trowbrid@girtab.usc.edu (Theron Trowbridge) (06/22/91)
UGH! I need help!!!!
I recently got a MacVision which is a video digitizer for the mac.
It is a cool thing that lets you put in a NTSC signal (from a video
camera or VCR) and digitize it into RIFF or IFF or somesuch.
I am hot and eager to use it, but there is one problem.
The MacVision depends on the mac serial port for its power. YUsee
on the original macs, there were 9-pin serial ports which supplied
+5 and +12 V DC. The MacVision uses this. Unfortunately, on every
Mac since the Plus, the serial ports are DIN-8Us and they do not
have any AC out.
There is suppossed to be an adaptor which converts the DIN-8 to
9-pin, with a place to plug in a 9 V DC power pack which is then
transformed to the correct voltages. The power pack is in the box,
but the connector is not.
And I cannot get in touch with the manufacturer! It is Koala
Technologies (suppossedly in Scotts Valley). The phone number listed
in the manual is 408-438-0946. Nope. DoesnUt work.
I found an 800 number (800-223-3022) in a computer products guide.
Nope. DoesnUt work. Has a message to call another 408 number,
and that place has no idea who Koala Technologies is (was?).
Can somebody out there help me? I either need: a valid number
or address for Koala Technologies, or information on where I might
find such an adaptor. I donUt really want to build it myself.
I imagine this must be a fairly common problem. Every serial device
made before the Mac Plus had the ability to draw power from the Mac.
If dependant on this, these devices are now useless with my Mac
Classic (and every machine since the Plus)! Yet I have trouble making
sales clerks in computer stores realize I have a problem!
Help! Help! Help!
-Theron Trowbridge * RThanks to the diligence of the FBI,
trowbrid@usc.edu * this particular vacuum cleaner wonUt
AppleLink: D7029 * fall into the wrong handsS
^ * -Howard Hughes; The Rocketeer
--
-Theron t.trowbridge@spiff.usc.edu
^ trowbridge@girtab.usc.edu
uscbbs # 285