Re: TWgs tc4 tc5 bow ties

[sporadic <sporadically@gmail.com>]

On Dec 13, 6:33 am, "brad" <mrb...@ll.net> wrote:
> ">
>
> > Then I read about the need to cut the TC4 and TC5 bow ties on the back
> > of the board.  I checked and they are not cut.
>
> not sure..but just in case  when i did so back in the day when i ran the
> lost gonzo bbs on applenet bbs dos software (penchenck? author) and tpro
> 4.2f rpg bbs and
> fv/metal 4.0xev back in the distant past
>
> anyway
>
> i ran a twgs modified to 14mhz by doing the cuts on the bow ties mentioned
> and it ran that stuff 24/7 for 10 yrs with the CDA stating it ran cool
> enough at 13.75mhz was the sweet spot not too flaky not too hot....
>
> so back in the day YOU DID  cut the ties
>
> BUT I'M NOT SURE NOW
>
> the REASON i'm mentioning all this is if you find YOU DO have to cut said
> ties DON'T cut them with the X-ACTO KNIFE COLD
>
> ie i did not know that supposedly it worked best with a heated up xacto
> knife to cut thru the plastic and the traces i did it cold and it took me 3
> TRIES ...i damn near had a heart attack on the first 2 tries the xacto knife
> skip'd merrily accross the back of the board as it skip'd .. i would feel my
> heart stop in my chest.....i'd re-test after 1st try all was well...psych
> myself up for like an hour cursing to get courage for 2nd try....IT REPEATS
> ABOVE AGAIN...i again hyperventilate for another  hour after testing all was
> still well and 3rd time took...
>
> most annoying and scary apple ii mod i ever did
>
> so again those who know more then me i think i am correct you have to be
> VERY VERY CAREFUL and again i THINK the recomended method is to heat the
> xacto knife before hand and have a very steady hand indeed i gather the
> heating of the exacto knife is to get thru that first layer of plastic over
> the bow ties without said skipping problem.....(shudders)
>
> hopefully you don't have to cut those ties anymore with the new hopefully
> better methods to do so on these mods i'm not up to date
>
> good luck
>
> anyway my 2c worth
>
> (mumbles to self wanders away prob gonna have that nightmare again)
>
> brad
> former sysop lost-gonzo.com

Hi Brad,

Yeah, this is exactly what I want to avoid, it's not like I can easily
get a replacement TWgs if something goes wrong; the last two TWgs on
eBay sold for $200-300, and a decked out ZipGSX sold for $400!  I'm
definitely erring on the side of caution here.

So how did you heat up the Xacto knife?  Hold the blade over a candle
for a few seconds?

I've found enough references stating the TC4 and TC5 bow ties should
be cut.  But the Tony Diaz's upgrade guide and the SHH Systeme page
about the 32K cache made no mention of needing this.

http://apple2.gs/TWGS/TWGS32K.html
http://www.wbwip.com/shh/twgscache.html

Thanks for the trip down to memory lane, I used to be active around
the socal BBSes--AppleHolic Anonymous was my primary hang out :)


Jimmy