Emax

Hey Jeremie,

I'm glad to hear you have been able to get the floppy up and running. If you have access to a PC capable of running EMX, you can create your own Plus OS disks. It's a bit of a hassle if you don't have an older machine with an earlier version of Windows or DOS even, but an option nonetheless.

I am sorry to hear about the problem with replacing the backlight. Usually, you can just desolder the backlight terminals and slide out the old one without much fuss. I have two Emax rack units. One, so far, I am keeping virgin. The other, I have added SCSI to and will be making additional modifications such as the external "Plus" SCSI port.

One of the mods I have completed is the addition of a Noritake VF Display. These are intended to be direct LCD replacements and require no additional power. Works really well and no more concern about backlights. It exhibits very small flickering during some navigation operations, but, I am very pleased with the mod.

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=286-1068-ND

Some photos after the mod:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52975669@N06/sets/72157625151557158/

It is a direct one-for-one pin correlation to the stock display. It takes a bit of work to wire it up. I just soldered wires to it to make sure it would work, but they are a bit too heavy a gauge and the fit is tight. You also have to work out a mounting solution. I just matched up one of the mounting holes with a blank space in the front panel board and drilled a hole. I will be adding a proper header and ribbon connection as soon as I have all of the parts.

You may not like the aesthetics, but it is a very nice solution if you just need to use the thing. I will be experimenting with different opamps next. I have socketed the dual (stereo) output chip already and tried an alternate I had on hand. I will be researching and order some other chips to try out. Very interesting and fun. I have learned a lot about the unit digging around in its guts the last couple of weeks.

At any rate, I hope this info is helpful. Best of luck with your Emax.