KK8-E and KE8-E compatibility list

[BitWiz]

I have acquired a fair number of CPU boards, some in sets, some separately and I'm trying to come up with a set that works.

Is there a compatibility list of what revisions of boards (and modifications) are compatible.

For instance will a M8300A/Rev B work with a M8330E/Rev C.

The letter after the board number is the revision of the PCB and the revision letter is what is stamped on the purple handle.

Once I get a working CPU I would like to do the same thing with my EAE. And I know that CPU revisions and EAE revisions have many compatibility issues.

In an ideal world this would list M8300, M8310, M8320 and M8330 as well as the M8340 and M8341.

 

[daver2]

I have seen one somewhere - the trouble is remembering where now!

Dave

 

[vrs42]

Is there a compatibility list of what revisions of boards (and modifications) are compatible.

One way to identify a compatible set is to examine a print set. The prints will presumably describe a set of boards meant to work together.

For an exhaustive list, I believe what would be required is to go through the ECO logs for each board and look for compatibility notes there. I know they are on bitsavers and archive.org, Here is a link to one of my copies:

https://svn.so-much-stuff.com/svn/trunk/Eagle/projects/DEC/Mxxx/M8341/PDP-8E_ECO_LOG_Dec74_text.pdf

I'm only aware of one EAE compatibility note, whcih was caused when a top-connector line that was formerly a ground was used as an additional timing handshake with the CPU.

I haven't tried to track issues with older CPU boards -- the ones without the extra zero come tom mind as getting almost zero attention.

Vince

 

[m_thompson]

There is a document here: https://manx-docs.org/collections/antonio/dec/MDS-2000-01/cd3/REVCON/OUTPUT1.PDF
That shows the minimum usable and current revision levels of DEC boards, and the corresponding ECO numbers.
I also have a 1998 version of the document.

 

[BitWiz]

I have seen one somewhere - the trouble is remembering where now!

Dave

That is the as we get older. Remembering stuff we haven't touched in a few years.

 

[BitWiz]

One way to identify a compatible set is to examine a print set. The prints will presumably describe a set of boards meant to work together.

For an exhaustive list, I believe what would be required is to go through the ECO logs for each board and look for compatibility notes there. I know they are on bitsavers and archive.org, Here is a link to one of my copies:

https://svn.so-much-stuff.com/svn/trunk/Eagle/projects/DEC/Mxxx/M8341/PDP-8E_ECO_LOG_Dec74_text.pdf

I'm only aware of one EAE compatibility note, whcih was caused when a top-connector line that was formerly a ground was used as an additional timing handshake with the CPU.

I haven't tried to track issues with older CPU boards -- the ones without the extra zero come tom mind as getting almost zero attention.

Vince

Without the extra zero? I don't understand.

For the KK8-E there are many revisions and board etches and I'm sure a fair number for the KE8-E as well and I know for a fact that not all of them play well together. Some kind of basic etch/revision compatibility list would be nice if DEC had maintained something like that.

BTW: My CPU passed all of the KK8-E MAINDECs. Now on to deeper tests.

Thanks for the help.

 

[antiquekid3]

Such as an M865 vs. M8650. They fundamentally both do the same thing (asynchronous serial interface), but the M865 is very limited compared to the M8650. The M8655 was a downgrade from the M8650 in my opinion due to its slow UART IC, but at least it used DIP switches rather than soldered jumpers. I'm sure there are also M833s and such as well, but haven't encountered one in real life far as I can remember. I've at least seen a couple M865s.

 

[BitWiz]

There is a document here: https://manx-docs.org/collections/antonio/dec/MDS-2000-01/cd3/REVCON/OUTPUT1.PDF
That shows the minimum usable and current revision levels of DEC boards, and the corresponding ECO numbers.
I also have a 1998 version of the document.

Thank you. Now I need the time and energy to correlate all of the changes and notes and try to figure out what does and doesn't work.

 

[vrs42]

Without the extra zero? I don't understand.

As Kyle said. There are/were older-yet versions of the CPU set, without the zero on the board number.

 

[BitWiz]

Such as an M865 vs. M8650. They fundamentally both do the same thing (asynchronous serial interface), but the M865 is very limited compared to the M8650. The M8655 was a downgrade from the M8650 in my opinion due to its slow UART IC, but at least it used DIP switches rather than soldered jumpers. I'm sure there are also M833s and such as well, but haven't encountered one in real life far as I can remember. I've at least seen a couple M865s.

Oh, I wondered if that is what you meant.

I also have an M8330YB which I know is not compatible with all M8300 & M8310 boards (or my M8330YB is not working, that could be also).

 

[gnupublic]

Hallo, some years ago I had to repair my EAE cards and I wrote something about it here (german language only)

I got the circuit print for the old type of EAE from Remo Vogelsang, who send this scan: Old_type_EAE If you compare with the one you find at bitsavers, you find different layout of the head connector and the version numbers of CPU cards in it.

At this time I had three 8/e CPUs running with the following version numbers:

M8330 ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍B/209A ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍-/750P ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍C/353D
‍M8340 ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍D/142D ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍E/341F ‍ ‍ ‍E/427F ‍ ‍ ‍EAE
‍M8341 ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍B/140B ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍D/E ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍D/422E ‍ ‍ ‍EAE
‍M8310 ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍F/337F ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍B/148C ‍ ‍ ‍F/350F
‍M8300 ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍B/244C ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍B/23B ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍B/351D
‍M837 ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍B ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ D/320D ‍ ‍ ‍D/348E

The first one was old layout type of EAE.

Meanwhile I have some more CPUs, maybe we should make a list of working combinations. Normally I got the pdp8 with CPU inside, so I expect the combination to be working. But with the EAE cards, they came puzzled. But I was able to combine 1 old layout und 2 new layout EAEs.