test-drb July 2000

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

155 participants
521 discussions

by John.Honniball＠uwe.ac.uk

Having just reassembled a TRS-80 Model 4, I must have a quick rant about the way this machine is put together. If anything, it'll be a guide to future Model 4 owners (and the Model 3, presumably). I started off with a working machine but no boot disk. The message I got from the corrupt disk supplied was "ERROR". That's it, no more explanation, just one word. I was lucky enough to find a manual and a boot disk in a secondhand bookshop here in Bristol. So, I decided to try the machine again, but I didn't want to trash the new disk in a faulty drive (see, Tony, somebody's listening!). Take care when opening up the Model 4 because the CRT comes off with the lid, making it heavy and off-balance. The back end of the CRT (with the connector on) is very close to the internal metalwork of the chassis, too, so don't lift the lid off backwards. And don't forget to remove the single bolt from the top of the back of the lid. To get the drives out, you have to remove four bolts per drive. Top drive first, fiddle about with the cables, then the lower (drive 0). All seemed to be OK, so I tried to get them back in again. Turns out that you can't get the bolts back in without removing the power supply PCB. So, with the drives back in, I powered it up. No screen display at all, no "ERROR", nothing. Damn. After a while checking IC sockets and tracing video signals, I put the dud disk back in and got "ERROR", nice and clear on the green screen. You don't get any error message at all if there's no disk in the drive. Now I tried the new boot disk, and sure enough, it worked! First task, set the system date. According to the manual, it only accepts dates up to about 1987! Next, copy that good boot disk before I do something daft to it. I used the "backup" command, followed the prompts and... it failed. The new-looking disk actually has some blemishes on the oxide surface where it's been stored for so long. Oh, and if you try to boot a non-bootable disk, you get a nice friendly message about that disk being a data disk -- now why couldn't they make it say something when there's NO disk?? Finally, the serial port, external floppy disk port and expansion connectors are "convieniently located" on the underside of the machine. -- John Honniball Email: John.Honniball(a)uwe.ac.uk University of the West of England

23 years, 9 months

Back to the A1097C monitor again

by agraham＠ccat.co.uk

Richard scribeth: > I've concluded that the best thing to do with a > fixed-frequency monitor > that's not made for your particular application is to give it > away or toss it. > I'm getting to that opinion meself :) a

23 years, 9 months

*** REDUX *** Prime 2455 & Dead PSU Pictures

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

Ok, I've modified the image filenames, and regenerated the HTML to match. The resulting files and links no longer contain spaces, and I tested it using Navigator 3 which was still installed on the Mac sitting next to me. The link is the same; for those that missed it the first time, point your browser to: http://members.iglou.com/dougq/p2455/p2455_index.html Be sure to refesh the page; your browser may have cached an older copy. regards, -doug quebbeman

23 years, 9 months

Prime 2455 & Dead PSU Pictures

by steverob＠hotoffice.com

> I generally check major revisions of my web site out with IE, > NS and Lynx. So... Just what do the graphics look like in Lynx :-) Steve Robertson <steverob(a)hotoffice.com>

23 years, 9 months

Back to the A1097C monitor again

by agraham＠ccat.co.uk

Well, I've already got the monitor in question since it's fastened to an HP workstation. What I was wondering was if it was possible to program the GeForce to run at 72hz for everything....hmm....the only reason I started on this was discovering it's really comparitively simple to change the monitor to allow h/v sync and I'd love a 19" monitor for Photoshop & web stuff - this one I'm using ATM at work is a 17" (DEC obviously :) running at 1280x1024 and it makes a hell of a difference! a > -----Original Message----- > From: Richard Erlacher [mailto:richard@idcomm.com] > Sent: 28 July 2000 15:21 > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: Back to the A1097C monitor again > > > Well, there would be exceptions. For example, if you have an > application > that COULD use the monitor in question, but doesn't because > it lacks the > appropriate video card. However, there are also other > questions. Would the > application of that monitor improve anything? That's a > question you have to > ansser before proceeding, but it should be asked before > hauling the thing > home. Monitors weigh so much they're even difficult to give away. > > Dick > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Adrian Graham <agraham(a)ccat.co.uk> > To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> > Sent: Friday, July 28, 2000 7:32 AM > Subject: RE: Back to the A1097C monitor again > > > > Richard scribeth: > > > > > I've concluded that the best thing to do with a > > > fixed-frequency monitor > > > that's not made for your particular application is to give it > > > away or toss it. > > > > > > > I'm getting to that opinion meself :) > > > > a > > > > >

23 years, 9 months

Prime 2455 & Dead PSU Pictures

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

They look like: [Image] Very helpful... :-) -----Original Message----- From: Steve Robertson [mailto:steverob@hotoffice.com] Sent: Friday, July 28, 2000 3:16 PM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: RE: Prime 2455 & Dead PSU Pictures > I generally check major revisions of my web site out with IE, > NS and Lynx. So... Just what do the graphics look like in Lynx :-) Steve Robertson <steverob(a)hotoffice.com>

23 years, 9 months

Prime 2455 & Dead PSU Pictures

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > You guys really should upgrade from Mosaic to Internet > > Exploder 5, it handles those spaces pretty doggone well. Ya know, I should have realized, given that this group is dedicated to the care and feeding of old stuff, that sticking to the minimal subset of HTML would be de rigeur... > While I use IE5 and think it's the best broswer out there, it's not the > be-all and end-all of browsers, and cannot be relied upon to be the final > answer in whether something "works" or not since MS is of course notorious > for breaking the standards so meticulously set by the industry. Wait a minute, didn't you hear that Microsoft owns the Internet? I'm sure that's what my TV set told me the other day... > I generally check major revisions of my web site out with IE, NS and Lynx. > I don't expect you to do all this with just some pictures you posted of > course. The local organization that runs the cameras monitoring the Interstates is putting the images up in a Netscape-only mode, and it's got my cloth in a bind. I do actually use Lynx (well, MLynx) when I'm logged in to my ISP in shell mode... but not very often! -dq p.s. Revised content is streaming up as fast as 33.6 can do...

23 years, 9 months

Prime 2455 & Dead PSU Pictures

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> [Charset iso-8859-1 unsupported, filtering to ASCII...] > > >> http://members.iglou.com/dougq/p2455/p2455_index.html > > >> > > >They all came up broken ... ? > > > > Not broken, but note that the fiilenames contain > > embedded spaces. > > How were you able to view them? Lynx and Netscape both objected. I use God's browser, Internet Exploder, er, Explorer. Version 5. With Active Desktop. Active Desktop's desktop-as-HTML sucks, but it imbues Windows with so many other useful features, and since Stardock's Object Desktop relies on Active Desktop's presence, why burden my machine with another browser? Actually, I do have Mosaic on here, still, somewhere... -dq

23 years, 9 months

Prime 2455 & Dead PSU Pictures

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

Understand... yeah, I still figure I'll get yours here before I get mine fixed. Cross-referencing isn't going well. -dq -----Original Message----- From: Steve Robertson [mailto:steverob@hotoffice.com] Sent: Friday, July 28, 2000 1:59 PM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: RE: Prime 2455 & Dead PSU Pictures Doug, I assume from the subject line and pictures, that you haven't got the PSU to work yet? I'm sure it's exactly the same as the one I've got sitting here. I'll get it in the mail in the next couple of weeks. Sorry I can't do it sooner but, I'm drowning in other comittments. Steve Robertson <steverob(a)hotoffice.com> > -----Original Message----- > From: John Allain [ mailto:John.Allain@donnelley.infousa.com <mailto:John.Allain@donnelley.infousa.com> ] > Sent: Friday, July 28, 2000 1:28 PM > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: RE: Prime 2455 & Dead PSU Pictures > > > >> http://members.iglou.com/dougq/p2455/p2455_index.html <http://members.iglou.com/dougq/p2455/p2455_index.html> > >> > >They all came up broken ... ? > > Not broken, but note that the fiilenames contain > embedded spaces. > > P.S. Don't scratch your nice woood floors > with all those metal parts! > > John A. >

23 years, 9 months

zenith minisport hd problems

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

went on a thrift store run today and thought i was going to get skunked, but at the last store i found a zenith minisport laptop with power supply for $5. its dirty and yellowed and didnt get the floppy drive either. seems to be a turbo xt with cga graphics. anyway, when i power it on, it stays on momentarily then goes off. no post beep and lcd doesnt light either. any ideas? i downloaded some archived minisport archives but havent looked at it yet.

23 years, 9 months

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test-drb July 2000