Making progress?

I am working on adding actual file management operations to Navigator, the HelenOS file manager. Here's a sneak preview of New File operation. We can create and empty file or a zero-filled file of the specified size. Creating a large file can take time, so we need progress indication. And we need to do something about the command line, too.

Floppy Drive Lead Screw Lubrication

A question that often crops up (and has been bugging me for a very long time) is what is the correct type of lubricant to apply to floppy drive lead screws. Commonly mentioned lubricants are silicone grease and white lithium grease. But are these the correct ones? Clearly the safest and most correct option would be to use what the drive manufacturers recommend. It took me some time to dig up a floppy drive service manual has cleaning and lubrication instructions. It's the Micropolis Floppy Disk Subsystem Maintenance Manual. This has quite a bit of useful information. Firstly, we learn that both the head and the lead screw should be cleaned using IPA.

Lubricate the lead screw and the portion of the carriage that rides on the platen by applying a liberal portion of Saunders Magnalube Micropolis P/N 732-0001-6 to these surfaces.

Now of course an exact description of the P/N I was not able to find, but Saunders Magnalube are polyurea-based greases. So there you have it, black on white, use a polyurea-based grease. These can be easily found in an lubricants e-shop, no problem there. The internets say silicone grease should be safe, but may be challenging to apply and lithium grease may damage plastics. Take from that what you will, I think I will stick to manufacturer's recommendations. I have a plan for inspecting and probably cleaning a number of floppy drives (CF2, 3.5", 5.25") in the future, so this information is very handy. Let's grease some screws! ^_^

Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3 Unboxing!

Five years in the (not) making, and now it's finally here! Let's unwrap this very special package!