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Epson PX-8

R

Rockin' Kat

Experienced Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2005
Messages
56
Location
Kent, WA
Hi,

I found an Epson PX-8 with an Epson PF-10 floppy drive, and a special piggy back kind of add on called Epson Multi Unit 64(which appears to add a modem... and get's it's power from the PX-8 ) about a month or so ago.

I was able to find some new AC adaptors that meet the ratings on these things at RadioShack(cost more than the computer and drive)... the floppy drive's power light comes on...

But the computer shows no signs of life... It has ROM's in all exposable sockets, and the battery pack in too.

Does this thing need a good battery pack to run at all?

Pictures can be found here:

http://www.thecowsaysmoo.org/superpsycho/Pictures/thrift/july06/epsonpx8/
note: at time of posting the site isn't responding... but that is the correct url... eventually it should work... as long as things havn't gone completely belly up.
 
The early Epson laptops run only from the battery. The external 'charger' is just that, a charger. It won't turn on at all unless the battery has at least a small charge. The cells in the battery pack are standard 'sub-C' cells, available at RadioShack, for around $25.00 for the four you'll need. If ya need help, I'll gladly build ya a new pack, just for cost. (Mine, with new cells, lasts for 20 - 25 hours to a charge). There is also a small, internal battery pack, which must be charged to function correctly. I've replaced mine with a 4-part AAA pack, so I can fill it with NiCads. Also, the Multi-Unit has it's own battery pack (4 x AA NiCads).

--T
 
Last edited:
Hey T, could this be a new venture now that "computer Hell" is gone ? I for one am fed up with the inflated charges that most of these LT Battery charge. I'd bet that just supplying the needs of this forum alone would necessitate hiring employees.

Terry Yager said:
The early Epson laptops run only from the battery. The external 'charger' is just that, a charger. It won't turn on at all unless the battery has at least a small charge. The cells in the battery pack are standard 'sub-C' cells, available at RadioShack, for around $25.00 for the four you'll need. If ya need help, I'll gladly build ya a new pack, just for cost. (Mine, with new cells, lasts for 20 - 25 hours to a charge).

--T
Click to expand...
 
No, it's just that it takes, like, 10 minutes to throw together a pack of four cells with solder tabs. I don't mind helping-out someone who is unable/willing to do-it-themself. (Especially if they're trying to resurect my all-time-favorite computer, the PX-8).

--T
 
Oh, BTW, as of today, CH is back. The building's owner and have agreed that the stuph is officially abandoned by the buyer, so I should be able to dig out a few more treasures, but from here on, it'll be considered a scrap/recycling operation (I've found a scrapper who'll clear it all out for free, vs the $3,000.00 estimate the trash haulers want). Hell, I'm half tempted to scrap it out myself, after seeing what electronics gold scrap is selling for on daBay these dayz.

--T
 
Ummn, if you're using an off-the-shelf charger, be sure that the polarity is correct. Most wall-warts I've seen have the center-pin positive (+), but the Epsons are backwards, with the center negative (-).

--T
 
Coming back a little late here...

I know my charger has correct polarity... it can be changed by removing the plug and putting it on reversed... and I've set it to what it needs... the battery is probably just shot to hell since it's so old....

I think I'm going to take a stab at building my own battery pack.


....I wonder how hard it'd be to find a replacement for hte keyboard slide cover since I wasn't fortunant enough to get it with that.
 
SuperPsycho said:
Coming back a little late here...

I know my charger has correct polarity... it can be changed by removing the plug and putting it on reversed... and I've set it to what it needs... the battery is probably just shot to hell since it's so old....

I think I'm going to take a stab at building my own battery pack.


....I wonder how hard it'd be to find a replacement for hte keyboard slide cover since I wasn't fortunant enough to get it with that.
Click to expand...

I have an extra keyboard cover, just not sure where it's stored. If I can find it, you're welcome to it.

The battery pack is a cinch to do. You can get sub-C cells with solder tabs at RadioShack.

--T
 
Oh, I know how that works. When I first got my Amiga 2000 I bought some cards....

one of these cards was a flickerfixer/scan doubler for using VGA monitors with the computer... but I never quite got around to installing a lot of the stuff as I was trying to find an accelerator for the computer...and when I could not find one for sale... I decided to just install what I had.... but I could not find the flickerfixer/scandoubler... This infuriated me.. I knew just where I put it... and it was not there....

Months went on... I still hadn't actually found the accelerator I wanted... so I gave up and sold the computer(bought a 1200 in it's place, already upgraded with an accelerator)... well... about 3 months later.. I was looking through my dad's supplies in the den and I found my flickerfixer/scandoubler in the box for a printer that my mother had brought home because it came with the computer my grandma got, and she didn't want it... so now I have a flickerfixer/scandoubler that is intended for the 2000 and I have no Amiga 2000. Bah.
 
DoctorPepper said:
Hey Terry,

I don't know if you've seen this yet (I stumbled across it today during a Google search for information on Packet Radio with the TRS-80 Model 100), but it was too good of a deal to pass up:

http://www.notebooksupplies.com/epson/px8.html

You can still get PX-8's, brand new in the box, only 24 years old!
Click to expand...

Yo, DP! Want another TNC? I have an MFJ 1270 you're welcome to for shipping cost. DOn;t know anything about it, no PSU, but MFJ's I think are all the same.

I used to use (early 90's) an MFJ 1278BT,with a Kenwood mobile in the house.


Tony
 
Yo Chuck - you think one of these floppies can be built?
From what I've read, the floppies have a tiny z80 computer, loads a mini-os, and then serves the floppy over serial, which I guess is how px8vfs can emulate it.

think we can build a beast like it? Since SuperPsycho has one, we can dump the ROM it has....wonder how hard it'd be to duplicate the cpu board?


Tony
 
You have WAY more ambition than I got. I have enough to do with replacing motherboards and rebuilding LCDs. Oh ya, and sending Toshibas back to the f'n factory to get the static lockup problems fixed (I have 2 Toshibas that both lockup, known design flaw with that model, sure wish I had known before I purchased them on ebay). Same toshibas also have dc jack that's breaking every 2 months. Sorry I ever looked at them. They were the "cadillac" of the laptop line at one time, no more.
 
You know what's looking REALLY good these days? The HP/Compaq laptops. Dozens of my co-workers have bought them, and noone has a complaint yet.

I'm JUST about ready to pull the trigger.

You can get anything from 12.1" to 17", adn anything from a celery, i mean celeron :) up to a dual core AMD or Intel. decent warranty, low DOA rates, so-so support.

Let's face it - who doesn't have ot-sourced support nowadays?
You call/email/chat and get "thomas" but the email address is :

mufuakkabalaamoskinpriote@india.dell.com or some such nonsense.


Back to the PX-8 :D

Think it's doable?


Tony
 
If I was SUPER motivated, maybe could pull it off but using vfloppy on a laptop just isn't that hard or that much trouble.

Reminds me of one of my bosses of old. I talked him into letting me modify the existing COBOL compiler (in assembler, mind you) to make coding programs faster. It took me 6 solid months of 13 hour days to get it all done and working. He never, EVER, recovered the time I spent in saved man hours using the resulting compiler. I rest my case. Sorta like doing a disk defrag - I don't think you ever get that time back in increased performance.
 
Hello everyone!

I was doing some cleaning and came across my old PX8 "collection" that has been sitting filed away (literally) for a few years.

I pulled it all out, plugged them in, and they all still came up to enough charge to run!

Anyway, I haven't messed with them in forever, and I'd like to sell them. I will list the whole mess in the for sale section, but I do want them to go to someone who will use them and enjoy them!
 
Packet Radio with PX-8 and Kenwood TD-D7A

Packet Radio with PX-8 and Kenwood TD-D7A

I received a Kenwood TD-D7A hand held 2 meter radio that has built in TNC. This weekend I'm going to create a cable to connect it to my PX-8 - should be easy to do.

Does anyone have any advise for setting up the PX-8's terminal program to run TNC? I assume it should be straight forward to do.

Once configured and working, this should be a fun setup to use.

I hope it will be warm enough here in Tampa, FL to sit outside on the picnic table and work with it....

Derek
 
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