exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

And the ZuluSCSI turned up today even after I'd asked for the order to be cancelled.

stephen_usher wrote: 11 Apr 2024 18:09 And the ZuluSCSI turned up today even after I'd asked for the order to be cancelled.

OK then...

I really do dispair sometimes, but I suppose at least you have it now.

I put together the regulation circuit and tried it out...


The unit's voltage regulation is completely pants but I've managed to at least limit the maximum voltage.

When first plugged into the Mac Portable the voltage drops to below 7V for a time, which is actually fine as the Mac Pro charging circuit is a bit unstable with the voltage above 7.3V, sometimes switching off charging completely and letting the battery drain.

The Mac Portable regulated power supply unit is complete.

I designed and printed a box for the electronics (everything hot glued) and it all tests good.


The built-in ammeter is useful as it shows when the system is charging the battery and when it reduces the CPU clock too.

When suspended or shut down the system draws about 0.2A, which is around 1.5 Watts. That's quite a lot for a machine which has a large in bulk but not large in electrical capacity battery.

stephen_usher wrote: 13 Apr 2024 20:31 The Mac Portable regulated power supply unit is complete.

I designed and printed a box for the electronics (everything hot glued) and it all tests good.


IMG_3674.jpeg


The built-in ammeter is useful as it shows when the system is charging the battery and when it reduces the CPU clock too.

When suspended or shut down the system draws about 0.2A, which is around 1.5 Watts. That's quite a lot for a machine which has a large in bulk but not large in electrical capacity battery.

Very neat.

Looks good !

In the last week or so the right-hand speaker on my MacBook Pro 15" Unibody blew.

So I bought a replacement on-line and tried fitting it this morning.

All went well until I tried unplugging the speaker cable from the motherboard. The iFixIt site says to use a pludger to lift the connector straight up and shows a picture... Really bad idea, as two, hidden, comments, one in Spanish, state that this will rip the socket off the board as it's only held on by its pins, which is precisely what happened.

Anyway, I fitted the new speaker and "sub-woofer" replacements and decided to just solder them directly to the pads. A bit of a pain but given my experience with retro stuff it was OK, even if the wires only barely reached.


Thankfully it works, though the new speaker is slightly louder than the original (and the left speaker) and a bit tinnier. I'm not going to replace the left speaker as that involves removing the whole motherboard, even though I do have a new one.

Anyway, the machine's back together and working. Just a word of warning, always read the comments on iFixIt before following their instructions.

Today's fun has been organising hedge cutting at my Dad's house form 300 miles away at short notice.

Yesterday I had a decorator visit the house and give a quotation for external redecoration and he gave an offer to start today, which I jumped at.

This morning he texted me saying that to get to one side of the house he'd need a hedge cutting right back. So, I had to ask some friends down there if they could help and do it for me... which they managed to, thankfully. It was a bit stressful getting this organised though.

Anyway, I've managed to get more things lined up for Friday when I'm next down there. I've got a carpenter arriving to fix the main bedroom floor. I have contractors coming to quote for replacing the pipe between the oil tank and the boiler, which is seeping, and I have a house clearance company coming to take a look and quote for a partial clearance of the house so that it's more saleable.

stephen_usher wrote: 16 Apr 2024 14:46 Today's fun has been organising hedge cutting at my Dad's house form 300 miles away at short notice.

Yesterday I had a decorator visit the house and give a quotation for external redecoration and he gave an offer to start today, which I jumped at.

This morning he texted me saying that to get to one side of the house he'd need a hedge cutting right back. So, I had to ask some friends down there if they could help and do it for me... which they managed to, thankfully. It was a bit stressful getting this organised though.

Anyway, I've managed to get more things lined up for Friday when I'm next down there. I've got a carpenter arriving to fix the main bedroom floor. I have contractors coming to quote for replacing the pipe between the oil tank and the boiler, which is seeping, and I have a house clearance company coming to take a look and quote for a partial clearance of the house so that it's more saleable.

I totally understand what you're going through, my parents house was about 300 miles away and we had a lot of fun and games getting it ready for sale, and though we decided to leave it as is and take a hit on price, we still had to get gardeners in because it was all growing like wildfire. We did find a decent local company to do the clearance, but the car had to go separately. Amazingly it started on a booster battery after 6 years of sitting.

Thankfully sold at the beginning of the year, but a stressful 8-9 months, so good luck getting it sorted.

The Apricot Xi was having difficulty spinning up its hard drive again after being left a few days, so this evening I took the drive out again.

After lifting the PCB I checked the felt on the brake and its operation. Seemed OK but dosed the solenoid and the pivot with some light oil. I also cleaned the last of the remains of the old foam pad, which had gone to goo, from the edge of the spindle wheel and then, after tipping the drive on its side, poured a decent amount of oil behind the spindle wheel/disc directly above the axle so it should dribble down onto it. I helped it with a little bit of IPA to help wash it down. Seeing as the drive sits with the bearing below, any oil which is in excess will puddle around the axle and should seep in there.

After reassembling the drive spun up normally and seemed a bit quieter. I'll be leaving it for a few days now, until at least Saturday evening when I get back from Cornwall, so that will be a reasonable test to see if it's really helped.