As I understand it (at least in the UK) 1) You can sell non-compliant components without problems (you just can't sell _new_ equipment using them in many cases) 2) You can perform repairs using non-compliant components, solder, etc In some cases (I will have to check the exact details), you can even do an upgrade to a machine using non-compliant components without problems. AFAIK it would be OK to take a memory board (first sold before the deadline), solder in more non-compliant RAMs with leaded solder and put it back into service. I do wonder what the real point of this law is. But then I feel that way about most, if not all, EU regulations. -tony

Fred Cisin wrote: What the heck is that? Looking at for some other stuff, sliver solder does not seem to be that high priced compared to the lead stuff.

The problem is not the cost, nor the fact you need a slightly hotter iron. There are worries that it's not reliable (there are exceptions in the RoHS directives for military and medical electronics, IIRC. Draw your own conclusions...). Certainly there are a _lot_ more dry joints (and I don't mean joints that look dry, but genuine bad connections) in consumer electronic devices using lead-free solder. -tony

I don't care, provided it comes with schematics and uses chips that I recognise :-) Pentium machines cannot be early :-) As for the enlarger, I have enough problems hosuing my DeVere 504.... Does it _depend_ on the mains frequency? Votlage conversion is trivial (I have a 110V step-down transformer in the workshop anyway), frequency conversion can be more of an 'interesting' job. -tony

AFAIK you're right, they didn't. I don't think there were any scanner service manuals on hpmusuem.net before the crash, but manuals for similar-date products didn't contain schematics. Rather you than me. The only scanner I looked inside had several unindentifyable ICs... Surely you all know me by now. I am not going to depend on something that I can't repair. So would I. Doing it electroncially (rectify mains to give DC, then re-chop at the right frequency) looks great on paper, but as we all know, using power semiconductors that way is a black art. One tiny mistake and they'll try to put a dead short across the mains and scatter themselves round the room in the process... Making a new pulley is not a particularly difficult job.... Indeed. Occasionally, the mains frequecy was used for a real time clock (in which case the thing won't keep good time, which may not be a big problem -- if it is, a crysal + divider chain would be a workaround). Very occasionally, the transformer is rated only for 60Hz (higher frequency means you can use a smaller core for the same power, that's (a) why a lot of aircraft stuff ran at 400Hx, and (b) why the transformers in SMPSUs are small). But most trasnformers that are used on 60Hz are OK for 50Hz too. -tony

This seems to be a way for me to end up with a large pile of broken scanners that I won't throw out, becuase they _might_ be repairable one day, and anyway they contain bits that might come in handy (the stepper motor if nothing else..). But then again I am terminally short of space... I also don't have the time (or inclination) to keep on tinkering with software (drivers, etc) every time I need to replace the scanner... -tony

Which would not meet the local building regulations :-) I seem to rememebr at least some of thsoe are mentioned in my old PrinterWorks catalogue.... I don;'t _need_ them -- the only CX I have is on the PERQ, and that has a built-in laserprinter controller. On the PC I have a LW2NT (SX engine). But they might be fun to play with sometime... -tony

I would assume it's a linear (as opposed to area) CCD. Now, I spent many years playing tricks with CCDs, and one thing that's burnt into my memory is that the drive pulses are critical. Not mild;y critical, but _very_ critical. Trying to get them right for an unknwn device is not my idea of a good time. It would be easier, I think to get a known CCD and build the rest of the mechanism from scratch. Anyway, there is the other problem that if I do get the scanner, what the heck do I store the data from it on. I am not using multiple 8" disks per page :-) Do you know of a CD burner that comes with a service manual? -tony

If you think how a CCD basically works, it has a series of electrodes (normally 3 or 4 'phase' drive) on the surface of the chip, by sequencing the votlages on these electrodes, you move the accumulated charge along. Charge transfer actually occurs as the voltages are changing, which means the rise/fall time, and to a lesser extent the shape of the rising/falling edge matters. Too steep can be a problem. I spent many a late night looking at the 'scope and adding low-value series resistors to slow things down a bit. My minis have RK05s and the like. 2,5M on a pack is not a lot of use for this. OK, I have a couple of RK07s, but they're 'only' 28MBytes, and I don't have that many packs for them (enough to use, bot enough to use for archiving images). No, but I am told CD-ROMs are useful for sending said scanned manuals to places like Bitsacers. -tony