Brian Brikon diskette drive tester

[Steven Hirsch]

On Sat, 21 Nov 2015, Steven Hirsch wrote:

> I purchased one of these units on eBay and it seems to be working - modulo a 
> few early-80s tantalum caps that went up in smoke.
>
> The tester relies on an attached printer to record test results, which are 
> displayed only fleetingly on the front-panel display.  Unfortunately it did 
> not come with the printer and I cannot find any information on line.
>
> Does anyone have information on this?  Is it serial?  Parallel?  The onnector 
> is a 20-pin, 0.1" DIP header on the rear panel.  The tester supplies printer 
> power on a small 3-pin Molex connector.
>
> I can probably trace this out on the internal logic board, but thought 
> perhaps another list member owns one of these and can elaborate.
>
> I'm also trying to find the manual appropriate to a base Model 723 tester. 
> The one floating around on the net is for an upscale model (723-4M). While 
> there are a number of similarities, I'm running into just enough behavioral 
> difference to make it worth finding the correct docs.  There's also a 
> programming and setup "worksheet" document that has not surfaced anywhere.

Update:  With a bit of patience I have figured out the printer interface. 
It uses a parallel printer and presents the following pinout on the 20-pin 
rear-panel header:

1      Gnd
2      n/c
3      +15V Reg
4      Gnd
5      D6
6      D5
7      D4
8      D3
9      D2
10     D1
11     D0
12     Gnd
13     Strobe* (Out)
14     Gnd
15     Gnd
16     Gnd
17     n/c
18     n/c
19     Busy (In)
20     Gnd

I have no idea why there's a +15 supply.  Note the 7-bit interface.

Maybe someone will find this useful.

Steve


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