I have my faulty VT100 now passing the RAM test, but it is still not
producing any output to the screen. Looking at the DC012 chip it seems to be
permanently asserting the interrupt line and not generating any DMA HOLD
REQUEST signals. It seems that all the clock inputs are running (DOT CLK,
CHAR CLK, VERT RESET). Unless there are other clock inputs not shown on the
schematic, I think this suggests that the DC012 is faulty.
Does anyone know of any other reason why the DC012 might behave this way?
Anyone have a spare DC012 chip?
I have posted a bit more detail here:
https://robs-old-computers.com/2023/10/01/vt100-ram-fault/
Thanks
Rob
Hi Tony and all
>It might have run CP/M (which will run on an 8080, and therefore on an
>8085). That needs RAM at location 0000 [1].
I know of CP/M, I even used CP/M (on my Apple) but I did not know it
needs RAM at 0000. That's kind of strange, since everything that ran
CP/M (OK, everything -80) has vectors at 0. I guess there was a reason
behind it.
I see the CPU board has a jumper "F000/F800" so I guess it does something
to map that address to 0 after reset.
W
I have some open slots in some of my racks. I do have some old DEC
rails, but I have a fair amount of equipment, from both DEC and other
manufacturers, for which those rails are not suitable.
Does anyone have any specific recommendations for shelving? (where
equipment could just be slid on top of, if the equipment isn't too wide
- some pieces are very close to 19 inches all by themselves, and were
designed for front cantilever style mounting.)
Would also be interested in specific recommendations for the following:
DEC VR14 (I have one on a PDP-12 with proper rails, but have another to
mount and don't have proper rails for it)
HP 88780 (Perhaps a shelf is the best bet for these?)
JRJ
Same place as last year in the big parking lot across from Brookdale and
down the street from InfoAge Science and History Museums.
We have Southern Monmouth County Firehouse museum selling food and drinks
in the middle.
This is a fundraiser for both museums (VCF and Firehouse museum) which are
both part of InfoAge.
All the info is here: https://vcfed.org/vcf-swap-meet/
Thanks!
Jeff Brace
VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President
Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner
VCF Mid-Atlantic Event Manager
Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity
https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/>
jeffrey(a)vcfed.org
The DEC H7441 regulator is a relatively complex circuit using 2 x 555
timers, 2 x LM301 op-amps, 2 x transformers and 2 inductors
I am struggling to understand how it is meant to work and was hoping to
find a maintenance manual for it.
Could anyone with such a manual please help?
Alternatively is there another explanation of the operation of this or
similar types of circuits?
The circuit implements a switch mode supply.
One of the two 555 timers operates as an oscillator, the second I think
operates as a monoflop with the pulse length controlled via one of the
LM301s.
Overall the circuit seems very complex and while I understand parts of it,
other parts are mysterious.
In particular the top left section around Q1/Q2/Q3 and T1/T2 and E3 is most
confusing.
I did not find anything remotely similar in "The Art of Electronics" from
Horowitz & Winfield.
The H7441 schematics are available from here:
https://deramp.com/downloads/mfe_archive/011-Digital%20Equipment%20Corporat…
Thanks for any help or suggested reading material.
Tom
I bought this giant GCR tape drive on eBay five years ago,
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/fujitsu/_brochures/M244X_Brochure_1984.pdf
hoping to be able to use it to extract analog signals from 6250 BPI
tapes to feed into my decoding program.
https://github.com/LenShustek/readtape
I failed to figure out how to get the right signals out, and
eventually abandoned the project. I now need the space it takes, so
I'm offering it for free before consigning it to the landfill. It's
big (20" x 24" x 30" on the wheeled stand I built) and heavy (160
lbs) so I won't ship it. Pickup only, on the San Francisco peninsula.
Hi,
who knows details about the DEC VT36 Color Graphics Display Control System (
https://classic.technology/vt36-color-graphics-display-control-system/)?
I'm looking for manuals for the VT36 as well as for the associated
VAX-11/PROVUE or RSX-11/PROVUE software.
Anyone with personal experience with the VT36 and/or PROVUE?
Ulli