Reply to: Stunned at the price of a book...

[TheMonkey]

I discovered the library service at one place... magic...

Lots of very useful books.

I had my car nicked when there were a load of work loan books in it. They thought nothing of it and said not to worry. What I didn't tell them is that I forgot that I didn't leave the books in the car.

[zeitghost]

I had a contract at Hawkers many years ago and accidentally stumbled across the policies and procedures manuals. Really enjoyable read. I discovered how to order office supplies and all sorts of fun things such as a decent desk and chair. Works accountant got really upset about it.

I discovered the library service at one place... magic...

Lots of very useful books.

[zeitghost]

Never said it could be interesting, but I bet you would rather read that whilst sat by a pool than read a policies and procedures manual!!!

I suspect you may be correct...

[threaded]

Never said it could be interesting, but I bet you would rather read that whilst sat by a pool than read a policies and procedures manual!!!

I had a contract at Hawkers many years ago and accidentally stumbled across the policies and procedures manuals. Really enjoyable read. I discovered how to order office supplies and all sorts of fun things such as a decent desk and chair. Works accountant got really upset about it.

[NewBoy]

Never said it could be interesting, but I bet you would rather read that whilst sat by a pool than read a policies and procedures manual!!!

[zeitghost]

I'm not convinced that a book about Soft Ferrites and transformer design can altogether be classed as interesting, but hey! opinions differ...

[NewBoy]

Best to put this into perspective...

I am in the process of writing 300 pages for a company and they are buying those 300 pages off me for the very reasonable price £35k

I'm sure the literature they are getting is far less interesting than your book so I would think that at £430 its a bargain!!

[TheMonkey]

Probly some manufacturer's in-house code... any idea who made the ASICs?

And who made the LaserDisk player?

Can't be many options, the ones who spring to mind are Philips and I think Sharp, though that might be a load of bollow.

It's a Philips one. The main problem is that the SCSI interface wasn't present on standard "video grade" players - only special ones.

The chip is a 40 pin DIP package which is possibly a ULA part (same as Sinclair core chipset but it's (c) philips) so it probably could be reverse engineered quite easily but I don't have the time or knowledge to do so. I know it's that that is screwed as the power rails are closed circuit when the chip is present (causing the PSU to clamp) and open when it's out.

Photo of back for the interested (this si the same machine - IDC connector at the bottom is the SCSI):

[zeitghost]

Probly some manufacturer's in-house code... any idea who made the ASICs?

And who made the LaserDisk player?

Can't be many options, the ones who spring to mind are Philips and I think Sharp, though that might be a load of bollow.

[TheMonkey]

I surrender; you are sadder than I...

That BBC Doomsday thingy is an appreciating asset if you could get the LaserDisc player to work...

I wish I could get it to work so I could sell it (seem to hit the £2-5k mark on ebay complete!). Unfortunately the SCSI controller in the LaserDisc is completely dead and it appears to use some completely non-standard ASICs on it for which I can't even find a reference to, let alone an alternative. I've had my eye on ebay for 2 years but have been outbid on nearly all other broken laserdiscs.

Ironically this thread inspired me to fire up the 1000E for a last go and I got a console on one of the serial ports. Might play with it today and see if I can get Solaris on it.

[zeitghost]

I might be able to top that in sadness. I have a pile of 12 dead circa 1990 Sun workstations in the kitchen, a big and dead 8 processor Sun 1000E and a dead BBC Doomsday setup on which the LaserDisc player is dead.

I surrender; you are sadder than I...

That BBC Doomsday thingy is an appreciating asset if you could get the LaserDisc player to work...

[TheMonkey]

You can't possibly be as sad as me ; collecting old & obsolete video cassette recorders...

And I'm not as sad as the Septics who collect old & obsolete broadcast Video Tape Recorders, seriously big & heavy iron that...

Loved the statement on one site "had to saw the chassis in half to get it down into the basement". (Machine weighs about 1300lbs ).

I might be able to top that in sadness. I have a pile of 12 dead circa 1990 Sun workstations in the kitchen, a big and dead 8 processor Sun 1000E and a dead BBC Doomsday setup on which the LaserDisc player is dead.

R.A.Penfold Books - Have you tried you local branch of Maplin?

It's an "obsolete" book and Maplin have a policy of throwing old stuff out. I've even tried Babani who were actually rude and unhelpful (they're getting old now).

Are you sure I ca'nt interest you in Babani's "Building Your Own Solid State Oscilloscope" for a mere fifty quid? I am sure synthesizers and oscilloscopes are basically pretty similar.

Very funny. I have a nice Philips scope here. Well not nice, it's a beaten to death ex-MoD bag of tulipe but it cost £10 and works well enough.

[zeitghost]

They are much cheaper here

Feck me, I'm getting old, I only just got that...

[xoggoth]

Are you sure I ca'nt interest you in Babani's "Building Your Own Solid State Oscilloscope" for a mere fifty quid? I am sure synthesizers and oscilloscopes are basically pretty similar.

[Churchill]

R.A.Penfold Books - Have you tried you local branch of Maplin?