Can anyone tell me useful stuff about the Panasonic RL H1400 computer? I
believe it was also sold under the Quasar brand name.
I've just bought one. As well as the machine (which I've not tested yet),
I got a little thermal printer/cassette interface, the AC adapter (for
110V mains), and 13 EPROMs in carriers. These seem to be insurance
programs (what a suprise -- NOT), but are at least UV-erasable EPROMs.
A few things :
I have of course taken it apart, it is painful to dismantle with wires
soldered between everything. The contemporary HP machines are a lot nicer
to work on.
With the bottom cover removed, you see the component side of the CPU
board. I recognise the 6502 processor, some TTL and 4000-series CMOS
chips, 2 8K ROMS soldered in, and 2 6116 (2K each) SRAMs. There's also a
square PQFP chip, looks to be custom (I/O???). Alongside that board is a
6V NiCd pack with a fuse in series.
A bit more desoldering and unscrewing let me flip that board out of the
way. On the underside is another TTL chip and a lot of SMD passives, etc.
The other PCB carries the keyboard contacts, the display, half-a-dozen
Epson PQFP chips (display drivers?) and a couple of 4071s, which IIRC are
OR gates.
There's an expansion connector on the end of the CPU board. 44 contacts.
Looks to be the 6502 bus + power some others.
The printer also comes apart from the bottom. Its PCB contains a 4K ROM,
an 80 pin PQFP ASIC, a driver chip, and a few small logic chips. Getting
ito the rest of the machine is a bit more tricky, all it contains is the
printer mechanism and 4.8V-worth of NiCds.
I also cracked open the mains adapter.More complicated than I thought,
there's a regulator chip in there. And a fuse mounted in clips (what is
the point of a clipped in fuse inside a glued case??).
Anyway, I've done a web search. Nothing very useful turned up. I did read
a user manual on one site, which told me little that wasn't obvious.
Anyone got any technical information on it? Any useful software?
-tony