Commodore Free 16/Commodore_Free_Issue_16_2008_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.iv ray 2

Text File | 2023-02-26 | 9KB | 281 lines

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Interview with Ray Carlson
Repair engineer still supporting
Commodore Machines
http://personalpages.tds.net/rcarlsen/

  Part 2 of 2

      The Army "borrowed" me for two
years (1965-67) and, with my
electronics background, of course made
me a Military Policeman. Army logic.
With a rifle over my shoulder, I
guarded a missle base in Germany for
14 months. About three months before
my tour of duty was to end, someone
learned of my "talents" and sent me to
"Radio School" in the Bavarian
mountains. I almost slept through it
and still made Honor Graduate. They
figured I would re-enlist but I
hungered for freedom and electronics
(in that order). I remember angering a
re-enlistment Officer by answering: "Do
I look crazy to you?" A month later, I
was "back in the world". Imagine being
anxious to get back to work.

      Since that time, my education
and on-the-job training has been an
accelerating spiral... VCRs, videodisc
players, microwave ovens, audio
cassette and CD players, test
equipment, and on and on. Just to keep
up, it was necessary to regularly
update my schooling on various pieces
of equipment, new VCRs, TV Studio
gear, microprocessors everywhere...
and computers. Like most of my
education in electronics, what I
learned about computers has been
self-taught. I'm a "hardware" kind of
guy. Early on, I spent more time
inside the box than I did pounding the
keys. Commodore, IBM, DEC, Kaypro...
all have been my teachers. I bought my
first computer system, a C64 with 1541
and printer in 1986... relatively late
in the game. The learning curve was
rather steep. I "consumed" utility
programs, learning how the devices
worked. I never liked games.

      The majority of people outside
the circle of technicians who fix all
these magical boxes must assume it's
done with mirrors and smoke, assuming
they think about it at all. They don't
know what happens inside that box and
most of them don't want to know...
until it breaks! How amazed (or bored)
they must be to stare into a Computer
or VCR. Most of it makes logical sense
to the tech. Sometimes WE stare in awe!
We see the wonders around us
contributing to our enrichment... and
our demise as technicians. High-priced
items like a Camcorder that is un-
economical to repair or a two year old
"obsolete" computer are good examples.

      Before the internet went
mainstream, I was repairing Commodore
equipment and writing repair articles
for the local computer clubs. Being an
electronics tech, it was a natural
progression to get into computer
repair. The main problem at that time
was that there was virtually no
service information out there. I've
been acquiring and sharing everything
I can since then. In the early 1990s,
I started answering hardware repair
questions on the Internet newsgroup
comp.sys.cbm, and I still frequent
that group when I have time. I later
put up my own websites after I saw my
repair information, mistakes and all,
appear on other sites all over the
world. The only way I could easily
make corrections and add updates to
existing material was to control my
own websites, so that's how they got
started. It appears to be the only
comprehensive source of repair info
and schematics for Commodore gear in
the world.

      It's amazing to me, now that I
think about it. One of a kind. My two
sites include not only repair articles
but hardware "hacks" such as how to
install a reset switch in an SX
without drilling holes in the case,
and a "protector" circuit to prevent
power supply damage to the C64.
Schematic diagrams for Commodore
computers, monitors, disk drives, etc.
are available on another site.

      Commodore computer hardware has
proved itself to be quality equipment.
They used fiber glass epoxy silk
screened boards and quality components
throughout. How else could such
equipment survive over two decades.
The downside of proprietary parts such
as their custom ICs is that they are
scarce now and only available from
salvaged boards. When the last SID
(sound) chip has failed, that's the
end of it although there are emulators
out there designed to run on a PC. For
the diehard original hardware
enthusiast, there is a limit, but it
will be at least a decade or more if I
have anything to say (and do) about
it. I have quite a bit of experience
with the C64 and 128 but have not done
much with PETs or the Amiga so I limit
my repair efforts to the former 8 bit
stuff.

     Along with full time employment,
I've always had a home-based repair
business to supplement my income, up
until about two years ago. Although I
have stopped repairing consumer
electronics for a living, I still keep
my hand in for friends and family, at
least for the stuff that can still be
repaired. Included in that is
Commodore equipment which I'll
continue to repair for anyone who asks
until I run out of  repair parts.
Being a packrat by nature, I have many
computers and drives stashed away for
salvage. The "black brick" power
supply is a common failure item but is
not repairable because it's "potted"
in epoxy inside. I recently managed to
develop a replacement for the PLA chip
in the C64. It's the IC that fails so
often because it runs very hot
normally.  I now install heat sinks on
the PLA, SID and the MPU whenever I
repair a board. If too many chips have
been damaged by over voltage  from a
failed "black brick" power supply, I
simply swap that board out to keep the
repair cost down, then keep the dead
board for salvage. Not all chips are
bad even if the board has been so
damaged.

      I've never advertised, so all of
my Commodore repair jobs have come by
word-of-mouth. I don't know how much I
could handle if lots of people
suddenly started sending me work
because I still have a full time job.
That said, I'm available if anyone
wants to have their equipment
serviced. A few years back, a
Commodore user in the UK was amazed to
find anyone anywhere who could repair
his 128DCR boards. He sent me two of
them and some spare chips. Everything
in the USA uses the NTSC television
format and both his boards were
European PAL format, something I've
never worked with.

         Those were the most
interesting repairs I ever did. Some
chips were installed backwards, some
in the wrong sockets, bent pins, etc.
In addition, the surface-mounted disk
drive head amplifier chip in both
boards was bad. I hate working on
surface mount stuff, but through the
kindness of a friend, I got two
1541-II spare boards that each
contained that same IC and was able to
do the SMD chip swaps and repair the
DCR motherboards. It cost more to ship
them back and forth than I charged to
repair them, but the UK owner didn't
care. He was thrilled to get them
working again at any price.

      I usually charge a flat rate
rather than by the hour. The charges
depend on what I have to do, but I
prefer to put a "cap" on the costs
that I will not go over without
customer approval, or if they need
custom work done. I try to make an
initial diagnosis and estimate cost of
repairs based on symptoms before the
customer ships the equipment. In some
cases, a user can repair his/her  own
stuff with my help, via email. That
said, I don't like to sell parts only.
Diagnosis by swapping parts around is
hardly the best way to troubleshoot
for the inexperienced. Unless they have
spare boards on hand. It usually ends
up being a waste of money if I have to
supply chips that may not even be used.
Further, ICs have become even more
precious (read more expensive) as the
supply continues to shrink and I can't
afford to waste any. When I'm doing a
repair, I don't discard anything unless
I KNOW it's bad.

   I've done very little with CMD
products mainly due to lack of
support. Without schematics and a
stock of parts, I would have little
chance of fixing their equipment.
After-market disk drives are another
matter as they are much like Commodore
drives with regards design and parts
equivalents.

      I once heard of a car made in
France that had no hood opening. You
put gas in one end and oil in the
other... no maintenance. When it
stops, you haul it in, it's ground up
and you buy a new one. Electronics is
headed in that direction. In the mean
time, the electronics service tech-
nician, like the auto mechanic, is
hated and feared and needed. Until we
are needed, we are invisible. Soon we
will be gone. It's happening... it's
history.

Ray Carlsen

COMMODORE FREE

I would like to thank Ray for taking
the time to do this interview, I
appreciate you spent a lot of time
forming the replies and I was
transfixed reading the information you
sent back.

I feel many people work hard and no on
appreciates them, I work in IT support
and never receive any thanks for the
work I do people just expect every-
thing to work. Most times people only
notice you when the network and
computers Stop working, then they
wonder what you actually do all day
and when it will be fixed.  Ray is a
rare breed of technician rather than
fix a broken part he is looking at why
the part failed and addressing the
root cause so it wont fail again.

Commodore machines never get any
younger and parts do fail eventually
we will have no spares left what will
we do then, just use emulation.