[SPARCbook] Error Codes Sparcbook 3xs

[Miles Nordin]

>>>>> "is" == Ian Spray <ian_spray at tadpole.com> writes:

    is> Tricky.  Because the battery charging logic is more involved
    is> than turning the charge on and off, you need to be able to
    is> satisfy the unit that there is a valid battery in there (via
    is> the extra pins) - just putting a few volts over the main
    is> terminals is unlikely to power the unit (as I'm sure you've
    is> found).

Actually I found it does work.  I was traveling and in a desperate
spot, and decided the thing needed to just work or just blow up and
die.

The problem was the round DC IN connector on either the unit or my
power supply was gunked and made a scratchy connection, which made the
thing go all fritzy and eventually even rewrote the MAC address to
...:77:77:77.  so I chopped the barrel connector end off the 12VDC AC
adapter and used alligator clips to connect it to the topmost spring
tab of the SPARCbook 3GX's external battery connector for +, and to
the printer port screw terminal for -.  Inside the unit, these are
shorted to the DC in jack---you can check that for yourself with a
meter.  Just checking that they're wired together doesn't prove they
can carry enough current, but apparently it turns out they can.

[demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type application/pgp-signature]