AdamCon.org > chat > 2001-09-08

Chat for 2001-09-08 14:00:00

Rich Drushel: I'm all alone! Nobody remembered. I did send out an E-mail when I logged in.
Rich Drushel: Let the record show that I was hear. Nyah!
Rich Drushel: haha!
Rich Drushel: <test of Send Message>
Rich Drushel: 3:26 and the chat is empty.
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changed username to BobSlopsema
BobSlopsema: DR D !!!!!
Rich Drushel: Hi Bob.
Rich Drushel: Was almost about to call it a day...
BobSlopsema: had to see if anyone here, almost missed it myself!
BobSlopsema: did you happen to...........
Rich Drushel: I sent out an E-mail when I logged in, but you probably didn't get it 'cause Dale probably hasn't updated the mailing list.
Rich Drushel: I promise I'll dig it out tonight and scan it, honest Injun.
BobSlopsema: find the note I sent you in the Addictus envelope about copying the pnals again for that tape maker???
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BobSlopsema: I had the front desk copy it but I cannot find it anywhere
Rich Drushel: I already had to unpack some more ADAMcon stuff today when I needed to get my 486 running again.
changed username to Ron
BobSlopsema: THE mighty one!!!!!
Rich Drushel: So I think I know where the box with your article is.
Ron: hey!
Rich Drushel: Hi Ron.
Ron: Hi guys
Ron: wha's new
BobSlopsema: got a nimi winnie up and working .....sort of
BobSlopsema: mini
Rich Drushel: Glad to hear that your ADAMserve is working on the MIB2, Ron.
Ron: semi-mini-winnie
BobSlopsema: putting hd cards together from parts and 95% success
Rich Drushel: Describe "sort of", Bob.
Ron: right. Your fix was dead on
BobSlopsema: tlked w aHerman afor about 1 1/2 hrs l;ast night as he walked us thru setu[
BobSlopsema: had errors, then no errors ...had it working last night
BobSlopsema: today, no soap
BobSlopsema: formatting it agian , putting in system and then the puter locks up....
Ron: I got one like that. Don't know if it's the Minnie Winnie controller card or the MFM drives I'm using
Rich Drushel: Formatting on what, a PC?
BobSlopsema: rerpbbot and get this crazy noise.......video pr9ob maybe
Rich Drushel: (That was what Herman liked to do for debugging.)
Ron: finally gave up and decided to use ADAMserve
BobSlopsema: was pc mfm formatted and working
BobSlopsema: formatting it on the ADAM
BobSlopsema: with HDINSTALL.COM
Ron: yup, that's what ya do
BobSlopsema: I am thinking it is the mfm drive
Rich Drushel: What was the source of the MW boards?
Ron: and does it format?
Ron: Big John
BobSlopsema: 'cept that my ADAM went south and it appears to be the video; not the hd or cards or 80 col
Ron: that's the trouble with this stuff now. Ya have to be really creative at troubleshooting
Ron: The one I'm using (same one as you gave the patch for) is my original 1984 ADAM
Rich Drushel: I asked about the boards because Herman had told me that everything he knew of that was good was gone.
Rich Drushel: I think I got the last MW HD system from them that they had back in 1991.
BobSlopsema: this one came thru Bob Blair in Fl;orida
BobSlopsema: question......
Ron: I believe that they were a special 'build' that John Lingrell arranged.
Ron: That's where mine came from anyway....direct from him
BobSlopsema: where and what is the chip in the ADAM that acn not be duplicated ?????
Rich Drushel: It is U7 on the bottom (logic) boardd.
Rich Drushel: oops, board.
Rich Drushel: It is 1983's version of a PAL.
Rich Drushel: But it isn't programmable; it was custom-fabricated.
BobSlopsema: meaning that the chip cannot even be found......
Rich Drushel: It was never a standard part.
Rich Drushel: It was designed only for the ADAM.
Rich Drushel: Someone smarter than me could probably figure out what it does, and what equivalent TTL logic chips could be used to build it.
BobSlopsema: just EXACTLY what happens when the video board flaks out???????
Ron: is there any paper on it?
BobSlopsema: no pic, just fuzz, and loud buzzing noise?????
Ron: unhook that right away Bob. Something's in backwards
Ron: I know that buzz
Rich Drushel: There is a block diagram of the ADAM design in the ADAM Technical Manual which shows arrows in and out of the chip.
Ron: so you'd have to reverse engineer
Rich Drushel: The names correspond to labelled pins on the ADAM logic board schematic.
BobSlopsema: heck no Ron......this is the ADAM I have been using for 5 years, last night I was going to copy some disks
Ron: And you didn't remove and replace anything?
BobSlopsema: whilest on the phone w/ Herman and it just made a screechy noise an no pic
Rich Drushel: You didn't short any exposed boards with a screwdriver, wristwatch etc.?
BobSlopsema: just turnid it on (my personal computer)
Ron: Mine used to do that when the Mini Winnie Controller wasn't properly seated
Rich Drushel: Try pulling the MW interface cable from the game board and just put a Z80 back into the socket.
Rich Drushel: See if that makes it work just as an ADAM.
Ron: Damn thing used to jump socket when it was moved
Rich Drushel: If so, the game board is okay.
BobSlopsema: no,. no no.....this is NOT the mini winnie machine!!! this is my personal ide hd machine, untouched by girls, cooties and the like
Rich Drushel: Oh.
Rich Drushel: Hmm.
Ron: ok.... sorry. We were off track
Rich Drushel: Try reseating the ribbon cable connector between the 2 boards?
Rich Drushel: One of my ADAMcon XIII systems went flakey that way (just as it had at home, and got rejiggled in transit to the hotel).
Ron: connectors. Gotta be a connector somewhere\
Ron: brb
BobSlopsema: no havent gone that far
Rich Drushel: This wasn't a system which had been opened up recently, I presume.
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BobSlopsema: notr since moving it to AC09 and back
HLM: Hello all
Rich Drushel: Hi Herman.
BobSlopsema: HI HErmen!!!
Ron: back
Rich Drushel: Well, if I had the system, Bob, I would have to open it up to start troubleshooting...so open 'er up and try reseating the interboard connector.
Ron: Hi Herman
Ron: we have "The Case of the Noisy ADAM"
BobSlopsema: just traded a bottom w/ guts onto the top holding tht hd unit
BobSlopsema: HERMAN!!!!!!
BobSlopsema: wake upt son.........
HLM: Yes Robert
BobSlopsema: got that mioni wimmie up last night but no joy todfay
BobSlopsema: gets locked up makes very wierd noise, etc
Ron: (says he, feeding his iMac keyboard more cookie crumbs)
Rich Drushel: Isn't she a hula dancer?
HLM: what.... You just need to talk to it
Rich Drushel: We're getting an iMac for the robot lab, Ron.
Ron: aha! Progress
HLM: give it some WD 40 it will be fine
HLM: where is it hanging
Ron: at powerup
HLM: must of wiped out block Zero somehow...
Rich Drushel: We already determined that a USB-to-serial converter will talk to the robot boards from a G3 blue&white.
Rich Drushel: Now the only question is MacOS X...
Rich Drushel: Have you seen that MacOS 9.2.1 update is out?
HLM: Robert ??????
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Ron: well there ya go. That would have been the only draw back
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HLM: Bob must have gotten dumped
Rich Drushel: G3 Macs only, though.
Rich Drushel: *Original* G3 Macs, that is...other PPCs upgraded to G3 are ignored.
BobSlopsema: darn thing just locked up again in INIT DIRECTOPRY
Rich Drushel: You need Herman's magic touch, Bob.
HLM: does it happen when it is HOT how long did it run last night
Rich Drushel: Where's the spot to bang on it with a screwdriver? :-)
Ron: Yeah I know all about that. Have here a USB/Parallel converter so I can used my HP Deskjet
Ron: and it works with OS8.6, but not OS9.04,
Ron: not OS X
Ron: and sometimes with OS 9.1
Ron: God grant me patience, and I want it now
Rich Drushel: Hmmm...my HP DeskJet (serial) works okay under 9.1.
BobSlopsema: had it off b for about 45 minutes an then it booted up, tried to init the directrories and it froze again,,,we are thinkin it is badf hd
Ron: Belkin actually put an entry in their FAQ on 9.1. They said to disable one of the control panels, then all would be well
Ron: USB device extension, I think
Rich Drushel: That Connextix QuickCam I had at ADAMcon XIII only works under <=8.6, though.
Ron: only trouble with that was then my mouse didn't work
Rich Drushel: USB mouse on the toy keyboard, right?
HLM: well some of the OLD or FIRST hd's seemed to need to be parked or something if Zero keeps leaving
Rich Drushel: And no ADB port option, either.
Ron: So I finally wrote Belkin an e-mail, and they sent me a driver that works on 9.1 all the time
Rich Drushel: Hey, that was nice of them.
Ron: yeah, they actually responded
Rich Drushel: Connectix sold their QuickCam stuff to Logitech, and Logitech can't be bothered with non-USB anything.
Ron: sorry. We're interrupting the troubleshooting effort here
Ron: yeah well that's the way it's getting these days
Ron: I'm really t'd off with Apple for not providing more legacy support with OS X
Ron: but looking at it from their point of view
Ron: it takes some real gymnastics around here some nights to get something printed
HLM: no Bob is probably trying different s... then reporting back
Rich Drushel: Does MacOS X support AppleTalk?
Ron: Now have an OS X freebie from Thursby called Dave. It looks like I can at least ship files via the ether to my P200
BobSlopsema: rebooted mfm and is reformatting right now
Ron: It say it supports Appletalk, Rich, but I'm not sure
Rich Drushel: Freebie now? It used to cost $500 when we wanted to mount Winxx stuff a few years ago.
HLM: ok
Ron: although my LC475 can see the iMac, so it must be working half
Ron: but iMac can't see the LC475
HLM: Dougie Fresh still there with you
Rich Drushel: It may only support AppleTalk over IP.
Ron: read somewhere that the wayOS X is set up, there is something missing
Rich Drushel: And you need MacOS 9.x to get AppleTalk over IP.
Ron: yes, I have to tell the LC475 the iMac IP address then it connects
Rich Drushel: Yep, that's the problem.
Ron: and I do have an old Stylewiter on the LC475, so if worst comes to worst...I put the files to be printed there
Rich Drushel: And my super LaserWriter Pro here has serial, parallel, and ethernet, but doesn't support IP.
Rich Drushel: So I can only use it via LocalTalk.
Ron: always some damn thing
Rich Drushel: The ethernet part is for native AppleTalk only.
Ron: And my Mac Dealer goes, "so what's your problem" you can used your network eh?
Ron: or buy a new USB printer
Rich Drushel: Well, the printer was free, and in super shape, and it was headed to the dumpster...
Ron: to which I reply...that's easy for you to say
Ron: now it has a home
Ron: Suppose one of these days I should have a new USB printer
Rich Drushel: The Epson Color Stylus 880 I got is a nice $175 printer, USB and parallel, and it works in line printer mode (for ADAM).
BobSlopsema: sell yaone cheap Ron... ;-)
Rich Drushel: Get onee while you can...
HLM: I had problems getting a USB printer to work on my Nephews system... it was a HP, printer, and Emachine Computer
Ron: Yeah, that's the one I been looking at
Ron: and OS X has driver for it
BobSlopsema: got a HP APOLLO which doesn't want ot interface correctly with the laptop in 95 or even 98
HLM: that is the beast He had I think
Rich Drushel: The construction is cheezy-thin plastic, though, not rugged at all, and the nameplate is just a clear sticker.
BobSlopsema: Herman, what are known problems with mini winnie hd interface????? just locked up most of the thru formatting
Rich Drushel: Bob, you said it formatted okay under DOS?
Ron: did you get any indication that it started formatting Bob?
Ron: like hex numbers changing or rolling over?
HLM: if MINI WINI Interface is KNOW to work, the interface is SELDOM the problem... It is usually cables, or game board or interferance from something else
BobSlopsema: we checked it under dos on a 386 or 286
Rich Drushel: I'm being reminded that we're expecting a phone call from Christina soon; she was away at a soccer game and will be needing to be picked up.
Ron: and it was ok right?
Rich Drushel: So, I better get off the phone, guys.
Rich Drushel: Thanks for stopping by...hope the MW HD situation improves.
Ron: Ok Rich. Thanks again for the fix info on the ADAMserve boot
Rich Drushel: <poof>
HLM: ok Bye Rich
Rich Drushel left chat session
Ron: I dunno. I've got a couple of MFM's here that check out ok on my 486, but won't format on the Minnie Winnie
Ron: Wonder if I should try replacing the cables
Ron: they been around for a while
Ron: we lost Herman
Ron: Bob, I gotta take off too.
BobSlopsema: ok see ya Wed????
Ron: yup, the good Lord Willin
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Ron: bye
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AdamCon.org > chat > 2001-09-08
Send comments to dmwick@home.com. I am Dale Wick