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Hello my patron! Recently, a seller on eBay listed a large number of a mostly unknown computer from the early 80s: The NABU PC.

It was 1982 when this innovative and new subscription based computer was released to the general public in Ottawa Canada. Powerful and advanced, it ran entirely off an operating system and software delivered by a 6mbit cable TV connection and allowed for bi-directional communication to the head-end.

You've probably never heard of it because it was not a commercial success, and was never released outside the Ottawa area (besides a small deployment in Japan.)

In this video I take a look at the hardware and technical documentation about what makes up this failed computer and test out the one I have to see if it even boots.

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLYjZoShjy0

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The year was 1982 when an innovative and new subscription based computer was released to the general public in Ottawa Canada: The NABU Personal Computer. Powerful and advanced, it ran entirely off an operating system and software delivered by a 6mbit cable TV connection. You've probably never heard of it because it was not a commercial success, but let's take a look at the hardware and technical documentation about what makes up this failed computer. -- Video Links NABU PC User's Guide: (Color scan) https://archive.org/details/nabu-personal-computer-users-guide NABU Technical Manual and Schematics: https://archive.org/details/nabu-computer-technical-manual-by-mjp NABU Network (Wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NABU_Network NABU PC and other information: http://dunfield.classiccmp.org/nabu/index.htm York University NABU Reconstruction Project: https://museum.eecs.yorku.ca/nabu Adrian's Digital Basement Merch store: https://my-store-c82bd2-2.creator-spring.com/ Adrian's Digital Basement ][ (Second Channel) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbtwi4wK1YXd9AyV_4UcE6g Support the channel on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/adriansdigitalbasement -- Tools Deoxit D5: https://amzn.to/2VvOKy1 http://store.caig.com/s.nl/it.A/id.1602/.f O-Ring Pick Set: (I use these to lift chips off boards) https://amzn.to/3a9x54J Elenco Electronics LP-560 Logic Probe: https://amzn.to/2VrT5lW Hakko FR301 Desoldering Iron: https://amzn.to/2ye6xC0 Rigol DS1054Z Four Channel Oscilloscope: https://www.rigolna.com/products/digital-oscilloscopes/1000z/ Head Worn Magnifying Goggles / Dual Lens Flip-In Head Magnifier: https://amzn.to/3adRbuy TL866II Plus Chip Tester and EPROM programmer: (The MiniPro) https://amzn.to/2wG4tlP https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33000308958.html TS100 Soldering Iron: https://amzn.to/2K36dJ5 https://www.ebay.com/itm/TS100-65W-MINI-Digital-OLED-Programmable-Soldering-Iron-Anti-static-Structure/113382669853 EEVBlog 121GW Multimeter: https://www.eevblog.com/product/121gw/ DSLogic Basic Logic Analyzer: https://amzn.to/2RDSDQw https://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Logic-DSLogic-Basic-Analyzer-16Ch-100MHz-4Ch-400MHz-Xilinx-Spartan-6-FPGA/202543965672 Magnetic Screw Holder: https://amzn.to/3b8LOhG https://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-magnetic-parts-tray-90566.html Universal ZIP sockets: (clones, used on my ZIF-64 test machine) https://www.ebay.com/itm/14-16-18-20-24-28-32-40-pin-IC-Test-Universal-ZIF-Socket-Fs/303206721971 RetroTink 2X Upconverter: (to hook up something like a C64 to HDMI) http://www.retrotink.com/ Plato (Clone) Side Cutters: (order five) https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-2-5-10PCS-Micro-Scissor-125mm-PLATO-170-Electronics-Cutter-Side-Cutting-Pliers/163458746184 Heat Sinks: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32537183709.html Little squeezy bottles: (available elsewhere too) https://amzn.to/3b8LOOI --- Links My GitHub repository: https://github.com/misterblack1?tab=repositories Commodore Computer Club / Vancouver, WA – Portland, OR – PDX Commodore Users Group https://www.commodorecomputerclub.com/ --- Instructional videos My video on damage-free chip removal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQVjwPsVFd8 --- Music Intro music and other tracks by: Nathan Divino @itsnathandivino

Comments

Anonymous

I think there is an interesting story to be had here, check out this page: http://pellmill.com/NABU/Code-HTML/Index.html . This page belongs to the ebay seller, and there is a newspaper ad in 90s trying to sell these things.... and it's the same seller

Anonymous

Does anyone know if a central hub has popped up recently surrounding getting these things working? It could be good if there were a vcfed forum post or a group or something to collaborate. I ordered one once I saw the vid, so I'm excited to get hacking

Anonymous

I figure with this video and others like it, and with the recent shock in supply, it could be a good opportunity to get things working

Anonymous

damn they were really sitting on these for the right moment