General Stuff(tm)

[stephen_usher]

I had my house meters replaced today.

I thought that it was just going to be my gas meter being upgraded to a smart one but no, it was both of them, and because the solar installers didn't fit a mater breaker between the Tesla Powerwall and the meter I had to have that turned off as well.

It took the pair about 2 hours to fit the meters. Listening in it was a little of a Laurel and Hardy session... OK, that's a bit unfair, obviously one was a trainee. Having said that the experienced one forgot to take the before photos and went around in circles trying to register the new meters... and had to go up and down the street to find a gas meter which hadn't been swapped out since the houses were built so as to provide the "before" photo. At least they added a main breaker.

Well, turning things back on was again fun. Unfortunately something has popped in my Sun Ultra 10 server. Hopefully it's just a PSU cap rather than one of the ones on the motherboard.

[stephen_usher]

Thankfully I had all the caps I needed to recap the Sun Ultra 10 motherboard. Well, all the caps on the power side anyway.

So, one emergency recap later the machine is up and running again.

I tested all the caps which I took out and the tester showed that they were pretty well in spec. Very low ESR, within tolerance capacitance, just slightly high Vloss at ~2% rather than 1.5% for new caps. Maybe one just breaks down under full voltage. All the 1500uF caps were only 6.5V ones, which is pretty close to the 5V they were connected to. All the new caps have a significantly higher voltage rating.

[PhilC]

Glad you got the ultra 10 working again. I've had a few odd cap failures which looked and tested great but the computers wouldn't boot until they were changed.

[stephen_usher]

It's time to start getting things ready for RetroFest2026.

I've decided to do a modified version of the display I took to Cyberlegends a couple of years ago with a couple of Sinclair QLs and the One Per Desk (showing "Ceefax" pages).

At the end of last week I managed to get the virtual modems etc. operating again, I just need a new SIM for the 4G router for that to be fully functional.

I then moved on to check the Microvitec CUB (plastic cased) and did a burn in using my "original" BBC Micro. That all went fine. The only problem the the CUB is that it is missing the front flap. That's how I got it from work way back in the late 90s. However, I have a 3D printer now! :-)

Since last Friday I've been grabbing what little time I've had to design and print a replacement.

Unfortunately at one point I managed to break off one of the hinge posts whilst doing a fit-check so this morning I had to fix that first.

I drilled a 1mm whole in the centre of the post and into the scar on the case and then cut a short length of 1mm diameter brass rod. I first fixed the rod into the post using some polystyrene cement and then pushed the exposed part of the rod into the hole in the case, with a little more cement. After it dried it worked really well

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Anyway, the front flap is now done, bar painting it up.

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I've published it on the Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7348350

[stephen_usher]

Well, having the BBC on the bench and the monitor I thought that before I packed the Beeb away I'd play a game, so brought out the Gotek I usually use with it...

Games won't load. After a random period it comes up with Drive Fault 10, which suggests that it's not seeing the index pulses.

Change the USB flash memory loaded with a known good set of software and config: No change.

Change to a different Gotek: No change.

Use contact cleaner on the port: No change.

Open machine up and reseat all the chips associated with the floppy interface: No change.

Turn on oscilloscope...

All signals trace through all the chips correctly and index pulses seen on pin 34 of the Intel 8271. Oh dear.

Lift pin 34 of the 8271: No change in symptoms.

Looks like the 8271 has gone bad whilst the machine has been sitting on a shelf in my spare bedroom. *sigh*

[stephen_usher]

At last, the SAAB 93 is back from restoration.

The bodywork and suspension are better than new. The engine had a light overhaul, just replacing the timing chain and the original clutch.

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For what it cost me to do the renovation I could have bought quite a few LOLprice Falcons! :-)

Still, it was worth it to preserve not only the first car I bought new but also my Dad's last car.

[mrbombermillzy]

Wow. That looks good for a 25 ish year old car!

What mileage has it done?

[PhilC]

Looking very nice now Stephen.

[stephen_usher]

Wow. That looks good for a 25 ish year old car!

What mileage has it done?

~117,000 miles.

I would hope it looks good. It was stripped down to bare metal and all corrosion cut out and rebuilt before being sprayed in protective epoxy undercoat and resprayed. :-)

[kohli79]

At last, the SAAB 93 is back from restoration.

The bodywork and suspension are better than new. The engine had a light overhaul, just replacing the timing chain and the original clutch.


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For what it cost me to do the renovation I could have bought quite a few LOLprice Falcons! :-)

Still, it was worth it to preserve not only the first car I bought new but also my Dad's last car.

Nice Saab! :dualthumbup:
You don’t see that very often on the roads.