27 Mar
2003
27 Mar
'03
10:08 a.m.
Is there any (easy) way to use an H89 as a serial terminal, VT100 even?
mr(a)jasongullicskon.com
27 Mar
27 Mar
10:36 a.m.
Is there any (easy) way to use an H89 as a serial
terminal, VT100 even?
Yes, there are 2 ways to do it -- hardware and software
The H89 is acutally a computer and a serial terminal in the same box,
communicating via a very short RS232 cable. The terminal, which is
actually an H19, has an ANSI mode which is close to being a VT100 IIRC.
The hardware solution is to disconnect the internal serial cable from the
termianl logic PCB (the rearmost vertical PCB in the machine) and replace
it with one of the cables that goes to a DB25 connector on the back
(these cables are normally connected to the serial port PCB plugged into
the computer mainboard, just in front of the terminal logic PCB). The
cables have a Molex 0.1" pitch SIL connector on the end, and fortunately,
the pinout of all the internal serial connectors (terminal logic PCB,
computer 'console port', serial port PCB) is the same.
The software solution is to write a little program that transfers
characters between the computer's console port and one of the other
serial ports. This will then make the computer section appear as a
transparent link between the terminal and the outside world.
-tony
1:19 p.m.
The hardware solution is to disconnect the internal
serial cable from the
termianl logic PCB (the rearmost vertical PCB in the machine) and replace
it with one of the cables that goes to a DB25 connector on the back
(these cables are normally connected to the serial port PCB plugged into
the computer mainboard, just in front of the terminal logic PCB). The
cables have a Molex 0.1" pitch SIL connector on the end, and fortunately,
the pinout of all the internal serial connectors (terminal logic PCB,
computer 'console port', serial port PCB) is the same.
Ouch...
The software solution is to write a little program
that transfers
characters between the computer's console port and one of the other
serial ports. This will then make the computer section appear as a
transparent link between the terminal and the outside world.
much easier than any of the above... get a copy of MDM712 or similar
terminal emulation program. MDM712 comes with a serial port driver for
H8/89. Plug your device into the spare serial port on the back of the
(unopened) machine, and that should do it. Some '89's have three-port
serial cards... I don't know which ends up being which or whether MDM712
lets you choose, all of my '89's are down right now. :-/
Patrick
28 Mar
28 Mar
2:44 p.m.
The hardware
solution is to disconnect the internal serial cable from the
termianl logic PCB (the rearmost vertical PCB in the machine) and replace
it with one of the cables that goes to a DB25 connector on the back
(these cables are normally connected to the serial port PCB plugged into
the computer mainboard, just in front of the terminal logic PCB). The
cables have a Molex 0.1" pitch SIL connector on the end, and fortunately,
the pinout of all the internal serial connectors (terminal logic PCB,
computer 'console port', serial port PCB) is the same.
Ouch...
The software solution is to write a little
program that transfers
characters between the computer's console port and one of the other
serial ports. This will then make the computer section appear as a
transparent link between the terminal and the outside world.
much easier than any of the above... get a copy of MDM712 or similar
terminal emulation program. MDM712 comes with a serial port driver for H8/89. Plug your device into the spare serial port on
the back of the
(unopened) machine, and that should do it. Some '89's have three-port
serial cards... I don't know which ends up being which or whether MDM712
I think the 3-port card (3 off 8250) is standard... Now there's a thought
-- putting 16550s in an H89 and modifying the software to use the FIFOs...
lets you choose, all of my '89's are down
right now. :-/
What's wrong with them? These machines are not exactly complicated or
hard to fix (at least not compared with some machines I've worked on).
-tony
6:38 p.m.
lets you
choose, all of my '89's are down right now. :-/
What's wrong with them? These machines are not exactly complicated or
hard to fix (at least not compared with some machines I've worked on).
-tony
This is obviously some new definition of 'much
easier' :-)...
Yeah, OK. :-) Dwight already took me to the woodshed for that. Poor choice
of words on my part.
Patrick
29 Mar
29 Mar
11:36 a.m.
lets you choose, all of my '89's are down
right now. :-/
What's wrong with them? These machines are not exactly complicated or
hard to fix (at least not compared with some machines I've worked on).
-tony
for all of these machines plus some). You're
correct, they're not hard to
work on; having little time and fat fingers not well-suited to tight spaces
have been my biggest barriers. I've got another project going right now,
The rule I discovered when working on my Z90 was 'Think what order the
various bits were made/installed, and take the latest ones out first'. In
other words, take ou the disk drive, then the expansion PCBs, then the
CPU board, and finally the terminal logic board (OK, and then the monitor
parts if you have to).
-tony
27 Mar
27 Mar
12:13 p.m.
On Thu, 27 Mar 2003, Jason J. Gullickson wrote:
Is there any (easy) way to use an H89 as a serial
terminal, VT100 even?
Yes. The H89 was an H11 terminal with CPU and drive control boards added.
I think you need to physically remove these and plug the cable from the
DB-25 connector into the terminal PCB.
I'm not too sharp on the details now, but I successfully converted several
of them in this manner, circa 1990.
Steve
7783
days inactive
7785
days old
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