The IPL button is likely analogous to the RESET button on many machines.
IPL stands for 'initial program load'. At least they gave you some clues.
Like most CP/M machines, it appears your's has little ROM onboard and
depends on IPL code in rom to get useful software into memory.
This means you will have to obtain a copy of CP/M that will IPL on this
machine or modify a generic version of CP/M to run on it. I have some
good CP/M documentation on how to do this but you will have to provide the
memory locations and other machine-specific info in order to make it work.
If I can help, please e-mail me!
In <Pine.LNX.4.10.10007282338590.5914-100000_at_siconic.com>, on 08/03/00
at 01:51 PM, Sellam Ismail <foo_at_siconic.com> said:
>I came across a deliciously mysterious computer today in a local thrift
>store.
>I took the following photos of it in various states of undress:
>http://www.siconic.com/crap/BMC-1.jpg
>http://www.siconic.com/crap/BMC-2.jpg
>http://www.siconic.com/crap/BMC-3.jpg
>http://www.siconic.com/crap/BMC-4.jpg
>http://www.siconic.com/crap/BMC-5.jpg
>http://www.siconic.com/crap/BMC-6.jpg
>It's a machine made by OKI of Japan (the same company apparently that
>made the Okidata printer line). It's called the Small Computer Model 10
>(as indicated by the photo of the nameplate). At first I thought it was
>just some dumb terminal until I started looking closer at it and
>discovered it was indeed a computer.
>Upon examining the innards I found that it has a Z80 processor and seems
>to be circa 1982. I couldn't tell how much RAM it had because the chips
>are all funky Japanese types. My guess would be 32K-64K.
>As one can see from the photos, it incorporates a dot matrix printer in
>the main unit. If you've got one to compare to, the machine is almost
>exactly the same dimensions as a Sol-20 (and just as heavy). It has an
>expansion bus inside, and two cards are plugged in: a floppy drive
>controller (marked 5-FDD) and some sort of CRT interface (marked C-CRT,
>probably color CRT).
>The right-hand side has three DIN connectors, labelled L-PEN (lightpen),
>TV (probably an RF connector), A-CMT (?). Finally, there is a DB-25
>RS-232C connector.
>The left-hand side features the power switch and two momentary buttons,
>one marked IPL and the other NMI.
>I was hoping when I plugged the machine in I would get output to the
>printer but no go. I tried blindly typing some BASIC commands like
>LPRINT but that had no effect. When it first turns on, there is a 3
>second beep that comes out of the speaker. If I hit the IPL button it
>seems to reset the machine: there's a moment of about 3 seconds after
>pushing the button where nothing happens but then the speaker beeps for
>about 3 seconds again.
>I tried pressing various keys (like HARD COPY) but could not get any
>action out of the printer. I imagine it wants to be connected to a CRT.
>I didn't know at the time to look for a CRT so I'll probably go back
>tomorrow to check around. I'm also going to check for any floppy drives
>that might go with it.
>I'd like to try to hook it up to a TV but I don't know what pins I should
>use. I have a working scope but it's huge, old and is at my warehouse.
>What would be a good way to try to determine which pins carry the signal?
>Any help or info would be appreciated.
>Sellam International Man of Intrigue and
>Danger
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Looking for a six in a pile of nines...
> VCF 4.0 is September 30-October 1
> San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California
> See http://www.vintage.org for details!
--
-----------------------------------------------------------
Jeffrey S. Worley
President
Complete Computer Services, Inc.
30 Greenwood Rd.
Asheville, NC 28803
828-277-5959
THETechnoid_at_home.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
Received on Thu Aug 03 2000 - 12:51:44 BST
