>JD> There's a cable between the meter and serial port, and it 
 >JD> should work with almost anything. One of these days, I'm gonna 
 >JD> lash it up to a Model 100 RS laptop just for grins. 
 > 
 > I almost got a model 100,  but ended up with a PX-8 instead!  Lots 
 > more in that little box.  
 JD> > I have 2 or 3 Model 100's, an M200 and another M200 
 JD> on the way. 
I wouldn't mind getting into some of those as well,  if I could get ahold of 
them cheap enough...
 JD> I use 'em for taking notes, writing procedures at work, and 
 JD> programming an older CNC milling machine. 
Really?  What sort of interface did that machine use?  That's an area that 
has always held a lot of fascination for me,  though I can't seem to find 
much work in the fields...
 JD> They'd be a good machine for many HomePower folks, as they're 
 JD> extrememly frugal with the power requirements.
Yeah,  I'll say.  This PX-8 has *three* batteries in it,  apparently,  though 
I've only replaced the main set to get it to work.  Lots of nifty features in 
there.
 JD> One fella in CA had a business years ago where he built 
 JD> interfaces for a Mod 100. The whole thing was powered by a 
 JD> small solar panel, sat out in a field or orchard, taking some 
 JD> sort of measurements and storing them in the computer. 
I believe that this is still very much a viable market,  though the 
mass-production orientation of places like radio shack aren't going to let 
them continue to market a machine like that when they can get so much more 
for a "laptop" which has to have a "big" hard drive in it running windoze or 
w95...
Personally,  I'd *love* to be asked to build a little box like that so that 
we could sell a few of them to people who wanted them for such uses,  it'd 
also be a challenge to come up with something that would operate on very 
little power.  And you *don't* need a GUI to run something like that!  Lots 
of useful things can still be done with 8 bits,  though perhaps we oughta be 
talking about it in some other echo...   
 JD> Seems like you could come up with an A/D convertor and feed it 
 JD> into the computer somehow or another. 
The PX-8 already has this stuff in it,  in terms of an A/D input,  a 
"speaker" output that can be used for the reverse connection,  a "barcode" 
reader input that can be used for a digital input,  a couple of serial 
ports...
 JD> There used to be an outfit called Alpha Products that 
 JD> advertised in the old Rainbow magazine (dedicated to the Radio 
 JD> Shack Color Computer). Alpha products had a whole line of 
 JD> goodies, A/D convertors, relay switchers, and interfaces for 
 JD> the COCO, Model I/III, and IBM PC. I have one of the latter 
 JD> setups with a reed relay board and 8-bit convertor that I was 
 JD> going to use for data gathering. Although it cost me 
 JD> considerably more than that RS DVM mentioned earlier, it has a 
 JD> lot of versatility. (no, I don't want to sell it) 
What sort of things are you planning to do with it?  I have bunches of older 
equipment around (XT motherboards and such) and some designs for various 
interfaces,  but haven't yet hit on any application that makes me want to do 
much with it,  at least not so far...
--- 
---------------