14 Apr
2005
14 Apr
'05
1:44 p.m.
My AIM 65 has been sitting in the original box since about 1985. I
think it was working when I packed it up, the only reason I packed it
up was I got my first Mac and didn't have room on my desk for both, so
the AIM got packed.
Anyway, I got out my power supply, checked it out, sure enough +5v was
still +5v and +24 v was still +24v. I then unpacked the AIM, trying to
be as "static sensitive" as possible, then visually inspected it for
obvious problems (anti-static material stuck on pins) and then did a
little re-seat of all the socketed ICs. plugged in the keybaord,
connected the +5v only and applied power... Nothing, no display,
nothing I checked the +5 at a TP on the board and it appeared OK.. I
then checked the ICs again and appllied power again... nothing. Well,
it then thought I would see what happens if I apply the +24v and +5v.
Connected it up turned it on, nothing... upon turining it off the
printer cycled ( think it was just an electro-mechanical thing, not
control).
Well, remove power, inspect the board again, blow off any dust,
gently, partly remove all the socketed ICs (not out of the sockets) in
hopes that maybe if there was some oxidation it would wipe it off.
Connected the +5v only and turned it on again... nothing, nada, zilch
(bummer)
I don't have a scope or anything, I only have a VOM, so my testing is
rather limited, I don't even know anyone who still has an o'scope.
Any ideas of what I could try?
Any ideas of a way I can get it repaired in So. CA?
Thanks for any and all help or ideas,
Andy
14 Apr
14 Apr
7:16 p.m.
Warning : I've never actually seen an AIM65 'in the flesh'...
My AIM 65 has been sitting in the original box since about 1985. I
think it was working when I packed it up, the only reason I packed it
up was I got my first Mac and didn't have room on my desk for both, so
the AIM got packed.
Anyway, I got out my power supply, checked it out, sure enough +5v was
still +5v and +24 v was still +24v. I then unpacked the AIM, trying to
be as "static sensitive" as possible, then visually inspected it for
obvious problems (anti-static material stuck on pins) and then did a
little re-seat of all the socketed ICs. plugged in the keybaord,
connected the +5v only and applied power... Nothing, no display,
Doesn't the AIM use a vacuum fluorescent display? Does it get it's power
from a DC-DC converter on the board, or from the 24V
input? If the
latter, you'll get no display without the 24V supply. If the
former, you
could check the output of the DC-DC converter with your voltmeter.
[...]
Well, remove power, inspect the board again, blow
off any dust,
gently, partly remove all the socketed ICs (not out of the sockets) in
hopes that maybe if there was some oxidation it would wipe it off.
Connected the +5v only and turned it on again... nothing, nada, zilch
(bummer)
I don't have a scope or anything, I only have a VOM, so my testing is
rather limited, I don't even know anyone who still has an o'scope.
Any ideas of what I could try?
Well, a logic probe would be _very_ useful. You would at least be able to
see if the clock was running, ff bus lines were doing anything, etc.
But I guess you don't have one....
Is your VOM analogue or digital? If it's analogue, you could measure the
voltage on the address and data lines. If you get a voltage 'in the
middle', it's likely that line is changing -- it's certainly not stuck
high or low. All the data lines and at least the lower order address
lines should be chnaging state.
-tony
8:24 p.m.
On 4/14/05, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
Warning : I've never actually seen an AIM65 'in the flesh'...
That's OK... I have a couple and can fill in gaps.
Doesn't the AIM use a vacuum fluorescent display?
Perhaps one of the later models, but every one I've seen has a set of
5 4-char ASCII LED modules driven by a 6520 (6821). +5VDC only. The
+24V is for the thermal printer.
I mentioned the usefulness of a logic probe in an offline message. If
one doesn't have an o-scope to watch clocks, enables, etc., at least a
logic probe will reveal some of the show stoppers (missing clock,
missing RAM enables, etc.) I also mentioned to swap the RAM around in
case one of the 2114s for the zero page has failed. 6502s do _not_
like errors in zero page or in the stack. Quite unforgiving.
Other than the printer and the ASCII displays, there's nothing
remarkable about the AIM-65 compared to any other 6502 SBC. It's
SRAM, so there's no -ve supply voltages to worry about (like with 4116
DRAMs) and no refresh circuit to debug. The downside is that there's
only room on the mainboard for 4K, so memory expansions are external,
and used to cost a lot (and are rare now because there didn't use to
be a wide variety of them).
For those unfamiliar with the model, it was Rockwell's answer to the
KIM and SYM, and was frequently found in a metal-bottomed,
vacuformed-topped case, unlike the KIM and SYM which were frequently
found as bare boards. The AIM-65 had BASIC as a rather common option
(don't remember if it was always present), and routinely came with a
full-sized ASCII keyboard to complement the hardcopy and/or ASCII
LEDs. It's pretty useful out of the box for a machine that doesn't
come with a disk interface. You certainly get more than the few
digits and a calculator keypad of the KIM/SYM line.
-ethan
15 Apr
15 Apr
7:44 a.m.
On Thu, 2005-04-14 at 20:24 -0400, Ethan Dicks wrote:
For those unfamiliar with the model, it was
Rockwell's answer to the
KIM and SYM, and was frequently found in a metal-bottomed,
vacuformed-topped case, unlike the KIM and SYM which were frequently
found as bare boards.
Interesting - I always thought they were typically bare boards too. Our
AIM 65 is rather industrialised, in a thick metal-bottomed case (with
carry handle) and a thick fibreglass top (bright blue, looks bloody
awful IMHO :-)
The red translucent display cover is cracked on ours, just in case
anyone finds a replacement on an otherwise-dead machine. (There's some
damage to the fibreglass too, but nothing that couldn't be fixed there)
Ours does have an expansion board (ISTR posting about it on the list a
few months back) with extra RAM as well as various interfaces. (It was
used as a diagnostic terminal for Xerox, although I don't know the
specific function it carried out)
The AIM-65 had BASIC as a rather common option
(don't remember if it was always present), and routinely came with a
full-sized ASCII keyboard
Oh, yep, ours has a proper keyboard too. Can't recall whether it has
BASIC fitted or not.
cheers
Jules
5:51 p.m.
On 4/15/05, Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
Interesting - I always thought they were typically
bare boards too. Our
AIM 65 is rather industrialised, in a thick metal-bottomed case (with
carry handle) and a thick fibreglass top (bright blue, looks bloody
awful IMHO :-)
I'm sure Rockwell sold them as bare boards, but between the keyboard
and the printer (standard equipment), I've only seen them on metal
frames, with or without plastic lids.
The red translucent display cover is cracked on ours,
just in case
anyone finds a replacement on an otherwise-dead machine. (There's some
damage to the fibreglass too, but nothing that couldn't be fixed there)
Heh... I have three, one complete, one nearly complete (got a NoS
printer off of eBay a while back) and one bare-board only, no
keyboard, no printer and no display. I have either 3 or 4 of the
right LED displays (out of 10 needed for the two incomplete boards),
but no board to plug the LEDs into. I've frequently contemplated
making my own board with point-by-point wiring, but just haven't ever
gotten around to starting (the board is simple - two header strips for
the LED modules, a 40 pin socket for a 6520/6821, and a row of holes
for .1" non-stranded-wire ribbon-cable that plugs into the
motherboard). Needless to say, with all the other missing bits, I am
short the same red plexi that you are after, but quantity 2.
Ours does have an expansion board (ISTR posting about
it on the list a
few months back) with extra RAM as well as various interfaces. (It was
used as a diagnostic terminal for Xerox, although I don't know the
specific function it carried out)
I remember something about you mentioning it. I have external ROM
boards with a claims adjuster app on them, and a couple of EPROMs
mixed in with the normal masked-programmed ROMs on the mainboard,
attached via a hand-made cable to the expansion connector.
-ethan
6:36 p.m.
At 05:51 PM 4/15/05 -0400, Ethan wrote:
Needless to say, with all the other missing bits, I
am
short the same red plexi that you are after, but quantity 2.
How big a piece do you need? I see red plexi in the scrap equipment all
the time. I've been thinking of picking it up but haven't since I seldom
need the stuff.
Joe
7:26 p.m.
On Fri, 2005-04-15 at 18:36 -0400, Joe R. wrote:
At 05:51 PM 4/15/05 -0400, Ethan wrote:
it's raised in the middle - at least on our one, and with the Rockwell
logo / name. One day it might come to the point of getting an
engineering place to make one up, but I'm hoping we'll just find one
before then!
cheers
Jules
Needless to say, with all the other missing
bits, I am
short the same red plexi that you are after, but quantity 2.
How big a piece do you need? I see red plexi in the scrap equipment all
the time. I've been thinking of picking it up but haven't since I seldom
need the stuff.
10:14 p.m.
On 4/15/05, Joe R. <rigdonj at cfl.rr.com> wrote:
At 05:51 PM 4/15/05 -0400, Ethan wrote:
There's a place locally can get plain scrap plexi for that's pretty
cheap. This particular part has a raised Rockwell logo and a 'frame'
around the text display area, and the raised plastic is painted white.
Like Jules, I'm hoping to find a real part for replacement.
Thanks for offering, though.
-ethan
Needless to say, with all the other missing
bits, I am
short the same red plexi that you are after, but quantity 2.
How big a piece do you need? I see red plexi in the scrap equipment all
the time. I've been thinking of picking it up but haven't since I seldom
need the stuff.
7033
days inactive
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7 comments
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participants (5)
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andyda＠earthlink.net -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk -
rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com