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Welcome to the RetroTechCollection Wiki
Yesterday's Tech, Preserved for Tomorrow

The RetroTechCollection (RTC) Wiki is a repair and documentation wiki for vintage computers and games consoles. It has pages on individual machines, maintenance, troubleshooting and capacitor replacement guides, and a library of hosted service manuals, schematics and technical books. It currently has 2,933 articles and 3,421 uploaded files.

Platforms

Apple Macintosh and Apple II hardware, software, and component-level repairs.	Commodore Commodore 64, VIC-20, PET, and Amiga systems and peripherals.	Sinclair ZX80, ZX81, Spectrum models and related hardware and accessories.	Atari 8-bit and 16-bit Atari computers, consoles, and development tools.
Sega Restoration, repair, and mods for Sega Master System, Genesis, and more.	Nintendo Classic Nintendo hardware: NES, SNES, Game Boy, and related projects.	IBM IBM PC, PS/2, ThinkPads, and workstation support and documentation.	PSION PSION portable computers, peripherals and more.
BBC Micro Documentation, repairs and upgrades for the BBC Micro and peripherals.	Acorn Computers Archimedes, Electron, and RISC OS systems and hardware projects.	Digital Equipment Corporation DEC PDP, VAX and x86 Computers and peripherals.	Amstrad CPC, PCW, and other Amstrad computer systems and peripherals.
Tandy / Radio Shack TRS-80 series and Tandy 1000 family; early US home computing.	MSX Standardized 8-bit platform developed in Japan and Europe.	Sharp X68000 and MZ series – iconic Japanese home computers.	Osborne Early CP/M portable computers, including the Osborne 1.
Silicon Graphics IRIX-based 3D workstations like Indigo, O2, and Octane.	SNK Neo Geo AES/MVS arcade systems and hardware documentation.	3DO Company Interactive Multiplayer consoles (Panasonic, Goldstar variants).	Panasonic Makers of 3DO, MSX systems, and vintage electronics.
Coleco ColecoVision console, Adam computer, and classic accessories.	Mattel Electronics Intellivision and Aquarius computer systems.	Magnavox Odyssey consoles, Odyssey², and gaming history.	Philips Videopac, CD-i, and vintage electronics.

Guides by type

Category	Pages	What it holds
Maintenance Guides	354	Cleaning, inspection and preventive work, machine by machine. The full index is at Maintenance Guides.
Troubleshooting Guides	360	Symptom-led fault finding for each machine
Capacitor Replacement Guides	230	Capacitor lists and recapping procedures
Repair Guides	45	Specialist repairs and procedures that apply to many machines
Service Manuals	540	Pages for hosted service manuals and schematics, each saying what the document covers

Guides for every machine

These pages apply across platforms. Read the first one before opening anything with a picture tube.

• CRT Discharge Procedure
• Capacitor Failure Symptoms
• Battery Explosion, Capacitor or Corrosion Damage
• Battery Refurbishment
• Floppy Drive Repair
• Hard Drive Maintenance and Repair
• Retrobrite
• Recommended Tools
• Safety requirements

For Macintosh faults, see also Sad Mac Error Codes and the Macintosh diagnostic serial console.

Manuals and documentation

Each hosted document has its own page giving its title, part number and date, what it contains and what it leaves out.

• Macintosh Repair Resources: repair books, Apple service guides and general Macintosh references
• Apple Service Source (198 pages): Apple's service manuals, machine by machine
• Apple Documentation (247 pages): Apple's other publications, the LaserWriter service-training manuals and third-party Macintosh books
• Apple Programming Documentation (151 pages): programming, language and compiler manuals
• Commodore Documentation (114 pages), including Commodore Books (69 pages)
• Service Manuals: the top-level category for service manuals and schematics from every manufacturer

Get involved

Anyone can improve an existing article or start a new one. Start with Getting started, Editing and Help, read the policies and guidelines, and use the Article wizard to create a page. Discussion happens on the RTC Forum and the RTC Discord server.

If you find the wiki useful, you can support it at Buy Me a Coffee.

Other RTC tools

RetroTechCollector

RetroTechCollector is a collection catalogue and marketplace run by RetroTechCollection. It records consoles, computers, handhelds and games with market values, and lets collectors buy, sell and trade. It is free to use, with some paid features, on the web and as an app for Android and iOS.

RetroTechCollector

RetroTechCollector on the App Store

Floppy Disk Workbench

The Floppy Disk Workbench is an open-source (MIT licence) tool for restoring, formatting and recovering floppy disks with a Greaseweazle. The source and downloads are on GitHub at JYewman/Greaseweazle-Floppy-Disk-Restorer.

Floppy Disk Workbench

PsionNet

PsionNet connects a Psion Series 5mx, Series 7, netBook or Revo to the internet over its serial cable, and a netBook Pro running Windows CE or PsionLX over dial-up or the local network. For PsionLX it also plays Spotify and serves the PsionLX Software library. It runs on macOS, Linux and Windows, though on Windows it serves only a netBook Pro on the network. It is open source (GPL-2.0-or-later); the source and downloads are on GitHub at JYewman/PsionNet.

PsionNet

Install the wiki as an app

The wiki can be installed as a progressive web app (PWA) on Android, iOS, Windows and macOS.

Service status

• Wiki and forum: https://status.retrotechcollection.com
• RetroTechCollector: https://status.rtccollector.com

To apply to join the RTC Wiki or Forum staff, fill in the RTC Staff Member Application Form. Applications are reviewed and answered within 24 hours.

For more about staff roles, see the forum post RTC Staff Member Applications, or ask on the RTC Forum or the RTC Discord server.