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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : It's Alive
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Rickard5 Guru  Joined: 31/03/2022 Location: United StatesPosts: 463 |
Well my Picomite 1.3 Lives and Breaths, but there is still a run to be made to mouser :( still need that $1.33 power transistor and SD Card socket. and I Desperately want a case from Hammond in England, but when she who must be OBAYED say the price and the $150 shipping, I was instructed I Hated that case and wouldn't have one I desperately would love to have a case I can pull one of my Model M Keyboards out of the plastic case and mod it in to a case with the Picomate and some Breadboard area I Really want to thank Everybody for being so great and supportive, and I especially want to Thank Lizby for getting me a board to build AGAIN THANKL YOU ALL FOR HELPING ME REACH A MILESTONE    I may be Vulgar, but , while I'm poor, I'm Industrious, Honest, and trustworthy! I Know my Place |
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Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 7937 |
Congratulations! :) The case isn't a Hammond one: Multicomp Pro G738 or G748A Instrument Case 140x110x35 mm Jaycar HB5970 Altronics H0472, Element14 1526699 Farnell 1526699 Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| al18 Senior Member  Joined: 06/07/2019 Location: United StatesPosts: 228 |
Looks good. It’s probably a good idea to install PCB standoffs on the 4 mounting holes, to prevent accidental shorting from the bottom side. Mouser has a big selection |
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| lizby Guru Joined: 17/05/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 3378 |
Excellent. Glad the PCB found a good home. Congratulations on achieving your "boot to Basic" dream. PicoMite, Armmite F4, SensorKits, MMBasic Hardware, Games, etc. on fruitoftheshed |
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| fred777 Regular Member  Joined: 01/07/2021 Location: United KingdomPosts: 57 |
Ooooh... nice clicky IBM Keyboard :-) p.s. that little eyoyo monitor - is it any good? |
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jirsoft Guru Joined: 18/09/2020 Location: Czech RepublicPosts: 533 |
I got it yesterday too (Podofo branded) and the picture is pretty decent. And input selection is very good also:  For 70€ shipping to Czech Republic included nice deal... Jiri Napoleon Commander and SimplEd for CMM2 (GitHub), Â CMM2.fun |
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| fred777 Regular Member Joined: 01/07/2021 Location: United KingdomPosts: 57 |
It really has a lot of inputs! And a BNC socket - wow that you don't see often any more :-) |
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| Rickard5 Guru Joined: 31/03/2022 Location: United StatesPosts: 463 |
Nahhh Mick you sir are Mistaken this little home brew has GREAT Potential, and deserves to be dressed as such! MY First computer was in case much like the Hammond in fact Hammond Manufactured the cases for the Ohio Scientific 4p, and since my dad got. a good price for "The Family's" computer, and I'll never afford one this is going to be better! My plan is to take it to buddy's shop and water jet the openings for the ports in the back and on the front slope cut out and Spotted in stand offs to mount the guts of one of my IBM model M Clicky KB:) and of course on the top a breadboard prototyping Area. But the sad Reality is I'll 3d print something for now  I know I'm a Silly Old Git, but that is what a computer is in my mind and if I pull it off it'll be Lovely Jubbly I may be Vulgar, but , while I'm poor, I'm Industrious, Honest, and trustworthy! I Know my Place |
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| Rickard5 Guru Joined: 31/03/2022 Location: United StatesPosts: 463 |
I got lucky about a Year ago and ran in to a cache of IBM Model M Key Boards in a Vintage Warehouse cleanup I had 17 of them and I'm down to my last 4 I'm keeping them! The EYOYO monitors are AWESOME, I love therm for projects their CHEAP LIKE BORSCHT!!!! but they have an OK screen I use them alot with Raspberry Pi projects like I Borrowed that one from my Pi3B+ Logic Analyzer/Oscope I may be Vulgar, but , while I'm poor, I'm Industrious, Honest, and trustworthy! I Know my Place |
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| fred777 Regular Member Joined: 01/07/2021 Location: United KingdomPosts: 57 |
Very, very nice, I still have a IBM M keyboard from a 3270 Mainframe terminal in the attic somewhere - with 24PF Keys and ENTER where CTRL normally is. My thinking is that there should be enough room inside the keyboard to add a picomite board internally... Maybe your IBM keyboard has room inside? |
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| Paul_L Guru Joined: 03/03/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 769 |
Stop scrounging around in junk shops! You can still buy a IBM Model M keyboard in black for $104 or $108 depending on the length of the space bar. When IBM bailed out of the keyboard business they sold the buckling spring patents, production machinery and building to the employees who are doing business at the same old building in Lexington, KY, under the www.pckeyboard.com website and the brand name UNICOMP.   The best part of the deal is that they will rebuild them for $40 (if UNICOMP), $50 (if IBM), $75 (if integrated pointing device), or $90 (if IBM with upgrade to USB). I have five of these things here and I send them back for a rebuild about every five years. I don't know how they do it but they come back without the coffee stains. Once you are used to the IBM buckling spring you don't want to type on anything else. They have some newer models which are a little smaller than the originals, but they still range from 6 to 8 pounds each with the heavy steel backing plate -- very handy as a weapon if a mugger shows up. A real small business success story!!! Paul in NY |
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| fred777 Regular Member Joined: 01/07/2021 Location: United KingdomPosts: 57 |
Ok, yes I need one... didn't know that I did... but now I know aargh ... $100 shipping cost... but I need one I guess  |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 7937 |
Closer to home, Fred: https://www.keyboardco.com/category.asp?man=unicomp Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| Rickard5 Guru Joined: 31/03/2022 Location: United StatesPosts: 463 |
Paul I I got mine at the Computer Reset clean out after Richard had his Stroke back in 2018 before it went bad, and politics started tasking over. I knew Richard so I got in early. and they were pretty much NOS. I regret selling some of the rare ones like I had a few of the compact ones and a trackball one, and a few Thinkpad J Stick ones but I over $500 for a few of them and some of the run of the mill P/S 2 model Ms I sold for $70-$100 in the IBM Boxes, My Hobby have to pay for them self some how! but I wouldn't give $5 for a Unicomp KB their all made from wore out 45 year old tooling and thy look it! CASE 1/2 THAT ARE TWISTED AND SPRUNG. unicomp is good for usb conversion parts and small stuff like blank Keycaps and such! as to Cleaning a Model M if you Pull all the Key Caps off the KEY STEMS AND SOAK THEM IN FORMULA 409 FOR 4-6 HOURS THEN WASH THEM in warm soapy water and give them GOOD rinse, they will look brand new, same with case plastics, just be careful not to pull Key stems when you pull keys. I'm a heavy smoker and coffee drinker and 409 works every time Edited 2022-04-13 06:12 by Rickard5 I may be Vulgar, but , while I'm poor, I'm Industrious, Honest, and trustworthy! I Know my Place |
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| fred777 Regular Member Joined: 01/07/2021 Location: United KingdomPosts: 57 |
 Oh dear, there goes my birthday present...While on the subject of IBM Keyboards... (Sorry but keyboards are a hobby of mine) this little beauty has a nice cable compartement on the back that will take a small (pico) pbc with some fumbling :-) They still come up regularly on ebay  Edited 2022-04-13 18:56 by fred777 |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 7937 |
Much as I would like a model M, I can probably get two *brand new* good mechanical keyboards with genuine Cherry switches for less money. The model M is impossible to justify in the UK now. Nice if you can get one, but that's all. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| Paul_L Guru Joined: 03/03/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 769 |
Sounds like you got a good deal by knowing Richard and getting there early.I haven't seen any quality control problems with their newly manufactured models. They still use a pretty stiff back plate so they don't twist easily.Decades ago while working for PanAm I got to tour one of Tektronix' repair shops. This was when the Tek 545a was a state of the art 33 MHz dual beam dual triggerable time base scope.    To my great surprise I found that Tektroix would automatically toss incoming scopes into a bathtub full of soapy water for a day, then rinse them with a garden hose, then stick them in an oven at 120°F for a day or two. Then they plugged them in, and tested them. They found that nearly 50% of the problems were solved by the spa treatment! They would carefully re-lube all of the switches and pots, using a needle dispenser, with Blue Cramolin and ship it back to the customer. At PanAm we had a chemical test lab reverse engineer Cramolin Red and Cramolin Blue. The red contained an acidic oxidation reducer plus a low viscosity mineral oil, the blue was just a mineral oil. We later found that gelled dilute phosporic acid (naval jelly) did about as good as the red cramolin at removing oxides and we followed that with an application of dilute baking soda and then mineral oil. That became our standard contact cleanup method for heavy relays like the three phase 40 KVA generator relays behind the engineers panel on the 707. I still like that old TEK 545! The knobs are big enough for my fat fingers to grab, I can read the panel legends around the knobs, and the knobs are far enough apart so that my fat fingers and knuckles don't get jammed between them. Paul in NY |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 7937 |
Getting hold of really good s/h test gear has always been a problem here in the UK. The labs quite literally run the stuff into the ground then keep patching it until it's *really* unrecoverable before they even consider replacing it. Probably just because everything is under-funded and the bean counters make sure it stays that way. :( I once managed to find a nice dual-beam scope at a reasonable price. The problem was that the tube itself was damaged (air got in so unusable). A replacement tube was way more than my wages for a year so it eventually got stripped down for bits. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 5091 |
@Paul, More than 40 years ago I had one of those. And then, it was old already (although in good shape). It used so much current from the mains that in the attic (where my desk was) the lights dimmed. I placed it on a small roller table, and it stayed there until I got rid of it. When I lifted it off the table the table collapsed, tired of the years under that much weight.... People allway praise TEK for this series of oscilloscopes, but mine was not very good. I had nothing but trouble, and I was happy to replace it (once I got the money) to replace it with a more modern one. Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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| Rickard5 Guru Joined: 31/03/2022 Location: United StatesPosts: 463 |
Back in the 80's and 90's Dallas had the Largest Electronics flea market in the world every 1st Saturday of the month and with TI, MOSTEK (My first job after College) and several semiconductor companies still in the Dallas, Test Equipment was Cheep as Chips. Dallas in the 80's and early 90's was truly Magic on the Silicon Prairie for a Geek like me and there was bubble money everywhere Reaganomics WORKED FOR ME !!!! I may be Vulgar, but , while I'm poor, I'm Industrious, Honest, and trustworthy! I Know my Place |
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