Repair or Replace? [Was: Repairing Timex]

Tony Duell wrote: [someone else wrote:] [...] Surely any serious computer hobbyist, especially one who is a collector or preservationist, has at least the following: DVM, oscilloscope (even if just an old 5mHZ one to look for things like PSU ripple/spikes), soldering iron, logic probe, assorted hand tools and perhaps a logic analyzer. These are not things that the average hobbyist should be unlikely to have. I can't believe that any serious computer hobbyist would toss any thing like that in a dumpster - at the very least, something that's common and physically broken (e.g. - broken case, broken circuit board, etc.) - would at least salvage, or attempt to salvage, the components. Monitors, for example, have all sorts of interesting things in them like power-resistors useful for building and repairing other types of circuitry. Right, however, one should at least know what a schematic is and have a basic idea of how to interpret it, have a basic idea of how an operating system works (having at least read partway through the sources for a few different ones), know how to do some minimal machine work such as creating some very simple things at least from wood and plastic, know what an EPROM programmer is and at least be wanting to purchase one. Throwing it away is still wrong; there are plenty of people like you, not to mention hackers-in-training such as high-school kids still taking electronics classes, who would like to get their hands on that broken machine to hack and experiment with. Like you said, it's like solving puzzles... good for the mind, helps to prevent the onset of senility in one's later years. Anyway, surely there are at least some useable bits, from connectors to switches, wires and ICs to be found in those machines that some, oddly, toss out. Just makes it all the more fun, as this is stuff that everyone says can't be repaired. :-) -- R. D. Davis rdd(a)perqlogic.com http://www.perqlogic.com/rdd 410-744-4900