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Author Topic: Safety of Old Equipment  (Read 2830 times)

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Offline Super TWiTTopic starter

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Safety of Old Equipment
« on: October 14, 2011, 06:22:02 PM »
Okay, so I am building a new PC, since my other one died.  Anyway, to my surprise the motherboard has a serial port built in still, and support for 5 1/4 in. disk drives!  Being a vintage computer user, this made me happy.  However, I got to thinking, some of those computers are close to thirty years old (Apple II, C64, Amiga).  If they died while connected to my computer (power supply, capacitor failure, etc.) would it damage my new PC?  All of my vintage PCs have switching power supplies, including the C64, so is the fuse likely to blow before it damages my PC?

I have an old P3 I could use for retro computers, and I don't care if it blew up (it cost me $10 at Salvation Army :)) but that isn't as convenient.
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Offline Matt_H

Re: Safety of Old Equipment
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2011, 10:10:40 PM »
I think it's near impossible for a failing peripheral attached to a modern serial port to damage the host. If you're concerned, though, grab a $10 RS232 card for your new machine and move the risk to the card instead.
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Offline nicholas

Re: Safety of Old Equipment
« Reply #2 on: October 15, 2011, 04:48:22 PM »
Quote from: Matt_H;663550
I think it's near impossible for a failing peripheral attached to a modern serial port to damage the host. If you're concerned, though, grab a $10 RS232 card for your new machine and move the risk to the card instead.

Or one of these for less than two quid.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-RS232-SERIAL-DB9-9-PIN-ADAPTER-CABLE-GPS-PDA-/270491516064?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item3efa8cfca0
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Offline gertsy

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Re: Safety of Old Equipment
« Reply #3 on: October 15, 2011, 06:18:17 PM »
If you have both machines off when connecting you should never have a problem. Though as serial isn't opto isolated it is possible to damage either if something went horribly wrong internally....
I'd be careful with the baud rate on the new PC though, it might turn your Amiga inside-out if you try to download from it to quickly... :)
« Last Edit: October 15, 2011, 06:20:30 PM by gertsy »
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Offline Tension

Re: Safety of Old Equipment
« Reply #4 on: October 16, 2011, 12:34:03 AM »
Quote from: gertsy;663613
it might turn your Amiga inside-out if you try to download from it to quickly


my amiga exploded
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