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Willem programmers and reading late seventies vintage masked ROMS

tezza said:
Ok, given that the Willem was out, I couldn't resist...

Tez
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Excellent! (and thanks for the plug - eat your heart out, Dave ;-) )
So now the first PET seems to have developed a problem; like real pets they don't seem to like sitting around not getting any exercise...

Didn't bend any pins by any chance?
 
Good work so far, Tezza.

A comment on your note about PET floppy drives: they're not "very rare", they are just "very heavy". Maybe uncommon, slightly less frequent than the PETs themselves but I would save the "very rare" grade to other vintage computer hardware.
 
Thanks guys

carlsson said:
Good work so far, Tezza.

A comment on your note about PET floppy drives: they're not "very rare", they are just "very heavy". Maybe uncommon, slightly less frequent than the PETs themselves but I would save the "very rare" grade to other vintage computer hardware.
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Yes, they do exist. But I've only ever seen them once on our auction site since 2007. That was a double unit. I think it went for about $NZ300 ($US 250) but I was in no position to reach that selling price at that time. I have got to know some other collectors now though. Hmm...might make inquires at the place where one was last sighted in the wild.

>Excellent! (and thanks for the plug - eat your heart out, Dave :wink: )

Tsk tsk Mike. Dave knows he's my hero too ;)

Bent pins. Hmm..not the ROMS as I checked at the time. Apart from noting that it didn't work I haven't really looked at the problem. Of course it's nagging at me now and I feel I should poke around a bit more while the PET is out on the workbench.

I won't be able to do that for about a week though...there is a family event coming up.

Tez
 
Maybe it is just me who is biased after having seen piles of dual floppy drives, and in periods have had at least a half dozen of them in my livingroom. But I tend to see those semi-frequently at e.g. eBay UK, Germany etc and I'm not actively searching for them. I can't remember what the going price is though, and shipping will at least double or triple it anyway.

In the long run, with two or three memory card based solutions in the making, you won't need a floppy drive other than for authencity. If you want an empty shell, I still have two in the basement but those weigh too much to be meaningful to ship even after the drives, circuit boards and in one case power supply have been removed.
 
Even better, we should turn troubleshooting old computers into family events and celebrate with a yummy cake once the fault is fixed. Perhaps it is better to stay away from the fireworks though, as they may appear sooner than you imagine during the repair work.
 
MikeS said:
...and thanks for the plug - eat your heart out, Dave ;-)
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Mike,
Yes, I know what you mean, it is quite an honor to get mentioned in Tez's well written blog. But pretty soon, no one need be mentioned as he is getting too good at troubleshooting. I'm no longer thinking of him as a programmer, but as a credible 'computer hardware guy'. :)
-Dave
 
dave_m said:
Mike,
Yes, I know what you mean, it is quite an honor to get mentioned in Tez's well written blog. But pretty soon, no one need be mentioned as he is getting too good at troubleshooting. I'm no longer thinking of him as a programmer, but as a credible 'computer hardware guy'. :)
-Dave
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And, as you say, also an excellent writer (unlike most 'hardware guys'); that makes him a really special and valuable contributor to the hobby.
 
tezza said:
...Bent pins. Hmm..not the ROMS as I checked at the time. Apart from noting that it didn't work I haven't really looked at the problem. Of course it's nagging at me now and I feel I should poke around a bit more while the PET is out on the workbench.
Tez
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Bent pins can be really easy to miss if you've been swapping chips, and a likely suspect if it worked before. We just had a dead 8032 at a recent TPUG meeting and the owner assured me that he'd checked the ROMs carefully, so I took it home for more detailed troubleshooting; sure enough, bent pin on the socketed E ROM.
 
modem7 said:
What? Your family has priority over your vintage computing ?
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LOL!

I appreciate the vote of confidence guys but believe me I've still got a loooong way to go before the "dazed and confused" state entirely disappears. I seem to muddle through. I'll consider myself graduated when I can completely solve a complex hardware issue without help from any of you!
.
But then, where would the fun be in that! :)

Tez
 
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