Use and abuse of vintage peripherals - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

Buzby123 · 1st Jun 2022, 9:58 pm

The post in the 'wanted' forum looking for paper to fit a chopper bar recorder reminded me that I used to have one.

Don't know where it came from, and don't know where it's gone to, but I do remember what I did with it.

After doing all the usual plotting temperatures and light levels, I then built the World's slowest dot matrix printer, driven by Micky of course.

What other unusual peripherals did you use, abuse, or non-sensibly repurpose in your vintage systems ?

SiriusHardware · 1st Jun 2022, 10:57 pm

I don't know if you could call it a 'peripheral' exactly but I repurposed the transmitter and receiver portion of an ultrasonic remote control project (plus a valve scope which I had just acquired) as a primitive range finding 'radar.' My MK14 was pressed into service as the transmitter pulse generator. Of course you can buy the equivalent for a few quid now in tool shops.

It's not unusual to hear of people using the stepper and slide mechanism from a document scanner or large printer as a moving camera mount for use in time lapse photography, or for 'focus stacking', usually (nowadays) controlled by something like a Pi or Arduino.

cmjones01 · 2nd Jun 2022, 9:16 am

I did try attaching an ORP12 photocell to the print head of our Canon PW-1080A dot matrix printer and then printing blank lines to use it as a scanner, but the response of the cell was too slow to make the results useful. Both printer and photocell survived to tell the tale!

Chris

Phil__G · 2nd Jun 2022, 10:50 am

I suppose you could call it "peripheral chip abuse" - our Casu CP/M boxes had only two serial ports, one of which was taken by the console. We needed more serial outputs so I did four extra software uarts by bit-banging the SIO RTSA&B and DTRA&B pins, does that count?

SiriusHardware · 2nd Jun 2022, 10:57 am

Not really, that's just ingenious and skilful use of existing resources. Using a serial port to generate video as Karen O did, well...

1st Jun 2022, 9:58 pm	#1
Buzby123 Heptode Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Culcheth, Cheshire, UK. Posts: 654	Use and abuse of vintage peripherals The post in the 'wanted' forum looking for paper to fit a chopper bar recorder reminded me that I used to have one. Don't know where it came from, and don't know where it's gone to, but I do remember what I did with it. After doing all the usual plotting temperatures and light levels, I then built the World's slowest dot matrix printer, driven by Micky of course. What other unusual peripherals did you use, abuse, or non-sensibly repurpose in your vintage systems ?

1st Jun 2022, 10:57 pm	#2
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 11,556	Re: Use and abuse of vintage peripherals I don't know if you could call it a 'peripheral' exactly but I repurposed the transmitter and receiver portion of an ultrasonic remote control project (plus a valve scope which I had just acquired) as a primitive range finding 'radar.' My MK14 was pressed into service as the transmitter pulse generator. Of course you can buy the equivalent for a few quid now in tool shops. It's not unusual to hear of people using the stepper and slide mechanism from a document scanner or large printer as a moving camera mount for use in time lapse photography, or for 'focus stacking', usually (nowadays) controlled by something like a Pi or Arduino.

2nd Jun 2022, 9:16 am	#3
cmjones01 Nonode Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Warsaw, Poland and Cambridge, UK Posts: 2,677	Re: Use and abuse of vintage peripherals I did try attaching an ORP12 photocell to the print head of our Canon PW-1080A dot matrix printer and then printing blank lines to use it as a scanner, but the response of the cell was too slow to make the results useful. Both printer and photocell survived to tell the tale! Chris __________________ What's going on in the workshop? http://martin-jones.com/

2nd Jun 2022, 10:50 am	#4
Phil__G Octode Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: North Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 1,115	Re: Use and abuse of vintage peripherals I suppose you could call it "peripheral chip abuse" - our Casu CP/M boxes had only two serial ports, one of which was taken by the console. We needed more serial outputs so I did four extra software uarts by bit-banging the SIO RTSA&B and DTRA&B pins, does that count?

2nd Jun 2022, 10:57 am	#5
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 11,556	Re: Use and abuse of vintage peripherals Not really, that's just ingenious and skilful use of existing resources. Using a serial port to generate video as Karen O did, well...