Here's a winter project, can anyone think of a reason why you CAN'T wire up an adapter that would allow you to connect the pods to an IBM compatible computer and run them directly using a Z80 emulator? Seems to me that one's speed might go up a bit, plus no need to fix the tape drive...the old AT bus to the rescue? Or the newer bus...? Anyone game to look into this further? I can see a few items that need a bit of massaging, there is the PROBE circuitry after all, and the signature part of the probe, but the rest of the base is a fairly straight forward Z80A computer...and the 80XXX's are descendants... John :-#)# To UNSUBSCRIBE from techtoolslist, send a message with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the message body to: techtoolslist-request@flippers.com. Please direct other questions, comments, or problems to jrr@flippers.com.
it's something I had considered, but without the z80 emulator bit. In theory, if the data exchange twixt fluke and pod is know, the entire main end can be replaced with a program at the PC end, and a printer port or USB interface. The data exchanges are strange, but should be possible to decode (error trapping is the pain!), but it is something I have as a low priority project. as for the probe - thats phase 2 (or 3), getting the normal operations going with extra options to easily read roms / and CRC algorithm you fancy, test an entire PCB and report all problems in single pass .... place your requests here! The project has been on hold waiting to borrow an otherwise useless pod to test the interfacing, I don;t want to put my z80 or 68000 pods at risk! (so something that works as a pod, but has no likely uses for repairing things nowadays, the test culprit was going to be a cda1820 (or something similar)) ----- Original Message -----
Here's a winter project, can anyone think of a reason why you CAN'T wire up an adapter that would allow you to connect the pods to an IBM compatible computer and run them directly using a Z80 emulator? Seems to me that one's speed might go up a bit, plus no need to fix the tape drive...the old AT bus to the rescue? Or the newer bus...?
Anyone game to look into this further? I can see a few items that need a bit of massaging, there is the PROBE circuitry after all, and the signature part of the probe, but the rest of the base is a fairly straight forward Z80A computer...and the 80XXX's are descendants...
To UNSUBSCRIBE from techtoolslist, send a message with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the message body to: techtoolslist-request@flippers.com. Please direct other questions, comments, or problems to jrr@flippers.com.
I have spare pods, 6800, 8080 and a few others that I was going to eBay someday. Any of them of use in your project? (no 6809's Kev) Perhaps if you get in touch with Fredric he might be able to help with the background on the coding for the PODs... frice@skeptictank.org the writer of the f9010 code...he is a member of this list I think John :-#)# At 10:06 PM 11/02/2002 +0000, Mike Coates wrote:
it's something I had considered, but without the z80 emulator bit.
In theory, if the data exchange twixt fluke and pod is know, the entire main end can be replaced with a program at the PC end, and a printer port or USB interface. The data exchanges are strange, but should be possible to decode (error trapping is the pain!), but it is something I have as a low priority project.
as for the probe - thats phase 2 (or 3), getting the normal operations going with extra options to easily read roms / and CRC algorithm you fancy, test an entire PCB and report all problems in single pass .... place your requests here!
The project has been on hold waiting to borrow an otherwise useless pod to test the interfacing, I don;t want to put my z80 or 68000 pods at risk! (so something that works as a pod, but has no likely uses for repairing things nowadays, the test culprit was going to be a cda1820 (or something similar))
----- Original Message -----
Here's a winter project, can anyone think of a reason why you CAN'T wire up an adapter that would allow you to connect the pods to an IBM compatible computer and run them directly using a Z80 emulator? Seems to me that one's speed might go up a bit, plus no need to fix the tape drive...the old AT bus to the rescue? Or the newer bus...?
Anyone game to look into this further? I can see a few items that need a bit of massaging, there is the PROBE circuitry after all, and the signature part of the probe, but the rest of the base is a fairly straight forward Z80A computer...and the 80XXX's are descendants...
To UNSUBSCRIBE from techtoolslist, send a message with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the message body to: techtoolslist-request@flippers.com. Please direct other questions, comments, or problems to jrr@flippers.com.
In reading up on the pod interfacing with the base unit, it appears that the only communication that happens between the two is the base asks the pod for a read or it posts a write to the pod. Nothing else...If that is the case, then an IBM compatible interface might be rather easy...at least the hardware side... John :-#)# At 10:06 PM 11/02/2002 +0000, Mike Coates wrote:
it's something I had considered, but without the z80 emulator bit.
In theory, if the data exchange twixt fluke and pod is know, the entire main end can be replaced with a program at the PC end, and a printer port or USB interface. The data exchanges are strange, but should be possible to decode (error trapping is the pain!), but it is something I have as a low priority project.
as for the probe - thats phase 2 (or 3), getting the normal operations going with extra options to easily read roms / and CRC algorithm you fancy, test an entire PCB and report all problems in single pass .... place your requests here!
The project has been on hold waiting to borrow an otherwise useless pod to test the interfacing, I don;t want to put my z80 or 68000 pods at risk! (so something that works as a pod, but has no likely uses for repairing things nowadays, the test culprit was going to be a cda1820 (or something similar))
----- Original Message -----
Here's a winter project, can anyone think of a reason why you CAN'T wire up an adapter that would allow you to connect the pods to an IBM compatible computer and run them directly using a Z80 emulator? Seems to me that one's speed might go up a bit, plus no need to fix the tape drive...the old AT bus to the rescue? Or the newer bus...?
Anyone game to look into this further? I can see a few items that need a bit of massaging, there is the PROBE circuitry after all, and the signature part of the probe, but the rest of the base is a fairly straight forward Z80A computer...and the 80XXX's are descendants...
To UNSUBSCRIBE from techtoolslist, send a message with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the message body to: techtoolslist-request@flippers.com. Please direct other questions, comments, or problems to jrr@flippers.com.
Does anyone have any documentation on the Z8002? Or better yet know how to adapt the Fluke to work with the Z8002? (Pole Position...) Thanks, Kev
There was a Z8000 pod, I don't have anything on it, but if you are adventurous you could try building an interface using the guide in the Fluke Troubleshooter issues that I have put up on the archive. Let's see, VOL 3, #1 covers making an adapter for the 8X300 (Signetics) CPU, and the large1983 volume covers other possible CPU's like the 2650...These Troubleshooters are well worth printing off to gain a more thorough understanding of how to use your 9010 more effectively. Still looking for info on the Z80-QT (Quick Test) pod... John -#)# At 12:20 PM 25/02/2002 -0500, Kev wrote:
Does anyone have any documentation on the Z8002?
Or better yet know how to adapt the Fluke to work with the Z8002?
(Pole Position...)
Thanks, Kev
Looking over the requirements and commands for the pod, I think it is "possible" to use the parallel port to handle data transfer and handshaking. There are only a few interface lines "MainStat" (MS), "PodStat" (PS), "Reset" (R), "Sync" (S), and "Power Fail" (PF). And 8 data lines... Now most of these lines are run through a 6520 (similar if not identical to a 6821 PIA), thus the data lines and control lines MS, PS, PF and R all come out of the PIA. Thus NONE of these are very fast at all! I strongly suspect the ECC Parallel port can handle them, now there remains, Sync, and I don't know how fast it runs, but it is for timing the Probe and Probe Signature generator and is not used anywhere else. Perhaps we can ignore it for now....it appears to run at 1/2 the pod Z80 write speed, but I'll have to check that further. So, we need some bright person to handle the software, the hardware looks like, well just a jumper cable with some power (+5, +12 and -5) and the -5 could be created with a simple 555 driving a small negative bridge recitifer. Looks like minimal current, in fact as far as I can see (at least for the Z80 pod) the -5 is only to bias the voltage sense circuit. Comments? Is ANYONE interested in this? I'mm not getting a lot of feedback on these ideas I'm chucking out into the void... John :-#)#
participants (3)
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John Robertson -
Kev -
Mike Coates