A customer called and says she's got a working Kaypro 10 (and maybe two)
looking for a good home. She's in the Richmond, VA area. If interested,
drop me a line and I'll furnish contact information.
Cheers,
Chuck
We had a nice booth for MARCH on the first floor of the conference, manned
by myself, Bill Degnan, Bill Sudbrink, and Sridhar Ayengar. We met LOTS of
cool people and lots of people who are collectors but they just didn't know
it yet. :)
Were any other classiccmp'ers there?
On Fri, 21 Jul 2006 04:19:36 -0400 (EDT), der Mouse
<mouse at Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA> wrote:
> Thanks to my sister's bf's generosity, I am now the proud owner of a
> Fluke 87 "TRUE RMS MULTIMETER".
>
> However, I am told it needs recalibration (this is why he gave it
> away).
[...hack...]
The manual is on the Fluke web site and includes calibration procedures.
However, Fluke has a van that tours all the major cities and provides
a cal check for any meter you bring in. Yearly I help a friend tote
all his toys down and have them tested - it's free! Check with your
local Fluke distributor and see if you are so blessed.
CRC
>no grounded track immediately available, so I'm running the leads across the two channel N outputs.
>also tried to chassis/earth ground, didn't make a difference . . .
That doesn't make much sense. The scope is across the PSU Channel 4 (-5V) outputs
(labeled + and -, I'm pretty sure they are GND and -5V in that order)
I've got an OD3210 9-track drive that's been sitting around here for a
couple of years. I note that it has a Pertec interface (seems to work) and
a parallel port interface. I'm curious about the latter. It appears to be
4-bit each direction, but I don't have a clue as to the protocol or command
set.
Does anyone have a driver or information about the Overland parallel port
interface?
Thanks,
Chuck
If anyone wants 3.5" DSDD disks from me, I'm all out. That lot that I
posted about last week is mostly bad judging from the sixty I've gone
through so far. With 200 to go, I'll just chuck this mess out unless
someone here wants to do something silly like make a suit of armour out of
floppies. If that's the case, I'll sell the whole lot for the cost of
shipping.
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
I'm starting to get a bit peeved - I've tried randomly throwing capacitors across the output, scientifically choosing a capacitor to have a reactance of 1 ohm
at the trouble frequency, and taking that cap and putting another .022?f unit in parallel -
and the noise doesn't get attenuated at all, it's still at around 500mV, in high audio frequencies.
If it was going down (to ~300 mV) I'd just build a LC choke filter and be done with it, but its stubborn spurning of something that
should work is bothering me. Is the ripple carrying that much current that the resistance of the capacitor is an issue? I don't think so-
this is a secondary supply (-5V!). I also don't get why there should be a relatively equal AC component in 3 secondary supplies that do
share much after the transformer primary, and yet a low level in the main +5V.
Could this be something bizarre in the connection of the scope? I'm doing a very bodged scope -> BNC cable (one of the bundle that usually
runs to the monitor) -> 2 alligator clip leads stuck on to the relevant bits of the other-end BNC connector.
Been trying to work out this board. It's one daughtercard in the PSU, the chopper transisors are on another. Yet, there are 3 TO-3 cased bipolar
(2Nxxx parts) scattered amongst the rectifier diodes. Similar units are not present in the +5V channel. Would this have linear regulators on the non-main channels?
I've got a friend who was reminiscing his old days in computing, and
was thinking he'd like to have his old Tandy PC-2 again. Does anyone
have one they're looking to part with (a Sharp PC-1500 would also
suffice)? I'd like one that's cosmetically clean, has the
cassette/plotter base and manuals. If you have one you're looking to
part with, please contact me off-list at jcwren at jcwren.com
--jc
> Forgive a stupid question, Scott--are you taking your ground return for
>your scope from the metal chassis or from a grounded track on the PCB?
>They might not be the same thing.
no grounded track immediately available, so I'm running the leads across the two channel N outputs.
also tried to chassis/earth ground, didn't make a difference . . .
Tony Duell wrote:
UK TVs (even back in the 405 line era) tend to use a 75 ohm coaxial
aerial cable (not a flat twin 300 ohm one that's popular in the States).
This cable often had an air-spaced insulator between the centre core and
the braind, and thus there were channels the full length of the cable.
The aerial terminal box had developed a water leak. Rain came in there,
ran down the channels in the cable (not down the outside), then came out
inside the coaxial plug at the back of the set and ended up on the floor.
Of course this messed up the properties of the cable, hence a weak signal
and a poor picture.
-tony
Nice tale and after seeing some of those old coaxials, easy to believe it
must have happened more than once.
Reminds me of one of my worst memories on the big iron systems. Had a
computer that was on the top floor. The building maintenance people were
running the grounding cable on the lightning rod down to the earth rod..
And discovered this wonderful cable channel that carried the power from the
basement MGs up to the main frame power supplies. The inevitable happened
and a lightning bolt took out all the supplies on the entire system. The
overvoltage crowbars saved most of the logic. But the lightning literally
vaporized the power cables, and the MG was a big piece of toast.
Nobody was punished - the union said that there were no guidelines stating
this was a bad thing. And common sense seems to be a rare commodity.
Billy
>At least TPC files are slightly more portable than some formats (RSX-11M+
>Virtual Tape comes to mind).
Now if only there were some magic to keep a TK50/TK70/TZ30 drive working
for more than ten minutes. And by "working", I mean anything that doesn't
require disassembly of the drive and the computer to free a jammed tape.
Actually reading the bits is more than I could hope for :-)
Bob
On 7/22/06, Robert Armstrong <bob at jfcl.com> wrote:
> Now if only there were some magic to keep a TK50/TK70/TZ30 drive working
> for more than ten minutes.
Speaking of the drives, I have a small Perl program that will emit the
right PostScript to directly print lines of text on the label inserts.
Free if anyone wants it.
I was tired of handwritten cardboard labels and misaligned
laserprinted Avery sticky labels.
-ethan
Someone I know is working on a DECstation simulation, and is looking for
Ultrix to test on it. Anyone have images of the distr discs?
Also, FWIW, I found someone who has a simulated 5xxx and O2 running
http://gavare.se/gxemul
And thusly were the wise words spake by Star Master
>
> Does anyone know where I can get an MSD SD-2 Service Manual? I'm willing
to
> pay an indivual or a company (Can't find one that has it).
> Thanks
This has the schematics and user manual:
http://staff.washington.edu/rrcc/uwweb/MSD-SD2/
Cheers,
Bryan
Thanks Bryan, I already found those...However I need the service and or
diagnostic info for it. When I turn it on all the lights turn on and stay
on, and it is not seen by the computer.
Anyone else?
Thanks
> It is usual to bake the tape at a low-temperature owen (a box with foil
> paper and an incandescent lamp) to dry the humidity of the tapes. It makes
> them less sticky, but PLEASE do not try to re-run the tapes. It is enough to
> save the contents, but not always make tapes useable again
>
> This is an old tip from recording studios...
Bertram and Cuddihy "Humid Aging of Magnetic Recording Tape"
IEEE Transactions On Magnetics Sep 1982
Has a detailed analysis of the failure mechanism in the binder, along with
some temperature/humidity curves that show the rate at which the binder can
be rejuvenated.
I just bought a Toyo Living controlled humidity chamber this past week to
begin the exact characterization of the temperature and humidity protocol
required to process 1/2 tapes so that they can be read safely.
The whole "baking tapes" process has way too much black magic involved, and
I have tapes at the Museum that I have to read that are irreplaceable (and
VERY old) so I don't have the option of just throwing them onto a drive and
see if they start to squeel.
After that is dealing with DC-300's and DC-100's that I've observed with
exactly the same sticking problems.
Fortunately, the Museum has very few TK50s
> Now if only there were some magic to keep a TK50/TK70/TZ30 drive working
> for more than ten minutes.
Ten minutes sounds about the right length of time for the first traversal of
the tape, at which time the collected sticky crud from most old tapes is
deposited at the end of the track when it reverses direction, and then
proceeds to stick the tape to the head.
I don't know if the formulation of the tapes is such that you can remove the
stickiness with heat/dehydration. This is also something I need to try on
DC-300 carts that have become sticky.
You also need to THOUROUGHLY clean the head stack. I have a TZ30 that I
leave partially disasembled so I can pull the stack out the top so it can be
cleaned with isopropyl on a cotton swab.
--
It's probably time to put together lists of what TK50s (distr at least..)
have already been read to save others the grief of dealing with old sticky
media.
> And then there was the attempt when wiring up an outside light where the kid
>decided to hook both wires from the light and both wires from the feed up to
>the switch. Turned the breaker back on and the light was on all the time,
>until he flipped the switch, which popped the breaker, because he had it
>going _across the line_.
Unorthodox, but it does work . . . I know for a fact that Silicon Graphics used a similar system on some machines
(Twin Tower, possibly others) to shut down the power supply if sufficient bits were removed to impede cooling.
Not sure if it was the same designer . . .
Hi,
I've got a Laserjet III that's intermittently throwing Service 50 errors.
Fusing lamp tests good as per
<http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/reference/guides/fuser/sx>. I assume this
means the AC power module has fried itself.
Best I can find on Google is that I need to replace the triac and some
'support components'. I can find component designator IDs, but not component
values - does anyone know what needs replacing, and what to replace it with?
It's also been throwing 13 Paper Jam errors, but there's no paper jam
visible. Anyone know what causes this? I'm guessing the optosensor on the
fuser assembly has failed, but I can't identify the opto. Does anyone have a
part number for it?
Finally, if by some twist of fate I manage to get this thing running, I'm
going to need an A4 paper tray. Anyone in the UK got a spare they feel like
parting with?
Thanks.
--
Phil. | Kitsune: Acorn RiscPC SA202 64M+6G ViewFinder
philpem at dsl.pipex.com | Cheetah: Athlon64 3200+ A8VDeluxeV2 512M+100G
http://www.philpem.me.uk/ | Tiger: Toshiba SatPro4600 Celeron700 256M+40G
I purchased a Computer Link Pack inspector about 2 months ago on Ebay.
I just got a junk pack to play with this week (same vendor). It is marked
"Master Alignment Pack" and is declassified navy badged. Anyway though
people might get a kick out of it.
I would love to have a real use for it, but it is just for collection
and display
purposes.
Jim
http://jwstephens.com/pack-insp-2006-07-20/page_01.htm
I have several old Apple IIs, a TRS-80 (new in the box), and a few other
older computers. I would like to get them all running again, if
possible. I have been putting computers together since the late 80s,
but have little knowledge of actual computer electronics repair
(soldering, replacing broken wires, etc.). I would appreciate any
suggestions about good, accurate, thorough books to purchase so that I
can start teaching myself the basics. There are a number of such books
out there, but I am having difficulty evaluating the accuracy and
thoroughness of them.
Since this question is probably not of interest to many others on the
list, please feel free to email me any suggestions at
jephraim at ci.southlake.tx.us
Many thanks!
Jesse Ephraim
Adult Services Librarian
Southlake Public Library
1400 Main Street, Suite 130
Southlake, TX 76092
(817) 748-8247
jephraim at ci.southlake.tx.us
"A circulating library in a town is as an evergreen tree of diabolical
knowledge."
- Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816)