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HP 4145B on life support...organ donor urgenlty needed

J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hello Bob,
Were automotive alternators used in Studebakers? Weren't they using
generators with commutators?

Sorry, used the wrong word. I guess almost all cars from that era were
using commutated generators. And woe to those who let the brushes go
down too far. Been there :-(
 
H

Homer J Simpson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Nah, the electrical interface is completely nonstandard. It's a pre-PS/2,
pre-Macintosh drive. The disc format is weird--single density, for a
start, because of the drive limitations.

On a 3.5"? The only one I know like that is the Brother sewing machine
drive - 90K and later 180K IIRC.

They sell for mucho $$$ on eBay.
 
G

g. beat

Jan 1, 1970
0
Phil Hobbs said:
Nah, the electrical interface is completely nonstandard. It's a pre-PS/2,
pre-Macintosh drive. The disc format is weird--single density, for a
start, because of the drive limitations.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

Sounds like the early HP 150 style used with their pre-Mac / early PC era
computers (early 1980s).

As I remember, these were made for HP by or with Sony.

gb
 
F

Franc Zabkar

Jan 1, 1970
0
Phil Hobbs a écrit :

Do you have the 4145B schematics?
I don't know how much it's different but it probably shares a lot with
modern drives' interface.
Even the 4145A of which Win did send me the FDC board drawing could be
easily made to work with a modern 5.25" HD drive. And I guess with a
3.5" drive too.

Or maybe, if you have one at hand, you could try some of the 9121-9122
floppy drives.

If it will help you, I can scan the 360KB and 1.2MB FDD circuits from
the original IBM PC AT Tech Ref manual. The manual also has the
circuit for the HDD/FDD adapter, as well as a basic command reference.

- Franc Zabkar
 
Phil said:
Well, it finally happened: the floppy disc drive on my HP 4145B
Semiconductor Parameter Analyzer ate itself for lunch. I'd left it
running for months, because I wasn't sure how long it would last after
the previous repair, and with the Labor Day shutdown at the lab, it
indeed came up very, very sick.

Those floppy drives are tough to find, because they're what always
break. Does anybody know of a place to get one?

Alternatively, given that I've already spent my capital budget for the
year, any suggestions on a simple way of making nice accurate I-V curves
without using Labview?

Thanks,

Phil Hobbs

Phil,

I'd definitely ask in the hp_agilent_equipment discussion group, at
http://www.yahoogroups.com . I'd also ask in the TekScopes group,
there (with a polite apology for being OT), since that group is older
and better-established and has some "extremely*-knowledgable people who
frequent it.

If you wanted to find an identical, used unit, or several at once,
possibly dirt-cheap, and anywhere from "unused" to DOA with no
foolproof way of knowing before you bid, you'd start scanning
http://www.govliquidation.com , and hope that any available ones are
within a half-day's drive, or (especially if you're not in the USA and
not near one of their foreign sites) that someone you know can pick
them up and ship them to you. I think the minimum bid has been raised
to $45. But that might be for more than one unit, depending on which
site they're at and which warehouse manager makes up the lots. (Or, of
course, they may not be dumping many/any of those, at this time.)

Other possibilities include http://www.ebay.com (go to My Ebay and
initiate an "auto-search", or whatever they call it, so you'll be
automatically emailed whenever anything matching your search comes up
for auction), and, as a long-shot, periodically check
http://www.labx.com .

Another pretty-good possibility:

If you can get the official HP part number off of the drive, someone
with several gigabytes of downloaded HP service manuals (e.g. me) could
automatically search all of the PDF files and, with any luck, give you
a partial list of other HP equipment that used the identical part, so
that you might have an easier time finding another unit from which to
scavenge one.

You could also check for service manual(s) at places like
http://bama.sbc.edu/hp.htm , and at http://www.agilent.com . And there
is a (more-or-less) searchable archive of MANY complete older
test-equipment catalogs, in the Reference Library section, at
http://www.testmart.com/advice/advicetmp.cfm, where you might be able
to get some clues about what equipment used that drive.

And yet-another possibility:

If you have the HP part number of the drive, someone with the Federal
Logistics (FedLog) database (e.g. me) could check to see if there is
any cross-reference information, possibly with the original supplier's
or manufacturer's name, and their part number. (Chances might be slim,
in this case. But if it has any info at all, it'll probably have more
than you want to know.)

I'd be happy to do those two searches (i.e. PDF HP manuals and Fedlog
database) for you, if you post (or email me) the HP part number (My
email address is tomg at fullnet.com .). If possible, also include ALL
other indentifying info that might be on the drive, and on its PCB.

Good luck!

- Tom Gootee

http://www.fullnet.com/u/tomg

"He who lives in a glass house" should not invite "he who is without
sin".

----------------------------------------
 
P

Phil Hobbs

Jan 1, 1970
0
Phil,

I'd definitely ask in the hp_agilent_equipment discussion group, at
http://www.yahoogroups.com . I'd also ask in the TekScopes group,
there (with a polite apology for being OT), since that group is older
and better-established and has some "extremely*-knowledgable people who
frequent it.

If you wanted to find an identical, used unit, or several at once,
possibly dirt-cheap, and anywhere from "unused" to DOA with no
foolproof way of knowing before you bid, you'd start scanning
http://www.govliquidation.com , and hope that any available ones are
within a half-day's drive, or (especially if you're not in the USA and
not near one of their foreign sites) that someone you know can pick
them up and ship them to you. I think the minimum bid has been raised
to $45. But that might be for more than one unit, depending on which
site they're at and which warehouse manager makes up the lots. (Or, of
course, they may not be dumping many/any of those, at this time.)

Other possibilities include http://www.ebay.com (go to My Ebay and
initiate an "auto-search", or whatever they call it, so you'll be
automatically emailed whenever anything matching your search comes up
for auction), and, as a long-shot, periodically check
http://www.labx.com .

Another pretty-good possibility:

If you can get the official HP part number off of the drive, someone
with several gigabytes of downloaded HP service manuals (e.g. me) could
automatically search all of the PDF files and, with any luck, give you
a partial list of other HP equipment that used the identical part, so
that you might have an easier time finding another unit from which to
scavenge one.

You could also check for service manual(s) at places like
http://bama.sbc.edu/hp.htm , and at http://www.agilent.com . And there
is a (more-or-less) searchable archive of MANY complete older
test-equipment catalogs, in the Reference Library section, at
http://www.testmart.com/advice/advicetmp.cfm, where you might be able
to get some clues about what equipment used that drive.

And yet-another possibility:

If you have the HP part number of the drive, someone with the Federal
Logistics (FedLog) database (e.g. me) could check to see if there is
any cross-reference information, possibly with the original supplier's
or manufacturer's name, and their part number. (Chances might be slim,
in this case. But if it has any info at all, it'll probably have more
than you want to know.)

I'd be happy to do those two searches (i.e. PDF HP manuals and Fedlog
database) for you, if you post (or email me) the HP part number (My
email address is tomg at fullnet.com .). If possible, also include ALL
other indentifying info that might be on the drive, and on its PCB.

Good luck!

- Tom Gootee

Thanks, guys. That gives me some leads. Also, a kind lurker of this
group who happens also to work at IBM offered to send me a *brand new
spare*. When that shows up, I'll probably be good for a few more years.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs
 
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