On Tue, Mar 1, 2016 at 10:40 AM, Noel Chiappa <jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu>
wrote:
 So, the MM11-U manual (EK-MF11U-MM-003) describes (pg. 3-12) a set of
 jumpers
 (W5-W7) on the G235 card (X and Y selection line current generators - those
 for the inhibit lines are on the G114) which adjust the bias current for
 the
 selection line generators. It goes on to say:
   "Jumpers W5-W7 are factory cut to adjust the bias current to its
   optimal value and they should not be changed."
 There's apparently a similar adjustment for the timing of the sense strobe
 (although I can't find the description of that circuitry). So I have two
 observations, based on this.
 The first is that the original procedure for setting those jumpers is
 likely
 lost, it's probably only in some internal DEC documentation. The manual
 says
 (Section 5.4.2, "Sense Strobe Delay and Drive Current Adjustments"):
   "Correction of any failure in either the sense strobe delay or drive
   current circuits on the G235 module that would require reconfiguration
   of the jumpers within these circuits should _not_ be attempted in the
   field. Replace the faulty module with a spare G235 module and return the
   faulty G235 module to the factor for repair."
 These cards are old, component values may have drifted, and so perhaps
 these
 might need to be adjusted - but we'll need to work out a procedures for
 doing
 so, if so.
 We _do_ seem to have a test to know _if_ the bias current is properly
 adjusted - see Section 5.3.4, "Drive Current Checks", and also for the
 strobe
 delay (Section 5.3.3, "Sense Strobe Delay Checks"). So I guess in theory,
 if
 a G235 card fails one of these tests, we could change the smallest value
 jumper, and see if that made things worse or better, and then loop. So
 perhaps all is not lost.
 The second is that I was worried that these boards were 'tuned' to be part
 of
 a set. E.g. one of the components, in the circuit that the W5-W7 jumpers
 are
 part of, is a thermistor on the core stack board. I couldn't tell if the
 jumpers were just for dealing with component variations on the G235 board,
 or
 if they also include variation elsewhere - i.e. that MM11-U's came as tuned
 board sets which should not be 'mix and matched'.
 However, that second chunk of text I quoted alleviated that concern:
 apparently one _can_ replace one G235 with another, without swapping out
 all
 the boards in the set.
 Which means that the 'mixing and matching' that has happened to these
 boards
 since they were removed from their machines (I myself am guilty of this - I
 pulled a couple of MM11-U sets, and didn't carefully keep the boards in
 their
 original sets) has probably not caused any problems.
         Noel
 
I have found (oops) that I could swap the G235's without issue, although I
had been keeping them with the rest of the core set they came with just in
case.
--
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