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MiniSport Laptop Hacker (TM) - Vol #27.  June 1995
To discourage pecuniary interests, Copyright (c) 1995 Brian Mork

>>> ADMIN
A compendium of all issues are available from ftp.cs.buffalo.edu as 
\pub\ham-radio\mlhackXX.zip, or on SimTel archives (eg. oak.oakland.edu) 
as \SimTel\msdos\packet\mlhackXX.zip.  The XX in the filename indicates 
the last issue number, and replaces the previous convention of using 
mlhacker.zip for all compendiums.

Notice my email address has changed and the direct dial data line has 
been terminated.  The administrative overhead of maintaining 
personalized "electronic superhighway" access has been too much.  I'm 
hunkering down, and consolidating all my activity into one commercial 
account just like everybody else.  I still only have regional access.  
If you have a recommendation about which national or international 
provider provides the most complete, powerful, and lucid text based 
access to Internet, I would love to hear it.

January through May have been quiet months - no MLH volumes were issued.  
Sorry about the delay to those of you who asked.  No I haven't fallen 
off the face of the earth!  February was vacation time for the family, 
driving across this great country one more time to visit friends and 
family.  March and April were spent in Alabama at a military "middle 
management" school.  May sort of dissolved into a lot of catch-up 
activity, and <poof!> I find it's already June.  Time flies!  August 
through December I expect to be busy at a military Space Tactics School.  
I'm not sure what network access I've have there.  I'm sure I'll bring a 
small packet radio station, but I may not have Internet access.


>>> AUTOMATED PULLUP FROM THE BOOTSTRAPS
I don't buy lithium batteries anymore.  When the NiCd batteries die, the 
entire RAM disk dies.  I've developed some batch files that will rebuild 
the entire environment in under 3 minutes.  I've used them for over a 
year, but now they incorporate the Stacker setup discussed in the 
previous issue.  First, you need to make a removable disk with the 
following files:

CONFIG   SYS       38  12-30-94   2:48a
AUTOEXEC BAT      128  12-30-94   2:20a
STACKER  COM    47266   6-27-91   1:12a
SCREATE  COM     2762   6-27-91   1:12a
SCREXEC  EXE    38565   6-27-91   1:12a
SCREXEC2 EXE    27974   6-27-91   1:12a
SETUP1   BAT      257  12-30-94   3:18a
SETUP2   BAT       15  12-30-94   3:05a
SETUP3   BAT      102  12-30-94   3:16a
SCHECK   EXE    30646   6-27-91   1:12a
PKUNZIP  EXE    23528   3-15-90  16:52p
UTIL     ZIP    84904  12-30-94  12:34a

Just power up the brain dead minisport (only disk C:), stick in the 
removable disk with these files and enter the command "A:SETUP1".  But 
what's in the customized files?  Below I list the name, followed by the 
contents of each file that isn't a .COM or .EXE file:

CONFIG   SYS       38  12-30-94   2:48a
device=d:\stacker.com d:\stacvol.000

AUTOEXEC BAT      128  12-30-94   2:20a
@echo off
echo BjM (InCrea) P autoexec.bat
path c:\;d:\;e:\util
prompt $p$g
verify on
e:
set lfbrowse=l
set lfedit=ed

SETUP1   BAT      257  12-30-94   3:18a
c:format d:
c:label d:
a:screate d:stacvol.000 /s=1.2 /m
copy a:config.sys d:\
copy a:stacker.com d:\
copy a:setup2.bat d:\autoexec.bat
copy a:fastwire.cfg d:\
copy a:scheck.exe d:\
echo Auto warm boot to recognize disk E: and continue setting up.

SETUP2   BAT       15  12-30-94   3:05a
a:\setup3.bat

SETUP3   BAT      102  12-30-94   3:16a
e:
mkdir util
cd e:\util
a:pkunzip a:util
cd \
c:label e:
copy a:autoexec.bat d:\
d:\autoexec

UTIL     ZIP    84904  12-30-94  12:34a
This file has zipped up version of your favorite utilities you'd like 
copied into a subdirectory on disk E:, with automatic reference via the 
MS-DOS PATH command.


>>> BREAKING INTO BATTERY PACKS
A standard ZA-1-2 battery pack is 13.2cm wide, 2.7cm tall, and 5.5cm 
deep.  Orient it in front of you so the black round charger connection 
is to the left.  The metal contacts are on the bottom, also toward the 
left side of the pack.  The manufacturer's label is on the top. If you 
pull loose the manufacturer's label, you can reach into the battery pack 
and touch the thermal cutout switch wired between two of the five series 
cells.

If you want to do anything else (like replace a cell), you'll have to be 
more aggressive! The top section of the case has an approximately 1mm 
lip that slides down inside the lower case, all around the edge.  Use a 
thick blade knife that won't bend.  Slip it into the seam around the 
periphery of the pack, push inward and lift the handle of the blade 
upward to crack the glue seal in several places.  The goal is to pull 
the lower case away from the inner lip of the upper case. My case had 
only spots of glue - three across the front, three across the back, one 
on the right and one on the left.  

All the cells are lined up on the right side of the pack, next to each 
other, with no space between.  The left 1.5cm of the pack contains a 
circuit board containing the three contacts showing on the bottom, the 
board mount charging jack, and a tiny surface mount 0.1uf capacitor.  I 
didn't look on the bottom of the board because I'd have to desolder all 
three slide tabs to do so.

The cells are the same size as a standard C-cell NiCd battery.  They all 
have solder tabs.  I've had good luck purchasing new batteries from E.F. 
Yost & Co, 2211D Parview Rd, Middleton, WI 53562, 608-831-3443.  If you 
replace one battery, replace all five of them using the same brand and 
model of battery.  I'm a battery consumer just like you are, and don't 
like buying what I don't need.  I even keep all my 1sees and 2sees out 
in the garage.  Nevertheless, every time I replace a single cell, I'm 
back into the pack a few months later repeating surgery.  My opinion.

Please provide feedback!      * Internet bmork@comtch.iea.com
                              * ARO Net KA9SNF@ka7fvv.#ewa.wa.usa
73, Brian                     * 6006-B Eaker, Fairchild, WA 99011 USA