Re: Got a Rainbow 100 and ...
On 11/10/18 10:47 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote: Today I picked up a Rainbow 100. The seller bought it new for a specific need and he says that it had been sitting in his barn since '84. It looks like it was a dry barn because things look pretty clean for the most part aside from a thick layer of dust on everything. What I got was the system unit, a VR201 monitor, a keyboard, a vertical deskside stand for the system unit, and a LQP02 daisy wheel printer. I also got the MS-DOS and CP/M doc and software slip cover boxes. The CP/M disk box is still sealed and the CP/M docs are still in shrink wrap. The specific need that the seller bought it for involved MS-DOS, not CP/M. I last saw a Rainbow 100 in college around the time that the seller stopped using this system, so I am getting familiar with it now. I haven't powered anything on yet. ... 2. The belt that moves the print head is dried out and looks like, if the motor put any load on the belt, it will fail. Is any kind of replacement available? In case anyone else has a similar issue (including people searching the list archives in the future) ... I found a replacement for the belt on the LQP02. The belt is 10mm wide and the tooth pitch is 2mm. It was tricky to measure since, when I touched a tooth with the calipers, the tooth would break off or disintegrate. Using those parameters, I searched and found "BALITENSEN 5 Meter GT2 Open Timing Belt 10mm Wide 2mm Pitch for CNC 3D Printer Mendel Rostock Reprap" on Amazon. The old belt is under 37" long, so this 5 meter long piece that I got was long enough for a couple spares. I got the belt today. Cut a piece to length, installed it in the printer, and powered the printer up. The belt works so far. alan
Re: Got a Rainbow 100 and ...
On Sun, Nov 11, 2018 at 7:41 AM Alan Perry wrote: > > > > On 11/10/18 11:00 PM, Tony Duell wrote: > > On Sun, Nov 11, 2018 at 6:56 AM Alan Perry wrote: > >> > >> > >> On 11/10/18 10:51 PM, Tony Duell wrote: > >>> On Sun, Nov 11, 2018 at 6:47 AM Alan Perry via cctalk > >>> wrote: > >>> > What I got was the system unit, a VR201 monitor, a keyboard, a vertical > deskside stand for the system unit, and a LQP02 daisy wheel printer. I > also got the MS-DOS and CP/M doc and software slip cover boxes. The CP/M > disk box is still sealed and the CP/M docs are still in shrink wrap. The > specific need that the seller bought it for involved MS-DOS, not CP/M. > >>> Does it have any of the optional expansion boards (hard disk controller, > >>> RAM, graphics) in it? > >> Right now I am looking up how to open up the system unit and see what's > >> inside. > > There's a catch on each side under the 'step'. Release those and the > > cover comes off. Unplug the drive and power cables from the main > > PCB assembly (at the rear right), undo the thumbscrews on the back > > and the PCB assembly slides out. > Nice. Yes, this series of machines (Rainbow, DECmate II, Pro300) can be dismantled into the FRUs without using tools. Not that that is a great advantage for us now, since once you've taken it apart you most likely need a soldering iron, 'scope, logic analyser, etc to fix it. > > It is clean on the inside. A very thin coating of dust. > > As far as the hardware itself ... > > There is nothing in the left-side drive bay, just the dual floppy drive > in the right-side bay. > > There is a memory expansion board (how can one determine its size?) and I seem to remember there are at least 2 versions of the RAM card. The older one doesn't have a DIP switch on it and can only take 64K DRAMs. I've only ever seen it with a full set of RAMs soldered in, giving an extra 192K (3 banks of RAM). The later one has a 4-way DIP switch on it. Each bank of RAMs (9 chips each) can either be 64K or 256K. You have to set the switch appropriately (I think positions 1-3 are the size of each of the 3 banks of RAM, position 4 enables/ disables parity checking).. If you have that one, it's probably easiest to see what RAMs are installed. > the board that the floppy drive connects to (is it all floppy controller?). Yes. A lot of it is the data separator. > > That's it. > > Is there anything that I should check on it before I connect it to power? > Depends on how lucky you feel. I would always test the PSU on a dummy load before connecting the boards and drive. -tony
Re: Got a Rainbow 100 and ...
On 11/10/18 11:00 PM, Tony Duell wrote: On Sun, Nov 11, 2018 at 6:56 AM Alan Perry wrote: On 11/10/18 10:51 PM, Tony Duell wrote: On Sun, Nov 11, 2018 at 6:47 AM Alan Perry via cctalk wrote: What I got was the system unit, a VR201 monitor, a keyboard, a vertical deskside stand for the system unit, and a LQP02 daisy wheel printer. I also got the MS-DOS and CP/M doc and software slip cover boxes. The CP/M disk box is still sealed and the CP/M docs are still in shrink wrap. The specific need that the seller bought it for involved MS-DOS, not CP/M. Does it have any of the optional expansion boards (hard disk controller, RAM, graphics) in it? Right now I am looking up how to open up the system unit and see what's inside. There's a catch on each side under the 'step'. Release those and the cover comes off. Unplug the drive and power cables from the main PCB assembly (at the rear right), undo the thumbscrews on the back and the PCB assembly slides out. Nice. It is clean on the inside. A very thin coating of dust. As far as the hardware itself ... There is nothing in the left-side drive bay, just the dual floppy drive in the right-side bay. There is a memory expansion board (how can one determine its size?) and the board that the floppy drive connects to (is it all floppy controller?). That's it. Is there anything that I should check on it before I connect it to power? alan -tony
Re: Got a Rainbow 100 and ...
On Sun, Nov 11, 2018 at 6:56 AM Alan Perry wrote: > > > > On 11/10/18 10:51 PM, Tony Duell wrote: > > On Sun, Nov 11, 2018 at 6:47 AM Alan Perry via cctalk > > wrote: > > > >> What I got was the system unit, a VR201 monitor, a keyboard, a vertical > >> deskside stand for the system unit, and a LQP02 daisy wheel printer. I > >> also got the MS-DOS and CP/M doc and software slip cover boxes. The CP/M > >> disk box is still sealed and the CP/M docs are still in shrink wrap. The > >> specific need that the seller bought it for involved MS-DOS, not CP/M. > > > > Does it have any of the optional expansion boards (hard disk controller, > > RAM, graphics) in it? > > Right now I am looking up how to open up the system unit and see what's > inside. There's a catch on each side under the 'step'. Release those and the cover comes off. Unplug the drive and power cables from the main PCB assembly (at the rear right), undo the thumbscrews on the back and the PCB assembly slides out. -tony
Re: Got a Rainbow 100 and ...
On 11/10/18 10:51 PM, Tony Duell wrote: On Sun, Nov 11, 2018 at 6:47 AM Alan Perry via cctalk wrote: What I got was the system unit, a VR201 monitor, a keyboard, a vertical deskside stand for the system unit, and a LQP02 daisy wheel printer. I also got the MS-DOS and CP/M doc and software slip cover boxes. The CP/M disk box is still sealed and the CP/M docs are still in shrink wrap. The specific need that the seller bought it for involved MS-DOS, not CP/M. Does it have any of the optional expansion boards (hard disk controller, RAM, graphics) in it? Right now I am looking up how to open up the system unit and see what's inside. 1. The VR201 monitor is leaking a brown fluid. Doing a little searching, I found some stuff posted here a couple years ago about it being common for them to leak PVA compound, so I am presuming what is what I am seeing. Right now I am looking for something that describes how to open the case up to clean the stuff up. If someone can give me some pointers to some docs/write-ups and save me some time, that would be great. The first thing to do is to fully extend the little 'leg'. Put the monitor the normal way up, press the button on the side(near the bottom) and lift it so the leg slides out. Then, monitor screen-down. Prise (pry?) the circular cap off on the back near the connectors. Undo the screw thus exposed. The case then slides off. Thanks! alan -tony
Re: Got a Rainbow 100 and ...
On Sun, Nov 11, 2018 at 6:47 AM Alan Perry via cctalk wrote: > What I got was the system unit, a VR201 monitor, a keyboard, a vertical > deskside stand for the system unit, and a LQP02 daisy wheel printer. I > also got the MS-DOS and CP/M doc and software slip cover boxes. The CP/M > disk box is still sealed and the CP/M docs are still in shrink wrap. The > specific need that the seller bought it for involved MS-DOS, not CP/M. Does it have any of the optional expansion boards (hard disk controller, RAM, graphics) in it? > > 1. The VR201 monitor is leaking a brown fluid. Doing a little searching, > I found some stuff posted here a couple years ago about it being common > for them to leak PVA compound, so I am presuming what is what I am > seeing. Right now I am looking for something that describes how to open > the case up to clean the stuff up. If someone can give me some pointers > to some docs/write-ups and save me some time, that would be great. The first thing to do is to fully extend the little 'leg'. Put the monitor the normal way up, press the button on the side(near the bottom) and lift it so the leg slides out. Then, monitor screen-down. Prise (pry?) the circular cap off on the back near the connectors. Undo the screw thus exposed. The case then slides off. -tony
