In this wiki you can store howto's what to know etc..
About using and preserving vintage HP computers.
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Re: HP 9821 - display and tape transport issues
#VintageHPComputers
Lee A. White
In the late 70's N S came out with a processor series
designated as COPS (control oriented processor series). The company I worked for
at the time had major field problems with controls using this processor - they
were locking up in use. The problem was traced to extreme processor noise
sensitivity. When operating next to electrically noisy equipment (like the
magnetic contactor turning on a refrigeration compressor motor), the processor
would see an instantaneous DC input voltage below the required
"power supply good" voltage and the processor would halt. When the voltage
rose back above the required "power good voltage" the processor would start an
on chip start up timer and would then start the power on preset routines
clearing memory, resetting the program counter, etc.. When the on chip
start up timer timed out the processor would be released to begin program
execution. Problem was that the transient low voltage did not exist long enough
for the on chip timer to discharge, so when the power returned to a valid level
after the noise transient passed, the on chip timer had not yet fully
discharged. As a result, it would time out too quickly and the processor would
be released to execute program code before the power on preset routines had
completed. The processor was then executing garbage and would lock
up.
National was NO HELP AT ALL, denying that there could be
anything wrong with their processors. After many calls and my getting very
insistent, they challenged me to come out and prove it - to make it happen in
their lab. On arrival I was shuttled off to a low level technician who was
obviously supposed to humor me and then get rid of me. The welcoming was neither
appreciative or respectful. I was clearly a PITA that they had no time
for.
The tech took me to a test bench and watched as I
set up the simple demo - the control with the processor in it and a compressor
motor contactor set up to self cycle next to it. He connected some monitoring
equipment to the processor and then turned everything on. In less than
a minute the processor chip was locked up. The tech disappeared and returned
with an engineer and it happened again. He got some more fresh parts - they
all quickly locked up too. The engineer disappeared and returned with the
engineering manager who saw it for himself and he then disappeared and returned
with the VP - who was not happy. The VP suggested we try other processors
in the series, and they all locked up too. It was now clear National had a
design problem in the entire series that was going to require a mask
change and cause a production interruption. Then the president/founder showed up
and watched a processor lock up and then no one was happy. He asked if they
could keep the test setup, and I happily agreed. Everyone was told to meet in a
conference room in five minutes and I was asked to leave - escorted to the door
actually. I didn't even get a lunch out of it.
National never replaced the bad parts in our inventory,
nor did they do anything to make up for the bad product we had in the field or
the costs of the field problems. They never said thank you either, nor did they
make their problem known to other customers.
Care to guess how much respect I have for National
Semiconductor.
A Japanese company got all our future mask programmable
micro processor business - and we were a very big player in the automotive,
appliance, and heating and air conditioning controls businesses - what
they call a tier one OEM supplier.
From: Rik Bos
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2020 3:27 PM
Subject: Re: [VintHPcom] HP 9821 - display and tape transport issues
#VintageHPComputers I
think you missed an email, I mistook NI for NS.
I
use NI software for design and simulation and am happy with it. I'm not happy
with National Semiconductor logic IC's from the early 70th era.
-Rik
-Rik On Mon, Feb 3, 2020 at 9:19 PM +0100, "Steve Leibson"
<steven.leibson@...> wrote:
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Re: HP 4955A in Good Shape-- HPIB Interface for storing Basic Programs to a Modern Machine, possibly using HPDrive software over HPIB?
On Feb 20, 2020, at 3:22 PM, greg.linder@gmail.com wrote:Do you mean the 9831? Same basic hardware, slightly different keys and ROMs to handle the Basic language. There was another thread here about HP9825 mass storage options, and there was some question as to whether or not the HPDrive project works with this era of machine.hpmuseum.net has some text saying this is possible, I do not have a 9831 so I can't vouch for that. You'd need the 98034 HP-IB interface obviously. However www.hp9831.com does not have any mention of being able to use an HP-IB interface.
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HP 4955A in Good Shape-- HPIB Interface for storing Basic Programs to a Modern Machine, possibly using HPDrive software over HPIB?
greg.linder@...
Greetings, all:
I recently picked up an HP 4955A Protocol Analyzer. Although my bench is stacked with HP vintage test equipment in daily use, this is my first fun foray into the world of pre-90's HP computing. I picked this up because it's apparently an HP9825 inside, and the one I have has the Basic option. It powers up with some errors, but upon plugging in one of the pods, the Basic interpreter runs fine. It's in very good shape, considering it was in a garage for who knows how long. That being said, I'd like to use this to have some fun writing basic programs, and maybe use it to control some of my other HP-IB stuff floating around in here. My standard concern is the Tape Drives that have been discussed elsewhere. The unit needs to have its tape drives rebuilt, and then there's the questions of media, and all the rest. There was another thread here about HP9825 mass storage options, and there was some question as to whether or not the HPDrive project works with this era of machine. Before I dive into trying to figure this out, I wonder if this is the Best Way to move forward with this. Even more, does HPDrive have a hope of working with this HP 4955A, which is apparently based on the 9825 internals, but a slightly different beast when it comes to programming and such? I've got some of the original paper manuals, some of which are marked as "preliminary". I'd love to find the service manual for this as well, but my standard haunts at the BAMA archive and other places have revealed nothing for the service manual, aside from buying a million pounds of paper on Ebay. It's a lovely machine, and I'd like to clean it up, fix the failures that show up on startup, and possibly make some good use of this. It's a very satisfying machine, and the Basic it comes with is very.. Complete and intuitive. Would it be worth me buying an Ebay manual and scanning it into BAMA, or does someone know of a PDF copy that exists somewhere? Cheers, -Greg Linder
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Re: HP 9821 - display and tape transport issues
#VintageHPComputers
mariuszmleczko@...
Yes, short time solution for quick testing of other tape functions before new LDR will come.
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Re: HP 9821 - display and tape transport issues
#VintageHPComputers
Using the old ldr isn't a good idea, the ldr will degrade more over time. At the best it will be a short time solution. I think the 5616 should work.
-Rik
On Wed, Feb 19, 2020 at 8:04 PM +0100, <mariuszmleczko@...> wrote:
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Re: HP 9821 - display and tape transport issues
#VintageHPComputers
mariuszmleczko@...
Code: GL5616D
Diameter: 5mm Light resistance: - 10lx - 5÷150 kΩ - 100lx - < 2 kΩ Dark resistance: 1 MΩ Power: 100mW Maximum voltage: 150V DC Wave length: 540nm Working temperature: -30°C ÷ +70°C Will that be OK ? I'm not sure which 10lx or 100lx value take into account for light resistance condition. Do you you think is it good idea to do a testing of existing LDR by adding ~13K resistor to it ? In a dark condition it shall give more than 19k which is more than 18k barrier.
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Re: Disk selector switch for a disk emulator?
I have breadboarded the design. One small 2x16 LCD, backlit, three switches: up, down, enter. Up and down scrolls through the available files. Enter selects the selected "disk" file. Thought I'd make a small piggyback board that fits the end of the current board at right angle. That way the original PCB can sit in an aluminium box and the piggyback board sit behind the front panel.
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Re: HP 9821 - display and tape transport issues
#VintageHPComputers
Hi Marius,
It’s some time ago and I don’t remember which LDR I ordered. I looked at epay and found several sellers who sell 5mm LDR’s. So the best thing to do, is looking at the datasheet which one fits the best. Important is R-light < 2k and R-dark is high as possible, the comparator switches at ~2.5V to get a good switching characteristic it’s important to buy a LDR with a wide Resistance range.
-Rik
Van: VintHPcom@groups.io <VintHPcom@groups.io> Namens mariuszmleczko@...
Hmm...so it seems to be defective ? Rik can you propose some available on the market phototransistor for replacement ?
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Re: HP 9000 Series 300 BASIC/UX 6.3 or 6.4 wanted
Mark Bielman
Plan on installing this weekend on my 9000/380 with 9.10 (best I recall)
Have not fired this up in over a year! Hope I'm successful. Plan on using this to control my (somewhat new) vast amount of test equipment. What fun! Too bad no free HP-UX RMB for my 720. Mark
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Re: HP 9821 - display and tape transport issues
#VintageHPComputers
mariuszmleczko@...
Hmm...so it seems to be defective ? Rik can you propose some available on the market phototransistor for replacement ?
The symptoms described below are also same as mine (especially rewinding case). A good LDR will display a resistance of several mega-ohms when fully dark and less than 200 ohms under strong direct light. The LDR feeds into a 741 op-amp running open-loop, thus functioning as a comparator. The comparator output will trip when the LDR resistance is around 18K. http://madrona.ca/e/HP9830/hardware.html
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HP 12016A SCSI card
Jesse Dougherty
would anyone happen to have a 12016A SCSI card? If so and you want to
sell or trade for some other HP hardware, let me know. Thanks Jesse@cypress-tech.com
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Re: HP 9821 - display and tape transport issues
#VintageHPComputers
mariuszmleczko@...
When small square "PHOTO" pcb is disconnected from "09830-66565" (main board), values are:
- 8.9K (completely dark - entire transport covered) - 0.29K (straight and intense light beam from phone LED) Same values in the soldering place (shown on before photo), and between 3 and 9 pins of the "PHOTO" pcb
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Re: HP 9821 - display and tape transport issues
#VintageHPComputers
Did you disconnect the sensor from the PCB.
The small pcb's are connected to the big one with pin which is detachable. The only way to get good readings is with the ldr disconnected.
R-dark should be more than 200k R-light should be below 1.5k roughly.
-Rik
On Mon, Feb 17, 2020 at 8:37 PM +0100, <mariuszmleczko@...> wrote:
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Re: HP 9821 - display and tape transport issues
#VintageHPComputers
mariuszmleczko@...
Display board is fixed (thanks to Mr Matthieu Benoit)
Regard the tape LDR sensor..... I was able to get into sensor board from behind: https://groups.io/g/VintHPcom/photo/240360/0?p=Created,,,20,2,0,0 And here I got a question. LDR resistance when measured in the place of soldering (marked on the photo above) is reacting to light without any doubt. Measured values are: - 5.5K in no light condition (totally covered sensor) - 0.5K in bright light condition (direct and intense light beam from phone LED lighter) But....I've measured it only soldered - like on the photo - and not sure how to interpret those results. Shall I desolder it and measure out of the board....or is it already possible to give a verdict that it is OK or not ? Will be thankful for help.
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Re: That 9816 keyboard...
Piero Andreini <pieroandreini@...>
Hello Andres,
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
you are doing absolutely fantastic job, like always! Piero
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Re: That 9816 keyboard...
Put together a project page. The 100-series uses a similar interface, albeit with different pinout. Will look into that as well. It should be possible to create a design that accomodates both. http://www.dalton.ax/HPkbd/
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Re: Solving HP 9825 despooling problem QIC40/80 tapes
On Feb 12, 2020, at 9:15 AM, CuriousMarc <marc.verdiell@gmail.com> wrote:The 9825 source code looks for explicit distances between holes to make decisions about how to handle the tape. You can see this if you look at the FDVRT.BPC file's comments. I have not figured out how much tolerance there is in the distance measurement code.
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Re: That 9816 keyboard...
Nice work Anders, looks good.
-Rik
On Wed, Feb 12, 2020 at 7:10 PM +0100, "Anders" <anders.gustafsson@...> wrote:
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Re: That 9816 keyboard...
Anyway. The adapter is now ready and also supports the national layouts supported by the 98x6.
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Re: 150 series 45611B with no display
Piero Andreini <pieroandreini@...>
Hello Adrian, I need bus extender, may you want to sale one to me?
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