The collected works of pmjett

pmjett
From NC, USA
Who joined March 28, 2007, 1:29 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Simple Sun Monitor to SGI hack at Oct. 6, 2007, 7:38 a.m...

So simple that "hack" just barely applies. I've been trying to get my Indigo 2 online, and finally came to the part where I needed to sort out my monitor, as I did the IRIX install from a serial connection.

I'm running a big honkin' 21" Sun monitor, a Sony GDM-5410. In the past to get it to run SGI, I used a male-male 13W3 cable connected to my SGI box and some jumpers to connect the 3 video lines and the composite sync to the 13W3 cable connected to the monitor. (wired as per a thread here)

I understand that Sony apparently makes several models that can be either Sun or SGI, and I opened the interface end of the monitor to change the wiring. My intention was to swap the composite sync and maybe try to mess with the ID bits. When I got inside I found that the 13W3 cable went to two places. The R,G,and B lines went one place, and everything else went to an interconnect board, through a PCB connector. Since I've seen numerous threads here saying that all that was needed was the main R,G,and B lines, I just disconnected the PCB connector and fired it up. Works great with the I2 and is completely reversible. I imagine that the other Sony Sun/SGI "pairs" work in a similar manner, but YMMV.

Not much of a hack, but I didn't have to buy and destroy any adapters, or cut up the monitor cable.

mike

and numerous Sun, Mac, IBM, and DEC boxen

pmjett
From NC, USA
Who joined March 28, 2007, 1:29 p.m.

Wrote on the subject of Simple Sun Monitor to SGI hack at Oct. 13, 2007, 12:06 p.m...

And the ironic thing is that after a year of looking, a pretty 21" (?) Granite SGI monitor showed up at my university surplus for a dollar this Friday. $1. Go figure. I paid a bunch more than that for the Sun monitor. I think the GDM-5410 is going to be the display for a MAME console that I'm planning. That 1983 Space Invaders console needs a monitor!!

So now I have the granite monitor. Nice. Hope the Sun monitor tweak is useful to someone. I have seen those monitors for next to nothing (not when I bought them, of course).

mike

and numerous Sun, Mac, IBM, and DEC boxen

pmjett
Member
Who joined March 28, 2007, 1:29 p.m.
and authored 78 notes

Wrote on the subject of G4 macmini at April 7, 2010, 7:14 p.m...

I'd agree with bigD. I'm running 10.5 on my 1 GHz G4 iBook, and it is very useable. My iBook's RAM is maxed at 1.25 GB, and usually I have no complaints. Encoding in Handbrake is very slow, but Office apps and the internet are fine and dandy.

mike

_________________
:Onyx2R:

and numerous Sun, Mac, IBM, and DEC boxen

pmjett
Member
Who joined March 28, 2007, 1:29 p.m.
and authored 78 notes

Wrote on the subject of Magic smoke came out of my Sun 3/50 at April 13, 2010, 8:28 p.m...

I finally found an old Sun 3/50 to tinker with, and upon putting power to it, and getting the power supply to spin up, a power resistor on the motherboard burst into flames. Really. Flames. In disgust, I filed it away in exile in the attic. Recently, I ran across a power supply pinout for the silly thing in obsolyte, and my interest was rekindled

Anyone have any opinions on whether I should even bother trying to graft an AT/ATX power supply into the thing and try again? Would a power supply and/or motherboard failure mode like that toast most other important things on the board? It would seem so, but the allure of a 68020 is calling to me. I'm supposed to be writing my thesis, and I have to be particular about how to fritter away my time. :mrgreen:

thanks,
mike

_________________
:Onyx2R:

and numerous Sun, Mac, IBM, and DEC boxen

pmjett
Member
Who joined March 28, 2007, 1:29 p.m.
and authored 78 notes

Wrote on the subject of Magic smoke came out of my Sun 3/50 at April 14, 2010, 6:20 p.m...

recondas wrote:

I'd pull some 10/4 cable and wire up some 220V outlets....... you could probably find *something* to plug into 'em.

Ha! Indeed. I better do it before it gets hot again, since I have no cooling capabilities where the outlets can go. For some reason, my wife won't let me plug the rack into the dryer plug in the kitchen. What's up with that?

No, it really would be an interesting recovery project, and I have plenty of small form factor ATX (like a flex-atx) supplies with enough chutzpah to cover the requisite 150W. I'm all for it, but my question is really more of a "should I bother trying?" because if the whole board is toast then it'd be wasted effort to graft the supply in. So in order of likelihood would such a failure be because of:

a failed power supply

an out-of-spec power resistor

a short/failure on the MB to draw enough current to flame the resistor
Any guesses?
mike

_________________
:Onyx2R:

and numerous Sun, Mac, IBM, and DEC boxen

pmjett
Member
Who joined March 28, 2007, 1:29 p.m.
and authored 78 notes

Wrote on the subject of Magic smoke came out of my Sun 3/50 at April 16, 2010, 6:35 p.m...

RetroHacker wrote:

Are you sure it was a resistor and not a tantalum capacitor? I see those fail in smoke and flames in old equipment fairly regularly.

Good call. I opened the box up again in a fit of task avoidance, and noticed that indeed the flamed part is a tantalum cap next to a power resistor. I guess in my muddled head I remembered incorrectly. A little googling seems to suggest that it's possible for a tantalum (or any other cap I suppose) to randomly fail after >20 years. But, it looks like the primary failure mode for a tantalum cap is excessive current via a short, so detective work will be in order to try and eliminate that or just bad karma. I'll bench test the power supply (with suitable ballast resistors to stabilize the regulation).

Right after I pull the 10-4 romex to power ye olde Onyx2 rack. Cross my heart...
mike

_________________
:Onyx2R:

and numerous Sun, Mac, IBM, and DEC boxen

pmjett
Member
Who joined March 28, 2007, 1:29 p.m.
and authored 78 notes

Wrote on the subject of Still trying to buy a workstation- is this a fair deal? at May 6, 2010, 5:38 p.m...

Megatron-UK wrote:

They're dead. I paid for two adapters in December and hadn't received them by February. They didn't respond to Paypal communication either by me or Paypal themselves - so Paypal refunded me.

A little necromancy... Just another nail the in coffin (sadly) for Deep Space Cables. No response, and I gave them the max time that I was still covered under Paypal. Wish they'd take their webpage down. Reckon I'll be hunting for an adapter too.
mike

_________________
:Onyx2R:

and numerous Sun, Mac, IBM, and DEC boxen

pmjett
Member
Who joined March 28, 2007, 1:29 p.m.
and authored 78 notes

Wrote on the subject of Magic smoke came out of my Sun 3/50 at May 6, 2010, 10:32 p.m...

pmjett wrote:

Right after I pull the 10-4 romex to power ye olde Onyx2 rack. Cross my heart...mike

Ah. ahem. Well I guess I broke that promise. And what's more, since senility seems to be setting in, the box is actually a Sun 3/80 , and not a 3/50 as I incorrectly recalled. But the good news is that after replacing the first torched tantalum, then torching another, and replacing that, I have this:

Code:

Sun-3/80 Boot PROM Selftest (Rev. 2.9.2)

(Press <Esc> to abort tests or <Cntrl-L> for the Loop Menu)

System Enable Register Read Test {pass 0x00000001}  00:16:59

PROM Checksum Test {pass 0x00000001}  00:16:59

Clock/Calender Device  {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:00

I/O Mapper RAM Write/Write/Read Test {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:01

I/O Mapper RAM Address Test {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:01

I/O Mapper RAM 3-Pattern Test {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:01

<Memory Size = 0x00000008 MB>

Memory Address Test {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:01 01

Memory Read Byte Alignment Test {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:06

Memory Write Byte Alignment Test {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:06

Bus Error Register Test {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:07

Level 1 Interrupt Test {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:07

Level 2 Interrupt Test {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:07

Level 3 Interrupt Test {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:07

Configuration Memory Check  {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:07

LANCE Controller Check  {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:07

ESP SCSI Controller Check  {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:07

Floppy Controller Check  {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:07

Printer Controller Check  {pass 0x00000001}  00:17:07

<P4 Video RAM Board NOT Detected>

END OF SELFTEST # 0x00000001 (SELFTEST PASSED).

#PASSED = 0x00000001, #FAILED = 0x00000000

<Initializing Main Memory 0x00000008 Megabytes Initialized>

Now I need to save up for a framebuffer.

And install the wiring for the Onyx2

mike

EDIT: I forgot my manners. Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to give me feedback! You guys were right, hinky tantalums.

_________________
:Onyx2R:

and numerous Sun, Mac, IBM, and DEC boxen

pmjett
Member
Who joined March 28, 2007, 1:29 p.m.
and authored 78 notes

Wrote on the subject of Magic smoke came out of my Sun 3/50 at May 8, 2010, 5:51 a.m...

kjaer wrote:

Out of curiosity, which two caps did you replace?

The very ones you are talking about: C17118 and C17119, 33 uF, 16V SMT tantalums. Just to check it, I grabbed some Radio Shack 47uF 35V electrolytics. I'll order up some better stuff from Mouser, and do it right. I couldn't find any shorts, I guess the 21 year old Kemet caps finally cut loose because of their age and the particular service they are in on the board.

Good luck with your 3/80 motherboards. It was very satisfying seeing it go to the PROM.
mike

_________________
:Onyx2R:

and numerous Sun, Mac, IBM, and DEC boxen

pmjett
Member
Who joined March 28, 2007, 1:29 p.m.
and authored 78 notes

Wrote on the subject of Sun Ultra 10 at May 12, 2010, 6:23 p.m...

Bumping works!
PM sent.
mike

_________________
:Onyx2R:

and numerous Sun, Mac, IBM, and DEC boxen