All,
That does it. I'm turning off digest mode. Apologies if I miss an
important message, but this is just too annoying! ... well, that was easy.
Hopefully I'll hear back from myself in just a few minutes...
Toth asked:
>...Have you checked the solder joints and connections between
>components with an ohm meter? That might help turn up any problems.
More or less. I tend to probe both on the component and on the pit next to
it for SMD's or on the pad for devices with pins. But I have not been
rigorous about it.
Tony said:
>You will _not_ see the oscillations of a 393 comparator on a VOM. We are
>talking about hundreds of kHz / a few MHz...
Oh, right. But I'm assuming the duty cycle of the oscillations can vary,
and I might be able to see that on the (analog) VOM.
>RIght. On the other hand, if it _is _ a capacitor, then it might have
>gone leaky, in whiuch case it will have an effect on the DC levels.
Oh my. Well, I don't know of any way to test the capacitor in circuit. Once
the comparator is out, I could measure resistance on the lower leg of the
divider. If it changes while I'm watching it, that'd be a clue, but with
power off the system I don't see what'd make it change. Or if I knew what
the resistance was supposed to be, and it was in the leaky state when I
measured it, that'd be a clue, but at least the first condition isn't met
and maybe not the second.
>Are there any component refeneces (Rnnn, Cmmm, etc) on the PCB?
None that I've seen, other than the "+" markings on one end of the tantalum
caps.
>It could be a resistor, sure. And perhaps, then, there's a capacitor
>elsewhere to hunt for...
This comment, waiting for me in my digest as I found the component in
question, was what convinced me to off digest mode.
Tony and Toth agreed:
>Get some silver-loaded solder.
Ok. I'm sticking with my plan, to wit replace the comparator and see what
happens. I'll measure resistance on both legs of the divider while it's
off. If that doesn't solve the problem, I'll head back to the electronics
store and try to get replacements for the tantalum cap (and one more for
the backward one, while I'm there) and for the resistors in the voltage
divider - and some silver-loaded solder.
How will I know what values to shop for for the capacitor (maybe not so
critical?) and the resistor? Is there a catalog of 1992 or so surface-mount
devices?
Toth futilely wished:
>Erm, I just hope the iron is of fair quality, and is in the range of
>20-25W. Anything larger is likely to damage the board, especially those
>awful soldering irons Radio Shack sells (or used to?).
It's an awful Radio Shack pencil-type iron. It's about 20 years old. I
think it's about 20 W, don't remember for sure. I only have one tip for it.
Maybe I should think about a better iron while I'm at the electronics shop,
if it comes to that.
- Mark
Welcome to the club, Sol owner! I hope you have checked out
Jim Battle's SOLace website - lots of good documentation if you
need it. And if there is anything I can do to help, let me know.
I have lots of docs too.
Bob Stek
Saver of Lost Sols
The original bidder never came through, so I've placed a Dilog DQ142 tape controller and manual up on E-pay. The link is here if you're interested.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2075389363
Thanks for putting up with the occasional ad.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy,
Blue Feather Technologies -- http://www.bluefeathertech.com
ARS KC7GR (Formerly WD6EOS) since 12-77 -- kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com
"I'll get a life when someone demonstrates that it would be superior
to what I have now..." (Taki Kogoma, aka Gym Z. Quirk)
Hi Alex,
I read your posting to classiccmp.org regarding an alternative for a Bull Estrella running AIX - do you have installation media for this (unfortunatedly) rare combination? I own such a beast and all my attempts to install AIX (in the original IBM flavor) have failed so far...
TIA!
Bernhard
--
Bernhard Buckel
Institut fuer Klinische Biochemie und Pathobiochemie
Josef-Schneider Str. 2 97080 Wuerzburg / Germany
Tel: +49 931 201 36312
Fax: +49 931 201 36793
In the 80s I had a BBC microcomputer, probably the best 8-bit microcomputer
there is. It had a ROM-based OS and an number of ROM-based applications
(you got BASIC with the default configuration, but you could add word
processors, spreadsheets, Forth, BCPL, Pascal and other languages).
I used it extensively for almost 10 years (I developed the prototype
for my MSc in CS and I also wrote my MSc thesis on it). Even after I
switched over to a PC, I did not pack my BBC away, as for many many
years (until I decided to leave my computer always on) it was the only
machine in my house I could use to scrible a few thoughts or a shopping
list without waiting forever for my PC to boot). The ROM based system
allowed instant switch on, like e.g. a Palm Pilot.
It had an 80x32 (I think) screen which you could configure to display
as a ruled page (like a notepad) - very useful for looking across
rows of numbers.
I had an Epson FX80 - it was a 9pin dot martix, but I had written a
program to print high quality output using the quad density graphics
mode. It was *slow* but almost typewritter quality.
But the good thing about that machine was that it was *convenient*
it didn't stand in your way, it was a tool to help you do your work.
Something that is missing from todays machines. I just found out
that my laptop decided to ignore its power settings, did not go into
power save when I closed the lid, and kept operating in by backpack
while I was running all over town. The machine overheated and the disk
got trashed. Excellent.
**vp
In a message dated 11/23/2002 3:49:53 PM Eastern Standard Time,
foo(a)siconic.com writes:
<< > Try googling for "IBM Deathstar" (that is NOT a typo). The Deskstars are
> notorious for poor reliability.
Oh shit.
> IIRC, that's what they do when they start to fail. Get your data backed up
> ASAP. That thing'll be dead in two weeks tops.
It's been doing that for months now. I've had it for a little less than a
year.
> Got a CD or DVD recorder and a stack of blank, good quality (Verbatim
> DatalifePlus SuperAZO) media?
Gawd damn Fry's specials.
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer
Festival
Normally IBM drives are pretty good. The issue was about some particular
model that was rated for xxxx hours of constant usage or something like that.
Check slashdot archives for discussion on it. If it's a SMART drive, you have
the program that can query the drive, it might be able to tell you if
anything bad is happening.
I've still got IBM SCSI drives from 8-10 years ago still going strong with
that soft tick-tick-tick recalibrate noise happening every once in a while.
The 400 meg ones are so quiet you can't tell when they doing R/W operations.
--
Antique Computer Virtual Museum
www.nothingtodo.org
Maybe a T5100 (16 MHz 386, plasma display, 1987) or a T5200 (20 MHz 386,
1988) ?
http://www.toshiba-europe.com/computers/products/notebooks/t5100/index.shtmhttp://www.toshiba-europe.com/computers/products/notebooks/t5200/index.shtm
>From: vance(a)neurotica.com
>Reply-To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
>To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
>Subject: Re: early pc with lcd screen
>Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2002 00:14:17 -0500 (EST)
>
>
>Speaking of old portables, anyone remember the large Toshiba
>almost-laptop with the full 101-key keyboard? I can't remember the name,
>but I'd love to get one, as I drooled over one for a while.
>
>Peace... Sridhar
_________________________________________________________________
Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE*
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
I have an Outright 9-track tape drive with an ISA adapter and manual but,
alas, no software.
The adapter is branded "Computer Logics NineTrack PCTD III". It has a
DC-62 (is that correct?) connector. It's a 16-bit ISA card.
Does anyone by any chance have the drivers for this?
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
* Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *
F.Y.I. - Saw this over at the NetBSD/Vax-port list...
Jan Schaumann wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> We just received this message at www@ -- thought it might be of interest
> to somebody over here. If not, my apologies.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: NetBSD WWW feedback from ghate(a)essar.co.id
> Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 19:40:32 -0800 (PST)
> From: ghate(a)essar.co.id (A.M.Ghate)
> To: www(a)netbsd.org
>
> ghate(a)essar.co.id (A.M.Ghate) sent the following
> comment about The NetBSD Project's WWW server:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> We have surplus two nos. of following mentioned computers.We want to
> sale them off.pls contact us if you are interested in buying it.
> The details are as follows.
> Micro VAX II computers, DEC make- 2 nos.
> Model-630QB-A2 consisting of Micro vaxII CPU with floating point
> processor.1Mbyte memory.BA123 enclosure,console terminal port and
> BCC08-10 console terminal cable.
>
> The technical details of the system are as follows.
>
> The MicroVAX II was based on a single, quad-sized 32-bit processor board
> and contained the MicroVAX chip (which included memory management). The
> machine featured a floating-point coprocessor chip, 1MB of on-board
> memory, Q22-bus interface, Q22-map for DMA transfers, interval timer,
> boot and diagnostic facility, console serial line unit and time-of-year
> clock.
>
> MicroVAX II 630QY, 630QZ Owner's Manual (pdf)
> at The DFWCUG Historical CPU Preservation Society
>
> Relative Performance x VAX-11/780 (1 MIP) 0.9
> Technology NMOS
> Number of Processors 1
> Maximum Memory Support 16 MB
> Memory Type Parity
> Mass-storage Capacity
> Max. Local 4 Port Disk Controllers 2
> Max. Local Disk Capacity 2.8 GB
> VAXcluster I/O Servers (HSCs) N/A
> I/O Bus Capacity
> Max I/O Throughput 3.3 MB/s
> Bus Type 1 Q-bus
> Communications
> LAN Support Optional
> Ethernet Adapters Optional
> Expansion
> CI VAXcluster System Support N/A
> Ethernet VAXcluster System Support Optional
> CPU Upgrade Kit N/A
> System Software VMS
> ULTRIX-32
> VAXELN
> Processor Features
> Floating Point Accelerator Standard
> Floating Point Data Types F, D, G, H
> Cache Size N/A
> Cache Cycle Time N/A
> ------------------------------------------------------------
--
---Dave Woyciesjes
---ICQ# 905818
I have a VLC sitting at home and I have various test kit in
the office. If you outline exactly what you would like
measured (and observed on a scope) I can probably get around
to looking tonight and testing tomorrow.
(I've not followed this thread too much so all I know is
that you have a flakey VLC and the finger of suspicion is
currently pointed firmly at the PSU and associated
mainboard circuitry).
Antonio