The Monorail Computer Owner's Kit! - Unboxing and System Restore

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  • Опубліковано 23 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 291

  • @k6kaysix675
    @k6kaysix675 2 роки тому +126

    I remember as a kid feeling like an expert after using a Restore CD on my Packard Bell, I even somehow managed to borrow my aunts Windows 98 Restore CD at one point and get that running on my Windows 95 model (I remember terms such as 'tattoo'!), fast forward 20 or so years and I now work in IT building images to deploy across 4000+ devices, funny how life turned out :)

    • @knightsson1045
      @knightsson1045 2 роки тому +6

      Hahahah ... Good job man

    • @RutraNickers
      @RutraNickers 2 роки тому +5

      hey, you're still using Restore CDs to this day!

    • @Personality5124
      @Personality5124 Рік тому +2

      7 yo me: *boots off the recovery partition on my aunt's laptop because she deleted a system file*
      also me: Im lern tek

  • @cleverlyblonde
    @cleverlyblonde 2 роки тому +40

    The reason for the encoder/decoder software was that back then sending binary file attachments by e-mail or usenet newsgroups was a complicated mess. You'd often have to encode the file from binary into text and paste into the e-mail/news post, or copy paste text from an e-mail/news post and decode it into a file again yourself. So nice of them to include that.

  • @luenwyd
    @luenwyd 2 роки тому +147

    I am a 13 year old who loves tech, and your channel has taught me so much! Great work!

    • @Manny73211
      @Manny73211 2 роки тому +9

      and I'm 10 and I know python

    • @chrisskelton
      @chrisskelton 2 роки тому +27

      That's great that you guys are interested in older tech. Computers back then were a lot more exciting IMHO, even if they were slow by comparison, they were evolving so quickly!

    • @sparkmel672
      @sparkmel672 2 роки тому +8

      I'm 15, and the same way!

    • @Wave_Duck
      @Wave_Duck 2 роки тому +4

      Me too. I even have some older tech, I've always wanted to start collecting older stuff like this

    • @foxstodios
      @foxstodios 2 роки тому +4

      I'm the same age and I watch channels like this all the time!

  • @bintobox
    @bintobox 2 роки тому +17

    I love when computers have mascots that show up in the instruction manual and stuff, really neat looking packaging

  • @thomastartu9597
    @thomastartu9597 2 роки тому +42

    That is a very cool-looking computer for its day and time. Really wish that someone brought back that type of concept today.

    • @bluephreakr
      @bluephreakr 2 роки тому +2

      Well _supposedly_ a neew upstart named eBlaztr is making a portable DIY ATX AIO they shipped a prototype of to Linus Sebastian, check that out and see if it'd be your jam.

    • @gravitycoil828
      @gravitycoil828 3 місяці тому +1

      a lot of big tech companies have, i have a dell optiplex 9010 all in one as my main PC and it looks pretty similar

  • @cyrparlapiano2514
    @cyrparlapiano2514 2 роки тому +12

    From your keyboard a decade ago to installing the software today this must feel accomplishing

  • @lamtatyan
    @lamtatyan 2 роки тому +15

    Congratulations for finding this owner's kit. And thanks to the donor, who helps making this Monorail video series more interesting!

  • @Fredisaviewer
    @Fredisaviewer 2 роки тому +13

    Hey there,
    I know others have mentioned their takes on Mindspring & Eudora but I'll put in my two cents.
    I'm a wee bit older and was a professional based in Chicago, then in Indianapolis back in the early 90's through the late 80's and traveled the country a lot for business.
    Mindspring was great for me because they had phone numbers you could connect to just about everywhere you could go in the U.S. for those that are too young, that was most often not the case with most other isp's. If you traveled a lot and didn't have an isp with access in lots of places (both cities and rural), you'd likely have to pay hundreds of dollars in long distance telephone calls in order to do what you needed to do.
    Also, most other isp's that were national, and had decent coverage had front ends you had to go though which really made it a pain to get things done. It took away a competent end user's ability to set up their own user experience their own way enabling the most freedom possible. Ministering allowed you to do this. Sure you could use the rich package they gave you if you wanted, but you also could simply set up a dial in only, and you'd be good to go.
    For me, the only other major players for widespread national access without a bunch of built in unavoidable front end isp garbage was AT&T or EarthLink. Bothe AT&T and EarthLink cost a lot more for the ips flat rate. Ministering was very cheap for what you got.
    Finally regarding isp's in general, not all connections isp's provided were the same. Some isp's only offered low baud connections in certain towns, with other towns have much higher baud connections. At least with AT&T, EarthLink or Mindspring you could count on pretty high baud rates throughout the country. Other national providers had some sub 2400 baud connections only, and if you were stuck with them, downloads or general web surfing for simple things could take half a day or more. So baud rate and access were very important.
    Regarding Eudora, it was one of the very best email clients out back in the day. It was very deep and full featured compared to most other email clients. I certainly used it whether I was with Mindspring or other isp's back in the day.
    Excellent video MJD otherwise. Thanks as always for your good work!

  • @MegaManNeo
    @MegaManNeo 2 роки тому +5

    That computer introduction program is so awesome, I love it.

  • @michaellacock
    @michaellacock 2 роки тому +56

    I love that that computer had a mascot, I wish companies still did that today.

    • @kantraa
      @kantraa 2 роки тому +2

      lenovo would probably have an anime girl as theirs lmao

    • @sierrachief117
      @sierrachief117 2 роки тому +5

      Sadly, it is better not to do that because of all the creeps on the internet that ruin it all

    • @prateekpanwar646
      @prateekpanwar646 2 роки тому +2

      Apple - Newton eating Apple
      Microsoft - Ms Bob
      Dell - Dank hehehe meme substituting for that angled E in its logo
      Logitech - Shroud's cartoon

    • @iraitsjffskts
      @iraitsjffskts Рік тому

      LenOwO ​@@kantraa

    • @SomeBlokeOrWhatever
      @SomeBlokeOrWhatever 11 місяців тому

      @@prateekpanwar646 Microsoft could take the opportunity to bring back Clippy.

  • @jkholtgreve
    @jkholtgreve 2 роки тому +12

    The monitor looks decent enough for its age….oh those trailers take me back to when I tried using early laptops though.
    Also hearing a younger person react to 90s ISP names is peak UA-cam.

  • @kaitlyn__L
    @kaitlyn__L 2 роки тому +48

    That networking package is pretty cool. I bet the encoder was to get warez from Usenet and IRC :) the early days of MP3 file sharing encoded them into text strings to be shared in private groups/rooms!

    • @vwestlife
      @vwestlife 2 роки тому +16

      You used to have to manually encode and decode e-mail attachments, too, before MIME became the standard.

    • @kaitlyn__L
      @kaitlyn__L 2 роки тому +2

      @@vwestlife kids these days don’t even know they’re born 😁

    • @kantraa
      @kantraa 2 роки тому +1

      @@vwestlife i dont even know what the fuck MIME is

    • @starletscarlet
      @starletscarlet 2 роки тому +2

      @@kantraa It's a header that tells applications what file type a specific file is

    • @LordHorst
      @LordHorst 2 роки тому +1

      @@kantraa It stands for "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions", and as the name suggests, it plays a role in email attachments.

  • @TwoThousandStu
    @TwoThousandStu 2 роки тому +4

    Well, sir, there's nothing on earth like a genuine, bonafide, electrified Windows 95 PC!

  • @silverchairx
    @silverchairx 2 роки тому +4

    I'm just astounded that someone can make a video about restoring a computer entertaining.

  • @mrphlip
    @mrphlip 2 роки тому +15

    Google tells me that "Run-time error '380'" is from Visual Basic, error 380 is "Invalid Property Value", which is... pretty vague. Presumably it's trying to set up something, like laying out the main window, and it's trying to set a value to something that isn't accepted.
    My point-in-the-dark guess is that there's a config file missing or empty or something, that's supposed to control some aspect of how this window looks, so it's setting stuff up with invalid nonsense as a result. Like, maybe it loads the list of applications to show in the UI from a config file, and if the config is missing it tries to show the UI with zero applications in it, and that breaks. Or something, idk.

  • @goulashball_mapping
    @goulashball_mapping 2 роки тому +5

    this guy deserves more subscribers

  • @nidulaperera
    @nidulaperera 2 роки тому +18

    I’m not gonna lie this has been the most interesting video I have watched in my life! Thank you MJD! Also make sure to keep that kit could come in handy 😀

    • @nidper101
      @nidper101 2 роки тому +3

      I can agree!

    • @bishlottman6914
      @bishlottman6914 2 роки тому +2

      Yes I totally agree with you great content

    • @nidulaperera
      @nidulaperera 2 роки тому +1

      @@nidper101 Jake why you on my social account lol

  • @bacongl
    @bacongl 2 роки тому +3

    Dang how rare is that. I have never even seen one. Freakin cool. I bet LGR is drooling over this right now.

  • @llloyd4
    @llloyd4 2 роки тому +6

    Interesting, the Wayback Machine website has backup of the Monorail website dating back as far as 1997.

  • @Zackcatyt
    @Zackcatyt 2 роки тому +3

    As someone who lived in Marietta most of my life. I remember seeing these around growing up.

  • @Evansmustard
    @Evansmustard 2 роки тому +2

    hey man you're really awesome for uploading this to archive.

  • @Reziac
    @Reziac 2 роки тому +17

    Mindspring acquired, er, merged with Earthlink, then got subsumed into Earthlink (possibly because Mindspring's support sucked, and it didn't fly as primary branding). The Mindspring branding was then used for VOIP, then dropped entirely. Earthlink of course still exists.

  • @pianokeyjoe
    @pianokeyjoe 2 роки тому +43

    I used to have this system and I upgraded it from a Pentium 100mhz to AMD K5 133mhz, 8MB ram to 32mb, and removed the ISA network card and installed a ISA soundcard that I could do midi triggering (ESS audiodrive). I installed Windows 95B with USB support and I changed the default desktop to an alternate desktop shell called Litestep to make it LOOK like LINUX window manager Enlightenment Blue Steel Theme. I changed the boot screen to a custom one that featured Enlightenment and a Technos Pi synthesizer picture. The system was nice but sadly I sold it years ago.

    • @oddstuffyt8161
      @oddstuffyt8161 2 роки тому +2

      damn, technology has evloved so much. nowadays 8000mb ram aint enough and even 16gb lol insanse!

    • @SubtotalAnt8185
      @SubtotalAnt8185 2 роки тому +3

      @@oddstuffyt8161 your standards are quite off, the laptop I'm using right now has 32gb of RAM installed, a 256 GB SSD, and is manufactured in 2012 (original model came out in 2011), and is still seamless after I did an unsupported upgrade to windows 11
      btw, windows 11 sucks. I'm just lucky that windows 10 product keys are compatible, and that this PC meets the minimum security upgrade requirements with TPM 1.2

    • @oddstuffyt8161
      @oddstuffyt8161 2 роки тому

      @@SubtotalAnt8185 but how fast is your 32gb of ram? What do you do on tht pc? All depends and from what i understand ive used 8gb its really not enough for casual browsing and gaming, even opera gx with cpu limiter etc. 16gb is good tbh but i would still prefer 32 gb 3200+ mhz.

    • @SubtotalAnt8185
      @SubtotalAnt8185 2 роки тому +2

      @@oddstuffyt8161 good enough to disable paging file

  • @Excellence123
    @Excellence123 2 роки тому +6

    NEW MJD video. Made my Tuesday

  • @DavidWonn
    @DavidWonn 2 роки тому +2

    Eudora was the mail client we used in school back in the day, so that brings back memories. I also remember many mindspring web sites, one of many alternatives to geocities back then. Great nostalgia!

  • @bedrat2223
    @bedrat2223 2 роки тому +6

    When I was a kid, MindSpring and then EarthLink was our first ISP until we finally got cable internet “for school”. I can remember it taking hours to download a game patch or mod and it taking hours even longer if someone picked up the phone and tried to make a call.

  • @Thekinggamelon
    @Thekinggamelon 2 роки тому +24

    Everytime I hear the word: "Monorail", it reminds me of that Simpson song: "Mono-d'oh!"

    • @Eyetrauma
      @Eyetrauma 2 роки тому +2

      The ring came off my pudding can

    • @ryantherock1023
      @ryantherock1023 2 роки тому +1

      @@Eyetrauma take my pen knife, my good man!
      fellow Simpson fans

    • @quitebuttery397
      @quitebuttery397 2 роки тому +1

      Where you sent here by the devil?

    • @JosephFaulkner2k8
      @JosephFaulkner2k8 2 роки тому +1

      I hear those things are awfuily loud

    • @ryantherock1023
      @ryantherock1023 2 роки тому +1

      @@quitebuttery397 No good sir, Im on the level 🙂

  • @dperla76i
    @dperla76i 2 роки тому +32

    MJD you gotta let us know if you ever do get the mouse for this system. I’d love to know if you are able to complete the whole collection

  • @John17TheOGmp4
    @John17TheOGmp4 2 роки тому +2

    glad to see more of this topic

  • @travelthetropics6190
    @travelthetropics6190 2 роки тому +3

    Eudora mail was huge back then, my dad used that along with Netscape at the workplace.

  • @stevenjlovelace
    @stevenjlovelace 2 роки тому +10

    I like how they use a mall as an analogy for the internet. Ironic when you realize that the internet basically killed off malls.

  • @fsdfgasgfisd
    @fsdfgasgfisd 2 роки тому +1

    Amazing, Monorail predicted new becoming a form of entertainment in the future, which is now.

  • @eDoc2020
    @eDoc2020 2 роки тому +7

    The custom Monorail software (bot the installer and their launcher) looks like it is using Borland's custom controls. Microsoft didn't introduce standard progress bars until Windows 95 so they must have thought the slider was a good enough alternative.

  • @picklerick_91
    @picklerick_91 2 роки тому +1

    12:25 - 12:45 I love this part of kicking the HD into SSD mode while adding some cool music to the mix also 6 days ago was the founding of company 26 years ago if Wikipedia is to believed 😅

  • @Ruinah
    @Ruinah 2 роки тому +1

    MindSpring was an ISP based in Atlanta and was actually a major player at one point before merging with EarthLink. My parents had MindSpring as our first ISP.

  • @PhilipMurphy8Extra
    @PhilipMurphy8Extra 2 роки тому +3

    New MJD video has made my Tuesday for sure.

  • @poeterritory
    @poeterritory 2 роки тому

    Many programs bring back memories of the frustrating but exciting days of the net.

  • @NoahClevinger
    @NoahClevinger 2 роки тому +5

    Michael MJD videos are always such a treat to watch!

  • @called2voyage
    @called2voyage 2 роки тому +3

    "This was a complete success" - rare words for an mjd video, haha

  • @DaveAdams222
    @DaveAdams222 2 роки тому

    DUUUUUUUDE MINDSPRING!!!!! My teenage years brought back to life!

  • @Yellowpick10
    @Yellowpick10 2 роки тому +2

    Things I learned from this video:
    New things are added to the internet every day!
    New things are added to the internet every day!
    New things are added to the internet every day!
    New things are added to the internet every day!

  • @tyta1
    @tyta1 2 роки тому

    I've been a power user of Forté Agent back when Usenet was popular - a nice reminder of those times 🙂 The company and software are actually still around.

  • @j__r0d
    @j__r0d 2 роки тому +1

    So rad that you found the recovery disk. Really makes this machine extra cool to check out!

  • @BCStudioYT
    @BCStudioYT Рік тому +3

    6:10 Mindspring has merged with EarthLink

  • @the_broly_arms
    @the_broly_arms 2 роки тому +9

    Moe sounds a lot like Tom Kenny as he voiced Heffer in Rocko's Modern Life.

    • @tranquileyes383
      @tranquileyes383 2 роки тому +4

      Was thinking the same, he kind of stopped doing more ‘normal’ soft-spoken voices after a point but this is believably a 90s performance of his

  • @lastatarist
    @lastatarist 2 роки тому +2

    Thanks Mo for this video! :)

  • @CEO100able
    @CEO100able 2 роки тому +4

    It's possible that this Owner's Kit did originally come with Monorail computers in the first place.

  • @Zekiu
    @Zekiu 2 роки тому +44

    when you opened the ping program i got a notification on discord wth

    • @ozzie_goat
      @ozzie_goat 2 роки тому +3

      That's hilarious

    • @majoryoshi
      @majoryoshi 2 роки тому +5

      obv michael pinged you

    • @Eyetrauma
      @Eyetrauma 2 роки тому

      Michael’s calling… will *you* accept the charges? 📞 🎵

  • @HouseOfFunQM
    @HouseOfFunQM 2 роки тому +1

    Windows 3.1 SDK widgets don't include a progress bar. Not specifically anyway.
    The slider is a good way of back-porting 95 widgets to 3.1, that's actually really clever.

  • @_techana
    @_techana 2 роки тому +2

    I was hoping to see the CD-ROM drive eject tool that LGR demonstrated with his Monorail computer! It's a taskbar icon that opens and closes the CD-ROM drive tray automatically without the need to physically press on the eject button

    • @DragonProtector
      @DragonProtector 2 роки тому

      what?

    • @MichaelMJD
      @MichaelMJD  2 роки тому +2

      That wasn't included in this version of the software bundle. I suspect it was added for newer Monorail models, which is what LGR had in his video.

    • @DragonProtector
      @DragonProtector 2 роки тому

      @@MichaelMJD ah well guess you will need to hunt for it 😂

  • @ArifTheSpriter
    @ArifTheSpriter 2 роки тому +3

    18:54 half-life reference... yep

  • @Creeper_ofDoom
    @Creeper_ofDoom 2 роки тому +1

    Completely forgot about the monorail until this popped up on youtube recommendations

  • @UserOfYoutube338
    @UserOfYoutube338 2 роки тому +2

    The perfect video to make my day!

  • @ptzzzs
    @ptzzzs 2 роки тому +4

    That was quick! Being only a few days after your video on the Monorail and the mention that you bought a Restore Disc. Its a good thing that you and LGR archive software discs, especially the more rare recovery media for specific computers.

  • @mcch1n
    @mcch1n 2 роки тому +8

    "Hello Everybody"
    ah never gets old

  • @thedopplereffect00
    @thedopplereffect00 2 роки тому +3

    Pretty sure that phone cord info sheet was a hand photo copied last minute addition, hence the sloppy angle.

  • @Divyanshu.Saraswat
    @Divyanshu.Saraswat 2 роки тому +4

    I just had the best 29 minutes of my day

  • @dhpbear2
    @dhpbear2 2 роки тому +1

    Eudora was the e-mail program I used back in 1994-2000.

  • @kupokinzyt
    @kupokinzyt 2 роки тому +2

    Michael your channel and videos make me happy! 😊

  • @blunderingfool
    @blunderingfool 2 роки тому +1

    Surprised you got your hands on that so quickly.

  • @WilburJaywright
    @WilburJaywright 2 роки тому +1

    My sister just said you sounded like Kevin Flynn from Tron. Yeah, we got another you sound like comment, but at least this one is definitely positive and even makes some sense.

  • @shawnm355
    @shawnm355 2 роки тому +2

    i could have sworn clint from lgr had the compleat package with the restore disk.

  • @lloyddavies5587
    @lloyddavies5587 2 роки тому

    I have one of the old Monorail desktop towers, the 366mhz Celeron model. It was a no thrills PC, with not much "bloat ware" which is something I liked. Runs Win98. I put in a SD to IDE drive. Need to replace the power supply due to power surge a awhile back. (Let's hope it still works) Bought at a Best Buy in Huntsville, Alabama in 1999

  • @WilburJaywright
    @WilburJaywright 2 роки тому +1

    I called the Mindspring phone number as seen in the booklet in the vid, and a recording said “Hi! Welcome to EarthLink. To set up a new Internet connection…” I haven’t done any research as of yet, but it looks like they may have just been re-branded.
    Edit: Yep, looks like on Wikipedia the two companies merged in February of 2000.

  • @kantraa
    @kantraa 2 роки тому +1

    its crazy to think that the irc program would probably still work if you somehow connected this thing to the internet. there are multiple IRC networks out there such as Libera Chat.

  • @basic-bear
    @basic-bear 10 місяців тому

    LView PRO!!! WHAT! Havent seen that in forever dude..

  • @amichels
    @amichels 2 роки тому

    NEW THINGS ARE ADDED TO THE INTERNET EVERY DAY

  • @salazirko
    @salazirko 2 роки тому +1

    iso for 9:46 pls?

  • @jargon343
    @jargon343 2 роки тому

    What bios is that at 9:54? Never seen that type of bios before!

    • @Master_Cheese-kf2mm
      @Master_Cheese-kf2mm 2 роки тому

      ami hiflex simple setup. youtube deleted the comment when I edited the link where it contains wiki about ami bios

  • @omaraguero
    @omaraguero 2 роки тому +1

    Would be fascinating if you talk about Microsoft Encarta!

  • @theloststarbounder
    @theloststarbounder 2 роки тому

    Windows 3.1 also had title centered and it looks kinda like Windows 11 in low color mode and the options are all grouped in that left side menu

  • @lacrak27
    @lacrak27 2 роки тому

    i just love how in unity, all progress bars are kinda sliders

  • @stevethepocket
    @stevethepocket 2 роки тому

    It's a great day at MindSpring!

  • @aurathedraak7909
    @aurathedraak7909 2 роки тому +2

    I think LGR's pants dropped when this was made.

  • @robloxanticheat
    @robloxanticheat 2 роки тому +1

    That was very quick!

  • @paintdev
    @paintdev 2 роки тому

    just uploaded today, cool vid!

  • @underthehall
    @underthehall 2 роки тому

    The one answer I was looking for you didn't mention...where did you find the restore disk at?!

  • @imark7777777
    @imark7777777 2 роки тому

    How would one go about archiving an ISO? I have a Compaq Presario and I am very paranoid that my restore disk might be ummm degrading it is after all the second one. I've ripped ISO off before but I've also had weird issues with Games and other discs that refuse to duplicate properly to the virtual domain. I Usually use ImgBurn.

  • @thefray123
    @thefray123 2 роки тому

    This is amazing

  • @JonathanSteadman2003
    @JonathanSteadman2003 2 роки тому +1

    Moe is awesome. :)

  • @esquared.mp3
    @esquared.mp3 2 роки тому

    the tutorial video was moving to a new section, and i was multitasking and not watching the screen, and all of a sudden usher’s “yeah” started playing and for a second i thought it was the monorail tutorial. turns out it was just an ad for ross.

  • @𰻝
    @𰻝 2 роки тому

    10:43 is that OS/2?

  • @drum_n_bass
    @drum_n_bass 2 роки тому

    Mindspring is still around! They were acquired/merged by Earthlink!

  • @TheOmegaDMM
    @TheOmegaDMM 2 роки тому

    Question: Is your archive served on a 64k ISDN connection??

  • @pipipipipipipipi_
    @pipipipipipipipi_ 2 роки тому +1

    Monorail really stands out, the coolest pc I ever seen, even more than just all-in-one pc, the OLD all-in-one pc! :)

  • @shej5456
    @shej5456 2 роки тому

    at 21:10 is all the information true?

  • @NatetheNintendofan
    @NatetheNintendofan 2 роки тому

    New vidio I love when you make videos like this Michal so I have something to look forward to after school.

  • @BriFiConnections
    @BriFiConnections 10 місяців тому

    I was thinking of getting this computer to try out the internet for the first time

  • @derekw6811
    @derekw6811 2 роки тому +4

    Surprised you haven’t heard of the Eudora email client. It’s a classic. Along with Pegasus from the same era.

  • @thedelayingskipper
    @thedelayingskipper 2 роки тому

    Is your archive page MJD also or it’s under a different name??

  • @ChaseMC215
    @ChaseMC215 2 роки тому

    Technically the last video to have the old background

  • @JoCaTen
    @JoCaTen 2 роки тому

    Hooray!

  • @DragonProtector
    @DragonProtector 2 роки тому

    nicely done

  • @stormweaverr
    @stormweaverr 2 роки тому

    micheal, where is compaq pc restoration part two??

  • @Master_Cheese-kf2mm
    @Master_Cheese-kf2mm 2 роки тому +1

    could you extract bios rom dump?

  • @Shaddow798
    @Shaddow798 2 роки тому

    11:59 I'm so disappointed that he didn't attempt to slide the slider across to "speed up the installation or something dumb"

  • @tonythecomputer03
    @tonythecomputer03 2 роки тому

    Could you emulate this to 86box if you know how to emulate old machines like this?

  • @Chillywillies
    @Chillywillies 2 роки тому

    Of course I need to comment for the first time since I'm actually here
    Thanks Michael, very cool!

  • @Manny73211
    @Manny73211 2 роки тому

    sooo cool

  • @dwarakkrishna8639
    @dwarakkrishna8639 2 роки тому

    I like this monorail vids while it's only been just 2 of them. Keep it up, they seemed different for their time.