Jim Wilkins wrote:

I have antennas and thus no cable TV service to add Internet to.
Dialup is fast enough for text like newsgroups, Gutenberg e-books and
Wiki, and it's reliable when the power goes out, most recently on May
8. The Telco Central Office has its 48V battery and my laptop and old
analog phone don't need AC power. I -really- like having Internet
weather radar after a storm when I need to repair or tarp roof damage
and can see exactly when precipitation will arrive Right Here.

The phone company hasn't convinced me that fiber service will survive
a week without power, especially the user's terminal which has only a
12V 7.5A-H backup battery that may not last over 8 hours, and will
soon become a $10/Mo extra option. They also have a terrible
reputation for Internet support, though they have usually treated me
very well, e.g.this past Monday when they switched me to a cleaner,
shorter copper pair.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cell_...fairpoint.html
"This company is a complete and utter joke..."

The Virgin/Sprint Broadband2Go prepaid cell service I enable every few
months for large software updates is also a COM port modem. Linux
support for it is said to be possible but difficult. BB2G data has
lower priority than cell phone calls and it slows below dialup or
halts entirely during work hours when phone traffic is high, otherwise
I'd use it all the time, for $20 per month. It stayed up all through
the last week-long power outage. New England suffers from hurricanes
and ice storms instead of tornados (mostly).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Halloween_nor'easter


Jim, I have a US Robotics 56K external modem that is still in the
sealed box, if you need it.

--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
...

Jim Wilkins wrote:

I have antennas and thus no cable TV service to add Internet to.
Dialup is fast enough for text like newsgroups, ...


Jim, I have a US Robotics 56K external modem that is still in the
sealed box, if you need it.

Thanks for the offer. I found a USR 5686-03 which plugs into a COM
port for the next time I try Unix.
-jsw

Jim Wilkins wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
...

Jim Wilkins wrote:

I have antennas and thus no cable TV service to add Internet to.
Dialup is fast enough for text like newsgroups, ...


Jim, I have a US Robotics 56K external modem that is still in the
sealed box, if you need it.

Thanks for the offer. I found a USR 5686-03 which plugs into a COM
port for the next time I try Unix.


Keep it in mind, just in case. I have it stashed away for people who
have no other choice when it comes to getting online. All I would want
is the shipping cost.


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

On 2014-05-19, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

[ ... ]

Just like what happened with the Amphenol miniature blue ribbon
connectors. Centronics chose the 36-pin version of that as the parallel
printer port. Now, anything which uses one of the series of connectors
gets called "Centronics connector", including the most common (the 50-pin
SCSI interface -- which also used the DD-50 and a miniature quick-lock
connector which I first saw on Sun workstations and drive boxes).
Another (less common) one is the IEEE-488 connector (also originally
called HP-IB by Hewlett Packard, and later when it was made public
domain, GP-IB). That one uses a 24-pin version of the connector, and
usually a weird one on the cable end which has both a male and a female
on back so you can stack them, since you can chain a number of test
instruments on one bus.


I have a half dozen pieces of test equipment with the IEEE-488
interface. There are web pages with USB to IEEE-488 interfaces you can
build.

Hmm ... Can they be talked to with something other than Windows?
I've got an HP card in a machine running Ubuntu linux with an open
source driver for that which happily talks to my HP digital 'scope and
my HP DMM.


Yes. In fact, they were originally controlled by HP's lab style
computers. All you need is a computer with a working HPIB/GPIB/IEEE-488
interface card and the commands for that instrument. The user manual
usually lists the commands for each instrument.


[ ... ]

The interesting thing about the DB-25 and the RS-232 serial port
is that the standards were very careful about the voltages which the
pins would accept and output, and lots of other things, but it did not
bother to specify the actual connector to use. It *could* have been any
of a number of other connectors, as long as it had enough pins. I think
that the use of the DB-25 for that was started by Ma Bell in their
modems -- and everyone else followed suit. :-)


It was a good choice. A reliable connector from Canon, not something
custom from an unknown source.

Indeed. But interesting that the *standards* did not specify a
connector at all. :-)


Yes, but most companies picked a common connector so they could talk
to other equipment without stocking hundreds of different cables. A few
oddballs used very expensive and hard to find connectors. Some used
another cheaper connector to save a few cents, like the Heathkit H-14
printer that used a straight line molded nylon connector like those used
on switching power supplies.

--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

On 2014-05-19, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

Just as using wireless keyboards and mice is a bad idea where
more than one computer is in use. (I'm sort of considering a wireless
trackball on this computer, but I can't let my wife have on at the same
time. Were sitting about eight feet apart, and the computers are closer
to each other. :-)


I have two computers on, about six inches apart, and wireless mice on
both. This computer has a wireless keyboard, but I haven't bought one
for the other system.

These are computers *made* for wireless keyboaards and mice, I
suspect. Mine are not. So the question is whether the plug-in USB
wireless interface can be configured to talk to one trackball and ignore
the other. And if it can be so configured without running a Windows
program, since I don't run Windows and most of my machines could *not*
run it. (No Windows for UltraSPARC CPUs. :-)

No. each has the tiny USB transceiver to talk to the mice and
keyboards. I've had as many as four of them running within six feet of
each other at the same time.


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

On Thu, 12 Jun 2014 23:02:57 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Jim Wilkins wrote:

I have antennas and thus no cable TV service to add Internet to.
Dialup is fast enough for text like newsgroups, Gutenberg e-books and
Wiki, and it's reliable when the power goes out, most recently on May
8. The Telco Central Office has its 48V battery and my laptop and old
analog phone don't need AC power. I -really- like having Internet
weather radar after a storm when I need to repair or tarp roof damage
and can see exactly when precipitation will arrive Right Here.

The phone company hasn't convinced me that fiber service will survive
a week without power, especially the user's terminal which has only a
12V 7.5A-H backup battery that may not last over 8 hours, and will
soon become a $10/Mo extra option. They also have a terrible
reputation for Internet support, though they have usually treated me
very well, e.g.this past Monday when they switched me to a cleaner,
shorter copper pair.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cell_...fairpoint.html
"This company is a complete and utter joke..."

The Virgin/Sprint Broadband2Go prepaid cell service I enable every few
months for large software updates is also a COM port modem. Linux
support for it is said to be possible but difficult. BB2G data has
lower priority than cell phone calls and it slows below dialup or
halts entirely during work hours when phone traffic is high, otherwise
I'd use it all the time, for $20 per month. It stayed up all through
the last week-long power outage. New England suffers from hurricanes
and ice storms instead of tornados (mostly).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Halloween_nor'easter


Jim, I have a US Robotics 56K external modem that is still in the
sealed box, if you need it.

Crom...I have at least a dozen or more if any body wants em simply for
shipping

The only modems Im not parting with are my Timex Sinclairs (300 baud)
and the stack of various Commodor modems...300-4800 baud IRRC


"Libertarianism IS fascism... Fascism is corporate government – a Libertarian’s wet dream"
Tala Brandeis
Owner at Tala Brandeis Associates"

On 2014-06-13, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

On 2014-05-19, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

[ ... ]

I have a half dozen pieces of test equipment with the IEEE-488
interface. There are web pages with USB to IEEE-488 interfaces you can
build.

Hmm ... Can they be talked to with something other than Windows?
I've got an HP card in a machine running Ubuntu linux with an open
source driver for that which happily talks to my HP digital 'scope and
my HP DMM.


Yes. In fact, they were originally controlled by HP's lab style
computers. All you need is a computer with a working HPIB/GPIB/IEEE-488
interface card and the commands for that instrument. The user manual
usually lists the commands for each instrument.

I meant could the USB to IEEE-488 interfaces be talked to with
something other than Windows systems. I actually have a PCI IEEE-488
board in one linux box, but I would like to also have some IEEE-488
communications from my Sun Blade 2000 systems.

I've got one of the HP 9826 (Series 9000-226) machines from a
hamfest -- but much to my dismay, apparently one of the pair of ROMs
which make the system's initial boot software (this one doesn't have a
language in ROM as some of them did) is corrupted. I see on the screen
various status messages and prompts, with every other character
unintelligible -- because the ROM that it is in is damaged -- so I can't
do anything with that machine. A pity, the price was nice, and it came
with the BASIC floppy set, and a couple of IEEE-488 cables.

I've also got a couple of Tektronix 6130 systems (National
Semiconductor 32016 CPU) which have the IEEE-488 interface too, but the
system is ancient, and the programs necessary to format a SCSI disc on
it are missing. The only disc is an 80 MB MFM disc -- sort of made of
unobtanium these days. :-)

Also back it the days of the HP 9825 (a simpler machine with a
weird language called "HPL") I constructed an interface to allow the
9825 to control a Fluke HV power supply which could be commanded to
produce a voltage (up to 2048 Volts, IIRC) in pure binary. I used a
6800 CPU and a 68488 HP-IB/GPIB/IEEE-488 controller chip.

The interesting thing about the DB-25 and the RS-232 serial port
is that the standards were very careful about the voltages which the
pins would accept and output, and lots of other things, but it did not
bother to specify the actual connector to use. It *could* have been any
of a number of other connectors, as long as it had enough pins. I think
that the use of the DB-25 for that was started by Ma Bell in their
modems -- and everyone else followed suit. :-)


It was a good choice. A reliable connector from Canon, not something
custom from an unknown source.

Agreed.

Indeed. But interesting that the *standards* did not specify a
connector at all. :-)


Yes, but most companies picked a common connector so they could talk
to other equipment without stocking hundreds of different cables. A few
oddballs used very expensive and hard to find connectors. Some used
another cheaper connector to save a few cents, like the Heathkit H-14
printer that used a straight line molded nylon connector like those used
on switching power supplies.

That might be from their association with DEC. I bought a DEC
LA-36 dot matrix printer which had as its serial interface a flat
plastic connector with a tab which set the keying which was by default a
TTY current loop interface, and had to get an add-on board to make it
RS-232. :-)

It was a nice printer for a while -- until a really hot day
caused the double-sided tape which held the carriage position encoder
wheel in place to soften and let the encoder go off-center. At that
point, it would crash loudly into one of the stops. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | (KV4PH) Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

On 2014-06-13, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

On 2014-05-19, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

Out of curiosity -- what brought this back up. These were from
a year ago and suddenly followups appear. :-)

[ ... ]

I have two computers on, about six inches apart, and wireless mice on
both. This computer has a wireless keyboard, but I haven't bought one
for the other system.

These are computers *made* for wireless keyboaards and mice, I
suspect. Mine are not. So the question is whether the plug-in USB
wireless interface can be configured to talk to one trackball and ignore
the other. And if it can be so configured without running a Windows
program, since I don't run Windows and most of my machines could *not*
run it. (No Windows for UltraSPARC CPUs. :-)

No. each has the tiny USB transceiver to talk to the mice and
keyboards. I've had as many as four of them running within six feet of
each other at the same time.

O.K. Worth trying then.

Thanks,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | (KV4PH) Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

On 2014-06-13, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Yes. In fact, they were originally controlled by HP's lab style
computers. All you need is a computer with a working HPIB/GPIB/IEEE-488
interface card and the commands for that instrument. The user manual
usually lists the commands for each instrument.

I meant could the USB to IEEE-488 interfaces be talked to with
something other than Windows systems. I actually have a PCI IEEE-488
board in one linux box, but I would like to also have some IEEE-488
communications from my Sun Blade 2000 systems.


https://github.com/Galvant/ and other people are designing USB to
IEEE-488 interfaces. You could ask if they plan on support for Sun, or
if they will give you the source code for their windows or Linux
drivers.


I've got one of the HP 9826 (Series 9000-226) machines from a
hamfest -- but much to my dismay, apparently one of the pair of ROMs
which make the system's initial boot software (this one doesn't have a
language in ROM as some of them did) is corrupted. I see on the screen
various status messages and prompts, with every other character
unintelligible -- because the ROM that it is in is damaged -- so I can't
do anything with that machine. A pity, the price was nice, and it came
with the BASIC floppy set, and a couple of IEEE-488 cables.

I've also got a couple of Tektronix 6130 systems (National
Semiconductor 32016 CPU) which have the IEEE-488 interface too, but the
system is ancient, and the programs necessary to format a SCSI disc on
it are missing. The only disc is an 80 MB MFM disc -- sort of made of
unobtanium these days. :-)


There are several Tek Yahoo groups that might help you find the
software. I might still have a small SCSI drive. www.geeks.com had the
80 GB for $4.95 just before they shut down retail sales.


Also back it the days of the HP 9825 (a simpler machine with a
weird language called "HPL") I constructed an interface to allow the
9825 to control a Fluke HV power supply which could be commanded to
produce a voltage (up to 2048 Volts, IIRC) in pure binary. I used a
6800 CPU and a 68488 HP-IB/GPIB/IEEE-488 controller chip.


It was a good choice. A reliable connector from Canon, not something
custom from an unknown source.

Agreed.

Indeed. But interesting that the *standards* did not specify a
connector at all. :-)

Yes, but most companies picked a common connector so they could talk
to other equipment without stocking hundreds of different cables. A few
oddballs used very expensive and hard to find connectors. Some used
another cheaper connector to save a few cents, like the Heathkit H-14
printer that used a straight line molded nylon connector like those used
on switching power supplies.

That might be from their association with DEC. I bought a DEC
LA-36 dot matrix printer which had as its serial interface a flat
plastic connector with a tab which set the keying which was by default a
TTY current loop interface, and had to get an add-on board to make it
RS-232. :-)


The H-14 printer was a kit, on a cast aluminum base. It used the
printhead and motors from a cheap ATM receipt printer, and was all their
design. The original release didn't have enough drive for the paper
feed motor, and needed a mod kit installed to increase the drive current
to the stepper motor. Yes, it was compatible with their H-8 DEC clone
computer.


It was a nice printer for a while -- until a really hot day
caused the double-sided tape which held the carriage position encoder
wheel in place to soften and let the encoder go off-center. At that
point, it would crash loudly into one of the stops. :-)


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

Out of curiosity -- what brought this back up. These were from
a year ago and suddenly followups appear. :-)


This appears to be the original message in this thread and it's from
last month.


Subject: I can't solder miniature connectors anymore...any tricks?
Date: Fri, 16 May 2014 01:33:24 -0400
From: Tom Gardner Mars@Tacks
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

"DoN. Nichols" wrote in message
...

I meant could the USB to IEEE-488 interfaces be talked to with
something other than Windows systems. I actually have a PCI
IEEE-488
board in one linux box, but I would like to also have some IEEE-488
communications from my Sun Blade 2000 systems.

Second-hand office PCs with XP still installed or freshly reloaded are
cheap (or free) and work fine without updates or antivirus as lab
instrument controllers. I recently paid $25 for a fully functional
wide-screen, dual core laptop with XP which I turned into an HDTV
recorder.

Being the standard, everything is available for them without the fuss
of adding hardware to a Mac or unix system. Check the number and type
of expansion slots since they may not have as many, especially PCI-E,
as a home machine. You can back up or clone the operating system
partition and not worry about reinstalling it.

My 1999-vintage 400 MHz datalogging laptop runs Windows 2000, with
Internet Explorer 6 and Adobe 7 to read documentation and OpenOffice
2.0 to crunch the data. The COM and USB port expanders plug into the
CardBus slot. I still use it because it's no big loss if I snag a
cable and it falls and breaks. It's an example of the minimum that's
still useful.

-jsw

On 2014-06-14, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

On 2014-06-13, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Yes. In fact, they were originally controlled by HP's lab style
computers. All you need is a computer with a working HPIB/GPIB/IEEE-488
interface card and the commands for that instrument. The user manual
usually lists the commands for each instrument.

I meant could the USB to IEEE-488 interfaces be talked to with
something other than Windows systems. I actually have a PCI IEEE-488
board in one linux box, but I would like to also have some IEEE-488
communications from my Sun Blade 2000 systems.


https://github.com/Galvant/ and other people are designing USB to
IEEE-488 interfaces. You could ask if they plan on support for Sun, or
if they will give you the source code for their windows or Linux
drivers.

O.K. Worth checking out, so I don't have to put a linux box
everywhere I want to talk to HP-IB/GPIB/IEEE-488 interfaced devices.

Bookmarked, and some documentation downloaded.

Thanks!

I've got one of the HP 9826 (Series 9000-226) machines from a
hamfest -- but much to my dismay, apparently one of the pair of ROMs
which make the system's initial boot software (this one doesn't have a
language in ROM as some of them did) is corrupted. I see on the screen
various status messages and prompts, with every other character
unintelligible -- because the ROM that it is in is damaged -- so I can't
do anything with that machine. A pity, the price was nice, and it came
with the BASIC floppy set, and a couple of IEEE-488 cables.

I've also got a couple of Tektronix 6130 systems (National
Semiconductor 32016 CPU) which have the IEEE-488 interface too, but the
system is ancient, and the programs necessary to format a SCSI disc on
it are missing. The only disc is an 80 MB MFM disc -- sort of made of
unobtanium these days. :-)


There are several Tek Yahoo groups that might help you find the
software. I might still have a small SCSI drive. www.geeks.com had the
80 GB for $4.95 just before they shut down retail sales.

I've got most of the software -- in QIC tapes, but not the
floppy to install external disks. For whatever reason, it was not
installed as part of the OS.

Thanks,
DoN.

[ ... ]

Yes, but most companies picked a common connector so they could talk
to other equipment without stocking hundreds of different cables. A few
oddballs used very expensive and hard to find connectors. Some used
another cheaper connector to save a few cents, like the Heathkit H-14
printer that used a straight line molded nylon connector like those used
on switching power supplies.

That might be from their association with DEC. I bought a DEC
LA-36 dot matrix printer which had as its serial interface a flat
plastic connector with a tab which set the keying which was by default a
TTY current loop interface, and had to get an add-on board to make it
RS-232. :-)


The H-14 printer was a kit, on a cast aluminum base. It used the
printhead and motors from a cheap ATM receipt printer, and was all their
design. The original release didn't have enough drive for the paper
feed motor, and needed a mod kit installed to increase the drive current
to the stepper motor. Yes, it was compatible with their H-8 DEC clone
computer.

Then that may have defined the connector.

Though DEC did use the DB-25 on their VT-100 and later
terminals. And were one of the few to do it *right* -- with the male
pins on the serial port and female on the parallel port, leaving no
doubt as to whether it was wired as DTE or DCE (the latter normally used
the female connector.)

The other problem (since it was fed from a box of pin-feed
paper) was the cat who decided to go to sleep on top of the paper during
a long print run. :-) It would have been better if the cat had freaked
at the sound of the dot-matrix printer running and left for elsewhere. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | (KV4PH) Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

On 2014-06-14, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"DoN. Nichols" wrote in message
...

I meant could the USB to IEEE-488 interfaces be talked to with
something other than Windows systems. I actually have a PCI
IEEE-488
board in one linux box, but I would like to also have some IEEE-488
communications from my Sun Blade 2000 systems.

Second-hand office PCs with XP still installed or freshly reloaded are
cheap (or free) and work fine without updates or antivirus as lab
instrument controllers. I recently paid $25 for a fully functional
wide-screen, dual core laptop with XP which I turned into an HDTV
recorder.

If I were to do that everywhere I wanted to talk IEEE-488, I
would get rid of the Windows and install Linux (which is what I have
done with the one system so configured at the moment). It came with
Windows 7 installed, FWIW. But I don't like leaving Windows systems on
the net (even just the local one behind the firewall) and powered on
full time.

Being the standard, everything is available for them without the fuss
of adding hardware to a Mac or unix system. Check the number and type
of expansion slots since they may not have as many, especially PCI-E,
as a home machine. You can back up or clone the operating system
partition and not worry about reinstalling it.

The system with the IEEE-488 card in it (and working with it) is
an IBM/LeNovo ThinkCenter, and since I only needed the one slot for that
card, it even still has a spare slot (That one is PCI-X IIRC).

My 1999-vintage 400 MHz datalogging laptop runs Windows 2000, with
Internet Explorer 6 and Adobe 7 to read documentation and OpenOffice
2.0 to crunch the data. The COM and USB port expanders plug into the
CardBus slot. I still use it because it's no big loss if I snag a
cable and it falls and breaks. It's an example of the minimum that's
still useful.

And it is kept from talking to the outside world, I would hope. :-)

One of the extra things which I would like to talk to --
directly from the Sun machines if possible -- is a Nikon LS-3500
film/slide scanner. It is the one which is the reason that the
subsequent ones were called "CoolScan" -- as it really could cook the
film. :-)

The two choices for interfacing on it are the IEEE-488 and
RS-232. And given that a full resolution scan produces a 72 MB image,
9600 baud rather throttles it severely. 20.83 hours per image -- plus
whatever overhead is needed to do that all. :-)

And yes -- I have a much newer Nikon film/slide scanner which
does talk USB -- but I really want to see how fast I can make this work.
I first used it with a Windows 3.11 system, and it took forever. The
first third of an image went moderately fast for the time (with a NI
GPIB board) and then (since it insisted on keeping the image in memory
until the scan was complete -- and there was not room for that much
memory in that motherboard -- it started swapping.) It took an hour to
scan the image. a half hour to save it once scanned, fifteen minutes to
copy it over 10 MHz ethernet to a unix box, and about three mintutes to
copy between the unix boxen -- so I really don't have pleasant memories
about Windows in association with this. :-)

Thanks,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | (KV4PH) Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

On 2014-06-14, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

Out of curiosity -- what brought this back up. These were from
a year ago and suddenly followups appear. :-)


This appears to be the original message in this thread and it's from
last month.


Subject: I can't solder miniature connectors anymore...any tricks?
Date: Fri, 16 May 2014 01:33:24 -0400
From: Tom Gardner Mars@Tacks
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking

That makes more sense. I think that I was interchanging the day
'13' and the year '14' when I was reading it late last night. Still, it
did go quiet for a while and then pop back to life.

As as for the "can't solder" bit -- I've discovered that I am
not as good at wire-wrap as I once was, either. :-) Magnifying hood to
the rescue.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | (KV4PH) Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

"DoN. Nichols" wrote in message
...
On 2014-06-14, Jim Wilkins wrote:

My 1999-vintage 400 MHz datalogging laptop runs Windows 2000,

And it is kept from talking to the outside world, I would hope. :-)

This is the only computer I allow on line. I just spent four hours
sanitizing it before transferring Iggy's .pdf to another computer on a
flash drive.
-jsw

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

On 2014-06-14, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

Out of curiosity -- what brought this back up. These were from
a year ago and suddenly followups appear. :-)


This appears to be the original message in this thread and it's from
last month.


Subject: I can't solder miniature connectors anymore...any tricks?
Date: Fri, 16 May 2014 01:33:24 -0400
From: Tom Gardner Mars@Tacks
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking

That makes more sense. I think that I was interchanging the day
'13' and the year '14' when I was reading it late last night. Still, it
did go quiet for a while and then pop back to life.

As as for the "can't solder" bit -- I've discovered that I am
not as good at wire-wrap as I once was, either. :-) Magnifying hood to
the rescue.


I have a couple wire wrap guns, but the custom battery packs are
shot.



--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

It would be neat to be in firmware on the 'conversion cable'. Then
it would be o.s. independent.

Martin

On 6/14/2014 10:41 PM, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2014-06-14, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

On 2014-06-13, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Yes. In fact, they were originally controlled by HP's lab style
computers. All you need is a computer with a working HPIB/GPIB/IEEE-488
interface card and the commands for that instrument. The user manual
usually lists the commands for each instrument.

I meant could the USB to IEEE-488 interfaces be talked to with
something other than Windows systems. I actually have a PCI IEEE-488
board in one linux box, but I would like to also have some IEEE-488
communications from my Sun Blade 2000 systems.


https://github.com/Galvant/ and other people are designing USB to
IEEE-488 interfaces. You could ask if they plan on support for Sun, or
if they will give you the source code for their windows or Linux
drivers.

O.K. Worth checking out, so I don't have to put a linux box
everywhere I want to talk to HP-IB/GPIB/IEEE-488 interfaced devices.

Bookmarked, and some documentation downloaded.

Thanks!

I've got one of the HP 9826 (Series 9000-226) machines from a
hamfest -- but much to my dismay, apparently one of the pair of ROMs
which make the system's initial boot software (this one doesn't have a
language in ROM as some of them did) is corrupted. I see on the screen
various status messages and prompts, with every other character
unintelligible -- because the ROM that it is in is damaged -- so I can't
do anything with that machine. A pity, the price was nice, and it came
with the BASIC floppy set, and a couple of IEEE-488 cables.

I've also got a couple of Tektronix 6130 systems (National
Semiconductor 32016 CPU) which have the IEEE-488 interface too, but the
system is ancient, and the programs necessary to format a SCSI disc on
it are missing. The only disc is an 80 MB MFM disc -- sort of made of
unobtanium these days. :-)


There are several Tek Yahoo groups that might help you find the
software. I might still have a small SCSI drive. www.geeks.com had the
80 GB for $4.95 just before they shut down retail sales.

I've got most of the software -- in QIC tapes, but not the
floppy to install external disks. For whatever reason, it was not
installed as part of the OS.

Thanks,
DoN.

[ ... ]

Yes, but most companies picked a common connector so they could talk
to other equipment without stocking hundreds of different cables. A few
oddballs used very expensive and hard to find connectors. Some used
another cheaper connector to save a few cents, like the Heathkit H-14
printer that used a straight line molded nylon connector like those used
on switching power supplies.

That might be from their association with DEC. I bought a DEC
LA-36 dot matrix printer which had as its serial interface a flat
plastic connector with a tab which set the keying which was by default a
TTY current loop interface, and had to get an add-on board to make it
RS-232. :-)


The H-14 printer was a kit, on a cast aluminum base. It used the
printhead and motors from a cheap ATM receipt printer, and was all their
design. The original release didn't have enough drive for the paper
feed motor, and needed a mod kit installed to increase the drive current
to the stepper motor. Yes, it was compatible with their H-8 DEC clone
computer.

Then that may have defined the connector.

Though DEC did use the DB-25 on their VT-100 and later
terminals. And were one of the few to do it *right* -- with the male
pins on the serial port and female on the parallel port, leaving no
doubt as to whether it was wired as DTE or DCE (the latter normally used
the female connector.)

The other problem (since it was fed from a box of pin-feed
paper) was the cat who decided to go to sleep on top of the paper during
a long print run. :-) It would have been better if the cat had freaked
at the sound of the dot-matrix printer running and left for elsewhere. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

On 2014-06-15, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

[ ... ]

As as for the "can't solder" bit -- I've discovered that I am
not as good at wire-wrap as I once was, either. :-) Magnifying hood to
the rescue.


I have a couple wire wrap guns, but the custom battery packs are
shot.

These are the ones with a cylindrical gray battery pack which
bayonets into either the gun or the charger? I've got a few of those
(not purchased for the purpose -- part of a specialized toolkit
acquisition). And yes, the specialized battery packs are dead here too.
Since I have other options, I haven't bothered to try to make
replacement packs.

I've got:

1) O.K. Machine-and-tool AC line powered gun with backforce
feature. (Bought *new* a long time ago)

2) Gardiner-Denver AC line powered gun without backforce
feature. From a hamfest last year.

3) Compressed-air powered gun without backforce feature.
I need to make a skinny hose for it. (Hamfest early this year.)

4) Metal squeeze-to-wrap Gun from Gardiner-Denver from a hamfest
fitted with the larger bits for 22 Ga wire wrap pins and tools.
From a hamfest a few years ago.

5) Plastic squeeze-to-wrap O.K. Machine and Tool gun. Fitted with
the small bits for IC sockets and the like. Another hamfest
item perhaps three years ago.

Of them all, the O.K. Machine and tool one is the most
comfortable to use. I've got to find it again. The rest I know where
they are -- most within ten feet of me at present.

What I really need to find are the wire-*un*wrap tools (hand
powered) for when I make a mistake, or just need to make a change.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | (KV4PH) Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

On 2014-06-15, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

[ ... ]

As as for the "can't solder" bit -- I've discovered that I am
not as good at wire-wrap as I once was, either. :-) Magnifying hood to
the rescue.


I have a couple wire wrap guns, but the custom battery packs are
shot.

These are the ones with a cylindrical gray battery pack which
bayonets into either the gun or the charger? I've got a few of those
(not purchased for the purpose -- part of a specialized toolkit
acquisition). And yes, the specialized battery packs are dead here too.
Since I have other options, I haven't bothered to try to make
replacement packs.


These are O.K. battery powered units. I was going to gut the
batteries, and run them from the bench supply.


I've got:

1) O.K. Machine-and-tool AC line powered gun with backforce
feature. (Bought *new* a long time ago)

2) Gardiner-Denver AC line powered gun without backforce
feature. From a hamfest last year.

3) Compressed-air powered gun without backforce feature.
I need to make a skinny hose for it. (Hamfest early this year.)

4) Metal squeeze-to-wrap Gun from Gardiner-Denver from a hamfest
fitted with the larger bits for 22 Ga wire wrap pins and tools.
From a hamfest a few years ago.

5) Plastic squeeze-to-wrap O.K. Machine and Tool gun. Fitted with
the small bits for IC sockets and the like. Another hamfest
item perhaps three years ago.

Of them all, the O.K. Machine and tool one is the most
comfortable to use. I've got to find it again. The rest I know where
they are -- most within ten feet of me at present.

What I really need to find are the wire-*un*wrap tools (hand
powered) for when I make a mistake, or just need to make a change.


I have (or had) a hand wrap tool from Radio Shack that did a decent
job of unwrapping.


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

On Friday, May 16, 2014 7:54:33 PM UTC-4, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message

m...



Jim Wilkins wrote:



"Michael A. Terrell" ? wrote in message

m...

? ...

? BTW, it isn't a DB-9, it is a DE-9. The second letter is the

shell

? size. The common 25 pin shell is a 'B'. The SVGA monitor plug

is a

? HDE-15.

?

? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-subminiature



What happened when you lectured the engineers about their errors?





Our engineers already knew the proper names. After all, some of

the

parts had been in the inventory database for over 30 years. They

had

about 40 variations in the stockroom. We used quite a few with

coaxial

inserts, since we built modular microwave receivers.



You were lucky. I was push into microwave radio in the 1990s when the

smart old guys were leaving and and a younger group was replacing

them.

You've got your story pretty darn bass-ackwards

This might be a little late but I purchased this head unit over a year ago and I have found it very useful
Binocular Magnifier & Visor Light - Lee Valley Tools
I purchased the headset and light combo as well as the additional 2.75x lens. It doesn't help with hand shake, sometimes I feel like Rodney Dangerfield in "Easy Money," but I can clearly see what's going on

Bob Engelhardt wrote:

On 5/16/2014 12:17 PM, Karl Townsend wrote:
... For soldering, have you seen the dial indicator
holder that just takes one hand knob to tighten the whole thing? They
are just tits. Anyway, put an allegator clamp in place of the
indicator, hold the thing in place and tighten - it won't move even a
couple thou. maybe get one for the other part too.
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/det...60426&fromRR=Y

You may choke on the price, but THEY ARE WORTH EVERY PENNY.

I have one of those - a competitor's version, I think. It is a
FANTASTIC indicator holder. Great idea- using it for soldering!

I got mine when somebody here alerted to it's being on sale - for $65,
IIRC (not MSC). $65 seemed like a lot, but was worth it. $175, I don't
think so. I would HATE to have to decide whether to spend $175 for it -
it's so good, but that's so much.

Bob


I just bought this for $19.95

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161430851697

--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

On Fri, 05 Dec 2014 22:37:49 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161430851697

????

You guys need those? I tend to run into 4-8 at a time and since they
arent worth anything used, toss em or give em away.

Most of them will have the fine adjustment.

Ill start saving em when I get em and give em to you guys for shipping
only.

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child,
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats."
PJ O'Rourke

On Fri, 05 Dec 2014 22:37:49 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Bob Engelhardt wrote:

On 5/16/2014 12:17 PM, Karl Townsend wrote:
... For soldering, have you seen the dial indicator
holder that just takes one hand knob to tighten the whole thing? They
are just tits. Anyway, put an allegator clamp in place of the
indicator, hold the thing in place and tighten - it won't move even a
couple thou. maybe get one for the other part too.
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/det...60426&fromRR=Y

You may choke on the price, but THEY ARE WORTH EVERY PENNY.

I have one of those - a competitor's version, I think. It is a
FANTASTIC indicator holder. Great idea- using it for soldering!

I got mine when somebody here alerted to it's being on sale - for $65,
IIRC (not MSC). $65 seemed like a lot, but was worth it. $175, I don't
think so. I would HATE to have to decide whether to spend $175 for it -
it's so good, but that's so much.

Egad! Noga is downright _proud_ of that one, aren't they?


I just bought this for $19.95

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161430851697

These sell for $14.95 at Harbor Fright every day of the week, and
they're often under ten bucks on sale.
http://www.harborfreight.com/multipo...ment-5645.html

Then there are the universal mount (read: redneck) type holders.
http://www.harborfreight.com/clampin...tor-93051.html

--
Believe nothing.
No matter where you read it,
Or who said it,
Even if I have said it,
Unless it agrees with your own reason
And your own common sense.
-- Buddha

On Sat, 06 Dec 2014 06:43:00 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

http://www.harborfreight.com/clampin...tor-93051.html


Thats the style I use the most, but mine all have a magnetic base
rather than visegrips. I did make an adapter that allows me to screw
it onto a C clamp however...but it seldom gets used. Though when one
needs it...its damned nice to have

Thats a VERY good price for that set. I paid over $100 for my
"gooseneck" indicator holder.

http://www.use-enco.com/1/1/9874-52-...base-sets.html

Ive picked up several others, used for less money of course.

They ARE a bit fiddly and they dont hold a lot of weight..but Im only
holding dial test indicators (.ooo1)



Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child,
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats."
PJ O'Rourke

Larry Jaques wrote:

On Fri, 05 Dec 2014 22:37:49 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Bob Engelhardt wrote:

On 5/16/2014 12:17 PM, Karl Townsend wrote:
... For soldering, have you seen the dial indicator
holder that just takes one hand knob to tighten the whole thing? They
are just tits. Anyway, put an allegator clamp in place of the
indicator, hold the thing in place and tighten - it won't move even a
couple thou. maybe get one for the other part too.
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/det...60426&fromRR=Y

You may choke on the price, but THEY ARE WORTH EVERY PENNY.

I have one of those - a competitor's version, I think. It is a
FANTASTIC indicator holder. Great idea- using it for soldering!

I got mine when somebody here alerted to it's being on sale - for $65,
IIRC (not MSC). $65 seemed like a lot, but was worth it. $175, I don't
think so. I would HATE to have to decide whether to spend $175 for it -
it's so good, but that's so much.

Egad! Noga is downright _proud_ of that one, aren't they?

I just bought this for $19.95

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161430851697

These sell for $14.95 at Harbor Fright every day of the week, and
they're often under ten bucks on sale.
http://www.harborfreight.com/multipo...ment-5645.html


I've never seen one at the local HF store.


Then there are the universal mount (read: redneck) type holders.
http://www.harborfreight.com/clampin...tor-93051.html




--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

On Sun, 07 Dec 2014 05:05:18 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Larry Jaques wrote:

On Fri, 05 Dec 2014 22:37:49 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Bob Engelhardt wrote:

On 5/16/2014 12:17 PM, Karl Townsend wrote:
... For soldering, have you seen the dial indicator
holder that just takes one hand knob to tighten the whole thing? They
are just tits. Anyway, put an allegator clamp in place of the
indicator, hold the thing in place and tighten - it won't move even a
couple thou. maybe get one for the other part too.
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/det...60426&fromRR=Y

You may choke on the price, but THEY ARE WORTH EVERY PENNY.

I have one of those - a competitor's version, I think. It is a
FANTASTIC indicator holder. Great idea- using it for soldering!

I got mine when somebody here alerted to it's being on sale - for $65,
IIRC (not MSC). $65 seemed like a lot, but was worth it. $175, I don't
think so. I would HATE to have to decide whether to spend $175 for it -
it's so good, but that's so much.

Egad! Noga is downright _proud_ of that one, aren't they?

I just bought this for $19.95

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161430851697

These sell for $14.95 at Harbor Fright every day of the week, and
they're often under ten bucks on sale.
http://www.harborfreight.com/multipo...ment-5645.html


I've never seen one at the local HF store.

If you go there a lot, ask them to stock it for you. I got mine at
the semi-local store, 30 miles away. I make the Medford run every
month or three. Mine didn't stock their wheelbarrow inner tube, so I
ordered one off Amazon for a buck less. Hopefully, it won't smell
like Chinese rubber, which is worse than vomit when it comes to the
gag response. Dear Crom, what do they use in it?

--
Believe nothing.
No matter where you read it,
Or who said it,
Even if I have said it,
Unless it agrees with your own reason
And your own common sense.
-- Buddha

Larry Jaques wrote:

On Sun, 07 Dec 2014 05:05:18 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Larry Jaques wrote:

On Fri, 05 Dec 2014 22:37:49 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Bob Engelhardt wrote:

On 5/16/2014 12:17 PM, Karl Townsend wrote:
... For soldering, have you seen the dial indicator
holder that just takes one hand knob to tighten the whole thing? They
are just tits. Anyway, put an allegator clamp in place of the
indicator, hold the thing in place and tighten - it won't move even a
couple thou. maybe get one for the other part too.
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/det...60426&fromRR=Y

You may choke on the price, but THEY ARE WORTH EVERY PENNY.

I have one of those - a competitor's version, I think. It is a
FANTASTIC indicator holder. Great idea- using it for soldering!

I got mine when somebody here alerted to it's being on sale - for $65,
IIRC (not MSC). $65 seemed like a lot, but was worth it. $175, I don't
think so. I would HATE to have to decide whether to spend $175 for it -
it's so good, but that's so much.

Egad! Noga is downright _proud_ of that one, aren't they?

I just bought this for $19.95

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161430851697

These sell for $14.95 at Harbor Fright every day of the week, and
they're often under ten bucks on sale.
http://www.harborfreight.com/multipo...ment-5645.html


I've never seen one at the local HF store.

If you go there a lot, ask them to stock it for you. I got mine at
the semi-local store, 30 miles away. I make the Medford run every
month or three. Mine didn't stock their wheelbarrow inner tube, so I
ordered one off Amazon for a buck less. Hopefully, it won't smell
like Chinese rubber, which is worse than vomit when it comes to the
gag response. Dear Crom, what do they use in it?


I used to be in there fairly often, but my health no longer alows me
to go more than a few times a year. It is a couple miles from the
Veteran's park, so that is usually the only times I get there.

Those tubes are made from old Chinese!


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:

On Fri, 05 Dec 2014 22:37:49 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Bob Engelhardt wrote:

On 5/16/2014 12:17 PM, Karl Townsend wrote:
... For soldering, have you seen the dial indicator
holder that just takes one hand knob to tighten the whole thing? They
are just tits. Anyway, put an allegator clamp in place of the
indicator, hold the thing in place and tighten - it won't move even a
couple thou. maybe get one for the other part too.
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/det...60426&fromRR=Y

You may choke on the price, but THEY ARE WORTH EVERY PENNY.

I have one of those - a competitor's version, I think. It is a
FANTASTIC indicator holder. Great idea- using it for soldering!

I got mine when somebody here alerted to it's being on sale - for $65,
IIRC (not MSC). $65 seemed like a lot, but was worth it. $175, I don't
think so. I would HATE to have to decide whether to spend $175 for it -
it's so good, but that's so much.

Egad! Noga is downright _proud_ of that one, aren't they?

I just bought this for $19.95

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161430851697

These sell for $14.95 at Harbor Fright every day of the week, and
they're often under ten bucks on sale.
http://www.harborfreight.com/multipo...ment-5645.html

I've never seen one at the local HF store.


It arrived today. I bought it to mount a USB microscope, for
reworking circuit boards. I am going to use a longer rod, to give me
more depth so I can work on larger boards.


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:

On Fri, 05 Dec 2014 22:37:49 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Bob Engelhardt wrote:

On 5/16/2014 12:17 PM, Karl Townsend wrote:
... For soldering, have you seen the dial indicator
holder that just takes one hand knob to tighten the whole thing? They
are just tits. Anyway, put an allegator clamp in place of the
indicator, hold the thing in place and tighten - it won't move even a
couple thou. maybe get one for the other part too.
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/det...60426&fromRR=Y

You may choke on the price, but THEY ARE WORTH EVERY PENNY.

I have one of those - a competitor's version, I think. It is a
FANTASTIC indicator holder. Great idea- using it for soldering!

I got mine when somebody here alerted to it's being on sale - for $65,
IIRC (not MSC). $65 seemed like a lot, but was worth it. $175, I don't
think so. I would HATE to have to decide whether to spend $175 for it -
it's so good, but that's so much.

Egad! Noga is downright _proud_ of that one, aren't they?

I just bought this for $19.95

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161430851697

These sell for $14.95 at Harbor Fright every day of the week, and
they're often under ten bucks on sale.
http://www.harborfreight.com/multipo...ment-5645.html

I've never seen one at the local HF store.


It arrived today. I bought it to mount a USB microscope, for
reworking circuit boards. I am going to use a longer rod, to give me
more depth so I can work on larger boards.


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

On Mon, 08 Dec 2014 20:55:10 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:

On Fri, 05 Dec 2014 22:37:49 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Bob Engelhardt wrote:

On 5/16/2014 12:17 PM, Karl Townsend wrote:
... For soldering, have you seen the dial indicator
holder that just takes one hand knob to tighten the whole thing? They
are just tits. Anyway, put an allegator clamp in place of the
indicator, hold the thing in place and tighten - it won't move even a
couple thou. maybe get one for the other part too.
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/det...60426&fromRR=Y

You may choke on the price, but THEY ARE WORTH EVERY PENNY.

I have one of those - a competitor's version, I think. It is a
FANTASTIC indicator holder. Great idea- using it for soldering!

I got mine when somebody here alerted to it's being on sale - for $65,
IIRC (not MSC). $65 seemed like a lot, but was worth it. $175, I don't
think so. I would HATE to have to decide whether to spend $175 for it -
it's so good, but that's so much.

Egad! Noga is downright _proud_ of that one, aren't they?

I just bought this for $19.95

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161430851697

These sell for $14.95 at Harbor Fright every day of the week, and
they're often under ten bucks on sale.
http://www.harborfreight.com/multipo...ment-5645.html

I've never seen one at the local HF store.


It arrived today. I bought it to mount a USB microscope, for
reworking circuit boards. I am going to use a longer rod, to give me
more depth so I can work on larger boards.

I have one or more of these (Swift microscopes) IRRC...10x which
might be too much...

http://www.microscope.com/media/cata...0__2_of_2_.jpg

https://picasaweb.google.com/1040422...16934432382642

I never use em. Shipping might be a killer unfortunately...

Might have a spare head though, that would ship easily if you want to
build your own. Want me to dig around and see what I can come up
with?

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child,
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats."
PJ O'Rourke

On Mon, 08 Dec 2014 20:56:05 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Mon, 08 Dec 2014 02:04:25 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Larry Jaques wrote:

On Sun, 07 Dec 2014 05:05:18 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:
I've never seen one at the local HF store.

If you go there a lot, ask them to stock it for you. I got mine at
the semi-local store, 30 miles away. I make the Medford run every
month or three. Mine didn't stock their wheelbarrow inner tube, so I
ordered one off Amazon for a buck less. Hopefully, it won't smell
like Chinese rubber, which is worse than vomit when it comes to the
gag response. Dear Crom, what do they use in it?


I used to be in there fairly often, but my health no longer alows me
to go more than a few times a year. It is a couple miles from the
Veteran's park, so that is usually the only times I get there.

Suckage.


Those tubes are made from old Chinese!

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Don't forget: cigars are made from circumcision remnants.

But! They are hand rolled on the virgin thighs of 14yr old Cuban
girls


"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child,
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats."
PJ O'Rourke

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

I just bought this for $19.95

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161430851697

These sell for $14.95 at Harbor Fright every day of the week, and
they're often under ten bucks on sale.
http://www.harborfreight.com/multipo...ment-5645.html

I've never seen one at the local HF store.

It arrived today. I bought it to mount a USB microscope, for
reworking circuit boards. I am going to use a longer rod, to give me
more depth so I can work on larger boards.


I found a 17" 10 mm stainless steel rod from a scrapped flatbed
scanner that will replace the 6.5" original. I have to wait for the
microscope to arrive, to see if it will work.

--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

Gunner Asch wrote:

On Mon, 08 Dec 2014 20:55:10 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:

On Fri, 05 Dec 2014 22:37:49 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Bob Engelhardt wrote:

On 5/16/2014 12:17 PM, Karl Townsend wrote:
... For soldering, have you seen the dial indicator
holder that just takes one hand knob to tighten the whole thing? They
are just tits. Anyway, put an allegator clamp in place of the
indicator, hold the thing in place and tighten - it won't move even a
couple thou. maybe get one for the other part too.
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/det...60426&fromRR=Y

You may choke on the price, but THEY ARE WORTH EVERY PENNY.

I have one of those - a competitor's version, I think. It is a
FANTASTIC indicator holder. Great idea- using it for soldering!

I got mine when somebody here alerted to it's being on sale - for $65,
IIRC (not MSC). $65 seemed like a lot, but was worth it. $175, I don't
think so. I would HATE to have to decide whether to spend $175 for it -
it's so good, but that's so much.

Egad! Noga is downright _proud_ of that one, aren't they?

I just bought this for $19.95

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161430851697

These sell for $14.95 at Harbor Fright every day of the week, and
they're often under ten bucks on sale.
http://www.harborfreight.com/multipo...ment-5645.html

I've never seen one at the local HF store.


It arrived today. I bought it to mount a USB microscope, for
reworking circuit boards. I am going to use a longer rod, to give me
more depth so I can work on larger boards.

I have one or more of these (Swift microscopes) IRRC...10x which
might be too much...

http://www.microscope.com/media/cata...0__2_of_2_.jpg

https://picasaweb.google.com/1040422...16934432382642

I never use em. Shipping might be a killer unfortunately...

Might have a spare head though, that would ship easily if you want to
build your own. Want me to dig around and see what I can come up
with?


I would love the head, or a complete stereo inspection scope but let
me see if this works, first.


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

On Tue, 09 Dec 2014 06:53:24 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Mon, 08 Dec 2014 20:59:38 -0800, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Mon, 08 Dec 2014 20:55:10 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:

On Fri, 05 Dec 2014 22:37:49 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Bob Engelhardt wrote:

On 5/16/2014 12:17 PM, Karl Townsend wrote:
... For soldering, have you seen the dial indicator
holder that just takes one hand knob to tighten the whole thing? They
are just tits. Anyway, put an allegator clamp in place of the
indicator, hold the thing in place and tighten - it won't move even a
couple thou. maybe get one for the other part too.
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/det...60426&fromRR=Y

You may choke on the price, but THEY ARE WORTH EVERY PENNY.

I have one of those - a competitor's version, I think. It is a
FANTASTIC indicator holder. Great idea- using it for soldering!

I got mine when somebody here alerted to it's being on sale - for $65,
IIRC (not MSC). $65 seemed like a lot, but was worth it. $175, I don't
think so. I would HATE to have to decide whether to spend $175 for it -
it's so good, but that's so much.

Egad! Noga is downright _proud_ of that one, aren't they?

I just bought this for $19.95

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161430851697

These sell for $14.95 at Harbor Fright every day of the week, and
they're often under ten bucks on sale.
http://www.harborfreight.com/multipo...ment-5645.html

I've never seen one at the local HF store.


It arrived today. I bought it to mount a USB microscope, for
reworking circuit boards. I am going to use a longer rod, to give me
more depth so I can work on larger boards.

I have one or more of these (Swift microscopes) IRRC...10x which
might be too much...

http://www.microscope.com/media/cata...0__2_of_2_.jpg

I never use em. Shipping might be a killer unfortunately...

I wish I'd seen those when I was there. (But I was in bad shape...)

I did show them to you..but as you stated..you were in bad shape.

I'm also looking for something I can use to inspect my back, then pick
the blackheads, scrape off keratoses, stitch up bullet holes and knife
wounds, etc. I can't wait for MediBots and AutoDocs to arrive.

Girl friends are handy to have. Just saying. Might want to look
around for an retired EMS or a nurse. They play well (usually) and
dont blink when putting in sutures

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child,
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats."
PJ O'Rourke

On Tue, 09 Dec 2014 21:43:07 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Gunner Asch wrote:

On Mon, 08 Dec 2014 20:55:10 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:

On Fri, 05 Dec 2014 22:37:49 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Bob Engelhardt wrote:

On 5/16/2014 12:17 PM, Karl Townsend wrote:
... For soldering, have you seen the dial indicator
holder that just takes one hand knob to tighten the whole thing? They
are just tits. Anyway, put an allegator clamp in place of the
indicator, hold the thing in place and tighten - it won't move even a
couple thou. maybe get one for the other part too.
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/det...60426&fromRR=Y

You may choke on the price, but THEY ARE WORTH EVERY PENNY.

I have one of those - a competitor's version, I think. It is a
FANTASTIC indicator holder. Great idea- using it for soldering!

I got mine when somebody here alerted to it's being on sale - for $65,
IIRC (not MSC). $65 seemed like a lot, but was worth it. $175, I don't
think so. I would HATE to have to decide whether to spend $175 for it -
it's so good, but that's so much.

Egad! Noga is downright _proud_ of that one, aren't they?

I just bought this for $19.95

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161430851697

These sell for $14.95 at Harbor Fright every day of the week, and
they're often under ten bucks on sale.
http://www.harborfreight.com/multipo...ment-5645.html

I've never seen one at the local HF store.


It arrived today. I bought it to mount a USB microscope, for
reworking circuit boards. I am going to use a longer rod, to give me
more depth so I can work on larger boards.

I have one or more of these (Swift microscopes) IRRC...10x which
might be too much...

http://www.microscope.com/media/cata...0__2_of_2_.jpg

https://picasaweb.google.com/1040422...16934432382642

I never use em. Shipping might be a killer unfortunately...

Might have a spare head though, that would ship easily if you want to
build your own. Want me to dig around and see what I can come up
with?


I would love the head, or a complete stereo inspection scope but let
me see if this works, first.

Let me know what you need. I may..may have a spare Nikon head


"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child,
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats."
PJ O'Rourke

On 16/05/2014, Tom Gardner wrote::

I had a huge struggle with soldering a couple of DB-9 connectors, my vision
and fine motor control just aren't what they used to be.

I saw an eye (cornea) strengthening technique called "the see clearly method". It's in Wikipedia.

-- http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_Clearly_Method