12 Sep
2012
12 Sep
'12
2:32 p.m.
I'm not easily finding any good references to repair/disassembly for these
PC-5 systems. They're a hand held computer that apparently has a minimal
dos 5.0 load and an 8088? chip so it's "compatible" with already compiled
programs you could technically transfer to it via the serial port and
kermit protocol (one I have works and counts 640K ram which is amusing) the
other just makes a horrid buzzing noise when plugged into a power source.
Obviously I'm guessing the battery or a cap is shot inside but was hoping
to look at some guide to repairing these. Unfortunately most of what I
find leads to the fairly nondescript corvallis website which no longer
references these units and certainly seems like they used to just have you
ship them the unit and fix it for hundreds of dollars.
Anyone play with one of these? This
http://www.cmtinc.com/techhelp/pc5faq.html is pretty much the most
information I've come across so far but nothing really about the insides.
They have an ftp I looked briefly through but it also seems to concentrate
on using the newer models and not anything regarding repair that I could
find. Really I would think they'd have something somewhere on replacing
the battery as an FRU but perhaps they weren't intended to be field
replaceable?
It seems like it was popular with folks doing geological and forestry
studies. Certainly looks more like something you'd find in a warehouse
than a home though.