Huge IBM 1800 find (and need some help)

Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2015 13:25:39 -0500 From: elson at pico-systems.com To: General at classiccmp.org; classiccmp.org:On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Re: Huge IBM 1800 find (and need some help) On 03/21/2015 12:02 PM, Johannes Thelen wrote: A quick look at the FE manual seems to indicate it uses a bunch of "medium power converters" which seem to be modular transformer/rectifier/regulator type supplies. I think these are made to pull out fairly easily as field replaceable units, so that might get the weight down. I also looked in some 360 docs and they had wildly different weights listed for the same box in different configurations. This makes me think these are NOT weights of individual cabinets but total system weights in different configurations. Clearly, the machine in your picture is a larger configuration with a number of cabinets added to the CPU box. I'd be very careful about removing "gates". There will be a LOT!!! of wires, and the wire-wrap side of the boards are pretty fragile. (This is an SLT machine, build much the same as a 360, so I know a fair bit about how those are put together. The gates are not going to be very heavy, it may be much better to leave them in place. The disks are probably ruined from dust accumulation, and these disk drives likely have metal (not ceramic) heads, and will require a lot of work to get running again. I think these use the same scheme as the 2314, with hydraulic head positioners. They will almost certainly have to be rebuilt completely. I'd clean the tops of the drives carefully before opening the lids, and try to be very careful to not get any more dirt in there when removing the packs. it may be a fool's errand to try to get the 2311 drives to ever work again, possibly a fairly simple device could be built that emulates the signals. The 2311 and 2314 "protocol" is extremely simple. Jon