the stigmata of IBM feces

From: Gordon JC Pearce <gordon_at_gjcp.net>
Date: Sun Feb 6 04:18:44 2005

Roger Merchberger wrote:

> I just stumbled across some boards I'd stowed from some older IBM
> cash-register machines -- I can figure out some of the major chips
> (EPROMS, RAM, some of the CPUs, etc.) but other than that, they're
> pointless to me and I'm getting ready to dump 'em; no good to me if I
> can't even part 'em out to make something kewl...

What model of IBM cash register? There is a lot of hardware
documentation available online. All bar the very early kit is mutatis
mutandis a PC, with a special ASIC that controls the POS equipment. You
can even buy an expansion card with an adaptor box and IO strip to drop
into a PC and control POS devices. It's just the ASIC and some glue logic.

If you've got the model numbers, that would be a great help. IIRC 4683s
are based on 286s. Master tills have a 286 CPU, slave tills are
effectively just a dumb serial terminal. I don't know what's inside the
4693, but suspect it's at best a low-end 486, and 4694/4695 and up are,
as I say, just plain old PCs. I've booted Linux on a 4695, to the
amazement of one of the level 2 techies at work. Just plain ordinary
tomsrtbt...

Gordon.
Received on Sun Feb 06 2005 - 04:18:44 GMT