WTB Intel 7110 Bubble Memory Subsystem or Chipset

[Pete Lancashire]

This is all bringing back when Intel tried to see BM's to me at Tektronix.
Got to go see them being made. Something just told me  "dead end".

-pete

On Thu, Feb 22, 2018 at 5:09 PM, dwight via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:

> Looking things up, I don't think the Nicolet one with the scope was the
> Intel one.
>
> Dwight
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> on behalf of allison via
> cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2018 3:14:45 PM
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: WTB Intel 7110 Bubble Memory Subsystem or Chipset
>
> On 02/22/2018 03:08 PM, Mark J. Blair via cctalk wrote:
> > I'm about to acquire a couple of 1980s-vintage military surplus
> AN/UGC-137A terminals (i.e., glass TTYs with some local message preparation
> and storage capabilities) which have a bubble memory subsystem. They use
> plug-in cartridges containing 256 kbytes of storage in the form of two
> Intel 7110 1 Mbit bubble memory chips and their 7242 formatter/sense
> amplifiers.
> >
> > One of the cartridges contains the one and only copy of the terminals'
> firmware, which I believe they need to load up at each reboot. Naturally,
> extracting the contents of that irreplaceable cartridge for archival, and
> potential future emulation, is going to be a very high priority for me. I
> have a few different approaches in mind for accomplishing that. One
> approach would be to remove the two memory devices from the critical
> cartridge in order to dump their contents in an independent bubble memory
> subsystem.
> >
> > With that in mind, I'd like to get my hands on a working Intel 7110
> bubble memory subsystem, or the parts to build one myself (i.e., a complete
> 7110/7220/7230/7242/7250/7254 chipset that I could make a board around).
> What you plan is risky.  You first need to know how they organize the
> data in each of the loops.
> The problem is did that interleave the two bubble or are they addressed
> seperately.  Both possibilities
> were the case.  Each BM required its own CPG, FSA and drivers but could
> share the 7220 BMC.
>
> > Might anybody here have what I need available for sale or trade? I might
> be able to use some arbitrary old computer or other device that has a
> subsystem based around the Intel 7110, or a development kit such as the
> Intel BPK-72, or a chipset to make my own board.
> I got two of them back in the 80s, they are now part of a CP/M Z80
> system I built back then.
> Not much storage and sorta slow and power hungry.
>
> > If I can't acquire or make the hardware to dump the memory chips outside
> of their native system, then I think my next option would be to passively
> snoop the host bus interface of the Intel 7220 controller I expect to find
> inside the terminals as they perform their initial firmware load, so that I
> can reconstruct the cartridge contents from the trace data.
> The best and lowest risk point is to snoop is at the data bus
> interface.  Logic analyzer or something fast enough to
> grab the data.  The 7220 chip set gave a nice bus interface with a
> fairly simple command set.  Its also the side of
> the device thats well documented.
>
> I may have a few of the basic bubble memory units 7110 as they were
> socketed.  No extra CPD, FSA, Driver devices,
>  or BMC 7220.
>
>
> Allison
>
> > The terminals were made by the Librascope division of Singer, and
> brochures can be found here:
> >
> > http://www.librascopememories.com/Librascope_Memories/
> Product_Literature_files/Communications%20Terminal.pdf
> >
> > http://www.librascopememories.com/Librascope_Memories/
> Product_Literature_files/SST.pdf
> >
> > http://www.librascopememories.com/Librascope_Memories/
> Product_Literature_files/Bubble%20Memory%20Cartridge.pdf
> >
> > I already have the critical cartridge in hand, and I posted some
> pictures of it on Twitter:
> >
> > https://twitter.com/nf6x/status/964578291767173120
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>