Re: [PLUG] Broken Ribbon Cable

[Gary Duzan via plug <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>]

> Is it just a matter of replacing the ribbon cable, or is it more
> involved than that? Desktop machines back then used used commodity
> ribbon cables that I don't recall being especially fragile or
> difficult to insert and remove. Do you think it would work with one of
> those, or does this require a special bespoke ribbon cable?
>
> What are the AIs suggesting that the repair would entail?
>
> Walt

   FWIW:

https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtMg%3D%3D_9fd72e34-1980-4583-aa9b-643bf3fc49bf

                          Gary Duzan


> On Tue, Oct 21, 2025 at 03:20:46PM -0400, Casey Bralla via plug wrote:
>> I bought a 30 year old laptop for my collection.
>> https://www.nerdworld.org/Content/Computer%20Museum/Computer%20Museum.html.
>> Unfortunately, when taking it apart, I ripped the delicate orange ribbon
>> cable on the floppy drive.  The laptop will boot, but the hard drive on
>> this
>> old baby is long dead, so I need to have a working floppy.
>>
>> All the AI's say a repair is possible, but Oh Geez, what a task.
>>
>> Has anybody ever tried to actually do this?  My 68 year old hands
>> aren't
>> especially steady.
>>
>> The Laptop is a CompuAdd, which was not especially popular, so the
>> chance of
>> finding replacement parts is asymptotically zero.
>>
>> Any suggestions?
>>
>> BTW, this laptop has an IDE disk that is soldered to the motherboard. 
>> Yipes!  Might have been good for physically durability, but pretty well
>> screws any repair or upgrade possibility.
>
>
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