[Ham-Mac] eMac Battery at Radio Shack, Replacement DigiKeyer Arrives

[Jack Brindle]

Maybe your your eMac, but the "Apple-defined beginning of the  
universe is actually Jan 1, 1904.

But, there is a bit of a secret to tell here. Whenever a new computer  
is created, it usually has a time chip - whether it is a PG&E , PGU  
or some other device. These are usually small microcontrollers that  
are programmed to handle very specific jobs, which include power  
management and time control. When a new one is created, the  
programmer needs to initialize the time keeping circuit with a date  
and time. Usually it is either our birthday or that of one of our  
kids. The device will later be corrected to the proper time by the  
system, but if battery is ever lost for that device, the computer  
will revert to the initial "birthday" time. Many Mac developers  
followed this approach (I won't reveal the names). There are several  
Motorola wireless devices that have the birthdates/times of my kids  
also.

So, find the Apple engineer who programmed the MCU for power  
management in your eMac, and you can tell him his birthday...

On Mar 26, 2007, at 5:04 PM, Brian K.Short wrote:

> (Sorry about duplication, but the clock was set to 1961
> which is the defined Apple beginning of the universe and
> I didn't think anything went out.)

- Jack Brindle, W6FB
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