The Plexus P/20: A Fantastic Journey (Supercut)

Prepare yourself for an epic first for my channel: a supercut where I combine all five parts of the Plexus P/20 series into one convenient-to-watch video! Join me on a journey of discovery, excitement, tragedy and rebirth. A fantastic journey!

0:00 Intro
1:25 Overview and teardown
35:33 Imaging the hard drive
51:25 Servicing the power supplies
1:04:05 First power up
1:22:38 Getting serial working
1:47:51 First boot attempt
2:05:10 Troubleshooting a dead system
2:28:13 Amazing discoveries made
3:03:31 Fixing the failed motherboard
3:35:00 Troubleshooting the clock circuit
4:06:39 Booting a fully operation system

-- Links

Plexus P/20 Discord channel at Usagi Electric:

General Adrian's Digital Basement channel:

My Github Repo (with ROM dumps and images)

Plexus P/20 Brochure:

Plexus Unix:

MFM emulator:

Fujitsu Hard Drive Brochure:

Omti 5200 Manual:

Adrian's Digital Basement Merch store:

Adrian's Digital Basement ][ (Second Channel)

Support the channel on Patreon:

My GitHub repository:

-- Tools

Deoxit D5:

O-Ring Pick Set: (I use these to lift chips off boards)

Elenco Electronics LP-560 Logic Probe:

Hakko FR301 Desoldering Iron:

Rigol DS1054Z Four Channel Oscilloscope:

Head Worn Magnifying Goggles / Dual Lens Flip-In Head Magnifier:

TL866II Plus Chip Tester and EPROM programmer: (The MiniPro)

TS100 Soldering Iron:

EEVBlog 121GW Multimeter:

DSLogic Basic Logic Analyzer:

Magnetic Screw Holder:

Universal ZIP sockets: (clones, used on my ZIF-64 test machine)

RetroTink 2X Upconverter: (to hook up something like a C64 to HDMI)

Plato (Clone) Side Cutters: (order five)

Heat Sinks:

Little squeezy bottles: (available elsewhere too)

--- Instructional videos

My video on damage-free chip removal:

--- Music

Intro music and other tracks by:
Nathan Divino
@itsnathandivino

[TheInternetHelpdeskPlays]

Even though I've watched the whole series when it came out, I'm watching this supercut because its just such an amazing story.

[garymetheringham]

Get well soon pal, these long vids are my favourite. better than shorts!

[evaDrepuS]

Still one of the coolest retro computing devices I have ever seen. Awesome series Adrian. Long form content is the best.

[evilborg]

This is probably my favourite series so far !!

[rommix]

This was definitely the best series by far on this channel. I'm glad its got a supercut.

[pipschannel]

Hang in there, Adrian! Get well soon! 💪

[marcinkowalczyk]

hang in there lots of health and best wishes !

[RonaldThompson-bf]

Get well soon Adrian, it might sound selfish but Wednesdays and Saturdays are not the same without a new video from you. A well meaning UK fan.

[tibbydudeza]

Thanks Adrian - really enjoyed watching this project.

When I went to university, we used an NCR Tower computer running on a Motorola 68020 that ran Unix System V serving 40 terminals for us third year students.

Forgot how many minicomputers there were before Intel 386 gave you a cheap workstation grade performance and companies started making dual CPU servers and the likes of Sparc, Mips and Motorola exited the mini/ws market.

[diegoknyte]

Such a majestic machine. Amazing work, and a splash of luck, from you and the community on getting this beast going.

I's really fun watching you go thru your thought processes while fixing this stuff. It's techie but not so much that it can't be understood by the lay-person. Good times!

[myleft]

Get well soon. Oh that intro! I'm at the edge of my seat for part 6!!

[cremvustila]

I wish you a quick and full recovery! This series on the Plexus machine was awesome! Thank you, Adrian!

[FirChif]

What a ride! This was a fun project to follow along with.

[xilendorf]

I'm loving this! I tend to rewatch your videos when I need something calming to fall asleep to so this is perfect! Thank you and get well soon

[stinkertonsden]

What a wild ride!! Definitely a fascinating look into a Unix system of old before the boom of the personal computer market.
Bad clock chip, bad flip-flop from a battery leak, faulty reset circuit in the power supply, and missing/hidden partition for the docs on the system design. Heck of a ride.

[MarianoLu]

4 hours of Adrian and and the Plexus.. I’m in!

[DavidLightman]

I got that too, almost recovered, haven't got out of my house for the last two weeks :( get well soon!!

[Jerrec]

I love the Plexus. Hope there is MUCH more coming. This is much better then anything else.

[DowneastRockstar]

Get well soon, I find your videos relaxing to watch. Even if I never use it I am learning! Lol

[imqqmi]

I've watched and enjoyed the separate parts, just came in the like and comment to help the algorithm!