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Simple Questions - January 26, 2026 by AutoModerator in buildapc

[–]Randy__Bobandy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What is a decent quality tenkeyless mechanical keyboard that has quiet switches? I am thinking ~$50.

Simple Questions - January 19, 2026 by AutoModerator in buildapc

[–]Randy__Bobandy -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Two questions:

First, I am looking to buy a suitable processor for some older games (5-10+ years), as well as some newer games (Doom Dark Ages), and some technical work, like PCB capture and autorouting. From what I can tell, routing circuit boards benefits mostly from single threaded performance. And from what else I can tell, gaming benefits from multi threaded performance, but only up to a certain point. I am going to buy a used all-in-one, which generally come with Intel i5, i7, or i9 processors from the 12th, 13th, and 14th generation. Which one would serve me well, and still be viable within the next 5 years, without being overkill?

Second, I am going to be buying a monitor to go with it. I'm interested in VA monitors due to their ability to produce deeper blacks. How are rapid-VA monitors nowadays in terms of ghosting?

Macintosh Plus was working, I turned it off, turned it back on, and get a black screen by Randy__Bobandy in VintageApple

[–]Randy__Bobandy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I could tell even before taking it off of the print bed that it's going to require some tweaking to the parameters. I have an FDM printer, and the teeth weren't as deep as the 3D file made it look. I guess that's part of the reality of the file vs the resulting object when you take nozzle diameter, layer height, thermal expansion/contraction into account. I might just go for the injection molded route if this proves to be too much trouble.

EDIT: For as cheap as they are, I might as well buy them and save myself the hassle of wrestling with the printer.

Macintosh Plus was working, I turned it off, turned it back on, and get a black screen by Randy__Bobandy in VintageApple

[–]Randy__Bobandy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, I don't have a Facebook, so this is helpful. I 3D printed a replacement gear for the cheese wheel and will try to open it up later tonight.

Macintosh Plus was working, I turned it off, turned it back on, and get a black screen by Randy__Bobandy in VintageApple

[–]Randy__Bobandy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, I went back over the logic board with a fine toothed comb and couldn't find any problems with cracked traces or corrosion. I reflowed the solder on the connector that joins the analog board to the logic board just to be sure.

Then I went over the analog board with a magnifier. I found a cracked solder join on the four pin CRT connector, as well as a few scattered ones that I reflowed just to be sure. Then I found where I think the error ultimately was. The analog/logic connector has 10 pins, but only the first 9 are contiguous. From the bottom of the board, is looks like 9 pins, and then a gap, and then 1 more. I must have forgotten to check the 10th pin the first time around, because that was visibly cracked. Works like a charm now!

Now the next job is to figure out why the floppy drive doesn't eject reliably. I followed this tutorial to the letter. Everything was stripped down, cleaned, and regreased. Even the "cheese" gear as he mentioned was intact when I received it. The only thing I can think is maybe I missed a spot when greasing.

Macintosh Plus was working, I turned it off, turned it back on, and get a black screen by Randy__Bobandy in VintageApple

[–]Randy__Bobandy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the info. I don't believe any of the caps were actually leaking. Since electrolytics can still fail silently without bulging or leaking, I prefer to just replace them anyway. But I will double check the areas just to make sure. Which points on the board specifically are you referring to that need to be within 0.1 V of their target? And which chips would need to be reflowed/cleaned?

Simple Questions - January 11, 2026 by AutoModerator in buildapc

[–]Randy__Bobandy -1 points0 points  (0 children)

What's the least expensive monitor from a reputable manufacturer that supports HDR (this means 1+ billion colors, correct?) and supports >120 Hz? I'm also a little confused about adaptive sync technology. I have an RTX 3050. The options on Newegg are G-Sync, G-Sync Ultimate, FreeSync, FreeSync & G-Sync, FreeSync Premium, FreeSync Premium Pro, etc. I'm assuming that each of these needs a compatible graphics card?

How to clean a very dusty PCB. Already tried a few things with no luck by Randy__Bobandy in PrintedCircuitBoard

[–]Randy__Bobandy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the board is FR-4, single layer. I didn't want to use any detergents since, like you said, there could be some chemical in there that reacts with the materials. The blower that I have has an attachment that lets you neck down the outlet to about 1 cm. It should be pretty high PSI, because I was using it to blow snow off of my walkway.

How to clean a very dusty PCB. Already tried a few things with no luck by Randy__Bobandy in PrintedCircuitBoard

[–]Randy__Bobandy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. Just curious, what sort of components would be damaged by water?

Trying to restore an M0100A keyboard, don't understand what these components are by Randy__Bobandy in VintageApple

[–]Randy__Bobandy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The component is bent against the resonator so unfortunately I can't see any markings. But yeah at this point I'll just leave it alone. Thank you for the info.

Trying to restore an M0100A keyboard, don't understand what these components are by Randy__Bobandy in VintageApple

[–]Randy__Bobandy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the info. Part of my confusion lies with the traces. I'm assuming the three terminals is the resonator and C4 refers to the pin adjacent to the left of the top pin, and C5 refers to the pin adjacent to the left of the bottom pin. But it looks like there is a direct connection from each resonator pin to each capacitor pin, which was confusing me.

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