What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!

[bob225]

A DPST on/off switch for Henry

[Terry01]

Got these today! Well, I got the meter yesterday but "hey ho",,,
The Proxxon FMZ Vice is awesome! I would recommend anyone who needs one for their bench to get this one!
I was using the Red Clarke one which is the "sucker" type vice which was ok, but this one is just more permanent when you clamp it on.
The red one is going on Ebay now I have this one! 

[bitseeker]

A USB floppy drive and 10 diskettes. 

Interesting. I've never seen floppies with Teflon^Ⓡ coating before.

[gamalot]

A USB floppy drive and 10 diskettes. 

Interesting. I've never seen floppies with Teflon^Ⓡ coating before.

Teflon coated floppies was introduced in the late 80‘s by Verbatim. 

[bitseeker]

Ah, well. I usually bought bulk disks. Maybe they were coated, just not advertised as such.

Anyway, it's still fun to learn about stuff even if it was from the 80s.

[BBBbbb]

A USB floppy drive and 10 diskettes. 

Interesting. I've never seen floppies with Teflon^Ⓡ coating before.

Teflon coated floppies was introduced in the late 80‘s by Verbatim. 

and near the EoL of the floppy (early '00s) those were the only ones you could get.

god I hated the floppy...

[tooki]

A USB floppy drive and 10 diskettes. 

Interesting. I've never seen floppies with Teflon^Ⓡ coating before.

Teflon coated floppies was introduced in the late 80‘s by Verbatim. 

...which is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical.

[aargee]

I actually thought the teflon was inside the floppy cover, not on the disk itself, to reduce spinning friction.
That might have been five and a quarter sized disks.

[Kjelt]

god I hated the floppy... 

I only hated them at the loading times of the Sierra adventures or even worse installing a big software program on harddrive (to continue insert disk 18 of 24 and press any key ...... )

[djos]

god I hated the floppy... 

I only hated them at the loading times of the Sierra adventures or even worse installing a big software program on harddrive (to continue insert disk 18 of 24 and press any key ...... )

It was always much less painful on Amiga's and even less so again on Mac's - Amiga's used the Shugart "Disk Change" signal to recognize a new disk and Mac's had a motorised Floppy Drive insert/eject mechanism.

[McBryce]

I only hated them at the loading times of the Sierra adventures or even worse installing a big software program on harddrive (to continue insert disk 18 of 24 and press any key ...... )

Who remembers installing Visual Basic 4.0 Pro (30 disks I think), MS Office 4 (34 Disks) or Visual C 1.0 (18 disks). Only to get "xyz.dll" - File not found on disk 31 !!! 


McBryce.   

[djos]

I only hated them at the loading times of the Sierra adventures or even worse installing a big software program on harddrive (to continue insert disk 18 of 24 and press any key ...... )

Who remembers installing Visual Basic 4.0 Pro (30 disks I think), MS Office 4 (34 Disks) or Visual C 1.0 (18 disks). Only to get "xyz.dll" - File not found on disk 31 !!! 


McBryce.

Yep! 

[gamalot]

New toys have arrived, Soshin 1uF standard capacitor and Advantest R8240 electrometer. 

[Terry01]

New toys have arrived, Soshin 1uF standard capacitor and Advantest R8240 electrometer. 

That's a nice LCR meter buddy! Very nice indeed! 

[bitseeker]

I only hated them at the loading times of the Sierra adventures or even worse installing a big software program on harddrive (to continue insert disk 18 of 24 and press any key ...... )

Who remembers installing Visual Basic 4.0 Pro (30 disks I think), MS Office 4 (34 Disks) or Visual C 1.0 (18 disks). Only to get "xyz.dll" - File not found on disk 31 !!! 

Similarly, I remember the multi-box 5-1/4" floppy installation of Netware followed by the overnight surface scan of the server's drive. Those were the slow old days.

[CatalinaWOW]

And the 75 or so 5 1/4 disks used to distribute pre 1.0 versions of Linux before fast internet and cheap CD/DVD ROM.  Of course not all were required, but shuffling through figuring out which ones you wanted/needed was fun.

[TERRA Operative]

Got myself some more retro computer gear delivered today.

A Sharp CE-140P colour dot printer with an included Sharp PC-1350 computer.
To bad about the leakage ob the screen (The dark brown colour is just the camera angle), but I already have the newer PC-1360 computer, so it's not so bad.

Also on the way is the serial communications cable, so I'll be able to write software on the convenience of my PC then transfer it over to the Sharp.


Now to find paper rolls and ink.........

[Terry01]

Got myself some more retro computer gear delivered today.

A Sharp CE-140P colour dot printer with an included Sharp PC-1350 computer.
To bad about the leakage ob the screen (The dark brown colour is just the camera angle), but I already have the newer PC-1360 computer, so it's not so bad.

Also on the way is the serial communications cable, so I'll be able to write software on the convenience of my PC then transfer it over to the Sharp.


Now to find paper rolls and ink.........

Very cool! Nice find!

[TERRA Operative]

Yeah, it's actually got a tiny ink cartridge inside...
Almost like a plotter that works in raster like an inkjet. Really weird and interesting. I might have to do a teardown video.


Also, the serial cable turned up today too! Fun for the whole weekend!


Next is to track down the cassette tape drive or even the disk drive...

[tooki]

Yeah, it's actually got a tiny ink cartridge inside...
Almost like a plotter that works in raster like an inkjet. Really weird and interesting. I might have to do a teardown video.

Just looked at some Youtube videos and the service manual, that's pretty wild! It's basically a 4-pin (1 per color) dot-matrix printer, but instead of the needles hitting a ribbon, they sit in a tube of ink, which they transfer directly. (Actually the same exact principle by which tattoo guns transfer ink to the needles!)


http://sharppocketcomputers.com/4HK7JnFJDuVm/Service/ce140p_service_manual.pdf

[HighVoltage]

Next is to track down the cassette tape drive or even the disk drive...

You can easily record the programs these days to the Audio input of the PC.
No need for a cassette tape anymore.

Interestingly, all my stored programs of old cassette tapes from the 80s
could not load anymore. But I had them all digitally on an old floppy as well.

The PC1350 and PC1360 were amazing machines in the day and still are today.
I even liked the PC1350 more than the PC1600, because of its slim factor.

These days I have several PC1350 laying around and being used all the time.
Once in a while you can find them cheap on ebay and may find one broken with
a good display and replace yours.
 

[gamalot]

My first computer is Sharp PC-1246. 

[bob225]

Next is to track down the cassette tape drive or even the disk drive...

ide ? why not use one of the many FDD sd/cf emulators

eg. https://hxc2001.com/

[Cubdriver]

A chunk of 6061-T651, precisely 8" by 8" by 1/4". This will serve as a custom made platform for my CNC.

<snip>

I would like to go with 7075, but my local Metal Supermarket (yep, it's a brand) doesn't have 7075 in stock, and I don't want to wait a few days and pay $50 shipping plus a price of extortion from Online Metals.

What about McMaster-Carr?  (Obviously not for this one, but maybe something to consider in the future if you haven't already?)  They're quick, and I've always found their shipping charges reasonable if not downright cheap.

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

What about McMaster-Carr?  (Obviously not for this one, but maybe something to consider in the future if you haven't already?)  They're quick, and I've always found their shipping charges reasonable if not downright cheap.

Holy! They're much cheaper than Online Metals! And their shipping is awesome.
I think I just found a DigiKey for mechanical parts! Thanks!!!

You're most welcome.  I almost didn't mention them as I figured most everyone already knew, and I have heard some complain that they're too expensive. I use them all the time both for work and personal stuff.  And yes, that's a very apt analogy - they are pretty much the Digi Key or Mouser for everything else besides electronic parts. 

-Pat