Recent content by David Cook

It throws errors on certain compact flash cards on certain IIfx computers. For example, I only experienced one (or two?) finicky IIfx computers out of my collection. The others worked fine. And, on the finicky IIfx computers, they worked with a SanDisk Ultra II 2 GB and Verbatim 4 GB, but not...

That's an image not usually shared about Jobs.

Pony 3201 Spring Clamp. https://amzn.to/4wNYUdE Pull off the rubber tips. Put the lips in a vise to squish them straight. Voilà! Mini Mac Cracker.

That is fascinating! Now that I think about it, it surprises me that we haven't encountered more 'defects' that were covered up by old/slow technology. I am glad you returned to work on the NuCF, given its incredible performance.

In both cases (the cursor and the trash can), the issue seems to be reading the existing bits. That is, for the cursor, the bits are saved before drawing the cursor and then restored when the cursor moves (no update event). For the trash can, it is being drawn in a mode where quickdraw needs to...

Mystery solved! I am kinda surprised Apple didn't keep the clearance the same, just for the sake of backwards compatibility. I mean, it's just +5 mm in both directions. Thanks for locating those technical notes.

You're absolutely right. Looking at the ROM source code, the name of the GC accelerator control panel is in string resource 'STR ' -16454.

Yes. This is genius. Simply latch on address lines 22 + 21 + ROM SEL and use the lowest address lines 2-10 to encode a byte. A write isn't necessary. Skipping around to different addresses in that space would allow the same 2-10 bits to be output without worrying about caching.

For example:

I've seen a number of 3D printed Mac cases. They often need to be assembled and glued due to the limited printing bed size. However, as 3D printing technology continues to improve, I expect some really nice replica cases to become available.

I agree. For all the Macs I've repaired, I have only experienced two types of chip failure: 1. Chips immersed in capacitor goo. There are sections on the SE/30 and IIci that routinely damage the nearby jelly bean chips. 2. Anything on the Macintosh Portable -- due to a bad power design...

Ahh. That's a problem What about a 30-pin RAM SIMM + LED latch? Let's say the SIMM is 1 MB and is always put in a specific slot of a specific bank. Although the CAS+RAS+WR+address lines combo are more complicated to decode, you could essentially obtain 8-bits on a write to a specific address. I...

We've long had reprogrammable ROM SIMMs replacement. Those ROMs often have little improvements, such as skipping memory tests and adding ROM disks. I wonder whether anyone with experience in developing those ROM boards would consider the following: Add a latch chip with sufficient drive for a...

The IIfx's memory sockets are very fussy. Pull bank B. Then reseat bank A. If that doesn't work, try it a few more times and swap memory SIMMs. I swear if RAM in bank A does not pass you do not get the chimes of death. It simply does what you experience (power on chime and then nothing).

Works great. Thank you!