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MiniSport Laptop Hacker 27
MiniSport Laptop Hacker (TM) - Vol #27. June 1995
To discourage pecuniary interests, Copyright (c) 1995 Brian Mork
>>> ADMIN
A compendium of all issues are available from ftp.cs.buffalo.edu as
\pub\ham-radio\mlhackXX.zip, or on SimTel archives (eg. oak.oakland.edu)
as \SimTel\msdos\packet\mlhackXX.zip. The XX in the filename indicates
the last issue number, and replaces the previous convention of using
mlhacker.zip for all compendiums.
Notice my email address has changed and the direct dial data line has
been terminated. The administrative overhead of maintaining
personalized "electronic superhighway" access has been too much. I'm
hunkering down, and consolidating all my activity into one commercial
account just like everybody else. I still only have regional access.
If you have a recommendation about which national or international
provider provides the most complete, powerful, and lucid text based
access to Internet, I would love to hear it.
January through May have been quiet months - no MLH volumes were issued.
Sorry about the delay to those of you who asked. No I haven't fallen
off the face of the earth! February was vacation time for the family,
driving across this great country one more time to visit friends and
family. March and April were spent in Alabama at a military "middle
management" school. May sort of dissolved into a lot of catch-up
activity, and <poof!> I find it's already June. Time flies! August
through December I expect to be busy at a military Space Tactics School.
I'm not sure what network access I've have there. I'm sure I'll bring a
small packet radio station, but I may not have Internet access.
>>> AUTOMATED PULLUP FROM THE BOOTSTRAPS
I don't buy lithium batteries anymore. When the NiCd batteries die, the
entire RAM disk dies. I've developed some batch files that will rebuild
the entire environment in under 3 minutes. I've used them for over a
year, but now they incorporate the Stacker setup discussed in the
previous issue. First, you need to make a removable disk with the
following files:
CONFIG SYS 38 12-30-94 2:48a
AUTOEXEC BAT 128 12-30-94 2:20a
STACKER COM 47266 6-27-91 1:12a
SCREATE COM 2762 6-27-91 1:12a
SCREXEC EXE 38565 6-27-91 1:12a
SCREXEC2 EXE 27974 6-27-91 1:12a
SETUP1 BAT 257 12-30-94 3:18a
SETUP2 BAT 15 12-30-94 3:05a
SETUP3 BAT 102 12-30-94 3:16a
SCHECK EXE 30646 6-27-91 1:12a
PKUNZIP EXE 23528 3-15-90 16:52p
UTIL ZIP 84904 12-30-94 12:34a
Just power up the brain dead minisport (only disk C:), stick in the
removable disk with these files and enter the command "A:SETUP1". But
what's in the customized files? Below I list the name, followed by the
contents of each file that isn't a .COM or .EXE file:
CONFIG SYS 38 12-30-94 2:48a
device=d:\stacker.com d:\stacvol.000
AUTOEXEC BAT 128 12-30-94 2:20a
@echo off
echo BjM (InCrea) P autoexec.bat
path c:\;d:\;e:\util
prompt $p$g
verify on
e:
set lfbrowse=l
set lfedit=ed
SETUP1 BAT 257 12-30-94 3:18a
c:format d:
c:label d:
a:screate d:stacvol.000 /s=1.2 /m
copy a:config.sys d:\
copy a:stacker.com d:\
copy a:setup2.bat d:\autoexec.bat
copy a:fastwire.cfg d:\
copy a:scheck.exe d:\
echo Auto warm boot to recognize disk E: and continue setting up.
SETUP2 BAT 15 12-30-94 3:05a
a:\setup3.bat
SETUP3 BAT 102 12-30-94 3:16a
e:
mkdir util
cd e:\util
a:pkunzip a:util
cd \
c:label e:
copy a:autoexec.bat d:\
d:\autoexec
UTIL ZIP 84904 12-30-94 12:34a
This file has zipped up version of your favorite utilities you'd like
copied into a subdirectory on disk E:, with automatic reference via the
MS-DOS PATH command.
>>> BREAKING INTO BATTERY PACKS
A standard ZA-1-2 battery pack is 13.2cm wide, 2.7cm tall, and 5.5cm
deep. Orient it in front of you so the black round charger connection
is to the left. The metal contacts are on the bottom, also toward the
left side of the pack. The manufacturer's label is on the top. If you
pull loose the manufacturer's label, you can reach into the battery pack
and touch the thermal cutout switch wired between two of the five series
cells.
If you want to do anything else (like replace a cell), you'll have to be
more aggressive! The top section of the case has an approximately 1mm
lip that slides down inside the lower case, all around the edge. Use a
thick blade knife that won't bend. Slip it into the seam around the
periphery of the pack, push inward and lift the handle of the blade
upward to crack the glue seal in several places. The goal is to pull
the lower case away from the inner lip of the upper case. My case had
only spots of glue - three across the front, three across the back, one
on the right and one on the left.
All the cells are lined up on the right side of the pack, next to each
other, with no space between. The left 1.5cm of the pack contains a
circuit board containing the three contacts showing on the bottom, the
board mount charging jack, and a tiny surface mount 0.1uf capacitor. I
didn't look on the bottom of the board because I'd have to desolder all
three slide tabs to do so.
The cells are the same size as a standard C-cell NiCd battery. They all
have solder tabs. I've had good luck purchasing new batteries from E.F.
Yost & Co, 2211D Parview Rd, Middleton, WI 53562, 608-831-3443. If you
replace one battery, replace all five of them using the same brand and
model of battery. I'm a battery consumer just like you are, and don't
like buying what I don't need. I even keep all my 1sees and 2sees out
in the garage. Nevertheless, every time I replace a single cell, I'm
back into the pack a few months later repeating surgery. My opinion.
Please provide feedback! * Internet bmork@comtch.iea.com
* ARO Net KA9SNF@ka7fvv.#ewa.wa.usa
73, Brian * 6006-B Eaker, Fairchild, WA 99011 USA
