26 Dec
2005
26 Dec
'05
8:20 p.m.
On Monday 26 December 2005 05:01 pm, Tony Duell wrote:
A PX8.
Actually, the ROMs in my PX8 have no labels at all. They have Epson part
numbers stamped on the package, but nothing to easily identify them as
the utilities and BASIC roms.
I don't think this one has BASIC in it. There are eproms, Portable WordStar,
and I forget what else (I'll know when I find it by looking at the labels :-)
You can turn it off with the little switch inside the main batter
compartment. The machine should run from the main battery (or a 5V PSU
connected in place of the main battey) if there are no otehr problems.
To the battery connector? Ok...
Do remember there are no regulators in the PX8 PSU. The power supply must
be close to 5V (4.8V is OK), not a random unregulated one. You may well
do a lot of damage with the latter.
Are you talking about going right into the battery input connector? Or to the
charger input on the rear of the machine? The "power supply" I use with it
is a wall wart, I don't recall what it's rated at, but it's labeled with
that dymo tape stuff as being for that machine, came with it when I got it.
--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space, a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed. --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James
M Dakin
The roms in
mine seem to be hand-labeled too, I think there are
three
Are you talking about a PX4 or a PX8? [PX8 wedge]
Their own z80? Hm. I did download that stuff, all of it, but haven't read
it yet. And a few other things besides. There's a pile of interesting stuff
on that site...
Yes, there's that modem, and I forget what
else. I'd grab it and have
a look but don't recall just where it is at the moment.
FWIW, that techncial manual I mentioned includes schematics for some of
the add-ons. Note that the RAMdisks are rather complicated, they have
their own Z80 processor and a memory control gate array
(similar/identical to the one in the PX8 I think). Digging in my junk box (again), I found the Epson
accostic modem that was
sold for these machines. It's just a plain 300 baud unit with an RS232
interface, but it's nice to have the 'right' peripherals.
I can't recall what other jacks there were on the back of that unit, just
that there were a bunch of them...
The machine itself contains 2 batteries. In the PX8,
there's the main
battery pack (4 sub-C NiCds) and a separate 4.8V backup NiCd soldered
to the PCB.
I wonder if that's the one that's giving me trouble? > > Considering I am not likely to use these
machines every day, I find
> > recharageable battereis to be a pain. They are going to self-discharge
> > in storage and need charging before I can use it, they are going to
> > fail long before they should due to neglect.
I suspect that may have some bearing on what's going on with it now.
I've been running the PX4 on alkaline AA primary
cells anf the PX8 off
my bench supply. Yes, I have to do a hard reser every time and reset the
configuration, but...
I've been trying to avoid that, but may give it a shot.