LEAST valuable collectibles (was: Apple II boards

From: Frank McConnell <fmc_at_reanimators.org>
Date: Sun Jan 27 19:42:30 2002

ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:
> I think I've managed to find at least one genuine HP thinkjet stand. But
> you're right, most people made their own (out of plastic sheet and metal
> rod, normally).

We were on a budget, and we did a lot of printing on our HP 3000s, so
there was a near-constant stream of available empty boxes. Sometimes
we'd even get paper in boxes with sturdy tops that could be easily
fashioned into Thinkjet stands.

> I doubt that wall wart [1] (it's that little HP 8V 3VA unit) could supply
> the printer continuously. Which means that on long print jobs the battery
> pack is running down, even if the charger is plugged in. Which, in turn,
> means there's a maximum length of file you can print on the HPIL thinkjet
> :-(.

No, it means you run the battery down and then are disappointed to find
that plugging it in doesn't bring it back to life right away. Nobody
ever reported that, but like I said most of our users just didn't bother
with the printer.

> I must say I've been very impressed with the HP82169 HPIL-HPIB interface.
> It's pretty much plug-n-play for most applications :-)).

Imagine a Portable Plus sitting there formatting an HP 7963 (I think)
HP-IB disc drive through one of these. It will do it, and then it
will let you use the whopping 20MB or so that its version of MS-DOS
can handle.

-Frank McConnell
Received on Sun Jan 27 2002 - 19:42:30 GMT