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Macintosh Classic II Brightness Issue

The Problem My Macintosh Classic II suffers from an issue where the display CRT goes dim after a few minutes on a cold boot. Every time it happens, I need to crank up the cut-off and brightness  pot behind the machine to show the image. The Analyze At first, I thought it must be the brightness issue, so I searched for the Macintosh Classic analog board schematic to check the brightness line. I found the schematic from Bomarc, and the schematic is suitable with my board, since there are two analog board versions.  I started to suspect the resistors and potentiometer on the brightness line. This Macintosh version has software-controlled brightness, so the analog board will get a 22.25 kHz square wave PBM signal from the logic board to control the brightness. I checked and replaced some resistors and cleaned the potentiometer, but nothing seems to work. The signal is there, and no sign of degradation that makes the screen dim after a few minutes.  Brightness Line So I suspec...
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iWoz Book

iWoz Book Cover An inspirational book and going to be one of my favorite books. An autobiography by Steve Wozniak, from when he was a child and became an inspirational engineer (of course billionaire) after he founded Apple Computer. As an engineer, I love Steve Wozniak more than Steve Jobs. He is a genius who always finds a simpler way to solve a problem, from simplifying an arcade game, standardizing a home computer with a monitor, designing a simple disk drive controller, innovating with universal remote control, etc.  A very recommended book, you can read some of the sample pages here . 

Fiberhome HG6145D2 Superadmin Login

Maybe some of you are using In**ehome ISP as your home internet and found out that using the provided login has minimal options to configure the router: user  user1234 I know it’s not the admin login, and that must be a full-control user account that can be used to control this router fully. So I searched and found some posts on the net and most of them are telling me to use: admin %0|F?H@f!berhO3e I tested it and it doesn’t work! But there’s more to it, you need to reset the router first by pressing the reset button on the side of the router. Then after resetting, you can log in using the admin superaccount! But keep in mind, never use the user log in again, because it will lock the super admin login until you reset the router again. Cheers 🍺

Apple Mechanical Keyboard Restoration

I got this beautiful old keyboard from my friend, it is an Apple mechanical keyboard from 1986. Why do I love this keyboard? because it’s mechanical, and I believe that a mechanical keyboard has a longer age than a membrane keyboard. The keycaps mostly use PBT plastic, but the plastic cover case and the space button are made with ABS plastic so they are yellowing over time. So I decided to restore the plastic using an H2O2 solution. Before Restoration This is the picture before the restoration PCB Inside The Cover Apply 12% H2O2 Solution Result I got no photos of the keyboard being under the sun, so here is the result after a couple of hours under the sun. Maybe it can be more white, but the current weather is cloudy and not very good for retrobrighting, maybe I need a UV light to do indoor retrobrighting.

Macintosh Classic II Restoration

28 April 2023 I found a nice and complete collection of Macintosh Classic II. It included the Mac itself, keyboard, mouse, and an external 800k drive. Someone sold this thing on Instagram, and then I contacted the seller to ask about its condition. He said that it was first hand from his uncle and last January 2023 it was tested okay and running. But currently, he didn’t have the power cord to test it. So I decided to gamble to buy this old machine, I hope that the internal battery is not leaked or better it has already been removed. It was manufactured in October 1991, which was before I was born 🤣 After dealing with the price and shipping charges, it then shipped with cargo to Yogyakarta from Bandung. My concerns were the internal battery and the CRT. I hope the CRT is not broken by the shipping. He said that he added more plastic wrap to protect the CRT. 1 May 2023 At noon around 1 PM, I was contacted by the cargo courier that they will send a package to my home, and they need me t...

Viewsonic VX2418 Clamshell Mode on Macbook

Saya menggunakan monitor external ViewSonic VX2418 yang terhubung ke Macbook Pro M1 saya. Sewaktu screen mirroring tidak ada masalah, namun ketika macbook saya tutup layarnya (clamshell mode), monitor external saya kemudian menunjukan error Out Of Range. Error ini biasanya terjadi karena ketidak cocokan resolution, color profile, refresh rate, dsb. Percobaan Pertama Saya yakin bahwa bukan masalah power issue, tapi saya tidak bisa melakukan config resolution dsb tersebut. Maka dari itu saya kepikiran untuk melakukan extend monitor ke iPad saya. Ketika ditutup, layar Viewsonic akan muncul Out Of Range, namun kemudian saya bisa melakukan config di layar iPad saya. Namun sayangnya, ketika iPad saya disconnect, layar ViewSonic akan kembali menampilkan Out Of Range.  Percobaan Kedua Setelah itu saya kepikiran untuk melakukan instalasi TeamViewer. Ketika layar MacBook saya closed, layar akan kembali Out Of Range. Namun saya bisa melakukan config via TeamViewer. Akhirnya layar ViewSonic sa...

Memperbaiki Keyboard Logitech K120

Sudah berbulan - bulan keyboard saya ini bermasalah pada huruf B dan tombol `,1 dan 2. Tapi karena belum ada waktu untuk membongkar jadi saya biarkan. Sampai hari ini tanggal 20 Oktober 2021, mumpung hari libur dan selo, saya putuskan untuk membongkar keyboard ini. Sesuai dugaan keyboard ini menggunakan plastik sebagai membran saklarnya.  Setelah saya telusuri, ternyata tombol untuk huruf B, `,1, dan 2 itu berada pada satu jalur. Mereka semuanya mati, dan setelah saya telusuri dan mencopot PCB yang ada di pojok kanan atas, pad nya menggunakan karbon sebagai media konduktif dari membran ke PCB. Sepertinya karbonnya sudah aus karena umur, maka dari itu saya putuskan untuk menggosok karbonnya hingga kelihatan pad tembaganya sehingga dapat langsung terhubung ke membran seperti foto dibawah ini Akhirnya semuanya kembali normal, dan saya menggunakan keyboard tersebut untuk menulis artikel ini.