any chance you can get a couple of photo's up somewhere of the board etc?
regards
charles
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jules Richardson" <julesrichardsonuk_at_yahoo.co.uk>
To: <cctalk_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, September 20, 2004 11:18 PM
Subject: Re: Satellite stuff (Was: Re: BBC printer port (ever used
foranything
> On Mon, 2004-09-20 at 05:40 +0100, Tony Duell wrote:
>> > > Right. The Maplin one (Published in the Maplin Magazine) used only
>> > > the
>> > > user port IIRC.
>> >
>> > I've got another one (decoder only) which looks very Maplin-ey. That
>> > one
>> > just has a pair of SPDT switches on the front along with a meter marked
>> > 0-10, whilst at the back there's just power, and a pair of DIN
>> > sockets -
>>
>> I will ahve to dig out the Maplin docs. IIRC that one had a 20 pin ribbon
>> cable which connected to a Beeb user port (or to a input port card for an
>> Amstrad CPC...)
>
> Yes, I'm not quite sure what I have with this bit of kit. UoSAT offered
> all sorts of telemetry though, so presumably this thing's designed to
> filter out some specific data...
>
>> The DIN sockets do sound Maplin-like, but I thought they were on the
>> receiver. One linked to the decoder, the other to a tape recorder (you
>> recorded the analogue signals from the satellite, then played them back
>> into the decoder later on).
>
> Yep, the Astrid receiver I have is exactly like that - there's some TTL
> in it which is used to drive the computer's serial port, plus sockets
> for hook-up to a tape unit for recording.
>
> That's what makes this other box that I have odd - the Astrid receiver
> includes the necessary logic for interfacing to the CPU, and this other
> box doesn't seem to have enough I/O lines to be for complex data
> aquisition (such as imagery) - but I can't imagine what it's doing that
> couldn't have just been done in software on the host computer.
>
> I'm sure all will become clear when I get the time to trace the
> schematic out!
>
>> Maplin sold PCBs (with silk-screen overlay) and printed case panels IIRC.
>> This could be a homebrew copy, or it might (more likely) be another
>> magazine project.
>
> the board's semi-professional, in that it looks to be low-volume, but
> the lettering on it is all nicely done as are the marking giving
> component locations etc. (plus I notice that the front and rear metal
> panels are properly earthed, and the soldering's all good). Smells more
> like something built-to-order in a small workshop (as was typical for
> all sorts during the home computer boom I suppose!)
>
>> > > I do have a 'real' weather satellite receiver system. It came from
>> > > ic.ac.uk, and the bit I really wanted (and got) were the 3 I2S image
>>
>> [...]
>>
>> > I'd forgotten you had that. Do you have sufficient software to make it
>> > do something as a complete system if a suitable VAX were found, or has
>>
>> Alas not. I got the I2S driver tape I think, but nothing more :-(
>
> That's a shame. There must be a lot of big and complex systems that
> would make interesting museum displays which have gone the same way due
> to lack of software preservation :-(
>
> cheers,
>
> Jules
>
>
>
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Received on Mon Sep 20 2004 - 19:33:07 BST