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Hello - dinotron - 09-02-2022
Hi there,
new member here. Last night I won an ebay auction for a Bee - (Microbee Series 2 16K Personal Communicator, Cassette Data Unit, Printer and monitor). It appears to only have had 1 owner - and kept in good condition - but it was listed as untested - have yet to get my new baby home yet and see if there is life!
I have been trying to get a Bee for a while now - had one as a kid - but we parted ways when I moved interstate about 22 years ago.
Ironically this ebay unit, I think, is the same model I had - no fancy floppy drives and only 16K ram.
I suspect I might need some guidance on restoring it and getting it operational.
Hopefully I pick it up this Friday.
Cheers
Dean
RE: Hello - someone - 09-02-2022
Welcome aboard and we're happy to help.
It is very likely that the bee work for the exception of the keyswitches. (Even a totally sealed packet of switches when open all failed!)
Microbees hate transit and you'll probably have to jiggle the connection between the coreboard and the baseboard a few times to get good contact.
Ensure that you don't use too high of an input voltage when powering it up.
(The monitor power supply can be a tad too high for old bees.)
You'll probably find that some of the electrolytic capacitors have lost their capacitance to some degree but often not enough to need replacement.
RE: Hello - ChickenMan - 09-02-2022
Arr so you acquired that 'Bee, nice one, congratulation and welcome to the forum
Well it might have been a Series 2 originally but its been updated to a PC85 which was the last of their ROM based 'Bees and I'm sure it will be 32k as well. It has a Colour sticker on it also so the optional colour board added, nice. Will be interested in what version of PC85 you have as I have just upgraded mine a bit recently, see - https://microbeetechnology.com.au/forum/showthread.php?tid=366 The power pack that came with it is labelled 12v 2amp, as "someone" said I would find and use a 9.5 - 10v unit to power it up initially. I personally use a Compaq Laptop 10v power pack or a PS/2 9.5v power supply.
All the books we have in the Repository already and the tapes as well. But its the stack of other docs that may have something missing,
RE: Hello - dinotron - 10-02-2022
Thanks for the info guys.
I intent to be very cautious with it. And I will inspect and check the caps and voltages before powering it up.
Very keen to find out what I have actually acquired - sounds like I am getting a little more than i expected. That will be nice.
Pick it up tomorrow - busy weekend ahead!