As usual,Jacque ignored me most of the day, but as soon as the logic analyzer arrived he rushed over to help me set it up.
(click for gallery with more photos)

Today Guy and I removed the KW20 Master Oscillator from my KL10 (PDP-10 CPU, part of DECSYSTEM-20), so that it can temporarily be used in his KL10 until he can fabricate a suitable replacement.  As we removed the KW20, I couldn’t help feeling  a little like Dr. Chandra in the book and film 2010, sequel [...]

I was considering buying an LTO Ultrium tape drive on eBay. One seller, Dennis Resnik of Magstor Corporation (ebay ID dresnik-magstor), has IBM LTO 2 and LTO 3 drives listed:

IBM LTO Ultrium 2 drive auction

IBM LTO Ultrium 3 drive auction

The photo of the LTO 2 drive looks fine. But then I noticed that [...]

When connecting the power cable to a SATA drive, the plastic piece to which the connector fingers are attached on the drive’s power connector broke off, leaving the fingers unsupported.  I didn’t think I was applying excessive force to the connector, so it’s possible that there was a molding void in it.
I subsequently attempted to [...]

For my recent vacation to Colorado, I assembled a shoebox PC based on a Shuttle ST20G5 barebone box to use as an EVDO (broadband wireless) to 802.11g (Wifi) router, so that I would have good internet connectivity.  I used a Novatel U720 USB modem with Sprint EVDO service, a D-Link WDA-2320 PCI 802.11g card with [...]

I finally decided to get a cellular data service, Sprint Mobile Broadband (EVDO). Short summary: I’ve only tried using it at my office so far, but the performance is great. I’m getting over 500 Kbps downstream, with round-trip ping times of less than 100 ms. The latency is low enough that [...]

Items required:

Old Computer:

Asus A8V Deluxe socket 939 motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ CPU
Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu CPU cooler

New components:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ CPU
Zalman CNPS9500-AM2 CPU cooler (will not actually be used)

Supplies:

Arctic Silver brand Ceramique thermal compound
Packaged wipes with 90% isopropyl alcohol
Latex gloves, powder-free

Tools:

Philips screwdriver

Environment:

Cluttered work surface
Inadequate lighting
Screw-absorbent carpeting

I recently decided to upgrade my desktop computer from an Athlon 64 3500+ (socket 939) to an Athlon 64 X2 4800+, so that left me with an extra socket 939 CPU. From time to time I’ve wanted a portable non-laptop computer, so I purchased a Shuttle ST20G5 barebone system, along with disk drives and [...]

I previously wrote about using the Logitech V200 cordless notebook optical mouse with my laptop. My only complaint with the V200 was that while the receiver snaps onto the bottom of the mouse for storage (and powers off the mouse in the process), it doesn’t stay securely fastened. I suggested that Logitech should [...]

I despise touchpads. Most of my laptops have had a “pointing stick“, which works quite well. By comparison, a touchpad is, well, “touchy”. It tends to respond at inappropriate times when my hand is just near the pad but not touching it, and causes the cursor to zing off into the corner. [...]