Scali
Veteran Member
That, and the cartridge/expansion port, which also had data lines to the CPU, and was very similar to the Apple II or ISA slots.
You could of course multiplex that port easily:
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40 Years Ago
- Thread starter ClausB
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That, and the cartridge/expansion port, which also had data lines to the CPU, and was very similar to the Apple II or ISA slots.
You could of course multiplex that port easily:
Chuck(G)
25k Member
Oddly, the only HPIB lab instrumentation that I've ever run into was connected to either an HP computer or a PC with an HPIB card installed. I can't recall a lab where I ever saw a PET or C64 being used as a lab instrument.
HPIB/GPIB was useful in the late 70s because there were both TI and Intel LSI chips available for controllers and talker/listeners. The choice was more a matter of "what industry standard is there for high-speed parallel data transfer?". SASI/SCSI hadn't been invented yet. I have a 14" hard drive with a a controller board the size of the drive (all SSI/MSI TTL) that talks to an 8085-based computer using GPIB.
HPIB/GPIB was useful in the late 70s because there were both TI and Intel LSI chips available for controllers and talker/listeners. The choice was more a matter of "what industry standard is there for high-speed parallel data transfer?". SASI/SCSI hadn't been invented yet. I have a 14" hard drive with a a controller board the size of the drive (all SSI/MSI TTL) that talks to an 8085-based computer using GPIB.
The only GPIB stuff I ever seen were large multi function testing equipment in the mid 1990's (Kiethley stuff since they were in the neighborhood).
My highschool (I graduated in 1986) had a few IBM PC's and Tandy Model III's in their lab, don't think the grade schools even had computer back then.
The C64 was the computer to have around here in the 80's with the rich snotty kids having Apple IIc's. The Apple II was more of a big deal to workplaces while C64's were a bigger deal in the home in Ohio anyway.
My highschool (I graduated in 1986) had a few IBM PC's and Tandy Model III's in their lab, don't think the grade schools even had computer back then.
The C64 was the computer to have around here in the 80's with the rich snotty kids having Apple IIc's. The Apple II was more of a big deal to workplaces while C64's were a bigger deal in the home in Ohio anyway.
Interestingly, the only GPIB stuff I've seen is random 70s and 80s surplus junk instrumentation at flea markets. The kind that even I can't think of a reason to own, with the exception of chart recorders. I might be able to find a use for one of those if I were ambitious enough.
But there were some rebranded PET computers for highly technical uses. I've only ever seen pictures online, and don't see any now. I almost bought one that had a boatload of hardware connected to it for what I seem to recall was some kind of medical application. If memory serves, the seller thought he was selling rights to a gold mine.
Alternatively, I have only personally seen Apple ][, Mac, CP/M, PDP/clone, and Pr1me/clone machines* in industrial use. That's where I got my introduction to the Apple ][, and actually, where I acquired all my Apple/Mac hardware. Most of my Apple ][s had (filthy) homes next to some very (at the time) state-of-the-art CNC machines I had the opportunity to run.
*Also some Japanese personal computer type things I can't identify, and of course eventually the ubiquitous AT clone, ad nauseam. And I almost forgot, the DEC Rainbow.
But there were some rebranded PET computers for highly technical uses. I've only ever seen pictures online, and don't see any now. I almost bought one that had a boatload of hardware connected to it for what I seem to recall was some kind of medical application. If memory serves, the seller thought he was selling rights to a gold mine.
Alternatively, I have only personally seen Apple ][, Mac, CP/M, PDP/clone, and Pr1me/clone machines* in industrial use. That's where I got my introduction to the Apple ][, and actually, where I acquired all my Apple/Mac hardware. Most of my Apple ][s had (filthy) homes next to some very (at the time) state-of-the-art CNC machines I had the opportunity to run.
*Also some Japanese personal computer type things I can't identify, and of course eventually the ubiquitous AT clone, ad nauseam. And I almost forgot, the DEC Rainbow.
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Chuck(G)
25k Member
CP/M is more pervasive (as is MS-DOS) than you might think in industrial applications. Various CNC platforms used both CP/M-86 and CP/M-68K; eventually most moved to MS-DOS or the like as processors standardized. I know of a few Z80 CNC bits of equipment (e.g. Strippit sheet metal fabs, a PCB drill, etc.), but the 16-bit stuff was pervasive.
Every Strippit I've worked on, from the early 80's to the late 90's had a Fanuc x86 based control.
Out of thousands of machines I've worked on, I've only seen a handful with CP/M, most memorably early 80s Tarus gundrills. I may still have the system disks for one.
Until PC based controls came along, most of what I've seen was relay-based, custom hardware, DEC-based, Japanese 8086-based (I don't know what kind of OS those actually use, if any), PLC-based, or non-OS custom software.
But the vast majority of the machinery I've worked on has been industrial metalworking machinery, I haven't worked on much outside of that.
Out of thousands of machines I've worked on, I've only seen a handful with CP/M, most memorably early 80s Tarus gundrills. I may still have the system disks for one.
Until PC based controls came along, most of what I've seen was relay-based, custom hardware, DEC-based, Japanese 8086-based (I don't know what kind of OS those actually use, if any), PLC-based, or non-OS custom software.
But the vast majority of the machinery I've worked on has been industrial metalworking machinery, I haven't worked on much outside of that.
I usually have a few of those laying around. At work, they're very slow sellers, but they do move eventually.
On the GPIB front, we just had a new IEEE-488 to RS-232 converter come in at work, boxed with manual and everything. I'm in two minds as to whether to let them sell it, or buy it myself in case I ever need to run a serial device off a PET. Of course, I don't have a PET right now and haven't for decades, but you never know...
Gitmoray
New Member
The 316 was a mini computer very much like the early PDP8 put out by a company called CCC that allowed itself to be acquired by Honeywell in the last 60's or early 70's. A lot of these machines were sold for general purpose work, but when Honeywell acquired the company, the 316, 516 and 716 were made into front end comm processors for the H200 H2000 line of systems. They also found their way into the 6000 (Gcos) systems, again as comm front end processors.