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Powertran Cortex

Thanks Dave. There's an assembly equivalent of that in one of the magazines, but I thought it sounded a bit hit-and-miss. Looks like it will be worth giving it a go.

Stuart.
 
74ls2001

74ls2001

I have done a new piggy back pcb based on the 74LS2001 circuit in the issue 5 and 8 of the newsletter.
I've ordered 6 off from OSH Park http://oshpark.com/
3.3 USD each plus shipping, it will be interesting to see what they turn out like, I've not used them before but very impressed with the web site and the support when it didn't like the Boardmaker gerber files initially.

Jim
 
Well, it's finally time to get rid of the old hardware - too many other uses for the garage.
Marinchip M9900, disks and manuals - the original MDEX box
Powertran Cortex - needs floppy drives, they are in the
PP95 - industrial version of the Cortex
If someone could take the lot and distribute them further, that would be perfect.

You can contact me, Stephen Pelc, directly at +44 (0)23 8063 1441 or stephen@mpeforth.com

Stephen
 
I've been in contact with Stephen and offered to collect, sort and distribute. Preliminary arrangements to collect in a week or two when Stephen has had a chance to sort it all out and I'm back from a week's holiday.

Start saving your pennies for shipping!

Stuart.
 
Ooooohhhh Marinchip 9900. . .I've been looking for one of those for almost 30 years!

Let us know what other interesting Cortex tidbits show up, Stuart! :)
 
Stuart said:
I've updated both games so hopefully you will get continuous movement by holding down a key.

Stuart.
Click to expand...

I got the games to work (and they look good!) but they won't load normally without a correction to the 'tape header' in the .cas files. I sent you an email over a week ago with the corrections but I didn't realise you were on holiday.

Dave.
 
tms9995 said:
I got the games to work (and they look good!) but they won't load normally without a correction to the 'tape header' in the .cas files. I sent you an email over a week ago with the corrections but I didn't realise you were on holiday.

Dave.
Click to expand...

Hi Dave,

I've uploaded the corrected versions onto my website (I thought I had replied to your e-mail, but it seems not). The problem with the tape header was because I didn't realise you needed to specify the execute address when saving. ;)

Stuart,
In the cold, on Dartmoor, with wifi. :)
 
Stuart said:
Hi Dave,

I've uploaded the corrected versions onto my website (I thought I had replied to your e-mail, but it seems not). The problem with the tape header was because I didn't realise you needed to specify the execute address when saving. ;)

Stuart,
In the cold, on Dartmoor, with wifi. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Stuart. Keep warm! 78f here :)
 
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"I see wonderful things" said Howard Carter of Tutankhamun's tomb. And so it was again with Stephen Pelc's dining room table this afternoon. ;-) Big thanks to Stephen for giving this equipment to "the community". Stephen is keen that it should go to people who are willing and able to get it running and use it.

Stephen is happy to answer questions about what the equipment and software is, and its history. I suggest we sort out what we have then put our collective heads together to compile a list of questions.

I've given each system a quick clean, and put a brief description of what we have below, with photos. I will go through the boxes of documentation and disks over the next week or two and publish a list. Any questions I can help with in the meantime, fire away.

So let's start with something we're all familiar with.


*********************************
*** Standard Powertran Cortex ***
*********************************

A standard Cortex in the mk. 1 case.

The TMS9995, 9911 and 4500 are missing - but they're fairly cheap on ebay.

The TMX9909 is fitted. Hurray! (Incidentally, Stephen thinks at least one production run of the TMS9909 (with an "S") was made as he remembers seeing at least one of them. Ditto with the 74LS2001 - they definitely did exist.)

Has the E-bus components fitted, but no E-bus controller IC.

The floppies were removed years ago for use elsewhere.

PCB needs a good cleanup - some corrosion on chip legs etc.

I'm going to keep hold of this one - for the time being at least. (One of the PP95 keyboards will hopefully work with the Cortex board I built up from the bare PCB, so I might be able to get a full working system that way.)

Photos:

http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0263.JPG
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0264.JPG


************
*** PP95 ***
************

Look at this photo: do those four LEDs look familiar?

http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0267.JPG

This is a PP95 system, from Sweden (or thereabouts) and used in a paper mill. This is basically an industrial Cortex by a company called Peter Peterson (hence the "PP" in the name?). The circuit is to the Cortex design, but a different motherboard (marked CAD-PRINT A/S, P10CPU/PFA) which includes an integrated double-width E-bus backplane on one side. Have the full documents, including circuit diagram. Mounted in what I think is some sort of modular 19" rack.

Has a TMX9909 fitted, plus a small plug-in module "floppy data separator unit" which looks the same as that published in Issue 10 of the user group newsletter. Has twin 5.25" floppies fitted.

Where I think the E-bus controller goes is a small circuit on Veroboard with a 74LS74 and 74LS04. Looks like one of published E-bus controller replacement circuits?

Switch mode power supply.

All ICs except the 40-pins and EPROMs ar soldered direct to the PCB.

Uses an external keyboard, with a keyboard connector on the front panel. Have two keyboards for it. These have the Cortex layout and the circuit again looks like the Cortex design but on a PCB by CAD-PRINT A/S, with the same AY-5-2376 keyboard decoder chip. Also has an additional row of function buttons(?) along the top.

Two E-bus boards are fitted:

(1) A memory board, MPE DRAM Rev. B, with 16 off 4264 DRAMs (128 Kbyte total?).

(2) An MPE FD/WD floppy/Winchester interface board, which in turn is connected to a Western Digital controller board (main chips WD1014CL, WD1010PL, WD1015CL), which connects to an external Winchester drive (Shugart Associates model 612S, 10 MB?).

This system is up for grabs (but I want to hang on to one of the keyboards). Will need some TLC but it appears complete. Quite heavy so shipping won't be cheap. Not sure what mains voltages the PSU will accept. Most ICs soldered direct to circuit board, making any fault-finding required more difficult.

Photos:

http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0267.JPG
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0269.JPG
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0268.JPG
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0270.JPG
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0272.JPG
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0273.JPG
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0274.JPG
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0265.JPG
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0266.JPG (keyboards before and after cleaning!)
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0271.JPG
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0275.JPG


*******************
*** E-bus Cards ***
*******************

Have some E-bus cards:

-- 4 off bare MPE FD/WD Iss. A boards (as used in the PP95 system). Most ICs seem to be address decoding and buffers.

-- 1 off populated MPE FD/WD Iss. A board (with some components and hard wiring on the back).

-- 2 off MPE 9950 CPU-E TMS9995 Iss. 2 processor boards. Most chips missing, but one has 2 PALs fitted (address decoding?). I think we have docs for these boards.

-- 1 off MPE 9950 CPU-E TMS9995 Iss. 3 processor board. All chips fitted. Forth EPROM. Two flying leads for RS-232 connections. 8K RAM, 8K ROM.

-- 1 off bare MPE 9950 CPU-E TMS9995 Iss. 3 processor board.

-- 1 of Texas Instruments TM990/E150 board with TMS9981 processor fitted. EPROM, RAM, serial interface. Looks complete, and would probably work standalone if you connect a power supply to it. I've got a 1-page description in a TI handbook.

-- 1 off dual TMS9901 board by MPE.

-- 1 off 10-position E-bus backplane, made by SEF Gmbh.

I'll suggest that the last two items go to Jim Hearne, if he wants them, for testing his E-bus replacement module. The other bits are up for grabs.

Photo:

http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0276.JPG
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0283.JPG


**********************
*** 5.25" Floppies ***
**********************

Box of ~100+ 5.25" floppies for the Cortex. MDEX, Forth, NOS, loads of stuff. Will catalogue the disk labels in due course. There's also an audio cassette labelled "Load Format", which may have been the solution to the chicken-and-egg problem of "how do you format a floppy without a floppy to load the formatter from".

Also got a proper TI TMS9909 manual - might have some info we don't have elsewhere. I'll scan this then I need to return it to Stephen.

Photo:

http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0277.JPG


***********************
*** Marinchip M9900 ***
***********************

Yes, the Marinchip M9900. Possibly the last one surviving anywhere. So this is an S-100 backplane, in a huge great case, with twin 8" floppies, the mother of all transformers and electrolytic capacitors, and fans.

Five S-100 boards:

-- Marinchip M9900 processor board.

-- 2 off Marinchip 64K memory boards.

-- Dual floppy disk controller.

-- Dual RS-232 interface.

Loads of documentation, including original stuff from Marinchip with circuit diagrams.

Can't get the boards out for a decent photo. A bit of corrosion I suspect on the backplane connectors, and I don't want to force them. Needs stripping down and I suspect a squirt of switch contact cleaner will do the job. There are some pics of the two Marinchip boards on the web - these appear to be the same.

Have a box of 100-ish 8" floppies with MDEX, NOS, Forth and other stuff. Stephen also included a sealed box of new floppies and a 8" floppy cleaning disk. ;-)

Also comes with a serial terminal that was used with it. With manual.

This will be going to Dave Hunter, if he still wants it and will pay for shipping. ;-) Dave is probably the most knowledgeable person about this system and is probably the best person to get it running again and make sense of the software. Needs some cleaning and TLC. Stephen suggested that the mains power supply voltage is brought up slowly using a variac due to the age of the big electrolytics, otherwise there could be a big bang, puff of smoke, and capacitor juice everywhere!

Photos:

http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0281.JPG (there's a very solid top cover as well)
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0282.JPG
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0279.JPG
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0280.JPG
http://stuartconnerdownloads.me.uk/~stuartc2/mpe_stuff/DSCF0278.JPG
 
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Wow, that's some collection.
I still need to read your post several more times.
Yes please, I would certainly like the "1 off dual TMS9901 board by MPE. and 1 off 10-position E-bus backplane, made by SEF Gmbh.", also, 1 of the "4 off bare MPE FD/WD boards (as used in the PP95 system). Most ICs seem to be address decoding and buffers" if possible.
I still have some MFM/RLL and ESDI drives so maybe I can add a hard drive to my Cortex.

I wouldn't mind looking after the PP95 system (I can collect it) for a little while for closer analysis and documenting, long term i'd probably pass it onto somebody else due to lack of space.

I've suitable eprom programmers for reading all the Eproms and a scanner with sheet feeder for scanning documentation.

Better get on with some work now,

Many thanks,

Jim
 
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I have 4 spare 74LS2001 replacement PCB's spare, if anybody wants one, either the bare board or assembled then please let me know.
Obviously I've not tested it yet but thanks to Stuart that may happen sooner than I thought.
Cost would parts cost price plus shipping only, I'm not interested in making any money from them.

Jim
 
Jim Hearne said:
I have 4 spare 74LS2001 replacement PCB's spare, if anybody wants one, either the bare board or assembled then please let me know.
Obviously I've not tested it yet but thanks to Stuart that may happen sooner than I thought.
Cost would parts cost price plus shipping only, I'm not interested in making any money from them.

Jim
Click to expand...

I'll raise my hand for one if I may.

I was rather hoping you might want to take the PP95 - one less thing to ship! It also has the E-bus memory board which you can use to help test your 74LS2001 replacement. I'll sort out what docs and disks belong with it, then give you a shout to arrange transport - I can bring up to you, or you can collect from me.

Stuart.
 
Hi Stuart,
Happy to collect when you are ready.
I'll certainly swap a complete 74LS2001 board for the PP95 !
I think I have some full height 5.25" drives which would fit your Mk1 Cortex drive bays but they will only be 40 track, not even certain if they will be double sided, they are from the original IBM XT.

Jim
 
Stuart, I'd like one of each of these if they are still available:

-- 4 off bare MPE FD/WD boards (as used in the PP95 system). Most ICs seem to be address decoding and buffers.

-- 2 off MPE 9950 CPU-E TMS9995 processor boards. Most chips missing, but one has 2 PALs fitted (address decoding?). I think we have docs for these boards.

Also, on the MPE Board with the dual 9901s--it is described in one of the Electronics Today articles. It should also have two Joystick ports on it. I could really use a nice picture of the bottom of the board, as I have a layout done that should allow it to be cloned, but I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything important (the layout for the top side was in the article, and I sussed out the rest but it is always good to have confirmation).

I may have a 720K half-height as a spare around here too, Stuart.

Jim
 
I've just found the full manual (inc schematics) for the Western Digital WD1002-HDO board.

http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stu...31050-0030_WD1002-05_HDO_OEM_Manual_Jul83.pdf

It looks like the MPE board just gives it a buffered I/O port.

[Added] WD did a whole series of WD1002 boards, the rest have the PC ISA bus but I wonder how similar they are to the WD1002-HDO, maybe one could be hacked up to talk to the Cortex, I'm sure I still have some of the PC versions.
This covers all the parts I think http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stu...1986_Storage_Management_Products_Handbook.pdf

Jim
 
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