Tony Duell wrote:
[snip]
> I believe the original IBM PC/AT had a resistor unit that was screwed to
> the chassis and connected to a drive power cable if there wasn't a hard
> disk installed. I think it was a load on the 12V power line, which was
> otherwise too lightly loaded (no hard disk spindle motor) to behave
> properly. I've never seen this device, and it's not shown in the techref
> (only in the HMS manual), so I can't be sure.
It decidedly existed. The first AT I owned arrived sans hard disk; when I
went to install same I just about fell over laughing when I found the
load resistor -- mounted on a purpose-built bracket that both
increased dissipation as well as fit nicely into the mount for the full-height
MFM drive ;-)
-ck
--
Chris Kennedy
chris_at_mainecoon.com
http://www.mainecoon.com
PGP fingerprint: 4E99 10B6 7253 B048 6685 6CBC 55E1 20A3 108D AB97
Received on Sat Jan 27 2001 - 13:43:18 GMT