neil@atari.UUcp (Neil Harris) (08/25/86)
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I know everyone on this net delights in soldering arcane goodies inside
their machines. This message won't please you.
There is a new way to save the time in your 520ST without any soldering or
other dangerous hacking. Perfect for people like me who have been
contaminated by working in the Marketing Dept.
The device is called the Timesaver and comes from a company called No Solder
Required. It looks like a ROM socket with a chip buried inside it. Upon
close inspection you'll notice that there is a pair of batteries somewhere
in there too. According to our R&D people, this is an off-the-shelf part
from Dallas Semiconductor. The No Solder Required folks added an ST disk
with two key programs: one to set the clock the first time and the other to
go into the AUTO folder and set the system clock at bootup.
Installation is a pleasure. Open up the 520ST and pull off the ROM in the
U2 socket. Plug in the Timesaver, and then put the ROM back in. Close up
the unit and you're ready to go.
Notice that I specified a 520ST. There's not enough clearance between the
1040ST ROMs and the power supply to fit this in. I'd bet you could desolder
the ROM socket and put this in its place -- say, I guess there is something
in this message for you hardware hackers!
The company's address:
No Solder Required
351 Mass. Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02139
No phone number or price was provided to me with the sample I got. It's
been in my 520ST for a couple of weeks now with no problems. And the
batteries are supposed to last for 10 years! Nice product.
--
--->Neil @ Atari
...lll-crg!vecpyr!atari!neil or ...lll-lcc!vecpyr!atari!neil
BIX: neilharris CIS: 70007,1135 Delphi: NEILHARRIS
GENIE: nharris WELL: neil Atari Corp. BBS 408-745-5308
US Mail: Atari Corp.
1196 Borregas Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
"I'm a 20th century man but I don't want to die here." -- Ray Daviesbraner@batcomputer.TN.CORNELL.EDU (braner) (08/28/86)
[] The same chip (or whatever you would call this thing) apparently is sold by JADE, but is called the "no-slot-clock" and is directed towards the IBM PC. "Installs easily in the motherboard or option boards of any computer with a 28-pin PROM socket", they say. No word on software. Price: $49. Personally, I'd wait till is comes closer to the price of a clock chip and a pair of batteries added up. I also think it's kinda' funny that the solution for a computer with 2 clocks is a third one. Are you folks at Atari going to have a perrenial clock in some future model? - Moshe Braner, Cornell U., 607-272-3487