Satellite stuff (Was: Re: BBC printer port (ever used foranything

On Mon, 2004-09-20 at 05:40 +0100, Tony Duell wrote: Yes, I'm not quite sure what I have with this bit of kit. UoSAT offered all sorts of telemetry though, so presumably this thing's designed to filter out some specific data... Yep, the Astrid receiver I have is exactly like that - there's some TTL in it which is used to drive the computer's serial port, plus sockets for hook-up to a tape unit for recording. That's what makes this other box that I have odd - the Astrid receiver includes the necessary logic for interfacing to the CPU, and this other box doesn't seem to have enough I/O lines to be for complex data aquisition (such as imagery) - but I can't imagine what it's doing that couldn't have just been done in software on the host computer. I'm sure all will become clear when I get the time to trace the schematic out! the board's semi-professional, in that it looks to be low-volume, but the lettering on it is all nicely done as are the marking giving component locations etc. (plus I notice that the front and rear metal panels are properly earthed, and the soldering's all good). Smells more like something built-to-order in a small workshop (as was typical for all sorts during the home computer boom I suppose!) That's a shame. There must be a lot of big and complex systems that would make interesting museum displays which have gone the same way due to lack of software preservation :-( cheers, Jules