• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Intertec SUPERBRAIN

J

Josh Bensadon

Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2013
Messages
10
Location
Toronto
Hi,

I'm trying to bring one of these Intertec SUPERBRAIN computers back to life, but the 2716 EPROM is blank!

Does anyone have an image copy of this EPROM?

Thanks,
Josh
 
Josh,

The 2716 EPROM came in at least three guises from what I remember.

A quick check of the schematics at "http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/supbrain/schemati.pdf" has identified that the 2716 appears to be the triple rail variety ( requiring +5, +12 and -5). Is your EPROM programmer configured for triple rail operation or single rail?

I have a really old EPROM programmer because it can handle the 2708 and both the triple and single rail 2716. The "more modern" EPROM programmer I have (which is still 25 years old of course!) can only handle single rail 2716 devices.

Dave
 
Oh B*****cks, I have an old Stag PPZ, as it was the dog's danglies in the '80s, but I don't think I have a module to handle the 3 rail 2716s. It's possible to make an adapter to read them, but difficult to find / program a new one. - another project coming on.:(
 
It looks as if it can be found here:

http://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/intertec/firmware/

Haven't really looked at it yet but a quick inspection shows that it contains the "INSERT DISKETTE INTO DRIVE" string. I believe it contains the 7x10 character definitions as well as the bootstrap code. Does anyone know how to extract them? It would be fun to recreate the old Intertec font.
 
I have just checked and my "old old" programmer is dead as well! It never rains it pours!

So, the first question I have to Josh is now you know the original EPROM may well be a triple rail 2716 - does your EPROM programmer actually support this device? If not, the EPROM may well be functional - but the fact that your EPROM programmer may not be providing the correct voltages to it may mean that it is reading as blank.

As mbasic has pointed you to a website that may host the correct firmware (bitsavers is a brilliant website to bookmark for the future) then it may still not be possible to program another EPROM which will work if you have the incorrect programmer.

If my programmer was still working I would be happy to program you a new chip - but it isn't so I can't :-( and there is no hope of a sudden repair either!

The other way would be to make up a small adapter board so that a single rail 2716/2516 can be used instead of a triple rail device. You would wire up the Vcc (+5V) and GND power pins and the address, data and control lines pin for pin between the triple and single rail devices - but would obviously leave the +12V and -5V pins of the Superbrain socket unconnected.

Good luck,

Dave
 
mbasic,

The information I have found on the internet leads me to believe that it is a 5*7 font in a 7*10 cell. However, I don't believe the font data itself is stored within the EPROM but in the character generator of the video integrated circuits themselves.

See "http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/intertec/Superbrain_Users_Manual_Sep80.pdf" page 8 for details of the font and "http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/supbrain/techinfo.pdf" for technical details of the internals and (in particular) the data sheets for various hardware character generator devices (although I am not sure which devices were fitted to the actual superbrain without further investigation).

Dave
 
daver2 said:
The information I have found on the internet leads me to believe that it is a 5*7 font in a 7*10 cell. However, I don't believe the font data itself is stored within the EPROM but in the character generator of the video integrated circuits themselves.
Click to expand...

I think you're right. I'm getting confused with the Superbrain II, whose character matrices were apparently stored in separate interchangeable EPROMs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top