20 Feb
2008
20 Feb
'08
5:48 a.m.
On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 02:07:53PM +0100, Ade Vickers wrote:
A nice-looking CBM Pet 2001 with chicklet keyboard
(Item #300199788685),
described as:
"The computer powers up fine as you can see from the pictures, but it is
only half way through the booting up process.... a simple problem to fix...
Erm, yes. Very simple to fix, if you happen to have a spare of the part (or
parts) that have failed. Otherwise, a complete bastard (pardon my Francais)
of a job.... and well beyond your average ePayer, I'd warrant.
Having fixed a number of PETs, the problem could be as simple as a failed
SRAM in low mem (you can swap with one from high mem to test), a failed
ROM (less likely), or most likely of all, cheap sockets. Power supply
problems can also be a possibility, but I'd think that's more likely
with newer PETs with DRAMs (you need three voltages to power 4116s).
Replacing sockets is not a difficult task if you are skilled with
a soldering iron. New sockets are not too expensive or difficult
to find (I use high-quality machine-pin sockets and get them by the
fistful at several to the dollar). I wouldn't recommend a novice start
a career in soldering by replacing two dozen sockets, though.
And yet, from a "non expert" we're
expected to believe this is an "easy
repair"? Do people really fall for this sort of garbage.
Well... clearly the seller is not an electronics expert, but if you
want to buy a 30-year-old computer of any variety and you don't know
the first thing about electronics, you'd better have a friend who does.
Given that it's a pickup offer, if I were in London, _I_ might
consider paying 50 GBP for a broken original PET (I sold a broken
one 10 years ago for $100 US). I don't know that I'd be happy to
pay much more than that, though. I think most ePay buyers would
prefer to have one that works out of the box.
I'll be curious to learn what this one goes for, eventually.
-ethan
--
Ethan Dicks, A-333-S Current South Pole Weather at 20-Feb-2008 at 13:40 Z
South Pole Station
PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -30.3 F (-34.6 C) Windchill -57.7 F (-49.8 C)
APO AP 96598 Wind 12.5 kts Grid 8 Barometer 682.0 mb (10553 ft)
Ethan.Dicks at usap.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html