Unless I'm completely misunderstanding something, what Jim says here isn't right, and Janice is right to be concerned about polarity. Reversing polarity is a good way to fry things, last I heard, and not all devices use the same polarity. Best to be certain you've got it right before you plug anything in.
Beverly Just a footnote to Beverly's observation: When I was a little boy, many years ago (I'm a bigger boy now), I was with my dad, buying an oil filter at Canadian Tire.I remember asking him why there were so many different sizes and shapes of oil filter; couldn't three or four sizes work for every car and truck? Dad said that was a Good Question. I was too young to know better than to ask such questions, knowing nothing about profits and marketing and those sort of things. The "standard" power plugs that we see on everything, in anything but standard sizes (last time I checked there were NINE different sizes for these things, hardly what I'd consider a standard), or non-standard in another very important way: their polarity seems to be an entirely random affair, presumably based on the whim of the engineer designing each product. While phono plugs are typically positive at the tip, and RCA plugs must be positive at the center in order for the shield to be outside, power plugs can go either way, and do. Polarity, particularly with battery packs and power supplies for electronics, is most important, and you can fry your Powerbook beyond practical hope of repair by applying reverse power to it's power input jack. Some wise guy will tell me he did it once for a few seconds and got away with it, but I hear you can be struck by lightning and get away with it, too. Polarity is easy to check with any meter, or VOM, or even an LED, and it's very important. Particularly when you never know how any given Power Plug is wired. So there. -- PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PowerBooks list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/powerbooks.shtml> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/powerbooks%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Macintosh? Get free email and more at Applelinks! <http://www.applelinks.com>
