Debugging ONMIBUS cards

From: allisonp_at_world.std.com <(allisonp_at_world.std.com)>
Date: Wed Nov 24 09:55:43 1999

> Then, so far, so good. As I said, it runs basic ops. The inchworm program
> is about as far as I can get without custom-crafting diag routines until I
> get a TTY online to read MAINDEC tapes. At the moment, all I have in the
> -8/e is the CPU, an MS8-C and an M8650. I toggled in an ASCII printing
> routine from the 1973 -8/e handbook (page 4-4, IIRC) and I didn't see anything
> appear on the terminal nor the RS-232 traffic light. If you happen to have
> a handy TTY test loop up your sleeve, then I'd love to see it. It makes it
> much harder to debug hardware when you have to debug your own diagnostic
> software at the same time.

No I don't. First off make sure the "tty" is configured correctly. Real
TTYs are wired with keyboard bit 7 high and all 8 reader bits active.
This is hard to duplicate with terminal programs. The closest is 7bits
with stick parity but that will not load tapes!

> I'd still love to hear why a KK8A isn't happy with the -8/e frontpanel. I
> would have thought that they were compatible. The OMNIBUS isn't all that
> complex. There's not a lot of room for variations.

They are not compatable at the control level not the bus level. The KK8a
was not designed with a "peripheral" reaching into it's registers and data
paths. I'd bet if the kk8a runs in the 8e box the FP can display but only
limited things.

> Here's the problem... I can only test so much of the -8/e with only the
> front panel and the docs I have (I don't have a sheaf of toggle-in diags
> to try or I would). Once I put the KK8E in the -8/a box, _all_ I can do
> is hit the boot switch. It doesn't boot. The KK8A sort-of boots.

There isn't a sheet of diags. You do it by readuing and writing single
locations and running small programs like the accumulator inchworm.

> A secondary question: when WPS throws up the "ABC" at the start of the boot
> sequence, what happens between the letters? I have one disk that only shows
> the "A" and the CPU locks up. What might that suggest?

No idea, maybe it's looking for a device?

Allison
Received on Wed Nov 24 1999 - 09:55:43 GMT