Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2020-07-28, 17:32

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If you mix new cells in with old ones, you'll have uneven loads on the cells, different drain rates, and different temperatures. Yeah, i want them to be gone completely because this series has confirmed safety issues, there was recall of 4 million battery packs. I just read that if battery …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2020-07-28, 16:46

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You'll want to replace all the batteries at once or make a new resized capacity battery. If you mix new cells in with old ones, you'll have uneven loads on the cells, different drain rates, and different temperatures. Don't worry about charging cell voltage cutoff - if you buy new batteries, they'll …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2020-07-28, 09:31

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

bjwil1991 wrote on 2020-07-28, 04:45: Wowzers. My thoughts exactly. Pretty scary, but necessary. The battery acid penetrates the solder mask and sits on the copper layer, slowly eating away it it. The only cure is to remove it and rework it to prevent future degradation.

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2020-07-28, 02:05

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Removed the Varta battery from my Amiga 2000. The area looks pretty bad.. very corroded. However, it is really only the solder mask that's screwed up from the battery acid. If you scrape it all away with a fiberglass scratch pen, it is like brand new copper underneath. All traces have full …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2020-07-27, 16:38

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Checking out a Digilog serial analyzer (from the 80's) we're tossing at work to see if I want to turn it into a cyberdeck. Has a B&W CRT (white phosphor) integrated that I could easily replace with a 5" or 6" color CRT. Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/gJADnq3

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Re: Replace LGA socket with bent\broken pins

Posted on 2020-07-27, 12:12

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I suggest a silicone mat. When it is at the solder melting temp, don't move the board, because you don't want to dislodge other components. When you pick up the old socket during reflow, be sure to go straight up so you don't knock the components in the middle of the socket area out of place.

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Re: Replace LGA socket with bent\broken pins

Posted on 2020-07-27, 11:06

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes, that will work. Here's a general tutorial on how it is done: https://youtu.be/SzMHJXHO120 He's using a PCB preheater below which helps cut down on high temp reflow time, but isn't totally necessary. You just have to make sure to keep the board flat so it doesn't warp, and warm up a large area …

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Re: Replace LGA socket with bent\broken pins

Posted on 2020-07-27, 09:46

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I use this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H4RHZ21/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_HYPhFbRQAWSMA And this tip for removing CPU sockets: search eBay for "BGA Nozzle 40 40mm Mesh" -- the 40x40mm should work fine.. I use a slightly bigger one, but I don't see any in stock for cheap. Also, I didn't look for …

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Re: Replace LGA socket with bent\broken pins

Posted on 2020-07-26, 18:28

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Looked at the pics.. definitely more than 5 bent pins that likely aren't making contact. One pin looks like it is missing the top portion and for sure won't make contact. You can get a brand new socket for about $8, solder balls pre-installed. Then use a hot air pencil with a 60x60mm airflow adapter …

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Re: Bought this (Modern) hardware today

Posted on 2020-07-26, 15:59

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by wiretap

in Milliways

in Milliways

Newly manufactured.

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Re: Bought this (Modern) hardware today

Posted on 2020-07-26, 15:32

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by wiretap

in Milliways

in Milliways

A full keycap set for a keyboard I'm making for my A2000. Preview of some caps:

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2020-07-26, 12:48

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Soldered a QFP ultra fine pitch Trident TVGA9000i-3 chip for my ISA Super VGA. Used hot air and solder paste. It turned out pretty good, but I need some higher quality paste.

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2020-07-26, 10:09

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Got the A2000 yesterday. It has a GVP SCSI card with 4MB RAM. Battery leakage will need to be cleaned up, along with a socket/CPU replacement which I have on order. PSU is dead, so I'll refurb that as well. Traces seem to have continuity still, just the solder mask is discolored and makes it look …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2020-07-24, 12:15

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Installed my Amiga accelerator and WB 3.1.4. Still have to cut a trace and install a jumper on the A500 motherboard to enable 1MB chip RAM.

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-07-22, 17:03

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Seller said it powered on and started up for a minute, then downpowered and wouldn't turn back on. I'll take on the challenge. Hopefully it is just the power supply. I'm 100% guaranteeing you its battery corrosion has eaten the board away in a large swathe. those old PSU are fairly rock solid. …

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Re: Old photos of old rigs thread

Posted on 2020-07-22, 12:40

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

My brother found a picture of my friends and I playing Duke Nukem 3D in 1997 on my Compaq Presario 9232. 😁

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-07-21, 23:42

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Seller said it powered on and started up for a minute, then downpowered and wouldn't turn back on. I'll take on the challenge. Hopefully it is just the power supply. https://imgur.com/2lMJ7Nz.jpg Or the Varta Ni-Leakium battery. Those are notorious. True, hopefully not. If that's the case, I'll …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-07-21, 20:30

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Seller said it powered on and started up for a minute, then downpowered and wouldn't turn back on. I'll take on the challenge. Hopefully it is just the power supply.

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2020-07-21, 02:08

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by wiretap

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Got some blue arrow keys (Desk Candy) for my Siig MiniTouch and put them on. Looks pretty neat. There's so many odd size Alps keys on this board, I'll never come across a full set of keycaps for this unless I have them custom made by Signature Plastics, so this will do for now. https://imgur.com/ …

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Re: Planet X3 by 8-Bit Guy nearing completion! New teaser & music

Posted on 2020-07-21, 00:54

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in Milliways

in Milliways

Unfortunately I didn't know about it during development, but I purchased it and loaded it up on my turbo XT not too long ago. It plays great, looks awesome and sounds awesome. Quick intro video in VGA mode. I still need to hook up my CGA/EGA CRT when I get some time. https://youtu.be/ce0eHgUOydI

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