At 00:43 26-10-1999 -0600, Dr. Green was heard to comment: Actually, it strikes me that building PCBs at home is perfectly on-topic for the list if it involves re-creating "classic" replacement components that are no longer made. Case in point: DEC, at one time, made a supplemental +/-15V switching regulator board that operated from about 36-40V input (monopolar) for the H770 power supply (as used in some models of the 11/03 and others). Such a part is, of course, no longer made, and several of the components used appeared to be DEC-custom. With that in mind, I set out to design a functional replacement. Fortunately, I was able to take advantage of the tremendous strides in switching PS technology and PWM circuits that have come along since the 70's. The new design uses perhaps one-fifth of the original parts count, and the parts are all generic. I have all the core active components sitting in a box at the moment. I have enough to build two prototypes. Said prototypes will likely require a two-sided PCB that I'm probably going to have one of the local board shops do since I don't have the facilities or chemicals to do that kind of thing here. The only thing I'm waiting on now is a copy of the field maintenance prints for the H770 power supply so I can, at least in function, copy the control circuit that DEC used to enable/disable the regulator. Anyway, that's just one example. As for the VAXen "wars," well, all I can say is that the list does go through phases where stuff like that crops up. Witness the gripe about the E-bay thread I made not long ago. There's always the 'unsubscribe' option if it gets to be too much for you. ;-) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies http://www.bluefeathertech.com // E-mail: kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com Amateur Radio: WD6EOS since Dec. '77 "Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."