jwzFeb 15, 2024

SGI retrocomputing.

Some time at the end of the nineteen hundreds, I took the Indy and O2 that I had liberated from Netscape and retired them to a shelf in my laundry room. They worked fine at the time that I did that! Now, not so much. Neither...
https://jwz.org/b/ykMy

SGI retrocomputing

Some time at the end of the nineteen hundreds, I took the Indy and O2 that I had liberated from Netscape and retired them to a shelf in my laundry room. They worked fine at the time that I did that! Now, not so much. Neither boots. I got an OSSC that lets the Indy display to a modern HDMI monitor (earlier attempts with other scan converters had failed) but the Indy says no SCSI drive, no ...

Show threadGeorge R. M. 🇩🇪🇺🇦Feb 16, 2024
@jwz my Indigo² once stopped recognizing its keyboard. Tracing from the i8042 microcontroller responsible for PS/2 protocol, the pinout of which is standardized in this role, showed that its clock and data pins ended up at a 74ALS32, where they're buffered and sent out the PS/2 ports, and back from there. Probing there confirmed the signals to be dead. Replaced that and it lived. The Indy is a cut-down I² so same should apply, except parts are reshuffled and not everyone is up for SMD rework.
Show threadjwz
@GeorgeRudolf I tried a *different* 90s-vintage keyboard, and it recognizes that one! So I guess something is actually wrong with the other one. I also tried a couple of USB female to PS/2 male adapters that claimed to make modern keyboards and mice work, and they do not.
Feb 16, 2024 at 5:30amWeb
Show threadGeorge R. M. 🇩🇪🇺🇦Feb 16, 2024
@jwz yeah, the keyboard has to have the smarts to switch. Of my pile of ewaste, only one keyboard and two mice work with the adapter. Good that's sorted though!