Re: [NTLK] keyboard dongle confusion

From: Ed Kummel (tech_ed_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Fri May 03 2002 - 12:29:01 EDT


Yeah, what he said! That stupid interconnect interface
that Apple used is extremly fragile! It is held in
place with solder alone! If you use the port alot, the
operative phrase becomes "when your dongle port fails"
instead of IF! I attempted a repair and it worked for
3-5 inserts! Then I sent it to Apple and they repaired
it and it again worked for 3-5 insertions. What
happens is that the stress of insertion is partially
absorbed by two plastic bumps on the interconnect port
that wedge into two indentions on the motherboard. The
solder holds the whole thing down. Once the port has
been compromised, it will no longer work because the
two plastic bumps have been sheered off in a way where
they can no longer take the stress of insertion. As a
result, the solder takes the brunt of the force of
insertion. And considering that the port is Surface
Mount, there is no strength whatsoever!
So, if you want to save yourself some considerable
headache (you know, the time when your port will fail
will be the one time you really need to make a backup
due to some other hardware failure!) and get the
SER-001! I got one and I don't even synch or backup to
a machine! I got it for that "just in case" reason!
.Ed
web/gadget guru
http://newton.tek-ed.com (download Newton packages)
http://npds.tek-ed.com (my NPDS server and it's new
subdomain)
 
--- PCBman <pcbman_at_ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
>
> > > The SER-001 is a replacment for that goofy port
> on the Newton 2x00, so
> yo=
> > u
> > > don't need the dongle. (And so you don't lose
> the dongle!)
> >
> > Is this an eBay only item also, or where else can
> I buy one of these if I
> > need to?
> >
> > Stephen Swift =BF' The Burnum Man
>
> The SER-001 is available on my website:
>
> http://mrpcbman.tripod.com
>
> The idea is not just to replace the dongle but
> eliminate the need to plug
> anything into the not so robust Newton Interconnect
> port connector.
>
> PCBman

=====
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
- Arthur C. Clarke -

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