From: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!C70:info-cpm Newsgroups: fa.info-cpm Title: Running CP/M systems in Europe Article-I.D.: ucb.1416 Posted: Thu Jun 24 23:18:09 1982 Received: Mon Jun 28 03:37:27 1982 >From COMSAT.SoftArts@Mit-Multics Thu Jun 24 23:17:49 1982 Local: INFO-CPM at MIT-MC, cc:MADDOX at MIT-ML, cc:WALTERS:sent.po Original-date: 24 JUN 1982 08:32:36 Via: Mit-Mc; 24 Jun 82 18:42-EDT I was involved in the shipment of a CP/M system to France last fall for a three month museum exhibit. The system was a custom design which had been assembled with parts from about a dozen manufacturers. The 8 inch Shugarts were the part of the system we were most worried about reconfiguring, but it turned out that while you do have to change a drive belt and a pulley for the main motor (which is turning more slowly with a 50 Hz AC supply), this is relatively straightforward and involved no more than unscrewing the old one and dropping in the new. Although we probably could have obtained a 220V motor as well, we just used a 220 to 110 volt transformer which is relatively common overseas because of all the U.S. equipment used there. The parts did take about two months to get since the American suppliers of Shugart parts don't seem to have a lot of European components in stock; they probably would have been relatively easy to get in Europe but we wanted to have everything ready before we left. The other worry we had was the compatibility of our black and white video equipment with European monitors, but, as we had been assured, European monitors can easily synchronize on a video signal with standard NTSC characteristics. Fortunately, we were not working with color since the standards for broadcast color signals are much different. Most of the rest of our equipment had been purchased with a 220/110 power supply which could be converted by flipping a switch and changing a fuse. American style fuses are a little harder to get in Europe and a little more expensive because they are not a standard size; it would be worth taking over a few spares of the new values. One unit had to have the power cord rewired (the manufacturer had not provided a switch but had given instructions); another unit had no conversion option but drew little power and ran fine on the conversion transformer for the floppies. All in all, we were up and running in about two days. It turned out that our largest problem was not the voltage levels in France, but their unreliability! Fading voltages and sudden power surges are much more common overseas, and we ended up having to replace a few fuses (again, take some spares) and chips. Eventually we ended up grounding everything very thoroughly and getting a conditioned power line, and had no further problems for the duration of the show.