emulatorII-list

Hi
I agree with Brian, and there are other E3 problems...
 
SIMM sockets in first batch were bad - many early E2's were recalled
secretly
Hard disk in first batch were troublesome
Burr Brown DAC's can fail and are expensive
Card frame is a mistake - it was designed to be expandable by marketing 
SCSI cable runs are too long in keyboard version
Removing cards can strip components off nearby boards, especially
polystyrene caps
Inserting jacks into stereo outs can blow a variety of components
Needs alignment and maintenance every year
16 channel TTL based microcontroller just pushes the boundaries of dense TTL
and all that heat - what an idea!
Rack version is considerably more reliable , as its later and has the card
frame vertically - shorter SCSI cable too
If you love your E3 get a second for spares and an expander board. I sold my
E3's long ago - too much hassle.
 
E2 is prone to rare chip failure - S3528 switched capacitor and SSM filter
chip. These are hard to find, so buy some now as spares!
E2 power supply overheats the PCB's and then voices cut out. Power supply
often fails but is repairable
E2 hard disk is now well past its life.
Molex interconnects can fail
I'd replace the Tantumlum bypass caps, as they are 25 years old and will die
causing more problems
Other than that its pretty much ok and uses sensible parts and a good 2 PCB
layout. 
 
The E3 product quality failure was significant in 1988 and E-mu Systems
nearly went out of business as a direct result. They unfortunately over
reacted and introduced Japanese TQM. This  reduced innovation is such a
small company, and meant senior managers would not approve any further mega
projects for many years...hence the Proteus was born..Its why the was a big
gap until the E4 arrived, as the E3 exapnsion plans were axed and only a 2x
Emax II (the E3XP) was eventually built.
 
Positive side was Dave Rossum created more custom ASIC chips to improve
relaibility. Ahhh the G Chip !
 
All the best
Rob
www.emulatorarchive.com 


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