I'm thinking at this point there's probably nothing electrically wrong with the computer. The keyboard needs some serious attention - many keys are very difficult to get a keystroke to register. It'd probably also be a good idea to lube & clean the disk drive, and I need to do some sort of permanent repairs or outright replace the power supply. Otherwise, I think I lucked into a pretty good condition computer/monitor combo here.
#Laser128
Went into the system monitor and tried a type-in program that's supposed to be a RAM test. Apparently, if there's any failures it's supposed to produce some faulty addresses when it's done. I was told this came from Jim Sather's 'Understanding the Apple II' book, though I skimmed through both it and Apple IIe version and could not find it.
"C050 C053 C054 C057 N 265:FF N 266<265.BFFEM 266<265.BFFEV 265:0 N 266<265.BFFEM 266<265.BFFEV 34:14 " is the program.
On the advice of an ancient AtariAge post, pressed open-triangle + ctrl + reset and then ctrl + reset and now I have a BASIC prompt!
Very interesting. After sitting for a few days, the Laser 128 is right back to spitting out garbage. I wonder what the problem is?
The Laser 128 uses a 17v power supply using the same connector and wired up the same as the 15v power supply of the Apple IIc. From what I'm reading, the Laser 128 will boot on the 15v power supply, but some people seem to be suggesting it does not perform as it should, so I'd like to stick to a 17v power supply. The only problem is - it seems very difficult to find a 17v power supply that is also rated for at least 1.8a.
Strange strange strange. Video issues fixed themselves, and every Apple II minidisk I insert will at least attempt to boot, though many fail at some point - could be something with the system, could be something with the minidisks, the machine obviously needs some love and the minidisks are thrift store finds, plus this thing isn't 100% Apple compatible anyway...
Not sure why there's no BASIC prompt popping up. The manual says there should be a BASIC prompt.
Waited a bit, tried again. This is definitely closer. I think there's a problem beyond the video though, it doesn't seem to recognize my inputs at the BASIC prompt...
Oh, that's... that's not at all what I wanted to see.
Oooh, the power supply's cable doesn't look so hot. Chew marks, apparent excrement, exposed copper. Looks like it's just SPT2 Zip cord all the way to the DIN connector, so should be an easy repair. Wonder what kind of shape the power supply itself is in - should probably replace the whole thing soon, it's allegedly the same as the one for the IIc. Does anyone know if these fail into overvoltage, like the C64 power supplies do?
The timing couldn't have been better - this gourgeous piece of kit shows up the same day I start feeling better.
Got back into some retro stuff at the weekend.
Got this faulty Laser 128 FD100 external 5.25 floppy drive. It spun the disk but nothing else. Track sensor was faulty which apparently is a common issue in these drives. Disconnected it and shorted the back pair of pins where it was connected with a jumper which seemed to get it working. Cleaned and put a tiny dab of lithium grease on the drive rails and cleaned the read head. Got the speed back within spec. Seems to read disks fine and be back to working. Tested with an Apple IIc but need to pair it back up with my Laser 128. #floppy #laser128
@TechTangents personally I'd crave the #LAser128 more but either are like moon rocks in Germany to the point that I know of more legally papered KK-MPi69 in Germany than Apple II...
Anyone remember the #Laser128? (It was an Apple IIe clone back in the 80s.) A friend is asking if it had a disk operating system; the manual suggests not, so we're looking for first-hand experience to confirm!
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