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Rockwell AIM 65 (R6500)

billdeg

billdeg

Technician
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
Messages
3,885
Location
Landenberg, PA USA
thm_Rockwell_R6500.jpg


thm_Rockwell_RM65-FDC_controller.jpg


Just getting started with the Rockwell AIM 65, including a disk drive controller. Anyone have a full AIM 65 setup? So far I have it booting into BASIC, I want to send the output to a CRT rather than the printer, etc. Not sure all what one can do with one of these.

BIll
 
Sending output only to a CRT is not trivial, but it does have an RS-232 or current-loop compatible serial port and a switch to let you connect an RS-232 compatible full-screen terminal (or teletype) and use that instead of the on-board keyboard/display/printer.

With the optional 40K memory (on-board on late models, external on the older ones like yours) it's quite a useful computer, especially if you want to interface to external hardware:

KIM/SYM-compatible user ports.
Dual cassette ports.
Capable built-in monitor and editor; single-step capability.
Languages available: BASIC, FORTH, PL/65 and assembler.

Full set of manuals and ROMs available on Rich Cini's site:
http://www.classiccmp.org/cini/systems.htm
 
billdeg said:
I demoed a base system at VCF MW and Ian P and Mike K whom I believe are members of this board helped me restore two more, owned by Jason T. Here is link to a post on my site with a summary of the results, and tips for new users
http://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=435
Click to expand...
Interesting, but a little misleading IMHO.
Your post suggests that the AIM65 had BASIC, but I think it's worth mentioning that the BASIC ROMs are/were an option probably not installed in most of the AIMs out there.

And yes, the AIM came with a keyboard and the one-line display, but it is a far more useful system if you connect a terminal (or emulator), especially if you're running BASIC. A lot of people dismiss the AIM because they don't realize that the stock unit can display 80x24 on a terminal and with memory expanded to 40K is actually a 'real' computer.

You might also mention the assembler (also an option although the standard monitor has some capability), and the fact that all the docs are available on line on Rich Cini's site.
 
I'm bringing this over from the Petvet discussion so please excuse me if I have violated some sort of rule here!

I'm also posting some scans of manuals, tricks, and pics here

http://www.originalwoodworks.com/aim65/

Hello, I'm the other member that MikeS mentioned trying to expand the AIM-65 memory to include the available language ROMs. Actually I'd like a daughter board whereas the 6502 is unplugged from the main board and plugged back into this one. The daughter board would contain at least 64KBs of RAM/ROM? memory mapped into the proper locations to run the AIM monitor and Language ROMs - BASIC/PL-65/Forth, and lastly Pascal which is why I started this quest...the Pascal interpreter takes up 20KBs mapped into B000 and a 16KB block starting at 4000-7FFF. This cuts the available RAM almost right down the middle...normally it would occupy 0000-7FFF or even then another 8KBs from 8000-9FFF. The A000 block is the AIM65 I/O, the B000-CFFF is the normal language block for the first three 8KB ROM sets, the D000 block is either application or the assembler and the monitor sits at E000-FFFF. I've thought of using a 32KB flash ROM for the upper ROM area abandoning the 8000-9FFF potential RAM mapping and then putting a 32KB SRAM in the lower 0000-7FFF area. Does this sound like something the PETVet could do only in 64KBs of battery backed up SRAM? Seeing that Flash ROMs are fairly large and can be jumper strapped, I've also considered just loading all the language images into various banks and switching them on or off as desired mirroring the monitor block is all four banks...the one that presents the problem is of course the Pascal that drops down into the lower 32KB area. Anyone have any thoughts or interest? Dave Colglazier
 
Hi,

I'm thinking that the PETvet should be able to help with this, here's a reference to the other thread where we were discussing it..
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?28624-Would-anyone-be-interested-in-repairing-a-PET2001/page2

I've tested it in a PET 2001 and 8032, and it's working well. You can switch out ROM images with a jumper, and you can have as many as the microcontroller's flash allows (64k).
It should work in other 6502 machines but I have not tried it yet. I will probably try it out in a C64 next.
- Mike
 
gubbish said:
It should work in other 6502 machines but I have not tried it yet. I will probably try it out in a C64 next.
Click to expand...
Careful, Mike, the C64's 6510's pinout is seriously different!

BTW, all the AIM's languages are in the B000-CFFF region (except for the 4 low-memory parts of Pascal), so having those ROMS selectable should be pretty simple; in fact I think one or maybe two of Jim Brain's adapters would do it.

Expanding RAM and/or the low memory section of Pascal are a little trickier and I think that alone would make the PETvet a great solution if the details work out.

There may not be enough memory though... 40kB RAM and 76kB total for the ROMs, although of course only 20kB could be resident at a time (except for the Pascal oddball which would take 16kB of upper RAM space.)

FYI, the AIM memory map is:
$0000-$9FFF: RAM (Rockwell versions only had $0000-$0FFF on board).
$A000-$AFFF: I/O & scratchpad memory; some areas can be made available for more RAM.
$B000-$CFFF: Optional Language ROMs (BASIC, Forth, PL/65, Pascal).
$D000-$DFFF: Optional Assembler.
$E000-$FFFF: Firmware and monitor program.
 
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Thanks Mike, I had forgotten that the C64 doesn't use a vanilla 6502, so indeed the PETvet would not work with a 6510's pinout.
It might work with an Apple II though..

If more than 64k of selectable ROM is needed, you can use a microcontroller with 128k flash on the PETvet.
 
If we leave the A000 block out of the potential RAM mapping scheme because some AIMs may already have been modified to add additional I/O (I have posted an MTU mod on my site to do this and I'll supply the link if needed), and we assume that Pascal will not/cannot use additional RAM up in the C000-DFFF area because the assembler has been mirrored up there, then the 4000-7FFF block of RAM is the only one to be disabled or loaded with the 16K of Pascal code to complete the 5 ROM set. I've located the MS62256 SRAM in an SOP package that I think can be directly wired to the 6502 pins to provide the lower 32KB and provide a jumper to disable the upper 4000-7FFF 16KB RAM block. That would make the daughter board footprint identical to the 6502 with a small jumper next to the CPU much like on the laptop hard drive selects. The flash ROM would also be mounted on the board after checking out the CPU/RAM combo. I have a Cubit programmer with utilities that sets itself at 8000 and has a separate input for the programming voltage. I could probably make an adapter that plugs into the 24 pin ZIF PROM socket and flash some recent F/ROMs with the upper 20KB of ROM resident in the AIM that's running it...I'd just have to populate the ROM area with the correct ROM images possibly in 2532 PROMS. Does anyone have an idea for dropping 16K of F/ROM down into the 4000 block after disabling that block of RAM? Maybe swapping out address lines? I really don't want to install code to copy a F/ROM block into SRAM since it wouldn't be write protected and that would alter the original AIM monitor ROMs. I guess I could load a jump into the assembler ROM area and use the <N> key to initiate the swap out but then the assembler cannot be mirrored into any banks or could it? Also, I read the Pascal manual and it can link to the assembler ROM so this is probably not a good option.
Dave

MikeS said:
Careful, Mike, the C64's 6510's pinout is seriously different!

BTW, all the AIM's languages are in the B000-CFFF region (except for the 4 low-memory parts of Pascal), so having those ROMS selectable should be pretty simple; in fact I think one or maybe two of Jim Brain's adapters would do it.

Expanding RAM and/or the low memory section of Pascal are a little trickier and I think that alone would make the PETvet a great solution if the details work out.

There may not be enough memory though... 40kB RAM and 76kB total for the ROMs, although of course only 20kB could be resident at a time (except for the Pascal oddball which would take 16kB of upper RAM space.)

FYI, the AIM memory map is:
$0000-$9FFF: RAM (Rockwell versions only had $0000-$0FFF on board).
$A000-$AFFF: I/O & scratchpad memory; some areas can be made available for more RAM.
$B000-$CFFF: Optional Language ROMs (BASIC, Forth, PL/65, Pascal).
$D000-$DFFF: Optional Assembler.
$E000-$FFFF: Firmware and monitor program.
Click to expand...
 
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orgwood said:
If ... we assume that Pascal will not/cannot use additional RAM up in the C000-DFFF area because the assembler has been mirror up there, then the 4000-7FFF block of RAM is the only one to be disabled or loaded with the 16K of Pascal code to complete the 5 ROM set.
Click to expand...
As a matter of fact it looks like the Pascal system provides for a user program to be loaded in the $C000-$CFFF ROM (although it could of course be RAM) and executed with the '6' key (the assembler only occupies $D000-$DFFF).

Unfortunately the 4K AIM board does very little decoding of the RAM area, so you'd definitely have to add something; the 40K version is a little better but would still need some extra decoding.

But if you're going to make a shim board for the 6502 with a 32K RAM and a 16K ROM chip it should be pretty straightforward to decode A15 and A14 and a jumper to select either 32K of RAM or 16K RAM & 16K ROM.

Might as well put the other 8K into $8000-$9FFF as well while you're at it ;-)

FWIW, I put the $B000 Pascal image into a non-volatile RAM in the B socket and converted the 16K lower Pascal ROMs to a file which I loaded in the 40K AIM's RAM at $4000; didn't work, but there are a number of variables along the way that I haven't had time to double-check yet.

m
 
I know the 16KB RAM at $4000 can easily be disabled but sticking the 16KB Pascal ROM section there presents a major problem without adding decoding chips. I'd rather find a way to relocate that block from the upper addressing by switching out some address lines using an addressing trick? I took my 5 2532s having the Pascal code and did a dump to the printer after installing them at $B000 to see if they still worked after I soldered their rotted pins into an adapter socket and got code for all 5 of them so I think I have working PROMs. I'm trying to get my Seawell Prommer II installed and up and working since it will allow me to load the 4 PROMs at $4000 and test the Pascal set by initiating them using the 5 key and the first PROM at $B000. If they work, I can then make copies and do further testing and make images to upload. I bought a ROMMAX 4G with software and docs off ebay that will allow me to make 2732 copies of the images you sent me. I can test them too in the PROMMER II. Then I'll have a way to get the proper software flashed in my PC system and ultimately into my flash ROM. If that works, I'll be able to load all languages into a 256KB flash ROM and bank them into 4 sections with each language I mentioned before using jumpers. I'll let you know how I'm progressing when I actually get some hardware working.


MikeS said:
As a matter of fact it looks like the Pascal system provides for a user program to be loaded in the $C000-$CFFF ROM (although it could of course be RAM) and executed with the '6' key (the assembler only occupies $D000-$DFFF).

Unfortunately the 4K AIM board does very little decoding of the RAM area, so you'd definitely have to add something; the 40K version is a little better but would still need some extra decoding.

But if you're going to make a shim board for the 6502 with a 32K RAM and a 16K ROM chip it should be pretty straightforward to decode A15 and A14 and a jumper to select either 32K of RAM or 16K RAM & 16K ROM.

Might as well put the other 8K into $8000-$9FFF as well while you're at it ;-)

FWIW, I put the $B000 Pascal image into a non-volatile RAM in the B socket and converted the 16K lower Pascal ROMs to a file which I loaded in the 40K AIM's RAM at $4000; didn't work, but there are a number of variables along the way that I haven't had time to double-check yet.

m
Click to expand...
 
Hi MikeS, you are the man!!! Way to go! Now we know we have good code. I've got my 2532s programmed and am configuring my PROM bd to locate at $4000 for my testing. I'm glad to see you have the ComboROM working...did you put BASIC, PL65, Forth, the assembler and the first Pascal ROM on it? Did you mirror the AIM-65 monitor in all banks? I didn't find a reference to it at your link. DaveC

MikeS said:
Got Pascal running; also put together a "ComboROM" that holds all four of the languages (except Pascal's low-memory 16kB) and lets you select among them with a jumper or switch. See the Pascal thread:
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?22210-aim65-pascal-roms/page2
Click to expand...
 
orgwood said:
Hi MikeS, you are the man!!! Way to go! Now we know we have good code. I've got my 2532s programmed and am configuring my PROM bd to locate at $4000 for my testing. I'm glad to see you have the ComboROM working...did you put BASIC, PL65, Forth, the assembler and the first Pascal ROM on it? Did you mirror the AIM-65 monitor in all banks? I didn't find a reference to it at your link. DaveC
Click to expand...
Well, you're the guy who finally inspired me to actually do something ;-) ; not many other folks are actually actively tinkering with their AIMs, and then your Pascal manual finally made it worth while for me.

The 'ComboROM' only occupies the option area $B000-$CFFF, so the monitor/editor/firmware at $E000-$FFFF and the assembler at $D000-$DFFF aren't affected; AFAIK nothing else ever goes into those areas unlike the $B000-$CFFF area which is where all the languages reside, one at a time.

It's a 27256 32kB EPROM with 4 blocks of 8kB each containing the 4 different language images and a DIP switch to select one of the 4 8kB sections. It's plugged into the 'B' ROM socket but since that socket only decodes 4kB a jumper to the 'C' chip select on the main board is required for the full 8kB; on the 40kB board that's no problem since it has the 25/2732 jumpers, one of which is /CE, but on the 4K board you'd have to add a header pin, probably into one of the VIAs carrying the 'C' chip select.

Or you could just use two 27128 16kB EPROMs, one in each socket ( B and C) and not worry about any extra adapters or jumpers aside from the 2532>27128 adapters.

The main reason I went to the trouble of combining them into one chip was to leave the 'C' socket open in case I wanted to use it to connect a RAM chip with some modified decoding to map it into low memory to replace/augment RAM; I'm also working on a memory expander for a Radio Shack M100 at the moment which puts 32kB ea. of RAM and ROM in a 28-pin package which just might be adaptable for this to provide either 32kB of RAM or 16kb RAM & 16kB ROM for Pascal in a 4kB machine.

But I'll wait to see how your idea works out, and maybe we can also use Gubbish's PETvet somehow; these projects are all fundamentally pretty similar.

BTW, here's what an AIM65 looks like with the covers on (assuming you have an enclosure of course):
Aim1.JPG AIM2.JPG
The DIN jack and cable are the added connection for an RS-232 terminal or emulator; 25 lines of 80 columns, ability to save etc. are soooo much nicer...
 
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Hi Mike, first there was one Pascal and God saw that it was good...then He made another and said to go "forth" (no pun intended) and multiply so there were 2. Now many more will soon be populating AIMs all over the world.

I made copies of my 2532 PROMs over the weekend and put them into my Seawell Little Buffered Motherboard with a PROMMER II that accepts 2532s in 2 - 16KB banks and after figuring out the socket numbering and bank addressing, I now have my own Pascal running!! Glory Hallelujah!

I'll try and get a picture of the display and my setup and post it!

Thanks, Dave
 
Excellent!
orgwood said:
Hi Mike, first there was one Pascal and God saw that it was good...then He made another and said to go "forth" (no pun intended)...
Click to expand...
A likely story; I bet that pun was intended ;-)
I'll try and get a picture of the display and my setup and post it!
Click to expand...
Looking forward to it.

So, are you still going to build that shim board to sit under the CPU and add some RAM/ROM?

I wonder if the OP who started the Pascal thread and the other interested poster are reading this...
 
Checking in -

Checking in -

Glad to see an active AIM-65 discussion in progress. Not doing anything with my gear - it's mostly packed away but I should at least take some pix of the weirder things. Definitely a few multi-ROM boards, etc. Hope everyone is having a good New Year.

best,
Jack
 
jackrubin said:
Glad to see an active AIM-65 discussion in progress. Not doing anything with my gear - it's mostly packed away but I should at least take some pix of the weirder things. Definitely a few multi-ROM boards, etc. Hope everyone is having a good New Year.

best,
Jack
Click to expand...
Hey, Jack! Great to hear from ya; haven't seen you up here for much too long!

As a matter of fact I was thinking of sending you and Rich C. a heads-up to see if you're interested in adding the Pascal ROMs and manual to your respective repositories (if you don't already have them).

Always nice to see more AIM65 stuff see the light of day; share some of your treasures by all means, and have a great 2012!
 
I put the images up on the other thread...do you see a reason/means to try and combine these 2 together?

Also, I plan on hard wiring a MOSEL 32KB SRAM onto a 40 pin socket and pulling all the AIM-65 RAM and seeing if it comes up with a 6502 plugged into the socket and the socket plugged into the CPU socket. I'll let you know if I have it working. Also, I ordered some adapters for Jim Brain's site along with the flash memory EPROM replacements...I'll see what I can do with those. I now have 2 EETools ROM/MAX 4Gs with docs and software so I'll try to get that scanned and posted...I'm willing to sell one if anyone's interested - I have about $50 each into them but I needed to get the second one for the docs and installation software.

I also just scanned and posted the Dynatem AIM-65 with the jumper settings here

http://www.originalwoodworks.com/aim65/aim65-dynatem.pdf

Let me know if you need anything else. Dave
 
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