La Radiotechnique Videotel

I picked up this early La Radiotechnique (a subsidiary of Philips) Videotel terminal from a local seller as faulty.

Videotel was the first Dutch version of the French Minitel and was later followed by the better known Videotex service.

The features and ports of this model seem to be substantially different from the much more common French terminals. The on-screen menu is fully in Dutch, while the keyboard is in English.

Work done:

• Capacitors replaced

Planned work:

• Adapt to work as a terminal for a modern computer

Exterior inspection:

The terminal was in fair shape on the outside, especially considering it's age and plastic construction:

Around the back are much more ports than normally seen on similar French models:

Interior inspection:

The system is divided into three parts, an analogue board which runs the CRT and provides power to the whole unit:

A logic board which generates the video, interfaces with the keyboard, etc.

And finally a modem board (pictures coming soon)

Here is another label inside:

Repair

When I received it, the unit was showing vertical collapse, meaning only a bright white horizontal line was visible across the display.

After replacing the leaking capacitors, the terminal initially started working again, but the vertical collapse returned soon after again