This is the transcript of the video. The original article is not available.
Good morning guys and welcome back to the ValorosoIT channel. Or welcome, if you're new. If you like retrocomputers and vintage electronics, I invite you to subscribe to the channel and activate the notification bell, so you won't miss a single video.
What are we talking about today? Well, the first topic is certainly Christmas greetings: I wanted to wish you and your families many warm Christmas wishes. And, please, do them to your retrocomputers too!
You must not forget them! During these parties, you take them out and turn them on every now and then because you know that every now and then they need to be turned on, otherwise there are components (such as capacitors) that could deteriorate if they were always off. Electronic boards that are left off for years... and years... and years, even if put away working, can wake up not working and this is quite a sad thing.
So, what I recommend is, every now and then, take your computers and turn them on. Obviously, keep in mind the advice I gave you when I made the video on how to turn on a computer after many years of activity.
So you must definitely measure the power supply voltages of the computer's power supply, and then, afterwards, turn on the computer. But go and watch that video because, in my opinion, it was interesting. It was more specific for Commodores, but the procedures are the same for other computers too.
Even computers that have an internal power supply, if you haven't turned it on for a long time, it would actually be ideal to open them and measure the voltages before connecting the power supply to the motherboard, as we saw in the video I made on the Commodore 128D.
So, these Christmas greetings have become a bit technical even for your retrocomputers! I also wanted to thank you very much for your enormous presence on all the various social networks, in particular (now I've taken some notes, so excuse me if I read it every now and then) on Facebook we have more than 3000 members of the group. So there are 3000 people passionate about retrocomputers exchanging opinions on the Facebook group. Every now and then there are some arguments, eh... you have to admit it. There are some very very very clear opinions! I mean, I just think so! I don't know: the Commodore 64 is better than all the other computers. Or maybe I don't, I think the Spectrum is the best! The funniest thing, forgive me because someone will probably be disappointed, is seeing people arguing about technical aspects! One of these, for example, is whether to do preventive delivery of vintage computers or not. So there are people who also argue about the topic: 'is it necessary to change the capacitor of vintage computers'? For me yes... for me no... in short, everyone thinks in their own way, but they think so clearly that all other opinions are not good. For example, there are those who think that they should be replaced regardless and therefore would never turn on a vintage computer without having replaced the capacitors, but there are those who think that these are needed. Well, in my opinion there is a middle ground. For example, there are computers like the Amiga 1200, the Amiga 600, where these capacitors are known to degrade. So those need to be replaced regardless. Instead there are other computers, like Commodore 64, where I honestly haven't found any with degraded capacitors. But, obviously, my experience is based on my computers. As you know, I fix and repair the computers in my collection. It's not that there are 5000: there are several dozen, but what I can tell you is what I personally find. Here, the invitation for the new year could be to not go into arguments either on technical topics, or even on topics of preference of one computer over another.
On YouTube we reached around 2400 people, just under 2400 people... and I see the environment as very relaxed. Compared to Facebook the environment is much more relaxed. People who see the videos are normally much more interested, much more attracted to vintage computers and are unlikely to exchange hateful jokes. Always very happy to express their own comment, in short, without fear of anyone judging them. Everything is much more relaxed, so, in short, the channel is something that gives me a lot of satisfaction, I have to tell the truth!
On Instagram we have, let's see, more than 2,700 subscribers. Instagram is a somewhat particular channel because we are not all Italian. So I keep the Instagram channel in English. There are photos, there are short videos and the descriptions are all in English, so that I can also compare myself with non-Italian people, therefore understanding if there are new interfaces abroad, rather than kits, rather than other computers, which perhaps are not found here and it could be interesting for me to have them in my collection.
Other channels I created were Telegram, Twitter and TikTok. These, however, really have a small number of members. In short, vintage computers are probably not very relevant to this type of platform, but who knows, maybe in the future these channels will also be able to grow.
I also wanted to talk to you about my website www.valoroso.it, where I post most of my videos, so everything I create as a video I also publish in the form of an article. In this case: Does Commodore 128D 100% untested work? You have the video that you can start directly from here on the page and in addition you have a whole series of extra content, a summary of what I talked about in the video, some photos... In short, there is the article accompanying the video, of every video I make, in general. Not exactly for everyone, but certainly for a large part.
As you can see, there is a lot of content, because I have been writing articles and making videos for more than a year now... maybe even two... so, in short, there is now quite a lot of content. There are not only computers, there are also audio instruments: in this case the Penny record player, you can find photos of, in short... everything! I have also included my collection of retrocomputers on the website www.valoroso.it. So, in reality they aren't all of them, eh, I included some. But, here they are, for example: Amiga 2000, there are a few photos, how I bought it, so how this Amiga 2000 arrived in my collection. I have taken the technical characteristics of this computer from other sites, rather than checking them myself. Photos of the interior, expansion connectors, ports…
I mean, it takes me a while to make these cards, so that's why you still don't do it for all the computers in my collection. How you can emulate the Amiga 2000 on a Windows PC for example, with WinUAE. The power supply, the computer startup screen... Well, this is perhaps one of the most complete boards I have created. An interesting thing is the documents. So, inside the computer card, you can find the various manuals and even if there is the technical manual, which is what I use when I go to look at the electrical diagrams of the computer, because a repair or modification needs to be done. In short, it is useful, very useful, for everything!
Other computers in the collection can also be found below, or if you follow the category of the site. For example, the Commodore 128: here too I have put the characteristics of the Commodore 128, some photos, technical characteristics, the photo of the internal card, even if it is not present in all computers, only in those that I have opened, obviously.
Here, in this case being Commodore 128 (I have also written articles with Basic commands) here is the list of commands of Basic version 7, the list of commands in Basic V2, so when the Commodore 128 works in 64 mode, the expansion ports as we saw before, other photos of my computer, how you can emulate the Commodore 128 on a normal Windows PC. In this case, since I had made a review on the VICE emulator, you can click on it and see both the video and the review of this emulator.
The power supply, the voltages it generates, the connector pinout... In short, I tried to include as much information as possible.
The 80 column mode and also the CP/M (operating system), as well as, as we had seen before with the Amiga 2000, a whole series of documents that I found.
Now I wanted to answer some questions: the most recurring ones that you often ask me! These are questions I hear often. So I'll give you an answer once and for all! I read them…
So how come I use an LCD monitor when recording video and not a CRT. Obviously, those who are passionate about vintage computers love CRT monitors, therefore cathode ray tube monitors. The reasons why I use the LCD monitor, instead of the CRT, are basically three. Well, first of all it takes up less space and is lighter and I can move it from one place to another quicker and where I need to record. Secondly, the LCD monitor I use, isn't really a monitor, it's a TV! So let me read the model for a second: LG M1917A. It has the advantage of being both an LCD monitor and a TV, so it has a SCART input, an s-video input, a CVBS composite video input, and a VGA input for computers. In short, I can connect anything to it, so it seems quite interesting to me to be able to use that TV monitor, rather than one monitor for each computer! Especially when I have to record videos, so the topic changes from time to time. That is, each video, perhaps, has a different topic and I would have to have 50 different monitors. In short, I have someone: you can also see him behind here, that other one, that other one over there...
But, obviously, the LCD one is much more convenient for me. Another reason why I use LCD monitor instead of CRT is because it is easier for me to make videos. With the powerful means at my disposal, the cell phone, so to speak, recording videos on the CRT is complicated for me. You can see all those stripes moving back and forth and I try to adjust the exposure... I try to adjust the shutter... I try to adjust everything... Of course, then maybe, in the end, I manage to adjust it but it takes me half an hour. Then it's only good for that monitor, it's not like if I register with that monitor behind me, it's fine.
It's good for the monitor! At that point, in short, everything became a mess! So I prefer to use the LCD, which always looks good. You will have to forgive me... I hope this is not a mortal sin, so I can still end up in heaven despite using an LCD instead of the CRT!
How is the repair of the Amiga 500 going? A lot of you ask me this!
So the video stopped at a certain point (episode 4) but, in reality, I went ahead with the repair and have already made some recordings. In particular, I ended up painting all the internal metal parts of the Amiga. And this thing, as soon as I have a moment of time, I edit it, and then I publish it as a video. The computer is coming along well and works well too, you also saw it in the video reel I made the other day. The computer works! It turns on, I already have the floppy disk, I also have the supports to mount the new floppy disk drive, therefore IBM floppy disk drive on the already modified Amiga computer.
And, what's more, I also have the button because the button on IBM floppy disk drives is not compatible: it doesn't come out in the same place as the Amiga floppy disk drive, so you need a special button to replace, as well as the entire support kit, which I had 3D printed by our good friend RetroManiak.
So the repair is proceeding, don't worry, the computer works well and sooner or later I will also publish the next videos, until I get to the end, let's hope we can also get to the end of the computer!
However, in the meantime, it's not like I'm standing still. You see I also like to expand the collection, buy more computers, fix those too, rather than try them if they are already working, and I hope they are already working! Another question you asked me was: which computer am I most fond of?
And this is a difficult question, also because answering it honestly is quite difficult. So, I can tell you what my story was. I started with a Commodore 64 that was in the house when I was little (the first years of primary school). Then this Commodore 64 was sold to buy a Commodore 128 and I still have this computer, so the Commodore 128. Just the one from when I was little.
So, if I have to tell you which computer I'm most fond of, I'll tell you the Commodore 128. Then it's a beautiful computer, because it has the ability to function like a Commodore 64, so you can play like on a Commodore 64, etc., it has the ability to use the Basic version 7 of the Commodore 128 which has a lot of commands, and other features: it has a 40-column monitor, an 80-column monitor, that is, really, it's a computer that I like. a lot, both in terms of functionality and aesthetics. I'm really very fond of it. If, however, you have other computers that you are particularly fond of, write it down in the comments. Let's not fight about this, I promise! I mean, you can also tell me that you are fond of Apple, the ZX81, any computer you can think of, I like all computers! In a completely free way, write it below in the comments, let me know which computers you are most fond of!
Then, after the Commodore 128, we went straight to IBM, then IBM PS/2 286, which is also back there. The 286 had some scary capabilities at the time. I mean, there was no story at all! So I completely bypassed the Amiga (I never saw an Amiga at the time, except those of my friends) and I played or programmed on the 286. Actually, I'm not a gamer, I've always said that. It's not that I don't like playing games, I also like playing games, but in reality all I prefer to do is actually on the computer hardware, so repairing, using the hardware, programming the software. I really like Basic, you know, I did a video course, a series of videos, on the Basic language of both Commodore, but also that of IBM, so GQBASIC, Turbo Basic, QuickBasic. Then, for work, you obviously use other programming languages. However, Basic is a language that has always remained in my heart, a bit like the Commodore 128, if I had to tell you which computer I was most fond of.
I would say that for today I have told you everything I wanted to tell you! I renew my wishes for a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and, please, spend them well with your family and with your retrocomputers!
See you soon and the next video! Bye bye!