EEVblog

By David L. JonesTechnology Education

EEVblog episodes

August 29, 2025 EEVblog 1705 – The World’s First Desktop Personal Computer TEARDOWN
The world’s first desktop personal computer wasn’t the Apple 1 or the Altair 8800. It wasn’t even the HP 9100A, it was the Olivetti Programma 101 from 1965! Computer Teardowns don’t get much more vintage than this.
Forum: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1705-the-worlds-first-desktop-computer-teardown/
Links:
http://www.oldcomputers.arcula.co.uk/calc3.htm
https://bellini.it/portfolio-articoli/mario-bellini-designer/
http://www.curtamania.com/curta/database/brand/olivetti/olivetti%20programma%20101/index.html
https://ub.fnwi.uva.nl/computermuseum/delayline.html
https://ub.fnwi.uva.nl/computermuseum/p101dl.html
https://avvocatostella.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Il-primo-personalcomputer-lOlivetti-La-Programma-101.pdf
https://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/c-programma101.html
https://www.fondazioneadrianolivetti.it/en/p101-cecam/
https://www.inexhibit.com/case-studies/olivetti-programma-101-at-the-origins-of-the-personal-computer/
https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/olivetti-programma-101-documentations-and-experiences.1239428/
https://handwiki.org/wiki/Engineering:Programma_101
Service manual: https://vintagecomputer.ca/files/Olivetti/Programma%20101/repair/RepairManualP101.pdf
Reference Manual: http://www.curtamania.com/curta/database/brand/olivetti/Olivetti%20Programma%20101/more/General%20Reference%20Manual.pdf
In Operation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcaNhfOKjIE
TV Commercial from 1966: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnItIQSwfSw
Memory of Future with the designers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpkqdbz1R_s
00:00 – What was the world’s first desktop personal computer?
00:37 – The Olivetti Programma 101
01:11 – Original 1966 TV commercial for the Programma 101
05:47 – History of the Olivetti Programma 101
07:15 – Let’s have a look
11:00 – The teardown begins
11:58 – Italian design wankery from Mario Bellini
14:51 – DTL Logic modules, none of that TTL rubbish
16:52 – Removing the front panel
19:40 – The electro-mechnical goodness
21:21 – The cooling system
22:21 – The capacitor has come-a-gutsa
22:38 – The Analog Acoustic Delay Line
24:36 – Serial number
25:22 – The logic cards and the vertical construction
28:09 – Flipping out the mechanical keyboard assembly
31:17 – Conclusion
34 min
August 23, 2025 EEVblog 1704 – WTF? The ANENG 626 Multimeter REVIEW
WTF is this design? The ANENG 626 Smart Multimeter
Forum: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/aneng-626-multimeter-hell/
00:00 – ANENG 626 Unboxing
02:14 – Charging + USB isolation test. CAT III 600V LOL
03:32 – Power on and UI
05:20 – UI Design Hell + Chocolate Wheel mode. Every child wins a prize!
06:26 – Continuity mode
07:13 – Screen angle dead spots
08:08 – Capacitance
08:25 – But Dave, what’s the problem?
09:28 – I haven’t seen a dial this bad since Dial of Destiny
09:56 – Who is the target market for this?
10:45 – High voltage AC test
11:39 – Silly Bugger + Out of Spec
12:08 – Teardown
15:11 – Dodgy USB charging
16:07 – Battery measurements
16:57 – A look at the new CrownRich chipset and data sheet
19:14 – Schematic
21:20 – Promo and marketing video + conclusion
24 min
August 19, 2025 EEVblog 1702 : A Most Interesting REPAIR
A repair of this Tennismatic T1000 remote control was way more interesting than I expected.
https://tennismatic.com/main/page_products_ball_machines_t100_series.html
Forum: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1702-a-most-interesting-repair/
00:00 – Tennismatic 1000 Tennis ball machine remote control
00:53 – Battery snap ohms measurement
01:17 – Battery current measurement
02:29 – It’s a row/column thing
02:57 – Teardown
05:20 – Membrane inspection
06:44 – Membrane keypad continuity test
07:25 – Pro Tip: Using multimeter as a shorting lead. Testing the microcontroller.
09:27 – Is it the membrane connector?
10:17 – What would take out the entire keypad?
12:10 – Closer inspection of the contacts
12:44 – Ah Ha! What’s this?
13:48 – Inspecting and testing the row membrane connections
15:01 – Conductive silver ink time
16:41 – The culprit identified
18:48 – Let’s try some fresh conductive silver paint
21:36 – DAMN IT! Dave goofs.
22:56 – How conductive silver ink/paint works
24:01 – Measurements after curing
26:01 – Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
29 min
August 14, 2025 EEVblog 1701 – $599 Australian Made Moku:Go Instrument REVIEW
The $599 Moku:Go from Liquid Instruments is an Australian designed and manufactured USB/Ethernet/WiFi instrument, with 14 instruments in 1, and a 4 channel power supply.
Oscilloscope, Voltmeter, Logic Analyser, Waveform generator, Frequency Response Analyser, Lock in Amplifier, Laser Lock Box, Spectrum Analyser, PID Controller, Digital Filter, FIR Filter Builder, Data Logger, Pattern Generator.
https://liquidinstruments.com/products/hardware-platforms/mokugo/
00:00 – The Moku:Go from Liquid Instruments
02:56 – Teardown
07:06 – Designed and manufactured in Australia
10:32 – Cooling and heatsinking
12:57 – Detailed look at the power supply
16:00 – The OPA547 high voltage high current opamp
19:36 – The analog front end
22:15 – Optional Extras
24:13 – The software
26:17 – The Oscilloscope
29:43 – Not your traditional oscilloscope interface
31:12 – Where is the mixed signal capability?
32:15 – Why can’t you use multiple instruments as the same time?
33:06 – Export options look good
33:47 – The fan noise isn’t good
34:35 – The waveform generator
38:38 – Tongue action
38:59 – I had to resort to using another oscilloscope, LOL
39:30 – Are you KIDDING ME?
41:24 – Wait, THAT’S how you use two instruments at once?
43:56 – Why are they duplicating code?
44:49 – Spectrum analyser
45:33 – Another way to use two instruments at once?
46:50 – Wait, yet ANOTHER way to use two instruments…
48:33 – Low frequency spectrum analyser
49:10 – Where is the user manual for multi-instrument mode?
51:29 – They might have been thinking too hard…
52:18 – Frequency Response Analyser
53:20 – The Arbitrary Waveform Generator looks good
54:01 – The Power Supply
56:57 – The value here isn’t in general instrumentation
57:36 – Building a system, a simple digital filter…
1:02:17 – Another hidden way to view waveforms…
1:06:05 – Conclusion
Forum: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1701-australian-made-mokugo-instrument-review/
1 hr 10 min
August 01, 2025 EEVblog 1699 – µTimer PROJECT Part 1 – The LCD
Part 1 of the µTimer project, a versatile benchtop lab timer.
Choosing the LCD, and getting two sample LCD’s running. One using a demo board, and one that needed to be hacked onto a Raspberry Pi.
00:00 – Benchtop Lab Timer Project
01:19 – It’s all about the choice of LCD
03:14 – ERC19624-1 192×64 Transflective 4″ LCD
03:44 – Reflective vs Transflective LCD’s
05:01 – ER3806 Font Chip
06:06 – Demo Board
09:10 – LCD Bias Angle and Viewing Angle Explained
11:45 – What is THAT? LCD Bleeding?
13:19 – Power consumption measurement
15:48 – Trying another LCD, the ERC19624-6. What difference does a dash number make?
17:15 – Bodging on the LCD connector to the breakout board
20:34 – The pin offsets and lack of routing is annoying…
22:10 – Reprogramming the 8051 demo board, it should be easy, right?
26:32 – Entering The Matrix
29:40 – More soldering
30:33 – The Programmer Software doesn’t work without a HEX file…
32:17 – All of that for nothing…
33:40 – Let’s try this Arduino / Raspberry Pi ST7525 LCD code
35:36 – Getting the Raspberry Pi running and installing the BCM2835 C library
38:56 – Getting the Make to work on the source code.
40:01 – Make Clean should work…
41:16 – Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
41:10 – Power consumption measurement. This one is supposed to be much lower…
42:58 – Changing the LCD contrast in software
45:10 – Is it better or worse than the first LCD?
46:37 – Conclusion
Forum: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1699-utimer-project/
Links:
https://www.buydisplay.com/4-inch-low-cost-white-192×64-graphic-cog-lcd-display-st7525-spi
https://www.buydisplay.com/4-inch-cog-192×64-display-graphic-lcds-module-ist3020-black-on-white
http://www.airspayce.com/mikem/bcm2835/
Font Chip: https://www.buydisplay.com/download/manual/ER3806-1_Datasheet.pdf
Custom LCD videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvOlSehNtuHvmK-VGcZ33ZuATmcNB8tvH
The annoying beep FOUND: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkRwHWMf0Gk
50 min
July 25, 2025 EEVblog 1698 – Awesome Ebay AC Power Source: GW Instek APS-7050
I scored this GW Instek APS-7050 Precision AC Power Source on Ebay, let’s check it out.
Forum: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1698-awesome-ebay-ac-power-source-gw-instek-aps-7050/
37 min
July 21, 2025 EEVblog 1697 – What’s Up With Different Brand Op-Amps?
Why does this Uni-T UDP6731 PSU use different brand LM358 opamps on the same PCB?
All about Bill Of Materials, SMD pick and place machines, suppliers and specifications.
Links:
Jellybean Opamps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq1DMWtjL2U
NESS Factory tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTij7Juj5qE
http://www.artschip.com/pdf/LM358.pdf
https://www.st.com/content/ccc/resource/technical/document/datasheet/61/46/87/01/98/ed/44/c5/CD00000464.pdf/files/CD00000464.pdf/jcr:content/translations/en.CD00000464.pdf
Forum: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1697-whats-up-with-different-brand-op-amps/
19 min
July 21, 2025 EEVblog 1696 – TUTORIAL: Wind Power 101
A short tutorial on the maximum efficiency and power you can get from a wind generator. Also applies to water turbine generators.
Also deriving the industry standard wind power formula from first principles: Power (W) = 1/2 x ρ x A x v^3
Don’t let any wind power marketing scams fool you, you canna’ beat the laws of physics Captain, or Betz’s Law.
Forum: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1696-tutorial-wind-power-101/
8 min
July 16, 2025 EEVblog 1695 – Mailbag: Robin RCD Tester, PCB Book, USB Knob, Geekom IT12 Mini PC
More mailbag!
00:00 – Nifty USB Knob from Tiny Little Gadgets
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TinyLittleGadgets
03:38 – Reference Circuit PCB books
https://www.boltind.com/product-category/reference-circuits-books/
09:57 – Robin RCD/ELCB Tester
20:57 – Geekom IT12 i7 Mini PC
Forum: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1695-mailbag-robin-rcd-tester-pcb-book-usb-knob-geekom-it12-mini-p/
35 min
July 09, 2025 EEVblog 1694 – Scarlet Rae Teardown + Design Discussion with Xentronics
A teardown and design discussion of the Scarlett Rae heater for females, with the designer Scott Williams from Xentronics.
Recorded at the Electronex exhibition in Melbourne
https://scarletperiod.com/products/rae
https://xentronics.com.au/
The Amp Hour discussion on design consulting: https://theamphour.com/624-design-manufacturing-consulting-with-scott-williams-from-xentronics/
Forum: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1694-scarlet-rae-teardown-and-design-discussion-with-xentronics/
13 min