990 cards on ebay

[+retroclouds]

Ten X 99 Cobol Accelerator Revision B

 

https://www.ebay.de/itm/185029384166?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=707-127634-2357-0&ssspo=pWNEbGnaR3y&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=EJfVC6FkS6K&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

 

TI-990/10a CPU Board 2 MB ram

 

https://www.ebay.de/itm/185029354495?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=707-127634-2357-0&ssspo=pWNEbGnaR3y&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=EJfVC6FkS6K&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

 

Spectralogic Disk Controller

 

https://www.ebay.de/itm/185030999061?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=707-127634-2357-0&ssspo=pWNEbGnaR3y&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=EJfVC6FkS6K&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

 

The seller appears to have more 990 stuff available for sale, also multiple copies of some of the above cards.

I’d be interested myself, but unfortunately I just lack the space.

[+FarmerPotato]

I bought the CPU... WOW.

 

The seller's web page:

 

http://www.rknorman.co.uk/DART and TI990 Documents.html

 

* also the COBOL accelerator... no idea what for. 

[+FarmerPotato]

Supposing I were building a little backplane to plug the 990/10A cpu into ...

 

I looked for the necessary 80 pin card edge connectors. No keying. No weird pitches, just 0.1".  Mouser, Digi-Key, Farnell/Newark, electronics surplus, goldmine, Arrow, Jameco, PEconnectors, ..? Kinda obscure and pricey. Want to order from North America. 
 

So far, Arrow had the best price at $5. ?? Newark has some on clearance for $7.72.

Direct from TE connectors site: the 2-5530843-0

is $6.31

Mouser 6.32 on qty 10

 

Others have them at $10-$15. Some are surface mount types, which could be ok, but they're pricy. 

 

Any other leads on 80 position, 40x2, 0.1", solder tail (or wire wrap) card edge connectors? 

[+retroclouds]

Anyone knows what that is?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255035224868?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=SgkaoV_QQka&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=EJfVC6FkS6K&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[+FarmerPotato]

WOW!

 

The AMPL system was a developer tool for 9900 hardware systems (call that a device-under-test, DUT.)

 

It looks like a 9900 inside the "buffer".
 

One cable would connect this module into the DUT's CPU socket. The other cables (2?) would go to a card in a 990/4 minicomputer. 
 

 Not sure about the internal 9900's role. 
 

The AMPL software could do such things as single-step, or  record and show instruction trace. 
 

AMPL Manuals here

 

http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ti/990/ampl/
 

[jbdigriz]

Other targets were available, too, iirc, like TMS7000. AMPL preceeded the XDS standalone and PC in-circuit emulators that do not require a 990.

 

Looks like a fried wire in the target cable; hope the buffer board isn't dead.

Edited January 23 by jbdigriz

[Jimhearne]

On 1/3/2023 at 3:22 PM, FarmerPotato said:

Supposing I were building a little backplane to plug the 990/10A cpu into ...

 

I looked for the necessary 80 pin card edge connectors. No keying. No weird pitches, just 0.1".  Mouser, Digi-Key, Farnell/Newark, electronics surplus, goldmine, Arrow, Jameco, PEconnectors, ..? Kinda obscure and pricey. Want to order from North America. 
 

So far, Arrow had the best price at $5. ?? Newark has some on clearance for $7.72.

Direct from TE connectors site: the 2-5530843-0

is $6.31

Mouser 6.32 on qty 10

 

Others have them at $10-$15. Some are surface mount types, which could be ok, but they're pricy. 

 

Any other leads on 80 position, 40x2, 0.1", solder tail (or wire wrap) card edge connectors? 

Sorry, only just seen this.

The connectors aren't 0.1" pitch, they are 0.125" pitch.

I got some from a surplus place recommended on there somewhere.

I will find it and put here.

 

 

Edit:  Oh, it was you that pointed me at the company.

https://www.electronicsurplus.com/gc-electronics-41-858-connector-pcb-edge-40-position-80-pin-dual-a7d40ww27a3

 

Edited January 25 by Jimhearne

[Jimhearne]

Anybody got their TI-990/10A card doing anything ?

It seems mine isn't working as much as i thought it was.

According to some documentation, all the LED's on the front of the board should come on and then go off one by one as the self tests are passed.

Mine just the Fault light comes on and sometimes the major fault as well.

Nothing comes up on my newly made programmers panel except the power LED and the fault LED.

Poking around the board with a scope not much is happening, the processor isn't showing any activity , it's got a clock and isn't held in reset. 

I bought the board back in 2020 but it was supposed to be working.

I checked the signals on the backplane and pulled a few more signals into what i think are safe states but didn't help.

I'm pretty sure the cpu board should run stand alone.

There is a 120HZ clock input shown on the backplane but i'd be surprised that need to be there for the card to run.

 

Jim

 

 

 

[+FarmerPotato]

@Jimhearne   Oh no!  

 

I haven't plugged mine into anything yet. 

Besides RESET, what about HOLD, APP, NMI(LOAD)?  Any of these stuck low?

 

I've spent a lot of time with the 99105 chip under the logic analyzer. (can't be too different except for macrostore.)

 

If the CPU is running at all, you will see activity on the MEM, BST1-3, AD0-15.  If the CPU is in a confused state, you might see endless cycles of Bus Status 9 (Macrostore or internal ALU).  That's my experience with 99105 and external Macrostore.

 

 

[+FarmerPotato]

Shall we make this thread our eBay heads-up thread for the subforum?

 

I saw these for $250 which must be the TM990/102 extended memory CPU card. Pretty reasonable? Seller "expertsurplus" lists 10+ for sale. "Working when pulled." Title was just 1600287-000 PCB. 

 

They also have 10+ floppy controllers, TM990/303B for $175. 

[jbdigriz]

On 2/12/2023 at 7:35 AM, Jimhearne said:

Anybody got their TI-990/10A card doing anything ?

It seems mine isn't working as much as i thought it was.

According to some documentation, all the LED's on the front of the board should come on and then go off one by one as the self tests are passed.

Mine just the Fault light comes on and sometimes the major fault as well.

Nothing comes up on my newly made programmers panel except the power LED and the fault LED.

Poking around the board with a scope not much is happening, the processor isn't showing any activity , it's got a clock and isn't held in reset. 

I bought the board back in 2020 but it was supposed to be working.

I checked the signals on the backplane and pulled a few more signals into what i think are safe states but didn't help.

I'm pretty sure the cpu board should run stand alone.

There is a 120HZ clock input shown on the backplane but i'd be surprised that need to be there for the card to run.

 

Jim

 

 

 

Couple of thoughts. 1) Richard would not send you a duff board for a good one, don't worry about that. However, any board sitting up for long is subject to contact oxidation, and rough handling and vibration in shipping can lead to damage. I assume however that you have reseated socketed chips and inspected for broken traces or solder joints.  2) I don't know if the board you got was set up for use with the Ten X board, or not. There is a jumper or two on the CPU board that would be set differently, I believe.

 

When I get a chance to look through the 10A General Description manual, there is a flowchart for the self-test routines in there; that may be helpful. I'm also wondering if you're not going to need a custom interrupt board along with the programmer panel, even for standalone use, but I'm thinking you probably took anything like that into account. I haven't looked into that in depth, I haven't seen your programmer panel, and I surely wish I could get all this other stuff I'm busy with done, so I can have time to research things like this. 😞

 

Good luck with it.  I'm sure you'll get it figured out soon

Edited February 15 by jbdigriz

[+FarmerPotato]

On 1/22/2023 at 11:35 PM, jbdigriz said:

Other targets were available, too, iirc, like TMS7000. AMPL preceeded the XDS standalone and PC in-circuit emulators that do not require a 990.

 

Hey, I see the TMS7000 AMPL kits in the 1982 price list! See other thread

[jbdigriz]

Right, and I think you've seen the VCF posts from Martin Hepperle about the AMPL etc disks he found that Christian Corti sent images of to bitsavers. Very similar to the ones @kl99 and @piero.a posted about a couple of years ago here, for the 990/1. Can't remember if those were posted anywhere. Could have sworn I had gotten copies but I can't find them here right now.

Edited February 16 by jbdigriz

[+FarmerPotato]

On 1/25/2023 at 8:32 AM, Jimhearne said:

Sorry, only just seen this.

The connectors aren't 0.1" pitch, they are 0.125" pitch.

I got some from a surplus place recommended on there somewhere.

I will find it and put here.

 

 

Edit:  Oh, it was you that pointed me at the company.

https://www.electronicsurplus.com/gc-electronics-41-858-connector-pcb-edge-40-position-80-pin-dual-a7d40ww27a3

 

 

Additionally, here are some part numbers.  And I see some in stock at Digi-Key US or Mouser US.

 

PC Card Edge receptacle, 50 position, 100 count, 0.125" (3.175mm) spacing.

S-100 bus, and TM990 bus.   TI also calls it T-Bus.

 

Solder tail:

EDAC. 346-100-526-802 (about $17 at Digikey)

EDAC. 346-100-520-202. (about $19 at Mouser)

Sullins. EBA50DRTH.  (about $11 at Digikey)

Sullins. EZA50DRTH. Not ROHS lead-free.

 

I have observed EDAC connectors in an Altair 8800. (S-Bus)

 

Right angle:

EDAC. 346-100-559-300 ($11 at electronicsurplus.com)

Sullins. EBA50DCBS.  (about $11 at Digikey)

 

Wirewrap:

EDAC. 346-100-541-802 (not  found)

VAX/ELCO CORP - 4-215 ($11 at electronicsurplus.com) alternates 

VAX/ELCO CORP - 4-216 ($11 at electronicsurplus.com) alternates 

VAX/ELCO CORP - 4-176 ($11 at electronicsurplus.com) alternates

GC Electronics 41-858/A7D50WW08A3  ($10 at electronicsurplus.com)

GC Electronics 41-860/A7D50WW08A3  ($10 at electronicsurplus.com)

 

 

PC Card Edge receptacle, 40 position, 80 count, 0.125" (3.175mm) spacing.

Minicomputer 990 bus.

990 has two 40-position per slot. The CPU is always double-size (uses both), but some cards were single-size.

Total of 160 traces on the backplane. 

 

Solder tail:

 

Sullins. EBA40DRTH.  

Sullins. EZA40DRTH. Not ROHS lead-free.  They don't list RT in the current data sheet, but you can order it. 

Sullins. EBA40DRSH.    This is the current catalog ordering number for rows 0.25" (5.08mm) apart.  

 

 

Sullins Data sheet

Current. Digikey https://s3.amazonaws.com/catalogspreads-pdf/PAGE68-69 .125 HP DS WW RA.pdf

This is a monster 256 page pdf; searches take 20 seconds...

 

1995 Sullins catalog on bitsavers) 

 

Sullins Prefixes:

 

Second letter, B or Z —The Sullins EBA series, ROHS, replaced EZA series tin/gold plated.   Maybe the tin was not lead-free?

B means 10mil gold plated. C is 30 mil gold. 

In the 1995 catalog it says Z was 10 mil gold plated tin, X 30 mil.

 

Sullins Suffixes:
D = dual

RT, RY = old contact style,  0.14" (3.56mm) row spacing. (TI did not use this)

RX, RJ = old contact style,  0.25" (3.56mm) row spacing.

RS, = current contact style, 0.25" (5.08mm) row spacing.

TK, CK = current for smaller holes

H = End mount style: clearance holes, not threaded

 

Ordering

Digikey shows that to order a tray of 10 costs $79, takes 4 weeks.

I've waited for a Sullins connector tray of 10 side-port 99/4A connectors before.  I was pleased. 

 

 

[Jimhearne]

On 2/12/2023 at 12:35 PM, Jimhearne said:

Anybody got their TI-990/10A card doing anything ?

It seems mine isn't working as much as i thought it was.

According to some documentation, all the LED's on the front of the board should come on and then go off one by one as the self tests are passed.

Mine just the Fault light comes on and sometimes the major fault as well.

Nothing comes up on my newly made programmers panel except the power LED and the fault LED.

Poking around the board with a scope not much is happening, the processor isn't showing any activity , it's got a clock and isn't held in reset. 

I bought the board back in 2020 but it was supposed to be working.

I checked the signals on the backplane and pulled a few more signals into what i think are safe states but didn't help.

I'm pretty sure the cpu board should run stand alone.

There is a 120HZ clock input shown on the backplane but i'd be surprised that need to be there for the card to run.

 

Jim

 

 

 

 

Just as an update, i got my 990/10A board working.

I bought a backplane / card cage from Richard as well just to make sure it wasn't my single slot setup that was causing the problems.

Initially it still didn't work but after Richard suggested my power supply might not be up to the job i replaced it with a 200 watt PC power supply and paralleled up all the 5V and 12V outputs.

Richard also mentioned that the clock board needs a +24V supply but looking at the schematic it only feeds a 5V regulator so i powered it from the +12V instead.

After this it is working and my programmer panel seems to be working as well.

Now to see if i can get a Gotek working on the TFDC floppy card.

 

Jim