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Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2022 21:12:38 +0200
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To: SBC-85 <craig@sbc-85.com>
References: <f8061a14-48ae-e3a2-7152-3c7c036f6e8a@slabihoud.de>
 <56F493B1-1BC8-4B31-813E-AD9CF0B82A59@sbc-85.com>
From: Stephan Slabihoud <stephan@slabihoud.de>
Subject: Re: Information about the Retro Chip Tester
In-Reply-To: <56F493B1-1BC8-4B31-813E-AD9CF0B82A59@sbc-85.com>
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Hi,

> I think I will do a video on the tester after all. As I have mentioned, the capabilities of the tester are fantastic I have some questions and would like your thoughts on a couple of things- > I couldn’t find them, are schematics available?  What are your 
thoughts on releasing them?

the schematics are not available. There is some technical information in 
the manual but I have currently no plans to publish the schematics. The 
RCT in not open source not open hardware.

> Finding the chip in the menu is inherently difficult, a small screen and switches just isn’t the most efficient way of finding something.

Please check the pdf that are available. These show in which menu the 
chips can be found. Also the html database shows in which menu the chip 
can be found (e.g. for a 7402 "74xx chip #3").

The memory chip are sorted by size so they can be found quite simple.

> What do you think of also allowing chip selection via a simple unique chip ID rather than chip mfg number.  e.g., xxx-yyy and pretty much sequential with no relationship to chip number.  It would allow a quick and thorough part number search of the master PDF on the computer, and then would speed up selecting component with just ID number.

This requires lots of redundant memory. I experimented a very long time 
with the selection scheme and the current one is quite good. When you 
know that you have a 1k x 8 sram IC it can be found without checking the 
manual.

> A means of communicating with the tester from the computer would have been useful. I am wondering why you decided not to include an interface.  Even a serial port and terminal would be advantageous.  If the hardware isn’t there, it may need to be a daughter boards at this point, or use the memory card slot.

This is not possible because you need additional data lines for a USB 
connector that are not available. Also an USB driver requires some 
memory that will require lots of expensive memory space (the ATmega has 
only 256kb).

> Do you have any plans to test more sophisticated chips and processors F8, 8008, 8080, 4040, 4004?  I guess I haven’t searched to see if it can do any cpus or programmable support chips like UART and programmable IO.

With a 32pin socket? Even when the tester would have a 40pin socket the 
required tests are very special and would require lots of memory. You 
can check the Z80 CPU Analyzer from my website that allows to check a 
Z80 in detail. This program requires memory space that allows to test 
over 400 logic ICs.

Stephan


> 
> Best regards
> Craig
> 
> 
> 
>> On Sep 14, 2022, at 11:45 PM, Stephan Slabihoud <stephan@slabihoud.de> wrote:
>>
>> ﻿The new firmware also allows loop/continous testing.
>> So this might be useful for display testing. The higher levels are faster so the counting will not be visible any more.
>>
>>
>>> Am 15.09.2022 um 03:46 schrieb SBC-85:
>>> Hi Stephan,
>>> I won’t be able to get to this until the weekend but I will let you know how it goes.  I have not downloaded firmware to this before so there may be some learning curve with that.
>>> Regards
>>> Craig
>>>>> On Sep 14, 2022, at 4:03 AM, Stephan Slabihoud <stephan@slabihoud.de> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> ﻿Hi,
>>>>
>>>> please can you check the attached FW?
>>>> You will find the 8233 and 8234 in the "7400" menu, the first two entries are my test slots.
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Stephan
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Am 13.09.2022 um 22:12 schrieb craig@sbc-85.com:
>>>>> Stephan, thanks for the quick reply
>>>>> Sorry, I dashed off the email because I was leaving, and I didn't double check things.
>>>>> yes, the DL2416 is the same as the HP and I checked the tester works fine with that display.... well almost, for some reason the display needs to be installed upside down??.  fortunately it doesn't hurt the display to have power / gnd put onto pins 1&18 rather than 9&10
>>>>> a couple of suggestions on displays.... it would be handy if maybe the tester could repeat the display output until stopped, it is difficult to check each segment / dot so slowing down or speeding up the test would be useful.  since they are just a 'pass' anyway, just a continuous run through of the outputs would be useful.  On the HPLG-2416 especially ( as well as the DL2416 but to a lesser degree) doing the full illuminated all-on character would be useful.
>>>>> I think a separate display menu would be a useful category for both the tester and the *.pdf list.  (minor note, 'visuell" didn't get translated to visual)
>>>>> I have attached the data sheet for the 8233/8234/8235, I do not think I have found an equivalent, at least it is not on my list.
>>>>> the 74161 is equivalent to the the DM9316, the clear is asynchronous on the '161 but synchronous on the '163
>>>>> the 8093/94 are DM prefix, sorry I thought I checked the PDF on those but obviously didn't since they are there already.
>>>>> the 80C95 is cmos of course, but I think the 8095 is equivalent to the 74365
>>>>> regards
>>>>> craig
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: Stephan Slabihoud <stephan@slabihoud.de>
>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2022 11:31 AM
>>>>> To: craig@sbc-85.com
>>>>> Subject: Re: Information about the Retro Chip Tester
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>> I checked your list. Afaik some are already implemented.
>>>>>> If you are looking for more devices to add, I would like to see the following (some have 74xx equivalents so just co-listing them would be very useful): > HPDL2416 displaysis this equivalent to DL2416?
>>>>>> P3404 / 8T3404 latchTBD
>>>>>> 8234 multiplexercannot find any datasheet for this IC
>>>>>> 9316 counter= 74163?
>>>>>> 8093 3-state driverlisted as DM8093?
>>>>>> 8095 3-state driver
>>>>> listed as 80C95? I am not sure if these are equivalents.
>>>>> Schöne Grüße,
>>>>> Stephan--
>>>>> http://8bit-museum.de
>>>>
>>>> -- 
>>>> http://8bit-museum.de
>>
>> -- 
>> http://8bit-museum.de
>>
> 

-- 
http://8bit-museum.de