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TEMPEST SE Project

Posted by: unity on 2015-02-18 18:24:06 Well its about time I start on this one. I have a dual floppy TEMPEST SE. The fact that its dual floppy seems rather odd to me. While I may be able to add a hard drive, it would not be proper without the right hardware for the cabling, etc. So I will restore this back to the way it was built. One problem I have is the motherboard. It does not work and boots to thick jail bars with 10 seconds of crackling noise thru the speaker. While I have never had an SE board with bad caps, its my only suspect so far. I've swapped RAM/ROMs, etc. A regular SE board works fine in its place. But there are a few minor modifications to the board that I am not sure about. I will put those pics in the next post. Here a couple pics as I start my overhaul.

Posted by: unity on 2015-02-18 18:31:01 The mobo mounts to a tray with port connections. The tray slides into a metal box that is attached to the modified bottom of the Mac SE. I am not sure what any of these modifications are for, but they are not present on any other SE board I have. The only one I suspect is factory is the RAM configuration mini-board. I have seen it before, but I am not sure if the criss-cross of resistors is part of this mod.

Posted by: miniMOJOman on 2015-02-18 19:27:17 Holy crap man, thats awesome.

Posted by: haplain on 2015-02-18 19:36:15 That's SEXY man. Keep us posted.

Posted by: unity on 2015-02-19 17:57:44 Well its a dual 800k SE. And I will leave it as such. EVERY part has a label on it. Some match, like each floppy, as if the part number is just that. Some seem to be serials. Lots and lots of little labels on the inside. I transfered the mobo modifications, less the weird stuff by the RAM selector, to a new mobo of the same part number and revision. Works fine. I am not sure what the modifications are for, but I wanted to keep this rebuild project as original as possible. I have some new parts coming late next week so there will be a delay in updates. I have done all I can so far when it comes to operation and cleaning. One snag will be the keyboard and mouse. I could hook up regular ones, but this one has DB-9 connectors for everything. I will have to map them out and modify a set.

Posted by: snuci on 2015-02-19 18:24:36 I am watching with great enthusiasm.  Tempest versions are the ultimate in modded computers.

Posted by: unity on 2015-02-19 18:41:28 One odd thing about this one, that I have not seen on others, is a gold screen overlay. I originally thought this was for privacy but now I think its part of the RFI sealing package. Conductive tape and copper mesh hold it in place and these materials are very specific to holding the display overlay. They are then grounded to copper tape around the display.

Posted by: CompuNurd on 2015-02-19 19:34:26 This interests me: what is the necessity for a tempest computer?

Posted by: unity on 2015-02-19 19:39:50 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_(codename)

Posted by: CompuNurd on 2015-02-19 20:00:08 Didn't think it was too easy back then, no wireless network to tap into. Probably some very sophisticated stuff to be able to do that.

Posted by: unity on 2015-02-19 20:17:45 Ya, I know. Seems really weird that people could actually snoop in this way. But it had to be a valid concern for all these tempest systems to be made. Also I think having a system like this provides some level of protection from an EMP.

Posted by: EvilCapitalist on 2015-02-20 04:04:28 It's definitely still around too, though I'd be surprised if any of it hits the surplus markets.

Posted by: MJ313 on 2015-02-20 05:00:23 What are the new parts you are waiting for?

Posted by: unity on 2015-02-20 10:51:02 Im waiting for some shielding pieces, copper tape, etc. Just some odds and ends.

Posted by: Schmoburger on 2015-02-20 16:14:12 I watch this with interest!

Posted by: unity on 2015-02-20 17:22:41 If anyone wants specific photos, let me know. If I have time I plan to take some studio quality ones. But it will be when the machine is mostly back together.

Posted by: techknight on 2015-02-21 12:46:49 System attackers and hackers still spy on EM radiation to this day, especially with smartcards.  Using EM probes and other little odds and ends, you can spy on the chip as its processing AES/DES/RSA, etc and systematically attack it and evaluate the results to steal encryption keys.

Posted by: tt on 2015-02-21 14:00:17 If anyone wants specific photos, let me know. Does the outer case look different? Did you take outside pics?

Posted by: unity on 2015-02-21 16:00:58 The outside case is stock less the entire underside being removed. They clearly had a jig for doing so, its really well done. I will get more pics soon once I reassemble.

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