RE: RM 380Z Special Control Unit (?)

2015-08-01 Thread Jay jaeger
SOME of the later S100 systems had regulated supplies and then ditched the board regulators, usually leaving a place to put a regulator with just a jumper wire in place of the regulator. tony duell a...@p850ug1.demon.co.uk wrote: ... Which also may well not be RML original. The 380Z has a

RE: RM 380Z Special Control Unit (?)

2015-08-01 Thread Robert Jarratt
-Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Adrian Graham Sent: 01 August 2015 10:10 To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: RM 380Z Special Control Unit (?) On 01/08/2015 05:38, tony duell

Re: RM 380Z Special Control Unit (?)

2015-08-01 Thread Jules Richardson
On 07/31/2015 11:38 PM, tony duell wrote: As Jules and Tony have said, that's not 380Z internals so if that puts you off I'll have a punt just for the power supply ;) ... Which also may well not be RML original. The 380Z has a regulated PSU, S100 has separate regulators on each board and an

RE: Saved DEC kit

2015-08-01 Thread Robert Jarratt
Always interested in a 2000 and a 4000. I suspect these were destined for other people, but if the takers have not materialised then I will happily take them. Regards Rob -Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Adrian Graham Sent: 01

Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread Ian McLaughlin
On Aug 1, 2015, at 3:24 PM, Robert Jarratt robert.jarr...@ntlworld.com wrote: Thanks for the suggestion, but Hakko appears not to be available in the UK. On ebay I can find US sellers and Chinese sellers. I suspect the Chinese ones are imitations, so I would prefer to avoid those. Sorry

Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread Brent Hilpert
On 2015-Aug-01, at 2:38 PM, Paul Koning wrote: On Aug 1, 2015, at 5:24 PM, Robert Jarratt robert.jarr...@ntlworld.com wrote: PS A related question. I struggled somewhat with the Weller Magnastat No. 8 tip, when trying to solder leads to the ground plane, I could not get the solder to stay

Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread Jon Elson
On 08/01/2015 04:24 PM, Robert Jarratt wrote: Today I was able to repair the LCD monitor (admittedly a cheap one) on my son's computer by replacing some of the electrolytic capacitors. I repaired an LCD monitor that they were going to trash at work. You had to massively disassemble it to

SPARCClassic won't boot cdrom

2015-08-01 Thread Benjamin Huntsman
Hi all! I recently acquired a SPARCclassic, which is my first bit of Sun hardware. Having an awful time getting it to boot from the CD-ROM. I have tried a bunch of different terminators and several different cables, but whenever I try to boot I get this: ok boot cdrom -s Boot device:

Re: Unusual stuff inside computers

2015-08-01 Thread Mark J. Blair
On Aug 1, 2015, at 21:22 , drlegendre . drlegen...@gmail.com wrote: That's an old joke. Some (newb) asks How do you switch it on, i want to play Spacewar (or whatever), cagey user says You put a dollar in one of these slots... ;-) I guarantee it. That's my number one theory, followed by

Re: Unusual stuff inside computers

2015-08-01 Thread Mark J. Blair
I found a dollar bill inside an Apple Monitor II. It appeared to have been folded into quarters and then pushed through one of the cooling slots on top of the monitor. The monitor and matching IIe computer look like they came from a school based on the property numbers engraved onto them. I've

Re: diagnosing an Intel Series II MDS monitor failure

2015-08-01 Thread Eric Smith
On Sat, Aug 1, 2015 at 2:36 PM, Brent Hilpert hilp...@cs.ubc.ca wrote: Just a suggestion: you're sure there no ground reference problem on pin 7 (V-) of the 723? (hence raising the Vref). I've seen small 723-based supplies with sense leads where the 723 V- is on the neg. sense lead rather

Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread Ian McLaughlin
On Aug 1, 2015, at 2:24 PM, Robert Jarratt robert.jarr...@ntlworld.com wrote: PS A related question. I struggled somewhat with the Weller Magnastat No. 8 tip, when trying to solder leads to the ground plane, I could not get the solder to stay molten very long. I was using lead-free solder,

Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread Paul Koning
On Aug 1, 2015, at 6:36 PM, TeoZ t...@neo.rr.com wrote: I still use a bunch of lead solder I purchased to fix the RAM on a C64 back in the late 1980's plus you can still get it from China on ebay super cheap. Fortunately, real solder is still readily available; my current tools catalog

Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread Paul Koning
On Aug 1, 2015, at 6:49 PM, Brent Hilpert hilp...@cs.ubc.ca wrote: ... As an example, I was trying to solder on the ground-plane of a 1970s (i.e. leaded everything) Heath digital tuner recently (double-sided ground plane on the PCB). Old Weller 48W/700F/mag-temp-switch iron was not up

Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread Chuck Guzis
On 08/01/2015 03:24 PM, Robert Jarratt wrote: PS A related question. I struggled somewhat with the Weller Magnastat No. 8 tip, when trying to solder leads to the ground plane, I could not get the solder to stay molten very long. I was using lead-free solder, its melting point is much lower than

Re: Unusual stuff inside computers

2015-08-01 Thread Chris Elmquist
On Saturday (08/01/2015 at 07:05PM -0400), Vlad Stamate wrote: I was pleasantly impressed that the drive head has not been damaged bumping in the leather piece all the time. I am not sure how that got there, I assume a child pushed it in by mistake? Peter!

Re: Unusual stuff inside computers

2015-08-01 Thread Tothwolf
On Sat, 1 Aug 2015, drlegendre . wrote: On Sat, Aug 1, 2015 at 6:05 PM, Vlad Stamate vlad.stam...@gmail.com wrote: I recently got a very nice HP 9816 with a 9121 drive unit from Earl Baugh (thanks Earl!). The computer worked fine but the primary drive of the 9121 refused to read the disk and

Re: Reforming capacitors (technical description, not politics)

2015-08-01 Thread David Gesswein
On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 06:43:44PM +0100, Robert Jarratt wrote: From the slides you posted it looks like you have some kind of automated set up. Can you explain what you have there? The only automation was the data collection. For the reforming I set the lab supply to the current limit I think

RE: diagnosing an Intel Series II MDS monitor failure

2015-08-01 Thread dwight
There we two different reference voltages on 723s. I don't recall which was which but one had to change the feedback resistors if you used the wrong one. If seems there is only one ref voltage available today. I think Jameco carries them. What package do you need. They cam in cans and dips.

Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread Tothwolf
On Sat, 1 Aug 2015, Robert Jarratt wrote: PS A related question. I struggled somewhat with the Weller Magnastat No. 8 tip, when trying to solder leads to the ground plane, I could not get the solder to stay molten very long. I was using lead-free solder, its melting point is much lower than

Re: Unusual stuff inside computers

2015-08-01 Thread drlegendre .
What is that item? Looks like a piece of laced (p)leather-craft from a children's summer camp project.. On Sat, Aug 1, 2015 at 6:05 PM, Vlad Stamate vlad.stam...@gmail.com wrote: Hi, I recently got a very nice HP 9816 with a 9121 drive unit from Earl Baugh (thanks Earl!). The computer

RE: diagnosing an Intel Series II MDS monitor failure

2015-08-01 Thread tony duell
The root cause of the failure appears to be that the internal voltage reference of the uA723, which is specified as 7.15V ±0.35V, is now 9.4V. The uA723 needs to be replaced. The uA723 is still readily That's an unsual failure. I've had 723s go internally short-circuit and then the output

Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread Dale H. Cook
At 05:24 PM 8/1/2015, Robert Jarratt wrote: I suppose I now have at least some justification in the eyes of She Who Must Be Obeyed for continuing with this hobby One of the few benefits enjoyed by those of us who do not have a Hilda is that we have no interference with our hobbies. :-) Dale

Re: diagnosing an Intel Series II MDS monitor failure

2015-08-01 Thread Eric Smith
On Sat, Aug 1, 2015 at 5:52 PM, dwight dkel...@hotmail.com wrote: There we two different reference voltages on 723s. I don't recall which was which but one had to change the feedback resistors if you used the wrong one. There's a reference with a built-in current source and amplifier, which

Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread Paul Koning
On Aug 1, 2015, at 8:28 PM, Chuck Guzis ccl...@sydex.com wrote: ... I never use RoHS solder--it simply doesn't wet or flow like 67/37 Sn/Pb solder. The exception is SMT where components are mounted using solder paste (powered solder+flux). If I could find some of the leaded stuff, I'd

RE: RM 380Z Special Control Unit (?)

2015-08-01 Thread tony duell
SOME of the later S100 systems had regulated supplies and then ditched the board regulators, usually leaving a place to put a regulator with just a jumper wire in place of the regulator. Sure. But in this machine I can see some heatsinks on the S100 boards that are likely to be used for

Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread Paul Koning
On Aug 1, 2015, at 5:24 PM, Robert Jarratt robert.jarr...@ntlworld.com wrote: PS A related question. I struggled somewhat with the Weller Magnastat No. 8 tip, when trying to solder leads to the ground plane, I could not get the solder to stay molten very long. I was using lead-free

RE: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread Robert Jarratt
-Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Paul Koning Sent: 01 August 2015 22:39 To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful! On Aug 1, 2015, at 5:24 PM, Robert Jarratt

Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread TeoZ
I still use a bunch of lead solder I purchased to fix the RAM on a C64 back in the late 1980's plus you can still get it from China on ebay super cheap. Just this week I fixed an Apple Ibook G3-500 that had the connector for the trackpad/mouse come off the board from bad lead free soldering at

Unusual stuff inside computers

2015-08-01 Thread Vlad Stamate
Hi, I recently got a very nice HP 9816 with a 9121 drive unit from Earl Baugh (thanks Earl!). The computer worked fine but the primary drive of the 9121 refused to read the disk and made a continuous beating noise. After I cleaned it on the outside I opened it to see what is wrong with it. And I

Re: Unusual stuff inside computers

2015-08-01 Thread Fred Cisin
On Sat, 1 Aug 2015, drlegendre . wrote: What is that item? Looks like a piece of laced (p)leather-craft from a children's summer camp project.. an improvised floppy drive shipping head protector?

Re: diagnosing an Intel Series II MDS monitor failure

2015-08-01 Thread Eric Smith
On Sat, Aug 1, 2015 at 2:14 PM, tony duell a...@p850ug1.demon.co.uk wrote: The root cause of the failure appears to be that the internal voltage reference of the uA723, which is specified as 7.15V ±0.35V, is now 9.4V. The uA723 needs to be replaced. The uA723 is still readily That's an unsual

This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread Robert Jarratt
Today I was able to repair the LCD monitor (admittedly a cheap one) on my son's computer by replacing some of the electrolytic capacitors. Had I not got into collecting and restoring (sometimes) old DEC machines, I would not have had the ESR meter, the de-soldering and soldering equipment,

RE: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread Robert Jarratt
-Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Ian McLaughlin Sent: 01 August 2015 22:44 To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful! On Aug 1, 2015, at 2:24 PM, Robert Jarratt

Re: Unusual stuff inside computers

2015-08-01 Thread Fred Cisin
What other strange pieces did you find when you opened up classic computers? A TRS80 model 1 where some keys had stopped working due to an accumulation of marijuana seeds

Re: Unusual stuff inside computers

2015-08-01 Thread Tothwolf
On Sat, 1 Aug 2015, Vlad Stamate wrote: Hi, I recently got a very nice HP 9816 with a 9121 drive unit from Earl Baugh (thanks Earl!). The computer worked fine but the primary drive of the 9121 refused to read the disk and made a continuous beating noise. After I cleaned it on the outside I

RE: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!

2015-08-01 Thread Robert Jarratt
-Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Ian McLaughlin Sent: 01 August 2015 23:39 To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful! On Aug 1, 2015, at 3:24 PM, Robert Jarratt

Re: Unusual stuff inside computers

2015-08-01 Thread Eric Christopherson
On Sat, Aug 01, 2015, Vlad Stamate wrote: Hi, I recently got a very nice HP 9816 with a 9121 drive unit from Earl Baugh (thanks Earl!). The computer worked fine but the primary drive of the 9121 refused to read the disk and made a continuous beating noise. After I cleaned it on the outside

Re: Unusual stuff inside computers

2015-08-01 Thread Eric Smith
On Sat, Aug 1, 2015 at 5:37 PM, Fred Cisin ci...@xenosoft.com wrote: What other strange pieces did you find when you opened up classic computers? A TRS80 model 1 where some keys had stopped working due to an accumulation of marijuana seeds Someone was using it wrong. No seeds or stems!

Re: RM 380Z Special Control Unit (?)

2015-08-01 Thread Adrian Graham
On 01/08/2015 05:38, tony duell a...@p850ug1.demon.co.uk wrote: As Jules and Tony have said, that's not 380Z internals so if that puts you off I'll have a punt just for the power supply ;) ... Which also may well not be RML original. The 380Z has a regulated PSU, S100 has separate

Saved DEC kit

2015-08-01 Thread Adrian Graham
Folks, Before the great company meltdown of Jan this year and as I discovered the great mailing list breakdown of not long after I saved some DEC kit for list members to collect, namely: Alpha 800 (rackmount) uVAX 2000 VAX 4000VLC These are still in my hallway in Cambs UK so if either the

Re: Saved DEC kit

2015-08-01 Thread Lukas Kaminski
Hi, I would be very interested in the 4000 vlc. Is it still available? Also is shipping to Germany possible? How miuch would it cost? Bye, Lukas Kaminski Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.   Original Message   From: Adrian Graham Sent: Saturday, August 1, 2015 12:11 To: Discussion: