Rough Draft: SCSI2SD Enclosure Build, First Impressions, and Testing

Hello, I have some broader stuff I want to talk about first. Sorry for the production delays again...I had some less than ideal luck on projects this month. I got a 21" VGA Trinitron CRT I thought I could repair and it turned out to have some crazy management computer stuff in it that you can't just fix with effort and tenacity like I was hoping. I also tried again to fully learn how to connect obscure terminals to linux and made a huge amount of progress on setting them up, only to find out that my TRS-80 DT-1 has some technical limitations that undermined the entire premise of the video. Then LGR posted on Twitter about getting a Libretto and I'm not sure why it resonated with me so much but I had to have one so I bought and fixed one on twitter here: https://twitter.com/AkBKukU/status/1357464237933690884 I'm intentionally not making a video about it soon because it was LGR's idea first and I don't want to steal his topic like that.

After those delays I decided to step back and do some big picture planning for the channel and how I want to work on things. I was given some motivation to finally make a video idea list, which I really should have done on day 1 of making videos, and it really helped put some things in perspective. You can see the list here(it's obviously massive spoilers for upcoming videos): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qxLHtPTbVps7jwznRltC9H0aCBDE6XPI-CODOFRMvJ0/edit?usp=sharing but I make no guarantees of which videos will be made in what order still or that videos will even be on the list before I make them. But just making the list and seeing all my video ideas in one place has really lifted some kind of weight that I didn't realize was there. I ordered a few things to start work on some projects that have guaranteed outcomes now so there should be more videos soon rather than me just bashing my head against a wall and hoping I am able to produce something.

Okay, this video. This is an idea I've had since I picked up my Roland W-30 a few months ago but couldn't bring myself to pony up for a SCSI2SD until I stopped and thought about all the use cases and how I could implement them. Once it clicked with me that I could finally use an enclosure from a dead HDD it all fell into place. I can be somewhat...cavalier lets say when it comes to internal work sometimes because I don't like to have to buy more parts all the time and don't like modifying vintage items. But I decided I would go all out on this project because it's not a significant device and it will have a lot of utility and I wanted to do it right. So the build process was somewhat more elaborate. This was also my first time using a SCSI2SD and there was some learning involved and I detailed some of that and different ways of using the device.

This is a very long video. It's over an hour. I don't think it should be over an hour though. But I feel like this version of the video, which is kind of how I imagined it as I was shooting it, isn't bad, it just has its ups and downs for engagement. So I thought I would put it out here for everyone while I'm still working on it. It's not a fully produced video since I will be cutting it down a lot more, and probably re-recording a significant amount of audio to allow it to flow faster, but this felt like a somewhat solid "stream of consciousness" version if you like that kind of video. I haven't really decided yet on how I want to cut this one down though. I am almost tempted to release this as a "first looks" video and then make a concise super cut version afterwards. I'm not a fan of when channels use the same content/video to get more views out of it but I see some value in this whole thing and in a short version so I don't know how I want to proceed yet.

I would appreciate some feedback and thoughts on this one if anyone has any.