[SPARCbook] Sparcbook experiences from new list member

[guikueppers at t-online.de]

Hello to all,
my name is Guido and I have been collecting sparcbooks over the last two
years. This list has provided valuable information for repair and it
would be a very sorry thing to see it close down. Maybe I can provide
some input which is helpful to other members as well.

Sparcbook 2:
Faulty drives can be replaced without the maintenance password. It is
possible to bypass the password verification by changing one single bit
in the firmware. If someone finds himself in this situation, I can
provide a patched firmware image.
The S2 runs off a regular 18-19V power supply, however beware that the
socket's center conductor unlike later models wants to see negative
potential. Wrong polarity will kill a zener diode inside the SB2 and it
won't start afterwards. 
A fresh battery stick is easily fashioned from 8 C-size standard nicad
cells and a piece of card board. I didn't provide
a thermo resistor and it runs happily without one.
If someone wants to revive their S2, I might be able to provide a disk
image holding SunOS 4.1.2

Sparcbook 3GX/3TX:
The 3GX can be promoted to 3TX by exchanging the cpu-board and firmware,
mainboards are otherwise the same. 
A battery stick can be built from 10 AA-size nimh cells, however you
will also need the gas gauge circuitry for the pack. This is essentially
a BQ2010, a chip which is hard to come by. One source for it is a Compaq
battery pack p/n 213511-001, the circuit board of which can be built
into the new battery pack. Additionally an LM335 sensor is needed to
provide temperature monitoring. Using 2300 mAh cells and running NetBSD
4.0 with an Aironet wireless card, the 3TX runs for 80 minutes playing
an MP3-stream on the internal speaker (disk mostly spun-down). BTW
thanks to those who did the sparcbook support for NetBSD!

Sparcbook external battery pack:
I got hold of one of these with good cells and it works o.k. with an S3.
However on the 3TX it will almost always kill the switching mosfets in
the external battery's current path. I have no explanation for this. Why
should current inrush be so much higher than with an external
power-supply?

Ultrabook LE:
Recelling the battery pack with 18650 size 2200 mAh Li-Ion cells, will
make it run for at least 90 minutes on battery. 
The Ultrabooks' display covers seem to suffer from a constructional
flaw, i.e. the hinges tend to break out of the plastic material. I have
two of them, one has a completely brocken back cover, the other one is
so bad, I don't dare to close it any more. Does someone have a fix for
this?

Sparcle 500SX:
Mine has 500MB ram installed and running the Gnome desktop is a pain.
Contrary to what the manual says, display brightness doesn't seem to be
adjustable, and the audio system just couldn't be worse. Otherwise it is
a nice machine which is in regular every day use.

Things I"m willing to part with (I'm located in Germany):

Sparcbook 2 scsi connector: 
It's not pretty and a bit fragile, as I have put it together myself, but
it does work and will connect to a 25-pin female D-type connector. This
one is for free, because I came across the original pigtail.

Sparcbook 2 250MB maxtor drive:
I'm afraid this one will fail pretty soon, but it holds a working SunOS
4.1.2 installation. Again for free.

S3GX cpu-board:
Working, make an offer.

S3 keyboard:
For free, as I'm not sure how well it works.

Regards
Guido