I've got a small Viewdate (PRestel) terminal on the bench at the momnet, a
Tandata TD1100.
I've made a few modifications, in particular I've removed the RF
modualtor (which I find to be a pain), added the RGB oupt ucomponents,
and fitted a 3 pin DIN socket in place of the redundant RF output socket
with the pins wired to the audio signal, compostie video and ground. So I
can now use it with compoite or RGB monitors. I've also added the printer
port components.
[For reference, the RGB output components are the ones hidden by the
modulator can. The IC is a 74LS364, there are 4 resistors, all 220 Ohm, 5
picofuses to protect the telephone line agians a breakdown i nthe monitor
wihci puts a high voltage on the input pins, 8 5.6V zener diodes and the
5 pin DIN socket. Fit the link F-D to get TTL sync.
For the compopstie output, fit 10uF or 47uF capacitors in the 2 spaces
hiddle by the modulator. Reduse the seires reissotr in the compostie
signal (I think it's R9 on the PCB) from 1k to 220 Ohms. Fit a DIN socket
in place of the RF output socket (the fibreglass insualtor of the latter
can be drileld ot take a single-hole mountign DIN socket) and wire the
pins to ground, the right hand hole of R5 (audio) and hole E (video).
For the pritner prot, the 3 missign chips are 74LS374, a 74LS365 and a
74LS74. Since these have different numebrs of pins, it's obvious which
goes where. The outptu conenctor is a DA15, you have yo cut a regtasnlge
out of the back panel.]
anyway, it does seem to work. I've conencted it to another modem[1] --
neither needs any DC line 'battery' so just connecting them together was
enough. I've discovered that from the 'dialer' screen, presing '#'
energises the line relay and conencts the lien audio to the audio output.
If it then detecs a carrier from the remote modem, it goes into on-line
mode, it then disables audio fro mthe line to the audio output and turns
on tis transmit carrier. Obviosuly trasmit ias at 75 buard, receive is at
1200 baud, it's 7 bits, even parity (and it cares about the parity).
[1] An old Miracle WS2000, the black box with 3 knovbs on the front that
weas commonly used with the BBC micor. It's an AM7910 and not much else,
I like it because it can be controlled from the front paenl rotary
swiches, and I Know exactly waht it's going to do. Since I only use it on
a private system (my line simulator), I've eneabled the Bell modes by
remove the pin from the rotary switch. I'd love to find the autodial and
answer boards for it, but no chance...
So far, so good. But one thing I can''t figure out on this TD1100 is the
dialer. The dialer scrren shows 6 telehone numbers which I beleive are
stored in battery-backed RAM inside the unit. at this screen, typing in
1 to 6 followed by a '#' dials that number foem the list and then goes
itn othe on-line mode. As I said, a plain '# gopes into that mode iwthout
dialing. Most other keys give a 'Please Try Again' error message. A 'P'
(must be upper case, and note that caps lock is cleaered whenever you get
to this screen) goes ota printer setup page (3 options). What I can't do
is figure out hoe to set the numbers and/or dial an arbitrary number
entered from the keyboard (ad since the battery in my unit is long dead
and I've removed it, all the numbers on the lsit are strigns of zeros,
not that useful!). I really don't want ot have to disassemble the firmware.
Another thing that would be useful, but I probably can figure this out,
is the ppinout of the DA15 pritnr conenctor. It's clearly TTL level
parallel. There are 2 opuptu ports, oen 8 bits (data I assume), one 2
bits (I guess one of thsoe is strobe, what the other is I don't know) and
3 inputs (one is conencted to a pusle-stretcher, adn is prsumably Ack/,
one of the others is probably Busy).
Any ideas?
-tony