BigBadBiologist

Big Bad Biologist. Doggo daddo. Alliteration Aficionado. (I'm a retro computing enthusiast that livestreams a lot of my restoration work, normally at noon eastern on Saturdays)

My Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BigBadBench

Public Key

npub1dtx0z92ukvdaxu2sata0zhakskm9r3rft56pqnw543pmexvh0hzq0q5uhl

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsx4n83z4wtxx7nw9gw47h3t7mgtdj3c3546dqsfh22csaunxthm3qpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qz9rhwden5te0wfjkccte9ejxzmt4wvhxjmcahk90u

Publishing to

relay.mostr.pub

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1dtx0z92ukvdaxu2sata0zhakskm9r3rft56pqnw543pmexvh0hzq0q5uhl

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Last Notes

2026-07-21 20:42:34 GMT

Grrr. As if doing a hard drive swap in a G3 iBook isn’t bad enough, there’s a leaky super cap waiting.
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/116/959/907/095/044/824/original/d392f36aa3360cbc.jpeg

2026-07-10 13:58:05 GMT

Does anyone happen to have v 7.0 control panel for the Macintosh Display Card 8-24 GC? I'm trying to get this one working, but it is missing two impossible to find cache chips. V 7.0 supposedly doesn't use the cache as opposed to v 7.0.1 which is more easy to find. #vintagemacintosh
https://savagetaylor.com/TIL/TIL10405.pdf
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/116/896/029/262/989/452/original/b490434e2908b219.png

2026-06-24 23:42:11 GMT

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I counted, and it was 492 balls

2026-06-24 00:04:43 GMT

I've never reballed a chip. I don't have a stencil. I don't have a heater to do this properly. But I need to re-468-ball this Intel 440BX northbridge, so come point and laugh as I struggle Wednesday at 3:00 EDT. https://youtube.com/live/7jRdGk2TU-s?feature=share
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/116/802/157/102/310/997/original/353f167f0d3b03ec.png

2026-06-09 00:35:30 GMT

Anyone up for a game of “Name That Slot?”

2026-05-29 20:02:11 GMT

We successfully overclocked the 214MHz G3 upgrade to 264MHz, but I feel like it's being held back by the 30/33MHz bus of the Power Mac 6100. Let's see if we can get that a little higher (hopefully 40MHz) Saturday at noon EDT. #vintagemacintosh https://youtube.com/live/oceXtA9eSOo?feature=share
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/116/659/645/904/795/225/original/91e1484ac2d7bf18.png

2026-05-08 21:04:38 GMT

On Saturday's noon stream, we'll do some work on this lot of #vintagemac computers that I paid $200 for: a decent LC575, a juicy IIci, and a Quadra 610 that I haven't looked at yet. And we need to pick the winner of the POOci! https://youtube.com/live/exViLaaT8IY?feature=share
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/116/540/982/382/120/069/original/c9a6bb6d199f943f.png

2026-04-07 23:16:02 GMT

#VintageMac I picked up this Macintosh IIci to do a giveaway for hitting 2048 subscribers. But when we opened it, it was mouse-bombed. YT short showing the mess and beginning of cleanup: https://youtube.com/shorts/ShWveHI-jeU?si=hygENrd_4jIpTm9p
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/116/365/967/928/996/557/original/caffc3c7f05ee043.jpeg

2026-04-05 17:34:07 GMT

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This is peak computing #commodore
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/116/353/297/441/229/822/original/79fa227c820214ad.jpeg

2026-04-03 23:07:23 GMT

On Saturday's noon EDT stream, we're going to build a Monotech MOS 8501 CPU replacement to see if it will fix my Commodore Plus 4. Then we're going to to do some chill CPU pin straightening and try to repair a forgetful ASUS A7V400-MX for @npub144h…4udn https://youtube.com/live/mJa62tYHN4E?feature=share
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/116/343/284/267/730/547/original/f64cf906a9e3623c.png

2026-03-06 12:10:28 GMT

My first #marchintosh stream of the month! Let's try to repair a couple of Quadra 660av logic boards and try video input with them through my Mavica. Also, I want to show off what I have learned about this Sierra Video Systems Delta rack thing. (Noon EST on the 7th) https://youtube.com/live/-d5jHDI0XBg?feature=share

2026-03-02 20:02:21 GMT

#marchintosh present for my Quadra 950: Upgrade to 192MB of RAM. Is it stupid? Yes. Am I mad that I didn’t buy one more set to bring it to 256? Also yes.
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/116/161/363/182/673/359/original/54464becf1765cd3.jpeg

2026-01-26 17:40:27 GMT

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SPARCstation LX all up and running off of BlueSCSI. Used a CD image and reinstalled Solaris 2.3. Still a lot to learn about Solaris.
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/115/962/623/806/529/417/original/418bc4c7c8e66c65.jpeg
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/115/962/624/148/534/932/original/6feb04bce8fe92d7.jpeg

2026-01-22 12:33:25 GMT

It’s going to be too cold in my workshop Saturday to be able to stream at my normal time, so I’ll be streaming Friday at 3:00PM EST to hopefully finish the clear SPARCstation LX. #vintagecomputing https://www.youtube.com/live/wLzeJat5S7k?si=sApEtsT-tpyG6G7l
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/115/938/766/556/848/926/original/24b8a8b02c42699d.png

2026-01-10 08:06:23 GMT

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*thonk* you can put so many old Macs in this bad boy’s trunk

2026-01-07 16:34:06 GMT

Shoot. I picked up a Laser 128 locally so I could pull Gate Array 1 and try it on Javier’s 128 EX/2, but I didn’t realize that there is a very old version of the board that is very different from the schematics in v2 of the tech manual. Anyone looking for an early Laser 128?
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/115/854/778/898/116/074/original/e3c0a715c6737354.jpeg

2025-12-30 22:01:41 GMT

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I mean relative to the time … 🤷‍♂️

2025-12-25 21:16:36 GMT

On Saturday's noon EST stream, the main goal is to put un-fake cache chips on a PCCHIPS 486 motherboard. I also have another 486 board of dubious origin and some potentially fake 287 chips to check out. Plus, a parallel to SD adapter that @npub1avf…mwrj sent me! https://youtube.com/live/A-o4OqtLDZU?feature=share
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/115/782/280/043/716/265/original/436c0ab429cfc489.png

2025-10-15 01:02:27 GMT

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39 trace repairs, RTC and battery back on and it’s testing perfect!
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/115/375/481/849/374/476/original/f8fc574d8ed82adf.jpeg
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/115/375/481/872/975/641/original/bf66e034023759d2.jpeg

2025-10-12 20:21:04 GMT

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Spent some time before and during @npub1rrn…ghpn ‘s stream today working on the Classic. We’re up to 31 trace repairs with caps and CPU back on. Working fine! (Still need to wire up the RTC) #VintageMac
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/115/363/049/058/158/528/original/56e2efe19d56ad2c.jpeg
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/115/363/049/911/970/976/original/681a585f3cb000b0.jpeg
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2025-10-12 13:20:59 GMT

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At the end of yesterday’s stream, we only got 19 bodges done, but a lot of the work went into exposing traces and clearing out vias.
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/115/361/399/075/122/811/original/d8d54fb9fb70c869.jpeg
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/115/361/399/051/255/689/original/7ab0b2bf15ca2b1c.jpeg

2025-10-10 20:48:13 GMT

I'm a sucker for an underdog, so Saturday's noon eastern stream will be trying to repair this battery-ravaged Macintosh Classic. https://youtube.com/live/R5UQ4VAwwuU?feature=share
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/115/351/832/817/323/750/original/3b463ba50c30cc0d.png

2025-08-08 11:29:44 GMT

On Saturday's (9th) noon eastern stream, we will continue the Mac IIci repairathon. Last week, we got 1 of the 4 boards working. I've done a little work and found the issues with board #2 and that #4 is unrepairable. Let's futz with ROMs to finish #2 and see about #3. #vintagemac https://youtube.com/live/6jv02oyM7lY?feature=share
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/114/992/910/857/879/356/original/9d5c8bd4c5f99ab5.png

2025-06-10 22:31:36 GMT

My workshop is too full, so I need to get some stuff ready to sell at MIT Swapfest this weekend. Let's triage these three compact Macintoshes (SE/30 and 2x Mac Plus) to see if we can get any of them ready for sale. I'll go over what you should look for before you power up a newly-purchased one of these. Wednesday (11th) at 3:30PM eastern. #vintagemac https://youtube.com/live/dyQ9PfyYWlo?feature=share
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/114/661/436/365/157/508/original/0ecc98c82924c0e6.png

2025-04-18 15:07:35 GMT

Super excited to get to work on this Commordore PC 20-III that I picked up locally this week! How much NiCad damage is there? Let's find out Saturday (19th) at noon eastern. #commodore #vintagePC https://youtube.com/live/cRFRct1TisY?feature=share
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/114/359/587/520/673/332/original/1e556daa92ff27d8.png

2025-04-09 16:47:21 GMT

I just picked up a Mac SE/30 for $100. Let's pop it open and see what horrors await inside. I'll also do a little recap (get it?) of the fun of VCF East including my table collapse! Thursday (10th) at 4:00PM eastern (I won't have a Saturday stream this week). #vintagemac https://youtube.com/live/L8UoYkGAqEc?feature=share
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/114/309/018/924/250/737/original/7c847d7a8c240642.png

2025-02-26 14:43:28 GMT

The Abomination is back on the BigBadBench today (LC575 innards in a wood case wired up to both LC575 / Color Classic / Mac TV and Performa 630 / 6200 / 6500 connectors)
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/114/070/716/790/277/416/original/7be27ee52c24e78f.jpeg

2025-02-20 23:05:38 GMT

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I don’t remember exactly but maybe 3 days. I remember a big freeze that came through and needed to get my parts out before that happened.

2025-02-20 15:51:28 GMT

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It looks pretty good. I never took great color matched photos, but here's an example before and after.
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/114/037/007/428/508/998/original/cd890b39ba62958a.png
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/114/037/007/491/716/786/original/ea6e4cb957a41035.png

2025-02-20 14:14:17 GMT

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And was surprised by the results… https://youtube.com/shorts/z_CNy2Lj43k?feature=share

2025-02-20 14:13:45 GMT

It’s getting close to #marchintosh! A couple years ago, I tried “snowbrighting”.
https://youtube.com/shorts/WbhN0LE5GNc?feature=share

2024-11-02 12:25:59 GMT

#vintagemac #vintagecomputing Today at noon eastern we'll "downgrade" my Ryzen streaming PC for better retro usage. We'll also revisit the Macintosh IIvx / PPC upgrade card that chimed and then didn't last week. https://youtube.com/live/7Rq9H65VIP0?feature=share
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/113/413/347/715/475/186/original/db69af18a95a2a2f.png

2024-09-01 14:20:39 GMT

Were Commodore 64c keyboards carpeted? #c64
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/113/062/735/379/083/642/original/3ef54e05760b105e.jpeg
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/113/062/735/503/775/278/original/361fbfdfc4bc6447.jpeg
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/113/062/735/321/488/859/original/81e0b27ab1cfe62e.jpeg

2024-08-23 22:46:39 GMT

I'll be back streaming Saturday at noon eastern trying to revive two dead 486 motherboards and unmangle two 486 DX4/overdrive CPUs. #vintagecomputing #vintagePC https://youtube.com/live/Ea28liiuRKs?feature=share
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/113/013/762/450/048/520/original/a10d1907dd438b59.png

2024-07-19 23:27:39 GMT

Saturday at noon eastern we'll recap the Classic II logic board that I started working on last week and pop open a couple Sega Game Gears to see what kind of cap mess is inside. I've never worked on a Game Gear, so this should be fun! https://youtube.com/live/2Axn3BZSODc?feature=share

2024-05-27 00:50:19 GMT

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I should mention that this system was given to me by @npub1wa0…x472
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/112/510/305/069/422/425/original/fbb8eb8441b940ef.jpeg

2024-05-26 20:58:19 GMT

Some before and after shots of the Power Mac 7100 I’ve been working on 1 of 2. #VintageMac
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/112/509/392/411/060/751/original/ca4b243fa570e0da.jpeg
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/112/509/392/390/031/844/original/20e1d3d062a7bb6e.jpeg
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2024-05-15 00:12:27 GMT

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Tech Ambrosia’s board may have chimed. #streamingundertheinfluence #imanidiot
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/112/442/202/238/940/793/original/8b7334eb2e35c227.jpeg

2024-05-13 20:59:18 GMT

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Lol. There were some folks sweating on last weekend's stream! Reminder: never repeat anything that you see me do on my streams! ⚡
@npub1vnx…n0j3 @npub1awr…exyq @npub1lsg…7m6c @npub1zvy…9ear @npub1ac3…lkw8
@npub1tgc…led9 @npub185e…v2u3
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/112/435/779/627/790/189/original/eba2ad41602ffa34.png

2024-05-10 23:24:50 GMT

On Saturday's noon eastern stream, we're going to try to get @npub1vnx…n0j3 's Macintosh Centris 610 running. #vintageMac https://youtube.com/live/Ox59SQe73qY?feature=share
https://files.bitbang.social/media_attachments/files/112/419/371/938/296/640/original/6ea3dcc46552b4ac.png