Re: Cat Box on Ebay/Rat Box

> I think a nice addendum to the book (which maybe a bunch of us could write up a short
> text) would be a 'troubleshooting procedures' section. For example for a vector game do a
> section that talks about the major areas (clock, CPU, VGEN, I/O, POKEY, etc) and does a
> short run-over how each of these sections interact with eachother and the likely order to
> check them out... Clock, Reset, CPU, Data Lines, Address Lines, Address/Data Buffers, ROM,
> RAM, VGGO, HALT, vector address... etc...
> But, then again, since I haven't put any effort into the book, whoever does do it, is
> free to make their own dreams come true! ;-)
>

Being the greenhorne that I am, I totally agree. :-) I often see tech
wizards talking about "wiring off the CPU" or using terms such as "shaky
data lines" or some such. It would be great if a reference guide would
have a section on the true "basics" of board repair and maybe a glossary
of common jargon. For instance (please don't laugh), the guide could
answer these questions and more:

1) Do I remove the board from the cabinet before sig analysis?

2) Does the board need to be powered up during the process, and if so
how?

3) Do I need to make any special harnesses for the process, how to make,
and where to buy the parts to do so?

4) And so on.

Perhaps there are good books (long out of print) already out there that
accomplish these goals. Perhaps this material could be "borrowed" (with
the appropriate disclosure) for this project.

Just my 2 cents worth,

Noel
Received on Fri Nov 19 19:14:05 1999