19 Nov
1999
19 Nov
'99
7:08 a.m.
I finally have a PDP-8/m. On the 1st of November someone that knows I'm
looking for one notified me of a Internet auction that was ending in about
4 hours, and I was able to get the winning bid of $356 in (thankfully this
wasn't on eBay).
M8330 -- Timing board (system clock)
M8310 \_ KK8E CPU control
M8300 / KK8E CPU registers
M847 -- MI8E Hardware Bootstrap Loader.
M848 -- KP8E Power fail and auto-restart.
M849 -- shield to isolate memory from CPU
M8650 -- KL8E RS232 or current loop serial interface.
G104 \
H220 > MM8E 4K memory (H220)
G227 /
M8320 -- KK8E Bus terminator
It arrived today, and I just unboxed it a few minutes ago. As a result you
can see the web page with pictures at the following URL:
http://zane.brouhaha.com/healyzh/PDP8m.html
Now, I've got to figure out where I'm going to put it for the time being.
I also need to figure out what a couple of the cables that were included
are for. Unfortunatly I think the console interface is a 20ma interface.
However, there is a Canon plug that I've no idea what it goes to.
I'll be cleaning it up before I try and fire it up. Unfortunatly I've got
to leave for work in a little over an hour so that will have to wait till
tomorrow.
Also, the module list that I announced yesterday has grown in size
considerably and now includes at least a few parts from the following
systems:
PDP-4
PDP-5
PDP-6
PDP-7
PDP-8
PDP-9
PDP-10
PDP-12
PDP-14 Programmable Controller
PDP-15
PDP-16
The YADML can be found at ftp://zane.brouhaha.com/pub/ModuleList.txt
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
19 Nov
19 Nov
9:08 a.m.
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10:18 a.m.
The board order on Omnibus machines is not that
critical, and there's no
grant chain or anything like that, so you don't need grant continuity
cards and you can have empty slots between boards if you want.
Ah, didn't know this, good to know.
However, it's normal to put the M849 just in front
of the core memory. In
other words to have an order something like :
M8330 Clock
CPU cards
I/O cards
M849 shield
Core
M8320 terminator
So in your case swap round the M8560 and the M849.
It shouldn't really matter, but...
You're right, although I'm honestly not 100% sure what order the cards are
in the machine. That was the list that was provided to me. I'm going to be
pulling all the cards out and cleaning the system up tomorrow anyway. I've
had the 3 volume PDP-8e/f/m set for a while, so I'll probably be using it to
go through and check out the system. With, I would assume, plenty of
questions for the list.
I'm afraid I got the machine a little over an hour before I had to leave for
work, so I've not had much of anytime to look at it. (Gotta confess, the
web page was all ready to go, just needed pictures and to be linked in.)
According to the prints for the M8650, it's got
both current loop and
RS232 (EIA) buffers. You just have to use the right cable, which is the
same as the cable you use with a DL11E (or whatever) in a PDP11.
Cool! I just happen to have a cable that's been sitting on the front seat
of my Pickup for the last couple of weeks that should work.
However, there
is a Canon plug that I've no idea what it goes to.
Well, trace the cable...
1:14 p.m.
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1:50 p.m.
Well, obviously you have to put boards in adjacent
slots if you have to
connecty them by those h851 top connectors (like the 2 CPU boards, and
the core memory set), but otherwise stuff can go where you want to put it.
Oh, I thought I could just bend the boards together at the top so I could
clip them together. (It's a joke people, put down the pitchforks and axes!)
In the 8/e cabinet, it's possible to configure a
system with enough free
slots that you can stick in a card and have enough space to get probes
onto the IC pins without using an extender card. This can be useful if
you don't have said extender.
Alas, no 8/e chassis, or extender cards.
Those manuals are _excellent_. Having the prints is
useful as well (the
maintenance manuals only give partial schematics), but you can do a lot
with those 3 books.
Well, some of the printsets are available on Highgate at least, and thanks
to getting Virtual PC with my new Mac won't be to painful to view.
In any case this will be a lot different from my experience with my first
VAXen and PDP-11's, since I've actually got documentation. It took me the
better part of a year after getting my first PDP-11 to get any Doc's for it.
In the case of the PDP-8/m, I've had some of these doc's for about a year.
Plus there is a lot of hardware info available online.
That would
tell me it's a ground cable :^) Unfortunalty neither end is
attached to anything, except one wire is attached to ground. One end is a
10-pin Cannon Plug, the other end is a 28-pin connector (flat double row
connector 14 pins per half, never can remember the name for these) with one
hole plugged to key it.
Doesn't sound like anything I obviously associate with the PDP8 machines.
Any guesses?
20 Nov
20 Nov
12:52 a.m.
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8:16 a.m.
New subject: PDP-8/m Mystery Board -- CCMP 316 ?
OK, now I've had time to go throug the system and I'm starting to pull out
boards and see about getting the chassis cleaned up. Turns out the card
inventory I'd been given was missing a couple boards, and wasn't in quite
the right order. Not that it matters, here is the order, I know the RFI
shield should be between the Core Plane and the rest of the system.
M8330 -- Timing board (system clock)
M8310 \_ KK8E CPU control
M8300 / KK8E CPU registers
M847 -- MI8E Hardware Bootstrap Loader.
M848 -- KP8E Power fail and auto-restart.
Mystery Board
G104 \
H220 > MM8E 4K memory (H220)
G227 /
M849 -- shield to isolate memory from CPU
M8650 -- KL8E RS232 or current loop serial interface.
Mystery Board
M8320 -- KK8E Bus terminator
Here is the info on the Mystery boards (I have two of them):
American Sign
& Ind Corp
CCMP 316
They have two connectors labled as follows:
Data Output {24-pin Berg connector}
Temp Interface {24-pin Berg connector}
The Data Output connector is the one that the mystery cable I mentioned
yesterday goes to. The on end of the cable is the 24-pin Berg connector,
the other end a 10-pin Cannon Plug.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
8:43 a.m.
New subject: PDP-8/m Mystery Board -- CCMP 316 ?
At 02:16 PM 11/20/99 -0800, Zane wrote:
Here is the info on the Mystery boards (I have two of
them):
American Sign
& Ind Corp
CCMP 316
They have two connectors labled as follows:
Data Output {24-pin Berg connector}
Temp Interface {24-pin Berg connector}
The Data Output connector is the one that the mystery cable I mentioned
yesterday goes to. The on end of the cable is the 24-pin Berg connector,
the other end a 10-pin Cannon Plug.
Cool, you've picked up a bank sign! This system was used to display a
message in lights up on a pole somewhere and alternate that with the
current temperature. If its like the one I've seen there is a 2708
character ROM on the "data" board. The I played with could display a
message that is about 65 characters in length on a 32 x 16 set of light
bulbs. I checked and I don't have any data any more on the sign, I may
still have a paper tape around here somewhere.
--Chuck
9:33 a.m.
New subject: PDP-8/m Mystery Board -- CCMP 316 ?
Cool, you've picked up a bank sign! This system was
used to display a
message in lights up on a pole somewhere and alternate that with the
current temperature. If its like the one I've seen there is a 2708
character ROM on the "data" board. The I played with could display a
message that is about 65 characters in length on a 32 x 16 set of light
bulbs. I checked and I don't have any data any more on the sign, I may
still have a paper tape around here somewhere.
--Chuck
Interesting. Both boards are identical as far as I can tell, both have the
connectors, no sign of a "Data" board, and no 2708's in sight.
What do you plug into the "Temp Interface"? I'm guessing the A/D circuitry
would be part of the temperature probes, which I didn't get :^(
Guess for the time being at least I can leave these out and have a couple
more free slots.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
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