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Topic: What's the best way to bring up old kit?  (Read 352 times)

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Offline andyc

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What's the best way to bring up old kit?
« on: March 27, 2012, 08:18:50 PM »
Hi Chums,

I've just picked up an old 8080 based business machine from 1981 (8" floppies :-) ) that the previous owner assures me hasn't been turned on in at least 20 years. Can I do anything to increase its chance of survival or do I just plug it in and hope for the best?


cheers,

Andy.
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Offline AndyRCM

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Re: What's the best way to bring up old kit?
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2012, 08:52:56 PM »
. . . check for dust . . . one of the biggest killers of hardware . . . it conducts electricity you see . . . :(

A
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Offline bluestax

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Re: What's the best way to bring up old kit?
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2012, 08:44:46 AM »
You have to be very careful of the electrolytic capacitors. They will have degraded and may need to be 're-formed'. The best way to do this (if you can) is to bring up the supply voltage _very_ slowly. Even then, you may get a few that pop. Wear safety glasses!  8)

The other thing to check is all the connectors. Lower quality ones will oxidise over time. Pull them all apart and clean the contacts if you can. This also applies to IC sockets.

Best of luck. let us know how it goes.

Derek.
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Offline andyc

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Re: What's the best way to bring up old kit?
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2012, 08:19:21 PM »
Thanks guys,

When I'm feeling brave I will have a go. I think there may be some work to be done, it's the oldest thing I've got and with by far the largest number of discrete logic ICs though most are socketed.

You can read a bit about it here... http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=1150 though mine is the Telefunken version.

I'll keep you posted.


Cheers,

Andy.


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Offline AndyRCM

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Re: What's the best way to bring up old kit?
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2012, 08:20:39 PM »
Good luck Andy - hope it goes well for you. Be nice to see that baby running! :)

A
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Offline andyc

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Re: What's the best way to bring up old kit?
« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2012, 01:33:09 PM »
It's alive - nearly.

I'm not able to put a variable AC voltage onto kit as I don't have the equipment but I am able to stand things on a still in the garden and hope for the best.

The plan paid off ;)

It beeps for a second, the fan runs and the first time it made a raster on the screen but that says quite a lot.

The second time it's given me vertical bars in the raster which I think are showing me the character cell and that there is a RAM/char ROM issue.

Next time I'll check power supply rails and start cleaning pins and sockets.

Cheers,

Andy.

 I've put a UK plug on it
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