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WTB: working 5.25 floppy for a Model 3!

bjones said:
Hazing the newb is great funz no?


thanks.
/brian
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Actually, yeah.
C'mon - don't take it the wrong way - I'm sure none of us meant to be snarky (I'm sure we all had smiles on our faces when we were replying/reading the posts) - we've all got to get our laughs somehow (and it's always easier at someone else's expense :) ).

I was asking for a sticker (and, yes it'll be hidden) just to find out whose manufacture it was.
You will have to take the machine apart, and remove the drive, in order to replace the face plate and/or the door latch. I just thought you'd possibly already done that. And note that if you do end up replacing the whole front plate/door assembly, you don't have to snip the wires for the in-use LED (as I saw someone do when they shipped a front plate to me).

In any case, if others are helping, MikeS and I will have to go find someone else to pick on. :)
 
MikeS said:
Not from one of mine I hope ;-) I was hoping to retrieve them some day...
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MikeS, I would never sell your drives off (I haven't fixed them yet LOL)

Yeah, that's the beastie alright, changed a lot of those door latches in my time. I might have one that's toast and can spare the latch and pins, but, since you are getting help elsewhere, I guess it won't be needed.

Lorne and MikeS are two of the nicest guys on the forum and you are just reading things into their posts that aren't there. The problem with textual communications. Like a lot of us, we just want the facts so we can help you out.
 
bjones said:
I provided photos, it's a standard factory drive, there are no markings that I can see short of removing the drive and looking in currently hidden places. If you already know they factory installed multiple models of drive and it made a difference, why not just tell me that and say look for something instead of looking down your nose at me? I have only ever used these machines with factory drives, never seen one with any kind of door other than the one in mine so model numbers of the actual drives weren't even something that crossed my mind as they've all looked the same.
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The thing is, is that there are several different disk drives that look pretty much just like that from the front. Shugart, Tandon, MPI, etc. And, since the TRS-80 used such standard drives, they got switched around or replaced a lot. And, unless you're the original owner of the machine, you won't know what was changed. It's good to double check by actually looking at the markings on the drive.

Not only that, but who's to say Tandy used the same drive on every machine? IBM used a couple different brands. Most manufacturers used whatever was cheapest at the particular moment.

We're not hazing you. We're honestly trying to help. It's like someone on a car forum asking about changing a head gasket on a 1966 Pontiac GTO, and just says "Well, I haven't changed the engine, so it must be the one that came with it".

Also, we did all assume you'd taken the cover off the computer by now :D

-Ian
 
Who's been unfriendly? What "hazing"? Did you notice the smileys?

Two people have simply asked you three times what the make and model of that floppy drive is and you haven't seen fit to check and answer yet, although you do have the time to bitch and complain.

I've got a pile of Tandon TM100s and if that's what it is then I'd have gladly helped you out, but I don't want to waste time and money shipping you a door if it turns out that you've got identical-looking MPI drives or whatever in there. Sorry you find that offensive and "giving grief".

Glad to hear that even this "unfriendly crowd" has offered to help you out.

Sheesh! Good luck.
 
MikeS said:
Who's been unfriendly? What "hazing"? Did you notice the smileys?

Two people have simply asked you three times what the make and model of that floppy drive is and you haven't seen fit to check and answer yet, although you do have the time to bitch and complain.

I've got a pile of Tandon TM100s and if that's what it is then I'd have gladly helped you out, but I don't want to waste time and money shipping you a door if it turns out that you've got identical-looking MPI drives or whatever in there. Sorry you find that offensive and "giving grief".

Glad to hear that even this "unfriendly crowd" has offered to help you out.

Sheesh! Good luck.
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Eh whatever. I get it, you're the standard smarter than everyone else personality found on every board. You could have just come right out and said I might have parts to help if you look at what model the drive is instead of cryptic stuff. You could have. I'll just move on so you can go give someone else your warmest of welcomes :) <-- see the smiley

Thankfully there are some really cool people like Chromedome out there. He really showed me a lot about the TRS80, fixed up my drive in a few minutes and we ended up trading machines. I have a couple boxes of NOS disks i'll be sending his way. At least now I do know what it means to say model of a drive and how to tell the difference as he took the time to show me. It's been almost 30 years since the last time I got to see what my old computer class discs had on them. I wrote a pretty good space invaders clone in pascal if I do say so myself! Also rediscovered TRS80 'windows' 1.0 that I had made putting all the common dos functions in their own control panel like windows years before there was such a thing as windows.
 
bjones said:
Eh whatever. I get it, you're the standard smarter than everyone else personality found on every board. You could have just come right out and said I might have parts to help if you look at what model the drive is instead of cryptic stuff. You could have. I'll just move on so you can go give someone else your warmest of welcomes :) <-- see the smiley
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You know, I've reread this whole thread and all I see is ~20 posts from seven people taking the time to try to help you out, asking a few questions to narrow down what and where we're actually talking about, and trying to explain a few things that you seemed unclear about; I don't see anything "cryptic" in my posts, nor anything suggesting that I see myself as "smarter than everyone else", or anyone at all for that matter including you. (Yes, Lorne and I did assume that since you were asking for a disk drive and had clearly specified the model of the computer, that you would realize that we were asking about the make and model of the drive and not the computer; sorry about that.)

You on the other hand see a "tough" and "unfriendly" crowd that enjoys "hazing newbs", sending "snarky remarks" in your direction, "looking down our noses" at you, and "just waiting for someone to give grief to". Kinda sounds like you've maybe got a little chip on your shoulder?

Sorry you feel the way you do and are moving on; might be your loss, but glad you found at least one helpful person in your short visit with this "unfriendly" crowd.

As you say, whatever...
 
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The drive in his Model III was a TPI (Texas Peripherals) I managed to yank a door out a bad Shugart 400L I had laying around and got the TPI working. Just took a few minutes. Anyway I kept his Model III because it is the one TRS-80 I didn't have and traded my extra Model IV that was collecting dust. He seemed really happy about it. He really is a nice guy BTW. :p

Different subject for a second...Does anyone have an extra Model III/IV floppy drive controller? The one in the model III has a problem with write Pre-Compensation. I think the WD2143-01 chip might be bad. Any help would as always be appreciated. Thanks guys ;)
 
Chromedome45 said:
The drive in his Model III was a TPI (Texas Peripherals) I managed to yank a door out a bad Shugart 400L I had laying around and got the TPI working. Just took a few minutes. Anyway I kept his Model III because it is the one TRS-80 I didn't have and traded my extra Model IV that was collecting dust. He seemed really happy about it. He really is a nice guy BTW. :p
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I've no doubt he is; too bad he thinks that the rest of the folks here are so unfriendly.

Good thing you were on the scene to check it out since he never did tell us what kind it was and we all assumed incorrectly that it was a Tandon, and probably would have wasted time and shipping.

Glad it was solved in any case and you got the chance to meet.
 
Hi everybody. Let's get back on topic and move past the mis-communication.
 
mbbrutman said:
Hi everybody. Let's get back on topic and move past the mis-communication.
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Point taken. My apologies, as usual far too easy to misread peoples intent.

On the positive side i'm having a ball with the model 4, cleaned it up and started retrobriting the yellow keys to get it cosmetically shined up. Played way too much Zork 2 and wrote the first 100 line BASIC program for me in 30 years. About half of my old Middle school 'computer class' disks still work after all those years in the attic, almost eerie to see these things I wrote when I was 10 years old again.
 
It's penalty free, so don't worry about it. Sometimes people do come off wrong, and it happens more to some than to others. There is no point in spending more time on it though.

I have a Model 4 as well, but I need a few days to rebuild the keyboard. The contacts in the domes under keys are not conducting well anymore so many keys are dead or require an incredible amount of force to register. They are beautiful and classic machines though, so I'm looking forward to working on it. (I'm also having too much fun with other projects, so it's going to be a while.)
 
bjones said:
On the positive side i'm having a ball with the model 4, cleaned it up and started retrobriting the yellow keys to get it cosmetically shined up.
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I also have a Model 4 - treated the keys, and was looking at doing the RetrOBrite treatment on the case, but I didn't. If I remember correctly it was because the case is like an IBM 5150 (ie: painted).
So if your case looks like it might need the treatment, double check somewhere that doesn't show (like on the bottom) by scraping off some of what I think, is paint.
If I'm correct, a simple cleaning will do the trick.

PS: I recently came across an original TRS80DOS version 6 disk, and have imaged the disk and scanned the label (as well as Disk Scripsit and DoubleDuty). If you want them, send me a PM (but make sure you put smileys in the PM :) )
 
hey yea I know what you mean on the case. I was only retrobriting the keys on the keyboard that were really yellow. After treatment one they are tan, after two I hope they turn white.

The computer case I realized has some kind of plastic powdercoat on it, it was pretty dirty so I took simple green and magic erasers to it and it looks factory new now. Really cleaned up impressively in my opinion. The last thing I need to find is a 128k badge for the keyboard plate to complete it.

I think it's become my favorite vintage computer even over my venerable Atari 400 which was the home computer I grew up on vs the school one that was the trs80.

Have to dig and see if I have a dos 6 disk or not.
 
mbbrutman said:
The contacts in the domes under keys are not conducting well anymore so many keys are dead or require an incredible amount of force to register.
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Mike (et al),

I found that using a q-tip and Rubber Renue and then a quick wipe with a clean cotton cloth will get those contacts working like new.

We used to have to do it at my first repair company for people that liked to drink acidy, syrupy things while working at their computers and weren't all that good at hitting their mouths.

Rubber Renue (has many names and spellings) can be found at any place that services VCR, tape decks, turntables or electronic parts suppliers and is used to resurface the rubber belts in many A/V components.
 
If you're using the liquid RetroBrite treatment, they'll get back to white.
Keep an eye (every 15 mins) on the space bar though - they all seem to get de-yellowed quicker than the keys themselves.

Stay away from magic erasers - they're like a 1000 grit sandpaper - they'll take the marks off alright because they're taking a layer of something else off with it. Not good on a textured case, unless you want a smooth case.

Make sure you're fingers are fast if you see a 128K badge. Mine's been upgraded from 64K to 128K, and I'm still waiting to find a 128K badge.

And if your machine is 128K, you need a copy of Double Duty which is for 128K machines - I have a copy - I'll trade you for a 128K badge when you get one :).
 
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Cool. yea, I was very careful with the magic eraser. I'm pretty used to their effects from cleaning vintage pinball machine playfields during restoration so i have pretty good control over how far it goes. ON pinballs a magic eraser dipped in alcohol can take a lot of yellowed clearcoat off and really wake up original colors. THe case came out really nice and textured still, just feels clean now. There were a couple things like what looks to be a hilighter marker that weren't coming out and I didn't push it, going to try to bleach that out.

For the badges, I have all the tools needed to make reproductions of them with the clear doming on it so I might just make one and replace it if/when an original shows up.
 
bjones said:
There were a couple things like what looks to be a hilighter marker that weren't coming out and I didn't push it, going to try to bleach that out.
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WD-40 and a cotton ball will usually take off most marker material and then a little dish washing soap and warm water to take off the WD-40.
 
Mike B, here is what you need to do to fix that keyboard. What it involves is removing the keycap and desoldering the keyswitch. Remove the keyswitch from the keyboard and open it up by expanding the clips on each side. Key should have the spring, a rubber suction cup looking thing and another part that looks like a rocket. Remember how it came apart you will need to put it back together when done. On the bottom of the switch itself you will see two metal contacts. Clean these by scraping with a small screwdriver or other device to remove the tarnish. Now look at the suction cup device and on the bottom you will see what looks like a round piece of carbon. This is the actual key contact point. Now what I did with this part was to cut a small piece of copper tape just big enough to fit over the round part. Put a drop of super glue onto it and then put the copper tape onto the piece of carbon. Super glus helps it stay in place and not slip around. Now put switch back together and solder back into keyboard. Put keycap back on. Works like a champ. As bjones can testify all the keys are still working fine. I had to do this to his model III. 22 keys I did this to and all are working fine. Sorry for long winded instructions!!! :D
 
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Hi Frank,

I actually figured out the repair about 3 years ago. I just haven't gotten to it yet.

Each keyswitch has four solder connections on my keyboard. So that means removing and disassembling close to 80 keys. Instead of using a conductive disc under the dome where the old carbon disc is not working I was going to use a product that is designed to restore remote control contacts - basically a conductive goop that you paint on.

For those of you trying to visualize the mechanism, here a picture of one of the keys that I disassembled.

TRS80_Model_4_Keyswitch.jpg


It' just a long repair though. I need a rainy Saturday with 2 pots of coffee, no kids in the house, and nothing else going on.



Mike
 
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