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Honeywell Bull DPS 6 Plus

V

VintageSignal

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Nov 19, 2024
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Hello all;

I have recently acquired a Bull DPS 6 Plus. I've included some pictures.

I have found a very limited amount of information on the DPS 6 systems that precluded the PLUS but can't seem to find any technical information on the system.

I've included the shots of the backplane to show the difference from the edge connector boards as seen on older model DPS6 systems.

I am not in a boot position yet. The system does power. I seem to have an issue with a CPU board. All lights turn off after a period of time except the 1 on the secondary CPU card.

Let's see if we can resurrect this guy.

ChriS
 

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Welcome to VCFED.

We still use Honeywell DPS 6 machines at work - but (slightly) older equipment than the DPS 6 PLUS...

The problem with Honeywell DPS 6 equipment is that Honeywell did not release the schematics etc. - neither to their customers or technical support teams. As a result, technical information is pretty scarce.

There is obviously some information over at Bitsavers. Most of what we have duplicates what is on Bitsavers.

I contacted Honeywell/BULL many years ago to see if they had any technical documentation that they could release to us (based on the fact that these machines had no real value anymore to the company). However, I was just too late. They had downsized their office space and all of the technical information (schematics, microcode listings etc.) had gone in the skip 😥!

Dave
 
Does the DPS6 plus run QLT's like the DPS6 96's ?

When ours are powered up, they run diagnostics then sit and wait for the execute to be pressed before they continue (actually, you have to press, step, clear, load, execute, then they run to boot then need execute pressing again). Might be worth connecting a terminal up to see what's happening
 
daver2 said:
I contacted Honeywell/BULL many years ago to see if they had any technical documentation that they could release to us (based on the fact that these machines had no real value anymore to the company). However, I was just too late. They had downsized their office space and all of the technical information (schematics, microcode listings etc.) had gone in the skip 😥!
Click to expand...

The preservation situation wrt 1980s and forward documentation and software has been bad for the past 20 years, and will only get worse as the third-party operations continue to shut down or the people retire. Some SEL and Modcomp information was saved in the past decade but nothing much is left from many, many other companies.
 
Agreed.

At least DEC provided the schematics and microcode listings to customers and their own technical support staff. I suspect that is one reason why so much of it exists today. Honeywell were always somewhat 'secretive'.

I have created a SIMH emulation for a 'cut down' Honeywell DPS 6. Interestingly, following the Honeywell documentation (for the LEV instruction) that I have, doesn't result in an emulation that works with GCOS 6 MOD 400.

Fortunately, Honeywell were very good at authoring patents. If you follow the LEV instruction description within the patent, it works :)!

We were considering reverse engineering the schematics for some of the DPS 6/96 cards (CPU, CIP, SIP etc.) should spares become an issue. This would permit a better repair performance. However, we have acquired plenty of spares, and keep a watching eye on them to ensure they continue to work whilst on the shelf... It looks like this option is not going to be required. Pity - it would have been an interesting project...

Dave
 
Gary C said:
Does the DPS6 plus run QLT's like the DPS6 96's ?

When ours are powered up, they run diagnostics then sit and wait for the execute to be pressed before they continue (actually, you have to press, step, clear, load, execute, then they run to boot then need execute pressing again). Might be worth connecting a terminal up to see what's happening
Click to expand...
I have no experience with any of the Bull systems. There are 12 serial ports, and it came with a (dead) VT420 terminal. I hooked up a VT100 terminal to each port one at a time and see what may be live and no life while smashing keys while connected on each port.

I am only using the one chassis right now. I have a second chassis with a serial card and what I think is a bus termination board. I moved the bus termination board to the first chassis. Connected where the bus extender cables were plugged in on the first chassis. Perhaps it is failing due to the lack of the third card which would be in the disconnected second chassis.

Things about this machine:

1. Serial cards have a reset switch. Slot 9 seems to reset the card. Slot 10 seems to reset the system.

2. Card LED Sequence at powerup is:

Power Up: All LEDS on ALL Cards LIT.
~4s: I/O Card Slots 11/12 LED OFF.
~11s Serial card Slots 09/10 OFF.
~18s Serial Card Slot 10 ON.
~23s CPU1 slot 5 top LED OFF Bottom LED ON.
~24s CPU1 BOTTOM LED OFF & I/O Card at slot 11/12 ON
~64s I/O & Serial Card Slots 10/11/12 OFF Slot 6B ON forever.

3. This unit was built in Italy.

4. Copyright AT&T 1984 stamped on HDD.
5. Likely used with PBX.
Found this:

6. System likely complete from backplate cover count. Likely a model 221

7. Last card not on the bus, the bus termination card moved to last slot in the chain inside the first chassis.

8. No panel or other input besides serial it would appear.'

9. Peripherals include 5.25 floppy, streaming tape drive, WREN ESDI HDD.

10. No network besides serial.

11. Likely runs HVS 2.1 and equivalent to a DPS 6 22/40


ChriS
 
My experience is only with level 2 DP6/96 and the console terminal runs through a separate card (the SCF card) on the megabus that puts a 25th line onto the terminal that is used to boot the machine with a key sequence.

As it runs the initial quality logic checks, it lights the tell tail leds on the cards and when it fails, the leds plus the 25th line help point at the faulty card. Sounds as if yours is doing something similar.

Can you stick a scope on the serial ports to see if there is any output on any TX line ?
 
Gary C said:
My experience is only with level 2 DP6/96 and the console terminal runs through a separate card (the SCF card) on the megabus that puts a 25th line onto the terminal that is used to boot the machine with a key sequence.

As it runs the initial quality logic checks, it lights the tell tail leds on the cards and when it fails, the leds plus the 25th line help point at the faulty card. Sounds as if yours is doing something similar.

Can you stick a scope on the serial ports to see if there is any output on any TX line ?
Click to expand...
I have ordered my first scope: 3 in 1 Handheld Oscilloscope, Automotive Dual Channel 50MHz with Digital Multimeter and Signal Generator.

It arrives Sunday. In the meantime, I may attempt to connect and power the second chassis and see if we get a different outcome.

I may have damaged the ribbon connector and so I am hesitant to do so.

I've included some photos of the first chassis so you can see what my I/O interfaces look like. Not sure about a dedicated console on this system. I have the HDD disconnected while I try to get to a boot stage.


20241126_082738 (Medium).jpg20241126_082826 (Medium).jpg
 
Hello all,

I got my scope today. I powered the beast up and ran the scope across each pin 2. Nothing of note on any pin checked,

ChriS
 
it maybe because its a full implementation of RS232C and thus its waiting for the control lines. Check DSR/DTR RTS/CTS and see if they change at all after the led sequence.
 
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