front panels - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

23 Feb 1998

On Mon, 23 Feb 1998, Sam  Ismail Replied:
...
 > I also had one homebrew S-100 with the Wameco
front panel, which used hex
> displays for address and data but otherwise was identical to the IMSAI front
...
 > panel.  Does anyone remember other front panel
S-100 cards besides MITS,
> IMSAI, Ithaca, and Wameco?  Wasn't there a Byte-8 sold by Olson
Electronics
...
 > for a while that also had a front panel? 
...
 Yes, the Byte-8 had a front panel with, I believe, a
hex keypad and a two
digit 7-segment LED display. 
Was that just a display driven from a boot ROM or was it a real front panel,
with displays directly driven from the bus, examine/deposit, single step,
etc.?  Usually a hex keypad meant a simulated front panel (CPU actually
running a debug program in the boot ROM).  A true front panel needed 16 LEDs
or 4 hex digits for address, 8 LEDs or 2 hex digits for data, and at least 8
status LEDs for bus signals (SINP, SOUT, MEMR, INTA, etc.).  All the panels
I have seen also had an extra 8 LED latched output port and sense switch
input port.

...
 From cad at   Mon Feb 23 17:06:14 1998 From: cad
at  (Charles A. Davis)
Date: Sun Feb 27 18:32:11 2005
Subject: front panels
References: &lt;61AC5C9A4B9CD11181A200805F57CD54D09C92(a)red-msg-44.dns.microsoft.com&gt;
Message-ID: &lt;34F200E6.40C2(a)gamewood.net&gt;

And then there is the Astral 2000.
Full front panel (16 address/data switches, 16 leds) and a 4 digit hex
display also. Switches to 'load' address or data, run/step, int. etc.

When the machine is running normaly, the hex display is used as a
'clock'

This machine uses a MC6800 chip.

Chuck

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