1982 Texas Instruments Add-In Board and Ribbon Cable, w/ Connector

[Bear]

This was an add on peripheral board from a 1982 TI 99/4 computer peripherals extension box. The board itself was in an aluminum enclosure


This is where the ribbon cable attached to the board, just sort of pressed together into all those tiny pins, which fell out easily enough


Here is a closer look at the pins. At first they just appeared to be polished steel, stainless I thought, but after one fell out it looked like these

[Bear]

Why would they use tin wire with gold connectors? The one on bottom is just a regular IDE ribbon cable



those strands in top left are strands from the edge wire which i'd stripped earlier

[jghilino]

Looks like coated copper wire to me. #2 copper. Or is it really aluminum wire?

[Bear]

hmmmm. I thought most IDE cables were copper, like the one in the pic there. I tried pulling the side wire off to strip it and thought how small it was(thought most IDE cables were thicker), so I got another one with thicker wires(the ones we mostly see).
Wellll, turns out they're aluminum, both the older one I was wondering about, and the thicker size IDE, and they both melted over a lighter flame. I stripped one of the tinier copper ones, and the tip burned, but it mostly just glowed red, and was still intact when I removed the flame

[jghilino]

Aluminum wiring was common in residential construction back then also. Thank goodness building codes have improved over time. Another tip is to watch out for copper clad wiring, i come across some from time to time when stripping wire. Not all wiring is created equal.

Bear you do very good photographs, you using a regular digital camera or a slr type digital camera?

[Bear]

Thanks JG, I went through a process into the digicam world when I first discovered Ebay about ten years ago. My main objective was clear close-ups of computer parts, and the most important thing for that is simply an optical zoom.

I dropped off Ebay shortly after moving back here in early 07, but still use my xmas gift to myself (cause it was on sale) from 06 Kodak z650. It's about wore out now from taking thousands of nature and landscape photos, but it's been a decent camera really

[jghilino]

Well i have a kodak z990 i do my ebay and regular photos with. Apparently you are more skilled with it than i am. i Have a hard time getting clear close up shots. Have tried adjusting the zoom and distance from the object. It takes me about 5 attempts before i get a pic that looks half way decent.

[Bear]

sometimes it just as well to stand back, and zoom in(in regular mode), especially when photographing skiddish little creatures like butterflies, stand back and zoom in

with the close-up(they call it macro, not sure if my camera qualifies in that category), flower icon on the settings, it won't likely (if it's anything like mine) allow much zoom, very little actually when close up

and one of the best things I've found is that 2 second delay, which allows you to steady up and aim while the camera snaps, instead of having to be pressing on that darn button. This works exceptionally well on very intricate close-ups, and very distant full zoom shots such as the moon without a tripod. In those two cases I'll usually even hold my breath while the camera snaps

[jghilino]

ok, thanks bear im gonna try using the delay and see if that helps maybe even start using a tripod

[Bear]

i used a little pocket tripod (i think it was about $6 on ebay) on top of a small 4ft Al ladder, which I set with some screws onto a little movers flat dolly, haha! It worked like a charm, I'd roll it all over the place, flip the paint holder to set the camera on, and snap.
You're actually just about as well off using the delay, and standing steady.
I've taken lightning shots propped up against a fence post, no tripod, using 8 second shutter speed. Here's one of my better catches, but on the way to find where I'd filed this I went through another "lightning" folder (95 shots, all too dark to use). It takes a bit of work with one, and as you said, sometimes multiple shots

[oldtoothlessbassmaster]

sometimes it just as well to stand back, and zoom in(in regular mode), especially when photographing skiddish little creatures like butterflies, stand back and zoom in

with the close-up(they call it macro, not sure if my camera qualifies in that category), flower icon on the settings, it won't likely (if it's anything like mine) allow much zoom, very little actually when close up

and one of the best things I've found is that 2 second delay, which allows you to steady up and aim while the camera snaps, instead of having to be pressing on that darn button. This works exceptionally well on very intricate close-ups, and very distant full zoom shots such as the moon without a tripod. In those two cases I'll usually even hold my breath while the camera snaps

bear, your kodak z650 does indeed have a macro mode (flower icon) setting but you need to be within the limits of the specs for razor sharp images.

fully zoomed out your camera in macro mode will only focus and lock in on the object as long as it is 12cm (4-3/4") away from the front of the lens
closer than 4-3/4" will always result in a soft or blurry image.

if you zoom in with macro mode your object must be 1.2m (47-1/4") away and the maximum range is 2.1m (82-11/16")

the z650 does not have a manual focus option so you need to use the "spot" or "center zone" focus setting when in macro so the camera knows what to zero in on.

a tripod or copystand will help nail "the shot" when the countdown timer is used to fire the shutter so hand held camera shake is eliminated.

nice lightning catch