QBUS A/D, D/A, GPIO, GPIB boards

[Lou - N2MIY]

The purpose of this thread is to shine some light on a few QBUS boards that were frequently used in laboratory applications and possibly in industrial controls. The ones mentioned below are ones I accumulated over the years. Documentation is available for some, but for others, I have had no luck yet. Perhaps this thread can bring some lost documentation out of the shadows.

First, I have a few A/D, D/A, and GPIO cards.

This is the DEC AAV11-C A6006 4-channel 12 bit DAC. http://www.vcfed.org/forum/album.php?albumid=407&attachmentid=45110 It was obviously made by Data Translation, because here I have next to it a DT2766. They are identical. Fortunately, the AAV11-C documentation is readily available.

Next are Data Translation DT2784 and DT2772 12 bit ADC and DAC respectively. http://www.vcfed.org/forum/album.php?albumid=407&attachmentid=45114 The DAC is set up very nicely to drive an XY display. The only programming and configuration information I have for these is from the 1985 Data Translation catalog. It's pretty good for a catalog since it identifies jumpers and the CSR and its bits. Data Translation made a package for RT-11 called DTLIB/RT. I have the manuals for this, but not the libraries. I would love to have them if anyone has them somewhere.

For clocking the ADCs it is useful to have a programmable RTC. These are DT2769s. http://www.vcfed.org/forum/album.php?albumid=407&attachmentid=45113 One is older, the other newer. The manual is on bitsavers!

Lastly for D/A A/D, I have an ADAC1030, but no literature! It has an 8-channel 12 bit ADC and 2 channel DAC. I have been looking for the manual for a long time.

These are GPIO. http://www.vcfed.org/forum/album.php?albumid=407&attachmentid=45111 http://www.vcfed.org/forum/album.php?albumid=407&attachmentid=45112 The one on the left is an ADAC 1632HCO 32 latched output card, while the one on the right is an ADAC 1632TTL 32-bit GPIO. It is supposed to be DRV11 register compatible, so we have a chance here. However, no ADAC literature seems on the internet or in my collection!

Perhaps I should have created a new thread for these, but they are useful in the lab also, GPIB (HP-IB, IEEE-488 ) interfaces. The most available were the ones from National Instruments. http://www.vcfed.org/forum/album.php?albumid=407&attachmentid=45115 On the left is a GPIB11-V1 (68488 ) and on the right V2. Manuals are available for both, but the RT-11 basic and fortran libraries for the V2 are the only ones I have. I have V2 because way back in graduate school (when these were in more common use), NI sent me the package on an RX50 (which I still have, copied of course). I have a version of RT-11 Basic V2.0 patched with the libraries. I did it myself with the instructions (but it was a long time ago!) Some of the V2 library files are common with the V1, but critical files are missing.

The IBV11 M7954 is also not too rare. http://www.vcfed.org/forum/album.php?albumid=407&attachmentid=45116 I have the IBS V2.0 on RX01 for RT-11 fortran and basic. This card uses a lot of processor overhead because it does not use a TMS9914 or other such interface chip. Manual and FMPS are on bitsavers.

The IEQ11 M8634 is a monster. http://www.vcfed.org/forum/album.php?albumid=407&attachmentid=45117 It has dual GPIB buses, each with its own 9914. This came out of a lab also, but the RD53 that had RSX on it was toast. The FMPS is on bitsavers, the manual may be somewhere but I didn't find it. What I really want is IEX-RT which supposedly was the RT-11 package for this board. It seems to be lost. This beautiful board is useless to me without that IEX-RT.

So, if anyone else had favorite DAQ/GPIO/GPIB qbus cards, or any lead on documents, this is a good thread to post in.

Lou

 

[wa2flq]

I found a copy of the DT1760 User Manual and a DATAX Engineering Specification circa 1978. The former covers the DT1761 DT1764 DT1762 and DT1765. I know there was a later version of the manual because I marked this one as "obsolete". Sorry to say I don't have the cards. These boards had ADC plus optional DAC and/or DMA on one board.

I don't see this manual around anywhere but there is an Engineering Specification that covers the DT1761-64 is similiar and is posted in usermanual.wiki.

 

[Matlock]

The purpose of this thread is to shine some light on a few QBUS boards that were frequently used in laboratory applications and possibly in industrial controls. The ones mentioned below are ones I accumulated over the years. Documentation is available for some, but for others, I have had no luck yet. Perhaps this thread can bring some lost documentation out of the shadows.

First, I have a few A/D, D/A, and GPIO cards.

This is the DEC AAV11-C A6006 4-channel 12 bit DAC. http://www.vcfed.org/forum/album.php?albumid=407&attachmentid=45110 It was obviously made by Data Translation, because here I have next to it a DT2766. They are identical. Fortunately, the AAV11-C documentation is readily available.

Lastly for D/A A/D, I have an ADAC1030, but no literature! It has an 8-channel 12 bit ADC and 2 channel DAC. I have been looking for the manual for a long time.

These are GPIO. http://www.vcfed.org/forum/album.php?albumid=407&attachmentid=45111 http://www.vcfed.org/forum/album.php?albumid=407&attachmentid=45112 The one on the left is an ADAC 1632HCO 32 latched output card, while the one on the right is an ADAC 1632TTL 32-bit GPIO. It is supposed to be DRV11 register compatible, so we have a chance here. However, no ADAC literature seems on the internet or in my collection!

So, if anyone else had favorite DAQ/GPIO/GPIB qbus cards, or any lead on documents, this is a good thread to post in.

Lou

Lou,
I am also a fan of Qbus laboratory data acquisition systems. I started with MINC but lately have been exploring various cards both DEC and non-DEC. Lately, I am working with the K-Series routines that are distributed in [45,10] on almost all RSX distributions for RSX11M+ V4.6. I'd really like to find A/D drivers for RSX as the K-series routines use the $CINT directive that is not ideal. On the DEC boards I found a ADV11-A (18 bit) and was able to modify it to work on 22 bit like a ADV11-C by simply cutting a PCB trace.

You mentioned the ADAC cards and I have two of them and have also struggled with the lack of documentation. Fortunately, Malcolm Macleod found two manuals for me in Australia. They are both for the ADAC 1030 board which had a number of variants. One manual looks to be a photocopy of the other with a number of additional handwritten notes. Tomorrow night I'll try to scan them to get them to you.

Best Regards,
Mark

 

[m_thompson]

I have a PDP-8/e that ran a mass spectrometer. It came with special A/D, D/A boards, and GPIO boards.
I will have to dig them out and see what chips are on them.

 

[PDP11GY]

I also was responsible for the MINC systems during my DEC time, and I'm still looking for
up and running system. I have also developed and supported the MIOS (Modular Input Output System)
from CSS (Computer Special Systems Munich). There are still a few modules left and as soon
as I get to that, I will gladly send pictures if you want, Reinhard

 

[Al Kossow]

The purpose of this thread is to shine some light on a few QBUS boards that were frequently used in laboratory applications and possibly in industrial controls.

Documentation on boards from ADAC would be nice to find. I have a little stack of them and have never been able to turn anything up on them.

 

[Matlock]

Documentation on boards from ADAC would be nice to find. I have a little stack of them and have never been able to turn anything up on them.

Al,
I also have a couple of the ADAC cards and was recently given a manual for the ADAC 1030 card. I've scanned the manual and two (11" x 17") schematics. Last week you put online an Introduction to RSX book that I uploaded to you, I could upload this manual to the same ftp site if you would like?

Thanks,
Mark Matlock

 

[Al Kossow]

Al,
I also have a couple of the ADAC cards and was recently given a manual for the ADAC 1030 card. I've scanned the manual and two (11" x 17") schematics. Last week you put online an Introduction to RSX book that I uploaded to you, I could upload this manual to the same ftp site if you would like?

Thanks,
Mark Matlock

that would be great

 

[Matlock]

I also was responsible for the MINC systems during my DEC time, and I'm still looking for
up and running system. I have also developed and supported the MIOS (Modular Input Output System)
from CSS (Computer Special Systems Munich). There are still a few modules left and as soon
as I get to that, I will gladly send pictures if you want, Reinhard

Reinhart,
You mention that you were responsible for MINC systems at DEC. I have a MINC-23 that is running using an Emulex UC07 SCSI card and a SCSI2SD disk. One thing that I have been looking to find information on is any RSX11M software that ran on MINC systems. I have a MINC brochure from 1981 that mentions MINC/DECLAB23 that can run FEP/RSX-11M and DECnet-RSX. I was wondering if you had ever run across the FEP/RSX-11M software?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[PDP11GY]

Mark, I only know the MINC Basic and the MINC Fortran Scientific package.
Both products were supported under RT-11. I can't remember on a implementation
of MINC/DECLAB23 in Germany. The MIOS system, on the other hand, was running
under RSX-11M, but it was a completely different architecture.
Regards, Reinhard

 

[Matlock]

Mark, I only know the MINC Basic and the MINC Fortran Scientific package.
Both products were supported under RT-11. I can't remember on a implementation
of MINC/DECLAB23 in Germany. The MIOS system, on the other hand, was running
under RSX-11M, but it was a completely different architecture.
Regards, Reinhard

Reinhard,
I'm not familiar with the MIOS system. I see that there are a couple unibus boards (M7150 & M7151) that mention a MIOS bus.
It sounds interesting....

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Schroeder]

Hi!

Interesting topic and I just have a Balzer QDP-101 which is basically a 11/02, some RAM/ROM and rest is ADC. Afaik it is very Balzer specific and I could not find any documentation. Even the console is specific. It comes with a HEX Keyboard and some status LEDs.
Maybe one here know more about it? Would it contribute to the topic if I take some pictures from the cards?

Cheers,
Peter