It’s Alive!! Alive, I tells ya!!

Since picking up the Fairlight, I’ve not had much time to do anything to it, what with work and then having two weeks vacation. Similarly, my ‘supervisor’, the Fairlight Grand Master, Peter Wielk, has been globe trotting, primarily in America (New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco).

You will have seen that a box of goodies turned up from Australia and these have sat, tantalising and tempting atop the mainframe but I didn’t want to start popping things in and out of the card cage without definitive instructions. After all, this doesn’t (presently) belong to me 😉

Anyway, this weekend just gone, Peter dropped me a couple of emails and some instructions on getting some power coursing through the CMI’s veins, firstly to check whether the boot process was working, and secondly to check the condition of the original monitor. We’ll be fitting a VGA upgrade card that will allow for the connection of a regular LCD panel but it would be nice to sell with an original VDU.

So, this evening I decided to start work. I popped out the old Q133 Debug card from slot 23. This card connects to the RS-232 alpha-numeric keyboard, front panel and the audio backplane and is necessary for successful booting into the BIOS. The existing card had the wrong ROMS on it so Peter supplied an up to date card, which I installed. The front card cage is a very clean and organised space, clearly labelled and everything slides in and out with a pleasing sense of solidity. Peter also sent me a picture of his test bed machine back in Australia to help with card locations…

Once the card was in, I reconnected the various edge connectors and plugged in the monitor cable. This single, five pin, latching cable carries both power and image signal. And then the moment of truth…

I connected the power, flicked the front switch and she sprung to life. Seconds later, the BIOS information appeared on screen and a sigh of relief was exhaled 😉 Here’s some video for you…

So, we’re one step towards completion. Next up will be the eight voice cards and a few other assorted replacements and additions and then we should be able to make her sing.

Stay tuned!