shwake@raysnec.UUCP (Ray Shwake) (12/15/90)
slimick@unix.cis.pitt.edu (John C Slimick) writes: >Recently I was offered a 7300 that was in working >condition in all but its hard drive. I assume that >it is is of the smaller memory size, since the >hard drive is 20M. Is it worth the price of >a hard drive? If so, where can I get a decent >20 M hard drive for it? A few years ago we suffered a power glitch in my old office sufficient to fry at least one memory board, a power supply or two, and the 20 MB hard disk in an early PC7300. We discovered, to our chagrin, that even getting into the 7300, much less replacing our drive, was a major adventure. As I recall, we verified that the disk had gone south, could not find a substitute, and the remains of the old Safari ended up in a corner somewhere. Thus, to answer your question, you'd be advised to find a working version of the 7300, preferably with a 40 MB hard drive.
yarvin-norman@cs.yale.edu (Norman Yarvin) (12/17/90)
slimick@unix.cis.pitt.edu (John C Slimick) writes: >Recently I was offered a 7300 that was in working >condition in all but its hard drive. I assume that >it is is of the smaller memory size, since the >hard drive is 20M. Is it worth the price of >a hard drive? If so, where can I get a decent >20 M hard drive for it? Whether it is worth the price of a hard drive you will have to decide for yourself, but the extent to which the machine can be recovered/upgraded depends largely on your technical ability. The drive interface is a standard ST506 one; thus many drives for the IBM PC can simply be plugged in, up to a maximum capacity of 76 MB. Higher capacity drives can be obtained if you are willing to swap the WD1010 disk controller for a WD2010, and/or install the P5.1 motherboard patch. With a couple thousand applications of the soldering iron, the memory on the motherboard can be upgraded to 2 MB. Then you can get Brian Botton's vidpal :-). shwake@raysnec.UUCP (Ray Shwake) writes: > We discovered, to our chagrin, that >even getting into the 7300, much less replacing our drive, was a major >adventure. There have been a couple of postings recently about how to do this. The description in John Milton's HD2 posting was closest to the way I use: |5. Remove the two phillips screws on the back that fasten the plastic to the | metal frame. These are horizontal and go in from the back. There is a | little tab right next to it. There are two others near-by that go up and | are in a circular recess. These should not be removed, they are two of | six that hold the top and bottom halves of the plastic together. |6. Remove the plastic caps on the two posts where the keyboard sits, and | remove the two screws. Ahhh, so that's why those are there! |7. Remove the top, plastic part of the case. This is easier said than done. | There are two or three rachet hooks in the plastic of the case at the | very front of the machine. These latch into the sheet metal base where | you can't see. It takes two hands to lift up on the case, and two hands | to pry the two or three rachets ALL at the same time. If you get the | rachets loose, don't let the case fall back down or they will click back | in. At this point the back of the case will already be loose. No, you | can't just lift the back up far enough, there's wires still connected. | Once the rachets are loose, lift the plastic case, monitor and all | straight up about 4 inches. Be surprised at how much that *#&@$ monitor | weighs. Tilt the whole mess straight back so that the monitor is laying | on it's back, screen up. You will have to lay it down quiet close to the | back of the machine because there is a video cable and three power wires | still connected. Go ahead, scream and yell, that was a bitch to do. I have found that if I lift the back of the case up enough (about 3 inches; until the machine starts to complain), I don't have to manipulate the front of the case at all; the ratchets just slip off. At least I think that worked; your mileage may vary. -- Norman Yarvin yarvin-norman@cs.yale.edu "Praise the humanities, my boy. That'll make them think you're broadminded!" -- Winston Churchill
chert@dungeon.UUCP (12/17/90)
slimick@unix.cis.pitt.edu (John C Slimick) writes: >Recently I was offered a 7300 that was in working >condition in all but its hard drive. I assume that >it is is of the smaller memory size, since the >hard drive is 20M. Is it worth the price of >a hard drive? If so, where can I get a decent >20 M hard drive for it? shwake@raysnec.UUCP then writes: -> A few years ago we suffered a power glitch in my old office -> sufficient to fry at least one memory board, a power supply or two, and the -> 20 MB hard disk in an early PC7300. We discovered, to our chagrin, that -> even getting into the 7300, much less replacing our drive, was a major -> adventure. As I recall, we verified that the disk had gone south, could not -> find a substitute, and the remains of the old Safari ended up in a corner -> somewhere. Well I quite disagree with this... Yes, it takes a little work to remove the cover from the machine (something like 10 minutes work if you know what you are doing, and 30 max if you don't.) Any MFM drive will work fine in the 7300, it is *very* easy to find a company that sells MFM drives... Try *any* computer store that sells IBM PC stuff... As for installing it... Connect 2 ribbon cables, connect the power cable.. put the case back on... Boot the Diag. Disk, select reformat the hard disk, tell it how big it is.. let it finish, and then start loading the software from the distribution disks... (As per manuals..) I wouldn't go more than about $250 for a 7300.. But then, I have several 3b1's that lack hard disks that I'm currently selling for $300.. (or ~$650 W/hard disk) -> -> Thus, to answer your question, you'd be advised to find a working -> version of the 7300, preferably with a 40 MB hard drive. Good advice if you know absolutly nothing about hardware. I agree that you should get a 40 MB drive, they arn't that much more expensive right now and you will fill up the 20 faster than you might think.. -Chert -- Chert Pellett - chert@spdyne.lonestar.org || chert@dungeon.lonestar.org If space and time are relative, Why have they never come to any of my birthday parties?
thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (12/18/90)
slimick@unix.cis.pitt.edu (John C Slimick) in <70443@unix.cis.pitt.edu> writes:
Recently I was offered a 7300 that was in working condition in all but
its hard drive. I assume that it is is of the smaller memory size,
since the hard drive is 20M. Is it worth the price of a hard drive? If
so, where can I get a decent 20 M hard drive for it?
Nearly any HD conforming to "ST-506, MFM, 17 sectors/track" will work in the
machine. I'd advise you to consider a larger HD, though. For example, even
though I don't like Seagate, you can get a brand-new ST-251 (40MB) HD for about
$250 in quantity one, over-the-counter.
The 20MB HDs are so s-l-o-w you'd think you were using an IBM PC or a Mac; get
smart and upgrade!
Thad
P.S. Are you the same "John Slimick" that was at Tymshare circa 1971-72? If
so, please send email.
Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]cjp@beartrk.beartrack.com (CJ Pilzer) (12/18/90)
I just got an old 7300 with a bad 20 meg disk. I opened as described in the other response and replaced it with a mitsubitshi 535 mfm 42 meg disk with no problem at all. I used the diag disk to format the disk 977 cyl and 5 heads. Everything worked fine. I got the disk drive new from Warehouse 54 (800) 955-0054 for $259 plus shipping of $14. It came in about three days. I didn't pay anything for the 7300, so I think I have a really cheap unix computer. With operating system version 3.5 and the developement system and utilities I have 78% of the disk remaining. I made no other changes to the computer. The battery is dead, but I can reset the date when I boot up. I will get around to changing it some day. -- cj