Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!sun-barr!ames!amdahl!drivax!macleod
From: macleod@drivax.UUCP (MacLeod)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: DC power supply for IBM PC?
Message-ID: <4694@drivax.UUCP>
Date: 31 May 89 02:02:22 GMT
References: <4682@drivax.UUCP> <1989May28.214142.26384@utzoo.uucp> <30@bartal.CRLABS.COM> <1989May29.235155.26128@utzoo.uucp>
Reply-To: macleod@drivax.UUCP (MacLeod)
Organization: Digital Research, Monterey, CA
Lines: 26

In article <1989May29.235155.26128@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp 
(Henry Spencer) writes:

>>I'm not saying the job is trivial, but it certainly is not unreasonably 
>>difficult.  
>
>Depends on who's doing it.  Unless I'm much mistaken, the original inquirer
>basically doesn't know anything about power supplies.  What's "simple"
>(note that that's the word I used) for such a person isn't the same as
>what's simple to somebody who designs switching regulators for fun. :-)

I once had an FCC 2nd class license, but that was long ago, and I can barely
remember the basics.  But it occurs to me, and still seems reasonable, that
I could afford to hire some enthusiast, spend $200-$300 for such a supply,
and still be ahead, considering the cost/benefit skew between 12Vdc laptops
and AC systems.  The target system I have in mind could be a 12mHz AT clone
with one 5 1/4 HD floppy and a 20 meg hard drive and Herc card and monitor
and 640K of memory.  Such a vanilla desktop AC system should be easily 
obtained for $1200, while a comparable laptop is (I'm not positive, as I don't
monitor laptop prices that closely) probably around $2500.  

By the way, I am getting mail from excited onlookers who show great interest
in such a project.  Perhaps this is a narrow but profitable niche market which 
somebody might be able to service (please).

Michael Sloan MacLeod  (amdahl!drivax!macleod)