Adrian's Digital Basement
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adriansdigitalbasement.com
Adrian's Digital Basement
@adriansdigitalbasement.com
Hello everyone! I'm Adrian Black, a retro computer YouTuber who fixes stuff from Portland, Oregon.

Main: youtube.com/@adriansdigitalbasement
Second: youtube.com/@adriansdigitalbasement2
Extras: youtube.com/@adriansdigitalbasementextras
People may not know I have an "extras" (third) channel and I've been posting some videos to it lately. Nothing long or complex -- just quick phone videos usually on stuff going on down in the basement. (Or sometimes other random things.)

Latest video: youtu.be/YtTaXv1mgOU
Quick fix: Franklin Ace 1000 Garbage Screen
YouTube video by Adrian's Digital Basement Extras
youtu.be
December 3, 2025 at 1:01 AM
I'm so devastated to learn that another pedestrian was hit and killed just around the corner from my house.

"87-year-old Grey Wolfe, a revered Portlander who was known by many in our community as a mental health counselor was hit and killed while out on a walk."

www.portland.gov/police/news/...
UPDATE: Pedestrian who died in Richmond Neighborhood Crash Identified
The pedestrian who died in a crash in the Richmond Neighborhood Wednesday is identified as Grey J. Wolfe, 87, of Portland. Her family has been notified of her death.
www.portland.gov
December 2, 2025 at 10:14 PM
This CD has a problem spot, or I need to adjust some pots inside the CD player. 🤣 More testing required.
December 1, 2025 at 6:46 PM
A tale of two NEC CD players:

I got these from different places. One was from a smoker's house, the other was from a dog owner. (Telltale signs)

Somehow their serial numbers are 297 apart, and both have 1987.2.25 stamped on the PCB!

These were probably both bought at the same store 38 years ago.
December 1, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Now that Logitech has totally discontinued the ability to program these (and all of their older remotes) and the IR control database is just gone ... I'm wondering if anyone has any idea how to generate codes for old electronics? (Where one is missing the remotes.)
December 1, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Quake speedrunning and skill has reached unbelievable new heights. Simply amazing!

youtu.be/Uu1_f3-KgtE?...
Quake’s Most ICONIC Speedrun Has Fallen
YouTube video by Quake Speedruns Explained
youtu.be
November 30, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans.

Never before in my life have I been so worried about the future of democracy in the US.

Devin over at Legal Eagle sums it up perfectly:

youtu.be/zn-rkKIMNAs?...

This is not the future the Founding Fathers envisioned when they formed this country.
Authoritarianism Is Here
YouTube video by LegalEagle
youtu.be
November 27, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Yummy. Dirty key soup.
November 26, 2025 at 8:20 AM
In the 1980s, at least one person had to have their hand resting on top of the monitor. It's a requirement!
November 26, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Dear Auntie Jenny
November 26, 2025 at 3:51 AM
I frequently have to change switch settings on my XT-IDE and 5150/5160(XT) motherboards, and I was sick of constantly having to go look up the tables to decode the switches. So here are a couple web-based tools to help out.

github.com/misterblack1...
November 22, 2025 at 5:15 AM
New rear hatch struts installed on the Nissan Leaf.

$39 well spent to have the hatch open effortlessly and all the way, even in cold weather...
November 22, 2025 at 12:56 AM
And more OSS for the Atari ST: this project using the RP2040 and allows you to use USB keyboard and mice with the Atari ST. Especially helpful for me with my Mega ST which has no keyboard.

github.com/fieldofcows/...
November 21, 2025 at 9:47 PM
TIL that there is an open source hard drive emulator for the Atari ST line of machines. How freaking cool!

github.com/retro16/acsi...

OSH/OSS rocks 💖
November 21, 2025 at 9:39 PM
The battery leakage damage (which I cleaned up in the photos) is almost cool looking. Luckily it usually stays relegated to the battery section, leaving the RAM expansion portion working.
November 18, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Someone gave me the guts from a Radio Shack "Homeminder." I wasn't able to find much on the internet about this 1984 home automation system other than sellers on eBay, but inside the metal can is a Z80 computer with 2K of SRAM, a TMS9918 graphics chip and some ROMs.
November 16, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Project Light Up the Car: I was super tired of the very dim dome light in my car, so I gave it an LED retrofit. All done with stuff I had lying around and a massive improvement inside the car.
November 16, 2025 at 10:57 PM
I have several old monitors with this ripple on the left side. (All to varying degrees) I have never been able to figure out which part is responsible for damping this... Does anyone have any ideas?
November 14, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Tonight, I was working on a Commodore 1802 monitor with a rare non-broken front door! The power switch disintegrated, so I installed a better metal one salvaged from an old AT PSU.
November 14, 2025 at 5:37 AM
A photo I snapped while I was doing a computer rescue down in Eugene last week. I love this time of year!
November 3, 2025 at 4:22 PM
I noticed a price tag on this Apple IIc box: December 18, 1987, $949.00

IMHO, that is pricey for a computer that came out in 1984! This was just for the computer, no monitor or mouse.
November 3, 2025 at 4:15 PM
I couldn't agree more.

Unfortunately this is also one of the biggest issues with the "Just put Linux on it" movement. It's great for power users and nerds, but the wild variation of Linux distributions makes troubleshooting for non power users very hard.

danieldelaney.net/normal/
October 30, 2025 at 4:28 PM
As agents were driving away, they pointed a pepper ball gun and then a real gun at Chris Gentry, a combat veteran who was lawfully standing on the side of the road. The agent who pointed the real gun at Mr. Gentry’s face said “bang, bang,” and “you’re dead liberal.”

www.loevy.com/wp-content/u...
www.loevy.com
October 28, 2025 at 7:02 PM
It's 2025 and things as basic as printing still fail randomly. Sometimes, when I go to print, the job just ends up with the status "Sent to printer, Error."

What the hell does this mean? Printing a second time just works. Why? WHO KNOWS! #enshitificaiton
October 26, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Ahh Patreon, being as janky as possible while taking a massive cut of creator earnings.

Nice.
October 26, 2025 at 9:22 PM