25 Jun
1998
25 Jun
'98
9:44 p.m.
I finally went back to check on that "Wang PC-002" I asked about earlier.
It was a bit more scratched up, but it hadn't moved an inch in the past
two and a half(?) weeks.
I managed to locate its keyboard, as well as the keyboard for an aparently
keyboardless Tandy 1000TX that was in another part of the building, so I
decided to drag the Wang machine home.
NOT an easy job. It was about a mile to the nearest subway station, with
lots of broken escalators up and down once I got into the system. And I
was carrying a large book bag full of stuff I have to look over for work.
By the time the bus dropped me off near home, we were in the middle of a
thunder storm. So I left the computer on top of someone's gate post (wide
brick thing with flat cement top) under some trees near the bus stop, and
made a run for home (about a half-mile).
I went back with the car as soon as I got home.
Anyway, it sure is a curious beast. And HUGE, to my eyes. It's not quite
as big as I reported before, but it's BIG. The closest offhand and
possibly innacurate comparison I could make is to a friend's MicroVax, but
I don't know what kind of MicroVax that is.
If I sit it vertically (a position the box looks very comfortable in), it
measures about 15" high, by 6.5" wide, by 23" long.
It has two floppy drives mounted in the front: one half-height 5.25"
drive, and one full-hieght 5.25" drive.
In the back, I can see the backs of various cards. One of them has the
connector for the keyboard (4-pin DIN) as well as one serial and one
parallel port, so it must be the motherboard. Beside that (or above,
depending on orientation) is a board with a sticker reading "PM032-B 512K
Memory Expansion". Next to that, is what appears to be an empty slot, and
then there is what appears to be some kind of networking card. It has two
coaxial cable connectors and a toggle switch. There is another card
beside (or above) that, with no ports or labels, but I can see chips
through the air holes. Beside (or above) the mystery card is a board with
a label reading "PM101 IBM Mono Emulation". It has an 8-pin DIN connector
and a 5-pin DIN connector, which I would guess are for monitor and PC
keyboard(?).
Does anyone know the pinouts of the various ports, or anything else about
this machine? Will it read PC disks or do I need to boot it up with some
wacky Wang-format disk? Does the machine require some kind of terminal,
or will a monitor connect into the back of the IBM Emulation board and let
me see what's going on?
The sticker on the side (top) of the machine says it's a PC-002, but the
sticker on the back says it's a PC-P002.
The keyboard has a lot of word processing functions on it.
Anyway, I haven't opened it up yet, or done anything with it but look at
it. Disassembly looks like it might be difficult, because I have to slip
the innards through the full length metal sleeve. I won't be up to that
until my arms recover. I've even got bruises and some kind of blood
blisters or something, from carrying that thing. :/
I probably won't have time to play with it today as I promised to install
NetBSD 1.3.2 and some UNIX software on my Amiga 3000 instead of coming to
work. (And look at the time. :) )
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
26 Jun
26 Jun
10:29 a.m.
I finally went back to check on that "Wang PC-002" I asked about earlier.
It was a bit more scratched up, but it hadn't moved an inch in the past
two and a half(?) weeks.
I managed to locate its keyboard, as well as the keyboard for an aparently
keyboardless Tandy 1000TX that was in another part of the building, so I
decided to drag the Wang machine home.
NOT an easy job. It was about a mile to the nearest subway station, with
lots of broken escalators up and down once I got into the system. And I
was carrying a large book bag full of stuff I have to look over for work.
By the time the bus dropped me off near home, we were in the middle of a
thunder storm. So I left the computer on top of someone's gate post (wide
brick thing with flat cement top) under some trees near the bus stop, and
made a run for home (about a half-mile).
I went back with the car as soon as I got home.
Well my Wang PC2 rescue wasn't quite so harassing , eight blocks in cold
weather without gloves but since the drives had been pulled the partition made
a convenient handle and it was probably quite a bit lighter. Even so I do seem
to be able to scratch my knee now without bending.
Anyway, it sure is a curious beast. And HUGE, to my
eyes. It's not quite
as big as I reported before, but it's BIG. The closest offhand and
possibly innacurate comparison I could make is to a friend's MicroVax, but
I don't know what kind of MicroVax that is.
If I sit it vertically (a position the box looks very comfortable in), it
measures about 15" high, by 6.5" wide, by 23" long.
Yup, thats the beast. Mine is labelled Model PC-S3-2 .
Now you've gone and done it. I was compelled to dig it out and once
more face the monster, leaving my more mundane tasks of turning
my 5150 into an awesome Win 95ers confronter.
It has two floppy drives mounted in the front: one
half-height 5.25"
drive, and one full-hieght 5.25" drive.
Mine were pulled and on the bottom of one of the empty bays it has plug-in
instructions. Get back to that later.
In the back, I can see the backs of various cards.
One of them has the
connector for the keyboard (4-pin DIN) as well as one serial and one
parallel port, so it must be the motherboard.
Its an L-shaped board extending the length of the case the L surrounds the PS.
Beside that ( or above > depending on orientation)
is a board with a sticker
reading "PM032-B 512K Memory Expansion".
My next card's sticker
reads " PM021/022-B Winchester controller "and has
blue 34 pin and 20 pin M sockets.
Next to that, is what appears to be an empty slot,
and
then there is what appears to be some kind of networking card. It has two
coaxial cable connectors and a toggle switch. There is another card
beside (or above) that, with no ports or labels, but I can see chips
through the air holes. Beside (or above) the mystery card is a board with
a label reading "PM101 IBM Mono Emulation". It has an 8-pin DIN connector
and a 5-pin DIN connector, which I would guess are for monitor and PC
keyboard(?).
In mine the 2nd card is the PM101. No networking card. My 3rd card is cabled
to the second by edge-card connectors. I would imagine this is your mystery
card. Likely emulator related. But if it doesn't have the cabling I also have a
mystery card, onlymine is related to PC emu. : ^ ))
All 5 slots are filled in mine. My 4th card is identical to the second only the
connectors are black. Another winchester controller.
My top card has a red lamp (not a LED) I forget what they're called , about
half the board is empty traces and it has a string of 18 Motorola MCM 6665AP20
some low-power Schotskys and appears to be some kind of circuit controller.
it has a chip labelled Bellpage 8321 with VCC Out 1-3 ,In 1-3 and grnd.
Does anyone know the pinouts of the various ports, or
anything else about
this machine? Will it read PC disks or do I need to boot it up with some
wacky Wang-format disk? Does the machine require some kind of terminal,
or will a monitor connect into the back of the IBM Emulation board and let
me see what's going on?
I searched for info on this machine cause Wang was as innovative in his own
way as Woz. He never locked into one particular manufacturer and his machines
like this one has , as you will discover if you get down to the MB, Motorola,
Zilog, Intel ,and whatever he could use.
The Wang community of collectors focus fervently on the CPM machines and
the PC's seem to be pretty much ignored. There are quite a few sites devoted to
the CPM Wang. A pretty inbred community. Reminds me of the TRS people
that ignore the model 2.
There's a Wang Users Group in England that seems fairly active and they have a
Web page with a few PD programs and some history but they want $40 or so to
access their archives. They give a history of the machines but the PC's get
short shrift. I was able to somehow access a setup program for the PC and I'll
e-mail it to you. For obvious reasons I was not able to check it out. As a
matter of fact I insist you check it out . : ^ ))
Sam Ismail , mentioned he had acquired one, and Don Maislin knows something
about them. IIRC Sam also has manuals and disks for them but I imagine with the
Vintage Festival coming up he hasn't much time to explore new machines.
The sticker on the side (top) of the machine says
it's a PC-002, but the
sticker on the back says it's a PC-P002.
The keyboard has a lot of word processing functions on it.
I'm sure eventually a KB will turn up for mine.
Anyway, I haven't opened it up yet, or done
anything with it but look at
it. Disassembly looks like it might be difficult, because I have to slip
the innards through the full length metal sleeve. I won't be up to that
until my arms recover. I've even got bruises and some kind of blood
blisters or something, from carrying that thing. :/
Actually it slips quite easily out of the case. The boards are mounted like
PC boards with one screw, only much bigger like S-100 boards.
When you do disassemble it there are 2 34 pin older style connectors on
the MB above two slots leading to the drive bays.. In mine I can find no floppy
connectors. Were there also 34 pin winchester floppies ? Let me know what your
FDD's are connected to. I will vicariously follow your progress. And if I have
an extra HD controller maybe we can trade it for a FDD controlller
I probably won't have time to play with it today
as I
promised to install
NetBSD 1.3.2 and some UNIX software on my Amiga 3000 instead of coming to
work. (And look at the time. :) )
So much to do , so little time.
At least my kids are grown.
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
AAAhh Montreal I remember when it was an international city. not
a provincial capital.
ciao larry
3:53 p.m.
Hi Folks:
Since there is some activity Re: Wang PCs, I'll pass allong some
'programming' information that had me a bit upset at the time I
discovered it.
Wang, has their own 'Shell' to go into things with (I.E. menus).
The system that I was working on was DOS 3.1 or 3.2 (a ways back).
The problem ----
IF you entered the BASIC development system via the WANG menus, the 'F'
keys (and the 'HELP key', and the other 'special keys) had one set of
'keystrokes' to return.
On the other hand, if you 'bailed out' of the 'WANG' system, and changed
directories, and started "GWBasic" from a 'C:/' prompt, then the
'F' key
information was different. (It's a long story how I found this out.)
It DID cause a bit of hassle.
Chuck
--
-----------------------------------------------------------
He, who will not reason, is a bigot; William Drumond,
he, who cannot, is a fool; Scottish writer
and he, who dares not, is a slave. (1585-1649)
While he that does, is a free man! Joseph P. 1955-
-----------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Davis / Sutherlin Industries FAX # (804) 799-0940
1973 Reeves Mill Road E-Mail -- cad(a)gamewood.net
Sutherlin, Virginia 24594 Voice # (804) 799-5803
27 Jun
27 Jun
10:54 p.m.
On Fri, 26 Jun 1998, Charles A. Davis wrote:
Wang, has their own 'Shell' to go into things
with (I.E. menus).
The system that I was working on was DOS 3.1 or 3.2 (a ways back).
Does the menu come up even when it hasn't managed to find a disk to boot
from?
The reason I ask is that there seem to be four keys that have different
effects. I don't have any kind of monitor attached to the thing, so I can
only make guesses based on the sounds the keyboard makes. (The system's
speaker is located in the keyboard.)
The four keys that do something are 'P', 'Q', 'D', and
'M'.
Pressing 'P' has the most interesting effect. It seems to perform a cold
boot. All six lights on the keyboard (including the caps lock light) turn
on, then turn off in sequence. First off is the caps lock light, then the
red LED at the left side of the keyboard, and so on to the right. There's
quite a long pause between the third red LED and the fourth one, so it's
probably performing a RAM check. After all the lights are out, there's a
pause, then a beep, and then the floppy drive spins up. It whirrs for a
couple of seconds and stops with a beep. This can be repeated endlessly
by pressing 'P' over and over again, and is kind of fun. :)
Pressing 'Q' just clicks the keyboard (most keys beep), then beeps,
pauses, and beeps again. After the second beep the machine seems to be
back in its original state again (where one can watch the blinkenleitz by
pressing 'P', etc.)
Pressing 'D' causes a beep, and then all the other keys click instead of
beeping. The user is probably typing into some kind of shell at this
point. Hitting <EXEC> followed by <RETURN> seems to get the machine back
to the original state.
Pressing 'M' seems to just make every key beep, and I haven't found a way
out of this mode.
The problem ----
IF you entered the BASIC development system via the WANG menus, the 'F'
keys (and the 'HELP key', and the other 'special keys) had one set of
'keystrokes' to return.
On the other hand, if you 'bailed out' of the 'WANG' system, and changed
directories, and started "GWBasic" from a 'C:/' prompt, then the
'F' key
information was different. (It's a long story how I found this out.)
It DID cause a bit of hassle.
Thanks for the warning. :)
Chuck
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
28 Jun
28 Jun
12:15 a.m.
Doug Spence wrote:
snip
Chuck
On Fri, 26 Jun 1998, Charles A. Davis wrote:
Hi Doug:
The 'Wang Shell', is 'after' the load of the 'Wang DOS system'.
The _problem_ is a software 'keyboard mapping' problem. I complained
long and loud to 'Wang' tech support at the time.
The system that I was working on had a Hard Disk, so I never saw any of
the possible 'no boot' conditions.
Wang, has their own 'Shell' to go into
things with (I.E. menus).
The system that I was working on was DOS 3.1 or 3.2 (a ways back).
Does the menu come up even when it hasn't managed to find a disk to boot
from?
27 Jun
27 Jun
12:49 a.m.
On Fri, 26 Jun 1998, Lawrence Walker wrote:
I wonder if there's any significance to the different model numbers. :)
Yup, now that I've got the case off, I can see that. I haven't
disassembled it beyond removing the case and pulling the cards, however.
But I do see an 8086 on the motherboard, and two EPROMs with absolutely
_nothing_ covering the windows! (Eeek!)
Is an M socket a card-edge connetor, or... ? At any rate, at least you
can shove a hard drive in yours.
My mystery card isn't connected to the emulator card, but there is a
card-edge connector on the emulator card. My mystery card is connected to
the networking card via a (very short) 50-pin ribbon cable, plugged into
edge connectors at the top of both cards. So my mystery card is probably
networking-related. ;)
The mystery card has a Z80 on it. I'll examine it later to see what other
goodies it has.
Which is cool. I saw a lot of Toshiba parts, Zilog, Intel, and either MOS
or Mostek (don't remember now).
They appear to be connected to the motherboard via ribbon cables. There
are connectors at the (looking from the front of the machine) right edge
of the motherboard, with plastic clips to hold the connectors in place. I
haven't pulled one out to see what it looks like, and there are tons of
other wires hanging from the full-height drive, but I'll check those out.
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
If I sit it
vertically (a position the box looks very comfortable in), it
measures about 15" high, by 6.5" wide, by 23" long.
Yup, thats the beast. Mine is labelled Model PC-S3-2 . Now you've gone and done it. I was compelled to
dig it out and once
more face the monster, leaving my more mundane tasks of turning
my 5150 into an awesome Win 95ers confronter.
Hummm... I always wanted to put an Amiga into a PET case, just to freak
people out, but I've never found an adequately destroyed PET to use. :)
In the back, I
can see the backs of various cards. One of them has the
connector for the keyboard (4-pin DIN) as well as one serial and one
parallel port, so it must be the motherboard.
Its an L-shaped board extending the length of the case the L surrounds
the PS. Beside that (
or above > depending on orientation) is a board with a sticker
reading "PM032-B 512K Memory Expansion".
My next card's sticker reads " PM021/022-B Winchester controller "and has
blue 34 pin and 20 pin M sockets. Next to that,
is what appears to be an empty slot, and
then there is what appears to be some kind of networking card. It has two
coaxial cable connectors and a toggle switch. There is another card
beside (or above) that, with no ports or labels, but I can see chips
through the air holes. Beside (or above) the mystery card is a board with
a label reading "PM101 IBM Mono Emulation". It has an 8-pin DIN connector
and a 5-pin DIN connector, which I would guess are for monitor and PC
keyboard(?).
In mine the 2nd card is the PM101. No networking card. My 3rd card is cabled
to the second by edge-card connectors. I would imagine this is your mystery
card. Likely emulator related. But if it doesn't have the cabling I also
have a mystery card, only mine is related to PC emu. : ^ )) All 5 slots are filled in mine. My 4th card is
identical to the second only
the connectors are black. Another winchester controller.
My top card has a red lamp (not a LED) I forget what they're called ,
My memory board has a red LED in one corner, labeled "PAR ERR".
Thankfully, it hasn't lit up. :)
about half the board is empty traces and it has a
string of 18 Motorola MCM
6665AP20 some low-power Schotskys and appears to be some kind of circuit
controller. it has a chip labelled Bellpage 8321 with VCC Out 1-3 ,In 1-3
and grnd.
I'll have to take a closer look at the parts on all my boards.
Does anyone
know the pinouts of the various ports, or anything else about
this machine? Will it read PC disks or do I need to boot it up with some
wacky Wang-format disk? Does the machine require some kind of terminal,
or will a monitor connect into the back of the IBM Emulation board and let
me see what's going on?
I searched for info on this machine cause Wang was as innovative in his own
way as Woz. He never locked into one particular manufacturer and his machines
like this one has , as you will discover if you get down to the MB, Motorola,
Zilog, Intel ,and whatever he could use. The Wang community of collectors focus fervently on
the CPM machines and
the PC's seem to be pretty much ignored. There are quite a few sites devoted
to the CPM Wang. A pretty inbred community. Reminds me of the TRS people
that ignore the model 2.
There's a Wang Users Group in England that seems fairly active and they
have a Web page with a few PD programs and some history but they want $40 or
so to access their archives.
Ouch!
They give a history of the machines but the PC's
get short shrift. I was
able to somehow access a setup program for the PC and I'll
e-mail it to you. For obvious reasons I was not able to check it out. As a
matter of fact I insist you check it out . : ^ ))
I'll see what I can do, as soon as I figure out how to plug in a monitor.
:)
<snippage>
Anyway, I
haven't opened it up yet, or done anything with it but look at
it. Disassembly looks like it might be difficult, because I have to slip
the innards through the full length metal sleeve. I won't be up to that
until my arms recover. I've even got bruises and some kind of blood
blisters or something, from carrying that thing. :/
Actually it slips quite easily out of the case. The boards are mounted like
PC boards with one screw, only much bigger like S-100 boards.
When you do disassemble it there are 2 34 pin older style connectors on
the MB above two slots leading to the drive bays.. In mine I can find no
floppy connectors. Were there also 34 pin winchester floppies ? Let me know
what your FDD's are connected to. 
4:48 a.m.
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11:29 p.m.
On Sat, 27 Jun 1998, Tony Duell wrote:
Humm. I hadn't paid attention to them, but the two connectors are
slightly different. One is ribbed on the outside, the other is quite
smoothe but with two flat, round protrusions sticking out, opposite one
another. Kind of like the Frankenstein Monster's neck. :)
Is this what you mean?
> Next to
that, is what appears to be an empty slot, and
> then there is what appears to be some kind of networking card. It has two
> coaxial cable connectors and a toggle switch. There is another card
IIRC Wang used a curious interface on some of their machines with a BNC
and a TNC (like a BNC, but screwlock) connector. Is that what you have? -tony
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
28 Jun
28 Jun
12:32 a.m.
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27 Jun
27 Jun
11:15 p.m.
I fully disassembled the Wang machine last night, so I can state a couple
of things more clearly.
On Fri, 26 Jun 1998, Lawrence Walker wrote:
I'm sure eventually a KB will turn up for mine.
Someone mentioned that they had seen one. (Joe?)
When you do disassemble it there are 2 34 pin older
style connectors on
the MB above two slots leading to the drive bays.. In mine I can find no
floppy connectors.
The only connectors I could find were on the right hand edge of the board.
They are indeed 34-pin connectors, with hinged clips on the sides that
actually push the connector out of the socket when you push them apart.
The cables that are plugged into these sockets do lead to the floppy
drives.
The connectors are labeled J5 and J6 on the motherboard. They're blue on
my machine.
I had no expectations about what a floppy controller connector would look
like, so I don't consider these connectors to be strange.
I noticed some switches on the motherboard, too. At the moment they're in
the 'record the position but don't mess with' category. They're ON, ON,
ON, and OFF. :)
AAAhh Montreal I remember when it was an
international city. not
a provincial capital.
Well, we know who's to blame. But we should leave it on some politics
list.
ciao larry
lwalker(a)interlog.com
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
26 Jun
26 Jun
12:46 p.m.
On Fri, 26 Jun 1998, Doug Spence wrote:
I finally went back to check on that "Wang PC-002" I asked about earlier.
It was a bit more scratched up, but it hadn't moved an inch in the past
two and a half(?) weeks.
I managed to locate its keyboard, as well as the keyboard for an aparently
keyboardless Tandy 1000TX that was in another part of the building, so I
decided to drag the Wang machine home.
**** Agony deleted ****
**** Begin Ecstacy ****
Anyway, it sure is a curious beast. And HUGE, to my
eyes. It's not quite
as big as I reported before, but it's BIG. The closest offhand and
possibly innacurate comparison I could make is to a friend's MicroVax, but
I don't know what kind of MicroVax that is.
If I sit it vertically (a position the box looks very comfortable in), it
measures about 15" high, by 6.5" wide, by 23" long.
It has two floppy drives mounted in the front: one half-height 5.25"
drive, and one full-hieght 5.25" drive.
In the back, I can see the backs of various cards. One of them has the
connector for the keyboard (4-pin DIN) as well as one serial and one
parallel port, so it must be the motherboard. Beside that (or above,
depending on orientation) is a board with a sticker reading "PM032-B 512K
Memory Expansion". Next to that, is what appears to be an empty slot, and
then there is what appears to be some kind of networking card. It has two
coaxial cable connectors and a toggle switch. There is another card
beside (or above) that, with no ports or labels, but I can see chips
through the air holes. Beside (or above) the mystery card is a board with
a label reading "PM101 IBM Mono Emulation". It has an 8-pin DIN connector
and a 5-pin DIN connector, which I would guess are for monitor and PC
keyboard(?).
Does anyone know the pinouts of the various ports, or anything else about
this machine? Will it read PC disks or do I need to boot it up with some
wacky Wang-format disk? Does the machine require some kind of terminal,
or will a monitor connect into the back of the IBM Emulation board and let
me see what's going on?
Cannot help on the pinouts, but I think their monitor connector was
unique. You need to boot it with Wang disks. They are in PC format,
but the DOS is different. I have a set that I can copy when you get
video going.
As I recall, the IBM Emulator board really hacks the WangDOS to be more
like PCDOS and it will then run many - but not all - PCDOS programs.
Don't believe the D-subs on the back are for monitor and keyboard, but it
may be a different board than I ever saw.
The sticker on the side (top) of the machine says
it's a PC-002, but the
sticker on the back says it's a PC-P002.
The keyboard has a lot of word processing functions on it.
That is what Wang really got established in.
Anyway, I haven't opened it up yet, or done
anything with it but look at
it. Disassembly looks like it might be difficult, because I have to slip
the innards through the full length metal sleeve. I won't be up to that
until my arms recover. I've even got bruises and some kind of blood
blisters or something, from carrying that thing. :/
Stand it up on its face and lift the cover off. Everything inside is in
a heavy guage wire frame.
- don
I probably won't have time to play with it today
as I promised to install
NetBSD 1.3.2 and some UNIX software on my Amiga 3000 instead of coming to
work. (And look at the time. :) )
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
donm(a)cts.com
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Don Maslin - Keeper of the Dina-SIG CP/M System Disk Archives
Chairman, Dina-SIG of the San Diego Computer Society
Clinging tenaciously to the trailing edge of technology.
Sysop - Elephant's Graveyard (CP/M) - 619-454-8412
*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*
see old system support at http://www.psyber.com/~tcj
visit the "Unofficial" CP/M Web site at http://cdl.uta.edu/cpm
with Mirror at http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/~cfs/cpm
27 Jun
27 Jun
12:19 a.m.
On Fri, 26 Jun 1998, Don Maslin wrote:
Too bad the keyboard doesn't have the greatest feel. And some of the keys
are in the wrong places, but that's a holy war I don't want to get into.
;)
Yeah, it took me a few minutes to figure it out, but it opened up easily
once I decided to pull from the back instead of the front. :)
Cannot help on the pinouts, but I think their monitor
connector was
unique. You need to boot it with Wang disks. They are in PC format,
but the DOS is different. I have a set that I can copy when you get
video going.
Great! I'll get various Kaypro stuff from you at the same time. ;)
Do you know what the monitor connector looks like? The only possibilities
are the DIN plugs on the back of the IBM Emulator card. Unless the
monitor was some kind of terminal that attached to the serial port.
The 8-pin DIN plug has a little symbol next to it which might represent a
CRT. (It looks kind of like a pie slice.)
As I recall, the IBM Emulator board really hacks the
WangDOS to be more
like PCDOS and it will then run many - but not all - PCDOS programs.
Pretty big hack. A whole PC could fit on a card half that size. :)
Don't believe the D-subs on the back are for
monitor and keyboard, but it
may be a different board than I ever saw.
Well, I don't know where else to put a monitor. The Wang keyboard plugs
into the 4-pin DIN socket connected to the machine's motherboard, I can
only guess what the other things are for. I'm just scratching my head
trying to figure out how to get a picture from the thing.
The sticker on
the side (top) of the machine says it's a PC-002, but the
sticker on the back says it's a PC-P002.
The keyboard has a lot of word processing functions on it.
That is what Wang really got established in. Anyway, I
haven't opened it up yet, or done anything with it but look at
it. Disassembly looks like it might be difficult, because I have to slip
the innards through the full length metal sleeve. I won't be up to that
until my arms recover. I've even got bruises and some kind of blood
blisters or something, from carrying that thing. :/
Stand it up on its face and lift the cover off. Everything inside is in
a heavy guage wire frame. - don
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
7:17 a.m.
On Sat, 27 Jun 1998, Doug Spence wrote:
Do you know what the monitor connector looks like? The only possibilities
are the DIN plugs on the back of the IBM Emulator card. Unless the
monitor was some kind of terminal that attached to the serial port.
The 8-pin DIN plug has a little symbol next to it which might represent a
CRT. (It looks kind of like a pie slice.)
Sorry, it has been over ten years since I last saw one of those critters
and my recall on that kind of detail is fuzzy. With the case off, the
content of the cards may well give you a clue, though.
Well, I don't know where else to put a monitor.
The Wang keyboard plugs
into the 4-pin DIN socket connected to the machine's motherboard, I can
only guess what the other things are for. I'm just scratching my head
trying to figure out how to get a picture from the thing.
See remark above.
Too bad the keyboard doesn't have the greatest
feel. And some of the keys
are in the wrong places, but that's a holy war I don't want to get into.
;)
Yup! That is one that no one can win.
- don
3 Jul
3 Jul
2:28 a.m.
On Sat, 27 Jun 1998, Don Maslin wrote:
I don't have any kind of parts catalogue, but someone here might. Some
parts are really obvious, but I'll list 'em anyway.
On the motherboard: NEC D765AC (40-pin); eighteen times HM4864P-3 (so I
guess Wang used parity); Intel D8086-2; AM9517/A-4PC (40-pin); Intel
P8253-5 (24-pin); Intel P8259A (28-pin); Intel D8288 (20-pin); two times
HN482732AG-30 (EPROM, 24-pin, in 28-pin socket); D3-6402-9 (40-pin);
AM8255APC/P8255A (40-pin); SCN2661C/C1N28E/CP28028 (28-pin). The rest is
TTL.
The memory board only has RAM chips and TTL.
The board with the funny cable connectors is labeled "LOCAL COMM D.L. BD"
and "9245 - R0M0". The only interesting IC is a 40-pin chip labeled "WANG
2001/377-0508/IMP 03 8402BCA". The rest is TTL.
The "mystery board" which is attached to the above board via ribbon cable
has a Zilog Z80A CPU, and another chip from MOSTEK labeled
"MK3882N-4/Z80-CTC". The rest is TTL. The board itself carries the label
"WANG 9246 A R0M1".
The IBM Mono Emulator board is labeled "P C Emulator" and "WANG
9443-R2-M2" and has two 28-pin EPROMs on it labeled "HN482764G-2". There
are five 28-pin chips from Toshiba labeled "TC5565PC-15". There is also a
40-pin chip labeled "HD46505SP/HD6845SP". The rest is TTL.
And BTW, the date codes on the parts suggest the following manufacturing
dates:
Motherboard: 1983
Memory board: 1986
"LOCAL COMM D.L. BD": 1984
Mystery Board: 1984
IBM Mono Emulator: 1985
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
The 8-pin DIN
plug has a little symbol next to it which might represent a
CRT. (It looks kind of like a pie slice.)
Sorry, it has been over ten years since I last saw one of those critters
and my recall on that kind of detail is fuzzy. With the case off, the
content of the cards may well give you a clue, though.
6:35 a.m.
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9 Jul
9 Jul
10:44 p.m.
On Fri, 3 Jul 1998, Tony Duell wrote:
How wonderful it must be, to have a brain. ;)
<snip>
Nope, no 8284 that I could locate, but chip size would affect my ability
to easily spot it. I more careful inspection of the motherboard has
revealed a few smaller chips that don't have "74" on thier labels. :)
There's a 16-pin chip with "CD4050AE/RCA 227" stamped on it. There are
also six chips that sit on their sides, with 10 pins, marked
"MSP10C01-472G/DALE", and a few other minor parts.
Cool! The 6402 is located closer to the parallel port than the serial
port, though.
It lives directly between the parallel port and the 6402, so parallel I/O
it must indeed be.
It appears to be true.
<more snippage>
Cool! So the vide must indeed be on the emulator board. Which makes me
wonder what the Wang is able to do without one of those boards. The IBM
Mono Emulator board looks to have been manufactured about a year and a
half later than the motherboard.
I never did get around to hooking something up to the machine's serial
port last week. Other things came up and sucked away the time.
No 24 pin chips at all. So does the Wang have redefinable characters?
Maybe I can port some VIC-20 games to it. :)
I don't
have any kind of parts catalogue, but someone here might. Some
Yep, in my brain... P8253-5
(24-pin); Intel P8259A (28-pin); Intel D8288 (20-pin); two times
8253 is a counter/timer, probably used for a heartbeat or a real time clock
8288 = 8086/8088 bus controller IC. I'm suprised there's not an 8284
clock chip near it as well. HN482732AG-30
(EPROM, 24-pin, in 28-pin socket); D3-6402-9 (40-pin);
2732 = 4K*8 EPROM. Sounds like 4K words of BIOS
6402 _may_ be the standard 6402 UART chip. That's got 40 pins.
AM8255APC/P8255A (40-pin); SCN2661C/C1N28E/CP28028 (28-pin). The rest is
8255 = 24 line parallel I/O chip. A dogsbody sort of I/O chip. The IBM PC
uses one for the DIP switches, keyboard, sound control, etc...
There's a set of four switches right next to the 8255, and the keyboard
connector isn't too far away.
2661 is a fancy-ish serial chip. I'll have to grab
the data book to find
out more ...
It lives beside the serial port.
The board with
the funny cable connectors is labeled "LOCAL COMM D.L. BD"
and "9245 - R0M0". The only interesting IC is a 40-pin chip labeled
"WANG
2001/377-0508/IMP 03 8402BCA". The rest is TTL.
Some sort of ASIC for that strange Wang interface? are five
28-pin chips from Toshiba labeled "TC5565PC-15". There is also a
RAM, I think. Possibly video RAM. 40-pin chip
labeled "HD46505SP/HD6845SP". The rest is TTL.
6845 CRT controller (basically the timing chain for the video section).
Is there another 24 pin chip (EPROM or ROM) on this board as a character
generator? I would have expected one. Unless one of the 5565s is used for
that and loaded from disk or something. -tony
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
10 Jul
10 Jul
12:04 p.m.
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