droid@well.UUCP (Marty Brenneis) (01/06/88)
How many of you Amiga users out there leave your machines on all the time? Have you ever had any problems with power line glitches eating your machine? Does the Amiga power supply have surge and spike protection built in, and how much torture did C= do to the machine? The answers to these burning questions will follow for sure. Thanks -Marty the Droid Sparkologist to the Stars p.s. Thanks to all who brought enlightenment on how to make the 'F' keys work in VT100.
erikj@hi.unm.edu (Erik Johannes) (01/07/88)
I always leave my Amiga up and running. The reasons are that I heard it is easier on the electronics and it is a lot more convinient for me to just walk up to my computer, turn on the monitor, and start typing. I have encoutered power glitches. Some of them lasted for a couple seconds and reset the clocks in the house. However the Amiga has weathered all the glitches. The only time I would be woried is if my drives were active at the time of the glitch. Also in the future when I add the 2 Meg memory expansion that I have ordered, it's additional power consumption may not allow the Amiga to safely ride through the glitches. One thing I recomend is to be running POPCLI or some other screen saver program. This way if you accidently leave the monitor on, it will help to keep from burning the phospher. Finally one other thing I have thought of is it there is a complete power failure. When the power would come back on, the Amiga would be trying to boot. If it kept trying to do this for several days it might be hard on the disk drive. Because of this, when I leave for several days I turn the Amiga off. -Erik
arnie@tikal.Teltone.COM (Arnold Koster) (01/07/88)
Do I leave my Amiga on all the time? You bet I do. I haven't shut my Amiga off (with the exception of a little preventative maintenance) for over 15 months. Ever since I received my PAL expansion chassis and hard disk it has been on night and day. Why you might ask? Well when it takes almost two minutes to boot from a WARM start you get a little reluctant to wait when you are anxious to tackle that latest program. Why two minutes to boot?.....bindrivers, mount 2 disks, 3 partitions, assign everything to DH0:, copy the RAM: icon, start RSLclock, Grabbit, Popcli, Clicktofront, Shell 2.07 , AMICron.....etc... you get the idea. Practical reasons? Well my system spends 24 hrs a day monitoring Amateur packet radio (soon using tcp-ip), runs UUPC via Amicron twice a day and serves as the inventory system for a small home business during the day. Turn it off? Never 2 years,3 months and never a problem. I love it. Ken I'm only a guest for reading news please reply to: --- Ken Koster (N7IPB) algedi!kenk@pilchuck.Data-IO.COM or 12653 NE 95th ...uunet!pilchuck!algedi!kenk or Kirkland,Wa 98033 ...uw-beaver!tikal!pilchuck!algedi!kenk Mine all Mine. Hee Hee :-) :-) Amiga,1.5meg,40megHD,UUPC no NEWS software..yet
schein@cbmvax.UUCP (Dan Schein CATS) (01/07/88)
In article <4916@well.UUCP> droid@well.UUCP (Marty Brenneis) writes: > >How many of you Amiga users out there leave your machines on all the time? I confess - im lazy and never turn my systems off. All 3 Amys in my office are on 24hrs a day - every day. > >Have you ever had any problems with power line glitches eating your machine? No real problems with glitches, now blackouts, brownouts and the real mean ones do get me (but thats very rare). > >Does the Amiga power supply have surge and spike protection built in, Gee I cant answer that one? As they say, "Thats my department". >and how much torture did C= do to the machine? Well they gave me one to use (or was that abuse?) :-) > >-Marty the Droid -- Dan Schein uucp: {ihnp4|allegra|burdvax|rutgers}!cbmvax!schein Commodore AMIGA ARPANET: cbmvax!schein@uunet.uu.net 1200 Wilson Drive Bix: dschein Plink: Dan*CATS West Chester PA 19380 phone: (215) 431-9100 ext. 9542 +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ All spelling mistakes are a result of my efforts to avoid education :-) +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ I help Commodore by supporting the AMIGA. Commodore supports me by allowing me to form my own suggestions and comments.
haitex@pnet01.cts.com (Wade Bickel) (01/07/88)
I have a VERY OLD A1000, and I have left it on for as much as
three days at a time, and often leave it on for 24 hour stretches. I've
had no problems. Can't say about the A500/2000.
Good Luck,
Wade.
UUCP: {cbosgd, hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, nosc}!crash!pnet01!haitex
ARPA: crash!pnet01!haitex@nosc.mil
INET: haitex@pnet01.CTS.COMduncanj@umd5.umd.edu (James Duncan) (01/07/88)
I used to leave my Amiga on all the time. I don't anymore 'cause I now have a dead fan. Jim Duncan
daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) (01/08/88)
in article <4916@well.UUCP>, droid@well.UUCP (Marty Brenneis) says: > Keywords: Spikes Surges and Leave it ON or OF > > How many of you Amiga users out there leave your machines on all the time? > Have you ever had any problems with power line glitches eating your machine? I've had my A2000 on here at work for about a month straight. No problems with power glitches. The A1000 is the winner, though, in the brownout contest. Back when I had that on my desk here instead, it survived brownouts that glitched the monitor, our VAXen, Apollos, Suns, Calmas, Scicards, etc. And our C128s. > Thanks > -Marty the Droid > Sparkologist to the Stars -- Dave Haynie "The B2000 Guy" Commodore-Amiga "The Crew That Never Rests" {ihnp4|uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: D-DAVE H BIX: hazy "I can't relax, 'cause I'm a Boinger!"
richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) (01/08/88)
In article <2299@crash.cts.com> haitex@pnet01.cts.com (Wade Bickel) writes: > > I have a VERY OLD A1000, and I have left it on for as much as >three days at a time, and often leave it on for 24 hour stretches. I've >had no problems. Can't say about the A500/2000. I too, have a very old 1000. Three days ? Wimp :-) My record was about 6 weeks. I now turn it off whenever I finish using it because there are little people running around here that have been able to eject disks from the age of 10 months. I must be getting old. My amiga is on a desk and has two drives ;-) > > Good Luck, > > > Wade. > >UUCP: {cbosgd, hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, nosc}!crash!pnet01!haitex >ARPA: crash!pnet01!haitex@nosc.mil >INET: haitex@pnet01.CTS.COM -- It's too far to put Santa Fe in my ignition, or something like that. richard@gryphon.CTS.COM crash!gryphon!richard
jyouells@pnet02.cts.com (John Youells) (01/08/88)
Hummph ;) My 'very old A1000' has been 'on' 24 hrs a day for over 6 months.
It works for me. (My Startup-Sequence is too long anyway ;)
UUCP: {ihnp4!crash, hplabs!hp-sdd!crash}!gryphon!pnet02!jyouells
INET: jyouells@pnet02.CTS.COM
UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd!crash, cadovax}!gryphon!pnet02!jyouells
INET: jyouells@pnet02.cts.comericb@athertn.Atherton.COM (Eric Black) (01/09/88)
In article <4916@well.UUCP> droid@well.UUCP (Marty Brenneis) writes: > >How many of you Amiga users out there leave your machines on all the time? Mine has been on 24 hours a day, every day, for nearly two years now, except for periods when I know I'm going to be away for more than 2-3 days at a time (total off time in 2 years ~= 4 weeks). >Have you ever had any problems with power line glitches eating your machine? Nope. In fact, she is unfazed (not unphased, she likes 2-phase power) by power spikes and glitches that confuse the hell out of other electronics in the house. I live out in the woods, and the power is DIRTY, as well as unreliable during the rainy season (Yo-Yo Mode, off for < 1/2 sec, then back on). Even the clock in the VCR, which has a big capacitor charged so it's almost "battery-backed-up" gets confused, but not Amy. Of course, any such dropouts or spikes actually DURING reading or writing a floppy gives me an error, but what do you expect? A retry usually takes care of it! -- Eric Black "Garbage in, Gospel out" UUCP: {sun!sunncal,hpda}!athertn!ericb Domainist: ericb@Atherton.COM
schein@cbmvax.UUCP (Dan Schein CATS) (01/10/88)
In article <2055@gryphon.CTS.COM> richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) writes: >In article <2299@crash.cts.com> haitex@pnet01.cts.com (Wade Bickel) writes: >> >> I have a VERY OLD A1000, and I have left it on for as much as >>three days at a time, and often leave it on for 24 hour stretches. I've >>had no problems. Can't say about the A500/2000. > >I too, have a very old 1000. > >Three days ? Wimp :-) > >My record was about 6 weeks. ^^^^^^^ 6 WEEKS!?! and your calling him a wimp!?! (Muffled sounds of two people rolling around on the floor saying something about "My dad can beat your dad!" - Woops, here comes dad..... Gota go!) The above 3 lines are posted with many :-) (IE: just kidding) all around. But seriously - my Amy 1000 at home has been running a BBS (for a local users group) for over 1 year now without being turned off! Not one problem of any kind. My Amy 2000 at work has been running since I got it - about 6 months now. Again not one problem. -- Dan Schein uucp: {ihnp4|allegra|burdvax|rutgers}!cbmvax!schein Commodore AMIGA ARPANET: cbmvax!schein@uunet.uu.net 1200 Wilson Drive Bix: dschein Plink: Dan*CATS West Chester PA 19380 phone: (215) 431-9100 ext. 9542 +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ All spelling mistakes are a result of my efforts to avoid education :-) +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ I help Commodore by supporting the AMIGA. Commodore supports me by allowing me to form my own suggestions and comments.
rxb@rayssdb.RAY.COM (Richard A. Brooks) (01/17/88)
> In article <2299@crash.cts.com> haitex@pnet01.cts.com (Wade Bickel) writes: > > > > I have a VERY OLD A1000, and I have left it on for as much as > >three days at a time, and often leave it on for 24 hour stretches. I've > >had no problems. Can't say about the A500/2000. > I don't have an Amiga so I can't speek of the quality of the power supply, But I have been building and running computers for more years than I care to admit. My advice is DON'T TURN IT OFF!!! At all, ever, never, leave it running 24 hours a day seven days a week. The theory is simple, provided the machine is properly designed (ie adequate airflow to prevent overheating) the power supply will supply a steady constant voltage. No current spikes, no overvoltage, no under- voltage! Ha! Just like a lightbulb, don't cycle power and it will last forever (in the computer industry, forever is defined as 2 to 5 years)!! This works quite well, I just turned off (and retired) my S100 after 12 years of loyal service!!!!! The machine was without power 5 times in 12 years!! (once to install a UPS and 4 times during moves) There are cautions.. 1. Ensure that the MONITOR can be turned off separatly. You don't want to burn a hole through the CRT. 2. Ensure that the Disk Drive motors turn off after a period of time (motors WILL overheat). Most Floppy drives will do this but you may have to write a routine to stop the Hard Disk drive motor after several minutes of inactivity. 3. Ensure that you have adequate power conditioning equipment, a surge supressor is mandatory, a conditioner to maintain frequency is reccommended if your Electric Company is like our's. Also an Uninterruptable Power Supply is nice. It not only maintains power during blackouts , but will ensure that an unexpected drop in line voltage dosen't kill your machine. In short DON'T PULL THE PLUG !! Your'e doing more damage than good. -- Richard Brooks {allegra, gatech, ihnp4, linus, raybed2}!rayssd!rayssdb!rxb Raytheon Service Company // When everyone is out to get you // Portsmouth, Rhode Island // Paranoia is just good thinking ! //
soo@beach.cis.ufl.edu (Chong L Soo) (01/17/88)
In article <1828@rayssdb.RAY.COM> rxb@rayssdb.RAY.COM (Richard A. Brooks) writes: > My advice is DON'T TURN IT OFF!!! At all, ever, never, leave it running > 24 hours a day seven days a week. I understand that power on-off cycles are bad for the power supply. How bad is it to the chips? Would someone tell me how I could estimate the power consumption of an idling computer? I mean, would it be cheaper to leave the computer on all the time or would it be cheaper to just get a new computer when it eventually fail (every two years?)? Anyone know the consumption of an off-the-shelf B2000? Thankie. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chong Soo (Amiga nut) soo@beach.cis.ufl.edu ARPANET/INTERNET soo%ufcsg.ufl.edu@relay.cs.net BITNET soo%ufcsg.ufl.edu%relay.cs.net@wiscvm
wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (01/18/88)
ST-506/412, ESDI, SCSI, etc. 5-1/4 inch hard disks usually have an integrated drive motor that is part of the spindle assembly. The spindle usually employs a sleve bearing and is thus very impervious to wear -- it doesn't need ball bearings since there is no laterally applied load. I have a hard drive in an AT compatible that has excessive bearing runout which makes the heads jam when the drive is powered down -- the heads stop flying as the drive slows down and actually stick to the platter like gague blocks stick because the platter and heads are so smooth. Needless to say this drive stays on all the time. -- The sticky heads require a manual flip of the flywheel to get the drive going, as the internal motor doesn't have enough torque to break free. Also, nastyness is most likely to occur as the drive spins up or down because the heads really are not flying. MTBF ratings for consumer drives range 20K to 30K hours. I'd say that with times like that, that you might as well leave the hard disk on continuously while the computer is on. Modern hard disks are quite different from the monsters that graced CP/M computers. I still have a Persci voice coil 8" floppy drive somewhere -- boy was I glad to take that abomination out of service. Shugart 801s were pretty good 8" drives as long as the helical stepper motor shaft was kept clean. Since those drives had 110 volt synchronous motors, they did get kind of warm, so I agree that powering then down after a few minutes of inactivity was a good idea -- also minimized wear on the diskette not to have it turning continuously. I never had the funds to get a hard disk on any of the CP/M systems I had. I also agree that shutting down monitors during inactivity is a good idea as it minimizes the pickup of dust on the high voltage wiring and thus reduces the likelyhood of a short on the high voltage supply. I make the assumption that software can be employed to do screen blanking. --Bill