Interesting Heathkit Expansion Board
> I just pulled a really interesting-looking expansion board from a dead
> Heathkit H-89 I acquired a few months ago, and I was wondering if anyone
> knew anything about it, and/or had documentation and software to support it.
> And I know is what I can see; can't find anything on 'net.
>
> It's an N.O.G.D.S. (New Orleans General Data Services) HA-89-3-B. This
> thing is a whopper, the only thing it doesn't seem to have on it is another
> CPU. It has:
>
> * AY-3-8910 sound chip;
> * SC-01-A voice processor chip;
> * ADC0809 (there are four ports marked JOY1-4 on the board, so I'm assuming
> joystick pots);
> * 8253 Timer chip (some of its outputs extended to a 10-pin header);
> * 8259 Programmable Interrupt Controller;
> * TMS9918 video display processor and supporting RAM (there's cable running
> off the board that terminates in a RCA jack), for a second video display
> apparently;
> * AM9511 math coprocessor;
> * a couple of PALs and the usual array of buffers and decoders.
>
> So for all things, this looks like it was meant to support some really
> interesting applications on the H-89, maybe drawing/CAD, etc. (but the sound
> and voice chips?). The machine it came in also had a battery-backed
> real-time clock expansion board (with AA battery that leaked down onto the
> flyback transformer, yuck), and a parallel port board.
>
> I'd love to play with this thing, but I thought I'd ask before I spent
> hours following traces...
>
> --Patrick
Received on Fri Aug 22 2003 - 17:27:00 BST
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