Any suggestion on this IBM 5295G?

[ohmylove2u]

I got this IBM 5295G by $70.
The only documentation I could find was on this Japanese site.
It’a on line terminal.
It seems to be missing a graphics card.
Any suggestions on how to make it work?

 

[IBMMuseum]

I got this IBM 5295G by $70.
The only documentation I could find was on this Japanese site.
It’a on line terminal.
It seems to be missing a graphics card.
Any suggestions on how to make it work?
View attachment 1273204View attachment 1273205View attachment 1273206View attachment 1273207View attachment 1273208View attachment 1273209View attachment 1273210View attachment 1273213View attachment 1273214View attachment 1273212

Wow - That is cool! The "Multistation" reference might be closer than '3270', although the 52xx model numbering and twinax connection(s, and the ability to set an address) suggest it is a terminal for an IBM mid-range host. As one of many that are running an AS/400 and having other host systems that it may work with, where are you located?

 

[ohmylove2u]

Wow - That is cool! The "Multistation" reference might be closer than '3270', although the 52xx model numbering and twinax connection(s, and the ability to set an address) suggest it is a terminal for an IBM mid-range host. As one of many that are running an AS/400 and having other host systems that it may work with, where are you located?

China is where I'm located.
After studying the relevant [docs], I can sure that the 8pin din is a connector for monitor.
I found a [converter] on ebay.


I made a converter as it did.


Sadly, though, that didn't work out. The machine had a blue screen while it was off and blue stripes when it was on. And it didn't make a "beep" sound like when a normal computer starts.

Here are the voltages and Waveforms I measured.(The data may not be very accurate due to the Interference and low-end equipment.)


Any suggestions?

 

[g4ugm]

Well that won't work as the display you are using is CGA and the Japanese Display Adaptor was designed to overcome the limitations of CGA so its sync rate must be higher. If you have EGA might be worth a try as that connector should fit, but I think you will need multi-sync, so I would try with a VGA or SVGA monitor, it might just sync. You can probably build an adaptor from this table. I would put something like 300ohm resistors in series because CGA is 5v TTL but VGA is 1 volt.

CGA   JIS  VGA   Signal
 3     2    1    red
 4     3    2    green
 5     4    3    blue
 6     5    na   intensity
 1,2   6    5,10 gnd
 8     7    13   h-sync
 9     8    14   v-sync

there is a small amount of info here :-

Multistation? or ...?

www.ardent-tool.com

 

[doshea]

there is a small amount of info here :-

Multistation? or ...?

www.ardent-tool.com

That looks like a copy of what was linked in the original post (or the other one was copied from this), although I didn't compare them word-for-word. Of course this is a link to everyone's favourite IBM site

@ohmylove2u, do you have a floppy for it? That linked page says the 5295-002 starts from a disk, and I see your machine looks like it has a floppy drive.

Also, do you have a keyboard for it? https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/5250_...its_Product_Attachment_Information_198910.pdf mentions that there are Katakana keyboard(s) for 5250-compatible terminals (which it sounds like this may be). I don't know if all 5250-compatible terminals for the Japanese market had Katakana keyboards though.

If it is indeed a 5250-compatible terminal (or at least it's partly one), and you can get it to boot up as one with the necessary software, you could potentially build one of these converters (or ask inmbolmie to build one for you) and try to use it as a VT52-compatible (fairly dumb) terminal. It might require some work to create a key map for a Katakana keyboard unless it's just a superset of one of the non-Katakana keyboards.

I wonder what the "G" means? Some 5250-compatible terminals support graphics apparently, but mine doesn't so I haven't paid much attention to that feature

 

[ohmylove2u]

Well that won't work as the display you are using is CGA and the Japanese Display Adaptor was designed to overcome the limitations of CGA so its sync rate must be higher. If you have EGA might be worth a try as that connector should fit, but I think you will need multi-sync, so I would try with a VGA or SVGA monitor, it might just sync. You can probably build an adaptor from this table. I would put something like 300ohm resistors in series because CGA is 5v TTL but VGA is 1 volt.

CGA   JIS  VGA   Signal
 3     2    1    red
 4     3    2    green
 5     4    3    blue
 6     5    na   intensity
 1,2   6    5,10 gnd
 8     7    13   h-sync
 9     8    14   v-sync

there is a small amount of info here :-

Multistation? or ...?

www.ardent-tool.com

I just disassembled it again!
I think only three signal lines are useful.
If they correspond to RGB signals, then there is no h-sync & v-sync signal line.
My opinion is that it could be a monochrome graphics card.

 

[ohmylove2u]

That looks like a copy of what was linked in the original post (or the other one was copied from this), although I didn't compare them word-for-word. Of course this is a link to everyone's favourite IBM site

@ohmylove2u, do you have a floppy for it? That linked page says the 5295-002 starts from a disk, and I see your machine looks like it has a floppy drive.

Also, do you have a keyboard for it? https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/5250_...its_Product_Attachment_Information_198910.pdf mentions that there are Katakana keyboard(s) for 5250-compatible terminals (which it sounds like this may be). I don't know if all 5250-compatible terminals for the Japanese market had Katakana keyboards though.

If it is indeed a 5250-compatible terminal (or at least it's partly one), and you can get it to boot up as one with the necessary software, you could potentially build one of these converters (or ask inmbolmie to build one for you) and try to use it as a VT52-compatible (fairly dumb) terminal. It might require some work to create a key map for a Katakana keyboard unless it's just a superset of one of the non-Katakana keyboards.

I wonder what the "G" means? Some 5250-compatible terminals support graphics apparently, but mine doesn't so I haven't paid much attention to that feature

Yes. It has a floppy drive.
At the moment I have neither a keyboard nor software. The first thing I want to do is make it display something.

 

[g4ugm]

I just disassembled it again!
I think only three signal lines are useful.
If they correspond to RGB signals, then there is no h-sync & v-sync signal line.
My opinion is that it could be a monochrome graphics card.

Sounds sensible, Terminals are often monochrome so H-Sync, V-Sync and mono. I would still try VGA screen

 

[IBMMuseum]

I wonder what the "G" means? Some 5250-compatible terminals support graphics apparently, but mine doesn't so I haven't paid much attention to that feature

The trailing 'G' on IBM terminals is for enhanced graphics capabilities...

 

[yyzkevin]

Out of curiosity I picked up one of the similar terminals that have been listed on yahoo recently. As expected, the floppy drive was empty.

 

[g4ugm]

The trailing 'G' on IBM terminals is for enhanced graphics capabilities...

But all of these terminal have enhanced graphics to display the Japanese symbols.

 

[ohmylove2u]

Despite my attempts at various combinations, but I failed again!
Looks like I had to buy an old IBM monitor.

（input signal out of rang）

 

[g4ugm]

Despite my attempts at various combinations, but I failed again!
Looks like I had to buy an old IBM monitor.

You will probably find getting the correct monitor hard, I have never seen one.
You might try looking for an EXTRON DSC301 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196025221710 or
or less versatile but still may work -300 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/296228181127.
what we really need to know are the frequencies. What frequencies does you little device show ?

 

[ohmylove2u]

You will probably find getting the correct monitor hard, I have never seen one.
You might try looking for an EXTRON DSC301 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196025221710 or
or less versatile but still may work -300 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/296228181127.
what we really need to know are the frequencies. What frequencies does you little device show ?

The frequencies and waveforms are as follows:
PIN 6: GND

PIN 7 :

PIN 4:

PIN 5:


I think it should show something. Any suggestion?

 

[bear]

I'm not an expert at this but my guess is that 4 is an hsync signal, and 5 is monochrome video. Unsure of 7. Maybe 7 is video and 5 is intensity. Maybe 5 is video and 7 is vsync. But the levels/frequencies are not entirely as I would expect to see. Looks like at minimum you'll need an older multisync that will handle hsync < 31 kHz.

One site claims the older 5295 models use the same color and/or monochrome display as the 5550 (the 5555 display)? 720x512? Which is about right for ~30 kHz horizontal? Perhaps some more complete information could be found about those displays, and give you a better place to start guessing.