Hewlett Packard 64000 software?

[arfink]

Hi, I am looking for HP 64000 software. I found a 64110A portable mainframe model at a local surplus shop very cheap, complete with all the add-ons for doing logic analysis. It's got 5 external probe banks with loads of probes, chip adapters, other nice odds 'n ends, and from the self verification/disgnositc tests and the floppies it came with it seems to be in fully operational condition.

However, I am obviously missing some of the software- the compiler, assembler, terminal, file editor, and a whole bunch of other stuff is missing. I have also heard this thing could run Pascal, but I don't have any disks for that either. Anyone have any disks of this stuff? If there are disk images floating about the web, how would I get that stuff onto my HP 64110A?

 

[dave_m]

I think this uP development system usually had a connection to a host minicomputer (HP9000) where most of the software development was done. Bitsavers has a lot of the manuals for the hardware and software products.

Does anything you have look like an in-circuit emulator pod? Or is it all logic analyzer pods? Hopefully you have enough hardware/software pieces to at least use it as a stand-alone logic analyzer.

Bitsavers 64000

 

[arfink]

Well, it comes with a whole pile of pods, and they at least superficially look similar, but to be honest I have not looked at them very closely. It's entirely possible they are different from each other. (Do they look any different? The ones I have all have connection points for lots of probes, and one of them has special probes without little grabbies that insert into a chip clamp.)

Also, this isn't really required to be used with a minicomputer. It essentially IS the minicomputer, as it's designated as a mainframe. It has a whole bunch of BNC's on the back to hook up slave machines to.

I have found out some cool things- this machine is Y2K compliant. I also have just finished making a full backup of the disks I already have. I only have disk 1 of the main OS, which is why so many things are missing. There ought to be 3 of them.

EDIT: looking over the brochures in the Bitsavers archive, it's clear that the 64110A was supposed to be used mainly as a stand-alone tool for doing logic analysis, or as a somewhat smaller form factor 64000 cluster machine chained in to a 64100 equipped with a hard drive.

 

[Chuckster_in_Jax]

I can't find any manuals, ads, pictures or other info of this unit except that it is classified as a logic analyzer. That would explain the "pods". Hopefully you can find some documentation on it. HP has gotten real bad about removing any online resources they may have for older equipment. Tactic they use to force you to toss out the old and buy the new.

 

[nige the hippy]

looks like a nice find and a pretty beast too. It's interesting when you can interface a bit of the real world into your vintage computer.

 

[dave_m]

I can't find any manuals, ads, pictures or other info of this unit except that it is classified as a logic analyzer.

It does a lot more than that. With an emulator hardware/pod installed, it is a wonderful real time in-circuit emulator. Actually with fast processors, it may have to add a wait state. This makes it one of the most powerful debugging tools available at the time. The logic analzer part would be configured as a trigger trace analyzer and disassembler. It was actually fun to squash bugs this way.

HP has gotten real bad about removing any online resources they may have for older equipment. Tactic they use to force you to toss out the old and buy the new.

The division of HP that made this type of equipment became part of Agilent. Sadly I do not think they still make uP Development Systems.

 

[arfink]

Thanks dave_m. A quick question- did you ever own or use this machine? Just curious.

Well, after much Googling I have not come up with much on this machine other than the Bitsavers archive, which I had found via Wikipedia before coming here for help. Even that stuff doesn't specifically apply to this model. So I have a couple of things for people if you ever need to play with one of these:

-it's amazingly heavy for its size. I almost dropped mine when I took it off the shelf at the surplus store. If I had to guess I'd say in the neighborhood of at least 50 lbs.

-the dip switches on the back control boot sequence. Specifically the last two, labeled 6 and 7. If you put both those switches in the "ON" mode you'll get into performance verification mode, and some mixture of the two changes between booting from hard disk, awaiting slave activation in a cluster setup, or booting from floppy.This is in the standard 64100 documentation at Bitsavers.

-this thing can be used on a rack, on a desk, or on the floor. It props up quite nicely with spring loaded outrigger-legs when on the floor and the keyboard folds out a long ways too, and you can actually just pull up a work chair and operate the machine quite comfortably this way.

-there is a big vinyl bag bolted to the top side of the machine. All the pods, probes, disks, whatever can go in there. The backside of the bag even has slots which you can feed cables through, so you can store your pods in the bag without having to unplug them all the time. Of course, the bag has a big warning sticker on it saying not to operate with the bag zipped closed with pods inside because they could overheat.

-lastly, this thing has the most awesome sounds coming out of it when it boots. Multiple fans coming on makes a nice whoosh plus whirring and beating from the bearings, and the system bell sounds several times during boot up as each verification process executes. So cool!

 

[arfink]

This machine is now for sale- check the for sales forum!

 

[dave_m]

Thanks dave_m. A quick question- did you ever own or use this machine? Just curious.

I never used one personally, but I managed a project that used a later model of the 64000 family in the early 90's to design a Motorola 68030 based embedded controller. The logic designer and programmer made me throw away a Tektronix system that I loved for the HP. It turned out to be a good investment. With the help of some third party software, the HP was able to allow high level Ada software debugging on the actual target hardware. It made for a smooth checkout that keep us on a tight schedule.

 

[arfink]

Cool. Thanks for the story.