08-06-2023, 10:31 PM
Hi Everyone,
I hope someone may be able to help or refer me to someone who can please.
I just discovered a Microbee in my garage (missing the power adaptor and cable), that I saved from landfill during a shed clean out at my work some 20 years ago. (I worked at a local phone system company).
An ‘Ericsson’ sticker on the bottom of the case indicates an installation date of Nov 88 and that a battery was last changed in 1993. Having the Ericsson sticker on it, I’m wondering if it may have been used as part of a telephone system. (Possibly collecting, storing and printing out time stamped telephone call records.) There is no longer any battery connected to the upper cct board and the PCB track is lifting at that location!
I once owned a Bee so I have a soft spot for the Microbee. I’d like to restore it to working condition and find out ‘what’s on it’ or re-purpose it. I don’t recall my original Bee having a vented top case and I’ve never seen another one with a red LED mounted to the top cover near the BS key.
I’ve noticed a sticker under the top cover that says “Last Service 21-1-91” so Ewan may have serviced this computer!
I’ve discovered an additional board jammed underneath the main board which contains 5 ICs, a Programmable Peripheral Interface, a Real Time Clock, a dual flip flop, a hex buffer, a 555 and numerous connecting wires into the Microbees own boards. There's a separate piezo buzzer and a rear mounted push switch. There’s also a daughter board attached underneath the main board and the said LED.
After long hours searching, I located the pin functions for the 5 pin din socket, (although still managed to get it reversed first try).
So connect it up to a ‘power supply’ and ‘TV video in’ is what I did.
Almost immediately 2 asterisks and a flashing underscore appeared on the screen. But that’s it! No illumination of LED, no response from any key except reset which seems to reset the computer if held for 5 seconds or so. After leaving the computer sitting there for about 8 minutes with the cursor flashing, all of a sudden I was startled by the piezo buzzer buzzing continuously!
At the back there is the 25 pin serial, 15 pin I/O and the unlabelled 9 pin socket.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated identifying what exactly I’ve got here, what its set up to do and whether it can be restored or re-programmed to be something slightly useful.
Regards, ‘Rocka’.
I hope someone may be able to help or refer me to someone who can please.
I just discovered a Microbee in my garage (missing the power adaptor and cable), that I saved from landfill during a shed clean out at my work some 20 years ago. (I worked at a local phone system company).
An ‘Ericsson’ sticker on the bottom of the case indicates an installation date of Nov 88 and that a battery was last changed in 1993. Having the Ericsson sticker on it, I’m wondering if it may have been used as part of a telephone system. (Possibly collecting, storing and printing out time stamped telephone call records.) There is no longer any battery connected to the upper cct board and the PCB track is lifting at that location!
I once owned a Bee so I have a soft spot for the Microbee. I’d like to restore it to working condition and find out ‘what’s on it’ or re-purpose it. I don’t recall my original Bee having a vented top case and I’ve never seen another one with a red LED mounted to the top cover near the BS key.
I’ve noticed a sticker under the top cover that says “Last Service 21-1-91” so Ewan may have serviced this computer!
I’ve discovered an additional board jammed underneath the main board which contains 5 ICs, a Programmable Peripheral Interface, a Real Time Clock, a dual flip flop, a hex buffer, a 555 and numerous connecting wires into the Microbees own boards. There's a separate piezo buzzer and a rear mounted push switch. There’s also a daughter board attached underneath the main board and the said LED.
After long hours searching, I located the pin functions for the 5 pin din socket, (although still managed to get it reversed first try).
So connect it up to a ‘power supply’ and ‘TV video in’ is what I did.
Almost immediately 2 asterisks and a flashing underscore appeared on the screen. But that’s it! No illumination of LED, no response from any key except reset which seems to reset the computer if held for 5 seconds or so. After leaving the computer sitting there for about 8 minutes with the cursor flashing, all of a sudden I was startled by the piezo buzzer buzzing continuously!
At the back there is the 25 pin serial, 15 pin I/O and the unlabelled 9 pin socket.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated identifying what exactly I’ve got here, what its set up to do and whether it can be restored or re-programmed to be something slightly useful.
Regards, ‘Rocka’.
