0043 Was the HeadStart Explorer all-in-one "a-HEAD" of its time?

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On today's SMCC, we have a HeadStart Explorer all in one PC. This inexpensive "starter" home computer came with everything you need to get your family computing in no time, including a built in GUI right in ROM.
-- Video Links
Cathode Ray Dude's (CRD) video on the machine:
• Headstart's PC With Th...
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Hakko FR301 Desoldering Iron:
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Rigol DS1054Z Four Channel Oscilloscope:
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Head Worn Magnifying Goggles / Dual Lens Flip-In Head Magnifier:
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TL866II Plus Chip Tester and EPROM programmer: (The MiniPro)
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Magnetic Screw Holder:
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Universal ZIP sockets: (clones, used on my ZIF-64 test machine)
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RetroTink 2X Upconverter: (to hook up something like a C64 to HDMI)
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Plato (Clone) Side Cutters: (order five)
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Heat Sinks:
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Little squeezy bottles: (available elsewhere too)
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--- Links
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4 окт 2022

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Комментарии : 137

@twilliamc3 Год назад

To address the confusion, Cody is my middle name and what I typically go by. Other things are William (my first name) just out of necessity :D. It is nice to see everything arrived somewhat safely. The monitor did not have a crack at the top when I shipped it so that must have been a shipment issue. I apologize for that. Shipping CRTs is difficult. The capture card is 720 so hopefully it might still be useful. I am looking forward to the new life you will give the explorer. The hard disk never worked while I had it and the interface is not quite IDE from what I remember. I am interested in how you will address that in the future. Perhaps it is just a different pinout that could be modded? Who knows. Thanks again for the great content!

@adriansdigitalbasement2 Год назад

Ah ok!! Sorry about that! LOLOL! Yeah there will certainly be a few more videos with this machine coming up eventually, including a fun comparison to the Amstrad PPC640 which is a "similar" machine.

@racecar_spelled_backwards868 Год назад

The design language looks VERY MUCH like late 80's early 90's Apple-esque. To me it most looks like a pairing of the Macintosh Portable (aka the lovable lugable) and a LaserWriter II NT.

@agranero6 Год назад

You made me remember a thing my father told me. Way before polystyrene foam and chips to put on packages were widely used (although bubble wrap was common) they used a very simple biodegradable product: popcorn: yes popcorn made with hot air without oil. sometimes inside plastic bags Sometimes just dropped inside the box until it filled all empty spaces. Until this day I ask myself why we didn't keep doing that.

@racecar_spelled_backwards868 Год назад

@@agranero6 It's a great idea but we tried that in Florida and had a HORRIBLE problem with insects getting into the popcorn and popcorn party.

@bunter6 Год назад

William Cody! you be Buffalo Bill then, cool name mate 👍 Never seen a Headstart Explorer before looks very cool for the time.

@xephorce Год назад

I used to have one of these when I was a kid. I wrote so many school reports and stories on the horrible word processing app on it. so many memories. I played hours and hours of battle chess on it.. good times. I know when the mouse died it was impossible to replace. ended up using the keyboard to move the mouse cursor around. I think you had to hold the alt key and then use the arrow keys to move it around It's been years so that might not be the right key combination. lol

@adriansdigitalbasement2 Год назад

Ah! I figured there was a key combo to move the pointer (slowly) around the screen. Hehe ... You know if this is all I had, I would still be happy compared to having no computer!

@Lachlant1984 Год назад

Cathode Ray Dude did do a video about this Headstart PC, quite a detailed review from memory.

@nitehawk86 Год назад

A friend had one when we were kids, I hadn't thought of that computer in nearly 30 years until I saw CRD's video recently. It had a lot of interesting features, though it was outclassed entirely by my Tandy 2500rsx

@EgonOlsen71 Год назад

Colour Genie is a computer from 1982 made by EACA. It wasn't very popular but sold some units in Germany. I have one. It has the worst composite video output ever. You can grab RGB directly from the board in some way (I didn't bother). The setting you mention in your RGB2HDMI thingy adds support for this mod.

@vwestlife Год назад

The hard drive in the HeadStart Explorer is a MiniScribe IDE-XT (XTA) drive. There is now a prototype XTA2SD board which will let you replace an IDE-XT drive with an SD card

@agranero6 Год назад

Aren't Miniscribe those ones that were substituted by bricks for that to pass the audit?

@vwestlife Год назад

@@agranero6 Yes!

@Caroline_Tyler Год назад

Before you folded the keyboard out I thought it was going to be a badge clone of the Amstrad PPC640 - externally it looks really similar

@adriansdigitalbasement2 Год назад

I have a PPC640 too -- so I'll need to do a head to head!

@WC0125 Год назад

Very Cool! Vendex was a Long Island based technology marketing firm.. They started their HeadStart line in the mid 1980s. The first ones they sold were a conventional type PC compatible marketed through department stores like Dillards. Their all in ones came out in 1989 with the push for the fall Christmas season. The marketing ploy was the "Ease of an Apple, Compatible with IBM". IBM compatible out of the box but could have an Apple card installed. Vendex was sold in the spring of 1989 to Philips. In the US it was even marketed by Philips as a Magnavox HeadStart Explorer with a companion Magnavox monitor. Again the aim was the entry, home market. HeadStarts were really pushed at Montgomery Wards and other department stores. The prices started at about $500 and could be customized up to the mid-2K range. There were available accessories to include a stand to set the monitor over the main computer. The idea was you could use it on standard size student desk and fold the keyboard up when not in use. Very much designed for a dorm room.

@anotheruser9876 Год назад

Vendex is a Dutch multinational and is famous in The Netherlands for their V&D (Vroom en Dreesmann, V en D) department stores that went bankrupt a couple of years ago.

@WC0125 Год назад

@@anotheruser9876 Oh the corporate merger days of the 1980''s. The U.S. firm, Vendex Pacific was previously a part of the Netherlands' Vendex International. They then became Vendex Technologies under Philips. I'm sure Vendex Pacific was some holding of Vendex International but they (Vendex Pacific) were based at 40 Cutter Mill Road, Great Nick, on Long Island, New York. Their stuff was made in Korea. They sold their Headstart computers with a classic east coast flair. "Easy of Use", starting pro wrestling star King Kong Bundy showing their ease of use in TV ads. It was a marketing campaign by their then V.P. Harry Fox. When N.V. Philips bought the U.S. Vendex Technologies in 1989 Harry Fox stayed on a the division's president. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9OJnYzYQHgg.html

@thepanmangr Год назад

There is a machine of roughly the same shape (and era) with a flip-up mono LCD screen. It's called the Amstrad PPC512 (and its brother, the PPC640).

@nebular-nerd Год назад

The PPC 640 was a magnificent system, your right, the Headstart looks like a poor cousin to it.

@RAMChYLD Год назад

The header on the blackmagic card is for a breakout cable that splits to component, composite, s-video and audio in.

@nickwallette6201 Год назад

Yup. I have one if there’s any need to figure out the pinout. One thing about that card - it’s very reliable, if .... IF .... you send it strictly-conforming, standard signals. Forget 240p, it’s not happening. And when it says 60Hz, it means 60Hz. Out of spec devices need not apply. For that reason, it has been .... less useful than I would have liked.

@RAMChYLD Год назад

@@nickwallette6201 my issue is I bought my card for a HTPC project. It turns out the card doesn’t like HDCP protected content either, outright rejects input from my satellite and IPTV box. I also had the cable, but I’ve misplaced it. Mine eventually developed a fault where it was only outputting one channel of audio tho, even if the input was HDMI.

@agranero6 Год назад

"Percussive maintenance" ehehehe. My first job was with Brazilian TRS-80 Model I clones. One was called Dismac D-8000. I found one that was failing the turn-on memory test. I called my friend (that had got me the job), and he held the CPU 30cm (about a foot) over the table and dropped it (the case was made of metal, not plastic as the TRS-80). I was completely stunned. He said: "Try again" and the memory test worked. Thanks, Adrian to bring me back fond memories.

@andrewdunbar828 Год назад

The Colour Genie is a 1982 Z80-based micro that was a successor to the Video Genie. But the interesting part is that the Video Genie was a TRS-80 Model 1 clone so the Colour Genie is basically a colour TRS-80 Model 1 derivative, making it totally different from Tandy's own Coco, Colour TRS-80, which was a 6809 machine with a totally different architecture. So now I really want you to get hold of a Colour Genie!

@russellhltn1396 Год назад

Early computers were interesting. Most people didn't have computer skills we take for granted today. Manufacturers were trying real hard make their product usable by simplifying and using familiar concepts to simplify the learning curve. That's what motivated this non-standard design.

@dvuemedia Год назад

I still have bunch of these bus mouses, and now I know where they came from, cool! Fun fact: The bus mouse works the same as Atari ST and Amiga mouse, you can rewire the connector to DB9 and use it on your Atari ST or Amiga.

@Altomare3 Год назад

This computer design was originally made by Thomson in France, intended as a PC XT compatible with an optional flat panel display. The original name for it was Thomson CPC2 but it ended up being sold to a Korean manufacturer. There's one prototype at Association MO5, wish I could link pictures in youtube comments 😅

@jwvdvuurst Год назад

The Vendex Headstart rung a bell in my head. That were also the computers sold by a Dutch department store (the V&D), and Vendex also meant Vroom en Dreesman EXploitatie. The V&D department stores do not exist anymore.

@Renville80 Год назад

For the battery holder, why not just use a short piece of dowel with a screw on each end, then run wires from the screws to the new battery holder, so it is fully reversible.

@50shadesofbeige88 Год назад

I love discovering a new machine I've never heard of. Fantastic!

@overdriver99 Год назад

I think I saw screen shots of this system in one of magazines for sure. I remember the GUI screen so now I find out which system it was.... it's Headstart. wow

@dglcomputers1498 Год назад

In Britain and some of the commonwealth in the late 80's and into the 90's we had computers with a ROM OS that actually was rather popular in the education market with the ARM based Acorn A series machines (originally badged Archimedes). Naturally they were excellent for the education market as there was no way of damaging the OS and it meant that not having a hard drive was not a big issue. Bootup took seconds and they were very reliable. They even ended up being used for controlling BBC TV playout. Available in either "keyboard computer" or desktop variants, including the unique Risc PC, with stackable sections. Also interesting was that some or all of the "keyboard computer" models had just one PCB inside, with even the PSU on the main PCB and also gave birth to the first SOC.

@tw11tube Год назад

The CRT is VGA only, no super-VGA stuff. While the VGA has three modes (350-line mode, 400-line mode and 480-line mode), all of these modes used exactly the same horizontal 31.5kHz timing. That explains why you don't have the issue of the picture moving around horizontally when you switch modes, so you don't need user-accessible horizontal image controls.

@shawnj4545 Год назад

I used to have a PC that I'd need to do the "one inch drop" quite often to get the HD to work. Worked that way for quite a long time, haha

@ceebee23 Год назад

so looking forward to seeing the inside of this thing!!

@Ariannus Год назад

Looking forward to the teardown and repair.

@UpLateGeek Год назад

Can't wait to see more on this! This era of computers was totally weird, before they standardised on the more "modern" desktop and laptop form factors.

@peterdevreter Год назад

I remember that harddrive making A LOT of noise.

@more.power. Год назад

Thanks Adrian another great episode.

@tonycosta3302 Год назад

It looks like they modeled the design based on an electric typewriter. Almost like they wanted to make it more relatable to new users.

@Vermilicious Год назад

That's a cute looking machine. Looking forwards to seeing more of it.

@dirk600 6 месяцев назад

I’m glad to see you wear socks in the house like a normal civilized human being

@emmeryncariglino4983 Год назад

Loved Gravis' video about this machine so I'm excited you have one too!

@atkelar Год назад

I think, the "data disk" is their wording for "your personal data disk". Can't remember where I saw that, but I recall it being a regular empty disk with a special marker file/folder on it.

@greenaum Год назад

Adrian, you can run multiple ISA cards off one slot, you just need a riser or expander card. What I mean is, electrically, the cards are all just in parallel, every signal connected to the same pins in each socket. You could even perhaps make an expander card. Our chums at sponsored-by PCB factory would do it for you! You could even have a finger-connector then use ribbon cable rather than PCB, to make it more flexible. Digging about inside you might find the space. ISA was a pretty slow bus, noise probably won't be a problem. Then you wouldn't have to choose! And god knows there must be room inside that gigantic case, what the hell else could even be in there? Especially if you take the hard drive out.

@Epictronics1 Год назад

haha, love that "Monty Python" mouse pointer 😅

@NaoPb Год назад

Neat! I used to own two of these. Came with amber colored monitors. They eventually got donated to a computer museum so they should still be around.

@GarthBeagle Год назад

Very much looking forward to see the innards of this, and to see if you can revive the HDD

@erickvond6825 Год назад

Those floppy port mounts can also be used in a HDD cady.

@freeculture Год назад

I have a bunch of those 14" VGA monitors, and they all worked 20 years ago lol. Dark being darker, while bright being brighter, is something i have seen happen to some CRTs. IIRC its related to the "fly back" aging or something. It was very common in the Hyundais.

@eDoc2020 Год назад

Dark being darker is caused by the brightness knob being too low (and as the CRT ages it is necessary to increase it to compensate). Bright being brighter is because the contrast control is set high.

@br33ch Год назад

Looks like a good contender for a parallel port DAC - Covox, DSS, home brew etc

@stevejames3682 Год назад

I acquired two of these about a year ago (along with a matching monitor and stand) but haven't had time to play with them yet.

@avalinah Год назад

Love that keyboard though.

@flatlinekun Год назад

So I had one of these back when they came out in the late 80's/early 90's - well still do have, albeit it is now in pieces. There was a stand that came with it that fit over the computer and held the monitor - hence all the "wasted space". Also the card slot next to the ISA slot was intended for a memory expansion module that never materialized - I spent hours pouring through Computer Shopper hoping that I'd find one when I was younger. I have a few pictures if I can figure out how to get them to you of the stand.

@MajenkoTechnologies Год назад

That card slot looks perfect for a CM153 and external LMSI CDROM drive :)

@FyberOptic Год назад

I bought this as an extra for $20 when I bought a 386 with a dead power supply from my local BBS operator. It also had the shelf that went over it to hold a monitor. Neat little computer, I liked that it had an OS built into the ROM, but the lack of expansion made it hard to do much with it.

@RudyValenciaDotCom Год назад

I had one of these growing up and found that the mouse was a standard Microsoft InPort bus mouse. If you have one of those it should work without any modifications.

@DavidGalich77 Год назад

Nifty find never heard of that brand.

@JVHShack Год назад

I would definitely add a sound card over the XT-IDE in that machine. TexElec sells an 8-bit sound card IIRC. If the hard drive is of the MFM variety, there is a small emulator board available for that standard called DREM. It is a bit expensive, but I don't know of any RU-vidr that has reviewed it yet.

@eDoc2020 Год назад

IIRC Adrian has mentioned an MFM emulator that he wished to use with an AT&T UNIX workstation.

@francoisfritz198 Год назад

Im late to the next video about it. Thanks for the contend, take care f

@JessHull Год назад

I can't wait to see you try and fix the hard drive. Will be cool to see whats on there. I always love spinning up old drives and seeing what's on them Its like a time capsule. super fun.

@jeramydowns2487 Год назад

Hah! I just commented on your most recent vid on channel 1 about percussive maintenance lol.

@blackterminal Год назад

Re the monitor. Sometimes you had to open the monitor up to access extra trim pots.

@CoreyDeWalt Год назад

Such a strange sounding seek on that harddrive. I hope you can fix the stepper. I look forward to more on this computer and the monitor that shipped with it. Also, Samsung was known to glue pots...I think you had one years ago that also had glued pots but were able to free them.

@iamjustaclone Год назад

that was my very own first computer !!! :) :) :)

@ultrametric9317 Год назад

Stiction! That's why the hard drive is complaining.

@hugosimoes5119 Год назад

It looks cool. I would like to see it fixed and possibly upgraded/enhanced.

@tigheklory Год назад

Adrian didn't get get an ISA disk controller/sound card combination card in a previous mail call? Oh yeah and Coleco Adam would be a cool video ;-)

@tenminutetokyo2643 Год назад

BMD also make a tiny Thunderbolt Mini Recorder that uses SDI cables.

@WhatALoadOfTosca Год назад

Thanks Adrian. Can you show the Start a Program feature in your next video please?

@HamboneDeluxe Год назад

Argh!!! The suspense is killing me!!! Take this thing apart already!!!

@DouglasFish Год назад

Blackmagic has a lot of 'professional' compatible broadcast components. Lots of scrappy software companies use their SDI In/out decklink cards these days

@wichtelchen Год назад

In the mid-90s, as a kid of 12 ages, I believed QBasic was the "Mother" of all other programs, including Windows because it was the only program the computer had installed on which can be used to make other programs. So I gave it a try and learned Basic by trial and error. A half year later, I tried to figure out how Windows is made (I still believed QBasic is the only existing programming language) and started.... The result was an DOS-GUI like this, with its own unique ugly user experience: Its default theme was about farts and poop turds coming out of rosy cheeks xD. I made a few basic features and utilities for it (customizable themes, screensavers, fonts, drawing tool, calendar, calculator, word processor, a few simple games, file browser etc.). I remember I was chewing on the word processor which was the final enemy. The final result fit on a single 3,5" disk. You had one disk with the "OS" and another one for your data. Hard drives support was missing because my computer didn't have one. Instead the computer had two floppy drives. My grandpa actually used that GUI on his old 286 DOS computer. It ran OK until the computer became broken. Unfortunately, the software itself is lost, because my dad never allowed me to program, because in his eyes I was a hacker, and destroyed my disks including the backup ones after he drunk too much. Only some of the themes and fonts survived. :(

@cobrag0318 Год назад

Some sort of XT-IDE and ad-lib combo card would be great in that slot.

@opp31337 Год назад

i have a blackmagic intensity pro and it works very well, i think you will like it once you figure out it's quirks... you may need to use an older version of blackmagic media express to get it working properly... they update like gpu drivers and get wonky if you go too far ahead with them... the cable connector is for a component/composite/S Video breakout cable with input AND output... i use that cable to digitize betamax tapes and laserdiscs that i own.

@davecarroll Год назад

The Headstart Explorer logo is very reminiscent of the Intel Inside logo.

@adriansdigitalbasement2 Год назад

Probably was "inspired" by Intel ... or could it be vice versa?

@50shadesofbeige88 Год назад

@@adriansdigitalbasement2 🤔🤔

@a4000t Год назад

someone had a bad idea hehe

@pjmtrmcjm Год назад

Cool!

@pizzablender Год назад

Reminds me of the "Apricot Portable" I once owned. Not PC compatible, terrible LCD, a 6801 8 bit CPU for voice recognition (it recognized the vowels in a word only) and infrared keyboard. Bought it at huge discount new (10% of list perhaps) and quickly got rid of it again.

@epindigozylacone5730 Год назад

I couldn't see exactly how you attempted to highlight text, but on many of those kind of computers you need to click on the text where you want to start highlighting text, and while holding down the mouse button, drag the pointer to the end of the section of text you want to highlight.

@computeraidedworld1148 Год назад

Interesting, I thought 3.31 was basically only ever used on the Compaq III.

@James_Ryan Год назад

I remember that video from CRD; as much as I enjoy his channel, he didn't live through the era of those devices he judges so harshly, hopefully your take on it will be a little more upbeat ;) I'm sure it will be, because as kids, we were grateful for any computer that came our way, especially those of us that were as poor as church mice.

@christodd3361 Год назад

I appreciate CRD’s youthful view on a lot of this - but you’re right, he doesn’t remember how there was a time when ANY computer was amazing and did it’s job as good as you allowed it to. People will still un-ironically using Apple IIs and 8088s in a non-retro setting when the Pentium was released. Technology moved so dang fast in those days - unless you were rich, it was simply impossible to keep up.

@BG101UK Год назад

6:48 The connector on the capture card is likely for additional inputs, maybe a plug with a bunch of RCA female jacks coming out. I have a BT848-based version which has this (although I can't find the cable). Mine supports 4 additional inputs (composite or S-Video IIRC). I'd like to see this working; maybe Linux will recognize it?

@retro-futuristicengineer Год назад

I can't find anything on the exact graphics chip in this machine, but considering this above-standard hi-res mode, I pretty much assume that this could be an ATI or Paradise CGA clone like the Commodore PC10/PC20 (-II ATI, -III Paradise) or Amstrad PC1512 (Paradise) used. This additionally supports Plantronics Colorplus modes, which provide 320x200 16 color and Hi-Res 4-Color that CGA did not have. Unfortunately, not compatible to Tandy or EGA graphics, there was a driver for GEM, Planet X3 was the first and long time only game to support this and now, there is also a driver for Sierra Gen.1 SCI games. I found a page that states the pinout of the mouse, showing an X1/X2 and Y1/Y2, which points to quadrature pulses like used for the Amiga or Atari mouse. So it could be that this thing can be driven using an adapter cable with an Amiga mouse or my project USB RetroARDUInput (introduction video to come soon, and I would be glad to send one of these to you for an upcoming mail call, just dropped you a message)

@adriansdigitalbasement2 Год назад

I wonder if that's how a bus mouse works? I actually never looked into it. I'll need to open this up to try to fix the hard drive, so I can look more likely at the video chip at that time. I'm not sure anyone has torn one of these down yet. :-)

@retro-futuristicengineer Год назад

@@adriansdigitalbasement2 I have googled Busmouse and it could well be one, except for the pinout that I found for the Explorer is totally different than for a Busmouse on the same connector. But the concept is the same as for Amiga and Atari, 2 Bit Gray Code (Quadrature code). They actually pass on the signals from the encoder wheel directly, which define speed and direction. The encoder wheels have two light barriers side by side which are either open or covered in the sequence 00-01-11-10 in one direction or 00-10-11-01 in the other direction. Buttons are direct pins with pull to ground on press. So it could likely be that, with a proper adapter cable, Busmouse, Explorer mouse, Atari and Amiga mouse (also different pinouts) and projects like the MouSTer or my RetroARDUInput are interchangable.

@douro20 Год назад

When did Blackmagic acquire da Vinci Systems?

@Hiraghm Год назад

I wonder if one of the two-slot adapters for the Tandy 1000ex/hx would work in this?

@DavidWonn Год назад

23:28 Something tells me that the Select Text button may be useful here. ;-)

@MonochromeWench Год назад

a custom riser card could give you a second 8bit isa slot. Will be tight for space You wouldn't want any tall components electrolytic caps on the cards to fit 2 cards in there

@Lachlant1984 Год назад

I think Cathode Ray Dude's computer didn't have a hard drive fitted to it, and I think he said the hard drive was not easy to find. Maybe there's just a loose connection between your hard drive and the computer, as well as the drive being old and probably very tired.

@awilliams1701 Год назад

In a database a formatted phone number is not a number. It's text. But you can store it as a number and display it formatted later. But I have no idea how this would do that.

@twocvbloke Год назад

Does seem like it should have a screen of somesort built in, yet it hasn't, very odd design, though its' overall shape does remind me of commodore breadbins, just much bigger... :P

@davidknoll Год назад

Looks like an Amstrad PPC512/640 without the screen

@evoelias6035 Год назад

be careful with older hard drives, not all of them park the head automatically on power off. In that case, the head may crash of you just turn off the power while the computer is running. The normal procedure for that type of drives is to use a utility that sends the appropiate shutdown command to the drive. I do not know dough, if your drive needs that. It will be interesting to "explore" the explorer some more. ---> see what i did there? 😁

@rager1969 Год назад

That blue on the Headstart's graphics doesn't look like a color available in CGA graphics.

@awilliams1701 Год назад

Turbo enabled usually slows down a computer (to 8088 speeds). Did you try turning it off?

@stefanegger Год назад

2:28 - I know🤣

@nebular-nerd Год назад

I wonder if the built in dos/gui would work on another system or emulator...

@coxyofnewp Год назад

Adrian !! Question, how much room have you got to live in, eg like a normal house and how much is just storage of all the amazing stuff you got,get and will get ? ps great vid as always !!

@adriansdigitalbasement2 Год назад

everything is self contained in the basement -- upstairs is a normal house. Well other than my office where I have shelves which have a good number of these nice machines on display. The clutter is all self contained to where I work though :-) I don't want my hobby to eat me out of house and home

@tjtarget2690 Год назад

Notification Squad! :)

@paulstubbs7678 Год назад

Sounds like a Miniscribe HDD

@ruben_balea Год назад

Of the early non-brick models.

@JamesBondJr Год назад

just paint it black or gray and use a label maker =]

@Slim_Chiply Год назад

Free the knobs!!!

@ultrametric9317 Год назад

NO, Adrian - it's $p$g with a SPACE after!

@ArneRagnarsson Год назад

I have exactly the same. But my label say's "Samsung Fold 4"🤣

@soteful9949 Год назад

2:29 that's what she said

@dhpbear2 Год назад

21:31 - You failed to type "EXIT" !

@xyberfunk Год назад

“Future Video” as in next week? Or next year? Lol

@espressomatic Год назад

Wait... How was this "a-head" of its time? An XT released in 1989? In an enclosure that made the 2 year old Amiga 500 (at the time) look like a pocket computer? Hahaha

@adriansdigitalbasement2 Год назад

Yeah the answer is definitely a big "NO"

@Dukefazon Год назад

20:19 - I don't have much to add to this, other than this GUI reminds me of the Amiga 500 Workbech 1.3 :) Question: How do you deal with all the projects that's lying around? I have a couple of computers to fix and parts to test, not nearly as many as you have but it's giving me existential dread :D

@adriansdigitalbasement2 Год назад

It probably ripped off Amiga OS! This thing came out pretty late, all things considered. As for projects, I just try to stay organized and then pick one and work on it. I'll be able to make videos forever at this point!

@a4000t Год назад

You become a slave to all the projects you have, get overwhelmed,start to dread it,then pick one to work on and realize you are beholden to itl for the rest of your life 🤣

@Thiesi Год назад

@@adriansdigitalbasement2 That's not a bad thing at all. You forever being able to make videos, I mean.

@bitwize Год назад

Don't be fooled. AmigaOS was leagues better than this garbage, even in the WB1.3 days. They may have indeed ripped it off though.

@AndyDo Год назад

Grant Petty is blushing somewhere in Melbourne and he doesn't know why.

@Mrshoujo Год назад

Get that hard drive copied!

@calvinthedestroyer Год назад

Nope, I think it's SCSI

@IkarusKommt Год назад

Please dump the ROMs if you are going to disassemble it.

@greenaum Год назад

If I were making an educational computer back then, it'd be some Z80 with 64K RAM and some off-the-shelf video chip. I certainly wouldn't clone the IBM PC, the most expensive, and most useless, educational computer around. Maybe Apple ][ would be an idea, since there was already stuff out for that, but Apple would likely sue you, not worth the bother trying to reverse-engineer their ROM. So I'd prob go for a simple Z80 and just include a bit of token educational stuff. If I were making an "educational" computer... to "help me with my homework", but really the kid's just gonna play games on it all day, I'd maybe do an MSX. They were available to license and had loads of software, nice chipset, you could surely knock up a few token adding-up games. Last thing I'd do is IBM PC though. All that cost, for useless ugly graphics and a chunky slow CPU, crappy ports of games, just... what's the point? Before you disagree, remember you're stuck in CGA-era PCs and the prices they sold for. Long before the era of the cheap clone with trimmed to the bone prices.