HP 9915A (industrial version of HP 85A)

From: Joe <rigdonj_at_cfl.rr.com>
Date: Mon Oct 14 08:54:52 2002

At 02:29 AM 10/14/02 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi vp:
>
>>From an old 9915A brochure:
>>Control Signals Interface:
>>Connector - 15 pin D-subminiature connector, ...(snip)...
>
>So the Control connector provides some handy ways to restart the 9915
>remotely. I was thinking it might have been a mini-gpio with some
>program-readable i/o lines. Oh well.

    I was thinking that it did have some non-dedicated lines that could b eused like that but I could be wrong.

>
>
>>The 9915 has sockets for two sets of ROMs: The EPROM card you mentioned
>>(which can accomodate up to 32K using 2516, 2716, or 2732 EPROMs) which
>>can store user application programs. The second set is a bank of 6
>>sockets for HP-85 ROM MODULES (white letters). These are the same modules
>>that plug into the HP Series 80 ROM drawer (HP 82936A). The default
>>configuration of the 9915 includes the 00085-15003 I/O ROM and the
>>98151A Program Development ROM (which contains instructions for controlling
>>the front panel LEDs and switches).
>>
>>The second bank is located under the expansion card cage. You can
>>get to them by unscrewing one screw in the back of the 9915 (under
>>the bottom slot) and one on the Operator Interface card.
>
>I just found these rom locations as well. Hidden, but saves a rom drawer
>slot.
>
>
>>With just the I/O ROM even if you get an HP-IB card you will not be able
>>to use disks, you also need the 00085-15001 Mass Storage ROM for accessing
>>old-style Amigo drives or the (unobtainable) 00085-15013 EMS ROM that
>>allows access to the SS-80 drives (e.g. 9122, 9133D/H etc.).
>
>DOES ANYONE HAVE AN EMS ROM?

   I do :-)

 It would be nice to get you to dump the
>binary for possibly putting it into an eprom. John Shadbolt (are you on
>this list John?) has managed to read an ASM rom, and burn an eprom. It
>then ran from the Prog-rom-module card in and 85.

   The problem is that the Prom-ROM modules are just as rare!

>
>
>>Given the EPROM card, it may be easier to make a small ROM emulator board
>that
>>allows data to be uploaded via a serial interface.
>
>I thought about a little flash pic or something that could emulate the rom
>signals, but that looked non-trivial. But a configurable 2732 emulator,
>hmm, that's probably even been done.
>
>Problem is, for an 85, it's hard to find the prog-rom card to run an eprom
>anyway. I've been looking at a prog-rom module here, for possible pcb
>duplication, but it is stuffed with ttl and a few house-numbered parts. At
>least it does not have a programmed micro or custom "translator" chip like
>the serial card. DOES ANYONE HAVE A SCHEMATIC OR OTHER DOCS FOR THE
>PROGRAMMABLE-ROM-MODULE?

   I've never seen any and I had (have?) the docs that came with it.

>
>>The keyboard is simply an 8 by 10 matrix buffered and debounced, and
>>provides 76 cross points. The shift, control and caps lock keys are provided
>>as dedicated lines.

     Correct.
>
>Well, I started peeking at the operator interface card in the 9915. First
>off, it looks the the video connector may just go to the edge connector, so
>the video may be available (inside) even without the card.
>
>The chips connecting to the keyboard and control connectors were house
>numbers, so I just poked the keyboard connector with a scope, to guess at
>the matrix i/o lines. Then, after a bit of playing with a couple of jumper
>wires (and the incorrect but usable tv monitor), I have determined most of
>the keyboard matrix:
>
> 2 3 4 5 6 7/8 9 10 11 12 13
>
>14 down 8 I K M , L O 9 left
>15 up 7 U J N . ; P 0 right
>16 K4? 6 Y H B / ' ( - RPL
>17 K3? 5 T G V LIST? CR? ) = -CHAR
>18 K2? 4 R F C RUN PAUSE CONT \ ROLL
>19 K1? 3 E D X + -LINE BS LOAD
>20 K-LBL 2 W S Z - * ) ( STORE
>21 1 Q A SP / ^
>22 SHIFT
>23 CTRL
>24 CAPS-LK
>
>Where the +-*/()^ keys in the bottom right are the numeric pad versions.
>The numeric pad number keys were not found. Pins 7/8 (connected together
>inside) are used with lines 22/23/24, but I'm sure don't connect to the
>rest of the matrix at all. There are still a few unknown keys in the main
>matrix though. Pin 25 use is unknown (2.5V). Pin 1 is chassis ground.


   Sheesh. I guess I'd better go get mine out and check. I have a day off today so I might as well do that.

    Joe
Received on Mon Oct 14 2002 - 08:54:52 BST