General Stuff(tm)

[stephen_usher]

Found some 100uF 63V caps I didn't know I had so swapped the 25V variants out of the OPD monitor display board.

My goodness. I wonder how it worked. All three caps were down in the 40s uF, have a voltage drain of over 6% and an ESR of nearly 2 ohms. No wonder the display was twitching.

The 1000uF cap, however, was good. Still at 993uF, less than 1% voltage drain and an ESR or 0.04 ohms. I put that back in and it won't need to be changed.

On another front, I'll have a second hand, 8 line analogue phone to SIP box arriving on Monday. eBay purchase for £29. This plus software running on my Linux server will allow me to connect the OPD to Viewdata services such as Telstar. It will also allow me to test any modems in future.

And having seen Exxos's post about the shop closure I'd better order a WD1772 for the OPD floppy project.

[stephen_usher]

In preparation of the arrival tomorrow of a second-hand, 8 port analogue phone to SIP unit (they're called ATAs) I've set up the "Asterisk" SIP PBX service on my Linux server. It was "fun" given that my server isn't running a Debian or directly RedHat derived distribution. (It's running Mageia which is a mutated derivative of a late 1990s fork of RedHat, Mandrake -> Mandriva -> Mageia.)

After a few choice words I think I have it running. At least the daemon is running any way.

Essentially it's set up as a standalone PBX with a couple of V22 soft modems as per: GlassTTY's instructions.

Also, in preparation for the arrival of the Microdrive cartridges I've also put the One Per Desk files which are on floppy images onto the Gotek USB drive and created a floppy image with the QL->OPD Microdrive transfer utilities and the special version of unzip for the QL which deals with the executable file metadata file fork.

So, a busy morning.

Also, I've been told that the QIMSI interface for the QL, which provides a virtual hard disk and USB/PS-2 mouse port and slots into the ROM port is on its way from Europe too.

[rubber_jonnie]

In preparation of the arrival tomorrow of a second-hand, 8 port analogue phone to SIP unit (they're called ATAs) I've set up the "Asterisk" SIP PBX service on my Linux server. It was "fun" given that my server isn't running a Debian or directly RedHat derived distribution. (It's running Mageia which is a mutated derivative of a late 1990s fork of RedHat, Mandrake -> Mandriva -> Mageia.)

After a few choice words I think I have it running. At least the daemon is running any way.

Essentially it's set up as a standalone PBX with a couple of V22 soft modems as per: GlassTTY's instructions.

Also, in preparation for the arrival of the Microdrive cartridges I've also put the One Per Desk files which are on floppy images onto the Gotek USB drive and created a floppy image with the QL->OPD Microdrive transfer utilities and the special version of unzip for the QL which deals with the executable file metadata file fork.

So, a busy morning.

Also, I've been told that the QIMSI interface for the QL, which provides a virtual hard disk and USB/PS-2 mouse port and slots into the ROM port is on its way from Europe too.

Be interested to see how all of this goes :)

[stephen_usher]

I decided to try using my old Microdrive carts and my original QL to try to make at least one of the OPD cartridges. However, as usual with old kit nothing went to plan.

To cut a long story short:

• mdv2_ on the QL won’t format and corrupts cart when it writes, but can read OK.
• The right Microdrive on the OPD similarly can read but not format.
• Carts formatted bye the OPD copy tools can’t be read by the left OPD drive but partly by the right.
• Carts formatted on the OPD can be read by mdv2_ on the QL but not mdv1_

So, stuck.

I may have to ge the other QL down, but this is complicated by the vMap and vDrive set-up.

[PhilC]

@stephen_usher i found that the mdvs weren’t driving the carts very well because of how slippery the pinch rollers had got, so it might be worth roughing them up a bit? I used very fine wet and dry and this got my drives reading and writing very well.

[stephen_usher]

I've used IPA and some cotton buds. All the rollers are nice and grippy. I turned the ones in the QL over as the left drive's one looked a little worn at the bottom where it pushed against the tape. None of this made the slightest difference. :-)

I think it may be a head alignment issue as much as anything, but I don't see how this could be with my original QL's right drive as it's not been touched. Then again it could be ABS shrinkage.

[PhilC]

That would suck if it is an alignment issue as I’m not sure how you could set that up easily without some kind of test cart

[stephen_usher]

I have an offer of an alignment jig, but from someone in the USA so that'll have to wait until the new year.

[stephen_usher]

SIP phone thingy and 27C256 EPROMs have arrived and the Microdrive carts due later.

Thankfully, after taking off the rack ears the SIP phone box fits in my rucksack so I don't need to drive in to collect it. I will need to do a fan replacement as the original one isn't running. Shouldn't be difficult. Can't grumble for £25 inc. delivery.

The capacitors from RS are still MIA though. So much for "5 working days", or as the dispatch e-mails said, "next working day".

[stephen_usher]

And the Microdrive carts have arrived.

Other than the caps from RS the only item I'm waiting for is a set of W27C512 EEPROMs.