Fanuc PPR - Paper Tape Punch, Printer and Reader : Not quite working

[Eric Moore]

Hi Martin, I use the PPR for all kinds of paper tape shennanigans.

https://youtu.be/hGr0F9a7x1A

Remove all but the first jumper, and that may help with your issues. I
found at one point the jumper settings, but will need to search.

-Eric



On Sat, Apr 9, 2022, 4:56 PM Martin Bishop via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:

> A nicely made yellow box with a rather poor manual - both lost in
> translation and limited in scope.
>
> Working on setting one to work, but can't get anything out of the serial
> port.  In drives the punch, and the punched data verifies (based on a QL).
> In also drives the printer, although somewhat garbled, perhaps due to BCD
> coding or perhaps due to invalid parity (which is configured as no check).
> The reader 'reads' tape both in response to X/ON over RS232 and in response
> to front panel keys.  However, nothing is emitted onto 232.  The D25 - D-9
> transition has all the RTS/CTS and DSR/DTR/DCD lines knitted appropriately
> and indicating 'correctly' on blinkenlites.  Interestingly, on long test
> tapes the reader does not fall off the end but stops, repeatably after ~49"
> which is remarkably close to 512 octets.  Finally, the CNC termination
> octets : % (ASCII) and 0x80 (BCD : RS-244) don't seem to impress the reader
> - nothing changes.
>
> Specific queries:
> - Are there any magic control codes or handshaking rituals to coax data
> out of the reader
> - Is the PPR to CNC Controller interface protocol manual available as pdf
> - Where can I find drawings for the PPR's electronics, most importantly
> the main board (with its 8031)
> - Suggestions on how to proceed with setting to work / fault diagnosis
> - Has anyone house trained one of these to read PDP-11 absolute binary
> tapes, their target market was G code (text)
>
> Martin
>