General Stuff(tm)

[PhilC]

There's an Apricot XI available in Norfolk for free, but it's a bit too far.

Whereabouts? It’s probably an hour nearer for me.

[stephen_usher]

The person on the Facebook Apricot group didn't say precisely.

[rubber_jonnie]

Thanks!

I'm off to Leamington Spa in a bit to rescue a QL and a whole load of magazines and books.

You really do have all the luck when it comes to old computers

I concur.

[PhilC]

The person on the Facebook Apricot group didn't say precisely.

Ah fair enough, I don’t do Facebook these days but maybe I should?

[stephen_usher]

Back from Leamington Spa with the QL, books and magazines.

The QL mostly works. It has a power-on reset issue, probably a tired capacitor near the heatsink, and the keyboard membrane leads had cracked and torn. Trimmed the keyboard leads, added "Magic Tape" reinforcements on the backs and refitted. The keyboard is fully functional again.

There's a "Hermes" manual and the co-processor is a Philips rather than an Intel so it could be a Hermes but there's no guarantee.

It's an Issue 5 motherboard and in the past it has had an IC17 fitted, suggesting that it once had EPROMs rather than masked ROMs and may have been a very early one which had been upgraded from the dongle. I think the D05 serial number is quite early too.

[rubber_jonnie]

Back from Leamington Spa with the QL, books and magazines.

The QL mostly works. It has a power-on reset issue, probably a tired capacitor near the heatsink, and the keyboard membrane leads had cracked and torn. Trimmed the keyboard leads, added "Magic Tape" reinforcements on the backs and refitted. The keyboard is fully functional again.

There's a "Hermes" manual and the co-processor is a Philips rather than an Intel so it could be a Hermes but there's no guarantee.

It's an Issue 5 motherboard and in the past it has had an IC17 fitted, suggesting that it once had EPROMs rather than masked ROMs and may have been a very early one which had been upgraded from the dongle. I think the D05 serial number is quite early too.

Sounds like you had a grand day out too :)

[stephen_usher]

Yeah. :-)

[stephen_usher]

Well, today's been one of those days where you just put down your tools and walk away.

Failed to make an adapter to allow me to use a W27C512 EEPROM in a QL to run Minerva.

Got the Kaypro "Drive A" realigned and the track zero bumper screw set correctly. Outside the case was completely reliable, booted every time. Put it into the case and I've managed to get it to boot once. Took it back out of the case and still nada.

"Drive B", which had been completely reliable, doesn't read anything any more.

[rubber_jonnie]

I know how that feels.

Cup of coffee, bit of cake and a bit of Usagi Electric always makes me feel better 😁

[stephen_usher]

I've packed the Kaypro away until the new chips arrive. I thought I'd give it a break. It did mean that I could test the keyboard latch clip, and it works a treat.

It turns out I was given bad information about the QL's ROM socket pinout. I was told that the ROM enable line was on pin27 and A14 was moved to pin22. This was wrong. A14 was still on pin27!

Easy fix, just plug the trailing wires (with chip pins soldered on the ends) into the other position in the other socket and bingo! Minerva boots.