14” HDD, 8” HDD, and 8” FDD All Working! 

Somebody casually reverse engineered an entire board so somebody else could casually probe it to determine, oh, it's this chip. Some rabbits may have been involved.

This was was a particularly interesting video because I watched it with my dad who , in the late 70s (before I came along), he worked in a clean room assembling massive platter HDDs for Hewlett-Packard. At the time he had just been accepted to Washington State University's College of Veterinary Medicine. A few years later I was born and of course his DVM program took more and more of his time. Can't remember exactly how long he worked in assembly, but he started in the shipping department and was pulled aside by a supervisor and asked if he'd be interested in the new position, which paid much better. I believe they were using 14" platters at the time. Low and behold, he could never imagined that 44 years later he'd be watching RU-vid with his son and sharing memories of building these massive drives. Ironically, dad's not a "computer guy" at all and has been a dedicated vet for nearly 40 years. It was just a transitional job for him, but one he brings up often.

I can't believe how far you've come with this project. Awesome work, to all involved.

Amazing to see this thing being close to fully operational. You're either incredibly lucky or these old machines are extremely resilient for age. Having knowledgeable people definitely goes a long way.

Congratulations David (and team). Big day to get a fully-working Centurion system finally up and running as designed. Seeing the Finch reading and writing without error was something I wasn't sure we'd see. Looking forward to doing the same with the Phoenix. Well done!

Oh man, huge thanks to Marc for hooking you up!

Sometimes, *paper* books 📚 offer a *support* that no other format can provide (9:58) 😁

Your tenacity and perseverance is admirable and inspirational 😊

I understand maybe 10% of the technical aspects, but 100% of the enthusiasm comes through.

I'm not into computers at all, but none the less I find this channel very interesting to follow.

Wonderful. A day when Usagi uploads is a good day

I had a boss that used to say "problems that go away alone come back with company" (in a tentative translation from Portuguese where alone means without company but also means without cause).

That schematic by Masaka is a work of art and absolutely NEEDS to be turned into a wall poster, oh my god!

I have no idea what’s going on but I like it.

I love how all the tech channels nerd out together... I adore curious marc channel too.

Oh, that CRT takes me back to 1985, you can see the character cells burnt into the screen

Your persistence in fixing problems is an inspiration to anyone who has a problem with a computer or any other machine. It's hard to keep going when things don't work and your fix just reveals more problems.

When you walk away in frustration at 21:25 part of me was halfway expecting "HaHaHaHa Just kidding" to appear on the monitor at 21:30 and then it starts working.

Great work! You've made some amazing progress with this machine! Honestly, when I first saw it, I thought it was a basket case. But you've managed to repair pretty much everything you've set your mind to, which is an awesome achievement! Hopefully you can find something interesting in all that source code and other data, and I can't wait to see what you're going to work on next!

A rollercoaster retro ride today 😊 Love watching you figure out all these issues to get these lovely old beasts working 😊 Many thanks!

One of these days I'll have to put together some kind of paper on my method of reverse engineering circuit boards of this era. I got my hands on an early '80s smart meter and accompanying field test terminal (something to do when lockdown mania swept across the country), and with this method, I was able to make node charts that allowed me to make accurate schematics of all the boards in both.

Woohoo! Awesome you got the Finch working! I have to admit, there is a part of me that really, really, really wants to see that Phoenix up and running. Couldn't really say why... maybe just because it looks so cool. :)

"That's a new one. I don't know what it means." The mantra of every computer geek everywhere.

What I like about you and your videos is you never give up!

I burst out laughing at "...and the Finch is still working ohhhoohoh Finch is NOT WORKING. WHAT." lmao rip your sanity

dear david, I AM AT THE EDGE OF MY SEAT THIS IS AMAZING kindest regards

Nice work It was good seeing all the drives working. Thanks for the videos.

Just discovered you and watched Centurion episodes 1-14 in pretty much one sitting. ep 15 is next, but thought I'd put a comment on this one so you might see it amoungst the 100s. I have always loved seeing old computers being saved (similar with old cars, like I see you also have), but I'm especially loving seeing you going a level further and trying to bring the mini computer back to life (with astonishing dedication). I'm "1977" and "cut my teeth" on an Acorn Electron 32k in the early-mid 1980's (think I spotted one on the shelf in the background of two of your vids?). Back then your Centurion would have blown my mind with it's whopping 256k of RAM, and hard drives when all I had was cassettes, and I had barely heard of a floppy never mind a hard drive... One of the best things about what you're doing is not only about saving the hardware, or even bringing the thing back to life and even more - saving the soft OS , - it's that you're documenting it all, AND doing it on video (is video an archaic term yet?). This footage could possibly now last for the future of the human race, - and it's great material for future generations. Also, (and I don't want to give you a big head here), but you do present well and are easy to watch and listen to (when you have your "Ed China" hair trimmed down a bit at least!) You are also enguaging with current interested proper "boffins" which is also great for everyone, and big kudos to them too for getting involved and sharing their magic. Wish I had your level of knowledge and expertise in the electronic area. I've soldered up a few projects in my teens for my various Amigas, but I was just following schematics and never had much clue about how they worked. Still, I'm learning a few bits and pieces from you and different ways of looking at things from your vids so thank you for sharing the love and knowledge, - looking forward to catching up on the rest of the series. ETX (0x03)

You got quite a bit of work ahead of you. Can't wait till you have the full centurion experience.

I'm super happy that RU-vid has recommended one of your videos a while ago. This channel is one of my favorites and I love your content - maybe it has also to do with your moments of desperation? Don't mean it the mean way ;) Nasty little jumpers. Man these tiny little pieces of doom had driven me nuts in the past. Whether it was a bad configuration on a motherboard or a false label on a drive. Please keep on, this stuff is highly entertaining :D

This is fantastic! Please back up everything from the finch drive to the hawk drive. The finch drive may be marginal - some mechanical component is possibly worn out or fouled so it may stop working permanently at any time.

Amazing journey - so glad I've been here from the beginning! EDIT: Mei-chan is so cute! 🐶

It's amazing to look back at these old machines and realise just how far we've come in terms of technology, so much that the machine itself can be emulated in a Web browser.

Usagi Electric will soon have a full-fledged professional business system. 🙂

You're getting closer to finishing up the Centurion computer. It's always great to see it all go together.

Amazing the time and effort you spend into getting this old system up and running,., well done🎉🎉🎉

curious marc is amazing ! you guys must have had an great time.

I was suspecting either jumpers or terminators when one worked but the other didn't and vice versa.

Aww cute rabbit! Amazing work on the drives too! Glad you got them working!

Puppy! Love what you're doing with this machine and it's counterfeit brother. Getting this thing "period correct" and working has been a true labor of love.

An awesome colab I did not expect but welcome.

Strangely excited for the printer, in fact I have been since I saw it in your garage unloaded. Great work!

Fantastic video bro!

Very nice to see your successful progress on this vintage computer :)

Epic win and epic t-shirt!! 😀

I used to use a desoldering iron just like that. Those things worked better than you might think. The suction was instant, and quick. If you were good with it, it generally worked on the first suck. In fact, i need to find a new one and buy it. While i have solder suckers, wick, and hot air guns, there's something about that suction bulb that just works. I mean that thing was my bread and butter for close to a year.

I have that same Radio Shack desoldering iron and used it a lot. I used to keep an old metal coffee can next to my desk for blowing out the solder. It works well enough, but that squeeze bulb would make my hands sore after desoldering parts for an hour or two.

I saw this thumbnail... instantly got excited. And I know why. It is your enthusiasm when you get a win.

Great Work!

Reminds me of the old Cromenco with 8” HDD we had in the lab

Congrats brother!

Wooo... that looks so much nicer than my manual non-electric solder sucker. I've been eyeing up a Hakko but those far exceed my cost/benefit.

That was wonderful. Thank you so much.

Yay more centurion! Also i bought that shirt a week ago and it should be shipping to me soon!

You are a legend yourself! 😊

Mr Usagi could probably have a channel just with animal clips

Love that Radio Shack iron. Solder suckers don't work for me, wick only works with my bench iron (which has the thermal mass), and the motorized ones are just too pricey for my limited desoldering. It fits in the middle well. And congrats on getting the FFC and drives sorted. Marc sent that 8" HP to a good home. 🙂

Much progress, few repairs. Good stuff.

bus collision...great fun in over loaded Tbase2 coaxial office networks

Fantastic job everyone!!!

EPIC!

Ha, the Radial Ready was actually my guess as soon as you said it was a jumper setting

Though I am not knowledgeable in this area, but am said to be highly analytical while finding solutions beyond regarded as normal that makes things work that were given up, I enjoy your videos very much.

Getting the best possible use out of printed documentation at 9:59.

Sitting here, typing on my humble laptop, all I can think is "I wish this laptop was a rack-mounted mini-system"

I literally cheered 😂😂

This is AWESOME !!!!!!

I'm there watching, thinking stop talking, quick, get it backed up and talk after, knowing it could die any second, perhaps for the last time. Well done for making a successful backup.

I said "termination" repeatedly when the disks were conflicting. Seems like you heard me :) Well sorta termination, or not quite, but still, something jumper-resistor thingy :)

A wonderful series of videos about the centurion. I watch everything with pleasure. When will we see IBM360 in your garage?))

@20:00 So the FFC has jumperless software configurable drives? Pretty cool for the 70s. @23:40 nope. lol.

you need to write(port) xmodem for the centurion. Or even better zmodem.

Radio Shack desoldering iron fan boy here! Mine still works after all this time; I just wish I could find a source for the desoldering iron tips, now that Radio Shack is basically Kaput.

Yes, I bet it does feel like you're chasing your tail on some of these repairs!

"Never give up! Never surrender!" 😀🎉

Sounds like that half-height 8" floppy drive would be a good candidate for your secondary system to take to shows. Any progress on mobile rack v2.0 ?

Ooh, did you film a video together with curiousmarc? That would be awesome!

i wish you did a little high pich filter at around 15:00, it was a little uncomfy, other that that i love the video 😊

Always forget the radial ready jumper on my SD card.

Keep fighting that entropy

Always fun.

hey I am back and I must say you are still doeing great

Epic win indeed! Great to see your progress, I'm so happy to watch things go in the desired direction :). Ah, replacing IDC connectors by hand! Been there, done it.

I’m curious. What would this system cost when it was new? In a similar configuration to what you have now? Anyway, I really enjoy your videos!! Thank you!

congratulations! Amazing work! May the drive previously overheated or something of that sort?

Awesome

Nodemcu wifi Modem into one of the serial ports will allow external developers to run code directly on your machine. And give you text Internet access. Might be worth spending $20 setting it up

Your assistant at 26:37

Amazing! So what can one do with this - does it have a compiler?

Great!!!

Interesting video, cute animals 😊

I mean I have seen that kind of q tip before. They were sold as paint chip brushes for car paint. Right?

Great stuff, thanks. When do you reckon you’re get around to looking at Vintage Geeks drive you took away a couple of a months ago? Al

Congrats Dave! Good job. Did you go to VCFMW this weekend?

great !!! :)

Wasn't that RX2 jumper setting used for IBM PC compatible mode? As the PC way of talking to the floppy didn't care about any drive select at all?

This was such a trip down memory lane. First TeraTerm, I had forgotten it even existed it was so long ago that I used it. Then the IDC cable, I have done that so many times.

I just discovered your channel a few days ago and I absolutely love this type of troubleshooting and exploration of old tech. When I saw you'd visited the brilliant CuriousMarc, I knew I'd found a new favorite channel. Subscribed!

Woot!

Great you got it working 🙂 Didn't you have a second finch drive to fix ?? How is that doing? It would be great if you could demo how the Centurion OS was actually used "in anger" to do something... is that something you could do?