13 Jun
2011
13 Jun
'11
11:17 a.m.
Awesome!
I have an Exidy Sorcerer - When it was given to me, it was very dead.
It didn't take much fault finding to identify the +12Volts sitting on the
A13 line (from memory). From there, the cause was identified - somebody had
Ouch #1
bent the cartridge connector pins to make better
contact - that they did -
with the pins on the opposite edge of the connector. It worked a treat
while a cart was installed - as soon as it was powered up without a cart....
POP!
Ouch #2.
Still not as bad as the chap [1] I once knew who pulled boards one at a
time and retensioned the edge connectors in am HP9810 machien _with the
power on_. He eneded up shoring assrted power rails to TTL logic signals.
Alas at that time I didn't know as much about the 9810 as I do now, so I
couldn't help him mich.
[1] Believe-it-or-not, he volunteered and was accepted to do restoration
work at a local museum. Without wanting to restart that flame war, I am
sure people like this have very much skewed my judgement.
the line driver on the 50 pin interface connector.
Be careful not to tension the ROM pack lines......
THere are, of course, edge conenctors that are designed to short betwene
the sides when the PCB is removed. One common place to find one is the
option connector in a VT100. It intercepts the RS232 signals. So with no
board plugged in, the external connector is linked to the RS232
drivers/receivers of the terminal logic, but an option board cna grab
the data, interpret it, feed only what it wants to to the terminal, etc.
But - the good side of the story is that the system works a treat - I love
it!
I must get mine set up again. From where I am sitting I can see the fornt
side of the S100 expansion unit...
-tony