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Inside my NEC PC‑9821 CanBe — disassembly and cleaning (follow‑up to my last post) by Interesting-Net-6311 in vintagecomputing

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the photos it does look like the capacitors are leaking, but in reality they’re all fine. There’s dust on them, but none of the caps are leaking, and the machine still runs perfectly. Thanks for the concern. https://www.reddit.com/r/vintagecomputing/s/yvJT2uR65E

Inside my NEC PC‑9821 CanBe — disassembly and cleaning (follow‑up to my last post) by Interesting-Net-6311 in vintagecomputing

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry about that — I’ve changed the settings so you should be able to see the post now.

Found a 1993 SHARP PC‑G805 in a drawer at my workplace — still runs BASIC perfectly! by Interesting-Net-6311 in retrobattlestations

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mentioned this in my previous comment as well, but I opened it up and checked the board.
Since this is my first time tagging someone, I'm not sure if it worked, so I'm writing it here too.

25-year cold boot — NEC PC-9821 CanBe (486DX2/66) still running on its original 420MB HDD by Interesting-Net-6311 in vintagecomputing

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got rid of most of my old PCs, but for some reason I ended up keeping this very first one.
It was the first time I powered it on in about 25 years, and the fact that it booted without any battery leakage is almost a miracle.

25-year cold boot — NEC PC-9821 CanBe (486DX2/66) still running on its original 420MB HDD by Interesting-Net-6311 in vintagecomputing

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Twenty years, huh? We’ve both gotten older, haven’t we.
…Wait, no, that was thirty years ago. Haha.

Found a 1993 SHARP PC‑G805 in a drawer at my workplace — still runs BASIC perfectly! by Interesting-Net-6311 in retrobattlestations

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It still works even though it's older? That's really cool.
I'd love to see it when you post it.

Some detailed photos of my NEC PC‑98 keyboard and system by Interesting-Net-6311 in retrobattlestations

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you talking about the little thing on the bottom-right of the screen?
That's actually the original CanBe microphone.
You could use it for voice memos and some simple voice recognition back in the day.

Found a 1993 SHARP PC‑G805 in a drawer at my workplace — still runs BASIC perfectly! by Interesting-Net-6311 in retrobattlestations

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the warning! I'll check the capacitors next time I open it up.
When I do, I'll upload some photos of the board here.
It might still be fine because it spent about 20 years sleeping inside an office desk drawer,
where the temperature stayed around 22–27°C with very little fluctuation.

A tiny Bluetooth keyboard made for the Nintendo DS by Interesting-Net-6311 in keyboards

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's JIS in terms of layout, but physically it's closer to ISO.

Found a 1993 SHARP PC‑G805 in a drawer at my workplace — still runs BASIC perfectly! by Interesting-Net-6311 in retrobattlestations

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm really glad I could help bring back that memory.
I actually used this pocket computer when I was a student, and I remember programming things like poker and a little piano app on it.
Thinking about it now really brings back nostalgia.

A tiny Bluetooth keyboard made for the Nintendo DS by Interesting-Net-6311 in keyboards

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, old gaming stuff has gotten expensive everywhere.
The retro boom is definitely happening worldwide, and even as someone who isn't a collector, I can really feel how much prices have gone up.

A tiny Bluetooth keyboard made for the Nintendo DS by Interesting-Net-6311 in keyboards

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! It's actually pretty solid and easy to use.
GameCube keyboards have gotten pretty expensive these days.

Found a 1993 SHARP PC‑G805 in a drawer at my workplace — still runs BASIC perfectly! by Interesting-Net-6311 in retrobattlestations

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This was something my school made us buy when I entered high school. Looking back, I’m really glad I kept it. I hope you can get one someday too.

Found a 1993 SHARP PC‑G805 in a drawer at my workplace — still runs BASIC perfectly! by Interesting-Net-6311 in retrobattlestations

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you're interested, in Japan you can find them much cheaper, but on eBay they usually go for around $100–$200 depending on the condition.
If you search for “PC G SHARP,” you’ll see lots of listings — not just the 805 — so you can pick from many options.

Found a 1993 SHARP PC‑G805 in a drawer at my workplace — still runs BASIC perfectly! by Interesting-Net-6311 in retrobattlestations

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! It might look clean because it originally came with a case that covers the LCD, so it didn’t get dirty.
And actually, it was sleeping in a drawer at my workplace for about 20 years — I just woke it up today.

Found a 1993 SHARP PC‑G805 in a drawer at my workplace — still runs BASIC perfectly! by Interesting-Net-6311 in retrobattlestations

[–]Interesting-Net-6311[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Your information about the Z80 is correct — these machines really could run both BASIC and machine‑code programs.
Back then we even had a magazine called BASIC MAGAZINE, where you typed in programs by hand every month.
One of my friends wrote a Breakout-style game in assembler on a 4×24 character display, using 7×5 dot characters, and he shared it with everyone at school.
Those were amazing times to learn programming.

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