[GreenKeys] Re: ASR-33 Woes

[gil smith]

Hi folks:

This is from Bob Armstrong, on the classic computer list, who is having a
slew of problems with his M33.  I told him to check out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3412782892
but the pain was still too fresh, and he was not amused.

Bob is the fellow who designed the single-board pdp-8 system, and he sure
would be pleased to get his 33 chugging away with it.

Does anyone have words of wisdom for tweaking his machine?

thanks,

gil


At 07:12 PM 4/20/03 -0700, you wrote:
>
>  I've spent the entire weekend trying to get a SBC PDP-8 working with a
>real ASR-33 and, in that time, I spent about 30 minutes on the SBC and
>the rest repairing the ASR!
>
>  First, the keyboard would randomly flip bits in the characters I typed
>and I spent several hours cleaning and adjusting the keyboard contact
>wires.  Then the little rubber pad on the print head hammer fell apart
>and I had to make a new one out of an old piece of bicycle tire.  After
>that the distributor rotor fell off three times while reading paper tapes
>(I think it was the continuous rotation from reading tapes that undid it).
>
>  Plus I didn't quite understand all the fine points of adjusting the
>distributor when I replaced it (turns out that there's a little tiny
>bump in one of the copper traces at the top of the contact board; you're
>supposed to arrange the rotor so that it points at this bump in the locked
>position), which wasted a few more hours.  Then the line feed clutch started
>skipping lines, but that's still too painful to talk about...
>
>  Now it'll run for about an hour before the motor overheats and siezes.
>I assume the whole thing needs to be disassembled, cleaned, and relubricated!
>
>  Sorry about all the complaining, but I just wanted to whine about old
>electromechanical technology for a while :-)  On a serious note, though,
>I have gotten to the point where I'd be willing to pay to have it
>professionally refurbished.  Is it possible that such a service still
>exists in real life, or is it only in my dreams???
>
>Thanks,
>Bob
>
>

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