Hi,
I have aquired an old Duo 210. I'd like to get it fired up (yes I'm a pathetic retro nerd) but do not have the Apple power supply. Does anyone know the type of connector and the pin outs? From the outside it looks like a simple RCA phono connector, but looking in through the hole there appears to be two contacts (rather than one on an RCA connector).
Thanks,
Shaun
Shaun James yibbidy@redacted.invalid wrote:
I have aquired an old Duo 210. I'd like to get it fired up (yes I'm a pathetic retro nerd) but do not have the Apple power supply. Does anyone know the type of connector and the pin outs? From the outside it looks like a simple RCA phono connector, but looking in through the hole there appears to be two contacts (rather than one on an RCA connector).
It is not a phono connector, as you suspected. There is an outer shield somewhat similar to a phono plug but the actual central connector is like a longer than standard mini jack with what looks like 3 connection points (similar to an Apple PlainTalk microphone plug). You do see Duo stuff for very little money offered on Ebay so you could strike lucky.
The supply which came with my own Duo 210 is model M7783 which has an output of 24V at 1.04 amps. There is a standard diagramatic symbol on the label which shows the centre connector as positive and the outer as negative (how that matches up with the fact the central connector looks like it has a tip and 2 connection bands I coudn't say).
I still have my 210 and actually use a Duo 280 (same form factor but faster and with active greyscale screen) every day at work! The batteries die, of course, but if you are up for it you can cut them open and rebuild them with tagged NiMh cells - just don't let them short out, unless you want to create a minature equivalent of a reactor core meltdown!
Hi Adrian,
Thanks for your reply.
Knowing that the centre tip is positive will help me a lot. I got this Duo 2nd hand with no accessories. The previous owner loaded OS8.1 onto it, so it doesn't boot anymore. I purchased a floppy drive for it so I can reload OS7.5.3. I have the service guide for this machine which shows me how to open it up. I think that I'll open it up and have a look and just connect a power supply to it to make sure it works before I track down a power supply as there is not too much Duo gear going here in Australia on eBay.
Do you know that it is actually possible to cut open the battery pack and replace them? I've thought about doing this when I get it going.
Thanks again,
Shaun
"Adrian" nonesuch@redacted.invalid wrote in message news:1gku6a4.1mo2ebq1lhsn6wN%nonesuch@redacted.invalid
Shaun James yibbidy@redacted.invalid wrote:
I have aquired an old Duo 210. I'd like to get it fired up (yes I'm a pathetic retro nerd) but do not have the Apple power supply. Does anyone know the type of connector and the pin outs? From the outside it looks like a simple RCA phono connector, but looking in through the hole there appears to be two contacts (rather than one on an RCA connector).
It is not a phono connector, as you suspected. There is an outer shield somewhat similar to a phono plug but the actual central connector is like a longer than standard mini jack with what looks like 3 connection points (similar to an Apple PlainTalk microphone plug). You do see Duo stuff for very little money offered on Ebay so you could strike lucky.
The supply which came with my own Duo 210 is model M7783 which has an output of 24V at 1.04 amps. There is a standard diagramatic symbol on the label which shows the centre connector as positive and the outer as negative (how that matches up with the fact the central connector looks like it has a tip and 2 connection bands I coudn't say).
I still have my 210 and actually use a Duo 280 (same form factor but faster and with active greyscale screen) every day at work! The batteries die, of course, but if you are up for it you can cut them open and rebuild them with tagged NiMh cells - just don't let them short out, unless you want to create a minature equivalent of a reactor core meltdown!
-- Adrian
Shaun James yibbidy@redacted.invalid wrote:
Knowing that the centre tip is positive will help me a lot. I got this Duo 2nd hand with no accessories. The previous owner loaded OS8.1 onto it, so it doesn't boot anymore. I purchased a floppy drive for it so I can reload OS7.5.3. I have the service guide for this machine which shows me how to open it up. I think that I'll open it up and have a look and just connect a power supply to it to make sure it works before I track down a power supply as there is not too much Duo gear going here in Australia on eBay.
Do you know that it is actually possible to cut open the battery pack and replace them? I've thought about doing this when I get it going.
I'm just booting ye olde Duo 210 from one of my home reconstructed batteries ... yep it still works. Cutting the packs open and repacking with new cells is a fiddly job but certainly worthwhile. I run System 7.5.5 on my Duos. As you probably realise 8.1 won't run on the 68030 processor Duos.
I put a cut-open battery pack on a flatbed scanner and photographed the inside (you think you're a geek!) I also made a note of the circuit and layout. It may help if you end up renovating one. I did it with 2 batteries and both were made up of 10 AA sized NiMh tagged cells .. which is good as they're easy to get. There is a page on the Web of someone else who did this but, interestingly, his battery used different sized cells:
http://www.fastlight.demon.co.uk/jg/duo.html
I have some suggestions on the procedure which avoids one of the mistakes he made. Let me know if you are interested in further details.