10 Nov
2003
10 Nov
'03
1:58 p.m.
Hi
This may not even be a s100 board. The height is wrong. Check
the power leads carefully before plugging into a s100. It
does seem to be a complete single board computer.
Dwight
From: "Ian Primus"
<ian_primus(a)yahoo.com>
I recently acquired this board, it appears to be an S100 board, since
it has the 100 pin connector and voltage regulators onboard. Does
anyone know what this is, or what it came from? In the upper right
corner, it says "Dynatech NEWSTAR 1MP481 REV. A (C) 1990" The board has
a Z80, a 27128 EPROM, an 8k static RAM, some 41c256 DRAMS, a Z80 SIO,
some RS-232 line driver pairs (1488/1489), and two 26 pin headers,
which appear to be serial ports.
Here is a picture I took:
http://24.194.65.231/images/unknownboard.jpg
It appears to be a complete Z80 computer on a board, so I would imagine
that it would be possible to power it up, and connect a terminal to it,
but I don't know if it would do anything. Any information on what this
could be, or what it might do would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Ian Primus
ian_primus(a)yahoo.com
10 Nov
10 Nov
2:18 p.m.
On Monday, November 10, 2003, at 07:58 PM, Dwight K. Elvey wrote:
Hi
This may not even be a s100 board. The height is wrong. Check
the power leads carefully before plugging into a s100. It
does seem to be a complete single board computer.
Dwight
Yeah, I had thought of that, as the only S100 boards I have seen were
shorter, but then again, I don't have any S100 hardware, so I don't
know if there were different sizes. I downloaded the S100 bus
specification, and this board seems to match up as far as the power
connections are concerned, pin 1 (+8v according to spec) is connected
to the power inputs of the 7805's, and pin 2 (+16v according to spec)
is connected to the power input of the 7812. Pin 50 is definitely
connected to ground, as is pin 100. I'm not going to blindly attempt to
apply power unless I know for sure that I can hook it up properly. It
definitely appears to be the S100 bus. Were there any tall S100 boards?
What about a bus that uses the same connector and similar power
connections?
Thanks!
Ian Primus
ian_primus(a)yahoo.com
3:06 p.m.
-----Original Message-----
On Monday, November 10, 2003, at 07:58 PM, Dwight K. Elvey wrote:
Connector offset looks about right though, doesn't it? Didn't a company
called Dynatech buy Cromemco?
Patrick
Hi
This may not even be a s100 board. The height is wrong. Check
the power leads carefully before plugging into a s100. It
does seem to be a complete single board computer.
Dwight
Yeah, I had thought of that, as the only S100 boards I have seen were
shorter, but then again, I don't have any S100 hardware, so I don't
11 Nov
11 Nov
2:12 p.m.
On Monday, November 10, 2003, at 09:06 PM, Patrick Rigney wrote:
I did some more digging on the internet, and found this:
Cromemco
Was acquired by Dynatech, Inc, Burlington, MA and was renamed DCS
(Dynatech Computer Systems) continuing to produce S100 based systems
into the early 90's before they were shut down.
That would fit with the boards I have, since the copyright date is
1990. I need to sit down and trace out more of the circuits on the
board, but it definitely does seem to be an S100 board. I have tried to
figure out what the two 26 pin headers at the upper left are connected
to, but I can't see under some of the components. They do appear to be
serial ports, but I don't know which pins would contain which signals,
so wiring it up to a terminal might be tricky. Maybe if I look up the
specs on the UART and the 1488/1489 driver pair, I can figure out how
their circuit works, and where I can tap into the signals. Powering the
board shouldn't be a problem, since I can easily tell how the power
regulators are connected. Now, if only I knew what this thing did...
Ian Primus
ian_primus(a)yahoo.com
-----Original
Message-----
On Monday, November 10, 2003, at 07:58 PM, Dwight K. Elvey wrote:
Connector offset looks about right though, doesn't it? Didn't a
company
called Dynatech buy Cromemco?
Patrick
Hi
This may not even be a s100 board. The height is wrong. Check
the power leads carefully before plugging into a s100. It
does seem to be a complete single board computer.
Dwight
Yeah, I had thought of that, as the only S100 boards I have seen were
shorter, but then again, I don't have any S100 hardware, so I don't 
2:34 p.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ian Primus" <ian_primus(a)yahoo.com>
That would fit with the boards I have, since the
copyright date is
1990. I need to sit down and trace out more of the circuits on the
board, but it definitely does seem to be an S100 board. I have tried to
figure out what the two 26 pin headers at the upper left are connected
to, but I can't see under some of the components. They do appear to be
serial ports, but I don't know which pins would contain which signals,
so wiring it up to a terminal might be tricky. Maybe if I look up the
specs on the UART and the 1488/1489 driver pair, I can figure out how
their circuit works, and where I can tap into the signals. Powering the
board shouldn't be a problem, since I can easily tell how the power
regulators are connected. Now, if only I knew what this thing did...
If they are 26 pin headers, I wonder if you put a ribbon cable connector on
one, with a ribbon cable version of the DB-25 on the other end (pin 1 to pin
1), whether it would "just work"? Some of the S-100 stuff was like that.
Vince
12 Nov
12 Nov
2:22 a.m.
The board looks similar to the standard "Dual Serial Port". which means it
most
likely is a standard serial interface card. That also leads to the
following, if you
take a standard DB-25 connector with lines to all the pins, and put a 26 pin
header
on the wire, you should find, that the signals for "standard RS-232-C" are
available
at the DB-25 connector pins. Since it is a former Cromemco product (maybe) I
would imagine that the memory is for high speed buffering onboard, the Z-80
and SIO
indicate that it might even be a form of SDLC/HDLC networking card. JAG
Jim
WB2FCN
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ian Primus" <ian_primus(a)yahoo.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 8:12 PM
Subject: Re: help identifying S100 board
On Monday, November 10, 2003, at 09:06 PM, Patrick Rigney wrote:
I did some more digging on the internet, and found this:
Cromemco
Was acquired by Dynatech, Inc, Burlington, MA and was renamed DCS
(Dynatech Computer Systems) continuing to produce S100 based systems
into the early 90's before they were shut down.
That would fit with the boards I have, since the copyright date is
1990. I need to sit down and trace out more of the circuits on the
board, but it definitely does seem to be an S100 board. I have tried to
figure out what the two 26 pin headers at the upper left are connected
to, but I can't see under some of the components. They do appear to be
serial ports, but I don't know which pins would contain which signals,
so wiring it up to a terminal might be tricky. Maybe if I look up the
specs on the UART and the 1488/1489 driver pair, I can figure out how
their circuit works, and where I can tap into the signals. Powering the
board shouldn't be a problem, since I can easily tell how the power
regulators are connected. Now, if only I knew what this thing did...
Ian Primus
ian_primus(a)yahoo.com
-----Original Message-----
On Monday, November 10, 2003, at 07:58 PM, Dwight K. Elvey wrote:
Connector offset looks about right though, doesn't it? Didn't a
company
called Dynatech buy Cromemco?
Patrick
Hi
This may not even be a s100 board. The height is wrong. Check
the power leads carefully before plugging into a s100. It
does seem to be a complete single board computer.
Dwight
Yeah, I had thought of that, as the only S100 boards I have seen were
shorter, but then again, I don't have any S100 hardware, so I don't 
12:50 p.m.
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ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
chejmw＠acsu.buffalo.edu -
dwight.elvey＠amd.com -
ian_primus＠yahoo.com -
patrick＠evocative.com -
vrs＠msn.com