Exploration into the Retr0bright world...

Hello everyone! I would like to share my experience restoring old computers to its original (or close to) beige/grey colour. 

If you are reading this post, chances are that you know what retrobright (or retr0bright) is. In any case, here is a short explanation: ABS plastics were largely  used in computers and game consoles in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s. Plastic manufacturers mixed bromine within the ABS formula to give these plastics fire retardant properties. With time, these ABS plastics turn yellow due to a chemical reaction between the bromine and UV light (radiated plenty by the Sun and also fluorescent lights among other sources).

The state of my vintage Apple keyboard prior to the process

Rescuing a Macintosh SE

I got this Macintosh SE SuperDrive (or FDHD) as part of a complete package, with keyboard, mouse, the original Apple manuals (including the stickers), an Apple StyleWritter II printer, a 1200 bps modem and even some early 90s software. 

The seller tried to power it on and sent me this photo of what he got on the screen: 

Strange wavy pattern with a faint checkered board in the back

I researched for such pattern to get hints on what could be going on and heard it could be: 

My first Macintosh SE/30!

The Macintosh SE/30 is considered by many the holy grail of the Classic Macs. It is the fastest and most expandable of the classics 9" B&W form factor Macintoshes. It can accept up to a whopping 128Mb of RAM (!!!), what is impressive for a machine that was released back in Jan/1989.

Rebuilding an iBook G3 Clamshell battery

As the Clamshell and retro laptops in general get older, it gets harder and harder to find batteries for them. That's understandable as the demand is also negligible and most older laptops end up on a landfill or at a electronics recycling facility unfortunately. Luckily for us, retro computer enthusiasts and collectors alike, it is possible to rebuild some older laptop batteries with standard new cell you can still buy today.

The iBook G3 Clamshell is a classic Apple laptop from the late 90s and early 2000s (it was sold from 1999 to 2001 to exact). It has the now "iconic" colour shell that matched the iMac G3 CRTs of that era. For their unique design and relatively low duration run (it had less than a 2 years run), it is also getting harder to find and thus its price has increased. 

More details about the iBook G3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBook

An indigo iBook G3 clamshell and it's unique holder 

Adding voice to the original DOS versions of Monkey Island 1 and 2

Hello everyone! 

Being a big fan of the LucasFilm (then LucasArts) point and click games from the late 80s / early 90s, I wanted to try playing these games in one of my vintage computers.

I recently installed the latest PowerPC version (v2.1.2) of ScummVM on my PowerBook G4 12" and it ran great! It was fun to re-visit a few LucasArts games of my childhood running well on the vintage, small form factor, and sturdy aluminum Apple laptop from 2004. I feel the trackpad in this PowerBook is very responsive and a perfect fit for a point-and-click adventure game.

I've played a bit of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (The Graphic Adventure), of course I wanted to try the the Special Editions released in 2009 and 2010 of Monkey Island 1 and 2. I needed to try the original DOS versions of The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: Le Chuck's Revenge to see them running on the PowerPC / MacOS.