HP2648 heartbreak

From: Bob Shannon <bshannon_at_tiac.net>
Date: Sat Feb 12 08:04:41 2005

If your CRT and P/S are still intact, I can supply the rest of the parts you
will need to repair this one Jay.

On a related note, I have a 'working' 2648, but it seems (gasp) that the
2648 firmware has a bug!

There is a line of text that is printed by a HELP keyword in IPL that will
display perfectly using HyperTerminal or a DEC VT340 and VT220 terminal.
But on the 2648 several characters are dropped, others are replaced by a
checkerboard cursor symbol.

I've looked into this far enough to know its not an interface problem.

If I dump the source code for the HELP keyword to the console the same
characters are incorrectly displayed, but I've not been able to duplicate
this
behavior with any other sequence of characters.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jay West" <jwest_at_classiccmp.org>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 7:13 PM
Subject: HP2648 heartbreak


> Well, I was all excited about getting that HP 2648 terminal off ebay. I
> was leary of the unit based on the pictures posted of it on ebay which
> didn't show a keyboard and avoided anything other than a tight closeup on
> the screen face itself. But... the seller emailed me some additional
> pictures of the unit, showing that it actually came up with "terminal
> ready" on the screen, no major mold/spots, and a great condition keyboard
> with all keys fully intact. So while dirty, it was working and in very
> good shape.
>
> It arrived today on my porchstep. I knew something was wrong because the
> top 1/2 of the box was crushed, the side was torn open halfway down, and
> extreme excess tape was used to hold the box together. But even worse (or
> better, depending on how you look at it), the USPS had placed a large tag
> on top of the box stating "Received in Damaged Condition". Oh boy. The box
> was in really bad shape with holes punched in it too.
>
> I opened the top of the box, and much to my chagrin... there was about 10
> inches of dead space in the box on top. No packing material other that
> about 4 sheets of newspaper - not even crumpled up - just perfectly flat
> sheets. Ugggg.... moved the newspaper aside... and there were two LARGE
> holes punched through the TOP of the terminal and the terminal top was off
> to the side. One of the holes is about 12 inches by 5 inches. I pulled out
> the keyboard, and about 1/2 the keys were missing. Hummm that's not how it
> was in the pictures. So I carefully took the terminal out, found another
> hole in the back of the terminal... and there were all the keycaps from
> the keyboard. They had all worked their way under the unit, where the
> heavy terminal of course crushed all the keycaps into a semi-powder.
>
> At my own thought - plus due to urging from a few other list members - I
> emailed the seller before they shipped and asked them to take extra care
> packing the unit and I was assured "don't worry, I promise it will be very
> carefully packed". The packing was basically nonexistant.
>
> I'm pretty skilled at this kind of recovery, but I am pretty sure this is
> beyond anyones ability to really restore. Unfortunately these terminals
> seem to be quite rare... and the terminal really would be the final
> crowning piece in my HP2000 setup. As upset as I am about not having one
> now, or whether the seller will refund my money... what I'm more upset
> about is that since these terminals are so rare - especially good
> condition ones - is that a careless packager has taken a piece of history
> out of the world for good :\
>
> Jay West
>
>
Received on Sat Feb 12 2005 - 08:04:41 GMT