15/02/2024
Well, I have what is an otherwise beautifully working, green phosphor monitor to go with my Apple IIe, after repairing the bezel hinge for the swivel display that got crushed, because FedEx did what they do best, and in spite of the seller practically putting it in over a foot deep of sarcophagus of bubble wrap in all sides, it appears that FedEx shipped it with the weight of a car on top, causing the whole chassis to compress, ensuring not one single crt makes it through unscathed, regardless of how well it’s packed. So,.. I reconstructed the bezel hinge,… with cardboard and Elmer’s glue, the best I could,… fortunately while the rest of chassis was bent, the exterior case didn’t break,.. and lined back up after reassembly. Kind of a shame,.. though this was untested unit, the unit would have otherwise been practically almost brand new old stock condition, because the electronics inside are the cleanest I’ve ever even seen in an electronic of this vintage, and quite apparent that relatively very few hours have been run in it, as the phosphor is extremely bright, and not so much as a smudge of dust cooked on the neck where the electron gun lives. Anyway,.. I reckon I’ll just have to live knowing the bezel hinge is busted, unless I can source a brand new manufactured one. Happy to have it regardless,… and this is the first time I’ve laid eyes, in person, on a green phosphor display, in over 20 years, and I love it! By the way,.. I’ll be posting a video on the YouTube about the whole situation,… and for the most part,… I got stupid lucky, I’ve seen worse shipping horror stories, and that considering I got a mega bargain gambling on untested units, I still got both up and working with relatively little effort,… I got stupid lucky in that way too. Also,.. subsequently, in short order, I’ll be posting a video update about the Teddy Ruxpin I’m restoring, for sale, outfitted with a full smartphone, media/AI chatbot Bluetooth kit,… enabling you to play any media you want, wirelessly, with the animatronic animation, or have two way conversations over Chat GPT or Replika type Apps of your choice,… and an AC/DC power supply, outfitted with alligator clips to affix to the power terminals, in the advent that the user doesn’t want to necessarily spend a fortune on C batteries, and provide the option to power their soft-hacked, but physically unmodified Teddy from mains,….. (which is awesome sauce). Basically, this will be a really good condition Teddy Ruxpin with box, boxed airship book and tapes, and whole care package of a kit that gives you the ability to swap between stock modality Teddy, that plays original WoW tapes,… or interface with Teddy using contemporary remote Bluetooth devices, or persay,… hypothetically back up your Wow tapes to digital format and remotely play them over Bluetooth as to not put needless wear on the tapes, use mains for power,… you probably get the picture,… I’ll explain more in the video, and when Teddy’s finally finished,.. he’ll be available on eBay. Part of the hold up has been waiting on hardware to complete the kit, and my practically debilitating ADHD, no less, either. I’m back in the zone though,.. and I’m gonna push myself to try to fix up, hack hardware, or do something or another, try to start posting videos most days, about whatever I happen to be working on at any given moment, and making some, not all, completed projects available, for sale on eBay; and I’ll try to make ‘Tinker Teddy’ kits available there intermittently, as much as I can practically put them together. There’s gonna be a bunch of apple iie videos too, as I obtain upgrades to install on the system. Meanwhile, I’m gonna have dinner and let my camera batteries charge back up, and get the last necessary shots to slap those couple videos up. Tina Michael Tom Lieber