[cctalk] Re: Tadpole Sparcbook 2

Am 08.06.2025 um 19:03 schrieb Adrian Godwin via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>rg>: Tadpole were in Cambridge, weren't they ? https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/ have collected a fair bit of Cambridge history. I haven't found them very willing to search their archives but there may be individuals who have more time available, or they may have a resource problem in putting information online. > On Fri, Jun 6, 2025 at 8:28 AM erik--- via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote: > > > > Hi Andreas, > > great that there are still some people looking into the > old SPARCbooks from Tadpole. I have got a 3GX up and running. > >> Sadly there seems to be almost no documentation available >> in the net for a Sparcbook 2 > > Yeah, that is really sad. Also do not have got any information! > Just to report from my work on the 3 series ones (which are > probably not to different from the earlier ones): > > Mine works without battery pack, so there is some intelligence > in the battery pack (for power management), but using a power > supply it is working even without that pack! > >> - after trying to reboot the unit will be almost dead. >> While pressing the power on button the LEDs on the left >> upper side of the display will >> be lit shortly, but nothing else will happen. > > Hmm, that sounds strange and I never observed this due to > lost NVram values. But what I observed is the yellow/orange > Tantalum caps going bad in the small power supply piggy back > PCB inside the unit. A short prevents the notebook from > working (and sometimes even some inductors release smoke and > completely destroyong the PCB depending on which cap went > short). > After a longer time powered off, the faulty cap can recover > explaining your observation. Fortunately I had some spare > PCBs and replaced all caps in my live one which works nicely > now... > > Good luck, > > Erik. >