---------------Original Message---------------
Subject: T&B Ansley IDC connectors
From: "Jeffrey H. Ingber" <jingber(a)ix.netcom.com>
Date: 17 Jan 2003 19:17:20 -0500
Does anyone know where I can aquire the T&B ansley "light blue" IDC
ribbon cable connectors that were used by MITS?
Googling reveals that Tyco purchased this line of connectors in 2001,
but I can't find any mention of T&B Ansley on their web site.
Thanks,
Jeff
-------------------------------------------------------
Used to use a lot of these & have a few left; Exactly which ones are
you looking for?
mike
------------------Original Message------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2003 21:59:52
To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
From: Joe <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
Subject: Ampro cards
Reply-To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
I recently picked up two Ampro computer cards. I think they're PC/104
cards but I'm not positive. Your A60707 is the CoreModule XT Plus (CPU
card). The other board is the MiniModule FSS, which is Floppy/SCSI/Serial
controller. Does anyone have manuals for them? Ampro has a website but
there's nothing on there about these cards and Ampro tech support hasn't
been any help beyond id'ing the cards.
Joe
-------------------------------------------------------------
Haven't got that $1000 for ya, Joe, but I do have a pile
of Ampro docs somewhere & maybe the name of a
contact, and yes, they are almost definitely PC104.
Don't hold your breath, & I probably haven't got anything
on those particular boards, but I'll keep my eyes open.
mike
Hi again folks,
Thinking about the VS3100/VT1300/VXT matters brought up another question that
has nagged me for a while. How much compatibility is there between KA410
(VS2000), KA42 (VS3100 M30/38/40/48), and KA43 (VS3100 M76) as far as video
boards go? I mean GPX and SPX. (Were there others?)
I know that the 4-plane and 8-plane GPX boards were originally designed for
VS2K, and I'm pretty sure that the VS3100 ones are the same as the VS2000 ones,
which implies that the video option connector on KA42 has to be identical to
the one on KA410.
But now comes SPX. I have seen many VS3100 M76 SPX machines, and SPX appears to
have been pretty standard on these machines. But I have questions. Does the SPX
board also work on earlier VS3100s and on VS2000? I seem to recall from
somewhere that the answer is yes for VS3100 and no for VS2000. Could someone
confirm? And how about the other way around? Can M76 use GPX? No video option
at all? (I seem to recall that base mono video was removed on KA43.)
This makes me wonder about the nature of interface between the system board and
the video option. Since it originates from VS2K, common sense says that it has
to be 16-bit EDAL, since that's all VS2K had. But then there is the DTJ article
about the design of VS4000 M90 where they've used a version of SPX that
attaches directly to 32-bit CDAL. Furthermore, they just lifted their SPX
design from the VXT2000 where it also attached directly to CDAL. Hmm. Did the
original SPX used in all these VS3100 M76s also attach to CDAL? Then how can
the video option connector, which at least mechanically hasn't changed since
KA410, be sometimes EDAL and at other times CDAL? Were there a lot of unused
pins on the original KA410 connector that were made into upper 16 bits which
are used sometimes but not at other times? But then if turning CDAL into EDAL
were only a matter of using only lower 16 bits, why did they design a much more
complex chip (SEAC) for this very purpose in VS4000 M90 (see the DTJ article)?
Just a hardware-minded hacker being curious.
MS
Thanks for those that checked in - I will see what I can make of the orders.
For those wanting 27C1024s - no special price - .25 each (two bits per
lots of bits), 6 for a buck.
For those wanting 2708s - $1 each.
For those wanting 1702s - $2 each.
Sorry, no 2704s.
William Donzelli
aw288(a)osfn.org
From: No Junk Mail <3sdiarftt02(a)sneakemail.com>
Date: 01/17/2003 0:10 AM
> M card for my first XT. Was there ever a processor upgrade card for 8-bit ISA
IIRC the SOTA 286 card was 8-bit. I had one kicking around in a junk bin at the
shop but I think Joe Rigdon made off with it ;>)
Joe -- is that board 8- or 16-bit?
Later,
Glen
0/0
>I've been thinking about this very project for sometime. The main problems
>that I came up with are:
> 1. certain parts are difficult to find
> 2. ROM source and/or binary image availability
> 3. re-creating the pc boards
This site has what might be a dump of the ROM. I don't really know, but
the name implies it.
<http://www.apple2.org.za/gswv/1WSW/Apple.1.SPECS/>
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
Fred N. van Kempen <Fred.van.Kempen(a)microwalt.nl> wrote:
> When booting the M76 with the VXT (V2.1) load image, nothing happens
> after the load image has been loaded. In other words, it dies when
> started.
>
> [...]
>
> So.. heh. Now, to find out what is happening with the M76...
Well, it's obvious what's happening. The VXT program reads the SID register,
sees the top byte equal to 0B, and doesn't know what the heck to do with it. In
other words, it just doesn't support this machine.
> When loading the M38... _it_works_ !
> The VXT software "detects" a VT1300 with SPX and 16MB, and happily runs.
Good. This is what I expected, but just to make sure. The real VT1300 was AFAIK
a KA42-A (M30, 90 ns cycle time) with GPX video, so you've just built a better
VT1300 with a faster 60 ns cycle time CPU and with SPX video. Given that the
VXT program runs on 3 different CPUs (VS2000 with MV II, KA42/VT1300 with CVAX,
and VXT2000 with SOC), we can safely assume that your faster VT1300 won't cause
any problems later, i.e., the program is very unlikely to time things with CPU
cycles.
MS
All,
Took some fiddling with boards and a firm kick to the monitor,
but... we haveth resulths.
Setup:
Server1: VAXserver 3100, OpenBSD/vax V3.1
Server2: VAX 4000-100, OpenSD/vax V3.1
Client1: VAXstation 3100-M38 [SPX], VR219-D3
Client2: VAXstation 3100-M76 [SPX], VR219-D3
Server2 is the boot server which runs [my version of] MOPD, and which
is the load host here for the VAXlab network. It has no probs booting
the terminal servers, DECnis 600, the VXT2000's and all VAXen I have.
When booting the M76 with the VXT (V2.1) load image, nothing happens
after the load image has been loaded. In other words, it dies when
started.
When loading the M38... _it_works_ !
The VXT software "detects" a VT1300 with SPX and 16MB, and happily runs.
So.. heh. Now, to find out what is happening with the M76...
--fred
I dug the 2001 out of the cupboard the other day - it's reorganise time,
try to get *even more* stuff into exactly the same amount of space as less
(but still lots of) stuff occupied. It never works, but it does give me an
excellent excuse to have a play around with some of them.
Unfortunately, the PET seems to have developed an odd fault: It won't take
a BASIC program, and some keywords seem to be knackered...
It reports 7167 bytes free, as per spec. But if I type:
10 REM blah
or
10 ?"HELLO"
it hangs. If I load a program from tape, it does one of two things:
a) Loads but won't run, typing LIST produces something like this:
10
2
READY.
b) It loads & hangs immediately after the READY. prompt comes up.
I tried to put together a FOR loop (the idea being I could use it to
display chunks of memory at a time, e.g.
FORI=0TO10:?I;:NEXT
Instead, the machine goes into an infinte loop displaying zero on a new
line each time (it's ignored the I variable, and the semicolon after the
PRINT command.
If I replace NEXT with NEXTI, it fails reporting NEXT without FOR.
So.... I figure the BASIC ROM has become slightly corrupted, OR I've got a
flakey memory chip which reads OK but doesn't write properly. The question
is, how to find out?
1) Can the BASIC ROM be swapped with one from, say, a 3032 or 4016? In
fact, which one IS the BASIC ROM?
2) If it's a dodgy memory chip, what's the best way of isolating it? I have
an oscilloscope, but nada skill in this sort of thing.
3) If, as my money is on, it's the BASIC ROM, can it be replaced with an
EPROM - if so, there's a whole gamut of additional questions to follow....
Thanks in advance!
--
Cheers, Ade.
Be where it's at, B-Racing!
http://b-racing.com
On Jan 17, 18:18, Adrian Vickers wrote:
>
> Unfortunately, the PET seems to have developed an odd fault: It won't
take
> a BASIC program, and some keywords seem to be knackered...
> So.... I figure the BASIC ROM has become slightly corrupted, OR I've got
a
> flakey memory chip which reads OK but doesn't write properly. The
question
> is, how to find out?
Swap some of the RAM chips around and see if it makes a difference. If it
does, particularly if it fixes it, swap them back -- it might just be a bad
socket contact. Be careful with the RAM chips: if you have the type of PET
I think you do, they're MOS Technology 6550, aka unobtainium, and unlike
any other RAM chip.
> 1) Can the BASIC ROM be swapped with one from, say, a 3032 or 4016? In
> fact, which one IS the BASIC ROM?
No. BASIC (and also the rest of the code, whether you call it a kernel or
a monitor, or "stuff") is spread over several chips. And in the early
PETs, the ROMs too are MOS Technology specials, and the different versions
of PETs had different ROMs. In fact, there was an upgrade for the
originals, because they didn't handle the IEEE routines properly, which
made it impossible to use disks properly (amongst other things).
> 2) If it's a dodgy memory chip, what's the best way of isolating it? I
have
> an oscilloscope, but nada skill in this sort of thing.
> 3) If, as my money is on, it's the BASIC ROM, can it be replaced with an
> EPROM - if so, there's a whole gamut of additional questions to
follow....
If it's a later unit with 24-pin 2332 mask ROMs, then a TMS2532 EPROM can
be used (not a 2732, nor other 2532s that don't have the TMS prefix). If
it's got 28-pin MOS Technology MPS6540 ROMs, you'd need a carrier to
shuffle some signals, at the very least, and possibly some logic to handle
the multiple select lines. The good news, though, is that I have a
chicklet-keyboard 2001-N as well, and if necessary, I could probably do a
ROM dump for you (though IIRC it used to be on the 'net somewhere). I
wouldn't need to move more than a few hundreweight of stuff to get at it
;-)
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
I tried with both VR320 and VR19-D3, see next msg on list. This is
driving me nuts.
--fred
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Antonio Carlini [mailto:arcarlini@iee.org]
> Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2003 11:37 PM
> To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
> Subject: RE: VXT X terminal question
>
>
> > Although I have both the M38 and M76 set up, I cant get the video
> > part to work - tube (that is on a VXT2000 right now) doesn't
> > seem to sync on either model. The M38 is standard, the M76
> > is the SPX model. Anyone have a clue?
>
> What monitor are you using? These things are synch-on-green,
> which not all monitors support.
>
> Antonio
>
> --
>
> ---------------
> Antonio Carlini arcarlini(a)iee.org
>
>
All,
Although I have both the M38 and M76 set up, I cant get the video
part to work - tube (that is on a VXT2000 right now) doesn't seem
to sync on either model. The M38 is standard, the M76 is the SPX
model. Anyone have a clue?
--fred
Jochen writes:
> Someone on the PUPS / TUHS list has ported 4.3BSD-Tahoe and / or
> 4.3BSD-Reno to the VAX4000-7xx. AFAIK he had some porblems with
> interrupts at autoconfig time, but got it running.
Heh. This is not too hard, but *only* if he used the machine with
a KFQSA (DSSI-to-MSCP) controller, rather than the onboard SHAC.
It'd be a start, though. Michael, was this you?
--fred
Antonio Carlini <arcarlini(a)iee.org> wrote:
> I think the origins of the GPX go back to the QDSS Q-bus
> board set as used in the VAXstation II (the "Dragon" chipset).
I know. I meant that the GPX used in VS3100s originated in VS2K.
> My recollection is that the same GPX board was indeed used on
> the KA410 and KA42s. That was the VS40X-MA.
I thought so too. But what about SPX? Can it go into a pre-M76 VS3100? And what
about VS2K SPX? (It would of course be very silly in practice, but I'm talking
in principle.)
> I *think* that in the KA42 systems, they converted from CDAL
> to EDAL (or whatever) as necessary.
"As necessary"? I thought that except for memory KA42 is 100% EDAL. At least to
system software KA42 is basically a faster KA410. (Well, there are some tweaks,
like the ugly hack to make LANCE address 32 MB instead of 16. On KA410 they
simply got lucky that their system memory size just happened to be what LANCE
can address. Then I recall that the NetBSD folks had discovered that for SCSI
the DMA byte count had to be set off by one between the two or something like
that. I don't remember the details, but the question can probably be settled by
comparing the KA42 SCSI driver in Ultrix sources against the KA410 st driver
and the KA410 TM.)
So I thought that KA42 had one big CDAL-to-EDAL bridge upfront and the rest of
the system except memory was EDAL. But I could be wrong, maybe different
subsystems have their own independent connections to CDAL.
But if KA42 indeed has one big CDAL-to-EDAL bridge upfront, the million dollar
question becomes: why did the VS4000 M90 dev team toil to design their own
CDAL-to-EDAL bridge (CEAC) if there already was one? The only plausible
explanation I could come up with is that perhaps on KA42 the CDAL-to-EDAL
bridge was inseparably integrated with the memory controller.
BTW, I have never found any references to a technical manual for VS3100 (any
model) or for the corresponding early MV3100 models. It looks like one never
existed. Do you have any more info?
> The KA43 was a Rigel chip
> shoe-horned into a CVAX system, so they did something to
> convert the Rigel bus (RDAL?) to CDAL and then left as much
> of the rest of the box alone (I don't have the KA43 stuff
> to hand so I may be misremembering the exact details here).
Does KA43 have memory on CDAL or on RDAL? I once had one in my hands and when I
looked on the board to see what chips it had, I found the P-chip and the F-
chip, but not the G-chip. The G-chip (used on KA670) is a Rigel memory
controller and an RDAL-to-CDAL bridge combined. (The VAX 4500 team got the NCA
idea from it.) I then thought that having no real need for CDAL KA43 went
directly from RDAL to EDAL, perhaps combining the RDAL-to-EDAL bridge with an
RDAL memory controller. But I guess they could have also made a chip like the G
but without the memory controller and then plopped the KA42 memory and I/O on
CDAL. That could explain why KA670 pulls 8.0 VUPs and KA43 only 7.6.
But you are right in that the gap between KA42 and KA43 is much smaller than
between KA410 and KA42.
> In the VS4000-90, the NCA is (IIRC) an NDAL-to-CDAL bridge.
> Then the EDAL hangs off the CDAL to give access to some of the
> internal options that presumably were leveraged from earlier
> CVAX designs (KA42 etc.). But the graphics hang off the CDAL.
> As you note, these are *not* the standard SPX etc. but designs
> that presumably had already been modified from the original
> SPX
Yup.
> to remove the EDAQL interface and use CDAL instead
Yeah, maybe that was the change. (Was that a typo or was EDAQL a chip
converting EDAL to SPX's internal bus?)
> I'm guessing, I
> cannot find the article I'm sure I've read that describes
> the development of the VXT2000).
http://www.research.compaq.com/wrl/DECarchives/DTJ/DTJ402/DTJ402SC.TXT
But it talks about the X aspects of it and says nothing about VXT2000 hardware.
MS
Michael asks:
> This last point makes me think "hmm, it must be fairly generic, I
> wonder what other VAXstations can it run on?"
True, the software set seems to be fairly generic.. I found this out
a while ago by accident; I (net-)booted that image onto the wrong
machine, and dang! wasdat? it *runs* ??? :-)
> Specifically I wonder whether it would run on a KA43 (VS3100 M76).
Most likely not, because the -M76 is an NVAX box similar to the 4000
series machines (MV4 aka 4000/200, the 4000's, the 3100-M76 and -4X
and -8X series.) It might run on the 3100-M38, although I believe
that's a "non" 3100, too. I would assume that they kept the CPU
support library as small as possible, meaning only the generic series
of machines they "sortof" intended the VXT software set for, i.e. the
2000, 3100 and alike systems and their hardware features (as needed.)
> I'm willing to bet that it'll handle the SPX video
Yup, it's basically some "NanoVMS" kernel, with minimal runtime and a
VMS DECwindows subset. Which means (methinks..) that it most likely
wasnt stripped from its GPX and SPX(+) drivers.
Dang! Now you got me curious. I have all three (2000,M38 and M76) so
will set them up tonight or tomorrow and see what they do.
--fred
Fred N. van Kempen <Fred.van.Kempen(a)microwalt.nl> wrote:
> Ugh. Make that V4.20, obviously. Development is done on my V4.5 box..
>
> Shitty thing is, that I probably will also have to run a 4.2 system as
> a second-step system for bootstrapping, and I dont have a 4.2/vax tk50
> or cd set.
Why can't you compile and use the V4.20 kernel on your V4.50 system?
BTW, have you tried booting VXT on different VS3100s? I would really like to
use a KA43 for my own VXT if possible, but I need to know if it is or not.
MS
Antonio Carlini <arcarlini(a)iee.org> wrote:
> I doubt that non-hobbled firmware exists. I doubt you
> could just use the UV3100-96 firmware upgrade on a
> UV3100-85 and have it work. In fact, I guess the firmware
> is the same but it looks at the machine's hardware (e.g.
> size and config of backup cache or something like that)
> to determine what it is running on, and disables the VIC
> if it thinks the machine is a UV3100-85.
Umm, I don't think so. It looks like the firmware is the only difference
between M85 and the equivalent M9x model and the hardware is the same. In this
case flashing M9x firmware would obviously give you the M9x model. But even if
the M85 board was really different in B-cache or something from all M9x models,
I doubt that the firmware could detect this by "looking at the hardware". AFAIK
it's the firmware that has to tell the chips how the board is configured, not
the other way around.
If indeed the hobbled and non-hobbled firmware are the same code, what it looks
at to make the decision is most probably a flag in the second longword of the
ROM.
> The easiest thing to do would be to try reenabling the VIC.
> If that is not enough, you would have to find the bit of code
> that disables the VIC and NOP it out.
Well, if it munges the microcode I would go for option 2 in any case.
BTW, do you know for sure that it really munges the microcode and not just
disables the VIC in the same way normal caches from CVAX onward can be enabled
and disabled as you like?
MS
> Add to that Sellam's consistent slander of Texas and
> Texans, ever since George Dubbya took office.? I despise Bush, but I
> *am* a native Texan, and am proud of that.? Sellam's comments to me, in
> private email, are even more culturally oriented.
>
> ? It is not the first time on this list, and Texans have not been his
> only target for cultural slurs and epithets.? As this is a decidedly
> multi-national and multi-cultural forum, it's always surprised me that
> the list-members in general put up with it.
>
Hello everyone, I don't know Doc, at least I'm not sure. Many of us have
never met others in person. I have however met Sellam, and I've corresponded
with him many time over the years. Sellam, you've always been very nice and
professional to me online and also when we met at the First East Coast
Vintage Computer Festival. But, I feel a need to say that your language and
personal attacks to people on list has really gotten out of hand. Doc, you
did yourself no favors the moment you also used the "F" word in response.
There have of course, also been some others here exhibiting bad language,
etc., in the past.
For anyone who doesn't know, when someone attacks a person personally,
instead of attacking their viewpoint, this is called an Ad Hominem attack -
ad hom?i?nem adj. Appealing to personal considerations rather than to logic
or reason: Debaters should avoid ad hominem arguments that question their
opponents' motives. Whether you are attacking their race, place of birth,
religion, sex, or yes, even choice of ISP. If everyone will excuse me a
moment, my politics are simple on social behavior - I don't care what any
consenting adults do in private, but keep it private. You can engage in gay
or "normal" sex, do drugs, curse your head off, who cares. Keep it private
and between adults only. This forum is public, and there are probably some
minors who subscribe or peruse the archives later. You have a social
responsibility to keep any and all antisocial, uncivil behavior off-line. All
of this out-of-line behavior that has been allowed to carry on this list is
out of control regularly now.
I voted for and overall like President Bush. Sellam, Doc . . . oh, am I a big
jerk or stupid now?! But of course, this has nothing to do with our hobby and
needn't ever have been revealed here. It's immature and frankly unrealistic
to think that your little "swipe" or "joke" in regard to politics is amusing
to everyone. Or, even that it impresses anyone. None of us are here to listen
to anyone's political agenda. Or their viewpoint on business ethics and
copyright law, etc. Unless these concepts are discussed in regard to a
historical, classic computer system(s) or related.
Is anyone in charge here? Is there any policing of list etiquette? Even just
internal by other members? Are there more of you out there like me? Is
everyone happy with this stuff?! I'm very tired of it. I may not "discuss"
much on here, but I read every one and I'm just as much a "member" here.
Can we please have discussion on topic, and behavior that does not insult or
offend anyone?! It's really not that hard, it just takes some discipline.
Simply treat any other person the way you want to be treated - with respect I
imagine.
There, I finally did it, posted for all to see. This is ridiculous the
behavior that goes on here. Civil behavior is all that we have to keep the
foundation of our culture "civilized." All the other stuff becomes secondary.
Regards to everyone on list, David
David Greelish
Classic Computing
www.classiccomputing.com
"classiccomputing" on eBay
>
I have an IBM 5322. I can't find any useful information on the web. It
looks very much like a System/23 Datamaster. Is it one and the same?
Next question:
When I boot it up it comes up with a display as follows:
07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1A
-- -- --
1B 1C 1D 1E 1F 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
2F 30 31 32 33 34[35]36 37 38 39 FD
-- --
4A
The hyphens underneath numbers indicate that those numbers are underlined,
and the square brackets indicate that that number is inversed video.
Does anyone know what this means?
Last question:
I press the RESET button and it clears the screen and goes into what looks
to be a prompt mode. It had "PROC START" on the bottom, so I entered this
as a command. Now a status line on the bottom has "OPTION 10" with the
"10" blinking and I can't figure out what to do.
Does anyone know what is going on? How do I boot from the floppy drive?
Anyone got an OS disk? A manual?
Thanks!
--
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 *
Michael,
> (Jumping on my horse again, making Ultrix run on VS3100 M76 would take a
> screenful of code. I have the source if anyone wants to take a stab.)
I have the Ultrix V4.50 source tree [no comment] and will be porting it to
the M76, *and* (which is my target) my beloved 4000-700A. And life will be
great if I can find a 705A CPU for that box.
--f
On Jan 18, 10:23, Jules Richardson wrote:
> > Do either of you think you have a Disc 1 for it?
>
> no discs at all I'm afraid :-( hence why I was asking about whther
there's a
> sensible ftp site to put them on so if a working set can be collected at
least
> they can be archived somewhere (the same goes for manuals really, but
scanning
> those would be a major pain I expect!)
Well, someone else has offered to copy Disc 1 for me. I've also found a
few other people who have ARM Evaluation Systems, so once I get a good Disc
1, I'll put the set of six on my website (and if anyone from any of the
Beeb sites wants to make a copy, that's fine by me). Any suggestions as to
format to use for the images?
I've also just been told that the production run of ARM (not ARM2) chips
was 2000. I know some were used in-house for other types of development
system (like the A500) and more were used for Springboard (an ISA card, the
PC equivalent of the ARM Development System), so 50 or 100 seem likely
numbers for the quantity of ARM Development Kits made to fit Beebs.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
On Jan 18, 12:49, Adrian Vickers wrote:
> At 06:41 18/01/2003, Ethan Dicks wrote:
>
> >I bring it up because I _think_ you are talking about the original
> >chicklet-keyboard SRAM PET, but you didn't come right out and say so.
>
> Apologies, I didn't; I keep forgetting that the 2001 went through more
> development than perhaps any of the other PETs. Yes, it is a chicklet
> keyboard version, with static RAM (2114's) and original 28-pin MOS ROMs.
> Well, there are no unpolulated sockets, so perhaps it's a fair bet that
> there's some extra stuff in there. Goodness knows what, though, all the
> ROMs are MOS 6540's.
Then there's no extras. The MOS Technology 6540 ROMs are half the capacity
of the 2332s in later boards, so there are seven of them in a standard PET
and no spare sockets.
> Figures :( I've had to do this once already to locate a broken 2114
(when
> I got the machine, it claimed only 1600 bytes of memory were free).
> Luckily, I have one more spare 2114 (I got two from someone on this list,
I
> forget who [for which I apologise] and thank them (again) profusely, as
if
> it is a broken 2114, there's a chance the second spare might be
essential).
I think it was me (and I think you already said thankyou :-))
> Also, I know this has been asked & answered before, but what's the best
way
> of cleaning the board? It has more dust on it than I am properly
> comfortable with, and besides it looks horrible.
>
> I'm guessing that *ideally* it should be washed in distilled water with a
> very soft brush, then left in a warm place to dry thoroughly. OTOH, maybe
> alcohol would be a better idea? I have some disc head cleaning alcohol
> which would suffice - recommendations please!
Start by vacuuming it with a powerful vacuum and a soft, small, paintbrush
(about 1/2" - 1") to help disldge the dirt. You might not need to wash it
after that. It's not too important for a board like this, but the air
rushing through a plastic vacuum nozzle can generate a surprising amount of
static, so ideally the nozzle should be conductive, and grounded.
If you do wash it, use some detergent, do not get it too hot, rinse with
distilled water and a *very small* amount of wetting agent (to help the
water drain). Blowing off the excess with low-pressure compressed air
and/or rinsing in IPA or meths (which mix with water and helps remove it)
may also be a good idea. Do make sure you get all the water out of places
like IC sockets, switches, and connectors, as residues may eventually lead
to corrosion.
In extreme cases, or where I've had a lot of boards to clean, I've used the
dishwasher -- but do not let the dishwasher do the normal drying cycle as
it's too hot for safety. Some dishwashers seem to use very hot water, too,
and some types of PCB and some types of plastic don't like that. Don't use
a dishwasher on boards that have non-sealed relays, transformers, paper
labels, etc.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
