The story of my Packard Bell

"Robert E. Watts" wrote in message
...
Hello !

"mc" wrote in message
news:ekKqj.65440$K%.7003@trnddc04...
Just wondering ...but what kind of batteries damaged your computers?
mc

Very old computers had a 2 or 4 pin connector that you connected a battery
pack to. ( for the CMOS settings ) This particular computer had a 3 AA
cell battery holder velcroed to the side of the PSU. When the damn
batteries leaked, they destroyed just about everything.

I should have known better.

bob


--
boBWatts®©
EartH
Watts Carburetion Service
Whizzbang Computers
Official collector of: transfat asian plastic junk trinkets !


I always saw those as, or at least thought they were an alternative for a
failed CMOS battery, meant only as a temporary power source until you or a
qualified tech could replace the systems soldered on CMOS battery.

At some point in the distant past I even saw a system where the battery pack
had long enough leads that it was velcroed to the back of the case and the
wires fed in through a slightly opened card slot.

Another option at one time appears to have been simular, using a square,
little brick like, battery of some type. I never delved in to one, but I
always thought they were some form of rechargable battery. If I recall they
cost a couple of bucks though.

"Kevin Childers" wrote in message
...
snip
I always saw those as, or at least thought they were an alternative for a
failed CMOS battery, meant only as a temporary power source until you or a
qualified tech could replace the systems soldered on CMOS battery.

At some point in the distant past I even saw a system where the battery
pack had long enough leads that it was velcroed to the back of the case
and the wires fed in through a slightly opened card slot.

Another option at one time appears to have been simular, using a square,
little brick like, battery of some type. I never delved in to one, but I
always thought they were some form of rechargable battery. If I recall
they cost a couple of bucks though.


The old IBM/PC-AT had a battery pack you are describing. In was not
rechargeable as far as I can remember. Hell I remember when I worked on
Sperry-Univac and it only did one thing at a time, nothing but tubes and
took up a whole floor and man it had to be cold in the computer center. Ha
ha

And the old Raytheon CRT's which were green with white/yellow.

Elector

"Elector" wrote in message
news:CI%qj.4$R64.1@trndny03...

"Kevin Childers" wrote in message
...
snip
I always saw those as, or at least thought they were an alternative for
a
failed CMOS battery, meant only as a temporary power source until you or
a
qualified tech could replace the systems soldered on CMOS battery.

At some point in the distant past I even saw a system where the battery
pack had long enough leads that it was velcroed to the back of the case
and the wires fed in through a slightly opened card slot.

Another option at one time appears to have been simular, using a square,
little brick like, battery of some type. I never delved in to one, but
I
always thought they were some form of rechargable battery. If I recall
they cost a couple of bucks though.


The old IBM/PC-AT had a battery pack you are describing. In was not
rechargeable as far as I can remember. Hell I remember when I worked on
Sperry-Univac and it only did one thing at a time, nothing but tubes and
took up a whole floor and man it had to be cold in the computer center. Ha
ha

And the old Raytheon CRT's which were green with white/yellow.

Elector



I actually have one of those "brick" type batteries in my junk box.
It's still good and has never been used...but I'm sure it does not have much
shelf life left in it. G

Also: Sperry-Univac wow that brings back some memories...
My x-girlfriend worked there in the late 70's.(Minneapolis)
She worked on a large project for the machine that processed the tickets for
Republic Airlines...
writing code.
I think the project lasted a year or more...
but when it was over, they wanted to transfer her out of state...so she
quite

Who ever thought that a Packard Bell computer would be an aphodesiac? Or was it
like a pre-modern Viagra? ... Ben Myers

On Wed, 6 Feb 2008 17:53:30 -0600, "philo" wrote:

Though I'm an old timer who took a few Fortran IV classes back in the days
of punch cards.
I hated those punch cards so much that I swore I'd never touch a computer
again.
Though I did briefly own a TI-99 back in 1982 or so...I eventually grew
afraid of computers.
Not only did I hate them. I hated people who used them...and my only
exposure to them was at work
when I needed to record parts I was taking out of inventory..

For may years I did well by not using a computer...and whenever I wrote,
I used an old L.C. Smith Corona typewriter that was probably made in 1939.
I still recall getting a letter from a friend of mine...and it took him two
pages to tell me
all he had to do to get his printer working.

I laughed and told him that with my typewriter I just put in a piece of
paper and go...
change the ribbon once a year...and a few drops of oil every five years.


All was well until my girlfriend purchased a Packard Bell Legend in 1995.
It was right after Windows95 was released...I thought she went off her
rocker
when she dished out 1600 USD to buy it. That would have purchased 320
rummage sale typewriters!

I absolutely feared the thing and stayed well away from it. Looking back I
realized that I though I was too stupid
to ever learn how to use it.


A few years later, my girlfriend and I broke up...
but one day I wrote her a letter just to ask how she was doing and I
released that
we were still on good terms...and we'd talk a bit from time to time.

In 1999 it happened. She got a new computer and asked me if I wanted her old
one.

It was *FREE* . Yes free is good. So I took it. (Not recognizing the fact
that she knew I'd
have to have her over all the time to show me how to use it. Sheesh, women
are so smart, are they not?)

It did not take me too long to learn how to use it...and in the process we
got our relationship
patched up and we've been together ever since.

That old Packard Bell served me very well for many years and I learned a lot
from it.
When new...it had only 8 megs of RAM. A p-75 cpu and an 850 meg HD.

I soon was building up an assortment of computers around the house...
and that PB would take virtually any hardware I could throw in it.
Any parts that did not work on other machines...would happily work fine in
that old PB.
By the time I retired it many years later...
It had a 20 meg HD and 128 megs of RAM and a 200mhz overdrive CPU.
I had it dual booting win98se and Red Hat Linux.
Also added a USB card and pulled the 14.4 modem /soundcard
and added a 56k modem and SoundBlaster.


Before I packed it away in my storage room
and put it back in it's original factory box...
I returned it pretty much to it's original state..right down to Windows95
and the 14.4 soundcard modem!


Now I am considered by my friends to be a computer guru...
and I am repairing the machines of all the folks who gave me my first
computer lessons.

I sure learned a lot from that old P-1
and I still laugh at the day ...well before I knew how to use it...
when my girlfriend put some of my writing into Microsoft Word...and used an
editing tool
to put "dots" between all the letters to check for proper spacing...
and I screamed at her for ruining the whole thing.

"I don't want all those dots in there, I yelled."

She pointed to the door (I ran out) and when I returned...
the publication was perfect...and looked a lot better than it did
when it was done by my typewriter.


And that is the story of how I finally joined the 20th century...
only to realize the 21st century had just arrived!

"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
Who ever thought that a Packard Bell computer would be an aphodesiac? Or
was it
like a pre-modern Viagra? ... Ben Myers




I think I'm too old to even open a bottle of that stuff G

On Feb 8, 5:16*pm, "philo" wrote:
"Ben Myers" wrote in message

...

Who ever thought that a Packard Bell computer would be an aphodesiac? *Or
was it
like a pre-modern Viagra? * ... Ben Myers

I think I'm too old to even open a bottle of that stuff G

You can get the RX with an easy off top.
You sound like there are no children around so safety caps would are
not needed.
Go for the 100mg tablets as they cost the same as the 50 and 25.
About 87 dollars for 6 with a prescription.


Most likely your insurance will not cover or it will need a special
authorization from your doctor.


The take about 45 minutes to an hr to work and last about 3 hrs with
some variables.
When and if you see a blue haze from lighting chances are the full
effect has been reached.


Rarely and very rarely the effcts can lst for hrs.
In that case medical treatment may be necessary
Or you must have a harem on hand

"Elector" wrote in message
news:CI%qj.4$R64.1@trndny03...

"Kevin Childers" wrote in message
...
snip
I always saw those as, or at least thought they were an alternative for a
failed CMOS battery, meant only as a temporary power source until you or
a qualified tech could replace the systems soldered on CMOS battery.

At some point in the distant past I even saw a system where the battery
pack had long enough leads that it was velcroed to the back of the case
and the wires fed in through a slightly opened card slot.

Another option at one time appears to have been simular, using a square,
little brick like, battery of some type. I never delved in to one, but I
always thought they were some form of rechargable battery. If I recall
they cost a couple of bucks though.


The old IBM/PC-AT had a battery pack you are describing. In was not
rechargeable as far as I can remember. Hell I remember when I worked on
Sperry-Univac and it only did one thing at a time, nothing but tubes and
took up a whole floor and man it had to be cold in the computer center. Ha
ha

And the old Raytheon CRT's which were green with white/yellow.

Elector
Cold? I actually took classes in the schools student main frame lab that
was originally built as the schools morgue for the Mortuary Sciences
Department. 20 foot ceiling with 2x2 Ft. cooling ducts every 4 feet or so,
extending down from the ceiling. Everyone wore a hooded jacket of some
sort, looked like a room full of monks. The Unibomber would have gone
completely unnoticed in that crowd.

Used to freak folks out when they found out that the new morgue was actually
part of the English Department's building. And everyone at some point had
to take an English class in that building.

Hello Kevin !

( inserting comments as I go....... )

"Kevin Childers" wrote in message
...
I always saw those as, or at least thought they were an alternative for a
failed CMOS battery, meant only as a temporary power source until you or a
qualified tech could replace the systems soldered on CMOS battery.


That is somewhat correct. Those goofy soldered on CMOS batteries would leak
and fail, and fortunately, there was a jumper connection on the motherboard
so that you could connect up the external battery pack.

There were also motherboards that had the battery pack alone. Ah, the "good
old days"..

When I saw my Fathers old computer ruined, I went through my motherboard
collection ( which is rather extensive ) and must have busted off dozens of
those corroding motherboard batteries. Some boards were already ruined.



At some point in the distant past I even saw a system where the battery
pack had long enough leads that it was velcroed to the back of the case
and the wires fed in through a slightly opened card slot.

Another option at one time appears to have been simular, using a square,
little brick like, battery of some type. I never delved in to one, but I
always thought they were some form of rechargable battery. If I recall
they cost a couple of bucks though.


Yes, there was all kinds of goofy stuff until the button batteries arrived
on the scene.

bobwatts


--
boBWatts®©
EartH
Watts Carburetion Service
Whizzbang Computers
Official collector of: transfat asian plastic junk trinkets !

I remember using some old green screens back in the seventies in a fortran
class...trying to write a fortran sort routine. I think the instructor had
the record time on that using some old radio shack machine that took 2 days
to sort 30 lines of numbers...

When did Raytheon start building computer equipment?
mc

"Elector" wrote in message
news:CI%qj.4$R64.1@trndny03...

"Kevin Childers" wrote in message
...
snip
I always saw those as, or at least thought they were an alternative for a
failed CMOS battery, meant only as a temporary power source until you or
a qualified tech could replace the systems soldered on CMOS battery.

At some point in the distant past I even saw a system where the battery
pack had long enough leads that it was velcroed to the back of the case
and the wires fed in through a slightly opened card slot.

Another option at one time appears to have been simular, using a square,
little brick like, battery of some type. I never delved in to one, but I
always thought they were some form of rechargable battery. If I recall
they cost a couple of bucks though.


The old IBM/PC-AT had a battery pack you are describing. In was not
rechargeable as far as I can remember. Hell I remember when I worked on
Sperry-Univac and it only did one thing at a time, nothing but tubes and
took up a whole floor and man it had to be cold in the computer center. Ha
ha

And the old Raytheon CRT's which were green with white/yellow.

Elector

"mc" wrote in message
news:gGjrj.3868$0B2.792@trnddc03...
I remember using some old green screens back in the seventies in a fortran
class...trying to write a fortran sort routine. I think the instructor had
the record time on that using some old radio shack machine that took 2
days
to sort 30 lines of numbers...

When did Raytheon start building computer equipment?
mc

"Elector" wrote in message
news:CI%qj.4$R64.1@trndny03...

"Kevin Childers" wrote in message
...


snip


My first computer course in Fortran IV in 1968
and we used punch cards.
It took a week to get a program written and working.

I went back to school in the late 70's
and was still using punch cards.
Though some students did have terminal access to the PDP-8's (IIRC)
Anyway I sure hated those punch cards and swore I'd never touch a computer
again!