One of my recent curbside finds is a machine put out by a Canadian company
based in Waterloo Ont called Volker-Craig model vg-400. On the front it has a
title VC404 The Standard. It has a k-b attached with ribbon cable which is
about the size of a C64 with Function Pf1-12 buttons as well as a separate
pod with APL,PAGE,FULL,LOCAL on the left vertically. There is a full
qwerty alphabet and numerical pad as well as some specialized keys the most
unusual of which is a key labelled "rub-out" and no down arrow. In the back it
has a 25 pin RS232 connector, a BNC labelled "composite video" ,2 switches :
Are you sure it's a BNC connector? All the ones I've seen have an SO239 (what
we call an UHF connector) here.
My terminology is undoubtably wrong. I went thru my old Electro Sonic
catalogue and it is listed as an Amphenol 83 series UHF RF connector. It has
threads as opposed to the BNC horizontal pin.
one 3-pos.to
configure parity the other "Transparent on off" It also has
cutouts for parallell and serial (maybe a 9pin dshell for different modems)
I haven't opened it up yet, and I must admit to doing what the impeccable
Tony Duell would deem unforgiveable (sorry Tony, Couldn't he'p m'se'f)
You are forgiven :-).
I plugged it in and tuned it on. It worked except
for a stuck k-b which
stopped printing to screen when I punched another key than local on the
right-most pad.
Obviosly a terminal of some sort, but the keypads are not what I would expect.
My guess is it's a terminal for the deaf which hooked up to a service. But why
all the other k-b functions. Any ideas ?
{FX : ARD searching through a large bookcase}
I have here the VC414/VC415 technical manual, amazingly. Yes, I know you
have a VC404, but read on.
It's a standard ASCII terminal, but it can take some interesing options.
First pull the case (2 screws on the back). Inside, there's a
PSU/backplane in the bottom. Looking from the rear, there's a little
board towards the right linked to the CRT. On the left there are 2
vertical larger PCBs.
Now, the difference between a VC404 and a VC414 is those 2 boards. The
404 is entirely hardwired TTL, I think. The 414 uses a 6800
microprocessor. The 404 could be upgraded into a 414 by replacing those 2
boards. So the first thing to do is to remove those boards and look at them.
This is like a guided tour :^)) Exactly as you describe. The boards are
interestingly laid out and labelled with a horizontal matrix 1-10 and a
vertically ascending A-G with the chips lined up. The first board has a large
chip at B-6,7,8 a GI logo(?) AY-5 1013A and 7928. On the second there is a
motorola chip at F-9,10 MR8701 SCM37734P 7947 and a mini switch-bank
1-8 with the first 4 REV, 50 ,LINE ,FLASH.
I have scheamtics for the backplane, monitor, assorted
keyboards and the
VC414 boards. I don't have the VC404 board schematics, alas.
Now for the most interesting option. That APL key selects (or can select,
given the right character generator kludgeboard) a second character set
for APL. You know, all those strange symbols. I _think_ they replace the
upper case letters. I didn't realise that was available on the VC404.
The VC414 was made in a number of versions to emulate various terminals,
depending on the ROMs on the CPU board. I guess the VC404 isn't like
that, though.
There were various keyboards made. I've got info on the KB4410, KB5301,
KB4408, KB4412, KB5201, and a microprocessor (8048 controlled) keyboard.
Do you see any of those numbers on your keyboard?
Yes it has the KB4412 G3.
You may need a square (Robertson?) screwdriver to take
the keyboard
apart. I did....
-tony
Well, it looks like I'm going to have to read up on terminals. I really know
little about them. It has baud rate settings on the back 300 - 19.2 . I'm
surprised at the speed. I would have thought 2400 or at most 9600.
Thanks for the help.
ciao larry
lwalker(a)interlog.com