gw wrote:
Chuck Harris wrote in message ...

-Chuck, WA3UQV

does that mean you still have some use for trash 80's?


Way too new! I'm more interested in old PDP 8, stuff, 8/I's
in particular. Things that have absolutely no practical use ;-)

-Chuck

Chuck Harris wrote:
gw wrote:

Chuck Harris wrote in message
...


-Chuck, WA3UQV


does that mean you still have some use for trash 80's?



Way too new! I'm more interested in old PDP 8, stuff, 8/I's
in particular. Things that have absolutely no practical use ;-)

-Chuck


So Chuck your looking for a Trash 8/E rather than a Trash 80. BTW my
Trash 80 was a real Trash 80. R.S said it was uneconomical to repair,
read out of warrenty replaced a bad ttl chip and away it went. A friend
reworked the firmware to get rid of the infamous keyboard and cassette
problems(we rescued 8 of them from that dumpster).
Bill

Bill Higdon wrote:
Chuck Harris wrote:


So Chuck your looking for a Trash 8/E rather than a Trash 80. BTW my
Trash 80 was a real Trash 80. R.S said it was uneconomical to repair,
read out of warrenty replaced a bad ttl chip and away it went. A friend
reworked the firmware to get rid of the infamous keyboard and cassette
problems(we rescued 8 of them from that dumpster).
Bill


Snort! That's a good one! I spent too much time using the original
TRS-80 to ever really want one. In one of my first consulting jobs
I wrote a bunch of drivers for a customer's Z80 controlled instrument
using the customer's TRS-80 as the development system. It worked just
fine, I guess... it got the job done, but I never did like it all that
much. I kind of liked the TRS80 IV, I think it was, that came out much
later.

-Chuck

FYI: I still use the Color Computer to do laser light shows.
Steve, k,9,d,c,i


"Chuck Harris" wrote in message
...
gw wrote:
Chuck Harris wrote in message
...

-Chuck, WA3UQV

does that mean you still have some use for trash 80's?


Way too new! I'm more interested in old PDP 8, stuff, 8/I's
in particular. Things that have absolutely no practical use ;-)

-Chuck

Steve Nosko wrote:
FYI: I still use the Color Computer to do laser light shows.
Steve, k,9,d,c,i

Good for you! I really felt stupid seeing mine in the trash can only a
year or two after having paid $300 for it.
Shoulda kept it? Nah.
Still have that little pocket version with 4k RAM, though. It'll come
in handy someday :-)
-Bill M

Chuck Harris wrote in message ...
gw wrote:
Chuck Harris wrote in message ...

-Chuck, WA3UQV

does that mean you still have some use for trash 80's?


Way too new! I'm more interested in old PDP 8, stuff, 8/I's
in particular. Things that have absolutely no practical use ;-)

-Chuck

perhaps one of you guys can tell me this. when you see a unit on ebay
and it says fresh calibration, what exactly does this mean to me as
the buyer? does this mean it will probably be operating ok for a few
years or is this something that has to be done yearly? for the home
shop hobbyist ? thanks.

"gw" wrote in message
m...
Chuck Harris wrote in message
...
gw wrote:
Chuck Harris wrote in message
...

-Chuck, WA3UQV

does that mean you still have some use for trash 80's?


Way too new! I'm more interested in old PDP 8, stuff, 8/I's
in particular. Things that have absolutely no practical use ;-)

-Chuck

perhaps one of you guys can tell me this. when you see a unit on ebay
and it says fresh calibration, what exactly does this mean to me as
the buyer? does this mean it will probably be operating ok for a few
years or is this something that has to be done yearly? for the home
shop hobbyist ? thanks.

A commercial calibration implies no warranty of future reliability. It just
means that the unit was inspected, by a lab with traceable standards (to
NIST), and that equipment parameters were found to be within the specified
tolerances (or some adjustments we made to allow for proper performance).

Every equipment should be on a periodic schedule of calibration, possibly 6
months or 12 months. The interval is determined by the original
manufacturer's declaration, or from the class of equipment (is it a resistor
or a function generator or an oscilloscope), or from the accumulated record
of a device's calibration history. (A Metrology professional can make a case
for shorter or longer intervals, based on a review of the calibration
history.)

The calibration is valid as of that date only, although it's reasonable to
expect that the calibration will be valid for some time to come (unless the
shipper dropped it as it went out the cal lab's door!).

All that said, a traceable calibration is an indication that the equipment
has been treated in a professional manner, and I would view that as a
definite plus when considering a purchase.


Ed
WB6WSN

Fresh calibration, should mean that it was fully tested out,
cleaned and calibrated by a technician who knew what he was
doing....

What it actually means is anybodies guess. It could be actually
calibrated, it could be that the guy bought it surplus, turned
it on, and it lit up.

The words "fresh calibration" without an express warranty are
worthless.

Most anything Tektronix or HP made will stay in calibration to
close enough for hobbiest use for years.

A real bonifide business won't be comfortable using test equipment
that is out of calibration for anything very important. It is
their assurance that all of the functions should be working properly.

-Chuck, WA3UQV

gw wrote:

perhaps one of you guys can tell me this. when you see a unit on ebay
and it says fresh calibration, what exactly does this mean to me as
the buyer? does this mean it will probably be operating ok for a few
years or is this something that has to be done yearly? for the home
shop hobbyist ? thanks.