Re: Laser 128

[jruschme@hiway1.exit109.com (John Ruschmeyer)]

In article <860137505-0-7141@manatee.envirolink.org>,
Jay Pearlman  <JayPearlman@envirolink.org> wrote:
>In note <5hv3jn$k0o$2@news3.alpha.net>, bheinz  writes: 
>>I dug out my old Laser 128 //c clone from the basement this weekend, and,
>>aside from the keyboard contacts needing a good cleaning, the bugger still
>>works!  So, now, I need to know what I can do with this little wonder.
>>Currently I have a stock system unit (no modifications so far), the 2-slot
>>expansion box, and the original Magnavox amber monitor that we got with it
>>12 years ago.  I know there is a 1MB upgrade available for the //c, will
>>the Laser accept this upgrade as well?  Also, I need a HD for this guy, I
>>sold my old ProFile (10MB Parallel HD!) to a friend when I mothballed this
>>thing, and it has since died.  Any info on upgrades/modifications I can
>>use on this little guy would be greatly appreciated, it's taken me a
>>couple years to realize what a great little computer this thing is, I'd
>>love to use it at it's full potential.

Do you have a 128 or 128EX? The 128EX came with an unpopulated 1MB
upgrade built in. You could install one in a 128, but I don't know
where to find one. AFAIK, it is not compatable with a //c upgrade.

One thing about the 1MB upgrade... it is mapped to slot 5, internally.
So, if you need to use an external device in slot 5, then the 1MB
upgrade won't help you. (This is what the internal/external setting
for slot 5 does.)

>You can do lots of great things.
>
>I am writing this on my laser 128. I have proterm 2.2 and im on the
>net. I use IIgif and now i have graphics. There is also an aiff prog
>so i can get mac sound. Thats about it for me. I have no expansion box,
>an extra 5 1/4 and that's it. I too still have the magnavox amber mon.
>but have decided to hook my tv to it via a radio shack modulator.  Im
>only on at 2400 but im sure if i got a better  modem i could up that too.

Taking a page from the recent Laser 128 discussions, I've also pulled
mine out of storage and set it up. Personally, I've decided to go the
color monitor route by using an old IBM CGA monitor and a Laser 128 RGB
cable. I won't get a chance to try it until this weekend, but I suspect
it should work very well.

The advantage of the CGA monitor is taht it is fairly ubiquitous
(probably more so these days than any composite monitor) and so
worthless for their original use (IBM PCs), that they can be had for 
next to nothing.

My other new toy on my Laser is a Mac 800K drive. Because the Laser has
a built-in Universal Disk Controller (UDC), it can take any drive you can
plug into it, including mac 400K and 800K drives.

The only disadvantage of the Mac drive is the lack of an eject button.
This can be overcome by a small basic program to cause the eject or
by using a straightend paper clip to manually eject.

One thing about the UDC. To get 3.5" support, you need to set slot 7
to be internal.

As for the faster modems, they should work, but you may need to 
build/buy a //c High-speed modem cable. This does some remapping of the
signals to provide better flow control. Pinouts for the cable should
be available at Nathan's web site.

Some other things I'm considering, but don't know if they will work
in as Laser 128:

	1) Zip chip (What's the going price for one these days.)
	2) Apple // Workstation card
		(Can this work in a Laser 128? Does it have to be
		 in slot 7 or can I use slot 5?)

Lastly, I also need to clean my keyboard. Is there any trick to it
or do I just need to open the CPU, remove it and try to get to the contacts.
(Or run the whole KB under the faucet? :-)

<<<John>>>
jruschme@exit109.com