Hi, i'm not sure, if anyone in germany if familiar with any Whitechapel stuff ... ... i stumbled into that game when searching for NS32xxx related items (which is one of my main interests). It's impossible, to get any spare parts here; my only information source, if some stuff pops up, is this mailing lists (and this does not happen very often). I got my (still not working) MG-1 the machine alone nearly killed me) Ciao Bernd On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 13:37:15 +0000, Jules Richardson wrote:

Picked the CG-200 up earlier. Externally it's the same case style / external design as the MG-1 except for the CG-200 lettering on the front. Some quick images of the guts (circa 200KB each): http://www.patooie.com/comps/whitechapel/cg200/cg200.html It's got a memory expansion fitted (I suspect it's the same 2MB board as the MG-1 machines use), plus it has the ISA backplane (whoo!) - into which is plugged a full-length video board (and a serial board). I don't recognise the video board as being any off-the-shelf PC type of board, so it's possibly a custom design for the CG-200 machines. Initially the motherboard looks the same as my memory of the MG-1 board layout - except that I don't recall that honking great daughterboard on the MG-1 which presumably holds the CG-200's CPU (mind you, I've never seen an MG-200 so perhaps they have the same board). There's no sign of a 32016 on the motherboard anyway, so I presume that whatever CPU the machine uses is buried beneath one of the heaksinks on that daughterboard. Unfortunately the corrosion is pretty bad as the machine's obviously been stored with the batteries in it for many years - I haven't had a chance to see just how extensive it is yet, though. rust / dust - wise it looks to be in better condition than some of the MG-1's that I've seen, so I'm hopeful that the hard disk's survived. Time to get some vinegar on those boards... cheers Jules

On Mon, 2005-07-18 at 17:28 -0700, Vintage Computer Festival wrote: Heh, yep they were rather quick photos. At least on the battery board itself (not shown in the photos) there seems to be signs of break-up of the solder joints though, now that I've had a chance to look at it in daylight. Hopefully that's not quite so bad on the motherboard itself. I'm surprised at how extensive it is though - it's reached far further into the system than the other Whitechapels I've seen (but in those cases the battery board was almost destroyed, so hopefully the better condition of this one is a good sign...) Hmm, the vinegar trick should probably go in the FAQ (along with the fact that it tends to remove ink on ceramic chips - found that one out the hard way once!) cheers Jules

Having now managed to see said pictures, I wonder if the CPU is on the daughterboard. In particular, could the PGA package be something like a 32032? The other 2 'intersting' chips on said board might be an MMU and FPU or something. I find citric acid more pleasant to use than vinegar, and just as effective. -tony

On Tuesday 19 July 2005 16:44, Jules Richardson wrote: 32332's are indeed 2nd (or 3rd perhaps) generation NS32k chips. I've got an Encore Multimax multiprocessor UNIX box that's just filled with them. :) Pat -- Purdue University Research Computing --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/ The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org

On Wed, 2005-07-20 at 00:32 +0100, Tony Duell wrote: I'm trying to decide what to do about the whole battery aspect. If the machine isn't going to be used for long periods of time then it makes sense not to have any batteries in it in case they leak (or whatever). But then if it doesn't need batteries during normal running, it seems a bit of a waste to have them there at all (and need to open up the case to fit them each time the machine's used) I presume they're normally used to keep some form of RAM containing configuration data alive though (plus maybe some kind of service processor operational) as well as providing power to the start up relay - so I'm not sure what the implications are there of not having them fitted. Maybe an external NiCd pack is the way to go - there are plenty of screw points at the rear of the case from which a suitable bracket for a battery box could be attached. Mind you, I'm sort of at the point where I think any machine which is to be stored for any period of time unused should have its PSU disconnected just to stop anyone trying to randomly power it up before doing some basic checks - in which case they'd need to open the case anyway. That's handy to know anyway; two of our three MG-1's have rather unwell hard disks which will need replacing before they can be made operational. cheers Jules

On Wed, 2005-07-20 at 17:26 +0100, Gordon JC Pearce wrote: Not quite that bad, but I could see periods of 6 months or so not being uncommon. Hopefully one day there'll be less things to fix / archive / photograph which means more time for actually running stuff and learning how to use it - but for the forseeable future there's a *huge* backlog of work to do! Plus doubtless some machines will be destined as static exhibits (particularly where hard drives have failed and OS media is no longer available), so it makes sense not to keep batteries in those. The fate of this CG-200 will depend on how healthy the hard disk appears to be as without OS media that's the one bit which can't be fixed... cheers Jules