Egzoset
Member
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2025
- Messages
- 45
Salutations,
Recently i started to think it might be convenient to get some means other than virtual simulation to evaluate which executables i'll want to keep on a roaming type of "connected" diskette(s) with complete retro-universality in mind, so this was going to require a PC-XT or compatible and those are generally heavy while wasting a lot of space & energy, which ain't too great in the summer's temperature peaks - m'well, unless one is satisfied only looking at them with the power off, that is...
Memories erode with time so i was under the impression my GridCase 2 had been gone to recycling years ago. Last Monday it came back to me after i lifted a sheet of finish wood obviously intended to protect its top surface, which substracted it from my view long enough to forget this little gem was even there!
My alternative would have been to bring back a huge cathode-ray tube multi-sync monitor with 1 of 2 vintage 8-bits machines and i don't feel ready to clutter my living space in such manner just yet, so the relief was immense mainly due to the fact this GridCase portable has its own LCD screen. Yet, decades later i no longer trusted its associated power pack signed Grid too except it has some home-made adapter added to reverse polarity and i had forgotten which is which for too long.
The contextual details are now extremely vague to me but at least i can tell this was a real bargain when i acquired it near the late '80s, hence in retrospective i'd conclude its previous owner must have believed the unit was a bargain at 1st then found out it wouldn't power up after he done the deal, unaware that this particular power pack ain't actually correctly matched despite the label, e.g. with its polarity oddly reverse. It appears i figured it out at the time and now needed to repeat such preliminary step, having no idea what the solution had been anymore...
The only printed information available is rating its power input to 16.5 Volts D.C., without any mention of polarity. Intuition told me i'd have to find a device of known polarity and observe how it behaves when probed with an ohmmeter; in this case measuring a low-Z state with my red probe touching the positive wire and high-Z in reverse. This felt plausible so i applied my trick to the GridCase 2 and sure enough managed to identify its power plug center post as the positive terminal. Starting from there i searched through a box full of power packs and found one marked Compaq with exactly the right D.C. voltage, compatible current capacity (2.6 A), mechanical plug layout and polarity. A convenient 2-prongs double insulation model. N.B.: the battery compartment was empty starting from day 1.
Lucky me i had left a 720 KB diskette inside so it booted right away after i flipped the switch: Phoenix ROM BiOS v1.05 4/29/85!
1M44 disquettes don't boot but InterLnk/InterSvr is compatible with a large number of DOS and Windows versions, making it easy to read/write one externally through a server connected via the appropriate cable. Memory is limited to 512 KB though, while DOS v3.3x is compatible only with minuscule vintage partitions. DOS 7.1 would consume too much of the precious conventional memory so that leaves v5.0 which is relatively lightweight and still versatile in comparison. Its processor is a PC-XT class 8086 with no coprocessor, running at 5 MHz (according to SysChk v2.41, run remotely)... There's a couple DB-25 connectors behind, 1 male for RS-232 and 1 female for a printer - that's where i put my InterLink cable instead. Some sort of docking port is also present but i have no use for it, having no "proprietary" Grid peripherals to attach.
It's got no hard-disk and although SysChk has an IDE/SCSI tab it only confirms no IDE driver can be found, hence i still got to wonder if i can hope it could be featured with an IDE interface inside. The bus is ISA, no surprise there; ah, and this unit is mute besides having a rudimentary PC squeaker - better than nothing...
In conclusion, overall it's been a good day indeed!
Recently i started to think it might be convenient to get some means other than virtual simulation to evaluate which executables i'll want to keep on a roaming type of "connected" diskette(s) with complete retro-universality in mind, so this was going to require a PC-XT or compatible and those are generally heavy while wasting a lot of space & energy, which ain't too great in the summer's temperature peaks - m'well, unless one is satisfied only looking at them with the power off, that is...
Memories erode with time so i was under the impression my GridCase 2 had been gone to recycling years ago. Last Monday it came back to me after i lifted a sheet of finish wood obviously intended to protect its top surface, which substracted it from my view long enough to forget this little gem was even there!
My alternative would have been to bring back a huge cathode-ray tube multi-sync monitor with 1 of 2 vintage 8-bits machines and i don't feel ready to clutter my living space in such manner just yet, so the relief was immense mainly due to the fact this GridCase portable has its own LCD screen. Yet, decades later i no longer trusted its associated power pack signed Grid too except it has some home-made adapter added to reverse polarity and i had forgotten which is which for too long.
The contextual details are now extremely vague to me but at least i can tell this was a real bargain when i acquired it near the late '80s, hence in retrospective i'd conclude its previous owner must have believed the unit was a bargain at 1st then found out it wouldn't power up after he done the deal, unaware that this particular power pack ain't actually correctly matched despite the label, e.g. with its polarity oddly reverse. It appears i figured it out at the time and now needed to repeat such preliminary step, having no idea what the solution had been anymore...
The only printed information available is rating its power input to 16.5 Volts D.C., without any mention of polarity. Intuition told me i'd have to find a device of known polarity and observe how it behaves when probed with an ohmmeter; in this case measuring a low-Z state with my red probe touching the positive wire and high-Z in reverse. This felt plausible so i applied my trick to the GridCase 2 and sure enough managed to identify its power plug center post as the positive terminal. Starting from there i searched through a box full of power packs and found one marked Compaq with exactly the right D.C. voltage, compatible current capacity (2.6 A), mechanical plug layout and polarity. A convenient 2-prongs double insulation model. N.B.: the battery compartment was empty starting from day 1.
Lucky me i had left a 720 KB diskette inside so it booted right away after i flipped the switch: Phoenix ROM BiOS v1.05 4/29/85!
1M44 disquettes don't boot but InterLnk/InterSvr is compatible with a large number of DOS and Windows versions, making it easy to read/write one externally through a server connected via the appropriate cable. Memory is limited to 512 KB though, while DOS v3.3x is compatible only with minuscule vintage partitions. DOS 7.1 would consume too much of the precious conventional memory so that leaves v5.0 which is relatively lightweight and still versatile in comparison. Its processor is a PC-XT class 8086 with no coprocessor, running at 5 MHz (according to SysChk v2.41, run remotely)... There's a couple DB-25 connectors behind, 1 male for RS-232 and 1 female for a printer - that's where i put my InterLink cable instead. Some sort of docking port is also present but i have no use for it, having no "proprietary" Grid peripherals to attach.
It's got no hard-disk and although SysChk has an IDE/SCSI tab it only confirms no IDE driver can be found, hence i still got to wonder if i can hope it could be featured with an IDE interface inside. The bus is ISA, no surprise there; ah, and this unit is mute besides having a rudimentary PC squeaker - better than nothing...
In conclusion, overall it's been a good day indeed!