PC World – December 2015

likely by my dad. It’s a clutch of four Radio Shack rechargeable cells,
soldered together and wrapped in foam rubber and electrical tape.
(I’m very lucky this pack did not leak and ruin the T1000’s
motherboard. Batteries are the bane of most computer collectors, as
their acid eats away at circuitry.)
Upon seeing that rebuilt battery pack, a vague memory flashed: I
think I remember when he built it. Tinkering
Upon seeing that
rebuilt battery pack, a
vague memory flashed:
I think I remember
when he built it.
definitely ran in my family.
After clipping out the old battery pack, I
rigged up a 7-volt VPX lithium-ion battery
pack from one of my dad’s old cordless drills.
After a few smelly burps of ancient
capacitors settling, then stirring to life, the
unit powered up again for the first time in
over 15 years.
Then I smelled something alarming: burning capacitors.
As electronics age, the second components to fail (after batteries)
are usually electrolytic capacitors, which break down over time and
either deform or leak. It’s a big problem.
A small puff of smoke accompanied the fading-out of the LCD
screen. The bad capacitor was located in that assembly.
Luckily for me, the T1000 also supports composite video output, so
I hooked it up to an old Apple IIc monitor I have on my workbench.
Can you guess the first program I ran?
Tetris, of course.
With a little help from borrowed technology, the Toshiba T1000
lives on to fight another day. I still need to fix the LCD panel, but
it’s been fun playing that classic again—even if it is rendered entirely
in green.
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