Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

A'aight... I've had my coffee and the last of the hotel breakfast omelette... it's time to pack us down for the trip to Hartford, CT where we are tentatively going to try and strike root.

It may be a day or three before I resurface for anything more than a quick peek in from the phone, as we are still hopping from hotel to hotel.

mnem
Stay well my friends, and be excellent to each other.

[Andrew_Debbie]

I never could understand the willingness to fuckerize a perfectly good OS disk just to try something else.

Yup.  I've got a stash of sandbox disks and trays just for testing.   - Of course the modern way to do this is with a virtual box, but TBH I find it too darn easy to use hardware I've got.   ==  I use grub and dual boot all the time, but not for testing a different os. 

The machine in the foreground is my sandbox.   1 Xeon,  32GB of RAM and 4 empty drive bays.   The MacPro the right is a linux server.  Dual 4-core Xeons 16GB RAM.  Boots from an SSD card in a PCI slot.  The disk bays are full of server class drives.


The battery on the RAID card died.  We decided to scrap it and change to sw RAID.  That card is the only MacPro hardware I don't have 4 or 5 of.  The performance improvement over linux software raid was negligible. 


 

[Zucca]

I like your keyboard.

[Andrew_Debbie]

I like your keyboard.

Thanks.

It is a cftkb Mysterium  with my "A029" keycaps.   The keycaps are a mash-up of an Apple A1048 and IBM 029.   There are a few errors I'd like to correct if I ever have another set made.   The Q bothers me the most - It screams at me.

[med6753]

Started the re-cap of the Type 1A4 Four Channel plug-in and ran into a problem of my own doing. I didn't realize that the trigger board (see pix) was a separate parts list. So none of these 6 capacitors were on the original BOM and have to be replaced as they are showing signs of leakage. Oh well. So a separate BOM will be submitted today.



In the meantime did complete the main board. Those 2 orange 470uf/35V capacitors replaced the enormous 500uf/30V capacitors shown on the bench. 




And tomorrow is the big day. Borrowing a hand truck and will bring in those 2 Type 547's. Stay tuned. 

[cyclin_al]

looking an endoscope in chinesium from china...

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000093988184.html

damm TEA...

Enabler!

https://www.princessauto.com/en/43-in-colour-lcd-inspection-camera/product/PA0008942997

I only have one task I need it for ... so far!

[cyclin_al]

I want my BSD/OS back. CBA to write device drivers even tho I have the source.

@Zucca your poster was way incomplete. The entire Bell labs unix line was left out ...

There was also no mention of IBM's OS/2 

And was a damn good O/S that Itty Bitty Morons fumbled. By the time it was perfected and actively marketed MS was in firm control.

I will admit to going to geek school.  A bunch of us at school had OS/2 on our machines.  Worked well, and multi-tasked Windows better than Windows.
The installation CDs for OS/2 and OS/2.1 are still within reach at my desk, although they have not been used for quite some time.

[Saskia]

I want a P/390 card ... alas, unobtainable for me right now.

[TERRA Operative]

Rubidium  is rubish go for Cesium:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/154720557764

Except Caesium has a limited lifetime on the tube, Rubidium just goes and goes and goes.

Started the re-cap of the Type 1A4 Four Channel plug-in and ran into a problem of my own doing. I didn't realize that the trigger board (see pix) was a separate parts list. So none of these 6 capacitors were on the original BOM and have to be replaced as they are showing signs of leakage. Oh well. So a separate BOM will be submitted today.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/922/W4xxvX.jpg

Is that little one a dry slug tant? Probably worth leaving it in if so, those things are usually pretty solid.

[TERRA Operative]

In other news, I'm a happy boy. I just fixed the OCXO from the Rubidium standard.

Turns out the heater transistors weren't quite tight for some reason, so they were torqued to spec and then the over-temp fuse was open circuit, apparently a common thing with age rather than an actual fault.
It's now sitting on my bench getting a good burn-in, and is sitting pretty, hooked to the scope it is perfectly(!) synchronised to my GPS standard.

Tomorrow I'll double check it and carefully slap it back into the 5065A Rubidium box and hopefully I get a green light.

Then it's onto making the 10MHz output board.

[cyclin_al]

What can a modern OS do with 1.44MB ? Blink an LED maybe ? If even that...

OpenBSD still boots off of a 1,44MiB floppy. You can run in rescue mode from that, but it, admittingly, is mostly aimed at getting the OS running, a network configured (including a RealTek 2.5 Gbit network card driver  ) and download the install packages.

   Well played!

Mind you, that was my fault it seems.  However, I jumped from that one directly into...

Dual booting is a good way to wipe your main system.

EDIT:  fixed the repetition

[med6753]

Started the re-cap of the Type 1A4 Four Channel plug-in and ran into a problem of my own doing. I didn't realize that the trigger board (see pix) was a separate parts list. So none of these 6 capacitors were on the original BOM and have to be replaced as they are showing signs of leakage. Oh well. So a separate BOM will be submitted today.

Is that little one a dry slug tant? Probably worth leaving it in if so, those things are usually pretty solid.

I thought so too. 15uf/20V The parts list does not specify that it's a tant and Tek is good about calling them out as "EMT" if they are.

[Specmaster]

Ok, quick update on the Linux machine. I now have it, its in a midi tower and the MB is micro ATX Asrock N68-S, nothing to write home about but should be OK. Maxed out already at 4 GB memory but so far my research shows that it will run smoothly on 1 to 2 GB along with programs, so I have a bit of headroom for the time being.

Have not run it yet as I'm waiting for Amazon to deliver a DisplayPort to HDMI cable and USB KM switch, so I can share mouse and keyboard between both PCs and the monitor has a input selector, so I can have 2 PCs connected and can select between D-Sub, HDMI and DVI inputs. Have only just ordered these items, as I never knew what I was dealing until I got the PC.

Now a couple of questions for the enlightened here with Linux, my existing mouse is Bluetooth, so with the dongle in the switch unit, will Linux detect that and install the drivers or what? And, will Discord work OK on Linux? If so, I will probably set it up on the Linux PC.

[Cerebus]

Rather like the attempt to just make logic symbols into a rectangle with "&" or "OR" written inside.
At the time, I received the impression that both ideas were driven by groups in Europe, although they were never mainstream there, either.

Another "World's Best Practice?"

Nope, you have to blame the 'merkins. It was the IEEE that tried to foist square logic gate symbols on the world.

[AVGresponding]

Wayne Kerr 3245 precision inductance analyser (R47) 86 105.00
Wayne Kerr 3245 precision inductance analyser (R46) 87 105.00

So I have a question about this brand name......

Is it an innocent coincidence, or is it a deliberate bit of cheeky innuendo? 

https://www.waynekerrtest.com/history.php#:~:text=Wayne%20Kerr%20began%20as%20the,used%20to%20test%20broadcasting%20equipment.

Kerr is properly pronounced as "kar". In the cockney accent, the word you are thinking of is pronounced very close indeed...

[TERRA Operative]

Started the re-cap of the Type 1A4 Four Channel plug-in and ran into a problem of my own doing. I didn't realize that the trigger board (see pix) was a separate parts list. So none of these 6 capacitors were on the original BOM and have to be replaced as they are showing signs of leakage. Oh well. So a separate BOM will be submitted today.

Is that little one a dry slug tant? Probably worth leaving it in if so, those things are usually pretty solid.

I thought so too. 15uf/20V The parts list does not specify that it's a tant and Tek is good about calling them out as "EMT" if they are.

Can you read what's written on the side? Those things are pricey if it is a dry slug tant, I tend to salvage them when scrapping boards, Mouser/Digikey have eye-watering prices on them...

[AVGresponding]

What can a modern OS do with 1.44MB ? Blink an LED maybe ? If even that...

OpenBSD still boots off of a 1,44MiB floppy. You can run in rescue mode from that, but it, admittingly, is mostly aimed at getting the OS running, a network configured (including a RealTek 2.5 Gbit network card driver  ) and download the install packages.

Pfft, my Amiga A500 boots the Workbench OS from a 720KB disk into 512KB of RAM (well, 1MB for mine, I have a RAM expansion...).

[TERRA Operative]

Wayne Kerr 3245 precision inductance analyser (R47) 86 105.00
Wayne Kerr 3245 precision inductance analyser (R46) 87 105.00

So I have a question about this brand name......

Is it an innocent coincidence, or is it a deliberate bit of cheeky innuendo? 

https://www.waynekerrtest.com/history.php#:~:text=Wayne%20Kerr%20began%20as%20the,used%20to%20test%20broadcasting%20equipment.

Kerr is properly pronounced as "kar". In the cockney accent, the word you are thinking of is pronounced very close indeed...

In my Australian accent, it sounds like that word no matter how I pronounce it. Such is the Australian dialect.... 

[cyclin_al]

QNX anyone ??

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QNX

In 1999/2000 I remember trying a demo disk from them. On a single 3.5" 1.44MB floppy, that you would boot from, they managed to cram a complete desktop OS. You would get your graphical desktop, task bar, "start" menu, a text editor, web browser and modem drivers, was well impressed !

What can a modern OS do with 1.44MB ? Blink an LED maybe ? If even that...

According to Wikipedia, was mostly targeted to embedded devices like smartphones. BlackBerry used QNX and eventually bought QNX... still in use today in phones and cars and whatnot, apparently...

QNX started out down the road at University of Waterloo and my first experience with it was on those awful Burroughs ICON computers the government of Ontario foisted on schools here.

ICONs were awful?  For the students or the teacher    Someone in my high school class wrote an alternative operating system and left it running after class.  The teacher used that machine next.  It was able to scrape all the superuser data ... said person went on to work at a chip design company.

That same set of ICONs were later foisted onto a nearby primary school, where my Dad happened to be a teacher.  For some strange reason, I was the one Sysadmining the whole thing...
As far as I know, they chucked those machines as soon as I left town for University.  Moving down the road from 25_CPS was too far away it seems...

[AVGresponding]

Rather like the attempt to just make logic symbols into a rectangle with "&" or "OR" written inside.
At the time, I received the impression that both ideas were driven by groups in Europe, although they were never mainstream there, either.

Another "World's Best Practice?"

Nope, you have to blame the 'merkins. It was the IEEE that tried to foist square logic gate symbols on the world.

What a bunch of Wayne Kerrs

[Vince]

[...] And, will Discord work OK on Linux? If so, I will probably set it up on the Linux PC.

TEA Discord works fine on my Linux box, 5+ year old Ubuntu and 15 year old machine.... so should be alright on your much more modern PC ! 

Discord is just a web site, you just need a web browser. I connect to it using Firefox as installed by default on Ubuntu, and works just fine.

[med6753]

Started the re-cap of the Type 1A4 Four Channel plug-in and ran into a problem of my own doing. I didn't realize that the trigger board (see pix) was a separate parts list. So none of these 6 capacitors were on the original BOM and have to be replaced as they are showing signs of leakage. Oh well. So a separate BOM will be submitted today.

Is that little one a dry slug tant? Probably worth leaving it in if so, those things are usually pretty solid.

I thought so too. 15uf/20V The parts list does not specify that it's a tant and Tek is good about calling them out as "EMT" if they are.

Can you read what's written on the side? Those things are pricey if it is a dry slug tant, I tend to salvage them when scrapping boards, Mouser/Digikey have eye-watering prices on them...

Damn near impossible to read. I'll test it. If it's OK I'll leave it alone. But those two 270uf in front of it definitely have to go. They are leaking out the seals.

[25 CPS]

What can a modern OS do with 1.44MB ? Blink an LED maybe ? If even that...

OpenBSD still boots off of a 1,44MiB floppy. You can run in rescue mode from that, but it, admittingly, is mostly aimed at getting the OS running, a network configured (including a RealTek 2.5 Gbit network card driver  ) and download the install packages.

Pfft, my Amiga A500 boots the Workbench OS from a 720KB disk into 512KB of RAM (well, 1MB for mine, I have a RAM expansion...).

Is your 500 running Workbench 1.2/1.3 or 2.04/2.11, or do you have a ROM switcher to be able to toggle between both?

I still have my Amiga 1000 and 2000HD but I'm at a loss on where my 500 ended up.

QNX anyone ??

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QNX

In 1999/2000 I remember trying a demo disk from them. On a single 3.5" 1.44MB floppy, that you would boot from, they managed to cram a complete desktop OS. You would get your graphical desktop, task bar, "start" menu, a text editor, web browser and modem drivers, was well impressed !

What can a modern OS do with 1.44MB ? Blink an LED maybe ? If even that...

According to Wikipedia, was mostly targeted to embedded devices like smartphones. BlackBerry used QNX and eventually bought QNX... still in use today in phones and cars and whatnot, apparently...

QNX started out down the road at University of Waterloo and my first experience with it was on those awful Burroughs ICON computers the government of Ontario foisted on schools here.

ICONs were awful?  For the students or the teacher    Someone in my high school class wrote an alternative operating system and left it running after class.  The teacher used that machine next.  It was able to scrape all the superuser data ... said person went on to work at a chip design company.

That same set of ICONs were later foisted onto a nearby primary school, where my Dad happened to be a teacher.  For some strange reason, I was the one Sysadmining the whole thing...
As far as I know, they chucked those machines as soon as I left town for University.  Moving down the road from 25_CPS was too far away it seems...

From what I've heard, ICONs could be good if a school had a teacher who designed a good class around them but more often than not, this wasn't the case.  They were already getting pretty long in the tooth by the time I got to use them and, worse, someone in a total Toronto Board of Education stroke of genius (more likely, just a stroke, period) assigned the gym teacher to teach the math and computer classes.  It was awful.  And the ICONs really had very little merit to stand on by themselves without a decent teacher involved.

[Specmaster]

I just watched this and he spoke about installing "Wine" to be able to run some Windows based software on Linux, although he does recommend learning to use just Linux based software. My question is, has anyone installed it, does it work and what are your thoughts about doing so. Ultimately, I may if I can get along with Linux, install it on my main PC which is a good few years newer than the Asrock and also of course far more powerful and faster.

[TERRA Operative]

Started the re-cap of the Type 1A4 Four Channel plug-in and ran into a problem of my own doing. I didn't realize that the trigger board (see pix) was a separate parts list. So none of these 6 capacitors were on the original BOM and have to be replaced as they are showing signs of leakage. Oh well. So a separate BOM will be submitted today.

Is that little one a dry slug tant? Probably worth leaving it in if so, those things are usually pretty solid.

I thought so too. 15uf/20V The parts list does not specify that it's a tant and Tek is good about calling them out as "EMT" if they are.

Can you read what's written on the side? Those things are pricey if it is a dry slug tant, I tend to salvage them when scrapping boards, Mouser/Digikey have eye-watering prices on them...

Damn near impossible to read. I'll test it. If it's OK I'll leave it alone. But those two 270uf in front of it definitely have to go. They are leaking out the seals.

Yeah, those others need to get ditched, those Vishay 500D caps are just standard aluminium electrolytics.