads get salted
It depends on how you see it.
Because everything is getting expensive nowadays that. Plastic is becoming expensive to produce and make
Cars are made to a different standard though. Modern cars are also probably mostly more durable than those from five decades ago.
Your car will be a clump of rust, before the plastics start to deteriorate.
As a fan of the idea to keep old hardware alive, this is really painful and sad to watch 😢
WiiU owners these days worry about dying NAND storage in their consoles but it tends to corrupt itself depending on who made the flash storage.
Luckily my console is still alive and also my old ThinkPads still work fine but seeing what happened to your iBook is real hard.
Yeah. Now I'm worried about my Wii U, but it still works for now.
Voultar showed a method of fixing it pretty easily
some wii u issues are fixable with the UDPIH method, and if you have a dumped nand (which you should if youve ever touched wii u modding) you can actually replace the nand with a replacement chip or a micro sd card
geez as if the Wii U wasn’t disappointing enough
@@protocetid I mean, the PS4, PS5, XBOX One and Series XS are justsilly locked down PCs, so from my perspective these devices are just as dull as the WiiU to you.
It’s so eerie and almost unnerving watching my childhood wither away like the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean, just a slowly decaying mess of less and less available items, only remembered through the lense of a highly stereotyped image of their time.
I am actuallt tempted to print some of my old pics on my phone and pc.
@@blastermaster5039 do it
@@blastermaster5039 do it! Absolutely do it! That stuff is precious
im from 2003 but we can hold on to your past for as long as we live at least… there are ways of preserving things thats why theres even still things from 100 years ago that work perfectly… you can preserve it 😢❤ i rly mean it
@@sayo1133 How?
I found my Sega Game Gear, which had not been seen or turned on for over twenty years.
Didn’t work. I did some investigating and found capacitors which had leaked.
Managed to teach myself to solder, replaced the capacitors (much trial and error).
Turned it on once finished…. And it worked! Seeing Sonic 2 boot after more than 20 years was like going back in time….
you are COOL
Nice work. Always fun to see a manual repair like that succeed.
I have two with exactly the same issue. Try to recap the power board. If that dosn't work recap the whole thing. Chnces are it will work then. his is VERY common for the Game Gear,.
@@GarryGri yeah supposedly they used really cheap capacitors that were prone to leak
I own alot of old tech, mostly phones and game consoles so this makes me incredibly sad. I just wish I could keep them forever.
NES never dies! 🤓
You will die before your consoles
I guess vacuum sealing it should make them last longer
i doubt all components would withstand a vacuum (i think back to the The Martian where he brings a notebook out into the martian atmosphere and the lcd screen breaks because of very low pressure)
or you could shoot all of your old tech into space then bring it back when you want to use it.@@DeepSouthernTX
We need to begin uploading STL files for plastic PC components so plastic bits can be 3D printed to restore functionality.
A lot of the new filaments on the market are way stronger (especially once annealed) than the plastics that were available back then.
Can you make a video on how to do this?
This screams business opportunity. A cottage industry needs to develop for computer restoration, just like what happened for old cars.
Glad to see some people promoting restoration in this comment section, Restoration is the only real way forward, not crying about it or living in Fear. Either restore it or move on (and ideally if you do move on allow someone else to have the opportunity to restore it).
@@draconic5129 I enjoy rebuilding things because I have ASD and find the restoration process to be soothing and meditative. It sort of began with the family Betamax player when I was 8 and it sorta snowballed from there.
The unintentional by-product is reducing the number of working or nearly working items in the trash, reusing components that are working to replace ones that are not, and recycling the rest to ensure it's disposed of accordingly.
I even got my 3D printer as a broken store-demo at Micro-Center for $50. Rebuilt it with genuine Creality parts for $20 more, then threw another $100 in upgrades on it so it was still less than stock retail ($199 at the time) but with all the upgrades already done.
I had never even touched a 3D printer prior, I sorta learned as I went along. My 1st print failed due to warping, but my 2nd print ever turned out perfect. It's been rather dialed-in since.
I had to learn some CAD in high school to design and fabricate control-surface hooks for UAVs. so I'm a bit rusty but I'm down for a refresher course.
I even have a part in mind that I should be able to test with since I have many and they're prone to embrittlement and breakage (Lian Li case faceplate-clips from the early 2000s).
Otherwise I would need the dimensions of the particular item to be printed; while I have a decent collection of vintage tech, I literally can't have everything. Any sort of STL repository would require a substantial amount of collaboration, or at least a 3D-scan of each object.
Yep when the rubberised plastic goes sticky thats tricky to resolve.
Good thing not everything uses it :) lots of old electronics are still fine and will remain to be fine.
If ANYTHING.... Apple has always played the game with planned obsolescence. It's possible they didn't see this coming- but I understand they did something like this again to a few MacBook Pros, a few years in a row. 2014-2017?
But yeah. Thankfully not everything uses this crap. I hate it so much. It "feels" neat for a while... but then it goes sticky. And what's more I'm pretty sure it rubs off particles we don't really want to carry with us. 🧠
Yup. Happens in as little as 5 years. I have an Ableton Push 2 that has the problem...
Some of my old mice had the same issue. The scroll wheel had this plastic layer on top that just seems to have melted down to a goop. I had to remove the whole polastic bit and clean the inside of the mice from all that goop that drooled down inside.
I wonder if coating the rubber in something like clear varnish could help prevent it further breaking down.
Works great until you drop them.
100 year old cars are still drivable today. 100 years from now, nobody will be able to drive today’s cars.
Not without completely replacing all the electronics that make them work. That's why I love old non-computerized cars. Keep it simple, stupid! :)
What you are saying is 100% correct. But do we need cars that last 100 years or more?
@@finkelmana Why would you not want a car that had the possibility of lasting a century? I'm baffled.
@jamesgizasson Now I am the one that is baffled. First, lets discuss "Survivor Bias". Yes, there absolutely are cars from 100 years ago that can be driven today. 15,000,000 Ford Model T's were built. It is estimated that less than 10,000 are actually able to driven today. That is a percentage of a single percent - 0.0666%. So what happened to the other 14,990,000? They are scrap. The surviving cars werent driven for the past 100 years either. They were parked somewhere and forgotten about. I would expect if you took a bunch of modern cars and you put them in a garage for 100 years, I would definitely expect more than .06% to work.
Cars are not rare and for the wealthy anymore. Around 15% of Americans owned cars 100 years ago. Today over 80% own cars - some owning multiple. There are even children today purchasing cars before they are even able to drive. Car Leasing cars is increasing yearly, with 1/3 of all Americans trading in a leased car after 1 or 2 years. People who purchase cars sell them after an average of 7 years. Simply put, people do not want cars that last. And it goes without saying, consumers want to pay as little as possible for them. This means car manufacturers have no incentive to make cars that last.
This video is discussing electronics. Consumer grade electronics are no different than cars. Manufacturers COULD use electronics that lasted, but it would cost significantly more and people still would not want to pay the additional cost. If they did, they would still move on, regardless of the state of the product.
In the most general of terms, of course people want things they purchase to last forever. They just dont want to keep them forever.
@@finkelmana Tell you what... when whatever you drive outlives my 30 year old diesel with O'Reilly toggle switches and a Blue Sea fuse block, we'll talk.
If you get bored with your ride every presidential election, go ahead and inhale the next line of consumer garbage. Those of us that want our stuff to last, want it to last for centuries. :3
Damn this makes me sad. The inevitability of decay even when you do everything right. Just think about all the files that are or will be lost to time not even just because of being forgotten but simply because the machine they were stored on broke down beyond recovery. You know everything ends eventually but watching it happen still hurts.
I will say data recovery is quite advanced these days. While yes everything may not be recoverable you would honestly be surprised of what can be recovered
If you think that's depressing, wait until you find out that you're going to die someday too.
Don't feel bad about the lost files, though. Humans generate an insane amount of data on a daily basis, almost all of which is only worth keeping until you find out whether it will ever be useful someday. Most data is no more valuable than old purchase receipts.
Iost 2 years of work on a hard drive who suddenly died during the late 2000, at a time I didn't really know about data recovering...
Anyway after few days of mourning, I rewrite the disk so now it's f...ed.
Yep, it hurts.
as far as old films go, there is a special vault built into the excavated salt mines under the great lakes where Hollywood and the government store film reals and other documents that require extreme environment conditions to preserve. The only other way I can see of keeping stuff from degrading is in a perfect vacuum in a chamber that blocks as many high energy particles from hitting it as possible!
Everyone dies bud
Before those disintegrate, someone should take careful measurements, as replacements for any plastic part can be 3D printed. Today you can print in nearly any material, from Nylon and ABS all the way through to rubber, like TPU. It's a shame the manufacturers wouldn't release the engineering drawings to make it simpler to preserve a bit of history...
its funny you should say that. because patent documents include exact measurements for the finished product. which are completely visible to anyone for free.
@@FingerinUrDaughter down to tiniest part level? I can see overall dimensions, but wasn't aware you get a full engineering diagram of every single part.
@@FingerinUrDaughter Are there specific websites where we can see patent documents?
@@brianmi40 x2 Do you know more about open patent documents.
@@RodolfoAmbriz no, sorry
The Dell and the CRT monitor are from the capacitor plague era. Those bursted caps would even appear after a few months or 1-2 years back when the computer was new
There was also another capacitor plague in the late 1980s-early 1990s because during that time, companies were running out of the materials like tantalum to produce them, so most capacitors in electronics would be replaced with far cheaper and poorer quality ones like most notably ELNA that didn't quite measure the properties of the older capacitors.
@@Orobas-jb9fi i actually did find one of those very old Dell Dimension 2400s or something similar to it that eas still running. Someone was actually still using it and wanted me to fix it because it wouldn't boot anymore. The caps were all fine,the reason it didn't boot anymore was because the original hard drive decided to finally die. This was back in 2022,it was in service since 2002 or 2003 whenever those things were made until last year lol
@@Orobas-jb9fi True,there were a few Dimensions that would have bursted caps (mostly were the one that had higher end Pentium 4's that ran hot and damaged the caps) but overall the GXs did seem to have failed more than the Dimension. As for reliability yeah,i never owned one myself but i did come across a few of them for servicing and most of them were really basic and underpowered Celeron and 256MB RAM combinations,but they were very reliable and actually pretty snappy for the hardware they were using
@@Mirra2003-f9s I'm currently staring at my Pentium 4 Dell machine from the mid 2000s in fear
@@Orobas-jb9fi Well i wasn't trying to blame the heat for their failure,but those electrolytic caps would burst faster if they would get too hot.It's true that today's CPUs can make more heat,but all capacitors are now solid state and they don't have liquid aluminum inside them as the classic caps do. As for XP on low RAM it depends,SP3 doesn't really like low RAM and old CPU machines,but SP2 and under usually tend to run better on lower spec computers in my experience at least.
I never owned one of those old CRT macs, but I'll be damned if they don't hold up aesthetically. Absolutely beautiful little machines
0:23 Never thought "vinegar syndrome" would be associated with old tech. I've always associated "vinegar syndrome" with old film stock (more specifically safety film), which contains cellulose triacetate, which over time degrades into acetic acid, the main component in vinegar.
You're running into the same problem that occurs with antiques made with celluloid plastics. there's nothing sadder than a box full of vintage pens and pocket knives decimated by celluloid rot. The best advice I can give besides storing in a cool, dry place is store the things you truly love by themselves with some degree of airflow. The off-gassing from one item breaking down can not just damage other item's materials, it will jump-start their degredation too.
@Orobas 66 The oldest thing I have using plastic that comes to mind is a ~1960s pocket transistor radio made in the province of Taiwan.
Zero, and I mean ZERO broken plastic parts, even on the exterior.
How is it that plastics breaking down is such a big problem but everyone also says plastics never break down and that's why they're such a scourge on the earth?
@@lukasg4807 Plastics are different
@@lukasg4807 Because reality doesn't have much impact on the religious fictions (and profits) of radical environmentalism. Now repent of your enviro-sins or mother gaia will wreak her global warming upon you!
@@lukasg4807 To add onto Orobas 66's reply, if somebody says plastics *never* break down, they're either exaggerating or they don't know what they're talking about. The reality is that plastics typically take several hundred years to decompose, compared to a few days for something like an apple up to a few years for an unembalmed corpse. In nature, it's not normal for anything to really take more than five years to decompose, but the low end for plastics is 20 years. And it's pretty rare for it to break down that quickly; again, a typical timeframe is a few hundred years. So even if it starts to get brittle and useless after 20 to 30 years, it's gonna take a hell of a lot longer than that to fully decompose. And as Orobas 66 pointed out, during the decomposition process for plastic, it 1. leaches out some nasty stuff, things that cause cancers and other similar health issues, and 2. spends most of those several hundred years just breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces. That's how we end up with not only things like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch but also things like fish being caught with stomachs full of plastic and studies showing a majority of humans having microplastics in their blood (you probably have plastic running through your veins right this very moment, and so do I).
I hope this explanation helps clarify.
why did this actually make me cry, like i never grew up with any of these electronics but its like watching someone you know really well die. im into old tech, especially old computers, the fact that this is starting to happen is extremely upsetting but I know there's nothing you can do about it.
Everything dies eventually. Nothing is immune to time.
On the plus side, at least the concerns about plastics sticking around forever in landfills has proven to be overblown!
More modular = more durable.
@@AmazingArendsno, it has not, there are MANY types of plastic, some far more durable than others, not to mention, just because your eye can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there poisoning the soil. microplastic has become a concern for good reason.
@@AmazingArends Just because a plastic is brittle and breaks apart doesn't mean it magically disappears
I guess this applies to electronics in modern cars, makes me wonder how computer controlled cars from the 80s and 90s are holding up
Nor well. I had to replace the capacitors in the computer of my old ford truck, and it was lucky to be only as bad as it was
I'm old enough to remember most these techs and it makes me really sad to see them falling apart. I got a bunch of old laptops and computers sitting in my house that i sat to the side when I upgraded to new tech. Always thinking "I'll get my stuff off here later." Lmao maybe I should finally get on to that. It's only been 20 years...😅
Why? They are cool to look at but total garbage for anything useful
@@270eman "I'll get my stuff off here later" kinda indicates why.
@@270eman he’s saying he’s got files on them that he never transferred
@@270eman For anything retro related they are the best.
@@270eman false I'm still using old tech in my business even windows 98
I am a collector of consoles, and while I am yet to experience any true disasters, I have been starting to repair electronics as practice. Living in Australia, a very hot and humid place, summer is a stressful time for me, as that is when most things fail. But it is also why I try to collect Australian versions of these consoles as much as I can. Because I have found that many have a fair few differences compared to other regions, presumably so these devices can handle our harsh climate better.
So you keep them outdoors and not in air conditioning?
@@Doctorlockpick Keeping your house air conditioned 24/7 isn't feasible for everyone.
One word: "dehumidifier."
@@user-yg1dg6xm2g The corrosion comes from battery leak vapours. Moisture only accelerates it or reactivates the residues.
Do you have an og Xbox?
You should look inside some old 8-track tape players and cassette players from the 70s and before. The belts in those have mostly turned into a viscous liquid that gets all over the place. Good news is that there are brand new replacement belts available.
This is a good reminder to change my cassette player belts haha
Not just the 70s, most belt driven electronics older than about 20 years are either suffering from a deteriorating belt or have had the belt fail entirely.
I've found the same with an 8mm projector and an EIAJ reel to reel video, belts all either goo or crumbly
Got a message recently saying my PC couldn't support Windows 11, and that Windows 10 support was ending. Shits not even that old.
One of the big limitations of silicon today, is silicon is a crystal and crystals grow. So while the FINFETs are getting smaller and smaller, the space between them has been stuck for the past decade, they separate them with a calculated service time of about 30 years. Older chips had a greater space, as they weren't as dense as moderm technology, so they take longer to go bad, but they will eventually. It's this limitation of silicon that has tech companies researching other semi-conductive materials.
How am I not surprised that some of these older devices are failing...
That reminds me, really need to check and/or sell on some of my older stuff.
And to add regarding the rubber coating... Dell laptops from about 10-15 years ago are starting to have issues with the coating as well from personal experience.
Rubber coating, well my Dell e5440 has this problem.
Gets sticky sometimes, on monitor bezel.
I have a Dell Latitude 7280 (roughly 5 years old) that is already starting to show signs of the rubber coating going
@@JustARegularNerd yeah rubber sucks.
E6430 models started getting this problem years ago, absolutely terrible idea.
@@treennumbers I found a Dell XT3 Tablet PC with a pen that's like splash proof and insanely shock resistant, with a display that has a single flipping arm.
Got rid of the BIOS password, installed Windows, all works really well but the rubber is completely gone.
I also had an HP EliteBook from about 2010 with a 1st gen i5, a dedicated MXM GPU and full size display port, experimental UEFI and USB 3, insane machine, but rubber destroyed. I am writing from a pretty healthy ruberized Dell Latitude, I wonder how long that will last.
STOP USING RUBBER
This just makes me sad to watch. Really makes you think about the fragility of life and how easily things can no longer exist. Makes me worried about some of the electronics I held on to from years ago 😰
I was wondering why vinyl records are making a comeback. My hunch is that vintage cd's and cd players are experiencing the same problems as the computers in this video are.
I notice these are ALL Apple products. Apple doesn't make REAL computers, just cheap knock offs built for the public school system.
@@PyraCloud I'm wondering why vinyl records are outselling cd's right now.
@@tomcollins5112because of the aesthetic of them, and vinyls being bigger and easier to put on display. record labels also prefer them to cd’s as there are bigger profit margins on them. and due to the lack of facilities to produce vinyls, albums often sell out very quickly thus many are able to make profit off of them in the secondhand market, and vinyl collecting has become a hobby
@@tomcollins5112 CD's aren't popular anymore, so these 'bigger' sales aren't really a good indicator of anything other than the decline of CD's to such a level where trendy Vinyls outsell them. Nothing to do with durability or usefulness, just nostalgia.
And here I am typing my diary on a 1995 ThinkPad that I rescued from the dumpster at my university. Aside from a dead battery, the beautiful black box works without a hitch--and that keyboard made by Lexmark in 1994 is legendary.
I've got a lot of diverse older stuff where the plastic is just shattering now, and a lot of gummy rubberised stuff as well.
Strangely enough the really old stuff seems to be in the best condition, reel to reel tape, cini projector, PONG consoles, and the VIC-20.
1990 to 2000 appears to be the most rotting!
I'm _in no way_ what one might call a 'tech~head', but I believe equipment assembled in those years is so notorious for its 'Bad Caps' (capacitors) that it's an actual 'thing'. As far as I can remember, as well as the usual corporate penny~pinching, there is actually quite an involved story involving industrial espionage and counterfeiting behind the problem but I'm afraid I'm hazy at this point about the details. Apart from low~grade electronic components and the well known problem of built~in obsolescence, I am constantly shocked by the lack of forethought or possibly even ignorance about the way material used in the more mechanical parts and basic construction can degrade in what, to a Gen X'er like me, seems like a remarkably short time - rubber drive belts; those ubiquitous and annoying - even - when - new rubberized coatings, plastic gear trains and doo~dads, plastic and even metal housings... Of course, if you _wanted_ this stuff to degrade (as in, in the environment) it would still be here polluting watercourses and strangling the wildlife come the year 8510, by which time (so the song says) God is supposed to be here - as if to spite us and him both!
It's almost as if it's all intentional 😂
@@richiehoyt8487 planned obsolescence is now in architecture, most houses built in 2020 wont last half as long as a medium quality house from the 1970s
Only extra tip i could add is having oxygen removing material held in bag together with electronics.
Often sold as iron powder bags, iron reacts with oxygen faster than other parts and removing oxygen should make things last tad longer, especially rubberized elements
From my experience this all happens from being stored away. You have to make sure your electronics are stored in the proper conditions. Not in hot humid places or cold dam places but room temp. Once in a while it’s also not a bad idea to pull your old systems out and turn them on let them run it’ll keep them working. It’s like a car let it sit too long things start to break on it.
Would storing them in a vacuum environment help?
@@MrHocotateFreight LOL but seriously though a vacuum chamber, or at the very least a sealed membrane that prevents outside O2 and N2 might mitigate the rusting and other adverse mechanisms
@@younglee6469 Some plastics degrade sooner than others, no matter what. Plasticizers just migrate out the material. Volatile components will actually escape faster in a vacuum. Inert gas environment, like argon or even nitrogen, would be a better choice.
@@younglee6469 I suppose for most of the components that would be beneficial. But I guess there will be some components that will not like it. Maybe CRT some CRT screens are kind of sealed? Maybe capacitors will be more likely to leak because vacuum will "pull" the liquid out?
@@MrHocotateFreightnah, space wouldn't preserve it, rather the opposite. The environment of space is much more harsh.
I love the "enjoy the tech you have" part.
The 90s and early 2000s were a time of relentless cost cutting, even in the Mac space. To do otherwise was to lose customers. When I was a repair Tech at my local Best Buy in the 90s, poorly made caps corroding were already a known issue. This is what led to ceramic caps becoming the go to standard. Fortunately, it's relatively easy to backup all your old data to a thumb drive, or better yet, archival quality CD, DVD or Blu-Ray. Just as you can still find a turntable to play old LPs and 78 RPM records, nostalgia societies should be able to refurbish, or manufacture on demand optical drives for the foreseeable future.
the internet archive is incredibly important for stuff like this, in the future we can probably manufacture something almost the same in aesthetic
The process of making an optical drive requires precision and effort that's not really acheivable (financially viable) on a small scale While anyone can make a phonograph. The only specialized part is the cartridge.
Also, sometimes manufacturers just have a bad batch or two of those parts.
to be fair the capacitor plague was due to counterfeiting in the electrolytic capacitor market, caused by an ex-employee stealing an old/prototype formula from Nichicon and running off to china with it, selling it on so hundreds of factories produced millions of capacitors during the late 90s (either 1996 or 1998, I forget which) until 2002ish and took until about 2006 for all the stock to be either found and destroyed, or inadvertantly used *coughoriginalxboxprerevision1.6cough*
I'd avoid flash drive for archival though, depending on the NAND quality they can lose data after a year of being turned off, as their modus operandi is billions of nanoscopic capacitors - better off using magnetic tape or archival HDDs, stored in a climate-controlled and EMP-proof safe
This is a problem in cars as well. Anytime I try to fix, replace or maintain some hard to reach parts, I end up breaking half the integrated plastic clips on the part.
Needed to replace a bulb on my headlight, broke 5 clips and the headlight never sits right now.
I have a radio, with a wood casing and built with vacuum tubes, still going strong after 60 years. I replaced the capacitors and the tubes tho, and it was built to last...
Excellent
You should make a video on Restoration and solutions to these problems, things like recapping, replacing the polarizers of displays, replacing those burned out CFL backlights with LEDs. Things that can help remedy these issues and extend the life of these machines.
Also on older machines from the 2000s it's absolutely imperative to re-cap them ASAP due to capacitor plague (a lot of capacitors from that time were faulty and prone to dying early).
I had an over-30-years-old bedside digital alarm clock/radio that still worked in 2017.
It even played TV stations (audio only).
Keeping your lithium batteries charged between 40% and 70% does something like TRIPLE their lifetime.
This was definitely a wake up call. I have been collecting to some older Apple laptops for a while now such as the Ti Books, but after watching this, I am just gonna play them for a few more months and sell them off. I am moving soon and I don't see any need to be carrying this dead weight with me.
The algorithm has thrust me into the old tec/internet rabbit hole, and it’s so interesting. We grew up being told that things are forever, that the internet forever so you should be careful what you post. And yet, we constantly see everything get swept away through terms like micro trends, and just the sheer amount of growth. While yeah you can sleuth, it’s hard to naturally stumble on pieces of the internet from even a couple years ago - heck the majority of videos I get recommended are within 3 years of age.
If this video doesn’t make you feel old I don’t know what will. I grew up with most of those products and I remember fondly of seeing them on the shelves brand new😢
This video made me cry, it really hurts seeing our old beloved computers dying a slow and remorseful death somewhere in a dark dusty attic or basement. RIP
Same thing here. I have such a deep connection with my computers and my game consoles. I care so much about them that I did everything I could to protect them.
Me too also.
We still have emulators on our new tech to remember them. Better than nothing.
Seems like an Apple problem.
@@papabird4425it’s the polarizer on the screen it is any old device with a polarizer they actually aren’t that hard to replace
The good news is, if you catch some of these problems early, you can replace the affected parts with either new-old stock (if you can find them) parts, or a more modern solution that may last longer. Things like those rusty shieldings could be replaced with something that doesn't rust as much, or would take much longer to rust. I'm not sure if there are any kind of aftermarket 800x600 screens that would be compatible with the iMac ribbons to replace that dead screen, but I imagine if they start failing en masse, some enterprising person could come up with a solution to save the old tech.
Some aftermarket companies will make new replacement parts especially batteries. I have many times found stuff on eBay or Amazon
someone else mentioned that the vinegar syndrome happens to most old LCD's, and all you have to do to fix it is by replacing the old polarizer with a new one, which is a fairly quick and easy fix (as opposed to replacing the entire screen)
Store in a room with a Dehumidifier.
Storing in a damp basement guarantees corrosion.
It's the cheapest sheet available used in the manufacturing.
@@RetroCaptain I definitely need to do this. I have a finished basement room with all my vintage macs, and it can get /a little/ moist in summers. Bone dry in winter, but I definitely need to get a dehumidifier.
The struggle involved with trying to preserve these machines from their inevitable and rapidly approaching fates really makes me appreciate people who make high quality videos like this documenting these things, so that we don't lose the knowledge and memories with the actual machines. The only thing sadder than things I grew up using as a child no longer being able to function is not having anything other than my own memories, sometimes, to go off of. I enjoy people who make a good, video-based nostalgia binge possible and have so much respect and admiration for that work.
The reasons in this video are why I love to repair vintage electronics. Something about it is really satisfying. I've got that Gateway Ev700A CRT and it arcs inside occasionally. I love to completely replace failure prone electronics (like capacitors) with high quality parts ensuring that they'll run for the longest time. I agree that the worst part are decaying plastics and rubber.
By the way, older CRTs can also develop something like vinegar syndrome. It's called 'cataracts' and it's the adhesive between the tube and the safety glass decomposing. Very, very difficult and dangerous to fix.
As someone who doesn't know alot about caring for hardware but is always a couple generations behind, this klind of stuff keeps me up at night.
🤣
Unless it's something ancient you don't have to worry. Couple of generations behind is nothing.... I have mainboards from 20 years ago (Pentium 4 era) and their batteries still work. My oldest still working PC is from 14 years ago, works like a charm, so don't worry these things are robust. Also the displays start to take mold when they don't use them... a working display would never catch mold (if you don't literally dump water on it).
@@Slav4o911 Good to know thank you, I put together a nice pc recently and was praying it would still be good in 10-20 years
I’ve noticed the same problems with a lot of my old tech, particularly the rubber on old devices. I got around the problem by carefully painting the rubberised coating with a thin coating of clear nail varnish to seal the rubber away from the air and in this case, it worked. The surface was smooth, protected and sealed. It works for sticky rubber but I don’t recommend it for rubber that’s started to disintegrate. Hope this tip helps someone😉👍🏽
I'm very curious of the humidity in your home/workspace these were stored. I wonder if that plays a significant factor.
I think that's likely to have been the cause of the degradation here.
It’s the Australian climate. The humidity ks a lot more taxing to electronics.
I don’t know why the host didn’t point it out.
I live in cold northern Europe and stuff seems to last nicely.
I purchased a Powerbook 150 for $1 that has that exact display issue.
Big fan
I got a sony handycam from 2006 with same issue.
the melting rubber is the WORST. i had it happen to a phone case from only about 5 years ago and it was so oily and wet that it scared me when i first touched it
AND thank you for mentioning the bit about batteries. i'm starting to worry about some of my old macbook batteries - one of the cables shorted recently, and while i think it may have been the outlet, it made me realize i need to be more careful with the batteries :(
Imagine that happening to your knobs and switches in your lamborghini or Ferrari.
It's the hydrolysis of polyurethane unfortunately...Going green comes at a cost...I had to remove foam insulation surrounding wiring from a Volvo. The foam was a sticky green, gelatinous mess...Not fun. Sneaker collectors experience this too when their prize sneakers yellow and literally disintegrate before your eyes!
@@andrewx86x PU is also the stuff that makes headphone pads crumble apart. I hate it. I keep my headphones in a dark plastic bag against ozone and UV exposure now, but if the decomposing substance is already inside (e.g. glue of the foam rubber) it won''t help. Also battery leak vapours strongly damage foam rubber. I collect music keyboards, and all with rusty battery contacts have damaged foam.
See also PS3 controllers :( people use talc powder on the thumbsticks to make em a bit more useable. Hardly a solution but it works in a pinch
@@andrewx86x With sneakers it may help to store them airtight (in dry state, not freshly worn) in a dark place and add an absorbent if decomposition forms acid or such things. But migrating plasticizers between different materials are hard to avoid. Seiko made a talking watch "Robo-Air" using the same crumbly sneakers materials. The pneumatic cuff mechanism always decomposed. I did buy the remains with the LCD watch part because of the robot voice, but the strap would need to be completely replicated with different materials (silicone?) if anybody cares. (I collect sound toys and things with strange sound chips.)
To me looks like humidity problems
IT might be a good idea to store all your PC's with a anti humidity solution .. either sillica sachets (when you get in new shoes box ) or any absorber.
Having a dehumidifier on a timer is also not a bad idea, it's what I do myself
Yeah, I collect a ton of old laptops and I don't have this issue. I am not saying it doesn't happen, but seeing him pull out all of his machines that were pristine previously and now junk, it makes me wonder how cool/dry his storage area really is. There seems to be a common theme with everything he showed in the video, and it is that they were all stored in the same area.
Just store them in a conditioned room.
@@aaron___6014 LCD screens delaminate no matter how they are stored, one of the reasons I don't collect later machines. Plasma displays have their own issues so even early laptops are a pain. You can sometimes find modern displays that can be adapted to work on these old systems but the time and effort required is often not worth it.
@@nigelrhodes4330 the problems come from when people use harsh cleaners on their items.
I wish there were companies that remade certain parts to these devices so we could repair them
Its also a good idea to be prepared to replace capacitors (all types) as they are the most likely of components to degrade from lack of use.
Most analogue circuits are repairable if you have the know-how.
Disagree, solid caps like tantalums don't really degrade and electrolytic caps from pre 1990 are also generally fine as well. Bad caps (AKA the capacitor plague) started in the early 90s and right now its killing everything from Game Gears to big box Amigas. Preventative maintenance should only be done if its 100% required otherwise you risk ripping pads off trying to replace caps that don't actually need replacing.
Edit - also kinda obvious but its worth mentioning, if you are replacing leaky caps be EXTRA careful when removing them as the fluid is corrosive and will almost certainly have eaten away at the pads making them much easier to rip off.
There is some time , late 1990s, and 2000s, where a lot of bad caps have been used which then bulge. I also had a Dell Pentium 4, similar to the one in the video, albeit with a larger case. That completely broke down due to caps issues after only a few years of use. Actually Dell had a recall / mainboard swap program in place but at that time, I lived in a country where this could not be done and I did not have the possibility to bring it elsewhere, and so it eventually failed.
@@mudi2000a Pentium 4 mainboards are notorious for their leaky caps. That also goes for original Intel boards, it's not a Dell issue.
@@dungeonseeker3087 caps from after the plague tho are fine for the most part i thought
@dungeonseeker3087 it sister start it the 90s it was just worse in the 90s, electrolytic capacitors basically will fail eventually, look into antique radios for example, it's the #1 failure
It be interesting to see which vintage tech holds up the best over the years tbh
When I was growing up we had a Atari . Then a commodore. And the list gos on. .
@@diamond6719 I didn't grow up with a commodore but have a c64 it's my favorite retro computer. Lol
Vacuum tubes hold up pretty well, they will fail quicker than transistors when being actively used but will store for decades, if not centuries. New old stock of vacuum tubes seem to work just as well today as they did when they were new.
I went to a video game museum and some of that was really need. I got to play an Atari 2600, Super Famicom, and some Sega systems I'd never seen in person before. I still have a lot of my GameBoy games that I play on a GameBoy Advance, and my dad has some old Mac stuff. So far the cheese grater looking ones seem to be okay, but I'd love to ask a guy that ran a Mac museum at a university I went to what his experiences were like. I think all of them worked except maybe a neon orange iMac, and the Apple II. I think the coolest one was a working Mac Portable. Certainly discoloured, but it worked. The first battery powered Mac.
@@wolfcanine100 We didn’t have a commodore till 77 .
one of the beauties of more and more progess in 3D printing tech is the ability to recreate long lost and defunct parts
That’s a good positive on this doomsday video
i used to have a very impressive collection of old electronics, PCs, Gaming systems. i couldnt bring myself to throw them away until one time in my life i was moving around a lot, probably 5 different times in one year, i decided that it was too encumbersome and hastily threw 99% of all of my stuff out. i was probably 22ish at the time... i just didnt have anywhere to put any of it...
I would be careful about opening up failed hard drives, dust particles tend to me larger than the normal distance between the read write head and the platter and its why they have to be opened in a clean room or one of those smaller 'mini-clean rooms'.
Yeah that was a really ballsy thing to do. I remember around the 2000s some thought it would be cool to have windows on hard drives and the recommended procedure was to do it in a steamy room. If you ever see an image comparison of the drive head vs. dust or hair it's huge.
I worked at a hard disk drive production plant, and yes, dust & also particles from your body that are too small to see can cause a head crash. That's why we suited up & the whole plant used laminar airflow with HEPA filters, raised flooring, and airlocks.
Yes!!!!! You're actually doing a video about it!!!! Stuff like what you mentioned make my life as a vintage PC enthusiast in Singapore troublesome, and I'd never thought the same issues would surface in Australia! For a while, I've been thinking of getting out of the hobby, partially as a result of pressure from my parents who keep thinking I'm a hoarder… ugh!
I just wish PCem and/or 86Box can emulate laptops (particularly ThinkPad models) complete with a battery gauge that could be manually controlled or synced up with the host, and also add emulation of early graphics tablets.
(4:36) OH NO! I didn't think about using zipper bags! Argh!
Tech archival and preservation is very difficult in tropical countries (so both SG and the Australian costal areas). Unless you have constant climate control eg. air conditioning and/or dehumidifier, many of the components like rubberized coatings and ALL forms of LCDs will simply deteriorate.
LCD vinegar syndrome is accelerated if kept in an airtight condition as heat is trapped inside with no airflow. Deterioration is actually slowed down if the device is still regularly used.
Got an Epson 386 PC along with a CRT at home, CRT can receive power, but no display. The PC POSTs but the HDD is dead. Been wanting to donate to a museum but no one wants to take it in such a condition.
Got a Pentium MMX that only boots successfully when it pleases, but the
CD drives rubber bands have long since disintegrated.
The only things in my retro collection that still work reliably are the game consoles from before the CD era.
Write a little API that interfaces with the old operating system to the new and exposes the variables of the battery meter, you can write a little interface module that will work with the old operating system to control the battery gauge application or tray icon and manipulate it artificially. You could use VB and winforms.
@@HikikomoriDev
That would work for Windows 3.x where there wasn't a standard, but Windows 95 introduced a unified battery gauge without device manufacturers having to make their own utilities or use an 'information panel', so I'd rather have emulated APM for older OSes or emulated ACPI for newer OSes, but what you mentioned for Windows 3.x and early Linux distro guests.
I remember using those imacs back in the day in gradeschool. What a throwback. I still think about them sometimes and their orange, blue, green and clear plastics. Its something that I can feel and see when I think about it.
kinda wish they made new ones with those plastic colors... they were cool... obviously modern... and peripherals as well in the same style
Vinegar syndrome is quite an annoying cosmetic (and smelly) issue. I recently published a video fixing this issue on my iBook G3 Clamshell, just by replacing the polarizing film, in case it helps someone.
Let's take care of these devices so they can last for a long time!
I've worked on repairing a lot of electronics in my lifetime, and it's always been my biggest interest. While I'm aware of the effects of aging on components like this, it still made me sad. Having it laid out like this gave me a Sisyphus crisis lol. Great video though!
you are not sysyphus. Anything that rescues any thing from E waste is a godsend for earth.
5:50 the first production run of the original Xbox used very acidic clock capacitors that people noticed started breaking down several years ago. Was recommended if you have one to de-solder or remove the clock capacitors for this exact reason.
It seems that this was why I ended up going through 5(!) of them.
I first experienced this issue in either 2005 or 2006 when my Xbox started overheating and suddenly refused to read any discs.
I'm currently on my 6th; but knock on wood, I haven't had any real problems so far with it because it was produced after 2004. That was when the clock capacitor was seemingly fixed.
That was many devices made in that era. Again if you go a decade back. Like once a decade a supplier of capacitors is trash. Goes all the way back to at least the C64 era. Skipps 9 years and comes back to trash caps.
They all did except the final 1.6 model actually.
@@n646nAnd some 1.4 models, since SOME of them have the gold caps as the 1.6 does.
How does the deterioration of these plastic parts reconcile with the conventional wisdom that plastic stays in landfills for 100s of 1,000s of years?
Depends on the plastic. Also, plastic tends to breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.
@@ROVA00 Sure, then how about these, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, High Impact Polystyrene, Polyethylene Terephthalate, Nylon, Corflute, Polyethylene, PVC, Polypropylene, Acrylic? How long? And if it stays in small pieces indefinitely, couldn't we consider them a semi-permanent carbon sink?
@@commodoor6549 idk bro, ask a chemist. As for making plastic a carbon sink, it would be cool except for the damage is causes animals as they (we) inevitably ingest the plastic. We don’t really know the full extent of harm from microplastics in our bodies and other animals.
@@ROVA00 So if you don't know, why are you saying things like it depends on the plastic? Make it make sense. And yes, plastic can be used as a carbon sink. Read more.
It was just environmental political pandering. I can guarantee you most large pieces of plastics will break down in under 250 years. It's the microplastics that are concerning
I'm hopeful over these next few years we start to see things like motherboard reverse engineering, as well as after market motherboards for at least the big ones, imagine a raspberry pi powered iBook, for example
Or even things like the resistor emulation NES emulator
And maybe MiSTer on a newer, bigger and more powerful FPGA!
A couple machines have already been reverse engineered, so hopefully more will come in the future. The Commodore 64, Amiga, and NES all have brand new boards that can be used to restore old machines. You can even build a new machine almost entirely with off the shelf parts, aside from a handful of custom chips.
@@NoToeLong That's awesome!
Now imagine in the far future a board like that for say the OG Xbox, or iBooks
ruclips.net/user/shortsT6-O2u0KCDc?feature=share
You have to be carefully how you clean your tech too. There are certain chemicals in household cleaners and wet wipes that can accelerate the degradation of plastics and rubbers. Especially those items with rubberised matt finishes causing them to go all sticky. Also keeping items out of direct or strong sunlight might help too.
Those rubberized finishes will go sticky even if you never expose them to any chemicals. When that happens, I put on some gloves and apply rubbing alcohol and elbow grease. Bare plastic is better than sticky nastiness.
It’s honestly so sad. I’ve been collecting old tech for a while and it’s honestly so sad to see these things no longer working.
I agree. I've been trying to start collecting old tech and this is like watching your childhood idols succumb to mental illness. I just want to hug all the clunky monitors goodbye just one more time. I may never hear the beautiful tingy noise of my fingernail on a glass monitor screen again.
It's the materials. Things from the early 1980s and before can usually be fixed. The 1990s-2000s have the worst materials in terms of durability.
Imagine a world where tech was built for the long haul, with accessible ways to manage replacing volatile parts
Advancement would come at a much slower pace as a cost. advancements of any kind consume resources, & with tech stuff, A LOT of them, & the funds for it need to come from somewhere. if companies can't get enough money from selling stuff to fuel the required R&D, they do really have no choice but to keep pumping out or maintaining the old stuff. as such, in a world where tech was built for the long haul, you'd have stuff that has nearly identical specs to those that came out like10 years ago. much as i dig durability & reduction of e-waste, i'm not sure if i'd like to be in a world where new stuff that comes out in 2030 is pretty much the same thing as those that comes out in 2015.
As someone with a deep interest in retro technology, seeing this old tech dying is absolutely devastating. Also, seeing an old turquoise iMac G3 hit me with a huge rush of nostalgia. My family exclusively had Mac computers up until the late 2000s, and our main family computer was an iMac G3 that ran Mac OS 9.2. We used that thing for so many years. My folks got rid of it around 2010 or so (and it breaks my heart that they did), and by then, everyone in my family had switched to laptops except my brother and me. Eventually, even my brother switched over to a laptop. I'm the only person in my family that stuck with desktops basically the whole time, and I'd say the Mac computers we had growing up are probably responsible for my preference for desktop PCs over laptops. So seeing them literally falling apart due to the harsh nature of time really tears me up inside. I hope something can be done to better preserve a lot of this old technology.
The original Bondi blue iMac was the first PC I bought, back in 1998 (but I'd used Macs before then). My 2013 iMac died just last week. The logic board failed suddenly and the display burned out. Still, it gave a decade of almost daily use, which ain't bad. The new models aren't built to last, or be repairable.
I remember the G3's we had at school, I thought they were the coolest and most futuristic looking things ever, they had so much more personality compared to the usual beige boxes.
0:50 "Seems unable to read the Hard disk anymore" (slides out DVD tray)
Ah, I see your problem.
I've lived enough to feel sad about this. My first computer was originally owned by my uncle. An old machine running Windows XP, with a CRT monitor. I remember spending evenings playing pinball and minesweeper. It saddens me that I might never be able to experience that again.
Same, however I don't miss it imo, only the experience of seeing a PC for the first time, I can still feel the time it took to do things
I kinda wish I still had my old CRT monitor and computer, I remember it had Windows 98 I guess it would be dead by now because of age, there's no way a computer from the early 2000s can last until 2023 without very expensive maintenance and it would reach a point where it can't be fixed anymore.
@@kentreed2011 thats a bit of an overstatement, while yes some computers will fail theres still shit from the 80s running, and there was many many more computers made in the early 2000s than the 80s, windows 10 is really not that even far away from 98
also the schematics to manufacture and produce older computers will always exist if they are archived
@@kentreed2011there we're so many parts produced for that generation of tech that you would always be able to cobble up a working one , crt's is another matter
we could also make like a tournament for old tech repair to repair as much as we can, this would be cool and this could incite people to restore these, this is an heritage that cannot be lost
I agree. There is a big problem though with the retro computer scene blowing up in the last 3 years insofar that most newcomers have no idea how to fix electronics. I am lucky that my dad is an electronic engineer so he can do most of my retro computer repairs by reflowing boards, replacing caps and fixing PSUs, etc… my own ability is just to clean and retr0brite as I have no technical skill.
a lot of this stuff thankfully can be fixed, IDE SSDs exist, polarisers can be swapped and batteries can be replaced,
the stuff thats a time bomb is soldered NANDs and GPUs with Bump-gate.
This makes me very sad even through I was born in 2002 I’m very interested in old technology and the history of the retro technology so as someone who loves learning about them and seeing how they work makes me very upset that they are all dying and falling apart and soon or I guess already future generations won’t know how cool and interesting the old technology was but I guess that is life for everyone and everything :(
no, that is not 100% life, read about planned obsolescence, disposable goods and cost-cutting concepts and practices later. also about externalisation
I mean the old tech is just more cumbersome and primitive version of current tech. It makes no sense to preserve it other than nostalgia
No it's just garbage made in the 90s and after. 70s tech was built to last.. all about cost cutting now.
I'm 45 anything from my time is just a waste of time money or space it can be replaced for penny's on the dollar even keeping it for sentimental value will cost you to much you have to be very careful
@@baraodascolinas979 the things mentioned in this vid were not planned obsolescence they are simply the result of what was created with what was available at the time
This janitor when I was in school, I think in kindergarten second third or fourth grade and he was just throwing the CRT monitors in the dumpster. I said what are you doing and he said there’s no use for them anymore.
That weird stuff on the display happened to a Dell laptop I have, it was fine a week before I moved into university, but when I went to show my new friends a week later the old laptop I have I was horrified at the condition of the display.
Literally sold off my entire G3/G4 Mac collection about six months ago when I realised they were all beginning to get very temperamental in terms of wanting to run. Power supply caps started dying, the hard drives got more flaky, even solid state bits like RAM started to fail after a while. A shame for sure, but I have great memories of them all. Hopefully the new owners are better with soldering than I am.
You know that you became old, when the top notch stuff you once knew, is now vintage stuff from a museum.
It's interesting that some "old" tech is starting to develop issues like this, and yet my old Atari 2600 still works perfectly. Different times, I guess.
same, my colecovision and atari still work great
Not much tech in them to go wrong. the 2600 had like what? 2 or 3 capacitors? and a linear powersupply brick (which aren't known for efficiency, but definitely long life)
If it's made of metal it will corrode. If it's made of plastic it will crack.
Now imagine what will happen to electric car components exposed to salt, water, dirt, etc.
Wow! One thing that impresses me is the Nintendo 64. I still have mine and it still works. It's an original one from the release date too. I still play it along with all of my games as if it's still a new game console. They were built to last. Other things that stand the test of time are vintage equipment from the 70's. equipment from the 50's - 60's seems to be built strong with strong metal components. I have amplifiers, guitars, electric pianos like the Fender Rhodes. I mean, those are instruments and instruments can basically last forever. But the amplifiers have more components like tubes which had to be replaced on mine. I also have an Onkyo stereo system that has been in my family the 90's. I remember it being used all of the time as a kid, and now as an adult, I still use it literally everyday for my turntable. That system is a beast! I play it loud and proud to and sometimes forget to turn it off and it still works like brand new. I guess computers are different because they have a sophisticated build. Vinyl records also impress me. These are basically plastic disc that can easily warp with heat, yet old records from the 50's still play like they were pressed yesterday. It's interesting to see what lasts and what doesn't.
I found out ammonia is great at completely removing the melting rubberised coatings accidentally. And it's cheap. Comes off in an instant with no resistance
but that thing is toxic as fuck and burn your nose
Wait really??
@@PhantomWorksStudios yeah, I was cleaning up an old unifi AP because it also had started to melt the coating and I had a spray bottle with ammonia I used to clean the house. With gloves on I wiped it off with a paper towel and magic, the coating vanished
More details? What concentration? I have a few rubberized items i want to remove the coating from!
@@goclunker I know amonia mixed with water temporarly fix dry and cracked up rubber. It's can be a quick solution for à temporary fix in a car for suspensions.
Damn. This such a shame to see. And this will just inflate prices for existing retro tech that does manage to survive.
It'll inflate it to the point where only rich collectors should consider buying them. I'd rather get a used GPU at the same price or lower as an old computer.
Yeah I can see that - 286-486 systems are increasingly selling for more. Good :D
@@the_kombinator No that’s bad inflated prices just makes it harder to get people interested the hobby. Retro gaming is not about money and gate keeping the hobby only hurts everyone.
@@TalesOfGothic Do you even know how to use the phrase "gatekeeping" properly? I mean, if I had a monopoly on every retro system ever made, and jacking the prices up to my benefit, perhaps what you said would make sense. I'm literally a drop in the ocean of retro tech sellers, so yeah, please use the phrase "gatekeeping" with some kind of aurhority.
1) I'm figuratively hopping the fence (i.e. bypassing the gate) to get retro systems that were pulled from recyclers, dismantling, painting + retrobriting (when necessary), seeking the era-correct drives, floppies, CDROMS (if applicable), refurbishing the often soldered RTC clocks, or worse, repairing the board from a leaked Varta cell, pairing the machine with appropriate I/O and a CRT (or at least a 4:3 LCD). I will install the correct OSes and load the drivers, optimize the memory, etc. - this takes an inordinate amount of time, and by God, I will be paid for my work, this isn't a volunteer shop - a lot of these systems are 30+ years old and require refurbishing, which I do, for a fee. Don't like it? Don't buy it.
2) These machines are kept out of landfill and redirected to enthousiasts in ready, working order - plug it in and use it - I don't sell half-dead garbage that needs any extra work.
3) You can get into the hobby for free - it's called abandonware and emulation.
If the prices of the stuff are increasing, it's not because I want them to increase - I recently got a new batch of 2,3,and 486 systems, and the prices for them went up. I'm not taking a cut for some lofty ideal - this stuff is rare and it takes someone who knows what they're doing to keep it going, and it's only going to get harder.
No one is being hurt here except your feelings.
@@the_kombinator it’s bad that prices go up. I already have the systems I want. It just makes others who want to get into the hobby feel like there’s to much of a barrier to entry.
it is impossible to preserve something physically forever, but what we can preserve magnitudes longer than the object is the stories and videos about it. the preservation of technology in the long term lies in the hands of copying videos, photos, and telling tales to the next generation. i hope that we continue to preserve technology as much as possible and go to greater lengths to show what it was like
This reminds me of when my grandfather would try to build a computer using parts from ones that otherwise didn't work. He managed not only boot it up once it was complete but it could even play solitaire. Going online was with it was pretty much not going to happen sadly.
This was like a trip down memory lane. Seeing the Mac Classic and old iMac's brought back some of those magical days when I first started using Apple computers! It's sad that they are slowly disintegrating, but I guess nothing lasts forever.
Nothing lasts forever? Not if it's made by Apple...
Newer Apple products are going to be particularly difficult to keep, because they went PVC-free and their cables have been garbage ever since.
1:40 - Please, for the love of god, if you aren't *keenly aware* of what you're doing and how to do it, do not under any circumstances open your hard drive if you have important data on it. You could very easily end up making the hard drive unrepairable - even for a specialist.
If a harddisk won't start, never open it! - Any tiny airborne dust particle will start a chain reaction of debris (like colliding satellites) that will unavoidably destroy it. Likely it won't spin because the bearing oil has hardened. And do not knock or use force. Better simply warm the bearing with a hairdryer (not too hot) to remelt the grease and then let the disk spin for an hour to let it knead the lube soft again.
I’d love to see a video where you cover tech that has miraculously stood the test of time though I’d wonder if there is such a thing . Great video !
I like that idea!
Thanks for taking the time to make a video about this topic. It's reminded me that I need to check all of my old(ish) computers. And thanks as well for having an epilepsy warning before showing what I assume was a computer screen flashing very quickly. While I don't have epilepsy, I've got a similar condition that makes me incredibly sensitive to any strobing.
Thankfully I don't have a condition affected by flickering images, but I rewound the video to see how I'd missed the epilepsy warning you've highlighted here. ⏪
Turns out it's quite easy to miss if you have subtitles turned on! ⚠
I have a 2008 Mac Mini that works as well today as it did when I first took it out of the box. It has been, far and away, the most trouble-free computer I have ever used. Not a single crash or freeze, ever. I still use it once in a while. Great little box.
So cool to see some of the old computers we all have used - I can't tell you the number of times I checked out an iBook from my school's library for projects... I loved that device & keyboard was a treat to type on. Devices back then were aesthetically pleasing & still functional!
The doors on the iMac's were very in-genius for example.
Very cool video!
Yeah this Rubber coating decay is one thing I hate the most because your device may be working perfect but be so tacky you can´t even touch it. I have this IBM laptop I am working on to remove this and it truly is a pure pain to do