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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 2,604 articles and 2,956 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 293 Cleaning, inspection and preventive work, machine by machine. The full index is at Maintenance Guides.
Troubleshooting Guides 284 Symptom-led fault finding for each machine
Capacitor Replacement Guides 193 Capacitor lists and recapping procedures
Repair Guides 31 Specialist repairs and procedures that apply to many machines
Service Manuals 468 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.

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.

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

Get RetroTechCollector on Google Play 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 or netBook to the internet. It is open source (GPL v2); 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