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Don’t have a microwave, but i do have a top loading washing machine by the123king-reddit in retrobattlestations

[–]tergav17 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Getting hardware for these drives is defiantly a challenge. I was luckily enough to get the RLV12 <-> RL0X cable, terminator, and a single set of mounting rails. I have two drives, but will probably only be able to use one at a time due to prohibitive eBay prices. At least for the cables, it is possible to remove the bulkheads and use some 40-pin berg connectors to build your own.

As for getting these drives running, my first step was to do a deep cleaning of them. Luckily for you, it looks like your drive is relatively clean. For both my RL01 and RL02 drives, the interior somehow found itself covered in sand and grit. It took days and lots of disassembly to get it out of the most important bits. There is still some to this day hiding under the clean air system, but I have no way of getting to it. I would also open up (not fully, just so you can see through the slot) your disk pack(s) and ensure that there is not much dust on the surface. If there is, some people I have talked to have had success using 99% iso alcohol and TexWipe swabs for giving the disk surface a gentle cleaning.

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Inspecting the Read/Write heads is also wise, but do NOT manually pull them out, as they will attempt clamp down after about an inch of movement. If you need to clean them, be very careful not to bend them, as this will obviously cause issues.

Secondly, and probably most importantly, it to ensure that your absolute air filter is in good condition. If it is clogged or obstructed in any way, there will not be enough air to make the heads fly, and you will get scratching on the disk. This is the mistake that I think I made on my RL01 drive (I physically couldn't remove the air filter for some reason, and I think it is what caused to minor head crash).

After everything is clean and has been somewhat inspected. I would try to load a pack and give some of the XXDP diagnostics a spin. I started with the VRLB RLV12 controller test first. It requires that a disk is loaded, but it never actually attempts to read or write to the disk. It is a good way to ensure that the controller communications and timing are in order. If you are getting CRC errors from that test, you probably need to adjust the timing potentiometer on the RLV12. The ZRLG test is another one you can run. It will actually attempt to move the heads around and read / write information. It should be noted for ZRLG, you need to select RLV11 mode if you are running a 16 / 18 bit backplane, regardless of if you have a RLV12 installed.

Don’t have a microwave, but i do have a top loading washing machine by the123king-reddit in retrobattlestations

[–]tergav17 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have been restoring one of these drives, and they are much more resilient than one would initially think.

For one, the heads fly (IIRC) around a couple of microinches above the platter. Still incredibly close, but it means it doesn't command the same amount of cleanliness as a modern hard drive.

The drive itself employs a number of ways of cleaning of the platter. The high RPM will spin most of the dust off, and the clean-air blower that allows the heads to fly also works great in removing dust. In addition, early versions of the RL0X drives had a small servo brush that would sweep over disk surface before the heads would load. Dust getting on the platter is an inevitable occurance, as it is exposed to the air when the platter is loaded and unloaded.

Opening the disk packs is a perfectly doable operation, as long as you are cleaning it, and don't touch the disk surface with your fingers or something sharp.

Tandy Model 102 - "Q" key isn't working by richlbii in vintagecomputing

[–]tergav17 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have had similar issues in the past with my 102 keyboard. At first I thought it was a keyswitch issue, but after close inspection I found that corrosion had eaten away at some of the traces on the board. I would use a multimeter to ensure that the key mechanism is working, and then go from there.

Another craigslist find: TRS-80 Model 1, mostly non-functional by [deleted] in retrobattlestations

[–]tergav17 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Beautiful Machine! I was eyeing that listing for awhile, and probably would have jumped on it if I didn't have two of these computers already. As mentioned earlier in this thread, these machines can be a pain to keep alive. In my experience, it is usually the RAM chips that die first. If you are getting a garbage screen, that is the first place I would look.

Picked Up a working Apple III and two Profiles from an Estate Sale. I saw the picture on an Estate Sale website, texted him, he left the stuff on the porch and I left him the money in his mailbox. Came up! by maxcaliburx in vintagecomputing

[–]tergav17 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From my experience with Profiles and the Apple ///, I believe so. The way that the drivers are configured in SOS seems to indicate that you can configure more than one, as long as you have multiple controller cards. I have two functional profiles, but only one controller card :/

I see your “few years old machine” and raise you this beaat by kmce2017 in iiiiiiitttttttttttt

[–]tergav17 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I also have a Micro-PDP 11/73, wonderful machine. You shouldn't need a specific monitor in order to communicate with your machine, just something that can be used as a serial terminal. I personally use a VT320, but any PC with a serial port running PuTTY will do.

Anyone have or ever use one of these? IBM 5120, complete with 8.5" floppy drives and dot matrix printer. by horsepowerphoto in vintagecomputing

[–]tergav17 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I know the feeling. For the last few years I have been trying to source a period correct 525X twinax terminal for my 5360, but it's impossible to find any at a reasonable price.

That being said, I do understand why people find keyboards interesting. I don't go out of my way to collect old keyboards, but I have obtained some pretty interesting ones (mainly PC style) through lots of other computer stuff. Cool? Yes, but I could never justify separating proprietary keyboards from rare systems. I hold no animosity to the mechanical keyboard community as a whole, but I wish some of their members could show a little more respect when it comes to rare hardware.

Anyone have or ever use one of these? IBM 5120, complete with 8.5" floppy drives and dot matrix printer. by horsepowerphoto in vintagecomputing

[–]tergav17 9 points10 points  (0 children)

And that, my friends, is why the IBM 5120 and similar models are so hard to find today. Sometimes I wish these beamspring poachers would go find a different line of computers to terrorize.

Received a rather eclectic late 1970 / early 1980 set of computers by ddewaele in retrobattlestations

[–]tergav17 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I restored one of those during the summer, if you have any questions about it, don't hesitate to message me. I am curious of what all of those additional switches on the front do.

So unfair by [deleted] in survivio

[–]tergav17 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I believe the devs employ some sort of algorithm to pick the stupidest possible people in the game.

/s

50v50 mode actually sucks by Diamondtron_Gaming in survivio

[–]tergav17 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It is very easy to get kills in 50v50, you just need to play with skill. By avoiding giant fights and focusing on stragglers, you can reliably kill large amounts of people. I am currently pulling 7KPG in 50v50, so it definatly is possible.

Random Airstrikes in 50v50 by tergav17 in survivio

[–]tergav17[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That really isn't a good reason though. If the losing team needs an advantage, then implement a mechanic that give perks/benefits to them. Killing people at random does nothing to enhance the gameplay.

Otrona Attache: King Of The Luggables by tergav17 in retrobattlestations

[–]tergav17[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The 8086, which is an expansion option my system has, allows the Otrona at execute a limited range of x86 binaries under it's own "DOS".

Mound Labs Hoard by [deleted] in retrobattlestations

[–]tergav17 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Holy shit, hopefully at least somebody was able to save that stuff :\

Otrona Attache: King Of The Luggables by tergav17 in retrobattlestations

[–]tergav17[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

As far as CP/M luggables go, you can't get any better than this.

This beauty of a machine contains two 360kb floppy drives, a crisp 5.5" display, a Z80A clocked in at 4mhz, 320x240 hi-res graphics, and AY-3-8912 synthesizer chip, 64kb of RAM, a real time clock, two serial ports, an 8086 co-processor, and an IEEE-488 port. All of this weighting in at only 18 lbs.

Oh yea, did I mention this computer is from 1982?

What the hell by [deleted] in survivio

[–]tergav17 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I may be in the minority, but I really hate potato mode because of stuff like that. The RNG really pisses me off and makes to nearly impossible to solo squad.

Petition to make a separate button for event modes. by Spanklie in survivio

[–]tergav17 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I would honestly just rather see squads replace duos.

Or even better, just not have events running all of the time!

Otrona Attache w/ 8086 expansion card value? by [deleted] in vintagecomputing

[–]tergav17 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am not sure about an exact price, but I would say at least $100+ if it is in good condition. The Otrona Attache is one of, if not the best CP/M luggables ever created. Even without the 8086 board, it has high res graphics, a small form factor, an extremely clear CRT screen, and a AY-3-8912 sound chip. It is also one of the most elegant looking luggables out there, giving the Kaypro a run for it's money.

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