• Updated 2023-07-12: Hello, Guest! Welcome back, and be sure to check out this follow-up post about our outage a week or so ago.

Fizzbinn’s Finds

joshc

Well-known member
Anyone know anything about these? Applied Engineering Transwarp/TW 6400 from 1993. Looks like it’s 33MHz
Not much turning up I'm afraid.

From here: https://archive.org/details/macworld00unse_88/page/40/mode/2up?q="Transwarp+6400"
 

TransWarp 6400
This line of 68040 accelerators fits the Macintosh llsi, llci, llvi, llvx and Performa 600 and has models that run at 25MHz, 33MHz, and 40MHz. The card plugs into the PDS and comes with a 128K cache. The llsi version requires an adapter. 25MHz with FPU $999; 33MHz with FPU $1199; 40MHz with FPU $1499; llsi adapter $49. Applied Engineering, 214/241-6060, 800/554- 6227; fax 214/484-1365

 

Fizzbinn

Well-known member
Got around to trying the Applied Engineering Transwarp “TW6400” 68040 upgrade card in my IIci. It might be dead or more hopefully *just* need drivers (which finding might be hopeless!)

 

Fizzbinn

Well-known member
So my wonderful significant other got me an eMate 300 for Xmas. It’s kinda neat, especially the design, if a little odd to remember how to use Newton OS. It came with its original power adapter but of course the battery pack was dead. Even more than my PowerBooks this beauty wants to be unplugged, fortunately “re-celling” the battery pack is not too bad.

Picked these batteries up from Amazon:

4 pcs Tenergy 2000mAh NiMH Rechargeable AA Battery Flat Top with Tabs
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CR0R8KQ/

And followed these instructions:

https://www.pda-soft.de/body_emate_battery_pack.html

0E116460-1FA5-449A-A659-29400E1497FF.jpeg51B3CFD7-6D02-4DF7-850E-30F2E1627F3C.jpeg

C03F219B-6DFF-47D8-A8EF-20F2876B10C0.jpegC2045634-F9AA-4F9E-8DA8-C1261B0717CD.jpeg

06A6EFB2-FD4A-4E28-A468-B4E0C1399E73.jpeg

Works great now, fingers crossed it stays that way! 
 

Nice to have a successful project after several failures...

 
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Fizzbinn

Well-known member
*** repost do to 6/30/2021 outage ***

@Fizzbinn 2/27/2021:

eMate battery update: I decided I wanted to heat shrink wrap my rebuilt battery pack, after a bunch of measuring and googling I ended up ordering this from Amazon:

Othmro 43mm Flat Width 2m Length PVC Heat Shrink Tubing Green for 26650 Battery Pack - $7.59
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VRLP1LW/

I hope I didn’t miss an easy reference for this, but wanting to heat shrink wrap 4 AA batteries in this configuration doesn’t seem to be all that common.

With some trial an error on the length (using a dead AA battery pack stand-in so as not to put too much stress on the new batteries and their connections), 4 3/8” turned out to work to get a nice wrap around the end.


IMG_1278.jpeg
Really pleased how it turned out ....even though it will never really be seen :)

With almost 2 meters I’d be glad to cut some pieces off of the heat shrink tubing role and mail it to anyone who might be interested/fixing up their own eMate battery.
 

Fizzbinn

Well-known member
I took a chance on an as-is decent looking IIvx on eBay, worst case the slot loading CD bezel would be useful on my Centris 650 and maybe some other parts would be okay.

034205A3-3A7D-4E47-BFAD-D328E04D32C7.jpeg

Did get my hopes up it could totally fine inside.… Nope, Maxell bomb strikes again.

80D04FE6-4962-4BCA-B40D-9E8E4C7A2011.jpeg

Plus side the floppy drive had a disk in it that takes the cake for the most unique I’ve stumbled upon! …the 12 year old boy in me couldn’t help but laugh a bit! (I know it’s a serious subject that I’m glad great doctors and researchers work on)

F9F4EDB9-795E-4F7B-AE19-2B00C5760C9B.jpeg
 

olePigeon

Well-known member
Tisk tisk. Using the wrong symbol in their logo. Hermes is the god of commerce, not medicine. Should be the Rod of Asclepius.

Although ... if this is a trades convention for selling medical devices, it's oddly appropriate. :p
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
Tisk tisk. Using the wrong symbol in their logo. Hermes is the god of commerce, not medicine. Should be the Rod of Asclepius.

Though the use of the schematic bowel instead of the snake is a good touch. They seem to be very symbologically confused: the top half is definitely a caduceus but the bottom half only seems to have one bowelsnake (or three if the monogram wants to come along). Gah.
 

KeithTilton

Active member
I took a chance on an as-is decent looking IIvx on eBay, worst case the slot loading CD bezel would be useful on my Centris 650 and maybe some other parts would be okay.

I was going to take the plunge on this one, but I guess you had bought it before I had the chance. Sorry it didn't work out for you. I hate those Maxwells so much.
 

Fizzbinn

Well-known member
Cleaned up the IIvx logic board this evening, vinegar toothbrush scrub and a Ultrasonic cleaner bath. Looks better…

00991794-A1B5-45BB-9890-75C77609D21A.jpeg

…but the smaller “IO“ chip is missing a pin and along with one of the two ”Bus Transceivers” some chip legs are disconnected from pads barely still there. Also some vias and traces look eaten away. Also looks like there is still corrosion under the closest SIMM connector (and probably under the two aforementioned chips).

What to do next…
 
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Fizzbinn

Well-known member
Because I apparently have a serious eBay problem I rolled the dice again, this time on a PowerBook 540c setup that included 3 batteries, 2 power adapters and a VST battery “SmartCharger”. BIN + shipping was only $70 so a parts machine and maybe I could end up with a working 500 series power adapter, and/or some batteries to try to rebuild.

F7B942EC-915F-4C1B-BBF2-77807AE26F98.jpeg

Arrived in good shape, the power connector seems like it’s loose, it would start to boot with the 2 included power adapters if I pressed hard on the side of the connector. One of the speakers sounds blown out. Finally got it to boot with my my makeshift adapter with wires pulled hard to the left.


…and lo an behold not only does it have the 36MB RAM card but a freakin’ 117MHz PowerPC upgrade!
CCF6080D-50BF-4ED4-AD10-60F0B2A21E92.jpeg

Sometimes a gamble pays off!
 
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Fizzbinn

Well-known member
Cleaned up the IIvx logic board this evening, vinegar toothbrush scrub and a Ultrasonic cleaner bath. Looks better…

View attachment 36125

…but the smaller “IO“ chip is missing a pin and along with one of the two ”Bus Transceivers” some chip legs are disconnected from pads barely still there. Also some vias and traces look eaten away. Also looks like there is still corrosion under the closest SIMM connector (and probably under the two aforementioned chips).

What to do next…

I decided I wanted to clean under the “IO” and one of the “Bus Transceiver” chips as well as the closest SIMM connector. Good excuse to finally add a hot air station to my tools line up.

Timely conversation in another thread:

Some more research, and apparently Yihua makes the "best" of the cheap ones. By "best," I mean that according to reviews, it's the only one that seems to actually ground the plug correctly and have the fuse installed correctly. Apparently that's a problem with many of the cheap 858ds. So I think I'll grab that one.

…lead me to buy this Yihua one:

It made short work of the two surface mount chip which admittedly were already loosened by the Maxell bomb.

93B7B4F3-D14D-4B4F-A096-9F7769472BF7.jpeg
(I already re-tinned the IO chip pads in this picture)

Not so much luck with the SIMM connector. Removed as much of the solder from the underside with solder wick and then tried heating the pins with hot air, seems a bunch of the pins wouldn’t give up the ghost.

Anybody have any tips on de-soldering SIMM connectors?
 
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