10 May
2011
10 May
'11
11:08 a.m.
But then, what do you do with all that hardware once
you get it working? I realize that the fun for hardware
addicts (as opposed to software addicts like myself)
is to get the system working and running the OS.
It's not unheard-of for us hardware types to lose interest in a machine
once it will pass disgnostics and boot the OS :-)
More seriously,. thre's always more hardware to work on. Yet another
perpheral to restore, confiogure, and get running. Or something to build,
perhaps a test/maintenance board, or an interface to some more modern
machine or device.
Is that the end of the process? With software, there
always seems to be a bug to be fixed or, especially
Unfortunately, old hardware does fail. So even when you've got the
machine up and running, it may develop faults that oyu have to trace and
repair.
Another aspect is figuring out just how it really works. This is not a
problem with (older) DEC machines which had excellent techncial manuals
explaing the microcode and the circuitry, but it is an issue with soem
other manufacutrers. So you trace out schematics, desolder the ROMs, read
them out and figure out just what it going on. Yes, I've spent far too
many late mights working out just what a particular state machine does...
-tony