#garfield Logs

Jan 23 2023

09:49 AM WormFood: While I was cleaning up, I came across a pair of PC-XT cards, like the type used on an industrial computer. So I fired off an email to the card's creator, asking if he has the docs on it. Within 3 minutes he called me, asking me to send it to him, offering to fix it for free, if it's broken.
09:59 AM WormFood: It seems, he only made about 20 of these cards, and he has no working cards. He wants mine so he can use it as a reference, so he can make more cards.
10:54 AM aandrew: that's pretty cool
11:26 AM WormFood: I had a very interesting conversation with him. It seems that COVID saved all this old stuff, and after it hit, he got a lot more interest in his old systems. He was planning on moving, and was planning on throwing everything out. Now he's designing and making new cards. Updating these old systems, to use IDE, and stuff like that.
12:39 PM aandrew: heh
12:39 PM aandrew: just a retrocomputing kind of thing?
12:40 PM aandrew: my first real PC was an NEC V20 based XT that I could use the "alternate" BIOS socket as a kind of programmer, and which also had 1MB of RAM that you could not address since there was no A20 switch
01:23 PM rue_mohr: WormFood, cool
01:31 PM WormFood: aandrew, yeah, just a retrocomputing thing.
01:32 PM WormFood: This card uses a V30, which is like an 8086, with 80186 instructions. The chipset it uses, indicates that it's PS/2 30 compatible, and also has 1 meg of ram.
01:35 PM WormFood: The XTIDE project, is a ROM that works on many different cards. They support the card I use, and even have optimizations for V20/30, which they claim makes it much faster.
01:40 PM WormFood: My retro computer dual boots OS-9 (a Linuxish OS), and MS-DOS, but it can also run other OSes, like SK-DOS and REX (a FLEX clone)
01:40 PM rue_mohr: huh
01:40 PM WormFood: I'm currently in the process of recovering my floppies. It appears that I have some exceptionally rare software, that I can't find anyone else who has it.
01:41 PM WormFood: oh yeah, my retro computer, also has a 68000 cpu in it, to run OS-9
04:47 PM aandrew: ffs
04:47 PM aandrew: cut my finger on the box my beer was in. I can't even be mad because I'm not supposed to drink beer in the car
04:49 PM aandrew: in ohter news, my twitter post hit a nerve I think, lol
04:55 PM Tom_L: have a beer and forget it happened
05:12 PM aandrew: that is exactly what I'm doing :-)
06:16 PM aandrew: hm
06:17 PM aandrew: what is a good/fast way to accelerate connector corrosion? the contacts are nickel/gold
06:17 PM aandrew: I was going to go for a good salt solution, maybe some h2o2
06:18 PM aandrew: I don't want it to completely rot off, but I want to see if I can get it to be a poor connection
06:22 PM rue_mohr: I know how to blow it out of the park, but not nudge it
06:23 PM rue_mohr: hmm, do you know anyone who uses medical oxygen?
06:27 PM Tom_L: acid
06:27 PM Tom_L: is medical oxy different than any other oxy?
06:28 PM Tom_L: i have a medical regulator for a tank if that counts
06:28 PM rue_mohr: the idea is to emulate about 3 years of normal wear
06:28 PM Tom_L: btw, how many things have you 'blown out of the park'?
06:29 PM rue_mohr: hehe
06:29 PM Tom_L: and how spectacular was it?
06:29 PM rue_mohr: my best was the time that made the neighbour jump up over the fence and ask if I was ok
06:29 PM Tom_L: haha
06:29 PM rue_mohr: man, I'm sure the damage to my right ear was permanent from that
06:30 PM rue_mohr: *not* the way to use a propane pre-heater in a boiler
08:15 PM aandrew: rue_mohr: IIRC medical O2 is just cleaner. no oils/etc in it. I was tlking to some people about this at the start of covid when I was looking at O2 generation
08:44 PM rue_mohr: but its O2, so placing a (warmed) connector in a bag of it should be equiv to a whole bunch of time
10:50 PM aandrew: I ended up using a saltwater slurry with lemon juice
10:50 PM aandrew: I got the 15mOhm to 62mOhm to 1.2 Ohm to 19 Ohm, and managed to get the plastic of the USB connector to 90C before the battery on the tablet died
10:50 PM aandrew: I also think I've destroyed the connector, it's VERY intermittent now
10:54 PM rue_mohr: ok but
10:55 PM rue_mohr: doesn't that just mean 'dont spill salty lemon juice on your usbc"?
10:55 PM rue_mohr: the normal oxide/wear are whats a concern..
10:56 PM rue_mohr: as, despite what the industry thinks, not all people throw out their products every year
10:57 PM aandrew: agreed, but the suspicion is that the USBC connector is becoming corroded by environmental shit (bird seed and dirt) as it's facing upward
10:58 PM rue_mohr: this isn't you going nuts on analysis after your thing-at-home blew up?
10:58 PM aandrew: haha no, I've been asked to see if I can reproduce this
11:03 PM aandrew: lol
11:03 PM aandrew: Why did the call Darth Vader Lord Vader? Because calling him Master Vader made all the stormtroopers giggle
11:04 PM rue_mohr: heh