On 2017-03-29, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"DoN. Nichols" wrote in message
...
[ ... ]
The next big project they gave me couldn't be done "right" within
the
specs and constraints. I solved it the Earl Muntz way, which no
respectable engineer would admit to but a lab tech could get away
with
by hand-selecting parts on each board.
-jsw
I thought that the Earl Muntz way was to keep snipping out
components from a working TV design until it stopped working and
then
put that last component back. :-)
I snipped the feature-creep from the specs as far as the engineers
would allow. The original was overdesigned and the contractor was
behind schedule, so this was a quickie stand-in. I called it the
world's biggest, fastest wris****ch.
O.K. :-)
BTW -- Sorry about the delay. My firewall system died and it took
me a few
days to re-learn enough about the program to configure a new one
in new hardware to get on the air again.
Now -- the easy way would have been to go on eBay and purchase a
replacement power supply for that system (not a common one, and not
room
to kluge something else into a 1U high system), but without a
working
firewall, eBay was out of reach. (Besides, it might have taken
longer to find a replacement anyway. :-)
Enjoy,
DoN.
VME bus?
Nope! The failed machine was a Sun V120 (1U high chassis, rack
mount). Not room for most common power supplies, and an extra connector
beyond those which are found on more recent ones. The extra connector
goes to the serial management hardware, which allows you to reboot, shut
down and power up from a distance. Not new enough to offer an ethernet
port with ssh logins to do lots of remote maintenance.
All my VME Suns are retired by now. They were Sun3 and early
SPARC systems, not the current UltraSPARC ones.
The power supply is likely victim to failing electrolytics, but
it seems to have been made for high vibration environments, and the
components are all buried in a glob of translucent RTV. A real pain to
cut it out without damaging chokes and the like.
Enjoy,
DoN.
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