Re: A92: Link Port -- design flaw!
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Re: A92: Link Port -- design flaw!
This happened to my 92 as well, very early on. For a while I continued to
use my 92 with the broken port, but it just got flakier and flakier until
finally one of the metal pieces fell out. This happened around April '96
(during the early development of Fargo). I opened up my 92 and decided to
tear out the broken link port and create a makeshift one with small strips
of metal taped to the board.
This new jerry-rigged link port did work, though I often needed to fiddle
with it to get a clean contact between it and the link plug. Now and then
it would begin to require excessive fiddling, or it might stop working
altogether; then I'd need to open up my 92 again and do maintainance on my
makeshift link port.
Of course this got increasingly annoying as time went on. The idea of
getting a new TI-92 began to grow on me. Then around late December '97, I
began to get heavily involved in the development of Fargo II. This is when
I finally decided to go out and get a new 92. So I did. Which brings us
up-to-date.
If it isn't clear by now, the TI-92 has a major design flaw. The link port
is attached to the main board, which is one large rectangle filling the
whole case. So it has no way of absorbing shocks. The TI-8x series, on the
other hand, solves this problem quite well: it places the link port on a
small board that is detached from the main board and connected by wires.
I think it would really be *great* if TI would redesign the TI-92 such that
the link port is on a separate board. This would solve the problem once and
for all...and would probably significantly reduce the number of replacement
TI-92`s that TI sends out. It would also be without precedent -- to my
knowledge, TI has never released a hardware revision of an existing
calculator. But, given that fact that _so_ many TI-92 owners have had their
link ports break, I think it is an idea worth giving serious consideration.
P.S. - Rob Taylor's link port also broke sometime around April '96. I
believe he got it working again by melting the thing with a solder gun.
(Rob Taylor was one of my partners in the early development of Fargo.)
---
David Ellsworth
davidell@earthling.net
IRC: eXocomp
ICQ: 2300673
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