2020 – Page 2 – Matt's Tech Pages

So… are those Amazon sourced £20 drill batteries any good then?

August 5, 2020August 5, 2020 Bits and pieces

In the case of the one I purchased: No. Warning: this post contains a lot of technical details the average person isn’t going to care much for. Feel free to…Continue readingSo… are those Amazon sourced £20 drill batteries any good then?

Making some proper capstans for QIC tape drives

July 18, 2020 Vintage PC

Deteriorated capstans a are a frequent pain in the backside for those restoring vintage hardware. Various solutions exist. I’ve come up with a couple more on this page.

Attaching a 5¼” floppy drive to a laptop, that wasn’t designed to have one attached to it

June 9, 2020June 16, 2020 Vintage PC

For years now I’ve had a honking big Tandon TM100 360K 5¼” floppy drive which has been screaming out to be used, and there is something I’ve wanted to use…Continue readingAttaching a 5¼” floppy drive to a laptop, that wasn’t designed to have one attached to it

I have some EPROMs, from Russia

May 19, 2020December 2, 2020 Vintage microcontrollers

What is our fixation with chips produced by the Soviet union by the help of industrial espionage? Or is it just me that likes to collect these? Today, I’ve received…Continue readingI have some EPROMs, from Russia

Reviving a QIC tape backup solution from 30 years ago

May 13, 2020May 13, 2020 Vintage PC

I’ve added a new page in my info section about these. Read more about it here.

ROM Adapter for running ‘B’ firmware on a Keithley 2001 with a pre Rev-K digital PCB

April 17, 2020December 2, 2020 Test equipment

If you have one of these, you will have discovered that the last revision of firmware than can run on these is A08, because the single PLCC-44 socket can only…Continue readingROM Adapter for running ‘B’ firmware on a Keithley 2001 with a pre Rev-K digital PCB

Attaching LTO Tape drives via USB or Thunderbolt

March 27, 2020November 19, 2021 PC & Software

TL;DR If you don’t have a computer with PCIe expansion slots – there are no easy and inexpensive ways of attaching an LTO tape drive to it. Introduction For quite…Continue readingAttaching LTO Tape drives via USB or Thunderbolt

Windows command line management tool for LTFS

March 23, 2020December 2, 2020 PC & Software

Imagine you’re stuck at home under lockdown. What to do? All those things we thought we’d never have time for. This weekends’ creation is a command line tool for configuring…Continue readingWindows command line management tool for LTFS

Specialty Electrical Tapes

March 12, 2020March 12, 2020 Bits and pieces

It has occurred to me that I’ve got quite a collection of these – and have written an article on this subject. Read more about it here.

Keysight parts division: Clearly not profitable

February 19, 2020December 2, 2020 Test equipment

Half width Agilent / Keysight instruments made up until the late 2000’s had a plastic back bezel (34401-88304) which the rear bumper attaches to. They are frequently broken in electronic…Continue readingKeysight parts division: Clearly not profitable

Year: 2020