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Albert Clone

falter

falter

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Vancouver, BC
Not sure if anyone can assist on this one.

I got myself an Albert clone finally. Cosmetically it looks excellent. It is missing the disk drives but came with the power supply unit that would usually be installed in the housing for that. I have some questions that googling hasn't answered:

1) What voltage is the silver DC PSU supposed to put out? When I tested it here, it looks to be about +27VDC or something like that.
2) Is the keyboard cable anything special or just a straight through? I'm wondering if I could use a phone cable like the Amiga 1000.
3) I've heard the power supply was a major problem for these machines. Superficially the one in there looks ok.. it's not burnt or anything and looks quite clean. Assuming the external DC supply voltage is ok.. shall I plug it in and see?
4) Also, trying to confirm for sure the slots conform fully to Apple II standards. The manual seems to suggest they are but doesn't explicitly say you can plug in your apple expansion cards.
 
1. Well, as it turns out, I have another project now. The power supply was fine before but now it blows fuses (3.15A) so I can't measure the voltage. This power supply is also rivetted together so I'll have to take it apart but I have a couple other repair projects on the go.

Here is the cable pinout. Looks straight through.

Albert_cable (Small).jpg

3. See 1 :(
4. Being careful not to get sued, the Albert folks probably would never be specific about that. I don't know myself but it is probably something to explore to confirm. I have not added any extra cards other than the Albert floppy controller that was already there.

Good luck!
Santo
 
Oh no! Sorry to cause you another project snuci. It never ends.

Yeah I've heard all kinds of nightmare stories about the PSU.. I'm not sure which end of it was the bad end.. the part inside the computer or the part outside (or both). The part inside seems to break down things into all the voltages it needs for the actual board.. so I'm assuming the input voltage needs to be above a certain number. I'm curious how it would run with just a 12v supply per what Chuck found.. I would have thought since you could use up to 32V, you'd need to have voltage regulators to to step it down to +12 and -12. Not sure how that works if the input voltage is 12. Oh well, more research. :)

I note my machine, unlike yours, has no serial numbers anywhere. Your board shows Revision 1 I think in the photos? Mine is Rev C. No idea what order things happened in. Wondering if mine was assembled from the surplus stockpile of parts that was liquidated later. I've read differing accounts on how many machines Albert actually assembled and sold - anywhere from 200 to 2000.

Thank you for verifying the cable for me.. very much appreciated!
 
No problem. It would have happened next time I took it out anyway.

The power supply plugs into the back of the base which then distributes power through the system and back to the floppies via ribbon cables. Nothing was plugged in and the fuse blew so it's definitely internal to the power supply brick.

After drilling out the rivets, it's this white thing that is covered up and glued in?

Albert_capacitor (Small).jpg

It says 0-40VDC and 470uF and is marked for polarity so it's got to be a normal capacitor? I've never seen one like this. Why is it covered up? It is definitely corroded from the ground up. Is it a special type of capacitor?

Albert_capacitor 1 (Small).jpg

@falter you might want to crack your power supply and check yours.

No wonder the fuses (I put in an extra to be sure) looked like a small mushroom cloud had gone off inside of them.

Santo
 
Seems to me that the capacitor electrolyte blew out the vent on top of the cap the way it's supposed to (but rarely does).

Probably not the reason for the blown fuse, however. Is the external unit a switch-mode power supply or linear?
 
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This is the entire power supply. The metal box on the left is sealed. This contains the AC socket, power switch and fuse and probably a filter cap or two at least. I was thinking of disconnecting the metal box and checking if it's that alone. I don't think it's the capacitor either as it is not shorted at all.

Albert_power_supply (Medium).jpg
 
I checked a few things as best I could and then powered up.. it actually runs! I'm tempted to plug in a disk II controller but.. I dunno.. I was kinda flinching waiting for the PSU to detonate.
 

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snuci said:
This is the entire power supply. The metal box on the left is sealed. This contains the AC socket, power switch and fuse and probably a filter cap or two at least. I was thinking of disconnecting the metal box and checking if it's that alone. I don't think it's the capacitor either as it is not shorted at all.
Click to expand...

You can do that, but then component-level checks are in order. Diodes, the TO-220 transistors would be my starting point. Looks like a pretty primitive design.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Probably not the reason for the blown fuse, however. Is the external unit a switch-mode power supply or linear?
Click to expand...

I have a 2KBP08 bridge rectifier that has the two middle pins shorted with the positive pin. It removes a dead short between the blue and black wires coming out of the metal box. I am guessing that's the issue with the blowing fuses?
 
falter said:
4) Also, trying to confirm for sure the slots conform fully to Apple II standards. The manual seems to suggest they are but doesn't explicitly say you can plug in your apple expansion cards.
Click to expand...

I want to say that I've seen a photo of an Albert with a regular Disk ][ controller in it instead of their house brand, but trying to google that ended in failure.
 
Eudimorphodon said:
I want to say that I've seen a photo of an Albert with a regular Disk ][ controller in it instead of their house brand, but trying to google that ended in failure.
Click to expand...

There is information about this in the manual I uploaded today. They are both here: https://vintagecomputer.ca/files/Albert Computer/ The Albert Support Package manual has the information. Seems to be dependant on the ROMs in the Albert on whether it will work or not.
 
snuci said:
Seems to be dependant on the ROMs in the Albert on whether it will work or not.
Click to expand...

I'm going to hazard a guess that it might rely on having that daughterboard that supplies a copy of the actual AppIe II ROMs. I only scanned the manual but it reads like the *only* bootable disk without that board is the Albert's special utility disk, and I kind of wonder if that relies on that larger ROM that's on the Albert controller. (It has a substantial sized ROM chip on it, at least compared to the Disk ]['s tiny little PROM.)
 
Yes, mine does come up as "Apple ][" when booting up. Unfortunately, the original Albert disks are a mess. You can see through three of them and the fourth is visibly moldy. I am in the process of archiving some hand-written disks and hopefully have the "Utilities Disk" that does all of the magic if you don't have the updated ROM daughterboard.
 

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... Scanning through the Support Package manual (I looked through the other one first) it looks like it does list the Apple disk controller as a compatible peripheral. If the manual's to be believed the difference with the Albert disk controller is it has a built-in diagnostics package that also works on a regular II. So... knock on wood the machine would still be able to boot its magic utility disk with the Apple controller? I guess there's only one way to know for sure.

One thing it does seem to suggest is that Apple II compatibility is pretty hit and miss with the original ROMs...
 
I'm told via Facebook the disk I need is the S&H utility disk (The DOS Enhancer) and then it will boot. I'm just a bit nervous because I've read the Albert power supplies were terrible, and with the DISK II card in and the machine trying to boot from disk drive the video gets really wonky, leading me to wonder if the PSU is freaking out from the draw. I've been trying to find out if the PSU is just the silver box that AC plugs into, or if it includes the voltage regulation inside. I'm wondering if I could plug in a modern DC power supply safely. I think that was the intent with the design, but I don't know what the amperage of the original PSU is.

I don't think this particular unit ever had Albert's own drive units.

snuci - thanks so much for taking the time on this and being willing to scan what you have. Supposedly the gentleman that bought that storage locker hoard from someone on Facebook got a deal where they were supposed to scan and archive all the documentation they had, but they never did. So anything I can get my hands on is very much appreciated. Hopefully us Albert owners can gradually build a knowledgebase of sorts for these things.
 
I believe the power supply I have is the same as yours. Do you have pictures of your computer somewhere? I ran my Albert off of it before with no issues and that power supply ran both disks drives and the computers at the same time. Now, the fact that I am waiting for a bridge rectifier doesn't help the "it's a good power supply" argument but better to blow something up trying than it sitting on a shelf.

I know the person who sold that on Facebook as i was talking to him myself some time back. He had multiple units and a lot of parts. I'm surprised he doesn't have an extra drive unit in all of that stuff.

All of my disks and manuals have been posted here: https://vintagecomputer.ca/files/Albert%20Computer/ I need to get these disks up on Archive.org but for now, I don't have a working Albert to try these disks and make sure they are okay. One thing that I did see is the following when archiving via the Applesauce...

Screen Shot 2022-03-08 at 2.04.12 PM.png

That would be the Albert (S&H) Utility disk which should allow you to run.
 
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