Notices by Miguel Arroz (arroz@mastodon.social)

It’s out! Thanks to @luisfcorreia since I didn’t realize this was a terminal.🤦♂️

Well, this screw is not cooperating. Kinda hard to dust this and do more work inside without disconnecting this ground cable. 😖

Starting to look at the ImageWriter to get it ready for #MARCHintosh. Managed to pop out the board through the bottom panel after disconnecting the printer head cable and a lot of other connectors. Aside from the dust it looks OK! I had never seen a 15000uF cap…

Just dirt. IPA took it out. I wonder is I should recap first or just turn this thing on… maybe I recap the smaller caps with the stuff I have around and leave the huge ones in place? Huummm…

This uses an Intel 8085 as its main CPU plus some Toshiba fancy RAMs.

There are two spots on the board with some weird stuff. Rust? Just dirty? Not sure what they are, there are no caps or batteries nearby that may have leaked.

Meanwhile if anyone has an ImageWriter (even a II or LQ), can you discharge the capacitors (by pressing the power button to turn it on *after* unplugging the mains cable) and then measure the resistance between the two AC power cable poles, and let me know how much it measures? Thank you!

Doesn't need saying, but MAKE SURE NOTHING IS CONNECTED TO THE MAINS. I want you to measure the poles of the AC cable connected to the printer, not the mains! Don't do it unless you know what you're doing.

I measured the huge caps (in circuit) and they seem fine, so there's that.

I'll continue another day, after a bit more research on how to open this thing properly. But we'll get there, hopefully!

Ok so I measured the resistance between the two AC poles and it reads 19 ohm. That is waaaay too low. Not gonna plug it in yet.

There are a few things I assume are filtering caps inside a sleeve next to the transformer which may be bad, but I can't get to it from the PCB panel.

I think I found a way to pop out the top plastic case, but I can't get to the screws without removing a lot of the printing mechanism, and I'm not sure I want to do that… at least not today.

Heh look at this old diodes!

As curiosity, here's the voltage and frequency here in the past 24h (on a different phase, though, because I still didn't get rid of the dumb three-phase system at home):

OMG it works! 😁 At least the basics. Let’s wire this thing to that thing and see what happens.

Also as @danieltufvesson suggested, the transformer has two inputs, one for 220V and one for 240V, and because Portugal used to be 220V, that’s what this printer is wired for. We are now at 230V so I should rewrite this which will be a problem since I need to figure out how to get to the transformer.

Ok folks are saying the low resistance is normal because it’s a transformer so the electromagnetic fields will do their magic and not draw 11 amps. So you know what, let’s dooooooo it! Preparing for powering this thing on for the first time in who knows how many decades.

May I note that none of these caps have pressure relief vents so there’s potential for fun here.

WOW! It prints! And I don’t mean “the printing head works”. I mean it ACTUALLY prints! The ink is not dry after decades, literally, decades of being stored in a closet! I’m speechless and giggling! Folks, how do I share this thing on #globaltalk?

It has been a while since I plugged in one of these cables. And PowerBook still works!

Oh great, eBay says my account “may have recently been used for fraudulent purposes” and suspended it because I… used it… and updated my address. 🤦♂️

When I was a 10 year old kid or so, living in a country that seemed so distant in every way from California where all the cool things were being made, HyperCard was the trigger that made me understand I could write my own graphical, complex, Mac-feeling apps. I never stopped since then. No other set of ones and zeros was so important for my career and life.

Thank you, Bill. Rest in peace. May you keep building cool stacks wherever you are.
https://masto.pt/@OnceUponAGoblin/114643432853682723

First fully electric car in Portugal, 1975. Top speed 64km/h, range from 40 to 90km, could charge on any regular 230V power socket.

@goatsarah Lucky you! I already know every time I walk in Pingo Doce here that I will spend 2-3x longer in the line than actually grabbing whatever I need to buy. No self-checkout here on Pingo yet, although I tend to prefer humans as well.

@goatsarah I just wish they were more efficient, though. The difference between the waiting time on a checkout line here and in Vancouver for the same number of people waiting is just staggering. Pingo Doce and Auchan are especially exasperating.

Auchan is likely a systemic issue given some episodes I witnessed. And their self-checkout machines are even worse, I keep having to call someone to unblock them. Their scales seem too sensitive or not properly tuned.

Portuguese-speaking #retroComputing peeps: tomorrow, the documentary "Timex: Uma Revolução Por Contar” will be broadcasted on RTP 2. This documentary tells the story of Timex Portugal, where a lot of cool tech was developed, from #ZXSpectrum clones to Tenet, the ZX Spectrum network, targeting classrooms, with impressive features at the time! Produced in cooperation with Load ZX, the only Spectrum museum in the world, in Cantanhede, Portugal. https://www.rtp.pt/programa/tv/p46876