From: John Charlton (johncharlton_at_mac.com)
Date: Thu Mar 03 2005 - 21:03:10 PST
I was another of the lucky ones to pick up the $15 emates from ebay the oth=
er day (thanks Stanley!). It arrived yesterday (I paid money order so it to=
ok a little longer) and didn't even dare open it until I checked the spring=
s. Today I had some time (well I didn't, really) and spent the day tinkerin=
g. I was a bit surprised to discover the ribbon cable had been *repaired*. =
Not a bad looking job though. On investigation I found there were also a fe=
w screws missing (screen hold-down on the rubber mounts), as well as the li=
d plunger, or maybe I lost that :-) That's been temporarily fixed with a sm=
all block of balsa. I did a full hinge and washer job as the non-ribbon sid=
e was about to go. May try a spring-less fix if/when I can get into a machi=
ne shop. Details on that when it's done. Slapped the basics together and po=
wered it up for the first time. The light glowed green, then yellow, but no=
thing on the screen. Hmm. Hold down the reset button, nothing. Oh well, tho=
ught I, I'm only out $20 and I've got the coolest paperweight. Lets see wha=
t's going on, balsa in place, switch depressed, could it be the Newer ram c=
ard? shouldn't need the backlight or speaker soldered back yet - aha! I bet=
it works better with the ribbon cable plugged in to the screen! And I hadn=
't even got in to the single-malt yet.=20
So the good news, it works fine, the case is in fantastic shape, has the or=
iginal stylus, and even came in an emate box. Not-so-good news, dodgy cable=
, battery won't hold a charge, missing a screw or three. The problems are n=
ot unexpected for a machine that age, better to have a repaired ribbon cabl=
e than a torn one, and I've lived with a few loose screws long enough not t=
o worry too much about them. =20
There's more good news to come - just bought another from him, though the b=
uy-it-now has gone up it's still a great deal on a very cool machine. If yo=
u're interested look for mstakey - no affiliation, no warranty express or i=
mplied, your milage may vary.
-jc
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