From: Andrew Webber (awebber_at_sgml-mercs.com)
Date: Wed Dec 01 1999 - 09:53:05 EST
On Wed, 1 Dec 1999 01:21:55 -0500, James H. E. Maugham wrote:
>I went into a shop to buy a grounded kettle cord. Clerk asks
>me what it's for, I tell him it's for my laptop and he asks
>me what type. I tell him a TP600, he reaches under the
>counter and pulls out an IBM part no. 76H3524 UK style power
>cord. Fits the brick for my 600 perfectly. Price 4.50 Pounds.
Thanks for the info! I'll probably still get an adapter here (from
CAA, quite cheap) but I was thinking of looking into that while in
the UK (stupid IBM, their manual lists the part numbers of all the
power cords, the US site doesn't let you order or price it, just
tells you to contact their overseas marketing people -- you'd think
there would be a market in North America for UK-compliant power
cords!!!!! ).
The local CAA carries Austin House power accessories, alongside
their sleeping masks, neck rests, money belts, and all the other
paraphernalia. I've also seen them in several airports, although
they're Canadian airports.
What particularly impressed me about the power adapters (C$10.50
retail, ~U$7) is that the female side is a weird combination of
slots and jacks, that looks like it will take just about any
nationality's plug. Obviously I don't need a European adapter that
takes a UK plug, but it strikes me that an Austin House adapter
sold for that purpose in the UK or Europe, will also take my NA
plug! Very nice. Does make the plugs a bit big, though (grounded
ones, because the receiving end is big enough for that monster UK
plug).
Austin House's website is useless (still under construction) but I
heard a rumour they sell phone adapters too. CAA didn't have them.
Radio Shack's site lists some neat phone adapters. They're
actually duplex adapters, one jack local the other RJ-11. The UK
one (where the plug looks to be like an RJ-45 in size) looks like a
standard NA duplex adapter (one of the two being UK), the Swedish
one, which looks like some sort of 220V stove plug in miniature,
has the RJ-11 sticking out sideways. The net effect being that you
can plug in the adapter, plug in your modem, _AND_ plug in the
original telephone!
Radio Shack in Canada doesn't even list them. Does anyone know if
these are stock items in US stores (I'll be there next week)?
FWIW, here are the part numbers from RS's site:
980-0481 UK phone (U$6)
980-0478 Sweden phone (U$6)
980-0448 Europe grounded (2 round pin) (U$6)
980-0608 UK (?-labelled Europe but looks like UK) grounded (U$7)
273-1405 some set of 4 power adapters (U$9)
273-1413 multi-nation adapter (~U$25?)
There are lots of others too.
>As a stockholder, I took umbrage at this waste of funds and
>questioned the intelligence of the helpdesk employees.
>Which is when she informed me that the company now outsources
>the helpdesk to the same outfit that provides their laptops,
>desktops and accessories.
>
>What a surprise.
Funny how that works, isn't it? :(
andrew
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